He's trying to help. Really.

He's trying to help. Really.
Date of Scene:	31 January 2014
Location:	British Forest
Synopsis:	Theft can totally be for a good cause. Right?
Cast of Characters:	Avira, Warden Thache

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Warden Thache has posed:
Mysterys abound tonight it seems. Mysteries such as where Warden got a carrage. Where he got a dress. How he delievered said dress to her. How he /found/ where she /was/ to deliver the dress. The man is full of mysteries, and he likes it that way.

It hasn't been a /long/ ride for Avira, after the delivery and the pick up by the magnificet nobles coach. The coachman has been relitively silent, as...suprisingly...has Spooks. He's grinned at her however.

The ride stops near the gate to a nobles estate on the edge of the forest. Its a rather large estate, and there are dozens of horses and coaches lined up to one side. The coachman however pulls up next to one that is offest from the others, of similar style to the one Avira herself rides in.

"Alright miss!" Spooks chirrups. "Were here! Any questions?" He adds as he beams in though a window.

Avira has posed:
Thinking about it, such things were NOT mysterious to Avira. Warden likely had a great deal of cash on him ever since he fenced all that stuff he stole from the Castle of Dreams. It actually sickens her just a little to think that the dress she's currently wearing was paid for by the treasure she's trying to retrieve.

Admittedly, it is a nice dress. She can't help but be amused at the extensive golden beading and chain decorating it. But without sleeves or straps and the length and size of the lower half, Avira can't help but feel kind of /naked/. There was nowhere on this outfit to adequately hide the Spine. Even fitting small daggers to her thighs was a difficult task since the dress did hug her hips. Though no stranger to jewelry, it has been some time since she's put on earrings, so getting those on was a little bit of a chore. Rather than put her hair up, it's been left down, which actually makes Avira almost look like a completely different person.

Spooks gets a nonplussed look when that carriage pulls up. She's half-expecting Warden to be inside but...well, he is not. All very mysterious and extravagant.

"Yes. How long is this going to last?" Avira says flatly.

Warden Thache has posed:
At her question the door is pulled open and a familiar if somewhat unwelcome voice breaks into the conversation.

If it wasn't for the ears and the tail, it would be nigh impossible to reconise the captain himself. His outfit matches hers in color and style. They are tailored to his frame perfectly. The trowsers and shirt. Doublet and boots. He doesn't wear a hat either, and his longish hair is pulled back in a fashionable pony tail that hangs down the nape of his neck. The man looks as transformed as she is.

With just as few places to hide weapons.

The smile though is still him, and the bright green eyes as well.

"Don't worry. This shouldn't take /too/ much longer my dear Lady Wolf." He comments with a murmur as he raises his hand to help her out of the carrage. His eyes fasten on her form and he /does/ smile just slightly more. "I knew that would look good on you."

That last comment is...actually truthful. It sounds honest, as in an honest compliment.

Avira has posed:
Her gut twists at the sound of Warden's voice and Avira has to remind herself that she was the one that won their little duel! Perhaps she should have been more explicit in her terms for victory conditions but if she covered all of the things she wanted to forbid him from doing, she would have been talking for an awfully long time.

Upon seeing him, she double-takes. Warden certainly did not look like much of a pirate right now-or almost anything like himself usually. In fact, it looked like he fancied himself as some kind of prince. Avira's eyes roam his waist in search of holsters or sheaths that would hold weapons. She sees none but does not take that as a sign he's unarmed. She herself certainly isn't, after all!

"...really now.." she peers at the estate and the other carriges pulled up before, after a bit of reluctance, using his hand to steady herself as she steps down. Darn dress. Making it all HARD TO WALK.

Her face colors just slightly at his compliment but it is gone the moment her feet touch the ground. "What is this...event you've brought me to?"

Warden Thache has posed:
He waits for her to steady herself in that dress before he chuckles just once lightly towards her. "The noble Duke Archibald DuPont is holding a ball tonight. To celebrate a few new additions to his collection. Tomarrow? He'll move his new pieces out and hide them in his own personal storehouse. Those new pieces? /That/ is what you would be wanting, and what I said I'd help you get." The pirate smiles out of the corner of his eyes towards her. "Infiltrating a noble's party is a bit...overdone I know. However sometimes its the tried and true things that work the best. Thats why they are so tried and true."

He pauses for a moment, his booted feet crunching on the cobblestones that make up the walk up to the front of the estate. "I wouldn't have asked you, but...I could only lay hands on one invitation on short notice. So..." A slight shrug of his shoulders. "...tonight. You are Dona Ana Marie Verdugo, and I..." His smile grows just a touch more. "...am your trophy husband."

Thats right. And she thought /he/ was the noble. Nope. He's just the eye candy.

"I figure we can mingle for half-hour. Hour at most. Then you drag me upstairs. We nip the few little prizes. Then make our way out again and no one is the wiser."

A pause before he adds. "And yes. The Duke /did/ know those all were stolen goods. Feel free to ask him for them all back though. If you're feeling perticularly honest."

Avira has posed:
In truth, beneath the dress, Avira is in sandals that slope gradually and do not have an enourmous heel. Her wobbliness is all from the dress itself and its restrictive mobility. The more she tries to walk around in it, the worse it seems to get!

Patiently, she listens to exactly why they are here-that the stolen paintings have been puchased by a noble and thus they need to steal them back. Not only that, but she had to adopt a different persona for this. "Well that's not too much of a stretch.." she remarks at the given name. She could act haughty and arrogant and...

"...trophy husband. In this little charade, you mean, we are /married/? How shameless. Though I am a little surprised you would entertain fantasies of marriage."

She gives him the hairy eyeball. "For the sake of retrieving these paintings for the Charming Family, I will play along with this. But try to take it too far and you will feel my /wrath/. Come, Mr. Army Candy, let's..."

She makes a face, as if the thought sort of disgusted her. At the same time, she holds her arm out, fully expecting Warden to come hold it like a gentleman. "...mingle with the others."

Warden Thache has posed:
"Trust me, I don't like this any more than you do." Warden replies wryly. "Well the mingling at least. Your company on the other hand is quite welcome. I hope you don't mind the dress I picked out for you." A pause. "And no, I didn't use stolen treasure." His smile comes with a chuckle. "It came with the invitation. I had it retailored for you."

The man does take her arm, and its with a gentlemanly grace that might suprise her that he takes her arm as he presents their invitations to the doorman.

As they cross over the door and into the party proper, well there /are/ dozens of people there. Brightly colored in their plumeage like noblilty does. Its ostentations, its loud, its...well...a noble party. However there is one thing that everyone else has, that they do not.

Masks.

Warden smiles as he lets go her arm and pulls out a small teakwood box. "I almost forgot. The last touch." He adds quietly as he bows towards her, lifting the lid to reveal whats inside before they get to mingling properly. What /is/ inside is a pair of masks. Both deep red and black, both made of hand-tooled, crafted, and carved leather. Exquisite in form and function.

One half-mask in the shape of a growling wolf. The other the snarling panther.

"If you'll allow me?" He murmurs as he raises the wolf-mask out of the box, offering it towards her.

Avira has posed:
"Tch, I find that hard to believe. Why jus t the other day, you were leaning on top of me." Then her clarifies, specifying that the mingling he couldn't stand. She herself being here...

The lack of masks is a strange thing. Did Warden not account for this part? It makes her feel self-conscious without one, especially since there might be 'follow up' should they get caught in the act of reclaiming paintings.

Ah, but no, Avira is mistaken. Warden planned for that as well. The designs of the masks draw a laugh from Avira. "Oh, how adorable."

His offer to help draws a smirk. "Oh, go ahead..." Avira moves her hands so she holds her hair out of the way. "...dear /husband/."

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden plans for lots of things! People don't really think that he does but he does!!

Warden continues to smile as he nods once before tucking the box under one arm. He reaches up to carefully fit the wolf-mask on Avira.

It looks quite fierce.

He leans forwards to run the silk ribon under her hair, against the nape of her neck before tightening it so it holds at just the right angle on against her features, disguising them from view.

"Perfect." A pause. "Dear wife."

His green eyes dance as he nods once towards the milling groups of people. "So. Shall we split up, or hudle together for safty?" He asks as he plucks his own mask up to start to pull his on.

Which is hard to tie by himself. He might need help.

Avira has posed:
Fierce. Extremely fitting in ways Avira could appreciate that she is actually quite reluctant to show. He'd start to tease her over such compliance and she didn't want to acquiesce to him any further than she ALREADY is with this 'mission.'

"Oh no no." she interrupts, slipping behind him, "Allow /me/." Unless he already put his on by the time she steps in, she'll go through the motions of securing it herself with a very tight pull to finish the knots she makes. "There."

She steps up so he is next to her. "Unfortunately. I think we ought to stick together. Unless you are wandering off to talk with a group of ladies or something, I don't think you ought to wander." As much as she'd enjoy ditching him at the party.

Warden Thache has posed:
Urk. Maybe he /shouldn't/ have done that. That mask is pretty tight now isn't it? He winces just slightly before glancing over his shoulder towards her. "I deserved that didn't I?"

He doesn't need an answer to that either. He already knows the truth of it.

He totally deserved it.

"Sticking together then, and no. I've be too afriad any of these 'noble ladies' here would stick a knife in my back and pluck my bones clean if I took them to bed." He chuckles quietly, keeping his voice low as he starts to move though the crowd. "I much prefer your matter of attempting to stab me in the /chest/ than the /back/. The back seems to be all that most Nobles know."

He has issues with nobility. If no one guessed.

"The only difference between what they do and what I do is that the law actually protects them."

Avira has posed:
"Deserved what?" Avira asks innocently. Too tight? He should be glad she did not draw the thread around his throat. She'd show him too tight!

A low 'tsk' escapes her when he professes his fear for bedding these ladies. "But you don't fear me, who has more or less already done that to you, minus the bone-picking. Though you have one thing right. I do prefer frontal attacks."

Strange to hear his opinion of nobility come out liek that. She files away that thought for later-hey, this night is going to be lucrative after all! "Does it? There are times when they too fall to the law. Rare, but, there are." Even Avira must acknowledge the power of influence that keeps many a noble out of jail. With that in mind, she leads him into the viper's den and mingles with her darling trophy husband on her arm. It's a strange feeling, that, but she seems pretty decent at pretending to be someone else. Curious.

Warden Thache has posed:
"I /knew/ you had a sense of humor in there somewhere," Warden murmurs as they slip amonst the guests. A greeting here. A polite word there. Introductions abound. The man is actually...adept at this sort of thing. He remembers names. Eels though the nobility without difficulty.

Though should the Wolf's sharp eyes catch it, though there is not diffiuclty there /is/ well disguised disgust.

"And I don't fear you Lady Wolf, I only fear one thing. Thankfully you have no way to get to it, or get it here. Locked away as it is. So I'm safe. You will ahve to settle for respect over fear. I've always felt that a better thing anyway."

It takes over a half-hour for them to work their ways though the crowd. A crowd where Warden fields dozens of boring questions about politics and finances, and Avira fields questions about...well...politics and if her husband is available for rent and/or barrowing.

Apparently most of the noble ladies here are human. They havn't seen one of Warden's race before. He's exotic.

Regardless of Warden fighting off falling asleep and Avira fighting off near blushes they /do/ manage to make it across the floor and to the stairs leading up. It /would/ be a perfect time for Avira to either drag him away...or ditch him and tell the owner of this party just what really was happening.

Avira has posed:
Throughout the party, though Avira spends a good deal of that with social fencing and evasion, her attention remains upon Warden and how he's reacting to everything. She's studying him, making notes of his acting and lying skills for later. He's quite good, she hates to admit, and must face that their earlier encounters may have been various bluffs.

All the while she does notice the disgust, which she had picked up on earlier, he has for nobility.

"I gathered as much, though." She seems unsurprised at his lack of fear of /her/. Why else would he attempt so many moments of touching? Or even nights like these? Altering his opinion would probably involve taking livess, which Avira was not interested in doing.

She endures, despising the fact that she must beat these women off with sticks from stealing away her 'trophy husband.' Due to the setup, seh /has/ to care about these attempts. She might mack Warden more about this later. While at the socialization stage, she does make an attempt to find and talk to the owner, just to get a feel of him.

But when the time comes, Warden finds himself being dragged away upstairs. "Alright, that's more than enough of these..people." she grumbles in a low voice.

Warden Thache has posed:
Oh he wasn't lying.

He really only fears one thing.

Thankfully its sealed away in his own world and no one is going to get that open! Right? RIGHT?! Right. Never happen right.

So he's safe.

The owner himself is...well. Handsome. Refined. Gentlemanly. Everything that one would expect of a Duke.

There is also something viper-like about him. Slimy. The smile he has for Avira is all plastic and no warmth, as if he is simply sizing her up to be used or discarded at his own whim.

She can see just why Warden is so fond of nobles. All balled up into this one.

She pulls him up the stairs however and he grins widles as they go. "Look more affectionate can you?" He asks with his glittering eyes dancing brightly in the half-dark.

Either way however the man goes with her. Not /quite/ draped over her as they escape the crowd. "Into one of the side rooms." He murmurs into her ear as they go. "There is a museam display hall up here. Once we find it, shouldn't take long to get what we need and get out. If all goes well at least."

Famous last words.

Avira has posed:
In time. Avira is confident she would learn this thing eventually, especially if she continues her track record of encountering this man as she has these past few weeks. Warden will be unwound and she'll do it at a time when she's not trying to actually accomplish something IMPORTANT.

Ah that owner, with a smile that does not reach his eyes. It's a smile that Avira has seen before. She holds him at a social arm's length, giving off the airs that she's simply too -good- for him. Their conversation is brief and she takes no steps to inform him what's really going on.

"Affectionate?" she drawls quietly, "Au contraire, I think I look affectionate enough for this crowd." He takes him by his fancy, fancy collar and drags once he's at the top of the stairs, ducking down a hallway and into one of the side rooms as he's suggested. "I have a bad feeling about this, though." Again, she is quiet.

Warden Thache has posed:
"Urgk," Whatever he was /going/ to say? Well that gets preeptived by her dragging him by the collar of his fancypants outfit.

He recovers as she shuts the door behind them, loosening the collar as he leans his back against the wall next to the door. "Are you /always/ such a bundle of joy at times like this?"

His works come with a smile, angling lightly towards her before he shrugs slightly. "There are always possible traps, and always possible discovery. Thats why you have backup plans." He flexes his fingers a moment or two, glancing around the room they find themselves in with the practiced eye of a thief.

Suprisingly enough? He's not taking anything.

And that mask of his /does/ make him seem exotic.

"I'm almost suprised you didn't give us away to the Duke." He adds as he opens the door just slightly to peer out into the hallway and make sure its clear. It suprisingly is clear as he pulls out a small hand-drawn map. Traying to orient himself correctly.

Should she look it is a map of the second floor, with a big red X marked in a long room at the end of the hall. Double doors. It defentially looks like a gallery from the drawing at least.

"You're enjoying this arn't you?" He asks as he glances up, that grin on his masked features before he jerks his head towards the door. "Come on then, the night is still young and we have a job to do don't we?"

Avira has posed:
"Do you expect flirting on a mission? Granted, I /have/ done that, but you aren't one of the few I would do it with." She pauses for a moment to keep him pinned against the wall before letting go of him. "Sometimes I do like to consider myself a professional."

Backing away, she too turns to the room, looking it over with a practiced gaze. Much like Warden, Avira's had her share of traps and adventuring. Through practice she's developed her own careful observation of her surroundings. "You are?"

Slowly, she looks to him. "Well, Warden, I've yet to see if you were being entirely truthful to me about this particular infiltration. Sure, you said he has the goods, but what if he doesn't? Announcing that I'm here to reclaim them when he didn't have them would have only caused trouble for both of us right away. And if he did have them, he would deny it most likely. Either way, we would have played our hand and complicated things."

She turns, the hem of her dress flowing with her motion like liquid gold. Her brown eyes fall upon his hand-drawn map. "...tch." her eyes look amused behind that mask. "...I would enjoy it more if Mercade could see me like this. Let's move."

Warden Thache has posed:
"Expect no," Warden replies as she pins him against the wall like that. His eyes are warm and bright as he looks down at her. His arms are around her waist, and should anyone come upon them. Well. They /are/ for that moment at least, the picture of a pair of rather frisky lovers perhaps a bit into their cups and wrapped up in themselves. "But sometimes I get pleasently suprised. Not this time perhaps, but sometimes."

Warden? He is anything /but/ professional. At least at times like this.

He laughs, low and soft and warm as she spins away from him. Its a sound that thrums though the dark room. Suprisingly pleasent from a man that is unpleaesnt at times. Not like his former laughs. One that is much more...honest in its tone and timbre.

"He should," He finally murmurs. His eyes still bright and amused as hers. "You look nothing short of stunning like that."

Again that short moment of honesty before he turns to the door and pulls it open. Reaching for her hand to pull her down the hallway this time. Carefully making sure the coast is entirely clear as he goes towards the door he needs.

The door is closed of course, but not locked suprisingly enough.

Avira has posed:
"No." Avira leans in. While her body may be going through the motions in case someone did happen upon Dona Ana Marie Verdugo and her trophy husband. Such arrangements like hers were expected to be built on lust in these circles, weren't they? But there was only so far she was willing to go with the charade considering that this is WARDEN here.

"Certainly not this time." She turns her back to him with her hands on her hips. "I'm not expected to give this outfit back, am I?" Avira could only imagine the expression on his face if she slinked into Mercade's office, looking like one of the dames in the detective stories he tries to emulate. A smile spreads across her face as she imagines, only to disappear when Warden speaks up again with that sincere compliment from earlier.

For those few moments, she is speechless, unsure how to really respond. In those moments, Warden takes her hand and pulls her along. Before he can open the door, though, she stops him and carefully leans against it, listening carefully.

Warden Thache has posed:
Thats alright. Warden will surly ruin that suprise and posible positive faction with some moment of Wardenness later on in the night. Its sort of what he does and all.

The door isn't locked, and there are no sounds coming from the other side of the thick wood that she can hear. The muted sounds of the party downstairs are the only company the pair of them have on the upper floor for now.

"Parish the thought, its a gift. Though I can't take credit for anything but the mask." He murmurs, sharp green eyes carefully watching his environs for anything just the slightest bit out of place.

Avira has posed:
Hearing nothing behind the door, Avira puts her hand upon the doorknob and slowly turns it. A bit of surprise registers on her face when she realizes that it is unlocked. The door is still opened very slowly.

"Is it now? Though you did have a hand in picking it out, I assume, given how well it matches your own outfit." She can't help but feel a little excited. She WILL be able to surprise Mercade like this! Once this mission has passed, she will have to do just that. But until then...

...Avira slips quietly into the unlocked room.

Warden Thache has posed:
The room is very long, exactly like drawn on the little scrawl of Warden's. Its an exibit gallery, with dozens of glass cases for display. Armor. Weapons. Gems. Jewelry. All are on proud display.

...and likely not one of them aquired without a bit of theft involved.

Warden whistles softly as he glances down the gallery. The man's impressed at least, and his eyes glow with more than a hint of avarice as he notes the value of the good laid out before him.

Focus Warden. Focus.

He murmurs as he closes the door carefully behind them. His eyes slide down the length of treasures before falling on one a little more than halfway down.

"There. Thats what you want."

Inside the case is a saber and sheath, all so gemed and jeweled and gilded that the weapon would be entirely useless as...well...a weapon.

Its a very impressive paperweight though. Or display piece.

"The sword and the other gems in the case. That would be what you want. Just be careful for traps on the way there." A smirk. "And if you can't handle a lock, then allow me." A longer pause. "And /no/ I'm not gonna just shoot it off."

Avira has posed:
Definitely an /impressive/ private collection. The lord of the estate must have a lot of money to throw around to arrange for the theft of all of these things. Stealing what had already been stolen held no interest to Avira, though, save for the Charming property. The rest of this-well, who knows who it may have been lifted from. She might direct Max to this place a bit later in case he was interested in plundering this target-rich environment.

Her brown eyes flick to Warden every now and then and she smirks. She can practically sense him salivating over the various gems and loot present here. Her gaze is directed to the saber-she doesn't recognize it, not having studied the gems before they were stolen. It looked royal enough, though. But if Warden was directing her to steal something that /wasn't/ part of the aforementioned collection, Avira will be very cross.

"I am experienced with traps." Avira murmurs before slipping forward. Her eyes are narrowed and her movements are slow. Each step is careful and her ears listen carefully for the triggering of any switches or panels.

Warden Thache has posed:
By the time Max gets here, it may be gone. At least that is what the look on Warden's face says. He can't let a haul like this just go away! Espicialy after stealing /something/ from him already!

"Of course, Lady Wolf." Warden murmurs quietly as he lets her go first. She has experiance with traps! No reason to not let her go first.

...at least until his own eyes start roaming the room.

Her practiced eyes can pick out several panels and even a tripwire or two. She is confident and swift, picking her way down the hall...

Until Warden sucks in a breath in shock and. "Not there!"

Too late!

Avira might feel the perfectly normal looking floor tile slip under the pressure of her weight. She was sure that it was normal. The one next to it was the wrong one, and quite obviously the wrong one.

Before she can react a weight cannons into her from behind as Warden tackles her to the ground. They fall and he doesn't stop moving. Pulling her with him as he rolls to the right, then the left, then back finally to the right before fetching up /hard/ against the very case he said they were here for.

Above them all hell breaks loose.

Daggers fly from the first misstep of Avira's, shot from a wall piece that looked like a fishes mouth. They would have logded in her back if she hadn't have been tackled down.

A spear shoots out at an angle from the base of a case, narrowly missing them both. Then a blade scythe's across the middle hall, close enough to nick Warden's ear and nearly take the mask off Avira's face.

Top that off with a flash of bright energy as something either technological or magical flashes like a lightning bolt an inch away from the pair of them as they are rolling away.

Ending up ontop of the masked Investigator, the pirate just gives her an ironic little look.

"Experianced with traps is it now?"

There is more than a touch of pain if she looks hard in his masked eyes. Something got him at least, but he isn't one to complain about it.

Avira has posed:
She does have experience with traps! What she doesn't mention is that when she experienced those traps in the temples and dungeons she was raiding, she wound up setting most of them off and getting /hit/ by them. But surely that experience would have made her wiser in the end, right?

Apparently not. A huff of breath escapes her as Warden smashes into her from behind and knocks her onto the floor, just after she felt the barest of 'clicks' when she stepped down on a particular tile. She attempts to pick herself back up only for Warden to push her down again, then roll across the floor one way, then the other. Cringing from the movement, she seems to curl up against him with a yelp of protest every now and then until she sees a blade pass by her face so closely between them that she can see her own eyes reflected in the side.

She lies limply, pressed against the base of the case by the pirate. Beneath the wolf mask, she is blushing heavily with shame. "Well I /am/." she protests defensively. "Every trap works a little bit differently, you know. Her fingers dig into him tightly for a few seconds before releasing as she tries to pull herself up with her back to the case. Very briefly she thinks she sees pain in his green eyes. Did he get hit..?

"E-either way..." she mumbles, trying to regain her previous bravado, "Here we are."

Warden Thache has posed:
"For the record," Warden hisses quietly towards her as the silence resumes after the suddenly loud burst of noise and death. "When a swich is /too/ obvious, its usually too obvious for a reason. Don't they have Dragon Creches where you're from?"

He lies there for just a second longer, as if trying to regain his strength after that. When he does sit up there is a faint grimice of pain as he carefully stands. its hard to tell in the poor lighting but there might be a darker spot in the fabric of the back of his coat.

"Yes we are here, but I'm sure the'll have a group of guards here in a second to find out what hte noise is. So. Do you want to keep watch and try to out-talk a guard or..." And he pulls a set of lockpicks out of the sleeve of his outfit. "Deal with a lock?"

She knows he's right. Any of those traps /could/ have been linked to an alarm. If the noise wasn't enough by itself.

Avira has posed:
"I don't even know what that is." Avira shoots back at him with a touch of annoyance in her voice. She watches the pirate carefully, again noticing his pain. Without warning, she reaches out to him and places a hand on her shoulder. Her fingers glow a dull white and Warden might feel a faint, slow-acting rush of relief spreading from the point of contact throughout his body. It's a basic regen spell for those familiar with World of Ruin-type magic. If anything, it'll slow the bleeding.

There's no doubt in her mind that all those traps likely triggered an alarm as well. "I doubt there will be much chance to out-/talk/ the guards coming to deal with this. But I am prepared with other options. You work on the lock. What is our escape route going to be?"

At this point she's already accepted that a hasty retreat from this function is in their future. Calmly, she holds up her arms as if she was making the motions of firing an invisible bow and arrow.

Where an arrow would be knocked, a shaft of blue light appears and solidifies into a thin shard of ice. Avira makes the motions of 'releasing' the bowstring and the ice shard shoots forward, impacting against the door they entered through the museum, coating the frame with a thin layer of ice. Opening that door just got a touch more difficult. Any incoming guards would end up making a terribly large amount of noise getting it open.

Warden Thache has posed:
"Well." He pauses a moment. "Thats impressive." Magic does have a bit of use he suposes. He still doesn't /like/ it really, but it does have a bit of use every so often. He can admit that. Maybe he should try to hire a wizard for the crew!

Akari and Chere are mercenaries right? That might work.

Future concerns aside he sighs to shake his head. "A Dragon's Creche is a type of trap. Well. A room really. Ment to kill anyone that wondered in. Traps. Its really a lost art in your world isn't it? No fancy names or artistry in it left is there?"

He would go on, but he is suddenly silenced when she concentrates that small bit of magic into him. for a moment as she touched him it almost seemed like he would simply curl away. He apparently didn't like people dealing with his own wounds, or he thought she might do something to him while weakened.

He crouches though, starting to attend to the lock. Not with a gun or a bit of magic, or some technological marvel. No. He is a purist. He is working on it with lockpicks and skill alone.

"I don't know, how disheveled you look after our tumble. If you could fake being drunk you might convince them that we were just fooling around and set something off." He suggests towards the woman as he listens, ears pricked for the sound of the tumblers.

Its the sound of a knock on the door that is heard next though. No one trying to foce Avira's block.

Yet.

Avira has posed:
"Thank you." She breathes out, lowering her arms and turning to face him, watching him as he worked. In all of the skills she had picked up over the years, lockpicking had not been one of them. Sure, she could brave Max's instruction to learn but after what she had endured from him so far, she was gunshy about asking him for more help.

"Well...in my original world, no, not really. Traps were not really lethal unless they were meant to guard some mad genius's lair." Xanatos might have had them in his tower. "There are laws against that in Manhattan." It wasn't that much of a secret anymore concerning Avira's true origins. Her real name was still mostly unknown at least.

But goodness, that was strange. He almost seemed to be rejecting her healing touch? Not the reaction she thought he'd have to physical contact from her at all.

"Well I could try that." The knock on the door interrupts them. Though she knows it cannot be opened yet, she quietly slips over to the door and leans toward it. She raises her voice and attempts to make herself sound slightly intoxicated.

"Ye~eesss?"

Warden Thache has posed:
"Er...madam?" The voice sounds from the other side of the door. Its muffled by wood and ice but still can be heard. Professional and serious. A guard of some kind. "Is there trouble? We heard a commontion from this room and now..."

Someone tries the latch.

"The door seems to be stuck..."

Its at least buying them time as Warden works on the lock. One tumbler, then two, then a third fall though the mans skilled fingers.

"Just a few more moments..." He murmurs to her. "...just keep them busy for a few more moments. Emergency exit is out a window on the second floor. Back of this room." A pause. "Do you think you can fight in those skirts?"

Avira has posed:
"Helloooo~" Avira drawls, the expression on her face certainly not matching the alleged intebraitedness conveyed in her tone. But those on the other side were not aware of that. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, my dear and I were rolling around on the floor and suddenly there was this flash of light! Hee hee hee...we made a little mess...I'm sooooo sorry..."

Avira makes faces between this, as if steeling herself. She's largely disgusted at faking the bimbo here but if it stalled them...

"Oh! Oh, no, no, don't come in! We are so indencent right now!" Avira gasps scandalously. "Ohh I'm so sorry. Give us a moment to get ourselves together! PleaSkalith (talk)asseee~"

She steps away from the door and edges back to Warden. "My ability to fight is severely hobbled in this dress. I don't have my usual weapon on me and my mobility is lacking. I could manage some magic, but not much else." She warns him. "If you can conceal that saber on you then perhaps we can slip past the guards outside and forgo the window entirely."

Warden Thache has posed:
The last tumbler comes free and Warden sighs in relief as he lifts the case and the items right out. At least he starts too, before he stops. Curses. And goes about disarming a few remaining traps on the item itself.

"How am I going to stash this thing? Down my pant leg?" He tosses back towards her, though he is at least trying to think of a way. If they can get out without a fight...

"Ah well madam..." The guard seems a bit hesitant to just kick open the door with an indecent noblewoman that can have him fired or worse on the other side! He doesn't want to loose his job. Thankfully this hesitation lets Warden finish cutting traplines.

Unfortunately...just as he lifts the item out...

There is a familiar voice, authoritative and angry that comes from the other side of the door. "What is going on here?!"

"Ah Your Grace, we were just...well...there are partiers on the other side of the door." A pause from the guard. "They arn't quite decent...they said they would be coming out shortly..."

There is a moment pause that you can almost /hear/ the Duke staring at the guardsman.

"You /idiot/." He finally snarls. "Break it down."

And now the hammering on the door is starting to come in earnest.

Avira has posed:
"Well, it could work. Putting it down your pants leg. You would limp and make the excuse that your lady love damaged your leg in her throes of passion." Her voice is absolutely deadpan at this suggestion. She clearly doesn't consider it much of an option at all.

She hears the guards hesitating and smiles. Ahh, hired help, so cowed by the nobles that own them. It was kind of sad to see how easily she could manipulate a man with the illusion of some kind of status. Her smile fades when she hears the voice of the Duke on the other side.

Damn him, he knew. A thief himself, he would know, wouldn't he?

Avira backs away from the door, back to Warden. "Well it seems like we'll be escaping out the window. Let's go, I don't know how much longer the ice will hold." Indeed, with the hammering, the ice is already starting to crack.

Warden Thache has posed:
The ice cracks as Warden stands and he smirks. He looks casual enough as he lets the jeweled item dangle from his fingers. "Oh. You you're a /feisty/ lover are you? I knew it. Its in the blood. Spain always held such passion."

He takes one glance at the door though before stepping towards her. "Alright. Lets go. But first, just so you can move better and in case we get into a fight."

He reaches towards her, hands gripping the sides of her skirt in a very specific manner before he tugs at one specific stitch.

And her skirt just tears easily off, right across the seem.

She /did/ wear proper underthings didn't she?

"There. Now you can run better." He says, just as deadpan as he hands her her skirt. Just that moment the door, abused now by more guards, bursts open to allow no less than five tumble in and sprawl across the door. To stare at the skirtless lady and her bloody lord.

"Well," Says one of the guards at the bottom. "She did warn us that they wern't decent..."

"SHUT UP AND /GET/ THEM!" Roars the Duke.

...running might be good.

Avira has posed:
"Actually if we are being accurate, it is Atlantean." Avira points out, assuming that the 'Spanish' conclusion was drawn from her darker skin tone. "But it is close enough. Except for the part where you think I am being a fiesty lover at you." She tosses her hair at him like an impertinent pony.

He grips her dress at the hips and she looks upon him with confusion and embarassment, "What are you-" the skirt part slips away, leaving Avira mostly bare from the waist down. She DID wear proper undergarments-of silk and lace no less since she wanted to be fancy tonight. Not only that, but she does have garters on both of her thighs, each equipped with a set of small knives. Seems she did manage to come armed somehow.

At this, she shrieks a little and tries to tug what was left down to cover herself. "What have you done-!?"

Then the guards burst in. Avira wails and smacks Warden upside the head. "Once we are out of this-!" she's already running for the aforementioned window, "I'm going to KILL you!"

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden was curious if she actually wore the whole ensamble. It seems that...yes she did. He has a few moments to examine with a professional eye the garters. The legs. The knives. The lace and silk. Before he even has time to make a comment however her hand connects with the side of his head.

"I made it easier for you to make for the window! You're welcome!" A pause. "You can still fix the dress later!"

They run, even as the guards push themselve to their feet and give chase. The window is close. Very close. Coming closer by the moment as the pair of them make for it.

"Shoot them down!" Calls the Duke, and the thrum of a crossbows being readied and fired can be heard behind them. Warden's back itches as he can almost /feel/ the bolt aiming for him, only to zip by the air between Avira and him and shatter against the wall.

"MUST I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?!" The man roars, true anger coming into his voice and there is a sudden and suprising wall of flame bursting up infront of them. Between them and the window.

Avira has posed:
Unlike certain celebrities that would become famous in Avira's world in the future, Avira actually wears underwear. Today she is doubly glad she did but if all the people to /see/ it, why these people!? WHY!

"I could have just hiked the dress up, you know!" Avira counters as she runs, shivering as she hears the shouting behind them. Goodness that Duke was angry. The cruelty she had read in this man's eyes was the real deal. They're almost there...

...and then fire erupts between them and the window. Avira yelps and recoils at the flames. No stranger to fire due to her best friend being Maira, she's curious how /this/ fire got here so suddenly. Was the Duke actually a mage!? Or maybe this was a magic item of some kind. Whichever the case, Avira's quick to try and douse the flames with a mutter and a dash of ice magic against the floor.

"Go! Jump for it! Now! If you jump through fire quickly enough it won't hurt." As much. Maybe. This was magic fire! Though she might be trying to enact revenge against Warden for her now-missing skirt, Avira's going to jump too.

Warden Thache has posed:
They don't douce entirely, but they go down at least. They arn't stretching floor to ceiling anymore. Thank whatever gods you like for small favors. He seems perfectly willing to take her advice, but first...either because he gave his word to her that he would help, or because he wanted to get his hands around her legs...he leans down just slightly to scoop her off her feet. Gloved hands sliding against her bare legs.

"Don't want to leave you here alone, my love~"

He leaps though the flames, and they /do/ hurt. Not quite as bad as being in them for some time, not as bad as if Avira's magic handn't hit them. But they /do/ hurt.

His /tail/ is /singed/ dammit.

He hisses, but he doesn't stop and they both might crash into the window. Boot first.

It shatters.

And then suddenly they are in open air, and entirely subject to the laws of gravity. They start to arc down, and just when Avira miiiight worry that this was a BAD PLAN...they slow. They don't stop, but they slow down. Just enough so crashing though the roof of the carrage that Avira arrived in doesn't /mangle/ the pair of them after a two story fall.

"Well," Warden's voice coming with a noted lack of air as he has landed sprawled across the back seat of the couch. "That could have gone worse."

Avira has posed:
It'll have to do. On this short a notice and with such little time to prepare, there was no way for Avira to pull off a bigger and more thorough ice spell. The threat of crossbow bolts in one's back is not exactly conductive to finely-tuned casting.

In the heat of the moment (pun intended), she hadn't considered that this might be a good place for him to take the jeweled saber and abandon her. She'd been intending to follow shortly afterwards too and leap through the window, even braving the flames to do so. The ultimate outcome in which scoops her up, however, was entirely unexpected.

Then again maybe he just wanted to feel up her legs. She'll have to kill him twice later.

Avira cringes at the flames, which most certainly do hurt regardless of how fast they have jumped through the wall of fire. She can feel her skin start to blister and peel just slightly, a reddish hue left upon her in their wake.

Gravity, Avira's old foe. She isn't familiar with the spell float. She /could/ possibly slow them down with air magic given the chance but that was not something she had prepared for. But she does feel them slowing as they plummet and she feels hopeful that they wouldn't crash into something hard and uncomfortable.

So to speak. She does land on top of Warden. Groaning, she flops backwards, not really don't much to move /off/ of him.

"Drive." she says breathlessly. "Go. We need to get out of here. Before they start shooting out the window."

Warden Thache has posed:
Both of them sprawled on each other. This might be pleasent for Warden, if he hadn't been set on fire, shot at, stabbed, and just falled two stories. However he kept his hand on the sword, and he kept his word to Avira.

Much to her suprise perhaps, but he did.

One arms thrown haphazardly around the woman, she might feel something slightly odd. He is warm, more so than he should be. Sweatting in a way that running though fire might not account for. Maybe its just a thing with his species. They could be natures space heaters.

However he still moves when she speaks.

He moves /faster/ when a bolt embeads itself in the far end of the carrage proper.

"GO SPOOKS! GO!"

The carriage jolts to a start, the horses moving quickly into a gallop across the bumpy ground to pull them away from the estate and more importantly the crossbows.

Avira has posed:
The strange temperature of Warden doesn't go unnoticed though Avira's more likely to attribute it to the fire rather than some kind of biological adaptation. She's actually still not THAT aware that Warden is a space pirate. She hasn't had all that much interaction with alien races before...well, save for Stitch a while ago.

The huntress continues to keep her head down and away from the windows of the carriage, this behavior encouraged further when crossbow bolts begin to embed themselves into their ride. Her hands latch onto the carriage firmly to keep herself steady but after a few moments of fleeing, Avira starts to look around.

She wants something to wrap around her waist to cover it up. After that, she'll smack Warden again.

Warden Thache has posed:
Well there /are/ her skirts. A bit singed, but still wrappable at the very least. Apparently a tear-away hem was something Warden felt that Avira needed in her outfit.

Just in case.

Persuit and the sounds thereof drifts away behind them, Warden looking up out of the hole in the ruined coah to make sure that no one is on their tail.

He drops back into the cabin with a gust of breath and a smile on his face. It seems he is happy for a job well done.

Of course, should she look at him with intend to smack? He doesn't look too good. His eyes are slightly unfocused behind his mask, and his color is just a touch off.

The Duke /is/ just the kind of man to poison his traps isn't he?

"Well," He drawls as he tries to keep himself upright in the shifting coach. "...admit it. You enjoyed that."

Avira has posed:
Avira will happily pick up the skirts of that /very/ expensive and fancy dress, wrapping them around her waist once more. Right away she feels a little better now that she's not flashing her panties to the world. She'd have to get that fixed properly later. Then again, she could 'fix' it and see if Mercade could later figure the trick out.

She slips the wolf mask off her head and sets it on the seat beside her. Silent, she listens for the sound of horses or continued bolts though after a while she hears no signs. Seems that the Duke has given up, for now. "Well it's a good thing we were masked. I have enough theft on my record at the moment." Letting her head fall forward, she fixes a glare upon Warden, ready to smack him for the indecency she had to display back there.

Except Warden looks a little odd. Leaning forward, Avira pushes the mask off his face in order to get a good look at him. Within moments she realizes that some kind of poison is at work-an affliction she's seen before. "Damn..." she swears. Avira had antidotes on her for these occasions as a Huntress does often encounter poisonous wildlife. But that gear is safely back at the VALKYRI HQ, the dress offering nowhere to store such things. She could have worn a belt with pouches over the dress but that would have clashed horribly.

"...I will conceed some enjoyment." Avira says carefully. "I can tell you certainly enjoyed yourself."

Warden Thache has posed:
Just back there? I mean really. Its not like he's been all that decent at any specific point in time. His track record is really prety low on decency and morals to be honest. I mean he hasn't killed /many/ people.

Today.

In her presence.

With her knowldge.

Alright. Lets not go into that sort of thing.

Right now the man is resting against the posh leather seats. "I almost always enjoy myself my dear, Lady Wolf. It is the only way to live. Right now I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit off though." He pauses a moment. "...under the seat your sitting on, should be some potions and antidotes. I try to hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

A chuckle.

"Like you do. Judging from your daggers. Which were cunning and stylish I must admit."

He holds up the sword though between them, balancing it easily on one hand. "...and here. What I owe you. Isn't it?"

Avira has posed:
"You seem to be poisoned." Avira points out, mostly for his benefit in case he didn't know already. But with his next breath, he confirms that he does know. At that point she kind of shuts up about the poison and turns to rummage through the compartment under the seat.

As she rummages, Warden will hear Avira sound defensive. "It isn't that unusual to be prepared! I'm super awesome like that."

Locating the vial, Avira pulls it out and moves over to Warden so she can carefully pour the contents down his throat. Once she does, seh snatches up the jeweled sword. "This really is /theirs/, right? Not some random thing you wanted to steal?"

Warden Thache has posed:
Either Warden has little to say while she rummages, or else he just liked staring at her backside while she rummaged. Who knows which really. She can thank her stars however that he /does/ stay silent till she turns toward him.

He reaches for the vial, but stops as he realises what she's planning. Offering little resistance after noting just what vial it is, and that it at least seems to be the correct one.

He does make a face at the taste.

As she questions him though, the man reaches up slightly. That off-tilt smile on his face makes him look just as roguish as ever as he gently touches her face. The smooth leather of the glove gliding against her skin.

"My dear Lady Wolf, you have much to learn about me. Don't question my word once I give it. It is all a pirate truly has to his name after all."

He lets his hand fall before resting his head back against the cushins.

"And thank you. For not poisoning me further, or leaving me wounded." A pause again. "But yes. That /is/ the Charming's little bouble. Take it in good health." 5r

Avira has posed:
What Avira doesn't mention is her preparation was in case /Warden/ tried to do something funny. She hadn't expected this evening to consist of a full-out heist to retrieve a Charming family jewel.

Once the vial is drained, she tosses it aside onto the carriage seat. It doesn't seem that she noticed him trying to reach for the vial and drink it himself. She had assumed he was too winded and poisoned to handle moving. With the sword in her hand, she moves to sit down once again, rather than risk being jostled around by their hasty escape. As she examines the blade, he reaches out to brush her face and brown eyes flick upwards to watch him.

"'Take all, give nothing in return.' is also something you said to me once." Avira replies with a light smirk. She doesn't pull away from his hand but she also doesn't seem very thrilled at its presence. Fortunately, it drops away afterwards.

Idily, Avira slides the blade out of the sheath halfway to examine it. "Leave you poisoned or wounded? Please, I am a hunter. I always return with my prey." Her smirk widens just a little and she lets the saber drop back into its sheath with a loud ring of metal against leather.

Warden Thache has posed:
"Using my own words against me are you? Clever," Warden allows as he shifts away from her. "Think for a moment. Just how much of what we take is left in the end? Give nothing back? Because there is nothing left to give." He's either philosophical while he's poisoned, or just feeling chatty after a good heist.

Again a chuckle. "Prey?" He cracks one eye as he feels the poison slowly burn its way out of his bloodstream. "Just which were you refering too there Lady Wolf? Me or the sword?"

Avira has posed:
"Absolutely. I try to be resourceful." Avira smiles and leans back against the seat. "And honestly, it isn't necessary to take...everything. But far be it from me to argue with a pirate about pirating. I'm just weary about taking the word of people I do not know very well. I've been burned in the past by that."

Her smirk widens just a little as he peeks that eye open. She leans forwards at him. "Yes. To both. There /are/ a number of treasures still unaccounted for. Those pictures in particular."

She sighs dramatically. "Though I suspect I may have issues capturing you right now given that you probably own the driver of this carriage."

Warden Thache has posed:
"Oh so have I," Warden replies with a smirk angled towards her, his eyes almost lazy as they bumb down the road in the ruined carriage. "But. Once I give my word, it stays given." A bright smile before he adds the qualifier. "As long as the recipiant of said word deserves that courtesy. So the Duke back there? Not deserving it. You?" He shrugs. "You havn't given me a reason to not think you're worth it."

The smile grows. "Infact the more I see of you, the more I think you /might/ just be worth it." The way he shifts forwards slightly, well he seems to be recovering quite well. He shifts again, leaning towards her the dancing smile on his roguish features.

"Well. You /might/. It is Spooks and one of my men up there. I'm sure you could /try/ to take me in, but...after what we just went though do you want to go and do something like that?"

Avira has posed:
"We will see if you hold to that word. You seem to have so far. I will know for sure when I return this saber to the Kingdom of Charming." Avira pats the weapon at her side. "I just hope that if you steal this saber again you don't sell it back to the same man."

Stealing from him a second time might be difficult!

Avira's cheeks turnr just a little red. "Well, I suppose I am flattered by this compliment." That antidote is working quickly. Shame it didn't knock him out cold.

Warden confirms what she assumed about the driver. She was outnumbered and already tired. Taking Warden in right here would end poorly, she'd assume. The last thing she wanted was for him to walk off with her tonight. "Not especially." Avira says mildly, "But if I left you poisoned or, worse, behind, I wouldn't have the opportunity in the future now, would I?"

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden honestly hadn't thought far ahead. He wasn't sure just /what/ he would do should she try to take him in. The pirate is a study in contridictions for the most part. Some things he /does/ plan well. Some things he just makes up as they go along.

Her attacking him right here and now would be the latter.

He might go with her just to escape later. He might fight her just for fun. Its hard to say one way or another till it happens. "A few more miles and we'll be at my extraction point. Should be fine from there."

He /does/ laugh however at the mild reply. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of that pleasure in the future! Or myself the pleasure of giving you the slip. Again, and again, and again."

He smirks towards her slowly as he opens his mouth to say more.

...only to be intrupted by the /THOCK/ of a crossbow impacting the outside of the carriage.

"...wonderful. They have horses."

Avira has posed:
Attack, disable, one of the two, if Avira was about to go on the hunt. "Though neither of them are paying much attention right now are they. I could probably overpower you right now if I wanted to." She taunts, filled with bravado.

She sits back down again, watching him with amusement as he claims he'll slip away from her again and again, "If our next fight goes as our last did, you won't be slipping away from me for long." Then, without warning, a tiny bit of the wall of the carriage caves in as a crossbow bolt embeds in it.

"...horses, huh." Avira grabs her mask and slips it back on her face, "I think I know how to deal with that." Magic starts creeping over her hands again, only to abruptly stop. Sure, coating the ground with ice could make the animals slip but...well, that actually felt like a cruel thing to do to horses. What if they broke their legs? It wasn't their fault they were pursuing after the pair!

But then another idea hits her. She scoots to one of the windows and leans out carefully, trying to gauge how many men are after them. Her gaze upon the first horse she sees and she clears her throat.

"Halt!" she states clearly in the Beastmaster command voice. Normally, an animal would just be compelled to obey though it depended on how 'strong' and/or magical that animal was.

Warden Thache has posed:
"Oooh. In that outift I think I might /like/ you trying," Warden's voice is low as he replies. That timbre is on the edge of an actual purr. The sound wrapping around the air between them as he is taunted. Green eyes burn as they watch her with that smile still on his face.

He wants her to do it. He wants to see what might happen should that come to pass. Rolling around in the cabin of the carriage. It would be /fun/.

Well. It would be if they wern't being shot at!

Avira seems to have a plan though, and far be it for Warden to /disagree/ with a plan. However he does want to watch. As as the masked woman sticks her head out of the cabin to stare behind them, he moves and...well...does the same thing. Right behind her. Not /quite/ leaning against her, but not in any way respecting personal space.

He /might/ even be holding onto her waist. To make sure she doesn't fall out.

...alright. Defintally holding her waist.

She gives her command though and the horses? Well. The stop. Dead stop. Shouts of dismay arise from the guards as physics take over and a half-dozen guards go flying over horses heads to crash and skid in the mud.

Including the Duke himself.

His laugh is both loud and warm in her ears.

"Lady Wolf," That voice amused and warm in her ears. "I think I might love you."

Avira has posed:
His blatant flirting is met with a 'tsk' on Avira's part as he cheerfully states that, why yes, he would /love/ to have a little scuffle. She doesn't contest this but merely stares him down, now sorely tempted to lunge. But she relents.

It was a risk. Avira was half afraid she would get a crossbow bolt to the face (or mask) but it seems the men were not skilled enough to hit such a relatively smaller target as they rode on live horses. Her own hands steady herself, one against the carriage wall the other against the edge of the window on the carriage door. Although she thinks herself to be fairly steady, Warden steps over to 'enhance' her position.

The result of the Command Voice is immediate and draws a laugh from Avira as the abrupt stop achieves effects similar to the frozen ground she might have tried. Dislodged guards. AND the Duke! She wasn't aware he was stilll trying!

Wardem will find Avira laughing alone, pleased with her own handiwork. Her own laughter continues until his little comment, upon which it abruptly stops.

"Well THAT is unfortunate." Avira says sotto vocce, "Because I do not and cannot return the feeling."

Warden Thache has posed:
Oh there was more than a few bolts headed in her direction, however none that came close at all. The huntress and pirate watch as the gaggle of angry growling and shouting guards recede into the distance.

He still holds her carefully though, even when some part of her mind /might/ realise it would be dreadfully easy for him to shove her right out of the carriage and into the mud as well. Taking the sword again.

Perhaps the thought goes though his mind as well, and he eases back from her as he watches her. That low voice of hers brings a smile to his face and he shrugs slightly.

"Of corse you can't luv, of course you can't. I'm the villain of you're story after all. Not worth such a high and mighty emotion from one as pure as you heroes."

Is he serious? Is he joking? Is he teasing? Its hard to tell with the man, however he /does/ at least slip back into the cabin of the carriage without trying to shove her out.

A glance though the open top of the carriage and should she cast her eyes up she might just catch the curve of the hull of an airship raising over the next hill.

"It seems though that its time for us to part ways, Lady Wolf. I'll leave you the carriage if you like. I think you will have a better time with the horses than I."

Avira has posed:
Those men on horses probably didn't expect someone to lean themselves out of the carriage window in response to crossbow bolts being fired at them, no less! The wolf-masked lady no doubt gains the reputation of being 'absolutely crazy' until the horses simply cease moving forward.

Avira quickly wiggles herself back into the carriage, now no longer under the danger of falling out with her ill(?)-gotten saber quarry. She turns to face him and frowns. "Don't be ridiculous." she says to him defensively. "I'm not that shallow a 'hero'. It is, more importantly, that my heart firmly belongs to another." At the very least, it's put her off guard-it seems she doesn't like being accused of being so superficial!

Not that she expects this to stop any flirting or teasing. He's a pirate. They specalize in messing with things that belong to other people.

She spies that airship and is largely unsurprised. "It looks to be that way. Very well, I will borrow the horses." Avira gives him one long pointed look, the meaning of which is dreadfully unclear, before she works her way to climb into the driver's seat of the still-moving coach. Before she does so, she slips her shoes off her feet and leaves them in the carriage.

Warden Thache has posed:
"If that is what you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, luv," Warden replies with a wide and just /slightly/ smile. "Don't let me prove you wrong." The man stands, though with his height he has to crouch least his head stick out of the top. "Wouldn't want to ruin your sleep." A smirk. "Well not /that/ way at least. Other more enjoyable ways I wouldn't mind."

Well look! It /doesn't/ stop the flirting or teasing. It just might makes it worse.

He raises one arm, sliding the sleeve back to reveal one of his wrist-mounted energy rope makers.

He points it up though the roof towards the bottom of his fast approaching ship.

"And keep them," He winks once towards her. "I can't remember for the life of me whose they actually are. I think they came with the coach." Who he obviously took from SOMEONE.

"Till later however my dear Lady Wolf." He pauses once more. "And I'm glad you liked the mask. I made it myself."

Raising one hand he gives her a rather jaunty salute before fireing the rope off towards the ship and starting to raise quickly out of the ruined carrage.