Who: Tristan and Solvei What: Tristan is caught in the act! Madness ensues. Where: New York
Tristan was finally beginning to truly get used to the fact that this new place was much freer than the one he'd left. It was nice not to have to worry about crossing anyone's territory lines, despite the fact that he was usually never antagonized. Most new better than to cross him over something so minor.
Still, the air felt somehow freer in New York than he remembered. He'd taken a portkey there from London--another wholly new and fascinating experience--and then took his time, walking through the city toward his old neighborhood. He couldn't rein in his curiosity at how different the place might be.
The sky was just edging toward full darkness. The streetlights had all come on and the lights in shop windows reflected off the wet streets. Tristan was scanning the crowd, but idly. No rush. He was waiting for an opportunity to present itself.
He turned from a main thoroughfare onto a more deserted street--and there was opportunity in the flesh. The street had a few cars parked along the sides, and about halfway down the block he could see two figures between a pair of parked cars. As he got closer, he made out a man and a woman. The man appeared to be holding the woman up against her car, struggling with her. They were both eerily silent.
He got closer and was finally able to see what they were doing. The man was wearing dark clothes and a hat low on his head, the woman dressed up, as though she were just heading out somewhere. She had her car keys in one hand. The man was holding her up against the car by her neck, choking her while at the same time trying to take her keys from her. Her grasp around them was white-knuckled. Thus were they deadlocked.
It was a simple thing to remove the man, really. Tristan walked up behind him and took him by the shoulders, wheeling him around and into the other car. The woman screamed as soon as the hand left her neck, gasping for air, unable to see what was happening because Tristan was moving so quickly. She lashed out with her keys at what appeared to be a new assailant. She caught Tristan on the arm, gashing him with the ragged edge, but he seemed not to notice. By the time he turned to face her, the man was unconscious on the ground, and the wound had already healed.
He stretched out a hand to the shivering woman. "Are you hurt?"
She watched him, wide-eyed for a moment, then ran around the the drivers side and dove into her car, pulling away with a squeal of tires. She barely misses hitting him as she left.
Well. It wasn't exactly the reaction he might have hoped for, but at least she was safe.
He turned his attention back to the man on the ground and deliberated for only a moment before picking him up by the collar and dragging him into a nearby alley. He propped him up against the wall as soon as he got to a spot that seemed dark enough, and drank deep and guiltlessly.