Criminal! [Loft]

((This thread is meant to be much quicker paced. You may find posts to be shorter because of it, but this is intended more as a plot and momentum device than anything else))

Noon in Castle-Town. The streets were busy, as always, but that didn't make it impossible to pass. Sure, every once and a while a shop's line would get in the way of all the carts, but that was easy enough to break up. Especially when you had the authority to do so.

What had she done in the days before her days of authority? She honestly couldn't remember anymore. Those memories had been long since banished and buried under a number of other, much more important things. Sarah Faust had a law to uphold, and she couldn't waste time reminiscing over those old things. Especially right now, here on one of the main streets in the largest city on the map. Things could get out of hand here if you weren't careful.

Loft was really happy. I mean, really really really happy. I mean happy as in the "oh my gosh free sale at the Hershey store" happy. He was bouncing up and down through the streets of Hyrule Castle Town, licking his bar of ice cream happily.

WHOOOOM! Something smashed into the ground, and Loft whipped his head around to look. Unfortunately, the ice cream cone went flying, landing on some uniformed blondie's head. Loft wasn't paying much attention, though- a wagon had just veered off track and slammed into a candy store's window. Oh no!

Sarah cursed as something landed on her head. What was it? Running a hand through her hair, she pulled something wet and sloppy out of it. Ice cream?! As revolting as that was, she was left mostly just confused by it. Where had it come from? Whoever held it should have been much more careful with it. Thankfully, though, it had landed on her head instead of someone else's. She'd seen lesser things than this start street brawls. The sound of shattered glass shook her all the same, though.

Spinning, she found one of the street carts had just destroyed the window of a shop nearby. Hand on her sword, she ignored the sordid mess still mostly in her hair and sprinted in that direction, making sure no one would flee from the scene.

The window to the candy store was broken. The window. To the candy store. Was broken. The gateway to the magical land of sugar and sweets was awesome and open and beautiful and Loft could feel himself tearing up as he looked into its splendifirous depths. He raced over, hopping over the broken frame and heading into the shop.

Her uniform managed to lessen the struggle of going through the crowd, though it was still quite difficult given that they were now really massing up. Sarah found herself bellowing out to the crowds to make way for the Hylian Guard to arrive on the scene. Slowly they made way for her, and she elbowed the rest of them out of the way. To her great relief, it seemed that the cart driver was still there, and he looked quite abashed at the actions of his horses. There would likely be resolution, then.

What did catch her eye, though, was someone else. Blond-haired and not particularly tall, though he looked fairly young, some kid had bolted into the candy shop. She didn't like the looks of him.

"Hey kid!" she called out, "what're you doing in there?"

Loft was in heaven. Literally! There were chocolate angels singing sweet sugary songs to him from on high. He spun around, giggling madly. He looked left, he looked right, and everywhere he looked there was candy! Yum yum! He stuck his hand into a bowl-full of rainbow delights and threw them in the air, dancing and singing happy songs about lollipops and flowers and yay!

Grunting, the woman resisted the urge to run a hand through her hair, only just remembering what was still in there. It really was quite disgusting, and it did nothing to make this situation less troublesome. Already some people were pointing at her and giving her odd looks, but she ignored them all the same, instead tramping over the broken glass and into the shop.

Whoever this kid was, he apparently didn't hear her, or he didn't want to respond. Neither of those made her particularly comfortable. Now inside the shop, she called to him again, not wanting to manhandle him just yet.

"Hey blond-kid," she called out again, now with the rabble of the street sufficiently behind her. "I said, what're you doing in this man's shop?"

"Lollipops, rainbows, I love you!" Loft sang, clapping his hands as the candies fell to the floor. "Lollipops, rainbows, you are cool!" He heard a woman's call and looked around. "My na-aym," he said, sticking out his hip and pointing at the woman, "is Loft!" He grinned and grabbed a chocolate bunny. "And I'm here because this is Wonderland, and I'm Alice." He tossed the bunny to her. "You can be Alice point two! See, that's your bunny! You can take it shopping and give it pedicures and oh-mah-gosh we can have a sleepover!" He shrieked and clapped his hands in glee.

The woman caught the chocolate bunny, an aghast look creeping onto her face. This kid really was insane, wasn't he? That made the situation even more delicate. Unfortunately, delicate situations had never really been where she excelled. Such was a thing for lawyers and bureaucrats, not for women like her. Gently as she could, the woman stooped down and placed the treat on the ground, feeling uncomfortable even touching the thing.

"Not gunna happen, kid," she said slowly, not wanting to explode the situation immediately. Other guards would arrive to deal with the mess of the cart, but this kid was something she had to deal with, in all likelihood. This kid was clearly out of his mind, and she'd have to deal with that. "Look, Loft, was it? I think you'd better come with me."

The lady was nice! He smiled at her and waved. "Loft, that's me!" He frowned at the bunny, sad. "You don't like her?" He asked, his lower lip jutting out. "Awww."

He glanced around the colorful shop. "But, I don't wanna leave," he said. "It's all bright and- and colorful, and- and I don't want to leave- why do I have to leave?" His voice wobbled and his eyes shone brightly with newfound tears.

Jeez, was he really going to cry right here? Well, if he was unstable like that then it would probably mean things could go simply. Likely the kid would just go along with whatever she could convince him into. Approaching him slowly, the woman reached a hand for his shoulder, speaking cautiously, "Because this is someone else's property, you understand?"

"Yeah," Loft said, picking a hole in his ragged tunic. "But, but why do I have to leave the bunnies? They like me!" He backed away a little and spread his arms, accidentally knocking over a barrel of mice. Before Loft could say anything, it smashed against the ground, it- wow! The mice exploded in poofs of peppermint and clouds of white dust. Loft coughed, now covered in white and sparkles of red. "Woops," he said, coughing and waving his hand through the dust. He looked up and grinned at the blonde. "I'm a candy-cake!" He waggled his eyebrows. "Want a bite?"

Damage to property, Sarah added to her quickly forming mental list for this character. The law was different for those who had mental handicaps, but it would not spare him from facing crimes all the same. Minor, certainly, but that didn't reduce the obligation as it stood. Her hand recoiled when he moved suddenly, but now she realized that being gentle probably wasn't going to work. Moving her hand again, she attempted to grab his shoulder firmly this time. If he attempted to break away from that, then things would be serious indeed.

"Not really, no. It's time to go, Loft."

"Oh," Loft said sadly. He looked around at the room and waved goodbye to his friends. "Bye-bye," he said. "I'll miss you!"

He looked back up at the woman. "Where are we- hey," he said, smiling. "That's where my ice-cream went!" He reached a finger up and ran it through the gloop, sticking it back into his mouth. "Mm, strawberry!"

Sarah began to feel her temper slipping out of her hands. This rogue's ice cream was in her hair? She was not an angry woman--at least she did not think so--but she did not have the patience for this sort of thing. She could feel the stuff getting thicker in her hair, and it made her almost shiver with revulsion. Frustration growing quickly, she reached forward and snatched at the kid's wrist. "You, then? All right, that's enough. Come with me," she said with a grunt, attempting to pull him away from the candy shop, if he would let her.

No, no, this lady wasn't being nice! Yankings and pullings and snatchings and thwackings, no no no, Loft didn't like this! He shook his head, frightened by her actions, and backed away. He didn't want to go anywhere with her, not when she was being mean like this.

The guardswoman grunted as Loft too pulled away from her, not entirely sure what to do. It was clear now that the only way he was leaving here was in her custody, really, but could she really excuse beating him over the head? He wasn't particularly violent, or it didn't seem so yet, but what could she really do? Miss Sarah Faust was not the one of those who would stand patiently outside, coercing a criminal to give themselves up. All she really knew was, well... action. Without another thought, she lunged for him.

"No!" Loft shrieked, jumping up and out of the way. His elbow smashed into a drawer full of fudge delights, and they scattered and smushed against the floors like falling gumdrops.

"What's going on here?" A deep voice asked, cutting into the din. A barrel-chested man stood in the shattered window, staring in with wide eyes. "My shop! What's happened here?"

The kid moved right out of the way as she went for him; scrawny as he was, he certainly seemed to be quick. Cursing, Sarah went straight past him, and she turned in horror to see that he was further damaging the man's shop. In that moment, her eyes all but glazed over, reveling in the coldness in her chest. One word flitted through her mind: criminal.

Evading the law, damaging property, and even assaulting a guard? She would have his head behind bars before the sun set. Reaching down to her belt, the woman eased the blade of her sword out an inch, fingering the handle gently. Without so much as looking at the man who spoke, she responded, keeping her eyes deadlocked on Loft, "This boy is responsible for much of your damages, I'm afraid." The other guards who had showed up and had been inspecting the damage as well turned at that, knowing her well enough to catch that look in her eye. They would be ready to catch him if he ran.

One final measure, for the law's sake. Then it would be for her own. "Surrender now, Loft, or I will take you in by force. It only gets worse the longer you run."

Loft's immediate response was to pull out a Deku Nut. However, he had barely raised the nut-bearing hand before pain exploded in his wrist. He screamed, staggering back, clutching the nut so hard that he swore he could feel it groan under the strain. A bolt was sticking in the wall behind him, bloody and covered in wirey things that made Loft's head hurt ow ow ow ow ow pain he didn't like pain not at all his wrist was on fire he fell to the ground sobbing tears running down peppermint white ghost ghost ghost disappear ow why did ice-cream blonde lady hurt him ow he didn't what'd he do wrong what happened ow!