Backfired Thieving

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The sidewalks of New York City were packed with people, as they normally were during the later parts of the afternoon on a sunny day. The crowds were packed close together, pushing against one another often. The combination of these factors made it a perfectly good opportunity for Aaron to try out some easier ways to fund himself. Sitting on a bench just by the outside of Central Park, he had been watching the people walk by and trying to get himself ready to make an attempt. Normally he stuck to picking locks on safes or doors and taking some money, but he figured trying something new would be a good idea.
"Excuse me, sorry." He mumbled as he got up and moved into the crowd, walking along. Okay, don't panic. Just trip, go for the pocket, grab something and go. He thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he stumbled, falling forward and bumping into a man who seemed to be fairly dressed up, probably walking back to work after a break. "Sorry about that." Aaron mumbled as he pulled out something from the suit pocket. The man just grumbled in reply and continued to walk. Smirking, Aaron left the crowd again and moved towards a bench, looking to see that what he had grabbed was a wallet. He sat down and opened it up, finding some cash inside. Well, that worked well. He thought as he looked back at his surroundings to see if there was anyone else he could find that would have something good on them.

"Well no. Not yet. Recently out of education. Despite being good with computers no one will give you a job unless you have proof so I needed some decent qualifications. I have an interview a couple days from now," she replied, "Then again you probably don't want to hear about what i've been up to whilst you've been pickpocketing..."
She sighed, "Sorry, that probably sounded rude."
Claudia blinked, looking from Aaron to the sky and back again in a few seconds, "Uhm... how about we get a coffee or something instead of standing around in the middle of central park." she smiled awkwardly, motioning to the park's exit with one hand.

"Well there you go! I don't exactly have experience either, so that rules me out." Aaron commented, already picking out a point for his argument. He continued to listen and chuckled when she made her comment about his pickpocketing.
"Don't worry, it's not really rude. I am interested though, and I happen to have some money on me. Sure, that sounds like a good idea." He answered, looking back out towards the streets. "But first, know anywhere we can go? Because I don't." He continued, trying to remember any coffee places he may have seen nearby.

"Ah... There's a coffee shop just down the street," she replied cheerfully, "It shouldn't take long to get there and the coffee's good so, yea." She chuckled, leading Aaron out of the park and wandering down the street at a leisurely pace.
"So if you did decide to stay in one place and get a job, what sort of job would it be?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Well that sounds good, lead the way." Aaron joked as he followed Claudia back onto the street, walking with her to whatever coffee place it was they were heading. When she asked him about what he would want to do he had to think for a few moments, unsure of the answer.
"I don't really know actually. I can't see myself doing anything else then what I'm doing now. If I needed something then maybe something easy, with people." He suggested, continuing to think. "What's your job interview for?" He followed up with.

Claudia remained silent for a few moments as Aaron thought, but then answered his question.
"It's for a small IT job for Rylertech. I'm hoping maybe if I can get enough money and experience I might be able to fund my own private company someday. Though that's obviously a long way away, and everyone's gotta start small," she smiled. She never really revealed her ambitions to people. Even Béacenfýr was often in the dark when it came to her aspirations and in fact, Claudia thought she could hear a faint chuckle from him.

Upon reaching the coffee shop, Claudia was about to lead the way inside when she spotted a young man roughing up a woman nearby. Pausing her journey to their decided destination, she instead turned and headed towards them.
"Hey!" she called as she moved closer.

"Well, I guess everyone can dream. I think you're in a good position to do that, as long as certain things don't come and wreak havoc in the city and-wait, where are you going? Claudia, wait!" Aaron had started talking, wanting her to get even more confidence in what she wanted to do. It was something that Aaron figured he couldn't do, and if someone else had hope in it and succeeded maybe he could think about it differently. And that was when some punk idiot was seen by her harassing a woman.
"Of all the times..." Aaron mumbled to himself. He had been looking forward to something to drink, but now that had to wait. It wasn't Claudia's fault, he probably would have helped out too. No, he blamed the guy. As he and Claudia approached, another guy came over and bumped into the first, before turning and noticing the two people heading towards them. "Don't you have anything better to do? Get out of here!" Aaron called over to the two guys attacking the woman.

"I'd leave her alone if I were you," blinked Claudia, calmly. She had stopped a few metres or so from the two gang members. They were identifiable as such by the tattoos on the first guy's bare arms.
"Oh yea, why should we?" the first yelled. It was unclear as to whether he was answering Aaron of Claudia... or maybe he was answering both at the same time. Either way, Claudia didn't seem to like his answer. She was glaring at him, her eye contact not wavering.

"Now what is it you fear," she wondered, muttering to herself. There was always the general stuff, the police, rival gangs. She decided to start with that. Most would run away at that without having to dig any deeper.
She crafted a distant siren, heard only by two pairs of ears. The second gang member to appear on the scene was visibly scared by the idea that the police might show up any minute, whilst the first wasn't all that bothered.

Whilst this was happening, what looked to be a trail flowing red particles seemed to wind itself around the two men. The particles twisted through the air like the lithe movements of a serpent, acting in unison and infecting both men's senses. They were, however, only seen by those looking close enough to notice the abnormality.

Aaron watched as Claudia talked to the gang members, and didn't seem to have any luck with scaring them off. Something seemed to make them nervous, but Aaron couldn't hear what it was. He reached around to the back of his shirt and grabbed his Luger, but instead hit a button to eject the "cartridge", which really was a small handheld taser.
"Well, maybe you should leave because I have a taser, and I don't think you do." He calmly retorted, pulling his taser out into sight and sending a few charges through it, making the end spark with electricity. He hoped that that alone would scare them off, but in case it didn't he didn't have a taser for no reason.

Unfortunately, instead of retreating, the first of the two guys instead turned on Aaron and Claudia, advancing menacingly at a rather fast pace. The other one, not wanting to be reprimanded later by the first, also began to close in.

Claudia, now focusing on the first of the two, delved deep into his fears. Using her power and not losing her eye contact with him, Claudia crafted an illusion around him. The red tendrils extended around his body, weaving around him until they reached his face. It infected his eyes, the particles masking truth from illusion, unaffecting to everyone but this one man.

The effect on him was rather extreme, even by Claudia's usual standards. He seemed to freeze up all of a sudden, looking around, fear depicted in both his facial expression and body language. Claudia's own green gaze hardened at the sight of him cracking under the fear. The woman from before had already run off, not wanting to be involved in the incident.

Aaron blinked, watching them move towards him and Claudia. Taser at the ready, he looked at the first guy, who seemed to be starting to panic. Aaron figured it had to do with Claudia, but asking would have to wait. Seeing the second guy advance, Aaron pulled his taser in front of him and jabbed at him, aiming to give him a good shock in the chest. Hopefully it would be enough to knock him out, but not kill him. Aaron tried to ignore the other man, but he seemed to be cracking under pressure, and He couldn't help but feel slightly disturbed and mesmerized by it.

As Claudia focused on the first of the two men, she seemed to block out everything around her, keeping her gaze focused in order to keep up her intense illusions. The man, still being swarmed with thin red serpents, had lost his grip with whatever inner strength remained and had cracked. He was crouched on the ground, his cries and screams echoing through the street as he experienced the torments of the illusion he believed to be real.

"Leave."

Claudia's forest green gaze finally let up on the man as she spoke in a harsh tone. One word and it had the man scrambling to his feet and attempting to get away from the area as fast as he possibly could. As he ran, the red serpents decayed into smaller groups of particles. It gave the appearance of a thin, red aura, lingering as the man finally fled the scene.

Aaron's taser had made contact with the second man, sending out some sparks and causing the man's body to spasm until dropping to the ground, unconscious. Looking back to Claudia and the first man, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for him. Whatever Claudia had done, it definitely worked. He was about to say something when he realized that there was an unconscious gang member and a screaming one, which would both attract plenty of unwanted and unneeded attention.
"So...looks like coffee's going to have to wait. We should probably get out of here." Aaron suggested, shoving his taser in his pocket and reminding himself to ask Claudia about her powers later on.

Claudia, looking to Aaron, nodded.
"I think that's probably a good idea."

Choosing the exact opposite direction from where the gang member she had scared off had gone, Claudia walked quite briskly away from the coffee shop. She didn't really want to explain to the people who had seen the man scream, exactly what had happened.
"Sorry..." she sighed after turning a corner into the next street, "We would probably be drinking coffee rather than running away if i'd just left him alone."

Aaron nodded back to Claudia, before turning and following her as she walked by the various bystanders. All the way Aaron mumbled various things to the effect of "Sorry, excuse me, careful..." to the people they passed. After turning the corner Aaron leaned against the wall and shrugged in response to Claudia.
"Well yeah, but that woman would still be in trouble. We couldn't just stand by and do nothing." He said, smiling at the ground slightly.

"I guess," she smiled, happy that at the very least they had helped the woman instead of leaving her to the thugs.
Claudia, you should probably be on the look out for Gales after that. If there were any nearby they would definitely have sensed your magic, the Phoenix pointed out, Claudia just nodding in response.
"Do you know any safer places to go in the city?" she asked Aaron all of a sudden. She figured that they should probably lay low for a few hours whilst this all blew over. At least then the very real risk of Gales could be avoided.