Isaic Ternesj's Story

Isaic was a man of simple means, but with extravagant taste. His attire for the evening, or rather the late night, was a dark red blazer, almost sanguine, with an ebony undershirt, buttoned in such a casual way that it was almost dismissive, an ivory tie tucked ever so slightly into the jacket. His pants matched his upper attire, a wholly, bloody crimson, with uneven hems, slightly longer on the inseam, so the back cuffs of his pants would drag along the ground, just by a touch, scraping against his Men's Casual short boots. Obviously his dressings were on the more expensive end of business-casual, though the way he dressed would give the impression that the Dragon's Bastard simply didn't care about his appearance.

With a unconcerned eye, the young man would scan the lightly packed bar, as if trying to decide what might peak his interest this very night. However, being a stranger and somewhat of a social inept, at least early into any kind of relationship, the silver haired youth would, instead of approaching any particular individual, make the decision the take a seat at the nearby bar, the closest stool that was unoccupied on either side...

The wizard poured himself another glass of his brandy only to look at the sudden newcomers and frown slightly. Children these days are always getting themselves in scrapes of situations that made them harder to reach but it always proved to be the spark of creativity in those souls that produced the finest spellcasters and scholars of the day. First thing was first however as Bigsby made his way out from his booth and over to the bleeding girl who was not only leaving quit a mess but she herself was one as well.

"Child I bet you like to get into all kinds of trouble. I am sure it finds you easily enough." The old wizard simply brought his hands over to his satchel that he kept on his belt and produced several strange leaves and stems from some strange looking plants only to then wave down the bartender. "I will need some boiling water over here! Do not worry about the mess as I am sure it will be cleaned up sometime or later in the near future." Bigsby turned his gaze over to the young man who had just arrived at the bar and frowned a bit.

"You there, boy, yes you in the finery! I will require your assistance. Don't be silly it will only take a moment of your time and I am sure that the life lesson here will be good for you."

Someone was talking to him, that alone was certain. Isaic didn't know how to react to that, really. He hadn't even ordered anything yet, and his tongue was quiet dry, and his stomach was almost, if not more, wanting. Still, perhaps this was the chance the youth had been waiting for. Sitting his jacket on his bar stool and rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, mostly to avoid any mess that may occur to his person, he'd eventually make his way over to the oddly dressed old man and the bleeding women. Getting this suit wasn't cheap, and cleaning it wouldn't be easy on his wallet either.

Doing his very best to sound confident, Isaic would simply ask "What do you need of me, sir?" before kneeling by the stranger, unsure how he should react to the blood...Strangers...helping them was odd, though it may provide opportunities in the future...that would be enough for now.

Winter looked up at the man with the Big Hat.What was he saying? It all sounded like muffled nonsense, like someone trying to speak to you through water. She stopped however because he was standing in front of her. She stood there for a moment and strained her ears to try and hear what he was saying.......Nothin Doin......

As for looking like a mess, well that was a spot on assumption. Blood fell down her face from some kind of cut near her hairline, or back further. There were large Gashes on her stomach and smaller cuts all over her body, though they couldn't be seen due to the self repairing nature of her gear. However the white of the suit was stained heavily in crimson and only seemed to increase in the deepness of the crimson. Her arms hung limply at her sides, gripping onto her blades as if she let go they would disappear.

Her eyes seemed to be completely devoid of light, one could ask how she was able to stand. Sheer determination? That could be it, or maybe it was something more. She wobbled on the spot for a moment, unable to replay because she couldn't hear, and she was pretty sure her throat had been damaged severely and almost crushed

One would not ask for the woman to stand much longer as Bigsby slowly but surely placed his hand upon her forehead and with a kind smile and a reassuring nod only to then snicker a bit and turn his attention to the young man who actually came over to help when he was asked upon. "Amazing that the youth this day is so rebellious. You on the other hand are clearly a maverick and I like that, it shows determination, Hells I bet you would be willing to fetch something for me like a few rags and if you would be so kind maybe a white tallow candle or two. Those items are in my bag over in the booth with the bottle of apricot brandy...bring that as well." The elderly wizard almost seemed to trail off just to then snap back to reality as he realized he was dealing with an injured woman who he still had his hand on her head.

"Right now as for you...." The wizard found himself cut off as the bartender brought over the boiling water only to set it down on a table next to the two just to then take a couple of steps back. "Where was I. Oh, yes, right now I recall. Refexerza Ignius Morandi." The wizards words seemed to resonate with power that escaped from his lips but seemed to be channeled through his hands and into the woman who would find herself feeling a slight warm tingling sensation moving across her body. Tossing the herbs into the boiling water and now leading the woman over to a chair so that she could sit and relax a bit Bigsby found himself looking back over at the young man. "Also from my pack I will need a couple of more things. In the very bottom of it all should be a couple scrolls. They have a silver ribbon around them should you have any questions on which ones and how many."

Winter all but collapsed into the chair. What happened? The H.U.D in her left eye was going crazy. Her entire body was in critical condition and The Longshot wasn't receiving any power. What had she done before waking up already walking...... Something didn't add up but she couldn't think about that, not when she was so critically wounded.......But what had wounded her so bad?

As soon as the spell reached her, the pain would numb. Not that she could feel her body anyway, other than a massive sense of heavy. A small cough from her sent some blood from her mouth towards the Wizard. After which she hung her head. Her vision blurred even more......If only she could remember what happened, she might not be so useless to the man trying to save her life.

The twin swords, resembling large Razor Blades slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor as she hung her head.

There came a soft click as the door to Gambit's bar was opened, a gust of cool air from the bitter winter outside seeping inward. There, in the doorway, stood a perfectly pleasant looking young man. His features were sharp to the point of being vaguely exotic, and his hair was a gently tousled mess. He wore a newsboy cap on his head, and a dark purple scarf over a long grey wool coat. He had under his arms a packet of paper.

He walked up to Gabrielle where she stood sipping her Dew and offered a half-awkward smile.

"'scuse me Miss, do you think there might be somewhere I could put one of these up?" he asked in a delicate, soft tone. He looked at her with dewy brown eyes as he held out one of the pieces of paper. It looked like it was an ad for a self-help group...

The wizard continued to do his work as best as he could while the other young man dilly dallied with the material goods he required to help the poor blood spattered girl with the overly sized kitchen knives. With a sigh and a quick glance Bigsby turned his gaze over to his staff and muttered a few strange words only to create an invisible floating disk that scooped up his bag and brought it over towards him as he quickly worked. The woman coughed up a little blood and it splattered on the wizards robes but Bigsby did not care. "Lazy louts always taking their time on getting the job done. Girl cover your mouth when you are coughing up gobbledygook like that. You could shoot somebodies eye out." The wizard continued to mumble a bit as he reached for his scrolls and then took the boiling water only to dip them in allowing the kettle to shiver as the ink from the pages began to run out from the vellum and turn the water into a deep blue ocean of mystery.

"Now I know that you seem to be deaf to the world around you but I am sure that you can forgive me later as this will sting a little. I never had a knack for dealing with divine scrolls anyway." Those were the last words that the wizard would ever speak as he reached into the boiling water with his bare hand and cupped up a bit of the broth just to force the liquid down her throat allowing the words of some divine saint to rush down deep into her stomach allowing the rather quick yet somewhat shocking healing process take affect. Of course once she was all healed up she would need to visit an actual doctor or something for the trauma she might have been apart of but Bigsby never claimed to be a nice wizard or a healer. It was then that the old man stood up and brought the words of another spell to the fold that he would cast prestidigitation on the girl removing all of the blood that soiled her outfit so that he could get a better look at her.

"Now the best part of this is that the blood will return so I suggest while you have a few months of normalcy you get those clothes washed."

Whilst waiting for Adiana to respond to her, Gabrielle watched the others assisting a woman that was covered in blood. Her nose wrinkled up at the sight of not just the woman’s bloody state, but the crimson footprints that were on her pristine floor. Shifting her gaze towards one of her workers, she nodded towards him to clean up the mess. He nodded and went to work and she returned her attention towards the scene at hand. Luckily, things seemed to be under control and to keep herself from getting sick, she moved her attention elsewhere. So far things seemed to be going a lot smoother than before, which was a huge blessing. Saying a silent thanks to whoever was listening, Gabby sipped more of her soda.

The door of the bar opened again and she immediately shifted her purple hues towards the figure walking in. He seemed harmless enough and had something tucked under his arms. Was he another lawyer? She certainly hoped not. When she shifted her gaze towards his head, she realized that he wasn’t and relaxed quite a bit. Crossing one long leg over the other while shifting her weight on the barstool to get a little more comfortable, Gabby watched him walking over to here.

"'scuse me Miss, do you think there might be somewhere I could put one of these up?"

Peering at the piece of paper he wanted to hang up, she studied it for a moment or two before sighing. Good thing she kept the huge corkboard instead of chunking it. She nearly forgot that people were always coming in and wanting to hang up this or that. Self-help group? Well that might be quite helpful.

“Sure, that’s fine with me. There’s a corkboard over there.” Pointing with one of her slender digits, she smiled softly towards him, parts of her brunette strands slinking over her shoulders. Meanwhile, a bartender was moving towards the newest arrival in order to help him and also point him towards an open table near the back, it hidden by a group of drinkers.

Vallen ordered a beer and thanked the bartender for the help and started to walk back to the table. As he went he tip toed around the puddles of blood and soon arrived at the table he placed his pack on the table and sat down before taking a long swig of the frosty beverage. he enjoyed the beer and looked out into the bar examining all the partisans hoping by some chance they could cause his memory to flash but nothing came and so he continued his drinking. He looked around and locked eyes with a old looking wizard helping the bloody girl up. He nodded and smiled.

Winter didn't respond, even her head was easy to tilt back. Subconscious motor function allowed her to swallow the concoction. Who was there? what was happening? She couldn't tell as the entire bar started to grow dark as the liquid was poured down her throat.

Then she gasped as the divine liquid healed her. All of the pain of her body seemed to come back in an instant as the bar came back to life in her eyes. She screamed in pain and shock as she hunched over and gripped her stomach. She began to shake but quickly composed herself, her face relaxed into a completely stoic expression but she continued to breath heavily through her nose as she looked up at the Wizard. The light that was once vacant in her crimson eyes suddenly blazing like a fire.

The clatter and dull roar of the patrons speaking faded into her hearing. Did this man just heal her? But why? She was a stranger to him, surely she didn't look like someone who was easily approachable, let alone for someone to be concerned for her safety. She was a monster, but there was no way he could know her past. Then her eyes went wide as a thought exploded in her mind, her memories were fragmented. She couldn't remember anything about where she had come from or what she was doing to leave her in such a state.

"Th-Thank you" She said in a quiet voice before standing up and picking up her swords, only to begin walking from the bar.

Vallen looked over to the girl now standing and his mind drew shard of recollection from the grey depths. He got up and walked over to the woman in white with small blotches of blood still staining her clothes.
"Excuse me miss but do I know you?"

The Dragon's Bastard checked himself over before entering the bar for the second time in the past day. Perhaps something was drawing him here, or perhaps it was mostly due to the fact that, aside from home, he had no where else to go after his job search was over for the day. Another fruitless endeavor for the older-than-he-looks youth, who tonight was garbed in his usual attire. Screaming business-casual, Isaic was covered in head to toe in colors of crimson, straight laced, double creased maroon dress pants, with a matching colored blazer, sporting a black undershirt and white tie respectively. His boots would be short, casual leather boots, barely coming above his ankles, a dark but not quite black color scheme.

However, despite his more than decent attire, the young man was rather shabby, with his untucked and slightly unbuttoned upper attire, and with the shaggy, frayed hems of his pants, whose inseam was slightly longer than needed, allowing the back end to drag behind him, just past the heals of his feet. However, unlike last night, this night a drink would be needed, and Isaic would take a seat at the bar, the stool closest to the door while being unoccupied on either side of himself. Company wasn't unwelcome, but he at least wanted his bourbon first...

The bartender that was on duty at the moment, nodded towards Megan before sliding over to her in order to get her order for the night. The man also nodded towards Isaic as he walked into the bar as well. He was poised to take both of their orders as well as their money.

Gabrielle hoped the woman had money this time, but if not, surely something could be worked out. Besides, at the moment, she had more important matters to deal with. Upon finding out that everything checked out, she couldn't help but wonder how Norrington had managed to make it past the history check, but decided not to inquire about it. Why look a horse in the mouth or however that saying happened to go. Shrugging at Inviere's scowling face, the teen couldn't help but snicker when it was determined that she was to personally deliver her to the Divine Shadow. Talk about a bummer for her.

"Let me just call Norrington and we can go as soon as he gets here." Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed up Norry's number and hummed as she waited for him to answer. She didn't really care if he was asleep or not.

"Hey, it's Gabrielle. You're going to be my guardian and come with me to Langara to meet the Divine Shadow. Get to the bar now." Hanging up the phone, she glanced over towards Jegun with a slight yawn.

"I expect you to keep things running while I'm gone. Please take care of this place..."

Flipping a lazy salute at Gabby, the man offered his first warm smile since coming up from below. "Will do boss, and I've done it before. Have a safe trip."

His gaze went past her to Inviere, and his smile turned decidedly unpleasant. "And if I don't get my employer and her bartender back safe and sound, I'll be sure to tell the TNG to sever my citizenship before I go carve a bloody strip out of a few Aschens, preferably starting with the arrogant bastards running the show."

Leaning back against the bar, he waved at Gabby and Inviere, completely at ease with what he had spoken in the presence of witnesses.

Norrington arrived more than a little bit quickly, almost suspiciously so, like he had been sleeping underneath a building next door or arrived by some supernatural means. But he was just an unassuming cat so it was probably the former. "What'sat boss? I wuz sleepin'," he mumbled tiredly as he walked into the room rubbing his face and eyes. His tail gave a short sharp twitch as he made note of each person in there. "Does somepeople need drinkzing? I'm in yur bar servin' yur patrons!"

"Also, what's a Langara?" He knew damn well what one was.

When the bartender got to him, Isaic slid a card onto the counter. When he had first arrived in the city, or rather, the planet, he had all his cash exchanged over into the handy little e-credit cards. "A Black Dog, please. Though instead of vermouth, can you substitute it for the driest red wine you have, if thats alright?" The youth's voice was harsh, once again lending credence towards the fact that he appeared much older than he really was. Running a hand through his silver, crimson tipped locks, he would return the look from the older woman to his left, before giving a polite wave of greeting.

The bartender just nodded towards Megan and took her money before biting on it to make sure it was real. When Norrington walked into the bar, the 'keep busied himself with making the drink and handed it over before shaking his head at the other bartender. He nodded towards Isaic and took his card and ran it before getting the drink he wanted as well. Handing out both, he went back to cleaning stuff, trying to remain busy.

Gabby smiled over towards Jegun, appreciating his comforting words towards her as well as the threats towards Inviere. Yep, she was leaving the bar in really good hands and knew that if she went missing, he would come looking for her or at least send someone to come find her. Shifting her attention towards Norrington as he walked through the door, she couldn't help but arch a brow. She was used to him moving quickly from point A to point B, but that was fast even for him. Deciding to ask about it later, she just waved him over and nodded towards Inviere.

"This woman is taking us to Langara to speak with the Divine Shadow. You are going to be on your best behavior, right? Right. You're going as my guardian, understand?"

Norrington's eyes perked up into arches as his paw raised up behind his head, the colour red tinting his cheeks behind his white fur. "D'aww, picking lil' ol' me to go on a holiday with you?" And then he pounced forwards, throwing his arms for around Gabby's waist and shamelessly aiming to bury his face in her chest. "I love ya boss! You're bestest boss a cat could ever have!" He purred obnoxiously loudly.

Megan thanked the barkeep when she got her drink, and made a mental note to tip in later. When she spun her stool to face Isaic, she caught sight of Norrington across the room. She hadn't seen him yesterday, and was wondering what had become of him so she waved in his direction. Not wanting to be rude, she stood up with her drink and limped a few seats down to plant herself next to Isaic and introduce herself

"Hi, my name's Megan." She offered him her hand. From this close, both her bright green eyes and the crows feet wrinkles that surrounded them were more obvious. As was thin scar reaching across the bottom of her neck.