Killobyte (RF) (Strider and I)

[angels_and_blindfolds]

Filomi Cinada

The smell of gasoline and perfume permeated the air as Filomi Cinada hurried on her way to her small home in the corridors of the city. The nooks and crannies, the little places, the unobtrusive homes that no one noticed in favour of paying attention to people like her friends' families: the important people who knew what they were doing. She was just a middle-class girl who ran a middle-class bookshop, with a very extraordinary girlfriend. The thought of Rosiie brought a smile to her face, leaving her to zone out somewhat as she retraced the steps she took every day. From the bookstore to the house, back to the bookstore the next morning, except for Saturdays. Sometimes she enjoyed a very pleasant day off, though.

Her smile evaporated as a strong hand grasped her left arm, the owner leading her a little off track. "Miss Cinada," the young man said, smiling brightly. She laughed and nodded, tilting her head to the side. "It's been a while," Filomi responded, shading her eyes with the hand holding her light grocery bag. "How have things been going? You found what you were looking for, right?" She kept an even pace with him, lowering her hand as they turned a corner onto a slightly less-crowded sidewalk. 'Slightly' gave her enough room to breathe.

"Yes, everything's fine... Miss Cinada, can I speak with you for a bit? In private? It's important." He glanced at her, looking genuinely worried. At her concerned frown and nod, he tugged her into an abandoned sidestreet, leading down the walk between two buildings. "Somewhere," he muttered. "Ah, here," he said, leading her into a hidden alcove.

In the next instant, a hand was pressing her into the wall by the throat, making her struggle for breath, and a knife was pressed at her collarbone. She licked her lips and tried to focus on breathing as the young man stared her down, looking more inhuman and dangerous than most people did. Only most, not all... Fil smiled and said conversationally, "I suppose this is the part where you tell me not to scream? Don't worry, I know people don't care about me, not enough to save me." Her voice thinned out as the pressure on her throat increased slightly. "Just don't hurt me too badly. Rosiie likes me in one piece."

 

[Cisala Elden]

Rosalinda 'Rosiie' Latana

"Damn it." Rosiie muttered under her breath as she saw the only to familiar 'closed' sign of her dear Fil's shop. She never could manage to get to the book store before it closed down and then she was stuck trying to catch up to her lover. Not that she minded because she would do anything to be around Fil. She just didn't want to have to run around the city carrying her groceries in hand and a very important item in her pocket with her just because she couldn't make it to the book store before closing time. How was she going to get through a last second planned date on her end if she couldn't find Fil and tell her about it? She couldn't help but smile as she thought about what she had planned for tonight. Of course Fil probably didn't know of her plans seeing as how she just got the idea an hour ago when she was sick and tired of looking at the ring on her dresser when she thought it would look a lot better on Filomi.

She froze for a second as something felt off with the world. She didn't ignore it like other people would of. She had learned a long time ago to never ignore such a feeling because it usually meant that either one of her baby bears was in trouble or that Fil needed her and god damn it she always tried to her best to always be there for her 'family'. She threw her shopping bag aside and decided that they weren't as important as the matter on hand. Though it was a waste of good money which wouldn't settle nicely on Rosiie's conscious which would bother her for hours on end but she would just have to get over it.

Thankful that she had Fil's route home memorized from all of the times she had gone home with her girl, she took off at a run bumping into people here and there who gave her dirty looks and called after her but she just ignored them. They weren't important. That off feeling was beginning to worry her. Was someone tormenting her and giving her a hard time about her ethnicity? God if anyone hurt her Rosiie was going to snap. She was sick and tired of people going after her precious loved one. And there was no way in hell that she was just going to sit back and let anyone hurt Fil in anyway. She nearly ran into an old woman when she wasn't paying attention but instead ended up having to stop herself suddenly causing her to fall forward onto the pavement with her arms in front of her face cursing rather loudly when the stud on her nose got caught on the material of her jacket yanking it out in the process. She would have to get out of her jacket later and put it back in when she got home because right now she saw something that scared her to death. Fil was being lead into a back road. That man better be ready for what Rosiie had in store for him because there was no way she would go easy on someone who decided that they wanted to mess with her girl.

She pushed herself off the ground pushing off a woman's attempt at trying to help her up. She wasn't trying to be rude she just couldn't help it when it came to someone she cared about being in trouble. She ignored the Woman's further attempts at trying to help her and just stalked over to the back ally way making sure that she didn't make to much noise as she walked over the scattered bits of glass scattered along the ground with her boots. Why did New York have to have so much broken glass?

Rosiie's mood was only worsened when she saw that the douche bag had a knife to Fil's collar bone. He had threatened Rosiie's very meaning of existence and now he was going to be sorry. Staying as quiet as a twenty-one year old woman could in combat boots she made her way over to the man holdong Fil against the wall and cleared her throat before speaking. "Excuse me. You seem to be bothering my friend here. I would like to advise you to ******** stop or i'm going to have to make you." She said calmly while clenching and unclenching her hands. She didn't want to be the one to make the first move. Atleast if he attacked her first she could claim that she was only using self defense. But god did it enrage her to see this sad excuse for a man holding Fil against the wall by her throat. It was taking all of her self control not to just let loose on the guy right now. "Are you alright Fil? He hasn't done anything to you yet has he?" She asked calmly looking away from the man in favor of making sure that her girlfriend was ok.

 

[angels_and_blindfolds]

Filomi Cinada

Ah, there she was. Fil smiled when she saw Rosiie and coughed once, lightly, forcing her chest to rise suddenly and the knife to bite into her skin. That would leave a bit of a cut to heal, but it didn't matter now. Rosiie was here, and nothing was going to happen to her. "No, I'm fine, dear. Tony and I were just having a nice chat, weren't we?" She crossed her arms over her chest and took another deep breath. "But, then again, it's entirely possible he has something else on his mind-"

"Shut up, b***h," the young man growled. In a different city in a different state, he could have been identified as a newly-graduated teacher, someone with connections, but he was a nobody in New York. Everyone was, to an extent. Here and now, he was pressing the knife a little harder, barely turning his head to face his victim's girlfriend as he replied. "Who's going to make me stop? The big bad wolf? Because I don't think I want to," he spat. "In fact, I might just package up the both of you. My buddies need some new toys."

In a way, Filomi regretted that he had no way of knowing how Rosiie would react, or how extremely outnumbered he was. Just against her beautiful knight in shining armour, he wouldn't stand a chance, so she let herself smile in a way that was a little more than just personable. It was her smile, the bookkeeper's smile, the one that taunted its receiver with the knowledge that the bookkeeper didn't need any help understanding, and that she knew everything that was about to go on. No one outside of the profession of caring for old and infirm books alongside bright and new ones could have understood it quite as well; she'd read every book she sold in her store, and Donations Are Always Welcome. She loved expanding her knowledge, though she had found a series of signs explaining some things rather necessary. For example, that stupid "gypsy" cliché they always tried to settle her with when they saw her. Yes, she dressed colourfully, but that was because she looked good in colours, rather than dull, neutral tones - not because of her ethnicity. Perhaps some people could manage a beige, but she preferred oranges, greens, purples. If only people would learn that, and learn their lesson, and, in her father's words, "leave my baby girl the ******** alone", then perhaps there wouldn't be as many troubling incidents such as this.

Of course, no doubt this incident was a result of the other necessary sign, the one explaining that yes, she was a lesbian, and no, that was not about to change. She'd tried dating men in high school and, though they had been nothing short of wonderful people, couldn't find herself very interested in them. Rosiie was her third girlfriend, her defender and her lady knight, and she was very glad that this one had persisted when Fil backed away, as she often did when people tried to flirt with her. Most assumed she was single, though she didn't know why, considering she spent as much time as she liked with her lovely girlfriend, and would like to spend more, but business and family matters arose just as often as they would in the next family. When her father came visiting from Canada, she would always clear a few days to be able to bring him and her mother out to dinner, be able to update him on the most recent news, and so on, and that pulled away from her time with Rosiie and her friends. If anyone thought she was anything other than taken - taken by her friends, taken by her family, and absolutely swept off her feet by the girl she'd met at a Ren Faire - then they must have been, to put it bluntly, quite stupid.

And here she was, pressed against a wall and lightheaded, trying to keep her thoughts in order so she could proceed to be saved by that beautiful woman. Her bookkeeper's smile faded as she looked to Rosiie, eyes wide. She knew what was going to come if no one acted soon. Caught in the act, most people with a knife would start to cut. Wasn't that how her father had started killing?