[Unspecified Wilderness] Startled! (private)

It was by pure chance that Lady Yu stumbled across the camp site. It was even more luck for Kenzan that Lady Yu had been too preoccupied with bemoaning her predicament to notice the unnatural rustling above her head as he settled to observe her and hide amongst the leaves.

The woman drew to a sudden surprised halt as she found herself suddenly upon... well, what would be the proper word to describe it? Habitation? No. Signs of humanity? That was more like it. Lady Yu was so startled, in fact, that she found herself unable to do anything other than draw to a complete halt, observing the setup with an expression of stupefied shock. It took her a few moments to shake the wonder off, and regain a sense of thought.

Her first thought was herself silently questioning who would be mad enough to tolerate living conditions such as these. Her second thought was one of relief, though it was only the faintest sense of it. Perhaps this madman (or madwoman) would be able to direct her back to the proper road, not these little ruts that crisscrossed the forest's path like...

A third thought crossed her mind. Wait. She had never known anyone in their right mind who would live in conditions such as these. No self-respecting citizen would even dream of living out under a tent, with... Actually, she had to admit, the roasting meat smelled awfully good. But! What if this was a camp of bandits?!

Lady Yu suddenly felt very afraid.

Nervously, the woman glanced around the area, suddenly alert for the bandits that she was now suddenly so sure of were lurking about in the nearby brush and foliage. She had never seen a bandit, though her husband had spoken of them once or twice in the past. The tales he had painted were not pleasant ones-- nothing like the heroic bandits of the marsh from tales she had heard of as a child. If she was lucky, perhaps these bandits would let free with only a small ransom. She could not bear to think of what they often did with their victims.

“H-Hello...?”

 Foolish woman! What were you doing? Yet Lady Yu could not help but continue to call out. She certainly had no other option. “Is anybody here...?"

the noblewoman only emitted a small gasp as she found herself roughly forced to the ground, too startled and too afraid to emit even a yelp of surprise. Her large brown eyes were wide with shock and fear, and they widened further when she saw the dagger flashed before her eyes by her otherwise unseen assailant. She could not help but tremble as she found herself engulfed by fear. This was it. This was the end. This bandit was going to violate her, slit her throat, and leave here here for dead in the woods. Of all the ways to go, this had not been one that Lady Yu had ever expected or anticipated.

Tears began to well up in the corner of her eyes, though she willfully held them back. She was frightened-- too terrified to even think properly, but she had enough coherence in her thoughts to decide one thing: she would not give this bandit the pleasure of seeing her cry.

The bandit's hand groped around her figure-- though she noticed curiously that he seemed to be searching for something on her, rather than simply feeling her up for his own vile amusement. She did not know how she came to realize this, yet... It gave her panicked mind something to think about. Something to latch on to, to focus her mind and clear her thoughts. She was still terrified, but the blind fear had passed and she was once again beginning to think in a more rational, normal process. Blinking her tears away, Lady Yu's jaw tightened, her determination setting in.

This bandit was going to pay for scaring her like this. He was also going to pay for forcing her to sully her clothing and hair.

He spoke again, this time seeming to try to interrogate her for... Whatever. She heard the words, yet she did not properly listen to them. She did not care. Lady Yu was quickly working herself into a vicious fury.

“Get.... OFF!" half-screching in rage, Lady Yu violently jerked her head upward, hoping to smash the back of her head against her attacker's face. She then rolled to one side, delivering a fierce elbow to his gut. More or less freed by her retaliation, Lady Yu took the chance to scramble out of his reach before scrambling to a standing position, glaring down at the man with all the indignity and fear she could muster. She was still terrified, but just as she had denied him. The pleasure of seeing her cry, she would certainly deny him the pleasure of seeing the fear in her eyes.

"Who are you?" she demanded with the most imperious voice she could manage. "How DARE you attack me! Just who do you think you are?!"

“Assassin?!” He had to be joking. “ASSASSIN!? Do I look like an assassin to you?”

Having completely given in to her indignant fury, Lady Yu's voice reached a shrill pitch, echoing through the otherwise peaceful forest. “How DARE you make such baseless accusations!” Enraged, she slipped off one of her elegant shoes, and with all her might hurled it at his head. It missed of course, but in the throes of her tantrum Lady Yu did not seem to notice or care. “As if I would be running about these filthy woods, you... you... disgusting pervert!” The memory of him groping her while he had her forced to the ground made her blood even boil. Unsurprisingly, she let out a shriek of rage and flung her other shoe at him.

With no remaining ammunition (she was far too upset to remember she could use earth bending to throw a rock at his face) and her verbal barrage exhausted (for the moment), Lady Yu stood there fixing this man with a devastatingly withering look, panting from the exertion of her tirade and residual fear. After a moment, she let out a large sigh, gave a toss of her hair, and straightened, staring down her nose at him. Barefoot and dirty, the woman could still command an imposing presence when she wanted to.

“Now then,” she began, as if nothing had happened. She was still in an incredibly foul mood, but for the moment Lady Yu seemed to have her temper under control. More or less. “What in the hells are you doing out here, if you're not a bandit or a.... whatever.” This one had a lot of explaining to do. Explaining, and apologizing.

Her expression darkened as he offered his 'helpful' advice. “Thank you,” she replied, her voice all but dripping with venom. “I'll certainly remember that the next time I get separated from my party.” Honestly. Did she look like she was here by choice? No. No she did not. Though, now that he mentioned it, she wished she had insisted her husband had provided her with an armed guard or three. Then they could skin this insolent molester and hang his skin as a banner. Wouldn't that be a lovely thing to see...

Lady Yu let out a short bark of disbelieving laughter at the stranger's excuse. Traveling, indeed! As if any self-respecting traveler would even consider hiding out in the woods like an animal or common criminal! Lady Yu didn't believe his excuse, not one bit! Yet she had no snappy verbal retort, so she left her response to stand as the simple laugh. Let him interpret it as he pleased. She cared not.

When he continued to explain, she finally had her voice. And by voice, what was really meant was her sarcasm-laden retort. “You certainly chose an interesting path to take.” Really. Why skulk about through he woods like this, when there were things known as proper roads? They existed. She had seen them, after all! The Earth kingdom had its fair share of well-traveled roads crisscrossing through it.

Never mind the fact that she herself was lost in these woods well away from those roads. This wasn't the point of the conversation.

She huffed at the offer for food, primly turning her nose up at the offer. While she had to admit the meat did smell good, there was no way she was going to accept this man's offer. She was far too good for that! To accept his food was to offer acceptance, and after his assault on her, she was not going to forgive him so easily. Lady Yu was the sort of woman who fiercely held onto her grudges when presented the opportunity. And this one? Oh yes, she was going to keep it. Especially when this one hadn't even bothered to apologize for what he had done! Ugh, did all commoners behave this rudely?

“No thank you,” she finally replied curtly with a dismissive hand wave. “I want you to keep your distance. Telling me where the nearest village is will suffice.” It wouldn't, but she wanted away from him and his supposedly generous offer. That would be enough for her today. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”