Heroes Interrupted

Heroes Interrupted
Date of Scene:	23 December 2012
Location:	Traverse Town-Coliseum
Synopsis:	Sable crashes a junior heroes match at the Coliseum, dragging Avira and Tifa with him.
Cast of Characters:	Avira, Tifa Lockhart, Sable

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Avira has posed:
Miraculously, at this point in time, there are no ongoing Heartless attacks in Traverse Town. How long this momentary calm would last is anyone's guess but the answer usually is measured in hours.

Right now, in the coliseum, a pair of what would be considered "junior heroes" by Phil are squaring off against each other. It's a friendly bout and their inexperience shows, not only in their obvious teenaged appearance but in how they handle weapons. This has drawn a crowd to the seats, but not a very large one as novices aren't exactly TOO entertaining. But with how eagerly they battle each other, it's easy to tell their hearts are in the right place.

Betting has been strictly forbidden.

Seated in the bleachers of the surrounding amphitheater is the dark-furred mutate known as Avira. Her bad mood is practically capable of manifesting itself as a small thundercloud over her head. Thus it seems most people avoid her more than usual, not just intimidated by her fearsome appearance. She sticks out like a black sore thumb with nobody sitting around her in any direction.

There'd been an intrusion at the VALKYRI headquarters. What Avira had discovered there had certainly dampened her spirits and left her in dire need of hurting someone. Watching the animal cub-like sparring on the floor was doing little to help.

Sable has posed:
FLASH.

A small flare of light. A teenager in a green jacket and a patchwork of armor tucks away a small camera into his back pocket. He's already on the move again, jumping or sliding down the stairs and railways with an abandon almost completely unconcerned with his own safety.

His momentum is temporarily checked as he slides down a rail, but he simply leaps from one divider to another, vaulting over the empty chairs behind Avira, sliding over and then vaulting again to sit one or two chairs to her right. He looks down at the novices squaring off with a searching look.

When the counter attack and defense strategy below is about as entertaining as drying paint, he turns away and scans the crowd rather than the fight. Only then does he appear to notice Thundercloud Avira.

"I'm betting anybody could give a better show than this." he cheerfully comments to her. "Or-- maybe I'm not, since betting is forbidden."

Avira has posed:
One leg remains crossed over the other as Avira leans forward...not in interest, but in boredom. The side of her head is propped up by her hand and that arm's elbow rests against her leg. Her eyes seem unfocused, pointed at the two youths duking it out, but not really watching them.

She hears movement around her and her triangular ears swivel around, pointing in the direction of the young man as he hops over the railing. It is by these sounds she knows that he's sat nearby her in a seat far closer to her than anyone else has dared to today.

This abnormal behavior suddenly became a lot more interesting than the fight. Even more, this young man is apparently talking to her.

"I have to agree." Avira grumbles through her jaws. "A nice big marbolo or ochu would spice things up nicely." Only now does Avira turn to look at the teenager, her eyes watching him curiously. For someone so unitimidated by her visage, she'd almost mistaken him for Reize for a second or two. "Er...hello."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
The Barmaid from Midgar (nothing noble in this title sadly) has been watching as well. Taking a break from barduties, she was standing at the very bottom of the stairs, her arms on the railing, one hand holding her chin up as she's leaning a bit over it. She's not too interested, she can tell they aren't very good fighters, but everyone starts somewhere. She thought she'd have a look at least, when she saw the people gathering int he coloseum. Well, not as much of a show as she expected either. Oh well.

She stands up with a long stretch, looking around for a moment. Maybe there's a familiar face or two, so she can kill time a bit more before going back home. Well, there is one at least, the winged lady she's met several times around. She forgets, was she part of the Shard Seekers, or some other group? Because the Shards would mean she hangs around Reize.

She has a thought to the list of romantic interest he's been piling up, but shakes her head. Nah, can't be.

She moves up the stairs. Speaking of Reize, the new teenager that appears. Well, different hair, no indestructible-chocobo-beacon ahoge there. But same age at first glance. "Hi Avira, you look about as bored as I am."

Sable has posed:
"Uhh..can't say I know those." The teenager remarks after a moment or two. "But big, nasty? Lots of teeth? That'd spice up anything." he chuckles and there is an odd note of dark humor in his otherwise cheerful demeanor.

"Why are you sitting by yourself? Is it the massive thundercloud smiting down anybody who gets within thirty feet?" He pauses a little longer than necessary, then continues.

"Oh right. Hi. I'm Sable."he says this a little too quickly, as if chagrined that he didn't say it first. He looks further chagrined when Tifa appears, raising a hand to wave, pausing, and then completing the action.

Avira has posed:
Avira would be downright -furious- if someone mistook her for a member of the Shard Seekers. Ever since the maid fiasco she'd been trying pretty hard to override that horrible reputation attached to VALKYRI.

"And tentacles and bad breath. They're native to Ivalice and quite dangerous." Avira explains, "It would take a skilled beastmaster to bring one in, though. Alas...failing that, maybe some Heartless will show. This place has attracted them in the past." Not that anybody here is looking forward to Heartless being around.

"Oh, hello Tifa." Avira recognized the barmaid at least but seems a little shocked that Tifa could recognize her in turn while she was like -this-. "Yeah at this rate I may as well take a trip outside of Traverse Town...go for a walk in the woods." Only Avira was a little afraid to be alone at this moment.

That teenager-Sable, as Avira now knows him-asks her a question that earns a bitter laugh from the mutate, "Isn't it obvious? People are afraid of me."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is a pretty good observer, she can make out certain details. She's met Avira a few times here and there, in various shapes, so somehow she had the feeling, although she needed to get closer to make sure as well.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been doing. The bar was empty, renovations are almost ready, I needed to get some fresh air, and Traverse Town is about as quiet as they can get."

She looks toward Sable, waving her hand with a smile, and then turns back to Avira again, frowning "I guess I've been around gargoyles too often, you don't look that scary." Although, between the monsters, haloween town, gargoyles, rock hounds and what else she's been around, one might be a bit dulled to it too. "Intimidating maybe." She taps her finger on her cheek pensively.

Sable has posed:
Sable frowns, his expression clouding over and his jaw setting. "I've seen enough heartless for now." There is a dull coal of anger and something else there that he pushes aside with a conscious effort.

"Hey. Do you two want to come crash the party with me?" his smile returns as he jumps up from the chair. Whether Avira is scary or not doesn't seem to register on the youth. "I haven't been thrown out of a Coliseum yet. It should be-- an experience." he rubs the back of his head with a hand.

"And.." Maybe it did register. "Isn't this place supposed to be connected to everywhere? " a bit of biting irony creeps into his voice. "Isn't it supposed to be some sort of city of lost people that are helping everybody? I mean-- talking ducks? Giant walking suits of armor out of a movie? Magic?" he shakes his head, extending his hand to Avira.

"Maybe they're all just hypocrites. Is there anything I should be scared of?" He hides a smile and does a terrible job of it. "I mean intimidated." he raises his eyes to Tifa, then back to Avira. "Maybe."

Avira has posed:
"Out of curiosity, Tifa...has Xanatos contacted you at all recently?" Avira ventures, "Namely since Manhattan fell? I haven't heard anything about him which makes me wonder if he didn't make it out." It was a tragic thought, but that man loved his city, and he was intent on protecting it until the very end.

She half-smiles at Tifa when she brings up the gargoyles. "Heh...thanks. Desensitization must help."

Her curiosity at this Sable guy returns, "Crash the party? What do you mean? Like...jump in and start fighting those two newbies?"

Avira looks at the hand held out by Sable. After a moment, she places her claw in it. "It's supposed to. I think it's the influx of people that came from Manhattan...they're not in a good place for their lives right now and this is all new for them. I know that world...it was pretty mundane, secrets like the gargoyles kept well hidden from the common person." her ears fold down, "Maybe I should be more understanding."

A fuller smile forms on Avira's face when Sable asks if there's anything he should be scared of. "No. I promise I can control myself." Yeah, she's just going to leave off that little piece about the darkness, especially given how this kid reacted to her mention of Heartless.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head at the question "No, I didn't hear anything about him." She reaches into one of the pockets that line up the front of her bottom flap, sliding out a small book. A bank account "He hasn't give any word, but the deal we had going is still working, for some reason. So I'm guessing he's out hiding, maybe planning his strikeback. He always seems to be the one that is two steps ahead of everyone else, so he never really needs to talk about his plans before he enacts them." She slides the book back into her pockets. "I wouldn't worry too much for now at least."

She nods to Sable "Close enough, but not quite. Traverse Town just managed to be 'close' to the center, but there are many more connected worlds about. One of them was Manhattan. It... fell to the darkness recently, throwing people out. So people are trying to rebuild their lives int he other worlds, at least until we can find a way to reclaim it."

Sable has posed:
Sable's expression becomes haunted as Avira mentions Manhattan. He takes a stabilizing breath and gently pulls Avira's claw as he bids her to stand. "No." the smile returns again. It seems impossible to put down for long, although there is a sense that he is forcing himself to do it.

Plastering it there like a ward against the darkness. "I mean REALLY giving these people a show. The newbies can get out of the way or get knocked out." The grin becomes predatory, but not in a particularly malicious way. "I won't hurt them.. much. I'd set a bad example." he gestures to the Hearts Intertwined Logo on his jacket.

"Or-- I could let you guys talk. I don't want to butt into anything important.. and I really don't have anything to say." He looks chagrined, edging away so that they can have their conversation and dropping Avira's hand as he vaults over the seats again, throwing a wave back at the two of them as he launches from the empty seats in front of Avira to the staircase and then down another railing. Whether they follow or not, apparently things are just about to get more interesting.

Avira has posed:
Evenly, Avira nods, though that seems to slow. As that haunted look overcomes Sable's face, the mutate does take notice, but she doesn't react upon it quite yet, starting to wonder. "Perhaps he will show up at just the right time."

Avira allows herself to be pulled to her feet by the cheerful teenager. Gradually, she lifts an eyebrow at this kid and starts to give him a bit more of a critical eye. This kid didn't really come off as a fighter at first glance, especially now that she's noticed the Hearts Intertwined Logo. Those guys were aid workers! "Oh, you work for them. I don't suppose you've met my fellow VALKYRI Maira? She's our liasion to Hearts Intertwined."

Then something strikes her. That look on his face at the mention of Manhattan...the aversion to Heartless. If this guy was one of the /original/ members from Manhattan and not a recent recruit, then he might have been one of the unfortunate people taken to the Labyrinth. Avira cannot really fathom how traumatizing that experience must've been.

"-hey, wait up-!" she calls out, chasing after him. Avira hops onto the seat, then onto the back of the seat in front of her, her feet clutching the top easily with clawed talons. With a sudden hop, she is airborne.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhartmight not be able to fly, but she's pretty nimble. Yet, Avira's movements are impressive even to the barmaid. She hops down after the teenage boy, wondering what he got in mind "I hope he doesn't want to unleash monster in there or something." No, she didn't hear Avira earlier, but the thought did cross her mind, considering its a good part of how she got her training. The poor stance of those junior heroes would probably be a liability against real monsters.

Sable has posed:
Sable yells "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR WARM UP PERFORMANCE." at the very top of his lungs, still moving from place to place with the ease of dexterity and practice. He starts to garner attention as he vaults over the side, kicking off the wall and landing straight on one of the newbies that had been sparring. They both go down in a rough tumble of limbs.

"Hey, what is your PROBLEM?" remarks the other, angered by the interruption. "Oh." Sable disentangles himself from the other newbiew. "You don't have enough time for that. Beat it." "What?! This is our time slot--" "Not anymore." "This is /strictly/ against the rules." the bowled over one says stiffly. "Ah. Come on guys. I might be nice-- but I don't have many uses for rules. Get the guards if you want. I'll take you ALL on, plus lady stormcloud and her friend over there."

The smile that he gives them is just electrifying. A palpable aura of confidence surrounds him as he as EVERY intention of doing so regardless of consequences.

Avira has posed:
Sable's clearly a good practicioner of parkour, Avira notes. Her own skills in that arena have been languishing a little with her new body. With a size and shape that was entirely different, she more or less had to start over again...and even then, with wings, it seemed unnecessary.

"Are you /serious/?" Avira's surprise seems identical to that of the junior heroes as she swoops out of the spectator seats and lands in the arena. Her wings flap downward once, scattering dust all around her, before she folds them tightly against her back. "Either you are crazy or hiding something, Sable."

She looks over a furry shoulder at the still-upright second Junior hero. "So what's it gonna be? Run? Fight? Fight us all?" Avira gives him a toothy grin. "Hurry up and decide! Because if you don't fight the agile aid worker, then /I/ will!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hops down over the railing, followed by the mass of hair that always seems to be floating behind her. Its elegant looking at least. She moves after Avira, more than the boy, because she has no idea what he has in mind. "What's with that guy's ego and attitude?" She crosses her arms as she listens to his speech. "Me thinks he needs a few slaps upside the head to come back to reality."

Sable has posed:
"I'm crazy AND hiding something, Avira." Sable says with absolute certainty. "But aren't we all. COME ON guys. Decisions Decisions. I know they scare you. Hell. They scare /me/-- but don't just stand there. Do something."

The junior heroes perhaps decide that decretion is the better part of valor. They retreat, probably to get the guards while Sable laughs at Tifa and beckons her forwards too. "What, am I hurting anybody but myself? No! If you think I need a few good slaps to the head-- come do it yourself."

Sable spreads out his arms. "We're here aren't we? We better do something."

Avira has posed:
"Clearly-I mean, look at you, you're not even armed!" Avira exclaims, "Though I guess that's more of an insult to these guy-oh come on, seriously?" The mutate turns to watch as the pair of them run away. Their reasons could easily be just as much as she herself as this apparently nutty teenager. "What kind of heroes are you people!"

Her right hand moves back for the hilt of the Spine...but Avira hesitates and stops entirely. It really did feel kind of unfair to pull a weapon when this guy didn't have one. She could fight him barehanded easily and it would probably be just as dangerous. Less so thanks to inexperience like this.

Her wings unfold again and she takes several steps backwards before running at the teenager. She hops, then skips, then LEAPS at Sable feet first, not only aiming to knock him over if he doesn't move but also to use him as a launchpad to get her airborne.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart tightens her gloves, shaking her head "Well if that's what it takes, its what you'll be served for disturbing the people here needlessly." Of course, Tifa is no ordinary guard, she might not be a mutate, but as far as human goes she can be scary when she gets serious.

She also doesn't need a weapon of course, her body is the strongest weapon she has, and she proved it often before. If that guy wants to test out the barmaid, he'll get served (bartending joke here, sue me).

She starts off with her standard opening, saving strenght for later, but also testing out of his defences. If anything, it softens him up for the following.

Sable has posed:
Sable beckons the mutate forwards, grinning widely as she launches himself at him feet first. He stands there, perfectly still with an almost unnatural patience because any sane person would see a winged freight train coming and decide 'Hey. I should get out of the way.'

Not Sable apparently. He has his hands in his pockets and crumples like a paper bag as she strikes him straight in the chest, but his backward momentum from falling seems to rob the attack of much of it's momentum. As he falls backwards, he digs into his pocket and retrieves a pocket knife. Instead of extending the blade, he merely rams the closed contraption at her ribs and up under one armpit with the blunt metal, aiming to bruise not to injure as he neatly falls into a back roll that has him in a crouch, the closed switchblade clutched in his fist.

Sable surges straight into Tifa's attacks, throwing himself at her with the armored glove raised to block the incoming attacks. He staggers backwards several steps every time she strikes but he continues pressing forwards, trying to get inside her guard long enough to slam the closed casing into her upper hip and thigh.

Regardless of whether he hits or not, Sable grins at Tifa. "Weren't you just saying you were bored?" he shrugs as if he were the cure to all disinterest, sliding out of range just long enough to launch his own attacks. "..What heroes are you people." Sable repeats more quietly, his bravado flickering for a moment as he looks thoughtfully at Avira, then at Tifa. "Heh." He chuckles, shoulders raising and falling once as he moves out of range just long enough to catch his breath for a moment before surging to the attack.

He aims a blunted slash at Tifa's ribs, feinting and dropping the slash at the last second to attack her lower leg, then surging to his feet and driving his armored fist right towards her solar plexus.

Avira has posed:
"-urk!" Avira feels something pointy jab into her ribs. It doesn't break the thick hide Avira has, but it does jab into her hard enough that a nasty red welt is left behind. As she flaps airborne, she looks down beneath her to see Sable rolling backwards into a crouch. "Speedy, just as I thought." As if the parkour wasn't enough of a demonstration.

Avira turns herself in midair and begins to circle over the arena like a vulture, waiting for Sable to disengage in close combat with Tifa before divebombing in. She's just going to try and knock him over a few times, striking with her knuckles and not her pointy claws. Though for a brief moment, the urge to do so flickers in her mind as the darkness rouses.

Avira's strikes come in the form of a three punch combo-two straight punches followed by a hook. She kicks off of him again shortly after, flapping herself back into the air.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is a bit surprised when her attacks don't get through, a bit too easily. Maybe she's not taking him seriously enough? That's the first impression she got from him anyway. She doesn't underestimate people usually, but sometimes you just go a bit more easy than you should, not wanting to lose control either.

She leans backward, wathing the knife moving toward her chest,a nd then changing directions to her leg, a small gash appearing, followed by a punch to the chest before she can react. She slides back a bit, a hand on her chest where the blow landed "Heroes are not those that pick up fights for no reasont han to prove they are strong. Your reasons to fight are petty at best. Heroes fight to protect people, not to annoy them, regardless of being bored or not!"

And with that, Tifa moves on to the next level of focus. If that's the way he wants it to be, so be it. She rushes toward him, at the last moment she seems to phase out. In reality, she ducked really fast, and what comes up to meet with Sable is her boot, right underneath the chin, followed by a strong punch toward the chest.

Another phase out, leaving an afterimage of herself to the untrained eye, a set of arms wrap around Sable from behind suddenly. Light, but hiding the barmaid's strenght, as she lifts him up for her personal brand of a piledriver.

Sable has posed:
Sable cries out, raising his hands up over his head as Avira descends on him. He isn't quite sure how to handle this and so staggers backwards as the knuckles slam into his shoulder and the second and third almost strike him in the head if not for the armored gauntlet being mostly in the way. Sable is knocked down and sprawling by one of her attacks

. "That'll teach me to fight with someone who can fly." He says into the dirt, looking a little woozy. This turns out to be a little more calculated than flustered flailing because immediately thereafter the teenager rolls over onto his feet, crouches and then /lunges/ at Avira, trying to grab her and slam her into the ground before she can escape back to the air again.

His efforts are forgotten as Tifa lays into him with words as well as fists-- and the cheerful demeanor as ebbed. He considers Tifa searchingly, lips pressed into a thoughtful expression. "That is a very pretty high horse that you are on, lady. Do you mind if I braid it's mane?" he smirks, but the dislike in his eyes is obvious. "This is a coliseum. It's for fighting. It's for blowing off steam. Do you think any of THOSE people care about your ideals?" he gestures to the people who are watching. "Do you think HERO is something you hold up in front of you like a shield to bash people over the head with?"

He's done talking. Sable catches the boot coming up towards his face, head jerking upwards as it connects. However-- it doesn't seem to connect very hard, because when she appears behind him he slams a elbow backwards towards the exactly same spot he slammed into before, reaching backwards to attempt to grab her by the shoulder and SLAM her into the ground as he crouches and puts all of his weight behind it, holding back nothing.

Avira has posed:
As she collides with Sable, it winds up that his gaunleted hand plows straight into Avira's gut. Ironically, he might have hurt more than she hurt him in that one moment before she kicks up into the air. Just barely she manages to evade his impending grab, and that's mostly due to Tifa's intervention.

"Hey hold on a second! This isn't about being heroes right now, Tifa!" Avira calls out, "We're sparring! Giving them a show!" ...and making these spectators fear her even a little bit more, Avira suddenly thinks. She feels a stab of pain in her chest at this realization and a bitter look settles upon her face. "...so who cares what they think..." Avira murmurs, "...the people that matter to me know I'm not some beast."

Lifting her head, she manages to 'hover' for a few seconds by keeping her wings flapping quickly, sending strong gusts of wind straight below her. "Pretty impressive so far, kid! Here I thought you'd be easy to knock around!"

Wow, Sable seems pretty well-spoken himself. Tifa and he are not really hitting it off right now.

Avira spreads out her hands, wiggling her fingers. As she does, blue light begins to follow the traces her claws make through the air. The concentration on her face was intense as she had to try very hard to divorce her own ice magic from the darkness in her heart, which had been all too happy to amplify its strength if she wasn't careful enough. It wasn't only a matter of not wanting to use the darkness...this was a sparring match. She's not out to slaughter the kid!

Circling around, Avira dives down, but actually lands on the ground this time instead of on Sable. Reaching out with those glowing hands, it's quickly revealed that they are ice cold to the point that it'll leave Sable shivering if she makes contact. A grin spreads across her face and a second later, a wave of ice-filled force follows, shoving her target backwards.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart bounes back after being slammed into the ground, vaulting herself away after the failed Metodrive. She slides back to her feet, fists drawn up, wiping the side of her mouth with her glove "That's not what I mean Avira, he asks us what kind of heroes we are while pulling this little stunt of disturbing people's spars. There are rules, an order to thing. Without rules or order, there's only chaos, there was no need to push people out simply for the sake of shaking things up or not being bored, there's no sense in that."

She grrs as she moves in for the next attack. She's going to get through that defense eventually. She moves in with a high kick, not even a spin to this one, just a clean whipslash up toward his head, followed by the one-two-three beat of her fists. Her attacks might be seen as basic by many, but they contain all of the training she endured for them.

Sable has posed:
"Man." Sable cries out in alarm. "Magic, too?! Lady Stormcloud, you are seriously stacking the deck." This happens just before he gets picked up and SLAMMED by the wave of ice energy. It literally picks him up and slides him across the arena floor, ice forming on his coat and upraised hands as he tries to block. He trembles from head to foot uncontrollably, face slightly blue and eyes shining with something very much like anger. "If they wanted to stay." Sable grits out in a shaking voice. "Then they should have FOUGHT BACK." The anger rises very slowly in his voice. "But they didn't did they? So you take up their cause and try to skewer me with it. Did you know them? Have I insulted you somehow personally?" This seems to be an important question because he truely seems to be confused as to why Tifa is so angry with him.

Tifa does in fact get through his defense. Sable staggers backwards, slowed and body trembling with cold. He tries to raise his hands to block, to defend himself but is hammered again and again by the barlady's fists until he is forced onto his knees. He doesn't stay there, surging up to his feet in an effort of will and flinging magical ice back towards Tifa and Avira. For Avira he's aiming only to graze her shoulder. With Tifa, he is throwing at her leg to impede her lightning fast movements.

He lays into her further, trying to sweep her feet out from under her and bring her to the ground again with another slam.

Avira has posed:
"-what, is that too unfair? Hey, you can use my name Avira if you wanna, you know." Though she's actually kind of partial to this 'Lady Stormcloud' thing. Not all that many people call her lady after all. Just watching him, he decides...yeah, maybe it is too unfair to the kid. At the same time, 'too unfair' described a lot of fights she got into. "Speak now about it, Sable...else you're just gonna have to /deal/ wiht it. And learn." Avira holds up a hand, wiggling her claws, "Just like I had to when I was forced outta my home into the worlds."

A shard of ice grazes her shoulder, leaving behind a minor cut. Avira doesn't seem all that broken up about it-in fact, she smiles. "That's more like it."

Remaining on the ground, Avira lopes forward, moving very much like the beast she looks like. She slams into him, then sweeps around, swinging her thick tail at him, which is wide and heavy like a snake's.

Should Sable be unfortunate enough to be knocked down onto the ground, Avira will descend upon him to pin him to the ground with a knee against his gut.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart doesn't seem to be able to talk to this guy on level. It doesn't matter if people are bored, skill-less or whatever, there are many ways to entertain yourself other than pushing others out of the way like this. "They didn't attack back because they didn't have the power to do it, noone starts with the kind of power you have. And what are you using your power for right now? Pushing them away and then picking up fights with people you barely know. Even if its not serious, even if its just for show or a spar, there was no need to exhibit yourself like this either."

The barmaid's focus is still strong despite the damage she received. Intercepting his sweep kick with her own, countering his attack to bring him out of position, she launches a single punch upward, all of her might following through, her self-devised Dolphin Blow, which you can almost see the water following in the path of her fist, into the form of an uppercut.

But it doesn't stop there, the momentum of her hit allows her to jump even higher than Sable, grabbing him by the collar. While airborne like this, she twists around, and uses both hands to flip him over, and then throw him down hard into the ground. She's not putting up half-measures anymore.

And the sandy dust lifted up from the impact didn't even have time to clear that the barmaid comes in crashing down in the center of it, taking the split-second of her descent to charge up her fist with energy, glowing a golden yellow like the sun. When she gets close enough, the fist slices through the dust, releasing explosive energies, forming a small dome of energy that she uses to push herself back up, and flips forward, over Sable, to land a bit away from the rater.

CADUCEUS has posed:
"FINISH THE GAME!"

CADUCEUS awakes from his rest cycle from a too familiar dream and rubs his eyes to try and get the sleep from his eyes. Since coming to the user grid he has had to do a variety of functions he has never had to before, first was sleep, then there was eat: that function he likes the best. And then there was that bathroom function which annoyed him to no end. Still, he is awake now, to a show. He fell asleep in the stands and looks to the people present. He stands and begins to approach the arena. He pulls his disk off of his back and holds it up, flat side aimed at them. Green light shines on those present and he hmms. By all accounts this reminds him too much of the games back on the game grid and seeing the two females fighting and obviously not faring well causes him to think for a moment. He then just shrugs and begins to poke and prod at the air above his disk. What should be happening is the two woman may notice their wounds healing in a green circuit pattern and whatever negative effects that could be removed vanishing with faint green light.

Sable has posed:
Sable's eyes narrow and his voice becomes mocking. "Maybe I think people are more HONEST when forced to defend themselves. Will you rob me even of that?"

His eyes widen slightly as Tifa's dolphin blow sends him reeling backwards, he is then summarily flipped, twisted and slammed hard enough into the ground to raise dust from the arena. Tifa's punch slams into his midsection, the explosive light and energy causing him to spasm and jerk as she flips away and-- about at that time Avira descends on him, and there is a moment of fear that is bolstered by a sudden flare of resolve. He narrows his eyes, bracing himself as Avira slams into him, body crumpling around the strike as he goes flying prone again. He wheezes, hissing out his pain as she grinds him further into the ground with a heavy knee to the stomach.

Sable shakes his head, giving a pained smile up at Avira. "Well. If you can take it-- I guess I better start backing up my bold claims or bow out." he smirks, but the expression is angry now rather than cheerful. The 'hackles' are all raised as he twists underneath her weight, trying to throw her off or get some leverage. He is unable to but hesitant to simply slam her in the face until she lets up.

"I have dug myself into trouble, I think. Even the crowd has turned against me." he remarks to Avira with an angry smile, blood pooling at the corner of his mouth. He doesn't seem to resent the outside assistance. "I suppose I'm only getting what I deserve.-- Sorry." He says this just before slamming that punch right into her face, then another driving blow into her midsection as he grabs her shoulders and attempts to twist free enough to slam his feet into her chest and push her away while at the same time springing back to his feet.

Avira has posed:
Avira grins right down at him. "I can take it. Come on, Sable-" she leans on him a little, digging that knee in a bit more, "-show me what you've got." He might be angry and so might be Avira...but she's definitely no longer in that terrible mood from earlier. Seems she might actually be having a little fun with this!

He squirms underneath her and Avira quickly lets up, pulling her knee back so he can get up. What she hadn't really anticipated was him leaping at her with the intent to punch her in the face. Her eyes widen and she manages at the last second to slip her head outwards, away from the punch. That follow-up blow to the midsection strikes, launching the black beast up into the air. Wings swing outwards, allowing her to alter her trajectory and push her further upwards, out of Sable's reach.

The apology that proceded that attack seems to catch her off guard. "Maybe I should be the one apologizing? I dunno-"

Avira suddenly divebombs him, but this time she doesn't just aim to knock him over. She tries to lift him up by the upper arms and take him for a ride.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head as she listens to Sable. An apology "Its not to us that you should apologixe, but the. Everyone starts somewhere, and this is where they are starting to become stronger. Instead of pushing them aside, why didn't you offer to show them, teach them, train them instead?" She stands up, slowing down on her fight for a moment. Looks like all he really wanted was a spar, not cause trouble at least. He could have asked instead, that would have been alot better.

She slides back into her fighting position "Well if you really just want to finish this fight, let's do it, but you should apologize to them afterwards." Not that she is against putting up a show, but not forcibly like what happened now. Running in, she sends an outstretched leg to Sable's chest, if only to knock him down and away from Avira. The impact of the charge and leg is noticeable as well, despite that she's not a heavy girl, she knows how to make it count though.

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS tilts his head. He would look to Sable and then the two women before him before he looks back to the green glow to his disk. He pokes and prods the object in his hands and green light will try to shine on Sable and Tifa now, and if both allow it, will notice how their injuries seem to be healing, forming faint circuit like patterns before the injury would vanish.

Sable has posed:
Sable likes the GROUND, thank you very much.

He manages to twist out of Avira's grip, grabbing one of her giant thumbs and twisting against the grain just uncomfortably enough for the grip to loosen and for him to drop to the ground. He has a small vial in his hand as he rolls to his feet, downing it quickly before the next assault begins.

For the first time he looks uncomfortable instead of enraged by Tifa's words, and so they fly a lot straighter and deeper than the glancing blows from before. He frowns at himself, eyes glazed for a moment. As such-- when the attack comes her doesn't do anything to defend himself. As such, he is thrown bodily across the arena again although he seems focused and aware again when he rolls back onto his feet. He heaves with exhaustion and puts a hand to his chest, gasping for air and coughing quietly. "Well." he says softly. "I suppose I should start apologizing /somewhere/.." Sable straightens and looks across the arena at the figure who was presiding over the fight. The circuit patterns pass around and through him although he flinches very faintly, as if pained by something.

He coughs, nodding to them gratefully with his breathing coming easier now as he looks towards Avira and Tifa. "Alright, Miss Lawhorse.. I'll apologize right before they throw me out on my ear." the anger ebbs to a lower tide, then vanishes into the background. "But I'm not done just yet." He surges towards Tifa, seeming to flicker and vanish before trying to slam into the barmaid from behind, trying to slam a foot into the back of her knee before slashing out with a kick at the center of her back and a armored fist at her collarbone.

Avira has posed:
"YOW!!!" Avira yelps in an entirely-too-doglike noise as Sable bends one of her thumbs backwards. She drops the teenager like a hot potato and starts shaking her hand out.

Though she doesn't like to admit it, Tifa does have a point about the whole training thing. "...at the same time..." Avira mumbles, "...if they had stuck with us, they really would have learned something." She thinks back to the two newbies that were fighting. Yeah, they were awful. Avira was in that same place a few months ago...but dangit, she didn't try to 'work' so publically!

Left to her own devices, she hovers in the air and looks over at the mysterious man that's been healing them. With just one glance, Avira knows who that is and immediately bristles a little. She'd managed to banish LEXUS from her mind earlier and now the unpleasant memories were back.

She tilts her head upwards and unleashes a long, frustrated howl that echoes throughout the arena. There is something decidely...unsettling about the noise. As if it's some kind of portent of disaster.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart slows down after her attack, phewing. As long as he understands, she thinks that's all that was needed. "It's alright. They were still voer there watching mind you, but just watching isn't such a great teacher all the time. hands on training helps alot too." She shakes her head, sliding her gloved wrist over her forehead a bit "You're pretty strong though, you just need to be focused on what you use that strength for." Just her personal opinion "You asked what kind of heroes we were earlier. They aren't heroes, they are training to be strong enough to be of some use someday. Its up to us that do have that kind of strength right now to protect them, and help them train so they can catch up so us. There's no suchthing as too many heroes."

Sable has posed:
Sable looks up at Avira, his fists clenching as he looks up at her with something that is very much not fear. It looks like concern. --almost guilt.

" Avira?" he calls up to her, his voice not quite as steady as he would like. "Lady-- come on down or else your friend will finish cleaning my clock without you! What about /teamwork/?" his words are teasing, even if they are edged with irony and his own brand of frustration.

He turns back to Tifa, frowning at her as he tries to take these words in. He nods at her, "..maybe you're right." his ire dissolving as he turns away from her back to Avira. "Come ooon Avira." he calls up to her. "I think I hear the guard's coming. Going to get in one more good whack before I have to shuffle my feet and look contrite?"

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS continues to watch the goings on and when it seems they will be ending it, he just nods and puts his disk back on his back before walking off. This would be a good time to get him since his back is indeed turned.

Avira has posed:
Given all her experience, Avira was pretty good at identifying a program when she sees one. CADUCEUS's turned back gives her a good view of his identity disc, after all, which pretty much confirms it.

Sable calls after her and she looks down, confused at first, then bristling a little as he taunts her. "Where'd that come from?!" she shouts back, her face screwing up in pain for a few seconds. It was moving again. "Oh yeah-FINE! YOU ASKED FOR IT, BUSTER!"

Her wings suddenly snap back behind her and she goes into a nosedive, highly reminiscent of a hawk diving in to strike at prey. With how she leads with her feet instead of her arms, this may as well be exactly what she's doing. She strikes him at such an angle that she not only hits him, but moves into him, her taloned feet clutching at his armored coat.

The momentum carries the pair right into the arena wall, which Avira will lead his abck into. Bam.

Sable has posed:
Sable is picked up and slammed against the wall like the little field mouse he is. However, armored jacket and hodgepodge of armor together work to keep him from going SPLAT in a very undignified manner.

He even manages to laugh once he has gotten his breath back, clinging onto Avira as he just starts to raggedly laugh. "..like I said.." he wheezes, having to hold onto the wall to keep from falling over. "Nothing to be scared of here." he coughs again. "Intimidated?" he grins teasingly. "..uh. Yeah. Hell yes."

And then the cavalry arrives! Sable looks for a moment like he's going to just bolt, but then he looks over at Tifa and his body goes slack. Besides-- he's not too much in a condition to keep fighting everyone anyways, even with his boasting. "Alright. Alright. I'll go quietly." he says, rubbing his head.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart moves over to the guard, waving her hands "Its alright, he got the point." She waves them off, not needing to cause more trouble than what already happened here. She turns around, and offers her hand to Sable, and then her shoulder if he needs to "Let's just get out quietly, I'm sure they prefer that too."

Avira has posed:
"So you say Mr. Troublemaker." Avira growls back, though it's more of a playful growl than an angry one. Her wings beat rapidly until she can unwind her feet from Sable and stand upright, looking a little surprised as her opponent clings to her for a few moments.

As Sable goes limp, Avira reaches over and grasps him by one of the shoulders to hold him up.

"...yeah, let's do that, it'd be kind of bad if we got arrested." Avira notes, passing Sable off to Tifa.

Sable has posed:
"Oh. You have no idea." Sable says to Avira, standing (barely) on his own power and looks at Tifa, strangely touched by the gesture though and gives her a small smile. He inclines his head to her and allows himself to led away. He can look contrite when he wants to. Well.. maybe.