Two wanderer walk into a bar. The third one ducks.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes, Rica hated these continental people. Their whole system of commerce was wrong and unjust in her mind, even if she did bow down to it. It was a pain for her to calculate exactly how much things are worth, and trying to plan ahead financially was even worse. Really, she had no idea how these people do it.

Which makes her current situation all the more annoying. Several coins sat upon the bar before her, her hand clasping a mug of ale. From across the table, staring annoyingly at her, was the owner of the backwater little inn. "I'm telling you Yoreiqi... That is not enough." He said in an irked voice, though he didn't attempt to take the drink away from the woman, the hateful scowl on her face making him believe she might just murder him if he tries.

"And I'm telling you..." The winged one nearly growled at him as she held up the mug. "...your prices are too high for this crap you call a drink!!" She snapped, drink wielding arm moving just a little too fast, resulting in her ale spilling onto a patron to her side.

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath cursed as the ale sloshed onto his leg.  He had been doing his best to ignore the Yoqiri beside him during her argument with the landlord; she wasn't wrong, per se - what the tavernkeeper passed off as ale was terrible, and certainly not worth the price he was charging - but there was little point in arguing that with those types of people.  Grumbling under his breath, he fished a pair of coins from his purse and slapped them onto the bar hard enough to cause his own leather mug to jump and splash it's contents onto him.

"If I pay for the rest of her drink, will you just shut up?" he growled to the barkeep.
The balding man looked at Tavath with a touch of alarm and nodded as he took the coins from the scarred counter-top and busied himself with cleaning the mugs.

Tavath looked at the winged girl beside him and shook his head.  "You shouldn't argue with folk like that," he said gruffly.  "He'd have probably tried to kick you out, you know.  Wouldn't have been wrong about doin' it, either."

[Anonymous]

The Yoreiqi cringed, wings spreading slightly and feathers fluffing up for a second. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the coins suspiciously. That man better not be doing what she thought he was. "What!! NO!" She snapped, hand whipping to stop the bartender from taking the coins. He was faster, and wise enough to quickly scurry away while the Yoreiqi turned her attention back to the other patron.

Slamming her mug down onto the counter, the woman turned to Tavath, teeth grit and eyes narrowed. "What the hell did you do that for!? And what do you mean he wouldn't have been wrong!?" She demanded, fists clenching in anger. Out of her sight, the barkeep smirked at the Connlaothian, but quickly returned to scrubbing the mugs when he thought Tavath was about to look at him.

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath's eyes widened slightly as the girl's wings twitched.  He quickly leaned back as she tried to snatch the coins from the bartender as he scuttled away and glowered at her as she chewed him out.  He shifted in his seat as she bunched her fists and raised an eyebrow questioningly before shaking his head dismissively.

"You're making a scene, kid," he said quietly.  "Just accept the fact that I bought you the drink and quit yer yelling.  You're going to get us both kicked out of here and I'm too damn tired to have to find a new place to sleep."

[Anonymous]

A hiss flew from her lips, the woman turning red with anger. She slammed her fist against the bar, leaping to her feet. "I am not a kid, damn you!" She snapped, stepping up to the smaller man in order to loom over him.

"What? You think buying me a drink is going to turn me into an obedient little girl!?" The Yoreiqi growled at him. "That I'll just shut up and be nice if you throw some money in my name?" She shouted, possibly right into his face if he refused to move away from her. And without further ado, she pointed her finger at the innkeeper accusingly.

"That man is selling crap for a ridiculous price and you're perfectly willing to let him, just because you're too fucking tired!?" Her nostrils flared as she continued to bellow. "What in the blazes is wrong with you?"

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath stiffened slightly as the girl began directing what he figured was the worst of her wrath toward him.  His lips quirked upward in a small smile and he rolled his eyes.  When she got right into his face, though, the smile disappeared and the Connlaothian stood up, shoving the stool behind him.  He took a step forward, pushing his bulk against hers and staring up at the girl.

"Look," he said evenly as he looked up at her.  "I'm not askin' you to act like anything at all, girlie.  All I want is for you to close your gob and quit yellin' about the cost of the swill here.  It's overpriced, and shit, and everyone knows it, but there's no point arguin', 'cause sleeping on a mattress beats sleepin' on the road for the fifteenth night running, you understand me?"

[Anonymous]

The Yoreiqi glared at the man, not liking the fact she was way too close to him now but not willing to back down either. He lacked absolutely any respect for her and she certainly wasn't willing to tolerate it. Yet, she still had enough will to listen to what he had to say.

Up until he called her a girlie, that is. The woman's response was anything but verbal. Her fists were the most used diplomats, and one of them instantly moved to smash into the annoying Connlaothian's face, even while he spoke. After that, she still didn't speak, grabbing her mug and promptly throwing it towards his face.

"Don't. Call me that." She seethed through her teeth. The innkeeper, who stepped away when the fight began, worked his way around the counter. By the time Rica spoke, the man was behind her, shouting what he hoped was a commanding "That's enough!".

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath saw the punch coming and loosened his neck, letting his head roll back with the impact.  It was a solid punch, he had to give the girl that.  One of the better ones he'd had since leaving the army.  What he wasn't expecting, though, was to get a face full of bad ale when he opened his mouth to retort, mug and all.  He raised his hands to his nose, and pulled them away after a moment, filmed with blood.  Snorting back the flow from his nostrils, he crouched into a low wrestling stance and eyed the girl in front of him.

"Alright, missy," he growled, "You have a three count to apologize for that, or I'm going to get very, very angry.  And ain't no-one here who's gonna like that."

[Anonymous]

It's as if she was talking to a wall. The man kept calling her names she absolutely couldn't stand. So, he wanted to count to three. Fine then, Rica could easily do that for him. Rising up a hand, the Yoreiqi began to count with her fingers, face not carrying a hint of amusement.

"Fuck you. Fuck you, and f- GACK!" Rica gasped when an arm wrapped itself around her neck. The woman foolishly ignored the innkeeper, and the man used that to his advantage and tackled the youth. Both of her hands flew for his arm, wings fanning out in reflex. He shouted for his two sons, right into the Yoreiqi's ear.

The youth snarled furiously, form shifting. With a simple twist and a step, she threw her weight back and slammed the barkeep against the counter. Feeling his grip on her loosening up, the woman didn't think twice before twisting his arm and using it to send him stumbling right towards the Connlaothian.

[Jim the Viking]

"Hey, let 'er go now!" Tavath shouted as the bartender grabbed the girl's neck.   He was normally all about making a fair fight unfair, especially if it was in his favour, but he wasn't interested in what the barkeep and his sons had planned.  Not if it started off by choking her, at least.  He launched himself toward the girl, grabbing the staggering bartender and shoving the man roughly behind him.

The winged girl was clearly off balance from the bartender's choke-hold and Tavath decided to take advantage of that fact, ramming his shoulder into her midsection and driving her to the ale-slick floor.  He squatted on top of her, careful not to put his full weight on her, and grabbed a nearby stool.  "Now," he said, his face flushed and blood beginning to stream again from his nose.  "You folk here sure have an odd way of thankin' a fellow for buying you a drink.  And," he added, pointing the stool at a pair of burly young men he assumed were the barman's sons, "I don't appreciate it when folk get involved in a private matter."

[Anonymous]

For a moment, it seemed like the stranger was willing to help her. Rica spotted him shoving the barkeep away, out of a corner of her eye. The woman stumbled, not having enough time to defend herself. She let out a brief yelp as Tavath drove his shoulder into her side, knocking the breath out of her. The youth hit the floor and barely managed to roll to her side before the man sat on her.

"Get off me!" Rica hissed at him, but was seemingly ignored.

In the meantime, the two sons caught their stumbling father, glaring at the Connlaothian and the violent Yoreiqi. "Well pardon me..." The barkeep said in an annoyed tone, standing on his feet once again. "...but it looked like you could use help against that..." He suddenly frowned at Rica, seeing the Yoreiqi do something quite unusual. "...savage."

Rica knew there wasn't much she could do against Tavath, but she was willing to try just about anything. The woman bit her finger hurriedly, letting her blood flow and growling as she was called a savage. Shifting a little on the floor, she then proceeded to flick her fingers towards the Connlaothian's face, sending her blood towards him.

"Get. Off. Me." She demanded more seriously, giving the man a pointed look, as if she was about to do something really nasty.

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath raised an eyebrow as the barkeep got to his feet.  "Savage?" the Connlaothian asked.  "Savage?  Th' only savage I see here's the one who decided it'd be a grand idea to choke out a girl 'cause she was havin' an argument."  He punctuated his point by jabbing the stool in the direction of the barkeeper's sons.  "And now none of you lads had best be botherin' us while we finish up, that understood?"

He looked down at the girl in time for her to flick a few droplets of her blood on his face.  He grinned and cuffed at his own bleeding nose as he rocked back onto his haunches.  "Aye, lass," he said, setting the stool down.  "I'll get off you.  So long as you don't intend on smashin' my face again.  Fair?"

[Anonymous]

Into this rather unusual scene walked the rather unusual man. The door to the tavern swung open lazily as Xavier entered, and he knew something was wrong when he didn't have half the people in the place staring at him. Their attention was already caught (and shortly so was his) upon the scene that was unfolding up at the bar. Upon examining the scene, and the ruins of what appeared to be a mug of ale littering the floor, the sage decided it would be best if he stepped in.
With a huff he shouldered his way past a few of the patrons to get close to the pair on the floor. He made sure to keep out of range of the stool that was being menaced at the trio of men, then simply held up a paw. Brilliant, silver light bloomed in his palm, shining softly at first but swiftly becoming a radiant beacon that would be hard to ignore by anyone in the room, and was so bright as to be nearly blinding. When the magic had enough power to sustain itself for a moment he removed his paw from the spot, though the orb of light remained suspended in the air.
"Everyone stay where you are." He called out, the statement aimed mainly at the two on the floor and the three irate men who were staring them down. The furred humanoid looked at the man wielding a stool. "You can put that down, now..."

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath ducked involuntarily as the bar filled with silver light and rolled off of Rica, turning to face the mage.  He checked momentarily as he tried to rationalize what he saw before him.  The mage lowered it's hand - paw?  Tavath couldn't decide - and left a small, iridescent orb of light hanging in the air.  His roared challenge overwhelmed whatever the mage had been attempting to say - some heathen magic, no doubt - and lifted a stool over his head.

The short Connlaothian hurled the stool at the wizard's head and charged along after it.  As he neared, Tavath crouched and launched himself toward the magic-user in a low tackle, aiming for his midsection.

[Anonymous]

A bright light imposed itself upon her vision, summoning a grunt from the yoreiqi as she shifted her head to look at it. Her hand moved to shield her eyes by instinct as Rica tried to discern the odd looking outline of a figure.

Sadly, before she could react, before she could answer the Connlaothian's offer, the man rolled off her, moving into violence with speed uncanny. The woman gasped, scrambling to her feet with wide eyes. The man had lost his mind, most obviously, and she didn't think twice before trying to stop him.

The yoreiqi moved as fast as she could, but she failed to get to Tavath in time to stop the chair from flying. She knew she couldn't possibly bring this barrel of a man down, but she had to do –something-. The woman stepped up to the Connlaothian, hand aiming to latch onto the collar of the man's shirt. She jerked back as much as she could, and tried to use the confusion she hopefully made to loop one of her arms under and around his shoulder.

Then she rocked back on her heels, but knew even that wouldn't do too much good against the Connlaothian. With a growl, her wings fanned out and the yoreiqi began flapping them like a mad bird, sending a current of air towards Xaviar while trying to pull Tavath back.

The tavern-owning trio behind her moved as well, the barkeep shouting at his sons to throw the troublemakers out.

((Feel free to take over the NPC's if it eases your writing. *nodnod*))

[Anonymous]

The stool, just before it would've reached the hybrid, exploded into smouldering chunks of wood. As the debris cleared from the air it revealed the sage with his left paw extended and flames rolling from his fingertips. Being a naturally magical creature had some definitive advantages, such as being able to summon his magic on very short notice. Unfortunately for the mage, the stool had obscured his vision of the stout fellow barreling towards him, and by the time he realized what was going on he was already staring the Connlaothian in the face.
It seemed that he had been slowed down by the winged female, at least enough to where Xavier was able to quickly slide out of the way. He caught a glimpse of the trio of men rushing in behind the pair and sighed inwardly. Well, this turned out to be even more of a mess. The hybrid spotted a chunk of the stool laying on the ground in front of the three men and directed a small beam of the earlier-shown light towards the smouldering piece of wood. With a soft sizzling noise the wood quickly regained its earlier color. Suddenly from around the room other pieces shone a brilliant white, lifting from their respective places across the bar. With blinding speed they coalesced onto the piece the hybrid had directed his magic at, and the reformed stool immediately tripped up the men, who stumbled over each other in their haste to catch the trouble-makers.

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath felt himself being lifted from the ground slightly and struggled against the arms suddenly encircling him.  "Are you mad, woman?" he shouted, straining to reach the mage in front of him.  "It's a wizard!  A mage!  He'll kill the lot of us!"

He kicked at a stool, sending it careening across the bar and reached toward the mage again, clawing futilely at the air.  He half turned to look at the Yoreqei girl holding him.  "What're you waitin' for, woman?  Let me go!"

[Anonymous]

Well, this was going south really fast, Rica realized. The Connlaothian, while shorter, was proving to be quite difficult to hold in place. He struggled almost madly, like a hound on a chain that wasn't allowed to tackle the cat. "Am –I- mad!?" Rica piped up, bewildered. "What on Earth has gotten into you!?" She said, cringing and stumbling back a step or two as he kicked away a stool.

More of that bright light moved through her vision, her head turning in time to see Xaviar trip up the trio that undoubtedly would have manhandled both her and the crazy Connlaothian right out of the establishment. She had to admit she was grateful for the help, and the bloody barrel-man ought to be as well, in her mind. Shifting, she tried to turn and force Tavath to look at what the mage has done.

"Look!" She hissed at him. "He's trying to help us, you moron! Calm the fuck down." The woman huffed, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to hold the warrior back for much longer. They needed to get out, and fast – before anyone gets seriously hurt.

The yoreiqi addressed the mage then. "Oi! Dog-face!" She called. "The exit is that-a-way!" The woman jerked her head towards the tavern doors while still trying to hold the stubborn Connlaothian in place. "Move!" She commanded, voice booming.

((Feel free to make him struggle out of her grasp, haha. x3))

[Anonymous]

The sage was regarding the pair, as if unsure what to do about them when the woman suddenly turned to address him. In his younger years, the combination of being insulted and yelled at in the same breath would've gotten her cooked, but as it was the otter-wolf was simply too mature to get angry. Plus, the female seemed to be attempting to be helpful...
He made his way towards the door, giving the struggling man a wide berth so that he would not get attacked, and tipped his head to a pair that were staring blanky at him as he walked past. "You two had best follow along." He called out as he ducked out the door, deftly closing it with a flick of his thick tail as he exited the building. Unfamiliar as he was with this land, if it were anything like home, whatever law men they had around here would be drawn to a commotion like this in short order.
Feeling mildly responsible for making the situation worse, the sage decided to linger just outside the tavern,  moving a little ways out of sight and planting his back to a tree to watch the exit for the pair. Much as he didn't particularly like the stout one, he didn't like the thought of people getting arrested for a stupid bar fight even more.

[Jim the Viking]

Tavath continued struggling as the hybrid left the bar, trying futilely to trip the mage on it's way past.  As he heard the door close, he managed to struggle out of the girl's grip and turned on her angrily.  "Are ye mad, woman?" he shouted.  "Why'd ye hold me back?  He's out there right now, prob'ly waitin' to turn us into toads, or a cloud of dust, or...something else!"

He scanned the bar, his eyes settling finally on a half-open door at the opposite end of the tavern.  Grabbing his kit from the bar, Tavath looked back at the Yoriqi and motioned for her to move as he made toward the door.  "C'mon, lass," he hissed, "while he's not listenin' in!"