Everything was horrible and he was very close to just giving up. Life was just one thing after another, without any time or room to breathe. Maybe he was overreacting, but recently everyrhing seemed supremely terrible. He found himself thinking about it way too much. He didn't like thinking. He wanted a distraction from that.

So he went on a walk in what was essentially the middle of the night, because that was pretty distracting. That was his go-to distraction, it seemed. And though it failed more often than not, he still trusted it. Which is exactly why he was walking slowly, passing by an alley, staring at the ground before him in what seemed like deep thought. There's no way this could backfire for him. He was hoping it wouldn't backfire.

Alpha lurked in an alleyway, a dagger tucked into her belt and another in her left boot. She lowered the brim on her cap, leaned against the alley wall, completely in the shadows. She heard footsteps and grimaced. Another poor sap she had no choice but to rob. As the man passed by the alley, his gaze locked on the ground and his posture slack, Alpha crept out behind him, drawing the blade from her belt and pressing it against the man's throat with one hand on his mouth in one fluid motion. She drew the man back into the alley and stood with her back toward the only exit. He might not have expected it, but when they were out of view of the street, she let him go. "Look, I don't want to hurt you," she said, still pointing the dagger at him just in case, "I just need a little something to buy dinner, maybe snag breakfast for once tomorrow, too."

Anthony was happy enough with the idea of just going back home, soon. It was a shame that he couldn't bring that idea to life. He wasn't quite aware enough to even notice the footsteps behind him, and once he did, it was already much too late. He would've screamed if not for the blade at his throat and the hand over his mouth. So he just stood there in a terrfied, god-fearing silence, obediently going whereever this person was leading him. Shit. Fuck. Was he going to be murdered, now? This had to be leading up to his death.

He was...surprised when the stranger let him go, once they were deep in the alley. It didn't help his fears in the slightest, though, to look behind him and still see the knife pointed at him. He just stood still and stared at the person like a deer in headlights, in pure silence.

Alpha frowned. This man wasn't saying anything. Weird. Maybe her French accent was throwing him off? Damn, she'd been working hard to repress it, was it really still so obvious? Either way, Alpha didn't lower the dagger, knowing well that with a raised weapon, she had the upper hand, but if she lowered it for even a second, the other person could have an advantage. The silence became almost oppressive and Alpha swore softly to herself, then raised her voice. "Christ, fella, say something!"

The silence seemed to last for an eternity. But he did prefer it over actual dialogue between them. Anthony tried to keep still and raised his hands a bit for calm, but he flinched and almost jumped as the stranger raised their voice. If he wasn't saying anything before, he certainly wasn't saying anything now. Not even out of spite or any petty reasons, but because of the pure, unadulterated fear that he was feeling.

Alpha sighed and reluctantly lowered her blade just a little. Clearly this man was either frightened or preparing to make a move to get away. "Look," she said, pursing her lips, "I just need a little cash, alright? Just need to myself. Simple as that. Hand over a few coins and you can leave this alley an unharmed man." After a beat, she added wryly, "And from the looks of you-" She could see him fairly well, as her eyes had become quite accustomed to the shadows in the last few years. "-you don't need any more harm coming your way."

Anthony was terrified. He watched, still in complete silence, as the person lowered her blade by a little, and tried to figure out whether pulling out his oen knife was a good idea or not. He lowered his hands again. "I—" he finally managed to say something, at least, though it was not much, "...no." He didn't have much money on his person, and what he had, was pretty essential to his survival. He didn't want to give it away.

Alpha blinked. No? That was one she'd heard only a few times before, and never nearly as meekly as this stranger said it. The possibility of him being just as poor as she was crossed her mind, but having lived on the streets long enough to know a trick when she saw one, she decided to keep her blade up and see if she could reason with him. "Surely you've got something," she said, "we can make a deal, huh? The continued use of your- ah, your finger, per se, for a few cents?" She was completely bluffing, she didn't actually want to hurt him, but she was good enough at masking her real emotions by now that it was probably hard for the stranger to tell.

Anthony pulled his hands back toward himself, and began to fidget with them. The thought of being hurt in any way made him physically ill, but he tried to reason with himself — a moment of pain is better than giving all your funds away and then dying slowly, right? Right? The idea wasn't comforting. "No, no— no deals." He didn't want a compromise or a deal, he wanted to just go home.

Alpha grimaced as a wave of understanding swept over her. He sounded like he was in a similar position as she was when she first arrived in Whitby and started stealing to get by. Could it be her luck that she'd stopped a fellow thief? Well, considering the sort of luck she'd had all her life, she wasn't exactly surprised. "Look, fella-" She stopped herself and sighed. Again. "What're you called?" Maybe if she knew the name, she'd be able to place it with some sort of societal standing she'd heard of in Whitby.