fandomtownies | The Fourth Sin, Friday Night

The door opened quietly, revealing someone most likely unfamiliar to Jarod. She tried to appear lost and slightly upset.

"Can I help you?" Jarod looked up and noticed her expression. "Are you okay?"

"I think I've gotten lost," she said shakily. "I wandered away from my friends on the road and I think they left without me."

Jarod walked around the counter to lead her inside. "Do you know where they were going? I don't have a car, so I can't drive you, but you can call them from here."

"Unfortunately, I don't," she said, looking pitiful. "I think they think this is quite funny and they'll come back for me tomorrow. I might have to stay here tonight."

"Do you have a place to stay?" He asked with some concern.

"I was hoping there might be some empty rooms here. We were going house hunting. Are there any empty houses I could look at?" she said. "If not, I suppose I'll have to walk to the next town."

"This...isn't quite a hotel," Jarod tried to explain, "but there's one in town. I can walk you over there, if you'd like? I think they usually have spare rooms. Um, or there's a couple of old houses around here somewhere. I don't remember exactly where, but I don't mind the fresh air if you don't."

He offered his hand. "I'm Jarod, by the way."

"Koasa," he said, taking his hand softly. "And what is this place? It looks like a hotel."

She paused a moment before saying, "And the fresh air would be welcome, I think. Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone and show up my friends. Take a look at the houses on the way to the hotel?"

"That's very pretty," Jarod smiled at her. "And, er, it's a brothel. Would you like to take a look around, or should we head out? I'll just leave a note at the desk."

"Oh." She made herself blush, trying to keep up appearances as the prototypical damsel in distress. "I think we can skip the tour. I'd like to head out, if we could."

"Absolutely," he hung up a sign that said "Back by 9:00, don't go upstairs without accompaniment" and left it on the desk. "Shall we?" He offered her his arm.

"Absolutely," she echoed, taking his arm. "Thank you for your kindness, Jarod. I don't know what I would've done without it."

"I'm sure you would have found someone," Jarod said gallantly as they walked out of the Sin. "This is a very helpful kind of town. So, are you thinking of moving here permanently?"

"Perhaps," she answered, breathing in the night air. "We've many choices right now. As my friends demonstrated, they'd have to be taught how to be kind. Perhaps this town could teach them manners."

Jarod thought immediately of GOB, Becky, and Parker and shook his head. "I...ah, okay. I mean, sure, of course that's possible. What are your other choices of location?"

She told him the names of some of the towns they'd "thought" about. "Have you been to any of those places?"

"No, I haven't traveled much," Jarod shook his head a little sadly, "but they sound nice."

"You should travel," she said, nodding. "The world has many beautiful places everyone should see."

"I'm realizing that," he smiled at her and walked a little out of their way so he could crunch through some leaves. "So, do you know where the house you were looking at is? I'm not sure you'll see much in the dark..."

"There were several large houses in that direction," she said, pointing. "We were hoping for something large so we all could fit in it comfortably."

Jarod headed in that direction, enjoying the unexpected walk, and warmth of the weather. "How many of there are you?"

"Friends?" She thought of a nice number. "Five. We all went to school together. Friends till the end. Except they left me here and if this place had been dangerous, I might not have made it."

She sniffled a bit.

Jarod put his arm around her. "Don't worry. This town isn't dangerous." Except when it was, but he didn't want to scare her. She'd find out soon enough.

"Thank you," she said, playing this up for all it was worth. "You're far too sweet for me," she added, continuing the slow talk towards the houses.

"You're welcome." He glanced around. "Are we getting close to the house? Miho and Becky give me some leeway, but I shouldn't be gone all night."

She looked up, noticing her target in the distance. "We're close, yes. I promise I won't keep you out all night. You've been so kind to be already."

"It wasn't about being kind, it was about being safe," Jarod corrected, dropping his arm and putting his hand in his jean pockets. "Pretty girl like you shouldn't walk around by herself in the dark, even in the safest places."

"You're right, of course," she said, nodding her agreement. "The world is a cruel, dangerous place. But, after tonight, I can see myself living in this town."

"Really?" He smiled at her. "That would be nice."

"And you'd be here," she said, smiling up at him while keeping one sharp eye on the house growing larger in the distance. "That's incentive."

"That's very nice of you to say," he smiled at her as they walked towards the house. "Wait, did you say your friends were going to be there? Or a realtor, or someone? How do you plan to get into the house? I really think we should go to the hotel."

"Oh, I wasn't planning on going inside," she said. "I just wanted to take an exterior look. See how solid it was."

"Solid?" He asked, suddenly uneasy. "Why?"

"Weather," she said like it was obvious. "I wouldn't want my house to be toppled by high winds."

"What kind of high winds are you used to?"

"I haven't directly experienced anything but my friends tell me horror stories of trees and the like falling on their houses. I'm paranoid, I think," she said, containing the grin that wanted to pass across her face as the house came into full view.

"That's a good thing to be paranoid of," Jarod conceded, "but you could just choose a house away from trees."

"Very true," she conceded, stopping just in front of the house. "This is the one we're looking at. What do you think?"

"I can't really see much," he squinted into the dark, "and it's more important what you think anyway."

"Does it look large enough to hold several captives from your town?" She knew that would startle him so he readied herself.

"What?" Jarod took a few steps back. It did, but he wasn't going to say that. "No, of course not! It looks like the kind of place that doesn't have nearly enough closets."

"Too bad it really is quite large on the inside," she said, moving quickly and striking Jarod solidly enough to knock him out and to the ground.

Jarod hit the ground hard, and facedown.

Koasa smirked before dragging Jarod inside.

The Fourth Sin, Friday Night

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