“Mom, let me go!”<br/><br/>“Sorry, I don’t answer to prisoners,” the woman crowed cheerfully. A while back, a tall, muscly brown skinned woman dragging her skinny kid through town in a headlock might have attracted at least some cursory attention, but ever since Larissa Knox and her gang of bandits had claimed the town as their roost, the townspeople had sort of accepted it as the norm. She pulled the kid- a boy of average height and sandy blond hair- out from under her arm and unceremoniously dumped him on the ground. “So, what number is it now? Five failed run away attempts? I mean, come on, kid. If you’re gonna run away, at least actually do it. I raised you better than that.” Larissa considered for a moment. “Also, stop running away. There, that’s probably the responsible parent thing to say.”<br/><br/>The boy stood and dusted sand off his pants. “Sorry for getting sick of constantly getting shot in the face.”<br/><br/>She held up a finger. “Hey, I don’t appreciate that tone of voice, squirt.” After a moment of consideration, she said, “also, you’re grounded for three months.”<br/><br/>This normally would have held a lot more clout, but Larissa usually forgot about her attempted punishment after about three days. Not to mention there was very little to ground someone from out here. Nevertheless, Andrew huffed and crossed his arms as the woman swept away. It was, to be sure, not one of his best days.