RP:Gentlemanly Escort

Krice walked west to east, exiting Kelay en route for Cenril for god-knows what reason. Dressed in his usual attire, with his katana strapped to his back, the man seemed as though his journey to the eastern city was not for any specific purpose; he'd be wearing specific clothes otherwise, right? Not necessarily, but I digress. So there was Krice, minding his own business, walking eastward, when the sense of a disturbance to the north gave him pause. He slowed to a halt at the end of the Desolate Pass, right before the gorge, and directed a pensive gaze northward, toward Vailkrin.

Sabrina was sobbing, much to the norm these days, and walked with short but swift strides down the path. She’d gone to Vailkrin with a purpose, but that purpose was left unfulfilled it would seem. Judging by the state of her duress, unless she went there for a good cry, she was essentially empty handed. She would keep her pace, whether someone was in the path or not, blindly walking her way to Larket in these wee morning hours.

Krice tilted his head in conveyance of slightly curiosity as he watched Sabrina emerge from the dark city. He took a step to put himself in her periphery - not in her path - and reached out to further get her attention. He broke his silence with a composed but concerned, " Hey - you alright?"

Sabrina nearly fell backward as she stopped suddenly, a bewildered look on her face at the male’s voice and the hand that looked like it may or may not come into contact with her. She looks over her shoulder to see if she is being followed and wipes tears from her hot cheeks in an effort to formally compose herself. She met this man earlier today, she said some awful things to him. She nodded, wondering where his concern spawned from, but a female of her size and apparent lack of mercenary skills was probably an oddity birthing from the dark city … dressed in that. “I’m fine.” She says to the stranger, and she keeps a few inches more than an arms length away from him. She looks over her shoulder again like she feared she may be followed.

Krice dropped his arm casually the moment he noticed Sabrina's aversion to his outreaching hand, and given her skittishness, he did not approach; cluey was this boy. He directed his gaze to the north as she did, and after a moment spent to scrutinize the dark portal there, he diverted his attention to Sabrina. He arched a brow and asked, " Want me to hit someone for you?"

Sabrina let out a gasping laugh. Of all things to say, it was an ice breaker. “There are a couple of idiots I am sure I wouldn’t mind you hitting for me.” Her common was worse when she was upset, and she was even a little nasally from the crying. She sticks her hands in her back pockets, realizing she forgot her gloves when she left the tavern. “I um… Name’s Sabrina… don’t know if you know that.” She seemed very off, but in the shadow of the darkness behind her it was obvious her left arm was glowing as she attempted to recall anything she may have written down about him. Nothing came to pass. “Chris, right?” She vaguely recalled him telling her somewhere around Melbane.

Krice 's lips curled upward at the left corner in lieu of Sabrina's laugh. Gasping or not, it meant that he had helped her relax a little, which of course was his intention. Her reply was relatively easy to recognize, possibly because he had heard her speak before and thus had put mental reminders on certain signatures in her accent that enabled him to understand her always. At any rate, he glanced back to the woman and corrected her memory of his name. " Krice."

Sabrina’s cheeks would have flushed if they hadn’t already been as red as they were already going to get from her emotional state. When she realizes she messed up his name she was torn between crying all over again and maybe simply apologizing. She instead looks like she is about to cry but doesn’t. Nodding at his correction her voice is strained and she says “I forget some things…”a sorrowing breath to separate that fact from the next “ …sometimes.” She focus her eyes upward enough so she can again attempt to gather herself. She takes in a long slow gulp of air and wipes away stubborn tear that fell somewhat belated. Her hands were shaking. “I’m sorry I feel like I should know you, but I don’t and I am sorry because you seem very nice…” and it rolled into crying all over again.

Krice watched Sabrina curiously, and seemed not to harbour the same reaction as he had earlier in the day; perhaps he was aware of the fact that his reaction, however benign it was, had set her off? At any rate, his gaze was briefly drawn to her glowing arm before he looked back at the woman's face, her words drawing his attention. He blinked at her fresh round of sobbing and promptly remember -not- to blink, forcing his expression to be more neutral than bemused. " It's alright," he said, shrugging his left shoulder. " Straw hat. Rohk. Bakery. Lusty friend." A beat. " Krice."

Sabrina made it a point not to forget that name again. She went back to nodding, this time using her wrists to wipe the salty wetness from her face. “Krice.” Even when she said it, it sounded wrong. Maybe not so much wrong as different, that accent holding the middle of his name longer and rolling the ‘r’ just before it. She looked like she may not start crying again. “Raphaline… I need to see her.” She knew who ‘Lusty friend’ was and she couldn’t apologize enough, and surely she wouldn’t apologize at all. ‘Sorry’ never fixed anything. She could feel sorrow and say so, but she would never say sorry in an attempt to fix something. She looked back at him again, he was pretty but moreso she related his being to someone who was kind, and that was better. He was safe, compared to recent company. She catches herself staring at him while she thought of all this, and it may have seemed like she was staring too long so she again looks away.

Krice pressed his lips together in a small smile when Sabrina echoed his name, along with a nod of confirmation. At her mention of Raphaline, the warrior said, " No problem. I can escort you to her lodge if you want?" A beat. " She might be up in Frostmaw, but it's worth a shot." Only by the end of his words did he realize that Sabrina was staring at him. Rather than point this out, fragile as the woman was, Krice gestured to the west and said, " Shall we go?"

Sabrina looked over her shoulder once more, a faint glimmer of fear passed over her visage but she turns to him with a soft, genuine smile, and nods happily. She would follow his lead, an arms length away in any case.

Krice lead Sabrina up the path, making sure to choose as smooth as possible a trajectory to help her in turn pick the least troubling surfaces on which to walk. He glanced over his shoulder every so often, making sure the woman was still fine with where they were going - still following without panicking. He gestured northward. " It's just up here, right where the snow starts."

Sabrina looks up there, right where the snow starts and shivers a little, feigning cold. “I have been accustomed to knowing who was in my house… if she is not here I believe I can find my way to Eleenin’s and wait for her there. I am trying to get her into healing, but I don’t know if its gonna stick.” She walks past Krice toward the place where she normally would climb with Rohk. The hound made it a lot easier but she was certain she would eventually manage. She didn’t want to seem rude so she looks way up at him and smiles really hard, on purpose. Taking her eyes from the ground caused a stumble that only slightly left her reaching for the crook of his elbow to keep herself from falling. She would have latched on to him too, if she knew him better, instead she very gracefully lops forward and lands only with her hand on the ground… no bumps or bruises, caught herself, but just barely.

Krice turned his head to look over Sabrina as she passed him, and it was with an agreeing nod that he acknowledged her plan. In response to the woman's smile, the warrior adopted a curious smirk that tilted the left corner of his mouth and touched the dimple in that cheek. When she stumbled, he reached out to catch her, but found himself caught instead; by that magically-imbued arm. The crook of his elbow consisted of his sleeve's folded cuff, and then the bare skin of his forearm. His lips closed and his jaw tensed slightly, but he assisted the woman with relative ease. After all, he was strong and she was terribly petite. His fingers curled under her elbow and he simply bent his own slightly, easing her back onto her feet. " Whoops, careful there."

Sabrina pulled back hard. His fingers would have been met with the sensation of falling; derived from a feeling of fear she was about to fall and multiplied tenfold and then inflicted upon that single touch in an instant. Whatever degree, slight or panic inducing being relative to any natural ability he possessed-if any such thing existed. She pulled her arm away harder than likely necessary, but her cheeks flush at her rudeness. She quietly muttered something akin to ‘please don’t touch me.’ But it was said in a matter that made her more sheltered than anything. The sensation he would have received was probably enough to tell him why she said what she said. “Better just to let me fall.” She admits nervously.

Krice 's fingers sprung open when Sabrina pulled her arm away, which was fine with him; that odd sensation prickled in his fingers and caused him to shake his hand out in instant reaction. He had no time to think about it, no time to conceal in favour of protecting Sabrina's feelings. Looking down at his hand, the warrior could almost visibly trace the sensations as they traveled up his arm, spiraling around and in-between his radius and ulna and gripping the muscles that flanked the bones. With his brows lowered in a troubled frown, he huffed out a breath and shook his hand out again, lifting his gaze over to Sabrina as he offered on a tremulous breath, " That's an interesting ability." Interesting, but clearly affective; he pressed his lips together and gestured with his right hand to the northeast. " Anyway," more unsteady speech, though he tried to maintain composure. " There's the lodge." He turned from Sabrina to walk southward at a brisk pace, marked by intermittent, mini-stumbles that interrupted his stride.

Sabrina would understand his need to make haste, she had that effect on people. Hardly an ability though, more like a curse. She watched him go, still a smile was offered. She seemed particularly agreeable person even when people take their leave. She acknowledged the direction of the lodge, but decidedly chose the path toward Frostmaw. “Thank you.” She called out to him, the song of the Elvish words ringing lightly ‘pon his keen ears. He seemed nice, she would write about it later.

Krice continued walking until he heard Sabrina's called out gratitude. He turned, squinted into the wintry distance, and noticed that she wasn't heading for Raphaline's lodge at all, but rather, straight for Frostmaw. After swallowing, getting his bearings, the warrior turned to face the north and watched Sabrina go, his right hand clutching at his left wrist."