Somewhere Inbetween (Cole/Closed)

So….recap. Coulson Pike had been in Rabanastre, completely and totally minding his own business and not bothering a single soul in the world. Honestly, how could he be bothering anyone by rummaging through an old abandoned wine cellar for a letter he’d stashed there two years before? All he wanted was the letter. He couldn’t steal something that was already is, could he?

The fact that someone had brought the property during the course of those two years didn’t change the situation any at all. Well, shouldn’t have changed things, at least. Cole thought himself to be a very observant man, and he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that there had been no man-eating magic vortex in the wine cellar when he’d been in there to stash away the letter those two years ago. His best guess? The new owners of the property had put that in as a security measure just so some idiot like Cole would wander into their never-used wine cellar, get sucked in to their little magic vortex, and be dropped in the middle of nowhere as his reward for minding his own business and simply trying to pick up one stinking piece of paper he’d left there for later usage when he was trying to avoid local thugs-for-hire from killing him. Wasn’t that just the perfect plan for the charming new family of tenants?

“Absolutely perfect,” Cole mumbled disgustedly under his breath, trying to assess his surroundings. By his best guess, it had been about two hours since he’d been casually spit out in the great nation of Nowhere by the vortex, which had decided to disappear behind him as soon as he’d been deposited here without even saying “goodbye” or “good luck” or “damn you, Pike”. He’d spent the better part of those two hours wandering aimlessly looking for some form of civilization. So far he’d seen lots of….trees. And rocks. And dirt. Unfortunately, none of these things were willing to communicate with him.

He kicked one of those rocks away from him as he walked along in frustration. For a moment, he thought he had started mumbling to himself again without even realizing it, but eventually he realized that the voices were coming from somewhere nearby. ”Finally,” he chimed, looking for the source of the voices for a minute to make damn sure he didn’t miss them. With his luck today, they’d all probably think Cole was some monster of the woods and flee in the other direction without hesitation. Spotting the first of them jogging his way through the trees, Cole let out a hearty, almost-sarcastic laugh before he addressed them jovially. ”You fellas don’t even know how happy I am to see you. Do you know how hard it is to get around in this place? Someone forgot to put up the exit signs,” Cole yelled to them, ending with another laugh. He studied them a moment as they approached, deciding they were wearing some of the strangest armor he’d ever seen. Eh, oh well, at least they didn’t look like complete idiots. ”Which way’s the nearest town? None of you have a map, do you?”

Not a single one of them even said a word to him as they kept on in their brisk jog. A couple looked at him for a moment before turning to each other and saying something he didn’t quite catch about a wolf and a screwed-up place and whatever else. Cole simply stared at them as they passed with raised eyebrows and couldn’t even respond until they had passed and were disappearing off into the trees the other way. Well, he’d definitely been wrong about the idiots thing. ”Thanks,” He called to them, tone dripping with sarcasm to go along with the insincere wave he made in their direction, ”you were tons of help.” He sighed heavily and trudged on again, hoping the ray of setting sunlight he could see in the distance meant an exit from the woods.

And fortunately, it did. Cole even found himself with the added bonus of some little town in the distance where there actually seemed to be some people. Of course, if they were all as brilliant as the few locals he’d already met…..

It took him a good ten minutes to reach the town, as they sadly didn’t seem to have any sort of airship service between the woods and his destination (not that he’d expected them to). Now that he was here, where to go? There didn’t seem to be all that many people in the town – just a few passing here and there looking mildly content or anxious, each turning to regard Cole for a moment before they decided that they could find more interesting objects to look at, such as that hole in the ground under their feet. Nonetheless, Cole preferred not to be all that noticeable to people he passed – being the strange, lost guy in town could get a man shot; a fact the Nabradian knew all too well.

Having decided that his needs – food, drink, and information – could best be filled in a tavern, Cole tracked down what seemed to be a similar establishment. Casually glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him (as was tradition for someone who spent a good amount of his time with a gun pointed at him as Cole did), he stepped through the doors and walked inside. There were a fair number of people within – maybe thirty or so. Some had that same stupid look as the men he’d met in the woods, but Cole figured that was from alcohol and not stupidity. The majority of them didn’t really pay him that much mind, but those that did focused right on the weapon he held in its holster underneath his arm – his pistol. Cole returned their all-too-scrutinizing gaze with one of his own that looked more silly than serious before sliding into one of the barstools, comfortably away from some of the rougher-looking patrons.

He cleared his throat to get the barkeeper’s attention. ”What’ve you got to eat here?” The man – not a pretty bastard, he discovered – turned and looked him over a moment, his eyes again settling on Cole’s pistol curiously. He would have thought they’d never seen a gun before. Quirking an eyebrow a bit at the man, Cole listened to his spill about the food. It didn’t sound like they really went all that original with the food here. ”I….uh…I’ll just have a plate of the beef and a beer,” Cole answered him, and the man nodded and turned away to prepare the meal (or just ignore him completely, whatever). As he took another glance around the place, Cole could see the two crusty-looking men at the far end of the bar stealing glances at him and whispering. Oh yeah, no way he was going to notice that, guys. People sometimes….

Cole gave them a halfhearted salute when he finally managed to make eye contact with them, and they turned away for the time being, looking even more disgusted than they had before. Real charmers, these guys. Having decided that they were just planning to mug him in a back alley when he left the bar, Cole occupied himself with tracing his finger along words carved into the top of the bar, since that was pure, unbridled entertainment. Eventually, after he’d gotten his fill of all that glorious finger-tracing, he remembered the third need that had brought him to the tavern and poked his eyes back up at the bartender. ”So…what town is this, exactly?” The bartender turned to answer him, but before he could do so, Cole became aware of a shadow looming over him. Boy, this vacation couldn’t get any better. Concealing a cringe within a bright smile, Cole turned up to look at said looming shadow, along with the two men from down on the other end of the bar. None of them looked happy.

”So, you’re not a local, are you?” Well, that wasn’t such a bad question. Cole blinked at the question a couple of times, then responded. ”It’s a real shame, but no. Would have loved to be neighbors with all of you gentlemen, though. You all have that ‘good community people’ look about you.” Judging by their expressions, they weren’t impressed with his smartassery. Cole got that reaction a lot, actually. ”What’s that you’ve got there?”, one asked, pointing his chin at Cole’s holster and pistol again. What in the gods’ name could be their problem with his gun? ”This....and you might not believe this….is a gun. I can shoot things with it. Targets, wild animals…..annoying people.” He tried to make the end not sound threatening, but it was admittedly a difficult task.

Especially for a man who had a very good feeling he was about to have his teeth punched up into his brain if he kept up his disrespect.

Words – 1495
Muse – ……Do I have to answer?
Outfit – His usual traveling attire.
Place – Some bar in some unmentioned town in the V world.
Notes – Muahahaha![/size]

”He fancies himself a comedian, boys.”

….Admittedly, Cole could not argue with these words. He believed he was pretty funny on occasion (or, if not funny, aggravating), and he decided this was one of those occasions. He also decided that he’d rather not have his teeth knocked out before he’d had his dinner, however, and thusly paused a moment before he responded. Apparently, this was an invitation for others to get involved in the discussion. Cole couldn’t see who the biggest of these friendly gentlemen turned to speak to, but apparently it was a “pretty”. With a raised eyebrow, he leaned around the man when he turned around a second time to see just who said “pretty” was, and his eyes leveled out right around the female’s “prettiest” features before they moved up to her face – an accident, honestly. Seemingly as a way to break the sudden tension, the bartender placed Cole’s dish down on the bar, and while he listened to the strangely accented woman speaking, Cole decided he should get a few bites in before things got ugly, because happenings around him never failed to get ugly.

The woman had some genuinely good points to present. Though Cole was enthused that the attention had been drawn away from him for the moment, he just had to chime in with her. After all, she’d chimed in for him, hadn’t she? Or had she just drunkenly underestimated the amount of punching that could be brought about by the current situation? Cole couldn’t decide either way. ”You should listen to the pretty, beefcake,” he commented, pointing a cut of his beef at the redhead, ”I don’t doubt that her IQ is higher than the three of yours combined.” The only one of the three who looked like he had any sense at all had been the only one to remain looking at Cole once the woman had spoken, and he scowled the worst scowl that the Nabradian had ever seen in his entire life. It almost made Cole choke on a sip of his drink, but more from wanting to laugh at the expression than anything else.

But the men were no longer interested in him, it seemed. Cole would have been jealous if he wasn’t outwardly cringing, watching the three men advance on the woman with their intentions written all over their faces. Seriously, in public, guys? ”Oh boy…,” came from under Cole’s breath just before he whirled around and took one long gulp of his drink. Raising a hand at the bartender as he began shouting his protests, Cole raised a hand to him, stressing patience. ”Easy, old man. I’ll get things back under –“ The crash of a bottle interrupted him. By the look on the bartender’s face, he was less than pleased. ”-control.”

Before Cole could turn back around to see just who had been hit in the head, he felt the largest of the three men practically fall into him, sending Cole off of his stool and leaving him sprawled across the counter before he could push the man off. In an instant, a ruckus broke out across the entirety of the bar. Well, a contained ruckus. Though more scruffy-looking bastards jumped up to apparently join in all the fun, some patrons just remained in their seats and watched the madness around them while others casually made their exits. The bartender himself ducked down before emerging with a huge bottle of brandy which he brought to his lips and chugged, most likely to numb himself to the fact that a fight was breaking out in his bar. One of the last things Cole observed was the redhead lunging at two of the men before a very large, bear-like individual stepped in front of him. Cole looked up into his face, swallowing a curse. ”Aha….nice day for a throwdown, eh?”

As if it was happening in slow motion, Cole saw the man’s right arm begin to lift, and he had a very reliable guess that said fist on the end of that right arm would be speeding towards his nose in a few seconds. Leaning back against the bar with both hands, Cole jumped and held himself up for a moment before propelling both feet forward and kicking the man backwards and onto a table (which gave way) with as much force as he could muster. Immediately he found himself ducking under a smaller man’s blow, countering with his own blow to the man’s face.

As he whirled around in the midst of the chaos and didn’t spot anyone immediately gunning for him, he noticed one of the first men coming up behind the woman. ”Look alive! Six o’clock!”, he yelled to her, before a rough-looking female ran up and tackled him around the torso, sending him to the floor for the time being. He mumbled under his breath after landing on his arm, ”Ow....damn. You hit like a small airship....”

This kind of thing happened way too often in his life for his taste.

Words – 832
Muse – Awesome!
Notes – If only they had a jukebox for some epic fighting music like The Devil Went Down to Georgia.[/size]

Sometimes, Cole hated his own personal code that wouldn’t allow him to kick a woman right in the face. Oh how he wanted to do just that to the woman who’d blindsided and tackled him, especially when he felt claws scrape across his arm. He reacted to the unpleasant feeling and streaks of red that crossed his arm not with kicking (as he couldn’t have kicked her even if he wanted to unless he got lucky and caught her on the back of the head) but with a very strong shove that left her seated a couple of feet away from him. ”For the love of all that’s holy, clip those talons sometimes, bitch!” At his words, the woman started after him again, and Cole figured he’d look like a huge bird had been dragging him around once this was over. Fortunately, though, someone else came up and dragged her away just before Cole was forced to actually fight her, so no code-breaking today.

But Cole got no chance to regroup. What a surprise. Seeing far too many stomping feet around him to feel comfortable remaining on the floor, Cole pulled himself to his feet and instantly felt a fist smack into his kidneys. He let out a grunt but didn’t keel over in pain...yet, anyway. He could whine about the blow in a second. Instead, he swung around wildly and caught a man (assumedly the one who had hit him) on the ear with a backhanded blow. Alright, now he could stop and hold his side for a second in pain. As he ducked into the corner and did so, mumbling about the nice bruise he was going to have, Cole surveyed the room very quickly. Now all but two or three people were involved in the chaos, and they were tucked away in the corners like Cole was. The bartender hid in the bathroom. The semi-helpful redhead that Cole reminded himself had gotten this whole thing started was still in the fray, having much more success than the Nabradian himself.


And Cole was dragged back into said fray no more than a couple of seconds after finding the corner, catching a chair flung his way. Unsure who had thrown it, Cole decided not to throw back, instead breaking it over the head of a burly man that backed into him. ”That’s one problem gone before it starts…” With a mini-battle cry, Cole charged forwards and shoulder charged a group of three locked in mortal combat nearby, sending them all three falling through the door that led to the kitchen. Though Cole was somewhat amused by his own work, all of his good feeling abandoned him when he felt claws again, this time catching him a little too close to his most gender-specific parts. He let out a yelp and was able to turn just in time to see a fist connect with his jaw. The combination of surprise and the hit sent him stumbling back onto the edge of a table, and then to the floor.

He regained his senses for a moment, then gazed towards his assailant. Ah, great. Miss Claws again. By the look on her face, he couldn’t decide if she wanted to knock him out and take him to her room or literally kill him. ”Can’t we…talk this over?”, he asked, grimacing and fearing the loss of certain body parts more than the actual threat of this woman killing him. The odd accent of the redhead could be heard somewhere above him, and Cole quickly found her to be standing right above him, on the table. That was…safe. ”Oh yeah, you just go ahead and have whatever dirty fun you want to. I’d never explain all the scratches if I tried to deal with her.” Letting the redhead go after the clawed woman, Cole pulled himself up (again…this was getting silly) and looked around for new threats.

Instead, he found himself running right into one of the three men from earlier, who looked like he wanted to get the heck out of the bar as soon as possible. As he turned to run by, Cole grabbed him on the shoulder. ”What, now you decide to show that you’re a coward? Too late for that, bud.” Punching the man in the stomach, Cole felt good about himself until the man retaliated with his own blow to the side of Cole’s face. Alright, so that one hurt. Cole blocked the next punch and hit the man twice in the stomach…then was hit in the stomach himself…then brought both fists together to box the man in both ears. He caught the next blow and followed up with a right hook, then finally came with an uppercut that sent the man temporarily into the air and finally to the floor, either really hurting or unconscious. Cole looked at his hand, slinging the pain out of it. ”You have got one pointy chin, bastard.”

He turned to check and see how the redhead was doing, just in time to see her lowering a sleeperhold-locked and very nearly unconscious Miss Claws to the floor. Damn, why didn’t he think of that? The fight, otherwise, was dying down slowly but surely, and Cole thankfully didn’t have anyone bearing down on him at the moment. Of course, none of that mattered – glancing to the front of the building as the woman urged him to find a way out, Cole was greeted with the sight of guys in armor who didn’t look particularly friendly towards the front of the bar, accompanied by the bartender. They likely weren’t here just to watch the show, sadly. Having no better idea than to follow the woman, Cole took off behind her, sloppily rolling over the top of the bar and knocking everything still on it to the floor (he didn’t get any points for style, after all). He dodged back into the kitchen…and he felt someone grab him by the head and try to smack it into the wall. Cole stopped such a thing from happening by pushing away from the wall, however, and threw himself backwards on top of the person. Grabbing a nearby bottle of…something, Cole rolled over and smacked his assailant across the head with it. And once he’d gotten to his feet (again), he followed out the back door, which was still swinging back and forth.

Once outside, he spun in place to look for the redhead and, having spotted her, moved quickly to follow. He didn’t get a chance to catch his breath until they were a couple of buildings away, and it wasn’t long until he heard a clink-clink of someone in armor following not too far behind. Half-vocalizing a curse and half just letting out an exasperated sigh, Cole glanced to the redhead.

”Any more good ideas? I wouldn’t recommend any more bottles to the head, personally.”

Words – 1227
Muse – Epic.
Notes – Muahahaha![/size]

It was only once Cole managed to catch his breath that he noticed the woman dragging a net around with her and bothering to pad it with some kind of tarp or cloth. He stared with a raised eyebrow for a moment, with no idea as to what her point was to doing such a thing. The metallic shuffling of the guards was getting closer and closer...yeah, he could have easily run and left his "new friend" to her own accords, but chances were that if the guards caught the redhead, they would be hot on his trail again soon afterwards. And there was just something about this woman that made him kind of uneasy, like he didn't want to turn his back on her. She seemed a little too interested in "helping" him. Hey, so Cole wasn't used to people wandering up to throw in their weight with him and starting a fistfight for...for...well, for no good reason he could come up with. He had a right to be suspicious of a stranger - a good-looking stranger, especially - when they decided to help them and there was nothing in it for them. Besides, she looked and fought like a mercenary. Not that Mr. Fortune-Hunter himself could judge anyone based on his or her profession...

Chances were that he'd regret the company of this woman before long. Especially considering she seemed disinterested in the fact that they were both about to be arrested and thrown in a dungeon for a few nights to a few weeks, depending on how the two of them reacted to their captors. No - she was still interested in playing with her net. "Not sure if you noticed, but we've got half the town guard breathing down our necks. Mind putting the net down and finding us a way out of here?", he asked her as she ascended, still calm though he very much didn't feel all that comfortable with the whole situation. "What!?", he yelled back, when she told him to move a little bit to the right. His eyes went back to the net, and for about three seconds he thought the woman was insane. But then, seeing the way she had the net strung up, he kind of sort of figured out what she was trying to do. The old "pulley net" trick. But he did not like the idea of being bait. The last time had not gone well at all, and he still had a fear of quicksand to prove it.

Considering he could do nothing now but try to go along with her idea since he'd waited too long, Cole almost growled in chagrin. He spoke under his breath, "I'm gonna regret this...so much.", and almost on cue the guards whirled around the corner and took off for him, not looking particularly happy. Cringing, Cole was thisclose to drawing a gun on him, but thought better of it very quickly. Instead, his head just darted back and forth to look for a quick means of escape if the redhead's plan didn't work. The woman wasn't in his sight, but he could hear her voice call out to him again to tell him to stay put. Yeah, like he really had any other options. "Aaahh.....can't we talk about this, fellas?", came his plea to the guards, whom he thought would have just as easily run him through as stopped and arrested him. Yeah, these guys looked like the hit first, ask-questions-later type. And now their swords were no more than fifteen feet away from him, Cole having absolutely no means to defend himself considering he didn't have any bladed weapons. He didn't usually get into swordfights with town guards, after all.

"Don't wanna rush you, Red, but hurry up!", Cole called loudly to the woman as the first man stepped onto the net. There was about a four-second window to get all of the guards in the net, and that four seconds would pass way too quickly for Cole's taste. The second stepped in. Then the third. Then the fourth. "Now!", Cole yelped, just as he heard a scraping up above him. Nothing. No trap triggered yet. The first guard was getting a little too close, and Cole drew one of his guns. He'd rather shoot a man doing his job than get impaled on the end of a sword, after all. "Right now!" This time, things started into motion, but Cole jumped back from the outstretched blade of the first guard nonetheless. Something huge and heavy fell nearby, and Cole witnessed the guards all go up, kicking and screaming, as the net closed up around them. Not too shabby.

As they slowly descended back towards the ground with the redhead standing on top of them, Cole put on a cocky smile and trotted up to them, all tangled up. He turned his palms upwards in a shrugging gesture as he passed them. "Sorry guys. You win some, you lose some." Though he still didn't like how close he'd come to getting a lot more iron in his system, success eased the fact that he'd just been used like a worm on a fishhook. Approaching the female from behind (which, his masculinity forced him to admit, was quite a good angle for her...), Cole spoke up, folding his arms over his chest and looking somewhat impressed. Of course, he'd pulled off tricks like this before himself. "I'd say that went pretty well."

Words – 992
Muse – Awesome!
Notes – This gets better and better. XD [/size]

"No, let's...not do that more often." Cole stood back with his hands on his hips while the woman relieved the guards of their swords. "Yeah, nice climax this time around, but I'll be honest. There's not really anything that makes me want to be chased around by guards more often than they see fit to chase me now." Oh yeah, he loved getting to watch the guards flail around like a bunch of fish just dragged into someone's boat, reaching angrily for the two nomads who had tricked and netted them, but Cole could find other ways to entertain himself. Ways not involving the chance that he would be arrested or stabbed. He rubbed at his wrists, glad there were no shackles on them this time around. Last time someone had thrown him in a jail cell, he'd sworn he'd never reside behind bars again if he could help it. Bad, bad memories. He remembered that the guards had given him his own bucket to pee in, though, which was a kind gesture.

Yeah, not really.

Figuring he'd be equally likely to pull the same trick, Cole dismissed the woman's sort-of-apology for using him as bait for her trap with a wave of his hand and a shrug. Far worse had been done to him throughout his life. Her idea worked to perfection, after all, so no need to complain about it. Water under the bridge or however the saying went.

Cole shot the woman a very disturbed look when she mentioned stripping the guards down. "Uh, yeah, please don't have a man-stripping good time while I'm around," he pleaded, scowling down at the guards who had stopped spouting out obscenities and were instead trying to get out of the net calmly, but to no avail. "I doubt you're missing out on much anyway. Just look at these clowns." At Cole's taunting, a couple of the nearest guards shouted out a few more obscenities and tried to swing for him, but he remained out of their reach with a wide, cocky grin on his face.

Upon turning back to the female, he found her with an apple from the crashed crate, playing with the rope again. Kicking at an orange by his foot, Cole didn't worry about what she was doing, instead glancing down to the far end of the alley, the slightest bit concerned. "We should probably get moving," he warned, surprised a bit at his own mentioning of we. Latching onto temporary alliances with strangers wasn't his thing unless he was in a pinch, and the pinch had already been trapped in a net. Still, out of all the people in this strange little town, Cole figured a barfighting redhead would be the last one to make a fool of him. "Someone's gonna wonder what all this noise was about. Especially since these guys won't shut the hell up," Cole waved his hand at the guards, shaking his head. Of course, with the female hoisting them up above the ground again, the guards most likely had nothing better to do than yell. Otherwise, they would be hanging around for a pretty long time.

Still only a spectator, Cole eyed her while she wiped her hand on her pants and extended a hand, introducing herself as Alice. "Apple slobber," he announced, suspiciously regarding the outstretched hand with a somewhat raised eyebrow. Cole, after just a short pause, took and shook it. "Cole," he responded, a little bothered by how closely she looked at his guns. Well, Cole hoped she was just looking at his guns... "And yeah, this isn't exactly where I spend most of my time. I've never even been here before, buuuut...you probably figured that out already." It was obviously no secret that Cole was a stranger to this town, since he had admitted as much (like an idiot), but that didn't mean he had to go spouting out anything about the portal. He'd rather not get locked in the local asylum, to be honest. Heck, who would?

Checking over his shoulder as he opted to follow her out of the alley, Cole was relieved he couldn't see or hear anyone coming to see what all the noise - the falling crate, the yelling of the guards. At least partially reassured that they wouldn't just end up on the run from more guards, Cole shot the guards one parting nod and picked up his pace to catch up a bit with Alice. To say she was enigmatic would be kind of an understatement. Like saying a marlboro didn't like human beings. Cole stayed quiet, still watching out for guards, and studied her a moment before he finally decided to speak. "You do that often? Waltz into bars and smack random morons upside the head with brandy bottles?"

Words – 877
Muse – Pretty good.
Notes – This was written over the course of eight hundred years so it's really disjointed. XD [/size]

"...you're no fun."

"Sorry," Cole responded, though he wasn't really apologizing for not wanting to see a bunch of hairy male guards naked or rushing at him with big, sharp swords. There was an innuendo somewhere in there, but Cole didn't want to bring it up, fearing Alice would take hold of it. ....Ugh, another innuendo. Cole decided just to stop while he was ahead. He should be more concerned that he was suddenly a doll. What happened to handsome? "Uh, right, you finish up there...'doll'," Cole responded, cutting his eyes at his companion just long enough to smirk and watching contentedly as the guards got tired of yelling and instead started to look miserable as Alice lifted them up. Maybe the gentlemanly thing would have been to help her pull them up, but Alice seemed to be getting a kick out of it, and admittedly, she didn't seem to need any help.

Following after Alice once she was done, Cole shook his head in disbelief when she mentioned how those idiots back at the bar acted like they hadn't seen a gun in their lives before. Yeah, not too many people used handguns, but they were common enough that people could recognize them on sight. This must have been some true blue backwater little town if the people here weren't familiar with guns. ...Speaking of which, where was here? "Not to sound lost...but where the hell are we, anyway? I didn't exactly come here under my own-" Okay, should he really be telling someone how he'd been brought here? Either people wouldn't believe him or have him classified insane and locked up somewhere. Best to keep the details vague. "- under my own power. Bad luck. I'm sure you know how things go." Thankfully Cole didn't look much like a thug outside of his propensity to take part in plans that trapped guards in large nets, so she probably wouldn't think he was a fugitive. Then again, he couldn't be completely sure Alice herself wasn't a fugitive or hired muscle or something. Maybe she was just a survivor like him.

Oh, so she didn't just hit people with brandy bottles all the time. Could have fooled Cole. "Don't I feel special then," he responded sarcastically, with a short chuckle. Maybe he just had one of those faces. One of those faces that other people, specifically women, didn't want to see bloodied and bruised and more than Cole himself wanted to see it bloodied and bruised. Apparently, some women wanted to scratch it with their ridiculously long, rigid fingernails though. He genuinely hoped he would never meet Fingernails from the bar again - and he hoped this so much that he didn't even notice how far he was following Alice away from the town until she spoke up again, jarring him from his thoughts and from his staring at her...back. What could he say? Not like her outfit wasn't inviting such attention, even if it was practical...

Clearing his throat, Cole glanced away and took a moment to realize what she had said. Shrugging a bit, he chose not to take her comment so seriously, but as more of the somewhat playful banter she had been spouting at him for the last several minutes. "Can't be any less pleasant than what we just went through." He motioned back behind them to the bar but began to wonder just where Alice was headed. Just the way she had randomly reported to him that she was headed towards imminent danger made him curious, so as she kept moving, Cole, disregarding that little voice in the back of his head, followed.

And then Alice went kind of odd on him. He could tell by her actions that she was tracking something, or looking for something, but he didn't question her about it immediately, instead tentatively following and watching her. He had become distracted with a really odd-looking tree for a short moment before he planned to ask her exactly what was going on, but as he moved to continue on behind her, she stopped and raised an arm to him. Cole raised an eyebrow as she knelt down into some bushes, but realizing he heard quiet voices nearby, he ducked down with her. Searching the direction in which Alice was staring, Cole saw those same idiots from before who had completely ignored him passing by slowly. They seemed to be looking for someone. Studying Alice's face a moment, Cole opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on when she said something he didn't understand that ended with bastards. "..What?", he asked her, quietly, not receiving an answer. Instead she mentioned not asking for his help again and slapped him on the shoulder.

And before Cole could break out of his state of confusion, Alice had popped up, started yelling something to the men, and all hell began to break loose.

Cole was frozen in place as he saw the men rush the redhead, caught completely between two opposing opinions - one telling him he should get the hell out of there and not get involved in whatever he was witnessing, and one chastening him for not jumping up to help the woman who had just - sort of - helped him.

Words – 946
Muse – Amazing, still.
Notes – I figure him DDDDDDDDD:ing for a few moments won't hurt anything. XD[/size]

Still parked within the bushes thanks to rationality and gut feeling having a duel within his brain, Cole found himself gawking at Alice as she worked over these weirdos in armor, deftly taking on all three of them despite the fact that they were armored, taller, and probably stronger than she was. Cole almost rushed to her aid several occasions, not wanting to see her hurt, only to have Alice handle the individual whom Cole thought had a jump on her. His mind raced with explanations of what could be going on. He had seen these three charming gentlemen when walking through the forest earlier, obviously, and their style of armor obviously didn't fit in with anything Cole had seen in the village. The people here were kind of unintelligent and had never seen guns before. Alice was a random redhead who obviously had a distaste for authority. How did all of this fit together? Cole had no idea, but he had a feeling it had to do with the swirling entity he saw pop up almost on top of the fight.

Another one of those portal things.

Cole's eyes lingered on it for a few moments, and he wondered if it was his ticket back to the little wine cellar he'd so innocently invaded hours before. Could he take that chance? Would he just end up in another shitshed of a place? No, he couldn't just go and dive through it, especially not with this fight going on. And especially not with that bastard trying to get the jump on Alice from behind. Cole only hesitated a second longer, that voice once again telling him not to get involved in this conflict. It wasn't his fight. He shouldn't have to put himself in harm's way for a woman who was still a stranger - and a troublemaker, at that.

He made his decision and came up shooting.

Taking careful aim at the man coming up from Alice's blind side, Cole fired and was rewarded with a spray of blood out of the man's temple. The one who had been abused so much by Alice's helmet tossing rushed at Cole from the side, and Cole just barely managed to sidestep a tackle and respond with one of his own, the momentum carrying him dangerously close to the burgeoning portal, to the point that his shirt sleeves flapped from the vacuum effect. Once he had the PSICOM guy on his back, Cole pried the man's helmet off and went to punching the daylights out of him. Well, apparently the man had more daylights than anyone Cole had ever seen. Cole was smacked hard enough in the chin that he fell over backwards, and the PSICOM man dove on him, delivering a few punches of his own. Those punches quickly ended when the man had to focus more on not being pulled in the portal than he did landing blow's on Cole - and Cole took great advantage of this, elbowing the bastard in the gut and hitting him under the chin. The man faltered long enough that he fell off to the side, the portal quickly grabbing hold of him and sucking him in.

But Cole wasn't any better off. On his back and with nothing to hold onto, he began to roll his way towards the portal, grasping at grass and rocks and dirt and anything else within arm's distance. None of it did any good, however, and Cole cursed loudly as he took one final grasp at a root and one final look at the redhead rushing towards the portal before his senses went numb.

Words – 641
Muse – Perfecto!
Notes – This is what we planned, right? XD[/size]