2019-01-23: Wrestling In Starfall

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=======================<* Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon *>=======================

Located in the southwest quadrant of Adlehyde, the Starfall Saloon is situated next to the local Adventurer's Guild outpost and kitty-corner from an ARMs Meister; the mostly-happy not-at-all-coincidence has turned the Saloon into a popular gathering place for Drifters. Even in the wake of the battle of Adlehyde, the Saloon continues its steadfast tradition of serving some of Adlehyde's finest foods and beverages. The building has largely survived the wrath of the Demons' attack -- minus the shaved off shingles that have fallen prey to dragon fire, and a breached room up top that ate a cannonball to its balcony.

The Saloon's proprietor and bartender is known as Honest Tom; this is a bit of an in-joke among the regulars, as the man rarely speaks more than a dozen words over the course of an evening. The cook is known to most as 'Aunt Hilda', the woman who, along with waitress Lunata Croze has concocted many delectable, mouth-watering specials and soups. The Starfall Saloon was widely known among Drifters for offering warm beds, cold beer and wonderful grub for a fair price...

...and now, it is serving as an additional hospital and clinic for the injured in the wake of the battle of Adlehyde. Most of the showfloor has been converted into a sick ward with plenty of gurneys and cots tending to the ill and injured -- and rooms are at limited availability with priority going to those who need intensive care. The sign reads: 'DOCTORS AND MEDICS WANTED', along with 'STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS'.

Certainly, they have a downsized menu mostly sticking to mass-produced, but still delicious nurturing foods. A cup of warm, comforting soup to recover from a disaster... won't you have some?

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MQRL7xws7w
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

The sight of one of Althena's Guard is not unusual in Adlehyde. The city is still under their protection, after all, and even in the various taverns and saloons about town the Guard's presence is known. What is unusual tonight, though, is that one of the Guard has set up at a table and is challenging all comers to arm-wrestling contests.

"It's not gambling," the catlike Guard in question explains patiently to a Drifter who seems to be questioning her in a rather unfriendly fashion--probably annoyed that with a Guard around the liquor isn't flowing as freely. "It's a test of strength and skill. And you lost, fair and square."

If that's true, it's impressive enough--the beast woman is not nearly as burly looking as the Drifter in question. She flexes. "It's all in the wrist!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

It's been a long - if boring - journey. Ashton Anchors has been gaining a reputation as of late for being involved in shenanigans and heroics, but his job description is still a sellsword's. It puts food on his plate, and battling at the Photosphere was not exactly a high-paying job.
 
Thus, he's been absent from Adlehyde for a good week-plus, escorting an uneasy (but ultimately safe) merchant to Bledavik and back. The trip was long, dull and reasonably lucrative.
 
Also very dry.
 
This at least partially explains why upon returning to the great city he's beelined for the Starfall Saloon. The other reason was that he left several feelers out to try and find certain persons - and Ashton is VERY interested to see if there's been any bites.
 
As he enters, he tries to be subtle about it. By 'subtle' we mean 'having the dragons curled up under the collar of his robe'. It's mostly successful, though it does make him look like he has a neck thicker than most support pillars.
 
There is also no immediate engagement of the arm-wrestling contest - that's probably for a bit later along. First? To the bar for a drink.

<Pose Tracker> Quin Rosenberg has posed.

Oh boy, guards. Quin knows how to handle herself around guards, though -- just mind her Ps and Qs, and don't stick her head up too much. She'll find her way to the Starfall and what a scene awaits her. Sure, the arm-wrestling might not be gambling, but there at a table not too far away, furtive whispers are being exchanged and looks at the table where the arm-wrestling is taking place.

Of course that gets her attention, and Quin listens. After a moment, she heads to the table and clips a single coin onto it, and exchanges some whispered words with one of the patrons sitting there. She totally just bet on the girl for the next match. Small bet, mind. Playing too exclusively with one's luck is a bad idea.

That done though, she also heads to the bar, looking less for something to get her drunk and more for something to fill her belly. Who knows what Quin does while she's out and about, but whatever it is, it's work that very definitely makes her hungry.

She might or might not notice Ashton on the way there, it's hard to tell; with the way he's trying to not look like he has dragon heads attached to him, he's clearly trying to not draw attention to himself. So maybe she's just trying not to blow his cover, who knows?

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue had been on some downtime, hunting some book or another for her mysterious research. What is she after? Only one man in all the world knows the truth of Tess' search and Arleph is not here today. Still, she's singing something or another something about a drifter and a cursed chest of gold but she trails off as she sees the woman who is running arm wrestling and trails off at it as she comes up to it.

 "If there are no stakes it's not gambling just to see whose better right? So looking for another friendly match?"

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        If the people you are with have run afoul of the Guard in a fairly big way - like, say, being accused of striking Red Priestess Mauri - it's dangerous to show one's face too openly where the Guard have themselves a strong influence. If you are Ethius, you don't even need that to be worthy of suspicion or scrutiny, because you are Ethius.
        He blends in remarkably well with the riff-raff about the town, generally keeping to crowds so he doesn't quite stick out as much in the off-chance he is especially being sought. He would not be making such a trip unless he felt it worth the risk. A few strange side-trips between stores as part of a bizarre route meant to obfuscate his true motives - which are bizarre and well outside of the scope of this moment as to be irrelevant - the white-haired Symbologist helps himself inside. His eyes track across to all the faces present. The various Guard standing tall, a boisterous young woman, a certain someone who he recognizes has to do interesting things in which to obscure the contents of his upper back... his gaze tracks towards a few coins being exchanged across the counter.
        Lunarian Silver.
        ...
        He goes to the bar and places down a small handful of Filgaian Gella for a drink. A drink that is merely left to sit there, as opposed to engaging in the destiny that all beer faces.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia drops by Adelhyde from time to time. She's not sure how Cecilia feels about being under the Guard's protection, but it sure isn't her problem.

Instead, Lydia is suddenly, like, THERE behind Naelle and some distance away, leaning against a wall. "Gambling is is a test of wits and chance. Is that so different?"

She is smiling but her quip isn't particularly biting. She seems to have been enjoying what she has been seeing so far. She just can't help herself.

She looks towards Ashton and calls out to him. "Hey Ashton! Want to try your luck?" Pause. "Skill?"

She spots Ethius arriving but doesn't make a comment towards him, she just gives him a long look, then back forward towards the event already in progress.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"Absolutely! I'm Naelle Sylkirk, just so you know who's about to whup ya for the Goddess!" Naelle grins, showing off kitty-incisors, and gestures for Tesni to sit opposite her at the table, putting her elbow down firmly in the ready position.

She does not seem to have noticed Ashton, or if she did, hasn't seen fit to do anything about it yet. Ethius, likewise, has drawn nary a second glance. If she'd spotted Quin there'd be trouble, not so much for Quin herself but for the bookies running gambling off honest display of the Goddess' many gifts.

"Tell me," Naelle says to Tesni conversationally, "Are you a fellow follower of Althena, or someone who has yet to see Her truth?"

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"Absolutely! I'm Naelle Sylkirk, just so you know who's about to whup ya for the Goddess!" Naelle grins, showing off kitty-incisors, and gestures for Tesni to sit opposite her at the table, putting her elbow down firmly in the ready position.

She does not seem to have noticed Ashton, or if she did, hasn't seen fit to do anything about it yet. Ethius, likewise, has drawn nary a second glance. If she'd spotted Quin there'd be trouble, not so much for Quin herself but for the bookies running gambling off honest display of the Goddess' many gifts.

"Tell me," Naelle says to Tesni conversationally, "Are you a fellow follower of Althena, or someone who has yet to see Her truth?"

Then she jumps at the sudden Lydia!

"Of course it's different. Gambling has been forbidden by the Goddess! It's been really hard for me! We used to have a regular card game in the mechanic's workshop, but the Goddess' will be done!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

While likely his very existence would cause some trouble with the Guard, Ashton is not being incognito. Just not drawing attention to himself.
 
You only need to be chased out of one town as a monster before understanding to avoid freaking out the locals.
 
Thus, he doesn't try to stay silent as Quin approaches the bar. In fact? He turns with his drink already in hand and a grin on his face. "Miss Rosenberg! Well, this is a surprise! I meet you at this bar, and upon my next visit find you here again!" He winks, just a bit of mischief in his eye. "And I had thought my luck only terrible."
 
At which point Lydia calls out - and the swordsman lifts his head to look over in her direction. "And another familiar face! I came at the right time, I see."
 
His eyes go from Lydia to Naelle and the suggestion of arm-wrestling. Quickly, he shakes his head and waves the idea away with his free hand. "Pass. I know I've not the brute strength for it. I would only embarrass myself, and that's easy enough to do without hurting my sword arm!"

<Pose Tracker> Quin Rosenberg has posed.

Quin's not to worried about the bet. If she wins, cool; if not, it wasn't much to lose. She hears her last name and looks in the direction of Ashton. "Oh, hey there," she greets with a friendly smile. "Good t' see ya again." At the mention of horrible luck? She grins. "Don't I know it," she agrees, commiserating over that. "Wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gotta starve it out, that horrible luck. Teach it who's boss. S'why I don't rely on it too much. Once it decides t' behave, THEN I'll go back t' trustin' it."

Ashton also brings her attention over to Lydia! And so she raises a hand to wave in Lydia's direction in greeting, with a friendly look. She does recognize Lydia, there's that, so she's doing better than most of the featureless faces Quin sees every day and instantly forgets.

Though the soon-to-be spectacle is also drawing her attention too! Not to worry though, she's not going to ignore anyone in favor of watching girls sweat and strain while they pull on each other's arms!

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue may have taken note of Ethius for a moment, but if Ethius wants to drink she'll let him.

 "Tesni Inoue, and no I am not. I'm a digger of the past, a scholar of sorts you might say." She will move to sit down she seems intent to get started she'll roll back her sleeve and Naelle would notice the woman has teal Symbology tattoos on her arm. Tess will grin a little bit at Naelle.

 "I don't mean ruin to your goddess mind you."

 She'll get in her position and get ready to start with the wrestling.

 "Better to preach like this though than at the end of an ARM or a sword."

 She'll clasp the beast woman's hand as she gets ready for this to get started.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"What? Really? You seemed pretty strong." Lydia tells Ashton. "But I guess you'd know more than me." She grins at Quin, throwing a wave in her direction. "Yo!" She tells her. She doesn't talk about luck at all but considering what she's been through, she probably isn't all that lucky if you know at least 50 percent of her backstory anyway.

She looks back to Naelle and adds, "Well, I'm not really a follower but I've got no beef. Leo's a cool guy. Got my respeck." She does pronounce it 'respeck'.

She isn't really concerned with having a religious argument as she takes a long look at Naelle's arm. "Skill and strength huh?"

She mulls more. "Hey, try me! Try me! I want to play."

She makes her way to the table. "After Tesni!" She places a hand briefly on Tesni's head as her own special brand of encouragement.

"So how's the sitch with you?" She asks Quin.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Ethius doesn't ever actually get around to drinking the beer. He's never been seen consuming any before. For all intents and purposes it might just be an excuse to allow him to sit there and be all weird and stare-y. His right hand being around the cold glass is something of a formality. At best.
        He eyes some of the building spectacle between familiar faces and the Guardswoman. A lithe-looking girl totally schooling bigger looking guys in arm wrestling is drawing glances.
        All the better for him to reach out and snatch coins left on the countertop...
        ...wait, no, there's still coins there when he draws his hands back. Does he want to touch coins? Is this some great and terrible scheme to touch coins while his gloves are still on, as if to playfully mock the establishment and its patrons?
        ...Who knows.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"Brute strength? Nyot at all! It's not all about strength at all! There's a whole ton of technique and finesse, too."

was that intentional? did she mean to

nyevermind.

"Hah! You say that now, before I win!" she brags to Tesni, grinning to show it's all in good fun.

She definitely has some kind of technique, as Tesni will find it very difficult to make any kind of progress. "Y'know, the Goddess loves us all. I wasn't born quite the right way, y'see. They all thought I was a boy, but the Goddess' Gift was able to heal me! If she can do that, well, think of what she could do for you! Whatever your problems are..." Suddenly, there's a burst of strength, or a twist of the wrist, or something because now Naelle's pressing the advantage!

 "...She has the answers!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Quin's commentary about luck makes Ashton laugh more - and raise his glass to her. "Bless you and may your luck quickly run dry and heel to your will, then." A quick drink to wet his dry throat before continuing. "I prefer to avoid my own, but it has a habit of not listening to such desires." He shrugs. "Such is fate, I suppose."
 
He moves along the bar a bit, easing more towards the general gathering of people by the arm wrestling contest. That way he won't have to shout across the bar.
 
"Strength," he notes to Lydia, "Is indeed part of my skill set. But in equal parts with skill and sorcerous power. A contest of blades, perhaps, but raw power?" Ashton shakes his head. "I know my match." Also he saw the guy that Naelle beat as he came in, and knows where he stands on the Beefcake<-->Pretty Boy scale.
 
As Ashton sips his drink again, two sets of eyes - yellow-gold and pearl-white - peek out from under his collar curiously. They're interested in the proceedings! Forget what the dumb human said, this place has always been safe before.

<Pose Tracker> Quin Rosenberg has posed.

Quin doesn't really know about Lydia's backstory and isn't the type to pry. But everybody has had their own dealings with bad luck in the past, right? It's something that just about anybody can relate to. She is, however, wise enough to not comment on the matter of Althena. Ain't none of her business what people want to believe. So it's not 'till Lysia asks about her 'sitch' that she speaks up again. "Not too terrible, all things considered. Can't complain; plenty 'a people got it way worse than me. How 'bout you? Life been treatin' ya a'right?"

Ethuis does get a look from Quin, but she doesn't know him, she doesn't know his history, doesn't know any reason to harass the guy. Sure he's weird, but 'weird' could describe about ninety percent of the people Quin knows, in some way. So yeah. She has no reason to question him.

Ashton's words get a grin. "Here here," she notes to the wish, raising her hand in a thumbsup. Though she does nod at that last bit. "Yeah, sometimes it's like an overly excitable dog tryin' t' help but just screwin' things up worse. Except not as cute, and not as honest. Ya do frequently have to work around it." As for knowing his match? "You sure ya wouldn't just feel bad if ya got beat by a girl?" She's only teasing him, though, as her wink reveals. Also hi there eyes! She gives a secretive wave to the sets of eyes peeking out -- hi guys~!

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren doesn't think Naelle looks particularly 'beefcakey' either so that's no excuse!! Not to Lydia! But the engineer largely expresses this with a faint pount of her lips. "Bah plus humbug equals bah humbug." Lydia crosses her arms before fidgeting back and forth on her feet impatiently.

She's definitely up to something. But is ETHIUS going to stop it?! Well, Lydia does give him glances as if she half expects him to even before she did the thing that the metatext claims she is up to!

"Well," Lydia says. "I guess it's always true you can always find someone whose had it worse."

She thinks it over. "But that dun mean that what you're going through dun matter." She thinks about her own life. "...Yeah, my life's pretty sweet. I saved the planet and my mom and get to do whatever I want whenever I want all the time, pretty much."

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue says "I'll play fair I won't envoke my symbology." There's no money on the line or anyone at risk here, Tess is a bit stronger than she looks, given the last two years which have been forcing her get more active than most people of her homeworld are.

 "Fair enough I'm from the Seed Cities."

 The Strange little set of towns which have a lot of strange martial arts and religions there this could explain a lot about Tess.

 Tess is struggling here she's sagging but not going down just quite yet but the look on her face show she's being pushed to her limits.

 "I will say the healing magic your goddess grants is quite a miracle of sorts. Symbology can do a lot but it can't heal."

 She Grunts and it looks like she's going to go down soon though.

 "Damn you could likely bench press me couldn't you..."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        It's not certain what Ethius is doing there, or did. The coins he seemed to have... touched?... are still there, but the way the light glints off of something in his hand, it looks like he's... pocketing a Lunarian Silver coin.
        Huh.
        The glass of beer that he does not look like he's ever going to get around to drinking is hereby left to sit and find itself unable to find a view for the arm wrestling match and the conversation about the Goddess' power and wonder. It is because Ethius is sitting in front of the beer. :(
        Poor beer won't ever be able to see what's going on!!
        ...Ahem.
        He just stares at the lot of them, as if perhaps he might be aware of the metatext, or... that he just stares as easily as he breathes.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"I'm telling you, it's not about raw strength!" Naelle says, grinning as she triumphantly presses Tesni's hand to the table. "I mean it is important, but there's an awful lot of technique goes into a good arm-wrestle too. I'd tell ya, but then I'd lose my advantage!" She grins and shakes Tesni's hand.

Now it's Lydia's turn!

"So, you know White Knight Leo, do you? That's good! And if you say you saved the world, I'm guessing you were at the Photosphere? I was there, too!"

Ashton is mucking about with something and goes unnoticed, as does beer. Ethius...well, he's the sort of fellow who would stand out if not surrounded by Drifters, but he is, and they're effective camoflage.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue arm hits the table but she put up a better fight than one might have expected she'll grin. "Hey it's something to do and right, there's more thought that goes into that than you might think. Maybe I'll see you around again." She'll get up and let Lydia have her go of it as she notes "Good luck!"

<Pose Tracker> Quin Rosenberg has posed.

"Well, that's true," Quin agrees, at Lydia's pointing out that her trials aren't just to be waved away. "I jus' figured it's better not ta complain when other people got problems. Not 'cause mine don't matter, but 'cause it'd just bring other people down, y'know? Besides, even if I wanted ta complain, I don't got much t' complain about." SUBJECT CHANGE! "Ya saved the world, huh? Pretty difficult task. What all happened?"

Oh hey! The battle has started! Quin's attention is drawn over when the match starts -- probably when people start cheering, right? Her attention perks at this. She does have a bit of money on the line but not a whole lot. Don't risk big, don't win big. But as mentioned in her conversation with Ashton earlier, she doesn't trust her luck enough to make a big wager.

Besides that, she also likes not going to jail for illegal gambling.

Once Naelle manages to pin Tesni's arm, Quin gives a nod and notes, "Well, I guess I better get going. Got a long way t' go and a short time t' get there. Was good to see you two again." Aimed at both Lydia and at Ashton. With this she stands, paying for whatever she ordered -- though she at least did finish that -- and heads for the door.

Her path, notably, does NOT take her past the guy at the table that she flipped the coin to. Quin never bets what she can't afford to lose. And the guy DID say something about buying his missus a new dress.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Mm. Carry your own burdens, I get that." Lydia says. "Unfortunately saving the world's a bit of a long story, but suffice it to say a bunch of jerks wanted to suck the life juice out of the planet and we stopped 'em. With violence but also love and that noise."

Lydia sits down in front of Naelle and grins at her. "Okay!" Lydia places her arm on the table. Naelle can see the pistons and connectors along the 'armor' that she's wearing. In fact, it frankly looks like it's a part of her! Lydia doesn't have much skill when it comes to fighting but in terms of pure power, she might give Naelle a problem because she's clearly augmented in some capacity.

But it's power AND skill, right? Despite the gear she's in, or that is a part of her, she doesn't look like she's armwrestled anyone in her life.

"Nyeh heh hehh.... Leo is a personal hero. He's a cool top dog beastman which is pretty normal for you Lunar types, but is pretty rare down here." She pauses. "Oh you were at the Photosphere too? Sweet."

Her segmented fingers wriggle down then back up in sequential order.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"Okay now that is amazing. How is it powered? It doesn't look Symbological or steam-powered..." Naelle's eyes are wide with fascination as she nerds out about Lydia's arm. "And that design, it's so compact! How much power does it produce? Oooh yes, we must armwrestle for SCIENCE!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

In the background, Ashton has been waging war. Quin's little furitive wave tipped him off that his dragons were showing. Cue a quiet minute or three of attempting to get them back IN the collar while still not spilling his beer.
 
He is unsuccessful on the first point but successful on the second.
 
So as he returns to the discussion, Ashton now has what looks like two reptile heads peeking out of his robe - one red, one blue. He tries to ignore them. They successfully ignore him and peer curiously at what's going on.
 
"Several of us were at the Photosphere, yes. I ended up with Fei's group for much of the way - up until the battle with Mother." Ashton sips his beer. Weepy snakes out a bit more, trying to get a better look at the arm that Naelle is geeking out over.
 
Ashton ignores him harder.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Suddenly, there is another man who is standing at the table watching - except he's standing a ways off of Naelle's left, as if to ensure that he is in plain line of sight for Lydia, standing with arms crossed behind his back as Naelle starts asking and geeking out over THE AWESOME ARM.
        Ethius just stares.
        This should be the part where Ethius might pipe in about his experience with the Photosphere, but... he doesn't. He was definitely there doing something weird (about a star drive? Whatever it was Mother said) in Mother's control room.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue looks to Lydia for a moment as she talkes to Naelle and also seem quite interested. "I heard a few things of Sir Leo but never really run into him." She notes from her new table as she picks away at the food she ordered and orginally came for. She's also now watching Ethius rather staring back at him for a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren blinks a few times as armwrestling is completely forgotten about in exchange to nerding out over said arm. "Wha..." Lydia says. "Wait, uhh--" She looks back towards Ethius. She blinks at him, too, a few times, before saying back, "Well I don't know how much power it produces! You'd have to ask the people who gave it to me. But don't. Cause they're assholes."

Of course with all this stammering and being offput, it's probably not going to be too tough to win an armwrestling match against her if Naelle takes the initiative here.

"Are you an engineer too?" Lydia says, surprised because she sort of figured Althena powered everything with superiority complexes.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"That's right! I am! Until recently I was assigned to the Dragonship Destiny as part of the mechanical crew. That's why I was at the Photosphere!" She doesn't seem to be giving the arm-wrestling her full technique, perhaps to test Lydia's arm, perhaps because she's distracted by...

"I've heard that the Carakin and their traitor were there, though," she says darkly. "If I'd seen her..."

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

Naelle. It is Naelle who does these things.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

It's hard to miss the expression on Ashton's face. To call it 'sour' would be an understatement.
 
It would be harder to miss the fact that Weepy actually hisses at Naelle when she says that.
 
Immediately, Ashton tries to muffle the blue dragon with his free hand. It's like wrestling a cat.
 
"Not everyone at the Photosphere were friends of each other," is his attempt to provide more measured council in spite of his obvious frown. "But the important thing was our coming together to take on a far, far greater threat."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia's mind is elsewhere in this moment. Naelle starts pushing her arm down--she could certainly make it touch the table if she were giving it her all. But then Naelle says something that sparks something within Lydia and her eyes narrow as she starts pushing back with a sudden burst of killer cyborg strength.

"You would've what?" Lydia asks tensely. "What would've you done if you saw the Carakin?"

Suddenly the arm wrestling competition seems a bit less like a friendly game than before.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Ethius turns his head slightly at mention of Naelle being assigned to the Dragonship Destiny's own mechanical crew, from where he stands and otherwise makes almost everyone that much more uncomfortable by being.
        "The Dragonship Destiny," he remarks aloud. He doesn't follow it up, but there's plenty to say about it - once the barrier was down, it shot a hole into the hull for everyone to come rush in and go save the world(s). It could well be that Naelle, there, is responsible for helping provide the opening the Drifter teams needed to get in there and handle the problem - decisively.
        The other reason he doesn't follow it up is because there is a sudden hissing noise that nearly makes him believe there is an oncoming threat with a sharp turn and a raised hand, temporarily taking him out of the heightening tension of the situation.

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"I woulda brought in the deserter, the traitor Kourin, that's what!" Naelle may have technique, but she doesn't have cyborg strength, and shortly enough she is defeated. "I've heard they're harbouring her, that we know it but don't act on it. But on the battlefield I coulda captured her and brought her back to us." She seems to be a combination of personally offended and wounded about it. "She used to be so devout. She didn't know it, but I always thought of her as a kindred spirit. And then she had to go and leave! Over the Lord of Calamity's stupid consort! I can't forgive her!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Kourin. Ashton has to pause and try to remember. Has he met her? ...The name doesn't attach to a face, so he's forced to conclude no.
 
Still.
 
"There were far graver issues at hand than some small personal vendetta." Ashton at least continues to -try- and be polite. "Though I expect you will find the attempt far more--OW!"
 
His commentary is cut off - likely thankfully - as Weepy bites the hand trying to muffle the hissing.
 
Ashton drops his beer, GRABS Weepy with both hands and yanks the full length of the dragon out of his robe. The two go silent, having an intense staredown (and mental conversation) in the middle of the bar.
 
The red Creepy snakes out of the other side of the robe, peering over at the other two. He looks to have been taking a nap before all this woke him up.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia stands up quickly after THAT and she grips her fist tightly and then curls out her finger and spins on her heel and makes for the door. "You go after my peeps," Lydia says. "You go after my peeps...You won't be happy about it. Folks free to decide their own destiny."

She stomps out grouchily. That escalated quickly.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue makes note of Naelle is hunting her friend no need to start a fight there. Looks to Naella for a moment she looks real hard at her for a moment. "I was at the Photonspphere as well hell of a thing to see a horror from beyond the stars like that with technology like that at it's disposal, makes you wonder what it fled from really."

 She notes sipping at her drink the mention of them hunting Kourin troubels her a good deal.

 "So you sure this person your hunting is a traitor and not being made to take a fall for someone imporant?"

<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.

"There were worse issues at hand when she left--for one of the worse issues!" Naelle retorts to Ashton. She looks incredulously at Tesni as Lydia stomps out. "She deserted openly! Ugh--forget it. Now I'm in a bad mood. I'm leaving."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        The outburst of anger happens - and it's quite the sight. Lydia's anger is one refined of so much terrible things having been done to her, around her, and to those she truly fought to have and keep, that even someone like Ethius can be taken out of a near-fight-or-flight focus on an Ashton mishap to pay better heed to the brewing tensions.
        Naelle seems to remove herself from the situation, leaving Ethius' eyes trailing towards Tesni. That stare.
        He follows after Lydia not too long after.
        Ethius' beer is abandoned. :(

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton... doesn't notice the retort immediately. He's fighting with dragons.
 
It takes more than a full minute for him to snap out of it. "Wait, what? What iss--oh for.." And now she's gone.
 
On the plus side, Ethius is no longer being weird in the background.
 
"Uh." The Double Dragon Duelist looks around. "....Huh."
 
For a brief moment, he considers Ethius' beer. And then deems it too risky.