Trouble in Town (Mei XiaXue)

[Sachi]

It had been a while since Sachi last had an opportunity to get out of the palace. Lets see, the last time had probably been when Lady Ren asked her too clean the windows. She had gotten a rope and repelled off the walls to clean the outside of her ladies windows, the ones that faced the river. At least before someone had spotted her and promptly yelled at her to climb back up. She wasn't quite sure why they had been so mad, she had only been trying to carry out her orders, like a good girl should.

Or that time she had ended up traveling to Pu Yang after she was asked to have a letter sent to Gu Yong's brother who lived their. She had naturally wanting to be of service traveled the whole way herself to make sure it arrived, having quite the adventure in the process. She had been yelled at then too when she got back, apparently Gu Yong had meant for her to give the letter to a courier. Again she had only been trying to be helpful but had perhaps misunderstood what she had been asked to do. The moral of this story of course was that it was best to be careful exactly what you said to the young girl called Sachi. Today she had come down to the city's busy market district on orders from Lady Ren, you could call it a supply mission of sorts. She needed to pick up some food for her lady's next hunting trip as well as some new cleaning supplies while she was at it. For once she was determined that nothing would go wrong, hopefully...maybe. Unfortunately she ran into trouble almost right away.

Not every merchant who came to do business in the city seemed to be honest or trustworthy, it seemed Sachi had ran into just such an individual. She headed over to a stall sealing fruit, specifically peaches that were quite popular with the local noble women including the princess. The merchant was quite well aware of this and when he spotted Sachi heading over, he seemed to sense money heading his way as well. Along with a naive looking girl who he could take advantage of. When she asked his price her dared to suggest. "10 silver." for one crate of fruit.

"10...don't you think thats asking too much?" Sachi asked, despite her tendency to be an air head she was actually quite bright, she sensed she was being conned right away. The merchant acted shocked at the suggestion however.

"Little girl you seem to be unaware the times we live in, the common people are almost without food and yet here you are surprised the price of peaches has gone up. Such ignorance, you should be please to pay even this little." The large fruit salesmen said. He towered over Sachi who was only 4'9 feet and he sensed that he could probably bully her into paying the asking price. He nodded his head toward a second large man who was standing to the side, a business partner of his, the man moved up behind Sachi to stop her backing away from the deal. She was starting to get the feeling this was some sort of criminal set up. An intimidation racket perhaps? Sachi started to look around for some guardsmen but their were no around, she sighed deeply...she didn't want to cause any trouble but it seemed trouble had a way of finding her.

Words: 604
Location: Jian Ye Market
Outfit: Wearing her standard Maid uniform
Tag: Mei XiaXue

[Mei XiaXue]

for i can't seem to find Sachi

XiaXue yawned. It wasn't even evening and she was tired. Probably because of the papers. She cracked her back, as she went through amother letter. After she had taken up the one favor to be the liason for the merchants that involved her seeing the priness, she was stuck dealing with all their problems. Petty ones. Some of them, she understood. A couple disputes had been between where new merchants had set up, poaching on previous space. There was a couple complaints internally that a large male was threatening people, which caused other vendors to lose business. She paused on that one, her mind trying to remember where the man was seen. Near the fresh fruit, in a typically safer part of the market.

XiaXue stood up in the room that had been assigned for the merchant guild headquarters. This wasn't the job she wanted but it kept her actively involved in Wu with war approaching. Mei XiaXue headed toward one of the clerks who was filing away small things like taxes for the kingdom and, more importantly, who had paid for certain spots in the market. Where a merchant set up their goods meant well... a lot for business. She ignored the male as she searched for exactly that, who had paid to get prime spots. As she flicked through the names, her forehead creased. All the names were merchants who were generally trustworthy and even more, they owned actual shops not fareally so intimidation wasn't needed. Great. She'd have to solve this by leaving her mock office.

An hour or so later, after running out of options, XiaXue set out into the marketplace. She stuck mostly to back routes, that had less traffic. She was tired and her robes blew in the wind, exposing her thin pants underneath. And her weapon strapped to her left leg. Mei XiaXue had left her sword back at her house, figuring it wasn't with causing fear. Because she considered this an errand, she had braided her hair back instead of piling it on top of her head.

Being so short and with the path she took, XiaXue didn't run into many people. The people she did run into ignored her, or nodded if they recognized her. It took her a whIle to reach the fruit stalls, which caused her stomach to rumble slightly. She should have grabbed something to eat, now that she thought about it. She nodded to a couple merchants as she entered the main area of this market area. A couple merchants stopped to discuss small things and she took the time to ask about the complaint. One or two mentioned that customers were complaining about money spent at one of the more popular stalls. She didn't get much detail, but she did leave with a slightly squished peach that she ate as she walked. And jackpot.

As she was finishing her fruit, she overheard a male who reminded her of an overfeed pig talk loudly to a young child . As she approached the situation,she realized it wasn't a child but a female. One shorter than her. Part of her wanted to say fine and walk away but as she saw another large male block of the female'suggested escape, she realized this might be the complaint she had been looking to solve. Rolling her shoulders, she tossed the core of her peach into one of the cases the merchant was selling, knowing it'd qget his attention. " We have a problem sir?" She asked, tilting her head up to look at the male in his face. She was short but not as tiny as the female it'd seem she would protect .

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[Sachi]

Sachi turned her head a few times still looking out for any guardsmen, this was the heart of the market after all but still, their was no one in sight. Which was no doubt why this brute felt he could get away with being so openly intimidating, he didn't think he could be punished for it. Sachi lightly bit her lip lightly she didn't want this to come to violence, not because she was exactly worried about her safety, it was more than honestly...she didn't want to have to hurt anyone else. Sure she might not look like she had any idea about fighting what so ever and one would be forgiven for thinking that. She was after all pretty short, wearing a maid uniform and had pink hair to top it off. However she was also one of Sun Ren's maids, so she actually knew more than a bit about defending herself. She had once been instructed to learn how to fight and so obediently she had spent hours every day training, that was just how she was. When someone asked her to do something she always did it, no matter what, after all she had to be a good girl.

Of course she could just pay him the money he was asking but...it was not her money to give away freely, it belonged to Lady Ren who had entrusted it too her. If she gave it away that would make her a bad girl as well. Which was something she had to avoid at any cost, if she wanted to keep her nightmares at bay. So what choice did she have really? Just as she was starting to think this could not help but end badly someone arrived to her rescue. Sachi looked over her shoulder, turning her head just far enough to see who had come to help. Her blue eyes settled on a women she seemed quite short although taller than her, with long braided black hair. From her clothes Sachi guessed she was probably a noble or wealthy merchants daughter, she didn't seem to be armed either. "We have a problem sir?" The women or perhaps it should be lady said as she interrupted the two men who had surrounded Sachi.

The duo had a choice to make now, back down and let her and her money go or attempt to harass both of them. The first man who was still standing behind his stall took a moment to look around the market. His gesture was obvious, he was looking for guards who might attempt to stop him. Clearly having seen the coast was clear he smiled confidently. He was up against two short unarmed females after all. The odds seemed very much in his favor. "Looks like you wanna buy some fruit too lass, how much silver you got on you?" He demanded of Mei XiaXue, cracked his neck trying to look threatening. Perhaps his greed was getting the better of him.

The man behind Sachi reached out placing a firm hand on her shoulder, to stop her from trying to run. It was only then in reaction to this that she finally moved. Quick as a striking snake her hand shot out grabbing the hand that was holding her still. It didn't look like she was putting much force into her grip but the man's face crumpled in obvious pain as his hand twitched pitifully. Sachi had pressed her fingers against two pressure points in his hand, at this point his hand was effective disabled. He could not longer clench his muscles as long as she maintained her grip, in fact he could hardly move a finger, if she pressed down on the nerves she could cause him quite a bit of pain as well. When you knew what you were doing, even someone as innocent and frail looking as Sachi could be quite difficult to handle, literally in this case. "Please don't touch me." She requested politely.

The man behind the fruit stall seemed quite alarmed by the look on his friends face, he reached under the stall with one hand pulling out a short knife, not the sort you used to cut fruit either. "Don't either of you cause trouble now." He warned both of them seemingly quite willing to use force to get what he wanted.

Words: 733
Tag: Mei XiaXue

[Mei XiaXue]

for i can't seem to find Sachi

Her eyes scanned the market. No guards, no prominent members of the merchant guild she dealt with. So this was going to be fun. Not. Her eyes went over the young girl and back over. Wait. Pink hair. She wanted to comment and say something, even ask but now wasn't the time. And the girl looked pretty helpless. She took those few seconds to look the female up and down.

XiaXue felt like she recognized the outfit she wore... similar to the female's who had surrounded Sun Ren during that meetinhe. Odd. If she had heard correctly, all the female's maids were trained to fight and protect the princess so why did this girl look so helpless? Maybe the princess pitied her or felt bad. Either way, Mei XiaXue was here now.

She turned her attention to one of the males who cracked his neck and tried to intimidate her into giving him money for fruits. She smiled. It wasn't a polite one. Her facial features seemed more prominent, outlining her cheekbones and her eyes turned into almost slits, the silver blue peeking out. She rolled her shoulders and bringing her hands together in front of her cracked the knuckles of each finger. One by one. Drawing attention to the sharpened red tips that looked almost stained by blood. Two could play at this game.

"I'm sure this business of yours, which could have had a chance to be legitimate, will be shut down shortly. I can't exactly see any fellow merchants being kind to you, considering you're trying to con your own out of money," She talked down to him deliberately, speeking in a voice that carried and drew attention from others. Guards might not be near, but a good scene lingered on lips for days to come. Better than a scene with the guards.

Her eyes diverted from the male for a small second, to Sachi. The girl looked like she was involved in the start of a minor altercation with the thug type merchant. But the man behind the fruit stalls was XiaXue's main concern. He was the leader and when he pulled out his knife, she laughed softly.

So this was how it was going to go down. Well, she didn't need weapons to win this fight. "Please stop hiding behind that stall and act like a man," She provoked him.

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[Sachi]

The man behind the stall scowled deeply, he really had been expecting them both to give in at this point, the look of cold steel tended to have that effect on people, but this young lady was surprising stubborn, even goading him to come at her. He had not planned for this much trouble honestly. After this he was going to have to move his stall for a while, he could not afford for the guards to investigate. You see he was what those in the business called a 'fence'. His entire line of goods was stolen, the local pirates who were still independent of Wu at least sold to him and he then sold it back to the people of the south land's at a tidy profit. If they found out where his wares were coming from, he would probably hang for it. Given the situation he figured his best option was to shut this girl up and the maid as well, then pick up shop for a while. Besides his pride as a man meant he was not going to back down to any women.

"Don't think i will let you off easy!" He yelled as he pushed a cart of fruit out of the way to get at XiaXue, before swinging powerfully at her with his knife. He wasn't exactly an experienced fighter but was well built and strong. The sort that pirate groups tended to attract.

The other man was still grimacing in pain at the grip Sachi had on his hand, cursing her he yelled. "Let go of me you little bitch." as he tried to yank his hand free. As he pulled back she let him go as he staggered away from her holding his hand, it was numb all the way up to the elbow. She had held down on the pressure spots and nerves long enough that he would not recover any feeling for a little while yet. "Certainly". She said having complied with his request, she smiled in a way that seemed to infuriate him even more. Decided to take her out he started a large swing with his other hand, meaning to knock her to the ground. Knowing she had no choice but to fight Sachi stepped into action.

Instead of backing away as he would expect, she stepped into the attack hitting his hand across the wrist mid swing totally stopping him momentum dead. As he gasped in surprise she grabbed his cloth shirt pulling him towards her, the man stepped back trying to yank himself free. As soon as he moved she reversed her pull and turned it into a push, when pushed when they expected to be pulled anyone but a true expert would lose their balance. This was just basic martial arts of course. While the man was flailing it took only a simple kick at his legs to cause him to tumble onto the ground. But she wasn't done with him yet. She tried to grab him around the neck but he shifted under her trying to move to the side, not wanting those small hands that had done so much damage to his hand anywhere near his throat. A good counter but in this case he would have done better to try and tackle her. As he moved she grabbed his good arm and circled around to his back. Holding his arm upwards by the wrist and elbow she pushed down with her knee into his back, forcing him face first into the ground. Now she only had to pull back just a little harder on his arm to dislocate it or even break it, despite the physical differences in their strength, he was totally immobilized. "You brat." He spat before she began to twist his arm, crying out in pain he began to beat on the ground with his remaining arm to signal for mercy. Sachi looked up instead to see how her rescue would handle the other man.

Words: 671
Tag: Mei XiaXue

[Mei XiaXue]

for i can't seem to find Sachi

So this was how things were going to play out. That was fine with her. The shady merchant didn't want to give in and neither did his friend it appeared. Fine by her, it was better than being in that office during paperwork. Huh. Would the guild be upset by the way she handledidn't the situation if it caused too much of a commotion? Probably. Did she honestly care? Doubtful.

When the angry male shoved the fruit cart out of the way she sent a quick thank you to whatever existed above for being so small. Because of it, she was light on her feet and spinning to the right to avoid the male's weapon as he swung at her. He was much larger than she was, which didn't exactly say much but still. It gave him an advantage. Or so he thought. Being quick on her feet, she hoped up on the cart that had previously held fruits and when pushed out of the way, had landed at an awkward angle. Using the momentum from her little jump, she landed behind him and raked her hands down his shoulders and the tops of his arms.

Her hands felt a quick discomfort as her nails dug in and drew blood from their sharp tips. She smiled to herself, as all her tension slowly began to drain out of her as she pulled her arms back to get away from him to avoid his next attack with the weapon. Attached to her left calf was her own knife and she could wield it well. However, despite the easy access with the almost unnoticeable slits in her robes, she didn't want to end up losing control and killing him. That would be a bad trial. So instead, she ducked slightly to avoid the next attack and dropped down to her hands, swinging her legs under her body in a circular motion to knock the overly large man off his feet. Her hands hurt, small pebbles digging into them but she ignored it. She didn't have time for it. She settled her legs in front of her and pushed off the ground to land on her feet in a small crouch. She straightened uo, reminding herself to not lose control.

XiaXue kicked out at the man's wrist, to knock the weapon out his hand. She stepped on his wrist. It couldn't hurt him that bad, she wasn't heavy but still. It would keep him immobile as she used her other leg to plant it on the man's chest.

"So should we properly introduce ourselves now or would you like to wait till the authorities arrivd?"[/b* she asked, pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. They had caused quite a commotion from their little fight. She looked over to the girl she had though to rescue and wanted to chuckle. So the girl could handle herself. Her opponent was on the ground as well, in pain. Wasn't that amusing.

XiaXue looked up and caught the eye of someone who looked vaguely familiar. A member of the merchants guild or someone, if she thought correctly. She raised an eyebrow at him and motioned toward the two males, waiting for him to get the guards as she turned her attention back to he man underneath her.

She hadn't had this much fun since well.... when she had spent the time on the ships and crashing port cities. She smiled and watched a small drop of blood that hadn't fully dried drop from her nail and onto her robes. Damn. That'd be a pain to have cleaned.

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[Sachi]

Sachi raised her free hand over her heart as she took a deep breath now the fighting appeared to be over, trying to calm down after the excitment. She had not exactly learned these skills on her own initiative, she had down so only because it had been asked of her, part of her duty serving Lady Ren was to protect her after all. Yet she could not deny they had come in helpful every so often, they even allowed her to help others when they were in danger. So in a way she was happy she had learned martial arts, it allowed her to be of more service to others. Yet today someone else had helped her, coming to her rescue, although she may not have needed it as much as one would think looking at her. She was still quite grateful indeed. Becasue of things that had happened during her childhood, Sachi had quite a low opinion of herself, the idea anyone would come to help someone like her, it was a nice feeling. She could not stand up, needing to kept her pinning hold on the man she was holding down, so she simply spoke.

"Thank you very much for helping me, i didn't expect anyone but the city guards would help someone." Sachi thanked XiaXue quite earnestly. After watching her dispatch the other man who was probably a fake merchant. Now she had a chance to get a better look at the Lady she had fine clothes so Sachi assumed she was someone important. She was also nearly as short as Sachi herself, quite unusual and maybe a few years older. She had no idea who she was so Sachi decided to introduce herself first. "Umm my name is Sachi by the way, Kazuki Sachi. To who do i owe my thanks?" She asked.

The thug who was now helpless on the ground before XiaXue meanwhile glared up at her with bitter defeated eyes. He knew he was going to be arrested now at which point the guards and merchants guild would no doubt fine out his wares were all stolen. He might even get the rope for this, but their was at least one comforting though. "Don't think you will get away with this. I have friends who see you pay." He threatened XiaXue although he was clearly too beaten up to even move anymore.

Words: 405
Tag: Mei XiaXue

[Mei XiaXue]

for i can't seem to find Sachi

XiaXue took a deep breath as she looked at the scum underneath her. How people ended up like this, she didn't know. And how they thought intimidation tactics would work, she never understood. People grew up and became hard, she noticed. Even at the age of twenty one, XiaXue knew she was colder than most and would kill without batting an eyelash. Was it right? Probadly not. But she had stopped questioning moral decisions since she had been left on her own.

She turned her attention to the pink haired girl and nodded in response to her thanks. She was about to respond but there was a commotion coming there. She turned her attention to three guards, one of whom she recognized who was normally stationed near the guild. She was going to step off the male, but he threatened her. XiaXue lauged. Most people wouldnt. She however, didn't care. She shifted one of her feet to his nose and applied pressure until there was a satisfying crunch. Knowing the man had to be in pain and wouldn't have a chance to attack, especially with guards on the way, she moved and crouched near him, balanced on her toes, knees forward. She moved aside her robe to expose the weapon she had carried on her this whole time for him to see.

"let your friends do their worst. You aren't the only one who has friends," She said in a calm, even voice. She straightened up, letting her robes fall back over her weapon. She faced one of the guards and gestured with her hand to remove the trash from her sight. She wasn't a noble but she knew how to act toward scum. Being on the streets had taught her that much.

As the guards went to the man she had dealt with, she turned to Sachi. "Mei XiaXue," She introduced herself without saying much more, nodding to the girl. She shrugged her shoulders. "Scum like this cause the guild problems. I don'the need them sending me to the princess again over something petty."

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[Sachi]

Sachi finally let go of the thugs arm as the guards arrived, the bandit was smart enough not to make any fuss while they dragged him away, perhaps because his arm had already been nearly wrenched out of it's socket. Sachi had been careful not to do any lasting harm of course, she was perhaps too nice a person for her own good but she could not help be other than she was. It was a naive way of looking at what was really quite a harsh world but Sachi was herself quite aware of that, her current attitude had been greatly shaped by the demons in her own past. She suspected this women, XiaXue might have something of a tale of her own...not many women could handle themselves in a fight like that. In fact she might even be better than Lady Ren...not that Sachi intended to bring up the comparison in front of her lady. Princess had their pride after all.

She was quite curious who XiaXue really was, even more so when she mentioned having been to see the princess, which could only be Sachi's own employer Lady Ren. It was a shame she had not been attending to Lady Ren at the time, but then her lady had quite a few maids. Also Sachi's eccentric tendencies did take her away from the palace quite a bit. She wondered if that meant XiaXue was a warrior in service to Wu, she clearly had the skills. yet she also seemed to be connected with the local merchants as well, quite unusual. Not that Sachi was in a position to accuse anyone else of being strange. "I'm sorry, i hope you're helping me won't cause you any trouble." Sachi said thinking about the threats the man had made. Quite bold for a man being arrested, or foolish given it had gotten him a broken nose. 

"The Princess? Do you work for Lady Sun Ren then Lady Xiaxue?" She asked, as she was familiar with most of Wu's higher up's so she figured she would probably already have known this women, unless she joined up only very recently.

Words: 364
Tag: Mei XiaXue

[Mei XiaXue]

for i can't seem to find Sachi

Her eyes lingered on the guards as they carefully took control of the two men who had caused problems. If these men really did have friends, there was a chance that they could be out of trouble within hours and well... back causing trouble. Part of her was concerned. There was a decent amount of children who had been displaced, to say nicely, due to the ongoing conflicts. And they would do a lot to make even a couple coins, put something warm in their stomach. And men like these.... She felt her temper spike just a little bit and she had to remind herself that it was a fact of life that she had to deal with it. Maybe the guild for once would stand up and help them. doubtful. But still.

She almost let herself laugh when Sachi asked if she worked for Sun Ren. Hell no, she did not. She wasn't the type to be stuck in a palace all day doing the bidding of well.... Anyone. Sure as a warrior for Wu she did their bidding anyone. But it wasn't for well.. personal gains. "Giving you help won't cause me any trouble. Or at least, any trouble I can't handle for that reason," She smiled as she said it. Wiping the dried blood from her nails, she sighed, knowing she'd have to either deal with the stains herself or Pay well for the blood to be removed.

"No, I do not work for the princess. Well... I serve Wu, but I'm acting as a liaison for the merchants guild." she shrugged as she said it, not being a big matter to her.

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