Nothing special.

You arrived at the blacksmith and you were not surprised to see there wasn't much to offer. He had some swords and daggers, but no maces or any armor. It wasn't a large enough town to support any thing more than that. You talked with the blacksmith for a bit and found out most of his work was fixing or replacing various metal things, the occasional custom order, and if he had time he'd work on a weapon to put up for sale.

You bought a sword for Yvette and a sheath to go with it, but couldn't take it at that time as you'd left your packs at the inn. That was definitely a mistake. The main unfortunate part was there was no armor to be found as he wasn't that type of blacksmith. He thought there was some armor at the leather worker shack at the edge of town, but he didn't know for sure. You thanked him for his time and he said if he had time he'd drop the sword off at the inn, but you told him you trusted he'd hold it for you. You made your way to the inn to pick up one of you packs and started towards the leather worker shop.

On the way you passed by the **** auction again. There was another group of slaves this time.

"Do you want to go a different route" you offered seeing Yvette looking a little nervous.

"No, it's ok" she said holding her head up "that is behind me now" she stated firmly. You could tell it was still affecting her a little. She seemed just a little too determined like she was trying to push herself a bit too much.

"It's ok if this is too much for you Yvette" you offer again.

"I meant what I said" she said loudly. She immediately realized she was almost yelling at you and you could see her deflate a little.

"Hey, you're ok, you just.." you begin.

"Looks like you got a feisty one there friend" a man interrupted you before you could finish. You looked at him with a little surprise on your face, and you decided he wasn't worth talking to. He was skinny and short. His hair was greasy and messy, and his clothes were worn and dirty. He smiled at you, showing a row of rotting teeth, and held up his arms in a disarming manner.

"No offense intended, I was just saying you have a real trouble one there, talking to you like that" he said pointing towards Yvette. Copper issued a bark and fell along beside you. Yvette staring daggers at him. He didn't seem like he was getting the hint you had no desire to interact with him so you decided to be blunt.

"None of your business...friend" you stated with a little venom added at the end.

"We could make it into business if you'd like" he said with a smirk "how about some copper for some alone time with me and your **** there. She looks like she'd be a fun ride" he finished shaking a bag of coins on his belt. You weren't sure if he was trying to get under your skin or not, but that's exactly where he was.

"I have no desire to put her through a **** like that, nor would I ever sell her in such a way" you tell him and you turn your back at him.

"Ahh, you're one of those **** lovers huh" he asks as much as states.

"Think your **** is a person and all that nonsense" he sneers. You're about to take a step towards him and knock his teeth out, but Yvette grabs your hand and holds you back. You look to her and her eyes are pleading with you to let it go. You nod your head and give her a smile, which she returns lovingly. All three of you start to walk away from the man.

"I ain't done talking to you **** lover" the man shouts behind you, but the three of you keep walking away.

"Let's show this **** lover what we do to their type here" you hear him say "and then we'll show that feisty **** what real men are like" he chuckles. The hairs on the back of your head prickle when he used a plural in that sentence. You turn your head and see he and two other larger men are approaching you. The two men have clubs in their hands. Yvette's eyes go wide and she seems to freeze in place. You don't know if she heard you at all, but you tell her to wait there while you deal with this. Copper is crouched low as if ready to pounce, but you hold your hand up to him and he relaxes a little as you turn to face off against the men. You briefly think about summoning your sword out, but think better of it. The skinny man hangs back as the two with clubs continue forward and spread out a little.

They stop advancing when they're a few yards away from you and they hold their clubs up in a menacing manner. The skinny man stays a few yards behind them.

"Should have let me have a go at your ****" he smiles broadly at you "get him guys" he commands the other two. Fortunately they decide to come at you one at a time, and the one on your right lunges forward bringing his club down to hit you. Time seems to slow down as you step slightly to the side of his downward swing, the club missing your head by a large margin. You grab his arm with both of your arms and help it downwards as you raise your knee up. *SNAP* you feel his forearm bend across your knee issuing a sickening sound. The club flings out of his hand to hit the ground. You bring your elbow back up quickly into his nose and you feel his face give way to your blow. His head snaps back as he falls backwards to the ground. He doesn't attempt to get up, or even move for that matter. You snap your attention to the other guy with a club.

You can tell he's internally debating on if he should attack or not, but his eyes tell you he's decided to attack, and a look of determination spreads across his face. He charges forward with his club held high. You stand in place as he starts to swing down at you. You catch his club hand by the wrist watching his eyes go wide that you moved so fast to stop his swing. You don't give him any more time to contemplate it though as you put all you can into a knee to his groin. His eyes bulge and his mouth opens wide as if he's about to scream, but nothing comes out. You shove him hard backwards and he crumples to the ground holding his crotch in a fetal position. All you hear from him is a whimper as he makes no effort to stand again. You make a mistake and turn to face Yvette to make sure she is doing ok, and the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention again. You turn your head feeling stupid you'd forgotten about the skinny man. He is mid swing with a dagger aimed at one of your kidneys. It is coming in slow motion and there is no moving out of its way, so you prepare to feel it penetrate your side.

A black and red flash stops the dagger inches from your side. You both stare wide eyed at Copper who chomped down on the mans forearm. All you could see was the hand holding the dagger sticking out one side. The man starts to scream, and you watch as Copper's jaw muscles slowly contract tighter and you hear another sickening *SNAP*. The man falls backwards, but this time he is missing his entire forearm from the elbow down. He ends his fall sitting on the ground staring blankly at his new stump of an arm as he attempts to stop the blood flowing out. He is clearly going into shock. Copper lowers his head and places the mans arm in front of you on the ground. The tendons can finally relax and the dagger drops out of his hand. You pick it up and hold it by the tip.

"Here's your dagger back shithead" you say throwing the dagger. It spins end over end and sticks into the ground between his legs inches from his crotch. You stare at the crowd that was watching, looking for any more threats.

"Anyone else got a problem with how I treat Yvette" you stare the crowd down while pointing to Yvette. Most people look away, but you can see some of them are smiling and nodding their heads in approval of how you handled yourself.

Seeing no reason to stay any longer to invite further attacks, you walk up to Yvette. She is staring blankly at the man missing his forearm. You raise her chin up to look at you and her tear filled eyes snap to yours. Her eyes are snapping back and forth between your eyes as she clearly is looking for guidance from you. You just smile and pull her into a hug. Her arms stay at her side, and you start to think that maybe she is too overwhelmed, or worse, what if she is scared of you. Then you feel her arms shoot up and wrap around you. She squeezes you harder than any hug you'd received previously in the old world. She starts to sob into your neck and you utter sweet nothings into her ear. Telling her she's safe again, it'll be ok, and that you won't leave her or treat her different because some guy like that throws a fit. You hear a "WHOOHOO" in the background somewhere when you embraced her as well. After a minute you can feel Yvette relax a bit and she disengages from you stepping back to look at you. You can tell she is feeling better, so you hold out your hand and she takes it interlocking her fingers with yours.

You both walk away from the scene with Copper in tow. Now might be a good time for someplace private to talk about what just happened you figure, so you start making your way back to the inn hand in hand, and arriving there you head up to your room after giving Copper some well deserved rubs and putting him in the care of the stable master. You tip the stable master a silver coin to give Copper some extra food. The stable master is almost overwhelmed by the tip, but quickly gets to work on Copper's meal when he regains his senses.