So, like, why was she even telling him this? What was the point? Trying to elicit sympathy, or something? Because it certainly wasn't working. "Oh no, you don't have a job. Quit your whining, you're not the only one," he retorted. What a sudden change in behavior, brought in by the fact that her little speech had definitely struck a cord with him. "so how about this: I don't give a fuck about where any of the towns are, and I don't give a fuck about how you don't have shoes. So, just shut the fuck up already." Anthony gripped his knife. Though he wasn't planning on stabbing anyone, and he certainly didn't want to, it was good to have a backup plan.

Alpha just kind of stood there. The stranger's demeanor had changed in a matter of moments after she mentioned getting a job and all that. Her gaze hardened. She shouldn't have said anything, years on the streets had taught her better. Pathetic, she scolded herself, and kept her dagger close to her chest in case she had to defend herself. "Christ, aren't you a pleasant one?" she sneered, "I suppose I don't have a way out of this other than silencing you in, ah, another way, do I?" Before he could respond, she stepped back against the wall of the alley, rather contradicting her threat, and gestured for him to go. "You're right lucky I don't have it in me to kill anyone."

Anthony was kind of mad, right now. He was beginning to realize that this person wouldn't hurt him either way, and so he found himself unafraid of her threats. If she wanted to stab him, she would have done so already. He can say what he wants. "'Silencing you in another way'," he repeated in a mocking way. "stop being so pretentious. You're not going to do anything either way. Stop bluffing and just stab me already, or fuck off." Anthony was not going to take his eyes off this girl for more than one second, though. He was fairly certain he wasn't going to be hurt, but he had to be careful, hence why he wasn't leaving.

"Jesus Christ Almighty!" swore Alpha, completely fed up with the stranger. Considering his suddenly-aggressive behavior, she kept her dagger tightly held, her other hand curling into a fist. Although he was right, his words still stung, as they would to anyone avoiding the truth or trying to appear tougher than they are. "Just- just get going, alright?" Alpha felt the fight leaving her body. She'd be reported, caught out eventually, spend a night or maybe a week's worth of nights inside of a cell, and get out worse than she arrived. Fantastic.

With every time she told him to get going, his desire to do so became smaller and smaller. "Did that sting?" Anthony laughed. It was obvious he was in no real danger, so what was even the point of leaving? "Actually, I don't care. There's no reason for me to leave, other than the fact that you'll like it: either way, you'll just keep going on and on about how you'd stab me but then you never follow through with that, then I'll get bored and leave, and then I'll report you and eventually you'll be caught." He absolutely wasn't about to report her, but if she keeps bluffing like that, he'll do so as well.

Alpha bit her lip so hard in her anger and embarrassment that she tasted blood. "Fine," she said, her tone still cool despite her boiling blood. "Goodbye, then." And she simply moved to go- but then something he said struck her and she looked back. "Oh, and fella? Fuck you." She took three more steps toward the outside of the alley, but then heard footsteps and cursed her luck, ducking back into the shadows as a pair of men strolled by, laughing at something one of them had said.

Anthony was expecting her to stubbornly hang onto this encounter, but apparently not. He shrugged in nonchalance as she insulted him and said her goodbyes, and he was ready to just go on his merry way. That wasn't about to happen, though, because she just...came back into the alley. "You're a coward," he said, deliberately very loudly. He, too, could hear the people passing by. "I'll report you."

Alpha winced at the loud tone of his voice as her gaze narrowed. "So what if I'm a coward?" she practically spat out the word, and it was clear the insult had hit something inside her hard. "You're hardly any better. Whimpering, and whining, voiceless," she taunted, as that was exactly how he'd entered the alley. "I'll tell you one thing: come near me and I will hurt you. This dagger didn't come out of thin air. I earned it." Well, really, she'd inherited it from her mother, but he didn't need to know that. Out of all the people she'd robbed, this guy was one she actually wouldn't mind drawing a little blood from, but considering her position in the alley- by the only exit, they both had blades, she was having trouble controlling her temper -she knew there was a good chance he'd take a swing or a stab at her on his way out when he chose to make it.

Okay, the sudden turn in tone was kind of intimidating, but he didn't let himself be frightened by it. This person just kept bluffing and making false promises, so why should he start trusting that she'll actually hurt him, now? "Well, I'll report you for threatening me, as well," Anthony said, even though he totally wouldn't. "because I'm not a coward. If I wanted to, I could've stabbed you by now. But I haven't done that, because you're really pathetic and I'm being merciful." He was bluffing, of course.

Alpha frowned. Okay, now his threats were going into monologue-like material. She realized he was probably bluffing, like she was, and that released a little of the tension in her chest. "Hah!" she said at his calling her pathetic, "look who's talking. If I'm pathetic, I'd like to see you try to escape a whorehouse with a pack of angry dogs and men with blades at your back while your hands are tied. You wouldn't make it two feet." But she had. She'd made it three hundred feet, down the halls, through the back streets, and gotten the hell out of there. It wasn't as if she'd wanted to stay in the first place- everyone she'd ever cared about was dead. It had been rather a relief (although she certainly hadn't seen it that way at first) when the owner of the brothel blamed her for the death of her mother (one of the 'favorites') and sent an angry mob with really nothing better to do after her. In the heat of this moment, she'd brought it up as a jab at the stranger, but now she realized that was quite an overshare and she silently cursed at herself, unable to take it back.