ATTITUDE CITY -- open

<sup>Andi sighed. Would she really have to go through the whole explanation stage of talking to him? Miyu should have known that she wouldn't want to talk. Considering herself more mature than others of her age, she would be able to make her own decisions, without having to speak to anybody else about them.

"Miyu, you know me... I'm not going to get hurt, or anything!" That was a lie. She was completely ready for getting hurt, and fighting others. She could always just say she tripped while running after a few blocks from whatever store she had stolen from. "I just, uh, noticed we were running a bit low on some food, so I was gonna, y'know, get some for us!"

She could only hope that would work. After all, she was going to pick up food. If she had time, anyways. "I'll be back before midnight, probably!" She quickly added on. That would make her seem trustworthy, and she would never outright lie to Miyu about anything like that. No, she would only lie about the details, and try to pass off the bruise that she would surely get on her cheek as just an accident while trying to stuff something into her coat.

So, the girl decided that she would then turn, and run off towards the more urban areas of the city. Which she did.</sup>

Miyu's determination took a U-turn at someone else's abrupt arrival, said stranger looming up before Andraste with a decidedly darkly amused smile - at least, into an entirely different lane even if still along the same vein. The brunet could hardly whittle down a harsh gasp, instead sucking the breath in and throwing his upper half back to skid into an abrupt sliding stop mid-air; it didn't go well, leading him into keeling rather miserably over and hacking on spit swallowed down the wrong chute, Miyu feebly holding up a finger while he bent double and coughed for a few good long moments with his wings keeping him up rather amenably. 

Ugh, give him a moment. Wheeeeeze ....

Then he was shooting upright again, still with that pointing finger, and instead wildly channeled it into the - angel's? - direction. Now, it was determination all channeled toward being a meat shield. 'Hey! Back off!' he yelled, pushing off once more to glide protectively in front of and above Andraste. 'What are you playing at? Who are you?'

He did falter somewhat at the other winged being's appearance - regal, hardly hidden by the legitimate crown he wore silver and starkly evident, cast in an almost divine glow and held aloft with gigantic white wings that were the exact antithesis of his own, bat-like and sharply indigo - and especially at the sword that the angel was flippantly testing his grip against, but it wasn't as if he was going to cower and hide behind Andi. At the very least, ready to engage him in midair. As such, Miyu's azure eyes narrowed.

'Andi, let me handle this.' ... Speaking of Andi ... glancing down at her, Miyu almost had a cardiac arrest right then and there. 'Whoa! Wait! You put those sharp things away right now!' he yelped. 'What are you doing? That's really dangerous! Oh geez, what if you cut yourself!'

Show him priorities, please.

Oh, his stars, this is why he didn't - and doesn't - want Andraste to go gallivanting about in this mysterious vaguely terrifyingly open world of wonders. All of this. The cold, for one, and the possibility of Andi getting wildly hurt or otherwise compromised for another, plus the threats of the house actually burning down because this is taking a little longer than he expected and the fact that if their food and house burns then it'll be a couple more coin (on top of, you know, the house) wasted needlessly and he doesn't know if he'll be able to make up for it tomorrow, AS WELL AS other ... creatures ... randomly popping up where they most certainly hadn't been a couple of seconds ago and just casually putting in their own two cents.

From where his gaze was already directed toward the ground to holler down at his sister, Miyu's (alternatively: this dood's) eyes trailed a little further to the left to see ... something that took him a couple of seconds to process. Nope, no anticipatory cliffhanger here. Just a disappointing sentence that may be misread if you skim it too fast and an equally disappointing reaction on Miyu's part. You have been warned.

The horned brunet spasmed in the air.

'AUGH!' he fairly screeched, jerking back with a rapid flit of small bat wings and now wildly throwing his gaze between the angel - right? - and the mysterious ... being ... that was kind of just chilling down there. 'What---?' The demon's heart sped overtime, if it was truly possible for demons to have hearts (and how would he know if he didn't? It was as if he would know what having a heart was like), drilling with the spiked need for alertness - maybe these two were a team? Typically in fighting pairs, one would be the distraction while the other sneaked up from behind ... damn it, he's so stupid, why didn't he see this coming? And yet, conversely, both of them were parading before Andi and himself in plain sight without a care. With a threat, yes, on the birbman's account - the avian in question of which he was very wary of - but, for whatever reason ... carelessly, if their intention was to prey.

Unless they were both distractions for a third threat. Or the third threat was simply themselves confusing both of them to death and then taking the opportunity while they were absolutely mind-boggled to put them in a pot and ...

Hastily did Miyu fold in his wings against the side of his shoes, dropping to the concrete, and at once he backed up in an attempt to shield Andi from the other two, at the same time shrugging off his zippered hoodie and trying to lay it out over Andi's shoulders. She should have dressed better, darn it. In any case, he carefully positioned himself between his sister and the two unknowns in one. 

Though it'd been his intention to, at that point, shoot out something cool - of course, and incredibly brave, majestic and tough, Miyu found that all that could leave his mouth was a blank, 'Uh, amazing godly skills?'

See, Andi. Look at what they could've avoided!

notes clowny herds I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ENTIRELY LOOK AT ALL MY POSTS actually dont RIP

Arguably - and only really arguably if you were looking at it with your head tilted forty-five degrees while squinting and also wearing a skewed pair of Miyu-vision 3D glasses - Miyu's hasty panic would probably work for perhaps a split second, working to fend the others off or at the very least occupy them while Andi did what she did ... second-best. Run away.

What was the thing she did best? The girl would have probably given you different assorted answers herself, such as coming up with strategies or identifying the best songs and singers ever or being damn good at being damn resourceful or being able to avoid Miyu's police dog-like tracker nose (which was true, aurrgh, Andi), but in Miyu's aforementioned select Miyu-vision ... it was a tie between being insanely good at avoiding his police dog-like tracker nose...

Which was, you know, frustrating. And irritating. And deeply worrying. And stressful and a little hurtful and more than enough cause for a little forehead-slash-temple-rubbing when the time came to unwind, flop into his couch and roll around a little with distress for how errant his little sister is, but c'est la vie.

... and being resourceful.

Anything that would give her a headstart.

As it was, the demon entirely froze up at the presumed angel's words, his gaze underlined by deep purple marks under his eyes flashing over to him in less than a nanosecond - very much serene, unmoving and not even contacting his weapon anymore. By all means, his sister was safe now. It'd take him longer to draw his weapon, if he even did, and as always his cockiness would allow her to show him exactly how much you couldn't judge Andraste Fortis-Voluit by her cover.

But it was a threat. Miyu seethed.

'What did you just say?' he spat out, rearing forward a step and glare intensifying at the coldly dispassionate smirk that overcame that winged man's face. Oh no he didn't. ' 'Cause I don't think I like what I heard!'

Don't face off in a verbal battle with Miyu, you'll win.

The brunet bristled with sheer rage because you didn't threaten his little sister like that regardless of whether or not she could defend herself just fine not now Andi just let him be protective over you once okay and almost straight up advanced another step to shout in the airborne winged man's face about just how offended he is before the horned demon stopped dead, an incomprehensible chill running up his spine - no, zapping his nerves, slapping him like intermingled cold water and plain ice bucket challenge in the face, met by the twisting glow of warmth he could feel, emanating and ebbing with all the unpredictable intensity of any regular inferno.

This was no joke. It was real fire, a real threat, and it was aimed directly at his head - right when he'd thought that he could buy Andi at least a second, and that'd been a massive wan underexaggeration on his part, he couldn't manage to dredge up even that. Not when he hadn't even been able to react fast enough; the flames weren't even skimming him, merely flickering soundly in the air directly above the stranger's fingertips ... but the point was the control. That they could have reached him, entirely ignited him, at any second. Could have directly set him on fire, shielding Andi into pretty much a corner as he was, and there was nothing he could do.

Meeting the angel's eyes stirred Miyu up into greater incensed anger.

Oh, man, was that look the angel giving him scary. Seriously. Wow.

Miyu clenched his fists at the SHOW he was being given, nice fingergun directed straight at him and all, and his fury simmered like a boiling pot. 'Don't mess around,' he snapped openly, and made to swat the angel's arm out of the way. Demon, demon. He's a demon. He could totally give this guy whatfor if he wanted to. Ahem. Of course. 'There's no way you could get past me!'

Whatever kept Andi out of it. Whatever kept Andi out of it.

... All he needs is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust.