doin' that justice thing in a superhero game again

[fauxmarth]

WHO: Bodhi + Lu
WHERE: Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Oct
WHAT: fightin CRIMES
WARNINGS: violence!!! but probs nothin crazy


Street thugs are a common sight here in Maurtia Falls -- as common as bandits were back in Ylisse. Still, it comes as a surprise at their numbers; why resort to petty thievery and looting when you live in a city with such abundance? Are not all the citizens being cared for justly? Questions Lucina's not in a position to answer herself, but they are often on her mind as she confronts criminals in late hours like this, hoping to reach them with reason rather than with a blade.

Unfortunately, with emotions running high, that's seldom the case. That's how it is now: talking is off the table, and weapons were drawn. Lucina's not terribly fond of guns, even more than she was not a fan of arrows; it's hard to track where to dodge when the danger is smaller than one's hand. It's why she's trying to take care of this quickly, making a bee-line for the first gun she sees in this half-circle of looters, not yet ready to commit to the sword, instead hoping a well-placed punch will be enough. Jacob and M both have given her greater knowledge of hand-to-hand, so she does take them by surprise at first: all that smack-talk about a little girl lost on her way to a Halloween party is gone the second her knuckles make contact with one's face.

When she feels a bit too closed-in by the ones starting to circle her, she pushes and floats upward to wring free of grabbing hands. It's another good surprise to keep them off-guard, however, it does open her up as a very easy target for another gun being pulled--

Comments

[onlydoubts]

It's not uncommon for Bodhi to take walks at a late hour, normally with no real destination or plan of action in mind. Helps, and since he's come back, there's been a bit for him to think about. Going home, for example.

Armed... with only a bag of some take out in hand and his thoughts, what he's not expecting to run across is a commotion of some sort. Mauritia Falls is the place for it, and he's not unused to seeing these kinds of things (but it somehow still surprises him). Edging closer, he can see it's group of thugs and a familiar figure. Bodhi had never been great shakes at combat, but after all that had happened with Hux he's learned a few things from Jyn and Cassian in their time here, while they'd been running the dojo about defense and fighting back.

And one of them is drawing a gun. They haven't noticed him, as they're currently preoccupied with Lucina, which is to his advantage - the goon with the gun doesn't see his fist coming.

The gun (along with his dinner) both hit to the ground, and as the guy remains preoccupied with his streaming nose, Bodhi grabs his arm and yanks it behind his back, kicking the gun out of reach.

[fauxmarth]

The last thing Lucina expected in this brawl was food flying through the air, but then again, it does provide a a decent distraction. She's able to successfully wrench an ankle free of one's grasp and send it right into the thug's face with enough oomph to send him tumbling backward into one of his comrades.

From this high angle, she can't tell just who her interloping rescuer is -- or that he's here for he sake, really -- and so she decides to hurry this up. She draws Falchion, raising it above her as she straightens into a pencil-dive back down into the thick of things. Tilting the blade to strike with the flat, she spins, swatting at the crowd around her, sending more than a few flying (sorry Bodhi -- duck!).

"YAHHH-!"

[onlydoubts]

"Oh no you don't--" Maybe it's lucky at that moment, Bodhi's opponent took the time to elbow him in the side with an attempt to break free, as he finally shoves at the guy, pushing him down - and dropping quickly to the ground just in time to barely avoid getting a very unfortunate haircut.

He's not as skilled in the fight, or as graceful as she is. Jyn had been a brawler, and Cassian more refined - so Bodhi can say he knows how to hit and where to do it in both styles.

Several of them are knocked down with the strike of Lucina's blade, and Bodhi takes the chance to dive into the knees of one man still standing.

[fauxmarth]

With room to move, Lucina slowly turns, tilting Falchion's blade as she brings it to point at the first fallen goon in eyeshot. It remains trained upon him as he recoils, following the unspoken demand to sit up, scoot back, and keep his hands up. This exercise is repeated four more times as she encourages others to follow suit.

But it won't do to keep her back to the grunting and groaning behind her, back where Bodhi's gotten the better of those remaining. She backs up some few steps so she can keep her eyes and sword trained on her idle quarry while also bringing the rest of the unaccounted lot into peripheral view.

"Are you done?" she calls, her eyes training on one of the surrendered men. "Bid them yield, or this mess carries on."

[onlydoubts]

Safely away from the reach of her blade, Bodhi remains tangling with the last two goons. Not doing bad, for being on his own, but he's got a split lip to show for one of them almost getting the upper-hand on him. He'd managed to down the one before another rushed him from behind.

In fact, the scene is this: one guy has one of Bodhi's arms in a hold to try and pull him away from the other one - making his own demands to cease, while Bodhi himself is pinning said other one to the ground (no, he's not letting go).

The men who had rightfully already surrendered look amongst themselves, realizing their mistake and finally nod. "We surrender." The others look up at the scene, the last one letting go of Bodhi's arm.

Wondering if it's worth it to try and help his friends or if he too needs to realize the cause is lost... grudgingly, he too slowly raises his hands.

[fauxmarth]

Lucina's eyebrows raise when she sees the familiar face being freed, trying to keep her expression stern instead of cracking the grin she kind of wants to. How strange -- she hadn't even noticed him show up! And surely, he's not part of this mess on purpose; he seemed too kind for that.

That can wait. Business first. She gestures the stragglers move over next to their comrades and sit, hands visible, while she in turn backs up to Bodhi's side.

"You're bleeding," she remarks, not even looking at him. "Are you alright?"

[onlydoubts]

"Oh," Bodhi says, getting a better look at who he'd been helping with a lopsided grin, "Hey."

While Lucina had it mostly under control, one person getting the drop on her could've changed the entire fight, hence his interference.

Standing up and away from the last man, he nods. "What? Oh, it's not serious -" he quickly wipes the blood away with a distracted swipe of his hand, his attention on the group of defeated men. "I just ah, happened by."

[fauxmarth]

"You seem to have a knack for that." Lucina chances a sidelong glance at him, smirking faintly. "Happening by, that is." Which may or may not be a good thing, depending on his want to get drawn into messes such as these.

Now, back to business. She shakes her head slightly at some of the petitions to be let go, clicking on her earpiece to summon the authorities -- a nice perk for being affiliated with Aegis Force, that one. And once that's done, she addresses Bodhi again.

"Now, you...wouldn't happen to be the sort to carry a decent number of manacles on you, would you, friend?"

[onlydoubts]

"I've noticed it happening a little more than usual." He says with a grin and a wide shrug. Well, twice now - but still. Bodhi just wants to help, make a difference when he can. He just wouldn't call himself a crime fighter, or someone who does this on a normal basis.

His dinner is abandoned on the ground, spilled at his feet. As Lucina calls the authorities, he sighs at it.

Making a show of searching his pockets, Bodhi shakes his head. "Ah. Must've left them in my other jacket, sorry."

[fauxmarth]

"Oh, no, that's fine," she assures, stepping toward the seated line of increasingly irate men -- none of which are interested in meeting up with the authorities, and many of whom seem rather antsy and ready to have another go at this whole fighting thing.

Before any can act on that, though, Lucina demands the lot to remove their coats and, briskly, one at a time, leaving the rest in a state of befuddlement until its their turn, just hogties them. It's fine.

"There," she sighs, clapping her hands of this and stepping back. She makes part of a sound with a means to speak again, but the squish on her heel stops her and has her looking down.

"Oh--ah..." Ew. Noodles? Fresh ones...

She gives Bodhi a wincing look.

"Is this yours?"

[onlydoubts]

She's got things under control, lack of proper restraints and all. One of the men he'd been fighting shoots him a dirty look, which Bodhi ignores in favor of watching Lucina and looking out for the authorities to show up.

A shuffling and squishing and - yes, that's indeed his dinner. Bodhi sighs at the question, and nods.

"Well it was... now it's not really looking as good as it did when I got it." And he's unsure if there's a noodle replacement policy and if 'food destroyed while trying to fight crime' is covered by that.

[fauxmarth]

"Oh, Bodhi, no..."

This is tragic, isn't it? Maybe not the end of the world, but still quite a shame. He didn't ask to lose a nice meal and wind up getting socked in the face. Lucina tsks with disapproval as she scrapes her shoe along the asphalt to de-noodle it, hands on her hips. Her eyes brighten with the idea that strikes her as she gives him a glance again.

"What say we replace that meal of yours?" Her look gets more pointed. "After we get your face cleaned up. Yes?"

[onlydoubts]

RIP noodles, he barely knew you.

Sometimes doing the right thing means making a sacrifice, undergoing trials. Bodhi knows that. It's disappointing that he'd been hit and lost his dinner, but that he'd helped - in some small way to stop crime tonight makes it worth it.

Ah. Bodhi touches his bloody lip, as if he just remembered that it was bleeding, despite the ache there as he grins. "Sounds good to me."

[fauxmarth]

There'll be no unhappy endings for a man of justice tonight, Lucina decides. And besides, it's not like she had any outstanding dinner plans on-hand either, so it suits her well enough, too!


The police aren't as swift as she'd have liked, but she offers no critique as she hands over the posse to their care. By the time a proper paramedic is afoot to have a look at Bodhi's injuries, it doesn't seem too bad -- at least, not in this evening light. She's pleased to overhear from her kind-of-respectable-but-still-nosy distance that he seems to be mostly fine, maybe just ice the lip if it hurts, avoid any other nearby slugfests, that sort of thing.

"My thanks," she says when he's released from care. "For helping out, I mean. I can't recall if I already thanked you for dropping in as you did."

[onlydoubts]

Bodhi sits patiently as he's checked out - he didn't think it was anything serious, and it's not so he's let go with a clean bill of health.

No promises on avoiding further fights, though. He could get used to this crime fighting thing... or he could leave it to those more suited than himself as he worries he'd be more of a liability than a help in most cases.

"Of course. Though you seemed to have it pretty under control, for the most part."

[fauxmarth]

"But not all of it," she counters, eyebrow quirked. "And I'm always grateful to have someone watching my back."

She turns away from the growing police scene, looking out toward the street that's being gradually blocked off from curious onlookers and traffic.

"Perhaps we ought to find the meal away from here..." She glances back at him. "Fancy a bit of flying?"