RP:Fair or Foul?

Location: Rynvale South Shore

Summary: A perfectly decent day for the pirate Captain of Rynvale. The usual routine business, until something… or someone… catches up to him.

Leoxander was reluctant to leave the ship that early morning, but Loravelle seemed so restful and calm. One thing the rogue was good at was sneaking out, and on the way through the cove, a generous amount of coin had been placed into the hand of a female local to make certain no one passed through without notice, basically security for the time he expected to be gone - which wasn’t much. Normally he stuck to a direct path, but he hadn’t actually visited the edge of the ocean for a few days, wrapped up in business, construction, cleaning, meetings, and… late nights. So Leo walked a little closer to the shoreline today on his way to the Broken Barrel to see his new supplies and inventory fulfilled and purchased, not quite in the sand but within view from the edge of the waters as he walked. It wasn’t a cold day on the island. A bit windy, but he still wore that jacket that sometimes harbored Suoxin’s scent, and found himself sometimes ducking his head to smell the collar of it when alone.

Iintahquohae 's cousin doesn't have a face to launch a thousand ships, let alone any her eight ships. What her cousin -does- have is the face to launch a very angry vampire from Cenril to Rynvale, bat in hand. The scent she picked up from her cabin in Frostmaw and the...lycan hair left behind, much to her disgust, has led the seamstress-turned-smuggler here, crouching on the rooftop of some villa staring down said lycan in the sand, her favorite baseball bat resting cross-wise over her thighs. Was this guy one of Hudson's boys? Stitch didn't know. Didn't care. She catches a whiff of his scent mixed with Suoxin's on the sea breeze and glowers. There was blood left behind in her cabin, and the thought only makes her seethe. Her lanky frame stands up, catching her bat's handle in a tight grip with one hand as it rolled down her thigh. She jumps down to the ground, tucks a box braid behind her ear while straightens up, and checks her bat. It's some magicked thing made of hollowed out steel with runes carved into it so when she 'winds' it, spinning it in her left hand a few times, there's a distinct whistle that cuts through the breeze. Iintahquohae didn't care much for subtlety in either lines of her work, so once she has enough magic in that bat to knock a man potentially Leoxander's size out of the park, or in this case, real far into the ocean to hopefully drown, she throws herself into an unnaturally fast sprint straight for him, ready to swing square at his back.

Leo smelled her before he saw her in that coastal wind, but he did damn well not to show even a hint of the scent he recognized from that cabin. That air of obliviousness without a missed step. But the vampire even had the courtesy of a warning whistle in her approach - rookie. It wasn’t until that last minute of her speedy leap that the rogue turned and took the brunt of her swung bat perfectly into the cuff of his hand, though the impact caused him to slide a few feet on the sand grained path, a bruised grip might be the only outcome as he stopped an unstoppable force with an immovable object. A dramatic pause, like one of those significant fights in a story, where his blue eyes calmly met her dark gaze. She’d picked the wrong target. It might almost feel like slow motion for their speed, that split second they were face to face, before he twisted his body abruptly to attempt to roundhouse her to her back, still holding onto her weapon to keep her grounded as possible for that counter.

Iintahquohae isn't phased by much, but someone -catching- her bat like it's nothing? That makes her blink, but her dull brown eyes glare right at him. “You sonova-” She lets go of the bat's handle so he can either hang onto it or drop it, and Stitch tries to counter his twist. She's fast, but probably not fast enough to fully dodge a roundhouse kick. Instead she grabs for the lycan's shoulders to try leaping and pull herself into a handstand with his shoulders as her brace to land in the sand directly behind him, but no dice. His kick lands, and she's knocked back into the sand, sputtering and hissing before she's leapt back on her feet again for more. He can keep the bat. “What the f-” a convenient seagull muffles her swear, “did you do to her?!” The heels of her boots dig into the sand, fists going into a clench after she rips her jacket off. This is sort of a ruse. Behind him, the sand is subtly shifting as if it were malleable like clay until she breaks into run number two. A wall of compressed sand that's about an inch or two taller than Leo juts upward behind him, and she plans on pummeling his face into it when she throws her first left hook. Right hook goes for his gut.

The rogue had the gall to spin the bat in his grip as her back hit the path. Though it was her question that caught him more off guard more than her initial attack. This definitely was the cousin, scent and words confirmed. “Nothin’ she didn’t damn well agree to, La-...” He’s abruptly blinded with a mouthful of sand. Not something he’s entirely unfamiliar with for his times at sea and desert, but the strength of a right hook against his ribs is cause for a crack. Equally quick, he reaches for her arm with both hands to keep movement and in that momentum, attempts to throw her down the path in the direction he was headed. Although his face would be peppered with little bloody spots, they would regenerate quickly leaving the sanguine freckles to dry. “Why don’t you talk before you try to get yourself killed?!” He brushed his hand down over his face, noticing his own blood on the inside of his fingers, but he was trying not to harm Loravelle’s relative in a detrimental way.

“It was that old bastard who tried to give her to a demon before he bloody ate ‘em, b-...” He almost called her something considered foul. But the pirate recognized by scent and the protective nature that she was family, and a hell of a lot stronger than Suoxin’s sisters. “She was holed up in a frozen room in the Silver’s territory. But you’d know that, wouldn’t you? If you fugn’ cared.” This said as she closed the distance. He was still holding that steel bat, which he lurched forward in her direction not to strike, but to return it to her hand. She’d need a weapon with him.

He hadn’t touched any on his own person, which were extremely sharper. Leo had to be on the defense with this. It wouldn’t bode well to annihilate her kin, and he really had no quarrel with Iintahquohe. But he wasn’t one to submit to a beating, either. “I’ll fix your g’damn cabin if you give me the chance. She’s the one that brought me there, on her own free (censored) will.” This time, he enunciated the bad word for the purpose of truth and statement. Still ready to counter an additional offense if it came. Ignoring the pain that came with a broken rib or two, for now.

Iintahquohae knew about the old man. “Yeah, we all know about Bradley and how he tried to pawn her off on Blue. – The real problem is her mom, tryin' to foist her on anybody that might want her.” She hardly bats an eye at what Leo almost calls her. The Silver? “Hildegarde? What? ...I told her she could stay at my place up there while she was waiting around for -” And then she the pieces start falling into place, and Stitch's typically expressionless face goes from anger to someone realizing they've just royally screwed up. This is the lycan Suoxin talked her ear off about.“You...Hah. You're uh. You wouldn't happen to be called Leo, would ya?” Color her impressed. The vampire tries to hide her amused laugh with a cough while she takes her bat back from Leo, only to toss it over to the side as a sign that she won't try whacking him with it again. “After all her stupid songs and bothering me at work about you and some jacket she wanted resized. Damn.” The cabin will be fine. Her mood and posture shift as if what just happened took place ages ago, and she rakes a hand through her now sandy braids. There isn't a real smooth way to transition out of this. “Well, I'm Stitch. I'm Ricky's kid – her dad's brother. Sorry about your...” She pats her side, roughly where her fist landed on him.

Naturally, Leo started tense, preparing for her next attack much like he had in the tournament last year. He didn’t entirely let his guard down, especially when she called out his name. He didn’t know this woman or trust her, and even if Loravelle had given a name it was not an easy one to remember. But names weren’t important in the rogue’s world. Only faces. And actions. “You should be ‘Strike’, given your way of handlin’ things, woman.” It was a jab, but mild, and he wasn’t going so far as to rush and beat her into the footworn path, despite that his instincts told him to do so. Suoxin had tamed him down a bit, it would seem. Particularly with the warning of ‘My cousin is going to kill us’ fresh in his mind. She wasn’t lying. He had the training to act like bones weren’t fractured at his side and stood up a little straighter, masking a wince well enough. “Yeah. I’m Leo. An’ I have no damn intention of harming her. So why don’t you cool the (censored) down for a minute.” Rogue negotiations were never civil, but this was about as civil as he might get to someone who had mistaken his head for a ball on a stand.

“Funny, but let's stick with Stitch. Also, more importantly-” Iintahquohae isn't making a show of sniffing at him or the air around them to track down her cousin, but obviously she's trying her best to locate her. Her eyes probably give Leo more than enough of an idea that she's at least pinned the general direction the frailer woman is, given that they briefly flash that way. “...She's okay, right? Her mom hasn't done anything to her? ...You met 'er yet? And I'm cool, man. Always cool.” She sinks down into a seat on the sand after that, as if to show how calm and cool she just happened to be now. “How the hell did you get her over here? She can't swim or sail.”

The pirate started to relax his stance. Though not entirely, with the vampire in range. He hadn’t had a grudge with one of her kind in a long while, but he wouldn’t underestimate her. “Better’n ever, I’d risk to say.” The comment to follow about the mother afforded him a pause. “I haven’t, but I’d guess she’s worse than dealin’ with you.” Leo was taking no seat on the ground, pulling sharply at the front of either side of an open jacket to dust it off of any sand while blond hair was whipped by the wind. “How the hell would you know what she can or can’t do? Everyone sees her as a weak cover. Prey. Fragile. She’s none of that, ‘Stitch’.” He at least gave the respect of using her nickname to further impress that he didn’t want to physically fight her over the situation. “If you wan’a see her, all you had to do was look. She ain’t exactly subtle with her steps. But from where I’m standin’, all you wanted to do was fight a fight that ain’t even yers.”

Iintahquohae never was one for divulging family secrets but given this wolf wanted to lecture her about her own cousin, she decides to fill him in. “So. Cut the bullshi-” Gotta love those seagulls, man. “Aunt Zarah is worse than me. Would sell each of her daughters and grandkids at the drop of a hat. And Suo is...well, yer right. Lot tougher than she looks. Those things on her feet are nasty if they workin' right. Shame she's trying to get rid of 'em, but I respect it. You shoulda seen her when she first came to Lithrydel...Scrappy as hell. Helped me make the rounds in Cenril sometimes before her Mommy Zarah forbade her from seein' us.” To explain the 'ban', she flashes a fang and points at her dark, inked skin, or what of it is visible. Octopus tentacles coil around each forearm and disappear down her back, where the rest of the kraken remains hidden beneath her grey tank top. “You don't understand their culture. Filial piety and sh-” another seagull. They're good at this. “She's stuck until someone marries her or kills Aunty Zarah, I guess.” Before Leo can get any ideas, if he does, she levels a dull-eyed look at him. “Don't do that. Suoxin wouldn't appreciate it.” She can't help her question, given that it seems her cousin is shacking up with a werewolf. “You bite her?”

Leoxander wasn’t one to dismiss open information, particularly when it came to the woman he was sleeping with. “I d’know how ambushin’ someone from behind is gonna help your case with the bloodsuckin’ you do, but I’ve no beef with you. You want your pants back?” He wasn’t wearing them right then, but was admitting that he’d stolen a pair and cleared the sheets on a bed that might not be in the best shape. The tentacles might phase him a bit for his history on the ocean, but he was good at masking his emotion, even when it came to Iintahquohae. His eyes squinted at the last of her words in that trademark ‘the sun hurts my eyes’ way. “No, I didn’t bloody bite her. An’ I’ve no intent to. An’ I ain’t gonna kill her mother, either, but I’m not gonna stop her from livin’ how she wants to live, savvy?” The prospect of marriage wasn’t addressed. “What the hell do you want me to say that’ll shut you up, ‘Stitch’? I ain’t got time for this sudden ‘I give a sh–” Good seagull. “...routine’. Seems I’m the only one that has cared what she wants for a long damn time, now.”

Iintahquohae might as well get comfortable if she's gonna be here talking for a bit, so she wiggles her fingers to conjure up a little more terramancy. While moving into a casual lean while she crosses her legs, the sand beneath her lifts into some vague approximation of a chair. “You want one?” Stitch offers, before rolling her eyes at the suggestion that she'd take a bite out of Leo. “Sorry man, I don't eat people. Or wolves. I live on a steady diet of horses. And nah, keep 'em.” She looks disappointed that he isn't wearing them, actually, and probably stares for a second or two too long into potentially uncomfortable territory for him. No need for alarm, though. Stitch is dressing him with her eyes. “They fit alright? I can make you more. Whatever you want. Do jewelry too,” she flashes her wedding band for emphasis, but then Stitch is back to her glower. “Trust me, I care about her. There's only so much you can do when you've got that woman lording over her. She'd sneak out and visit us in Cenril all the time. -I'm- the one that encouraged her to head north and stay at my place to find your ass after listening to her go on and on about you and your damn jacket. She wouldn't get on one of my ships and head over here to try lookin' for you when I offered.” There's a brief pause, in which Iintahquohae gives Leo another unreasonably long, hard look. The hell did Suoxin see in this guy? “I don't get it, but if whatever you're doing is keeping her happy, we're good. Just, y'know...don't screw it up,” Stitch warns. Her left thumb folds in a little to rub her wedding band. “My husband was human. They're squishier than things like us.”

Leo answered in a tone as sharp as his knives. “No.” He wasn’t going to get casual with a vampire who had tried to bash his spine in, ten minutes ago. Whatever reassurance she gave him about eating others or him was lost on the rogue. She wouldn’t get so close - ever. Not after that introduction. He could have commented on the corpses of animals in her basement but it was useless words he wouldn’t bother with in their aggressive conversation. She could stare all she liked. Leo gathered by then she wasn’t a prime choice for any more loving interaction in their future. “Are you seriously offerin’ to tailor me clothes after trying to kill me?” This Iintahquohae was definitely a special sort. Hot to cold in a matter of minutes. But the wolf still ran hot, literally. As for her casual ‘Trust me’ comment? “I ain’t trustin’ you as far as I can throw you.” Which had been a significant distance into the sand. He couldn’t give a dead fish barrel about the jewels she flashed, even if he was a rogue with an eye for profit. Leo let her speak, because she was a spout of information compared to his meek lover who gave him a dose at a time. “Oh…” Sarcasm thick as he maintained his spot at a distance. “So then you bloody decide… after encouraging her, I might as well try to kill the son’uvabish.” Any other moment he might have actually found this amusing, but his rib was cracked and his hand was aching. “We ain’t good, Stitch. An’ you ever come at me again, I’ma show you what I am when she isn’t with me, you understand?”

Iintahquohae gets over her anger pretty quick, which probably doesn't make tense situations like this much better given how one sided it seemed to be now. “Absolutely. It's my job. Whatever you want, I'll see what I can do. Just no magic stuff. Kreekitaka's your bug for that.” Bug? Crab? Whatever he was. “I make things for common folk. Royalty too. Dressed nearly every queen or king in Lithrydel at least once. Shop's in the sand on the coast in Cenril.” She can't help the huff and quiet laugh at Leo's comment about trust. “Understood. And no, I didn't 'bloody decide' to try to kill you because of that. I did that because I didn't know who the hell you were but my house reeked of you. But now I do, and...heh.” That threat? Well now Iintahquohae is back on her feet, sandy chair dismantling to fall back to the ground with some grains whisked away by the wind. Her arms cross, but she makes no move to do anything to harm Leo. They're done with that, as far as she can tell. “Yer good on my side now, but if you make good on that threat? I'll let her know you have a mind to hurt one of her own. Suoxin won't like that.”

He was baffled by this woman. She’d come with the intent to hurt or possibly murder him, now she was offering him favors. He shouldn’t be too surprised, because with his reputation, that was the way things worked more often than not. But he took it as an apology as subtle as one he might give - if ever. Rather than simper down at her threat in return, Leo was now approaching her, a boot step at a time and a slight crinkle in his spotted nose that was the forewarning of a snarl he didn’t sound, yet. “You wan’a piss me off more? You’re doin’ a good job. I don’t give a s**t what side of you I’m on. You go ahead an’ tell her what you think of me. Not like everyone else on this g’damned map doesn’t do the same.” Now, as she was standing from her summoned seat, he was right in her face and in range for another cracked rib, but made no swing on her. “I love her. An’ I’m pretty damn sure she feels the same. An’ if that ain’t the case, she’s free to go where she will. But this little show o’ yers wasn’t even needed for me to tell you that.” His lycan musk was probably just as distasteful as her vampire smell, but unless she’d take steps back, she’d suffer it a moment. “Stay out’a my fug’n way, Stitch.” It didn’t matter who she knew, who she allied with. She had definitely triggered the rogue with her assault.

Iintahquohae might have hissed a little, or something within her hissed a little when the lycan stepped closer. Sacred wanted to take over and see what sort of damage it could do against Leo, but Iintahquohae made no move to continue their fight. The words 'I love her' were sufficient. He sounded honest, and well, “She does,” she counters, calmly. “I can tell you that much. Don't go screwing that up. But y'know, you gotta understand the context here dude. It smelled like she was in danger. I had no idea what you look like until just now, so...” Why is she over explaining this? This is some nonsense Suoxin would do. “I thought another wolf got her and hurt her. Real wolf, anyway.” And with that, Stitch takes a step out of Leo's fug'n way to retrieve her bat and give a little two-fingered salute. “Aye, Cap'n.” She knew he was a pirate, thanks to Rilla. …And her father. Ricky was something of a small-time pirate and had heard of Leo before. Leo's got fanboys too. Seems the the lycan and vampire ran in similar enough circles that ought to have crossed paths long before now. “Shame we couldn't meet on better terms, but if you need anything, I'm in Cenril. Tell Suoxin me 'n Uncle Ricky 'n Auntie Miri said hey. Savvy?” Savvy, what a dumb word. Pirates. And then she's off, headed back into town and probably on the ferry back to Cenril

Leo didn’t seem to appreciate the title of ‘dude’ over Captain, but he didn’t flaunt his earned reputation. The fact that the wolves were mentioned stabilized his anger a bit, as he knew the story now of certain scars. When the woman remedied the situation with her salute and response, sarcastic or not, he let it be to settle into the sand scattered around him. A deep breath was followed by a snort of exhale. It almost made him realize why he was supposed to dislike vampires again. Almost. The ‘savvy’ seemed a mockery, but he’d swallow it down without a retort. Only when ‘Stitch’ was out of distance did he touch a hand to his broken rib, maybe ribs, for the force of that hit. Not in company would he wince like he did then, and he’d held it in a long time without showing weakness. It would have to be set before his regenerative blood tried to mend it improperly. Leo looked around the area he was in near the shore and near the path, not sure which direction to go.