Everything Starts Small

Everything Starts Small
Date of Scene:	23 January 2014
Location:	Rowdy Bar
Synopsis:	Confronted by a host of hunters, Warden does the only thing possible for a man in his position. He tries to buy them all off. It doesn't work well, but dropping the tavern does!
Cast of Characters:	Tifa Lockhart, Avira, Deelel, Maira, Vespa, Lumeria, Aeschere Childs, Jenna, Warden Thache

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prize, and various means of tracking it down. To be perfectly honest the pirates themselves had not been particularly stealthy in living. A few inquiries about new faces and strange sights. A bit of traditional nose-to-the-grindstone-investigation leads to a specific little location.

OR YOU COULD JUST CHEAT AND USE MAGIC(Looking at you Maira!! Witch.)

Ahem.

That specific little spot was a small port town, and of course the rough area of said already rough town. Having run out of the space the ramshackle buildings are built on piers over the water. The specific house of ill repute is a tavern by the name of the Patched Mermaid, the swinging sign over the door showing the much faded image of a mermaid with an eyepatch.

So they arent very creative around these parts.

Inside the tavern is about what one would expect. Poor lighting, rough hewn tables and chairs. A bit of sawdust on the floor. The smell of beer(which actually isnt /that/ bad) and bodies(which is much worse) strikes like a physical force once one walks in. Various faded knickknacks adorn the walls, all having something to do with...of course...sailing. The clientele here are as rough as the building and very few of them what one would call human. There are humanoid squid and lobster. Sea slugs and crabs. Someone that looks made completely out of stone. Its an odd assortment.

Sitting at the biggest table, his booted feet propped up on the wood is one Captain Warden Thache. The cat captain has the manner of a king holding court, laughing at some story a tablemate is saying. A massive mug of beer in one hand, and draped on his lap a fetching dark haired barmaid who is at the moment playing with one of his ears.

Conversation stops as the mismatched hunters stroll in, and the Captain quirks an eyebrow up with a grin that reveals a single pointed pointed fang. "Well." His drawl unhurried as he takes a pull of his drink. "Seems we have visitors. Shame I didnt even get the place cleaned up yet."

The bartender just sighs as he hunkers down behind the long length of his bar. "If you break it!" He warns the general pouplation. "You bought it."

Jenna has posed:
Walking into the bar is Jenna Al Bhed, who seems to be carrying a pair of unusual pistols in holsters along with a smattering of mechanical toys on a belt and wearing a reticle over one of her eyes. "So." she says, cracking her knuckles in a laced-together fashion. "Can we PLEASE keep this simple or are we going to have to turn this into some kind of completely massive issue?" as she looks around at the various patrons. "Now, we doing this easily or what? I'm pretty sure the bartender doesn't want some of my toys going off in here."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
But there's at least one person here that knows how to handle bars. The barmaid with steeltoed boots of course. But she's not here to serve drinks today. She's there to take up on the treasure hunting of course. Yes, she's still working to gather every piece of gil she can. Not Srooge McDuck style, she's not going to make a vault and swim in it, but she likes having a good account rolling... who knows when she will need it again for AVALANCHE after all.

But its not like she's that greedy either, she often acts simply on kindness. But if she can get a pay out of it, its good too.

She leans against the wall near the door, just waiting on things to unfold in front of her. She's not sure who she's here to meet either, but she's sure that will become obvious soon enough.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Just the sort of place to find a bounty hunter. Only, maybe not this bounty hunter. Actually, this is probably a pretty bad call, but Aeschere's life is nothing but a series of bad calls, isn't it? Without arms, and lightly armored, she surveys the scene, and is pleased to note that she's not two paces from the door; this looks like it could get exciting.

It's obviously not her party, nor one that she ought to stick her nose into, so she carefully circumnavigates the Captain and his crew, and asks the barkeep for something which he attempts to refuse to serve her. He recalls what sort of place he's running, and eventually shrugs and draws her a mug. Holding it carefully, she listens in on the deal. Could be some cash in it, you never know.

Avira has posed:
Speaking of a series of bad calls...

...nonsense, this is not a bad call at all. Avira is here because she has a score to settle and possibly wants to get her shot at tossing Warden out a window. Thanks to a little run-in a few days ago, she and Maira did have a means of cheating their way to this location and skipping the lengthy information-gathering that no doubt would have lead them here eventually.

Maira and Avira aren't alone of course. She might have told a few other people about this-bring some VALKYRI backup, that sort of thing. Except some of these people, like the Al-Bhed, she was not too familiar with. The overt threatening the moment Jenna gets in the bar makes Avira rub her face. Despite her stance, Avira is on alert. This would not be the first time she's rolled up into a bar filled with pirates. In fact, the last time she did, she had to end up fleeing one admist a big bad bar fight.

"Warden Thache." Avira says thinly, a hand resting upon the hilt of the Spine. "We meet again."

Lumeria has posed:
When there's money and treasure involved it's hard not to get Lumeria's attention. Though this place was certainly a dive, she's not sure why anyone would want to hang out here. She just wants to get hands on some loot and get out of her. It seems like she's not the only person who heard about what was going on. This could make things easier for her or more difficult.

Vespa has posed:
A maid sits at a table by herself in a corner of the room. Yes a maid. She entered some time after Avira walked in, she didn't want it to look like they came togeher and arouse suspition, and Vesaps standout due to her tastes in clothing. A few of the patrons doing double takes as she walked in, One made a pass at her,he now has a dislocated shoulder. She has a beer half empty now she looks over the room glancing over at where Avira is once and a while.

Maira has posed:
It was NOT cheating! She had to be clever to track Warden, /and/ call in a favor! Magic takes skill! Hmph!

Right, so, Maira walks in behind Avira, dressed in the very same chain-style dress she'd worn last time she'd fought Warden because a. it helps prevent multiple stab wounds, and b. it is fire proof. Hopefully, she will be able to avoid slinging fire around. It is just a bit difficult avoiding collateral damage with her magic.

Hopefully this will not be a problem considering Avira /really/ wants to throw him out of a window anyway.

"Hello!" she greets cheerily, then shakes her head. "No that was wrong," she mumbles under her breath.

"Prepare to die!" she says instead, then rethinks that as well. "No too dramatic...

Aeschere Childs has posed:
You can /see/ the exclamation point pop up over Chera's head. This is definitely lucra-

It's an unexpected opportu--

She didn't expect--

What is she going to do, her mark just strolled in. She has to do /something/ with this, but there's no way to get 'round the pirate negotiations. She hides her face behind a long draw of whatever in hell she has a cup of, and tries really inadequately to be inconspicuous.

Warden Thache has posed:
Well. This is quite a few more people than Warden bargined for. The cat-eared pirate is certinly not one to back down from such an occasion. In fact his grin only grows as he notes the people that stand out like sore thumbs among the piratical clintele.

He sets his beer down easily on the table before patting the lady in his lap on the back. "Pardon me my dear," His accent exactly what one would think of a pirate. "I believe I'm going to have to deal with this..."

The woman gets up and as she sashays away the Captain pays much more attention to her than all the varried glares and threats that are flying in his direction.

As she dissipears behind the bar the Captain gives a sigh and a smile. "I love it when they walk." Then he turns towards the little knots of figures. "Now...where were we! Oh yes. Threats and posturing. An important part of things."

"Well!" He says cheerily to Jenna, still not getting out of his chair. "You are least are right to the point. I supose things /can/ be simple and all!" He adds with a flash of a grin. "It depends on if you're here to pay me a bounty to return the items, or if you're here for the items themselves to take them by force of arms. Or! I have one secret counter-offer for anyone intrested."

His gaze sweeps the group.

"...and Lady Wolf! Somehow I knew you would sniff me out." He tosses towards Avira. "I'd bow but..." He lifts his mug again. Taking a long pull. "...I'm a touch busy as you see."

Drink is obviously more important.

"As for you Maira, you're doing it all wrong! You can't go /right/ for the 'prepare to die'. You have to build up for that!"

Maira has posed:
"Well I don't actually want to /kill/ you," she replies. "I just couldn't think of anything better to say?

Avira has posed:
"Maira we really need to work on your one-liners." Avira asides. "Don't worry, I've got just the thing for that." 80s movies.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart looks bewteen Avira and Maira "Let's make it a old movies viewing night at the CLoud Nine, I bet that'd be popular." She's thinking business again.

Maira has posed:
Maira looks to Tifa, smiling brightly. "Oh, that's a /great/ idea!" she exclaims.

Yep, this is what you are up against Warden. QUAKE WITH FEAR!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has been hanging out with VALKYRI a lot lately, it's not she was unhappy with the Shard Seekers, it is just many of them were so busy with other things? She'd just get in the way. Deelel is folloing up with Avira, Maira and the rest and she gives Jenna a look over as she wonders about them. She has to wonder she seems to be a variant of human but there's something strange about Jenna, as she eyes the one exposed eye for a moment. That's strange, that's very strange.

"I'm not about to start antything if you don't Warden."

She doesn't go for the disc on her back, and sighs a bit, the strange strange digital warble to her voice making it sound quite odd.

"Movie hummm, mind on business already Tifa?"

Vespa has posed:
Vespa just groans ligthly and facepalms and who the coversation has turned to moives somehow.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart turns to Deelel, nods "Why not? If that makes people happy and gets me money, its not bad, no?

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden just looks mildly amused, and continues to nurse his beer as talk turns to movies. Maybe he can get most of the mug done before they realise he's still here.

Avira has posed:
"Actually it might come to no surprise that you and your associates have a bounty on your head, by way of Kingdom of Charming." Avira gestures grandly, unafraid to raise her voice amongst the bar. There's actually a high chance that some of the other pirates might try to take up on that bounty. Pirates have all kinds of rivalries between them, right?

On the other hand they might not be inclined to work for THE MAN and against a fellow pirate. It's a gamble! Avira is okay with taking gambles.

"Now normally we don't take /bounties/ like this. But since this bounty involves YOU, well, I'm willing to make an exception for VALKYRI orders of business."

All the while as she talks, her eyes remain upon Warden, most other non-threatening-looking pirates going unnoticed for now. Additionally, she continues to stalk forward until she is within feet of the captain.

"Humor me, though, what is this super secret counter offer of yours?"

Lumeria has posed:
"Well, I'm willing to make a deal but it better be worth my trouble." Lumeria figures it's better than getting in a fight and it's hard to carry loot with broken limbs. "Movie night? That lacks the elegance of a live peformance." Part of the fun was getting dressed up for a show after all.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Hopefully Aeschere won't finish the mug before they realize she's here. Nobody's looking her way, at least.

She'll have to follow them out, that's the only way she's getting anything done. That's if they don't come to blows right here in the bar. They probably will. It's that kind of b--

She said bounty, didn't she? And she said counter-offer, too. Chera perks up despite herself; maybe she /can/ strike a deal, here. She moves a few stools up the bar, closer to Warden's table, and closer to at least two people who can recognize her. Her judgement is famously poor, or at least it ought to be famous.

Maira has posed:
Maira stays close to Avira, watching her back while she speaks with Warden, wondering idly if Spooks is around. How sad, Warden had obviously taught him such bad habits!

When someone moves closer, Maira looks. She's wary of any of Warden's associates. After all, pirates have to have crews, right? Her eyes widen in recognition as she sees just who it is. "Oh, hello..." she says to Aeschere, poking Avira lightly in the back as she mumbles into her radio.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa keeps drinking her beer she will let Avira do the talking Vespa would just charge in her with here clonk a few people on the head and threaten everyone till she got what she wanted. If Avira want to solve this peacefull then that fine with her. Thought she has no problem getting into a bar brawl.

Jenna has posed:
"Pay you?" Jenna says, "Right, like this is a business deal." then snorts. "Buddy, I have two goals in mind... Your loot returned to the castle, and your capture in turn. Though this third option is interesting, maybe it'll accomplish what I want." then sits down. "What is it then?" she asks.

Warden Thache has posed:
Whispers start around the tavern after Avira's little announcement. However they arn't quite what she might think.

"A bounty? We've been in this world less than a week!"
"Thats the Cap'n fer ya! Tol' ya he would make a name fer himself!"
"Yup, gonna double it 'afore long!"

Thats right Avira. The pirates here are Warden's crew. And they are /proud/ of that bounty.

Warden's eyes flicker around to the various people there, and he still hasn't gotten up. Infact he's finishing his drink. He slowly lowers it back down on the table. "Counter offer then! Since you all are throwing the word bounty around. Lets put a bit of an unofficial one down."

He gestures, rolling his hand like a stage magician and seemingly from thin air pulls a ruby the size of his thumbnail. The exquisite cut catches the light in the most intresting of ways.

"My counteroffer." His grin grows. "Would be a handfull of these to whoever wants to help me throw these two..." And he gestures towards Avira and Maira. "...into the river!"

A pause.

"Not your traditional bounty, but I think you might find it at least equal to whoever the Charming's might be able to give out. If you ever get it from the nobles at least. They arn't the most trustworthy."

He smiles as he sets the ruby on the table then sends it spinning across with a flick of his finger in Aeschere's direction.

With the same movement he draws the energy pistol from the bandolier across his chest and places it casually on the table.

"Yes my dear," He adds towards Jenna. "Blackmail usually works like that. You pay me. I give you the item." A flash of a grin. "But it seems you all are more likely to go with the force of arms option." A slight shrug. "I can do either. I'm flexible."

Warden Thache has posed:
Deadpan he adds. "This includes you of course Lady Wolf, Lady Flame. If you go throw yourselves in the lake? You'll get the payout as well!"

Warden /is/ a man of his word!

Ish.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
You know, this is how she always gets into trouble. She just doesn't have the sense to turn down an offer like this. It dovetails nicely with her plans, after all; it's not often you get to collect twice on one mark. She catches the ruby, sort of automatically, and loses herself in contemplation of the odds.

He did say 'help', didn't he? He what. His further explanation brings her up short, but only for a moment. Seems fair, after all. And, again, it dovetails nicely with her minimum-force plan. She lets the gem catch the gleam of the lamp for a moment, shrugs, and nods to the cat-master.

Setting her mug aside, she steps up to pat Maira on the back. The quarters are too close here for a proper explosion, aren't they? So the fireball is the obvious best choice.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria throw someone in a lake? Do you really think a skinny elfin could pick someone up let alone drag them that far? "And how I'm suppose to do that?" She looks at Avira and Maira. "Wait, Charming's the one who wants the goods?" Maybe she could get a kiss out of the deal if she manages to return them. Still, the odds didn't look very much in her favor. "Give me half and I'll let you walk."

Jenna has posed:
Covertly drawing something from her belt and passing it under the table, Jenna slaps it to the underside of the table and tilts her head. Seems like she's trying to get his attention, "My counter-offer." she says, "Blackmail being what it is." attempting to feign an exasperated look.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart crosses her arms, frowning "As much as I like getting my hand on some well earned gil, I don't consider throwing friends into any sort of body of water as a good source of it. I'll pass." She looks to Avira and Maira, not looking too pleased by these odds here.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa Vespa curses slightly to herself, finishe her drink and get sup walking over to where Avira and Maira are. :ooks like things are going to get serious here soon.

Avira has posed:
Actually given that...those people must be from Warden's crew, she kind of understands that reaction. It's a pretty big pirate achievement! Avira might actually be proud of her own. Still, Avira palms her face. "/Pirates/."

Then the counteroffer, complete with this jerk flashing around a nice big ruby. Tempting, but not the objective they came here for. "You can take that counteroffer and shove it up your <GOOSEHONK>." Avira says in a very patient voice.

Casually, Avira draws the Spine. True to its name, it is a blade that is shaped exactly like a spinal column, though with a sharp point on the end. The pelvic bone forms the hilt guard. "Prince Charming." she confirms for Lumeria. "This scoundrel stole a good deal of jewels and paintings from the man."

She pauses, "...Maira did the Al-Bhed just place something explosive?" she looks over to her best friend, then to Aschere lurking behind her. Avira's eyes narrow. "I'm afraid now the only outcome is going to be violence."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Well, she hasn't really had a violence in a while, since Akari left. It's a terrible idea, of course, but Aeschere could be persuaded, we suppose. "I want just gold, not blood," she replies, but her stance suggests that she's prepared to accept either.

Maira has posed:
Maira blinks, looking back toward Warden as he makes his counter offer. Many of those here she /knows/ will not fall to that kind of greed. But there are likely some that will, Aeschere in particular.

Throw them in the lake? Maira looks a little worried about this. She still doesn't know how to swim!

Maira turns as she's patted on the back by Aeschere, frowning. "You're really going to take him up on this? I thought you had more sense," she sighs. Maira isn't going to attack first, though she's beginning to think she wont feel /too/ bad about burning this place to cinders.

At Avira's question, Maira blinks. "Uuuuuh...." she says, looking to...uh.... "What's an Al-Bhed?" she asks, but just goes ahead and makes a guess she's referring to Jenna. "Time to take it outside I think!" she says, and makes for the window, away from Aeschere, casting a protective spell on herself, Avira and Vespa as she does so!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is still somewhat amused as she looks at Warden a little bit longer."

Sht tlts her head again looking at the Al Bejhd for a moment anf seems rather frowinging.

"A race from Spira."

Deelel notes and she nods in agrement as they should be going out side. Deelel follows up as Maira starts buffing the others and gets ready her self running a few commands to prepare herself for things going down.

"Hope you got game, I'd be rather sad if you were all talk."

Warden Thache has posed:
The man makes little comments to the gaggle of different responces his counteroffer gets. They were honestly just about what he expected to get. However at least one person seems slightly intrested.

He'll take it.

Genna gets a grin before he draws a deep breath as he replaces his empty mug. "Oh Lady Wolf," He murmurs. "I love it when you're right."

Snaking out from under tables come dozens of glowing golden...well...ropes. They slither, shoot towards the various hunters that have come to the bar. The ropes aiming to wrap around limbs and yank up into the air and off their feet.

At the same time the agile captain puts one boot on the table in front of him and /shoves/ the piece of furniture towards the gathered heroes, propelling himself backwards and into the air at the same time.

"For those of you who don't know," he adds, his voice raising as pirates begin to stand in the various corners of the air. "My name is Warden Thache, my father was Edward Thache." His grin grows more vicious as he draws the pair of energy cutlass that ride on his hip. Not even reaching for the gun.

"It is a /pleasure/ to meet all of you, but...I'm afraid I live by a pirate code. I give nothing back. You'll have to take it."

All except Aeschere, who apparently is willing to take his gold.

He can live with that.

Lumeria has posed:
Explosive? Lumeria certainly doesn't like the sound of that. "It sounds like we're not going to be talk our way this one? Then why did you try to make a deal about throwing them in the river?" Looks like she better do something to keep them from geting blow to bits. She quickly casts a spell to protect Deelel, Tifa and herself since Maira already got the others.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart's eyes widen when the ropes fly out, trying to latch for her. "Hey! I know we're in a bar, but bondage is not my idea of a first date either." She sticks an arm down to intercept the rope before it ties her legs out, giving herself enough wiggle room to pull herself free before she gets pulled up.

"If you want to play rough, you'll get rough."

Grabbing the end of the rope, she pulls hard on it, hoping to tug the Warden toward her... so she can intercept his face with her fist >_<

Jenna has posed:
Flung into the air, Jenna spins momentarily as she flips backwards and lightly touches on the ceiling, pushing off as she quickly draws her pistols and fires a rapid salvo at Thache on the way down before landing with a bit of a skid. "I don't really care." she says, "This job pays and it's got a snake of a target for a bounty."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
That looks like her cue. First order of business is to get some breathing room. "Seleman anaereinanira," she incants, and a blue-black flash clears her immediate vicinity of chairs, a table, and several mugs, and makes a spirited attempt to clear it of Maira and Avira.

Regardless of the result, because you can't wait for things to happen in a fight, she draws her long knife and retreats a pace.

Maira has posed:
"EEEP!" Maira exclaims as the ropes shoot out. She tries to dive behind a table but the golden rope grabs her by the ankle. Maira curses. "Here I go again!" she says just before she's yanked up into the air, tucking her arms up over her head to try to protect the most import thing as she's swung around willy nilly.

When she thinks she has an opening, she lashes out with her magic, a blade of fire conjured to try to slice through the rope that holds her.

Oh yes, this place is going to /burn/.

Suddenly there is a flash, something smacking into her, but its difficult to discern while she's either being flung around, or if her cut worked, falling back toward the floor. "ARGH! Stop trying to tie me up and fling me around!" she exclaims to Warden. She's pretty sure he's just trying to look up her dress! Her...battle dress. SHUT UP!

Maira locats Warden and the flames begin to fly.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "I heard it was more of a guide line."

Where the heck has Zeke been? She has to wonder she goes for her disc now and says.

"I see, well then I guess we can save the Parlay for later humm?"

The disc humms to livfe in her hand and she's not harmed by the weapon at all. She makes readies her weapon launching into a counter attack. It does no good as she's sliced by the weapon but there's no blood. just a scrange glowing wounded in Deelel's side. It's a blue glow and one can see scrange cube like portions at the wounds entrance and within if you take a look.

"All right then."

She launches the disc again before flipping into the air trying to get over Warden.

Vespa has posed:
So it's come to a fight. Vespa isn't surpised by this turn of events. The space is too small for her to use her massive axe. She will just let her fists do the talking, and whatever else she can use as a weapon. "Eat table!", she shouts picking up a table and tosses it at Warden!

Avira has posed:
Avira's pretty happy she won't be getting thrown into a lake. Yeah people would get paid for it but that's not going to recover the stolen paintings and gems. Well, the exception being Aschere but Avira figures this person has other reasons for stepping in to this.

Avira eyes the teenager. "...where's your partner? You're even more outnumbered than before." she says quietly, as if trying to dissuade her. Because it sure would suck if Warden and his crew caught wind of that issue.

As it stood things were already getting messy! At the corner of her eyes she sees the flash of gold at her feet. She tries to pull back but her legs are yanked out from underneath her. Before the energy ropes can toss her into the air, she swings a suddenly ice-imbued spine at her feet to disrupt them.

"Thache? Wait a second, that's Blackbeard's family name." Avira looks at Warden suspiciously. She knew that the Blackbeard of her world was a man and not a cat...creature whatever species that Warden was.

Just as she picks herself up, she goes flying across the room and breaks through another table that had been a poker game moments before. "Alright, come one, come all, but I'm not going to be holding back!" Climbing back to her feet, she tears the Spine through the air horizontally, the motion summoning up several sharp gales of wind at both of her attackers.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Is she /mad/? Is she madder than Chera, anyways? Does Maira normally burn places to the ground at the drop of hats? She'd discarded the possibility of a fire field out of hand, and that was a bad move for her.

The firestorm sweeps over her, and she rolls forward, shielding her face. You can't really dodge a wall of flame, though; the best you can hope is to get through it quicker. The fringes of her skirt and sleeves smoulder as she stands, and closes with the arsonist for a bit of firefighting. We're not holding back, right? Avira said as much, and Maira quite plainly used lethal force just now.

Chera opens with a thrust at shoulder height, and anticipates the evasion with an attempt at a pommel strike to the temple, before pulling back. Something black and shining pierces its way into existence in her off hand, and she thrusts for Maira's center of mass.

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden bows once towards Avira's words. "Ah, you know him. Guilty as charged then." He adds with a twinkle in his bright eyes as he hovers on nothing, standing in midair. At least before he gets yanked down.

Tifa's fist meets his shoulder as he twists, using the momentum of the strike to roll away from the woman. Jenna's gunfire lands among a dozen pirates as she scatters them. Maira's fire does much the same, sending some rushing for the door and other rushing to try to put it out.

Warden just laughs. He's enjoying himself.

"No deaths my boys! We loose the game if that happens!" He adds, right before Vespa's table and Deelel' disc slam into him. He's just off balance enough for Avira's spines to almost nail him to the ground.

He shakes his head as he comes to his feet. One cutlass points towards Avira and he grins too wide. "That one though is mine."

He slams his foot down on the ground and a wave of selected anti-gravity rips though the tavern. Tables. Chairs. People. All knocked up into the air as Warden himself takes the high road, throwing one cutlass in the for a moment so he can rip a pistol out of its holder and fire a fulsade of shots before holstering the weapon and flinging himself across the bar towards Avira.

Those golden ropes turn black as he goes, and more and more pirates pile in. Obviously lumbering to try to knock down and knock out the 'heroes' of the hour.

"I name Lady Lancer there protected!" He adds, gesturing towards Aeschere. "Treat her as one of the crew or I'll have your hides!"

He remembers his allies.

Jenna has posed:
"Nngh!" Jenna says, before she floats backwards and fires on the mine she placed earlier as an explosion of gravitic energy appears crushing some of the local area. The reticle over her eye then energizes as she snaps her fingers and sparkling motes of light swirl around her, her wounds starting to close slowly but surely.

Maira has posed:
Fire has two sides. It is the spark of life. Without it, life is not possible. People would die of the cold, plants would not grow after depleting all the nitrogen from the soil...and there are many mythologies that believe fire was an essential ingredient in the making of humanity.

Of course, it is also capable of great destruction.

Sadly, at times like this, its practically the only way she has of defending herself.

Luckily though, Maira has practiced long and hard to be able to control the fire, and even as things begins to burn inside the bar, she closes her eyes and inhales, drawing the heat from the flame back inside herself, snuffing them out before they can do significant damage to the establishment.

Maira hits the floor, wincing as she tries to get to her feet. She never does quite make it to standing however, as Aeschere comes in with pommel strike to the temple, and possibly (oh, good!) more stab wounds.

Quite simply, Maira crumples, sick, from the blow to the head. She is conscious, but only barely. Vulnerable as she is, various protections are all she can cast. A green flame draws a circle around her, flickering but not burning, merely providing something of a protective barrier.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria finds herself getting knocked into the air, it doesn't take much effort to do so to the lightweight girl. Still it's not enough force to keep her from casting spells, it might be best to do something about the pirates to keep them from getting swarmed. The area near them is suddenly flooded by purifying light and they'll find themselves starting to shrink in size. If that's not bad enough, bright spheres also begin to bounce around before shattering to pieces.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart gets more ropes, apparently! She quickly moves in, attempting to throw the aim off with a counter attack, a high kick of her own. It doesn't quite work, but she keeps on the offensive at least. She won't let it get the best of her when it comes to close quarter combat. "You don't get the hint, do you? No more ropes!"

She flips over the nearest table, aiming a sweeping kick while airborne... and then using the momentum to flip herself over, her hands aim for Warden's neck, attempting to twist him around, and crash him into the ground head first, her own patented piledriver hurts (when it hits. Sadly not often enough.)

Vespa has posed:
Everything in the bar starts to float into the air. Vespa punches a hole into the floor holding herself in place so she doesn't float up with everything else, though a few things fall on her. Ow. Ow..

"Mind if I cut in?", she say grinning to one of the pirates and starts swining him around using him as a makeshift club hoping to hit a few of the other pirates coming in then tossing him into a wall!

Avira has posed:
"So I do." Avira shoots back flippantly at Warden. Sure, she could explain that she does know a thing or two about pirates since she did consider taking up air piracy at one point. But she won't give this guy the satisfaction!

Warden seems to be enjoying himself enough already. His posturing draws a small growl from 'Lady Wolf.' "I'll enjoy putting you through the window." Shot into the air again, Avira actually makes the effort to alter her own spin through careful application of air magic, small blasts of wind switching up her trajectory so she can strike her feet against one of the rafters and launch herself back down. Her spin is momentarily interrupted by one of the gunshots which, while it doesn't actually penetrate through her breastplate, does dent it in hard enough that it digs into her skin and muscle.

Touching back down on the ground after flipping again, she lands in a crouch, then launches herself forward. Her weapon drags alongside her, sparking and glowing with blue light. This is the only warning that Warden gets before a gale of ice is launched at the pirate. The blast, in the air, weaves and shapes itself into a massive, snarling wolf-like animal.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel she catches his comment about no deaths, that was odd, she can return his minions and Warden the same favour, She still is going to thrasht hem though as Warden counter attacks come her way, her disc returns and she catches it. She then make use of the weapon to parry the incoming attack she smirks a little bit before she launches her disc again trying to bounce it off the ground and then catch Warden, and it may bounce off and catch his minions afterwards.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
An effective strike. Good. Chera's actual target is thoroughly engaged with pirates; there's little point and less chance of breaking into that melee, so she'll concentrate on the fire support detachment.

Besides, it's only Avira she has to deliver alive. With a grim smile, she continues her work. She probes the fire circle experimentally with he black lance, and receives some burns on her finger for trying. Foo.

Planting it instead in the floorboards, where it ceases to exist as soon as she stops paying attention to it, she reaches, instead, straight through the flames, gritting her teeth through the heat, and grasps Maira by a handful of shirt.

Pale and smiling madly, she raises her eyes to the fray, and a sickening black wave sweeps out from her, across the barroom, bringing an aching chill with it.

Maira has posed:
Maira shivers and groans as Aeschere grabs her, the sickening wave of dark and cold flowing over her. Her heart has its own response, the ghost of a light flashing briefly and lashing out at Aeschere before Maira can get a hold of herself. She's woozy and a bit nautious, but her magic is rejuvinating her by the moment even as Aeschere's tries to bring her down. "Why...are you doing this? For money!? It can't be worth it," she says.

Air this time is used, a burst of it lashing outward from her being to try to knock Aeschere away from her, buying her time and hopefully inconveniencing the bounty hunter--inconveniencing her right through a window, maybe, if he aim is any good.

Warden Thache has posed:
The tavern is a mess by this point.

The pirates and the hunters have turned it into just that. A light disk arcs in only to be parried by an energy blade. Warden sees the punchy barmaid coming for him and jerks out of the way at the last secound, her combo /very/ impressive.

But done to a hapless pirate instead of the captain himself. The poor man isn't getting up again, but at least he was a bit drunk and was manhandled by a pretty woman.

He laughs however as he adds towards Tifa. "Why don't you ask Lady Wolf about our first date! I got the rope idea from her!" He teases as he twists out of the way of yet more fire. He is in his element, and suddenly the pirate captain is possibily a much more worring figure as more and more pirates seem to pile into the growing brawl.

"I'll enjoy watching you try." He shoots back towards Avira as he sees the sparks coming from her weapon.

And suddenly the man isn't there anymore.

A flash step. Movement so quick the eye can hardly follow. The heel of his foot drops, crashing down on the edge of a bar table. It flips up to catch the wolf-blast dead center. The table exploding with the force.

"You break it," The captain murmurs as he watches the woman. "You bought it." He is entirely unscathed by the attack, and with that same speed leaps forward again. First on one side of the bar, then the other, he barrels towards Avira. The cutlass blades dissipear, leaving the heavy metal hilts as he throws his entire force behind first one blow then the next. Meaning to send her into, and possibily right /though/ the wall.

Vespa does indeed grab one of the pirates. He makes an excellent club in fact. However she is pounding on a different crewman. One that is...well...a crab. He doesn't look like its doing much. "Miss. Uh. Miss. Can you stop that. I really don't want to hurt a maid and all..."
Other pirates are stumbling blindly and wondering about from Lumeria's blast. Blind and sick and burning. One manages to trip over her. Other ones leap for Jenna to try for a tackle! They don't want any more explosives. So dogpiling the Al-Bhed seems like a good idea.

He's letting Aeschere deal with Lady Flame. After all she does have to earn those gems.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria suddenly feels a bit ill as she's hit by the black wave hits her. Of course she's not quite sure if it's that from the attack itself or the lack of gravity she seems to be caught in. Still, she better do something before she throws up, that would be rather embarassing. Green sparkles surround and begin to mind her wounds.

Jenna has posed:
Jenna's form starts to blur as she tries to dance out of the way of the dogpiling pirates, but is summarily slammed left and right as she's back against a wall. Staring at Thache she then says, "You asked for this." and holds up both of her pistols as a pair of orbs expand outwards from them and fling towards Thache, tearing up the floor as they travel by sheer proximity to something with that kind of force, merging into one -large- bullet of magical power.

Vespa has posed:
"Too bad for you cause I want to hurt pirates!", Vespa says grimming madly. "I could go for a crab dinner..", she grabs a beer bottle and hit him over the head with it then getting some butter from.. somehwere, and rubbing it in his face.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart ... doesn't really have something smart to answer to that. Except about not really being interested in what would happen if you mix up a pirate, rope and a wolf lady. No no no, don't go there brain.

Instead, she spins around, managing to plant her boots down securely, as she blocks out the incomming attack with her gloved hands... Which gives her a perfect opening for a counter attack.

"Keep your fantasies for yourself, freak! I'll never let myself get tied up like that!" ~_~

Slipping into that opening, she flipkicks right under his chin, a kick that leaves a flash of light. The moment she touches ground again, she slams into his chest with arms crossed in front of her, throwing herself like a bullet at him. And before he can fly out of range of her, a glowing fist seems to appear out of nowhere, releasing the explosive energy wave from it, furthering the blast backward.

Avira has posed:
Yup, totally wrecked. Avira sort of saw this one coming and doesn't look forward to evading the eventual damage repair demands. Tables aren't too bad to replace...but if that alcohol shatters, that would be expeeeensive.

"You shut your face!!" Avira barks as she continues to charge after Warden, barreling through so she's suddenly right in his face after the ice spell of hers goes off. But once the snow and ice has cleared and frozen to the surroundings instead of the pirate. "Damn!"

She whirls, trying to track Warden's speedy approach, but only managing to catch glimpses before he slams himself into her. Comparatively speaking, Warden's a good deal larger than Avira-at least, Avira as a human. "WAUGH!" she howls as she's smashed clear through the wall and slides along the ground outside.

An unhappy noise escapes her as she wiggles her way out from underneath him, pressing a hand to her stomach. Low-level healing magic surges through her palm, leaving behind a faint green glow around Avira.

"Doesn't count." Avira mutters, "That wasn't even a window."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
That's Maira more or less wrapped up, isn't it? At any rate, she's down hard enough that Aeschere can afford to take a look at the general melee again. It doesn't look good for her bankroll. She doesn't get paid if the captain gets offed, or if Avira slips away. She might, too, if they throw her through the right wall.

Right, it's time to get some attention.

Chera steps back from Maira, cocks her arm back, and flings a gleamingly black javelin into the midst of the battle. A twisting tendril of darkness joins it still to her hand. She pales, and she pales, and it swells, and it swells, until the lance bursts forth with a rent-metal screech, drowning the barrom briefly in a searing midnight darkness.

As it fades, she collapses against the bar, fighting to avoid joining Maira on the floorboards.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
She shouldn't have counted the fire-witch out so quickly; Maira's lashing flame-tongue catches the little lancer flat-footed and unable to evade. Looks like she'll be meeting the floor after all. She collapses like a ragdoll, backwards into a pile of barstools, smouldering gently, and it'll be some time before she stirs again.

Warden Thache has posed:
"AHHHHH NOT THE BUTTER! IT BURNS!! WHY GOD! WHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!"

Crabguy should not have underestimated the maid as he staggers back, his claws flailing about wildly as he staggers around. Hated contiments burning his poor eyestalks. He will never be the same again. He might be a one eyed crab after this!!

He will never trust maids again.

Pirates leap out of the way of Jenna's attack and its almost with a terrifing casualness that as the massive shell rips out of the bar and towards Warden that the man raises a single pistol. Even as his concentration is on Avira, the single round impacts the center of Jenna's round and dissapates the energy around both him and Avira. He smirks slightly.

"You have the most intresting friends," He murmurs towards Avira before leaning down towards the healing woman with a smirk. "And you're right...that didn't count. However I enjoyed i--"

Before he can do anything more than lean down and taunt a blurring Tifa blindsides him. He is flung away from the downed Avira by the masterful combo, slamming against a pier support.

Ow.

One eye opens to smirk slightly towards the pair of them. "You. Are starting to be annoying. I was trying to have a moment with Lady Wolf there and you're intrupting..."

He steps away from the pier.

"...learn some MANNERS!"

The man slams his foot down, again the gravic wave ripples out from him before he follows it up. Using the hilts of his weapons like brass knuckles he swings for Tifa's face to knock her back /into/ the tavern. Energy ropes apear again to grab Avira and fling her back inside as well.

Inside? More pirates try to dogpile on Jenna with cries of GET HER GUN. and THROW HER INTO THE WATER! Others turn their attention towards Deelel and various types of funriture come her way.

Maira has posed:
Where is Avira? What is Warden doing to her!? And now Aeschere is done with her and going after Avira as well!?

Oh, no you do not.

Maira stands, wooziness subsiding by the wonderful powers of pure adrenaline.

One word is uttered.

"Holy."

Light explodes from Maira like laser beams of brilliant, sparkling retribution, one shooting for Chere, the other to Warden.

It ought to be familiar to him.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is keeping an eye on Jenna, and wonders about the strange woman even if there might be trouble with her. She's quite curious about her as her comrades stike she smirks a little bit as she's preparing for her counter strike. When Childs makes her move against them. She twists with her disc in hand and deflects the shot as she notes.

"Not bad but not good enough. I'll deal with you later, gltich"

Avira might be the only one in the room whod' get Deelel's actually searing at the moment. She's not a happy little program but Warden comes first, she's got no plans to kill anyone here but she's clearly going to be using force here as she laucnehs hrr self at Warden the strikes are hard but she's clearly trying to not kill him, just make sure he's no longer able to fight.

"So... clever move having your backup do that I'll give you that!"

Jenna has posed:
Blurring once more, Jenna this time weaves expertly between the piratse and even climbs one of the pirates, jumping off his head as she sprays a complete and utter bullet hell of icy shards towards Thache and Aeschere. "Whooooooo~!" she calls out, apparently having a great deal of fun.

Lumeria has posed:
"You should have bargained with me, annoying a powerful mage such as myself is never a good idea." Lumeria's really starting to get sick of this. Her attention then turns Aschere, "I have no idea why you sided with him when you're heavily outnumbered but you're going to regret it too." Suddenly a hole in reality rips inside of the tavern, filling the entire entire with light that's been in trapped through out the universe, along with several fragments of energy as well.

Vespa has posed:
Looks like crab pirate is going to be scarred for life.. Vespa doesn't feel guity at all about it. His fault for undermeating her. Of course the rest of the pirates toss furiture at her and other asortied items.

"This is starting to get annoying!", she grabs a table(again) and runs into the pirates trying to knock them over or outside!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is getting attacked by two fronts! But she can't do much for either. Although she tries to protect herself, she gets pushed in one direction, and then the other one in turns. Beaten and bruised now, she seems pretty tired after expanding her final heaven. She's not done kicking though, just... not as strong now "LIke I care about your time with her, she sure doesn't seem interested either!"

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Oh, sure, kick her when she's down. That's actually a very good idea, and if it weren't happening to her Chera would approve of it, tactically.

As it is, though, all her evils are returned to her, threefold. You have to assume there was suitable effect; she didn't move for the duration, except as she was tossed around by the ice storm. Fetched up in the corner, finally she stirs, and lifts herself to sitting, and then to a knee, and then to--

Nope! Not to standing yet. She gathers herself, and the blood on her armor seeps away into nothing, while she regains a little color.

Avira has posed:
Avira herself finds her attention divided-but hey, at least she isn't being thrown into the water! She breathes hard, upping the intensity on her healing, though not really getting anywhere since she's not really trained in healing magic. She'll still try.

On a lark, she glances back into the bar and sees the buildup of energy and the very faint outline of Aschere within. Her eyes widen. Well, the kid was serious, Avira would give her that. She only gets a few seconds to roll out of the way as the darkness blasts out from where the pair of them had flown through the hole in the wall.

"T..that was a close one.." she mutters, shifting her stance, blinking as he's flung away from her by Tifa. Grinning, she gives her a thumbs up. "Hey, thanks-waugh!"

Energy ropes ensnare her and fling her back into the bar, crashing in to the broken remains of the table she shattered with ice earlier. With a groan, she picks herself up. "I don't like how I've been on my face most of this fight..." she grumbles and waits until Warden returns. When she does...

...she's right there in his face, no magic, but with a combo. First it's a horizontal slash, followed by a diagonal one, then comboed into an opposite swipe from the backswing. If Warden looked carefully, he'll notice that Avira easily adjusts the grip on her blade to maximize the strength of her slashes.

Warden Thache has posed:
The whole building looks wrecked. Fire and holy have blown chucks out of the building. Warden and Vespa have knocked holes in the damn thing. Furniture is sticking out of walls at odd angles. Disks have torn though support beams.

Its a mess.

And its not quite over yet.

Tifa's kicks come in and hammer into him as he staggers. Deelel and Jenna scatter his crew. Men go tumbling out windows and holes in the floor or walls. Several of them bolt out the door.

This might just be a loosing proposition.

However....

"MISTER SHALE!" The man roars as he spits a gob of blood from his mouth to splatter against the floor. "I think its time to be going. Lady Lancer? Thank you for your help! You earned this!" And he whistles.

Out from the other side of the shattered bar clambers an extremely adorable little racoon. With wings. He drops a pouch next to the charging lady. "Thanks beautiful!" He churrips before taking wing and aiming to go out the window.

Warden /would/ aim to go out the window as well, but suddenly an Avira is in his face and he can't resist an Avira. Well more to the point he can't turn his back on that freeking weapon of hers. His blades snap up and he meets the woman blow for blow, his own suprisingly strong. Strong enough to drive her back across the floor towards the far end of the remains of the tavern.

"Now Cap'n?" The huge stone from of Mister Shale rumbles as he stands by a support beam.

"NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME MISTER SHALE YES!!"

THe stone man shrugs and he kicks the beam, shattering it. The entire Tavern starts to tilt, obviously sliding into the water.

Everyone hold on to something?

Well everyone but Avira. She has Warden to hold onto. More specificly he's holding onto her as he reaches up to grab her brestplate.

"Best hold your breath. Wolves /can/ swim right?" And then he flings himself and her up into the air, and spins once. And just to add insult to injury? Gives her the lightest of pecks on her cheek. His pistol comes out and the fire from the weapon is so fast is seems to be one continous stream as he shoots a hole in the floor and then attempts to crashthough.

Along with Avira.

Its not a window either.

But the water /is/ down there. So technicly he is throwing her into the lake.

Everyone else? Well they shall have to deal with a collapsing building.

At least Aeschere got her bounty!

Maira has posed:
Maira looks over as Aechere goes down, frowning deeply. She begins to approach the woman, pulling a health potion from her pouch and tossing it to her. "Hurry, get out of here!" she says, then turns, ready to finish this thing--

But suddenly, the tavern is going into the lake! Ooh no! She is not going down with it! She retaliates with a quick burst of fire after Warden, likely only burning him fleeing behind a bit if anything, scrambling over toward Avira to make sure she gets out. If she's been fighting Warden, she'll be hurting! "Out we go!" she says, quickly casting a heal on Avira to try to speed up her retreat before they all go under!

Avira has posed:
Halfway through her swings, Avira switches from a one-handed grip to a two handed one. It seems to give her a little bit more power and with each blocked blow. Sparks fly between their weapons and Avira even leans in to glare at Warden in the face for a few seconds when their blades lock.

She slides backwards, leather boots squeaking against the wooden floorboards. "Damn it..!"

She feels the floor beneath her feet start to tilt. Pushing off, she prepares to disengage so she doesn't fall into the water...except Warden grabs her! Glaring, she inverts her blade and prepares to stab him. "Unhand me!"

Her fury only grows when he has the audacity to kiss her on the cheek. One of her hands leaves her weapon to form up into a fist. To hit him with.

They break through the floor and for a few seconds, Avira's head spins from the impact. Maira's magic washes over her and the concussion-to-be fades, leaving her...underwater. With Warden. Avira can indeed swim, fortunately, and she shoves off Warden to try to do that.

Vespa has posed:
Collapising building. Great. Vespa get slammed onto the floor. She going to be feeling that in the morning. She lets out a light curse as she does her best to support the falling debree so it doesn't crush anyone else.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria's exhausted at this point from all the fighting, but she does manage to get off one more spell before the bar ends up in the lake. She really hopes the loot wasn't in here at this point, it would be a surprise if there was anything left intact. Still it's not going to do her much good if she's dead so she makes her way nearest hole before the bar completely sinks.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is a good swimmer, fortunately. Although a leather dress isn't the best for that either. She eeps as the inn tilts over. Well, so much for what was left of it after that fight anyway. One less thing to worry about in the immediate at least.

She swims over to try to make sure everyone is alright, ready to support or save them if need is. "Everyone okay?" She calls out. Where are the bad guys? Hopefully nowhere near right now >_< She can still kick in the water.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
A couple of pouches bounce off of Aeschere before she's ready to react. By the time she does, the floor is caving in, and there's a lake under her; time to go, yes.

She snatches up the cash pouch and the... potion? and begins edging her way around to the outside wall. Once she's found firm footing, she uncorks the potion and makes a futile attempt to determine if it's poison. Well, whatever if it is, she'll be just as dead if she goes down with this ship.

Happily, it turns out to be a restorative. Maira's place in Chera's mind is firmly cemented as 'confused', but she supposes that honor makes as much sense as anything. More escaping, less looking at gift horses' teeth. There's a door, or a window, or a hole of some other sort within reach, and Chera hauls her carcass through it, and up the boardwalk, in case the bar takes the strip with it.

Not so much as a 'thanks, captain', but she suspects he understands.

Jenna has posed:
Splooshing into the water, Jenna frowns as she looks around and says, "Oh, come on!" and sighs. "Great, -this- bill is going to be massive beyond all belief." as she dives under to try to follow Warden Thache

Maira has posed:
Well, Maira can't swim, so she is actually getting the heck out of there, otherwise she'd have dived right in after Avira.

She will make for the shore and heal others wounds if they need it immediately, anxiously watching the water for Avira.

And I /guess/ Warden.

Warden Thache has posed:
Over goes the tavern. In to the water goes a mess of debris and pirates. Thankfully? Most of them are ocean creatures anyway. They shoot away on various means of propultion.

Except crab-guy. He sort of flails slowly in the direction of the anchored ships.

Avira heads for the surface, /after/ decking Warden for being Warden. She could see the grin on his face even as they both dissipeared under the water. He was having /fun/.

She comes up for air first, Maira can see that. However a second later Warden bursts from the water behind her and slides his arms around her from behind. The pointed end of his chin rests against her shoulder as he whispers something to her before one clever hand just slides something down the front of her brestplate.

Yup. He's a bad person.

Then he's pushing away, as his hand flings a dagger towards the ruins of the inn. A dagger with something attached to it.

A flippant wave, and then the pirate captain dives under the waves again. Heading towards the docked ships himself.

...and does anyone here /really/ want to take on the broadside of a full pirate ship?

The message stuck to the side of the ruined Inn? A treasure map.

The item stuck down Avira's armor? The same.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa can swim thankfully thought her current outfit make it a bit challening she does make it to the shore.

"ugh I feel like a drowned rat.", She says starting to ring the water out of her clothing..

Maira has posed:
Maira watches as Warden /sticks his hand down her breastplate/.

Maira's face: :O!!!!

Avira has posed:
Well, she did say she would hit Warden in the face a second time. At least Avira can walk away from this incident with that on her mind, even if she seems to have failed to hit Warden every other time!

Maira will see, if she's looking in the water, Avira break the surface and gasp for air. She starts treading water shortly afterwards and looks around for her quarry. Not seeing him right away, she makes to swim out so she doesn't wind up trapped beneath a collapsing bar.

Warden grabs her from behind and Avira yelps with sudden alarm. She almost doesn't catch the whispering and it takes her a moment to realize what happened. Once she does, Avira's immediately going to deck him AGAIN.

Frustrated, she starts swimming after him, right up until the point when she sees his ship. That...well, she'll have to not storm that ship today. Muttering, she heads for one of the still-standing pylons and pulls herself up. "Well that certainly didn't go well." She'll...address the item down her breastplate later.

Maira has posed:
Maira rushes over to hug Avira, relieved she's alright. Fondled, but alright.

"Oh goodness...lets all get out of here!" she suggests. "Anyone needs healing, I'll take care of it."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has been hurt pretty bad by Warden's earlier attack and her injuries are more clear as there's several more noticeably glowing wounds she's clutching at them as this point. She sees Aechere goes down, but it looks like everything is going to hell She makes sure to start dragging those who can't get out even Warden's own goon squad, she's not forgot his orders for no fatalities consider her returning the favour she's hurt but that can wait for now.

"This...is a heck of a mess. I also... could use some help here, they got me pretty badly..."