Fire Fight (Camli vs Safiya)

Camli stays silent, letting Safiya focus on the performance, or rather trying to keep up with Eshika.  She was careful to not make a single pee less Safiya loses control and the whole place could end up with a barbeque incident and won't reflect well on whatever organization Safiya is with.   

"I reckon ya are too tuckered out to really do much aside a few drinks now.  At least, the boodles are having a hog killin' time and that would look to the big bug, ain't it?" As neat as the performance, it was kind of dampered with Camli's concern despite her relaxed gait. "Show biz looks to be one rough ride, glad I ain't part of making this shindig."

Safiya let out a hoarse laugh as she pulled herself up. "Gods, I wish. No, this was only the first part. Don't forget, there's multiple parts to all of this."

"Thank you, thank you!" Eshika had certainly won over a few fans as the crowd roared in applause and even a few wolf whistles. You would be hard pressed to realize that many of those people were at the very least skeptical of the Grimleal's reputation earlier that very night. "You have all been a wonderful audience! And now, any one of you can be much more than just audience. The practice sessions will begin in a short moment! Any of you that wish to take up the art with yours truly, please stay for a brief while longer as we prepare!" She took a bow and backed through the curtains, the spotlight clearly a field of familiarity to her.

Safiya was doing some stretches as she attempted to pull herself back together. Fatigue was getting to her, though. "And that is the sign that this is going to be a long...long, night..." She let out a yawn, at the very least internally happy that she wasn't too drunk. And that no one had seemed to catch on to how it all worked yet. Considering how powerful that stuff was, the fact that Safiya wasn't even all that tipsy, just worn out, was probably an impressive looking feat even by itself. "Interested in dancing lessons? I need someone to keep me sane for the next portion...I just know she's gonna make me join in, too."

"Just for this rodeo? Well I ain't the type to be clapping boots though, mostly a gun for hire." Camli says uncertainly. She pauses for a moment before shrugging. "But eh, if it gets you through all the shoots, then I reckon ya can count me in. But if she's gonna be a school ma'am for ballerina lesson, I'm skedaddling outta there."

Safiya clasped her hands together in a bow. "Thaaaaank you, oh, this night just got a little better. Maybe it won't be so bad after all! It shouldn't be more than...a couple of hours, give or take? I'll try to make her go easy on you. She seems to like you, you know. She gets handsy around people that get her attention, so don't worry, that's nor-"

A scream went out around the grounds, loud enough that most people would be able to hear it. It came from behind the stage. Safiya whipped around in that direction. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me..." She mumbled a "crap, crap, crap, crap..." underneath her breath as she darted behind the stage to check, her face turning pale as she rushed as fast as her legs and wings could carry her.

"What in tarnation is going on in there? Camli mutters as she heard the scream and then Safiya racing off on legs and wings. Troubles bound to be brewing when someone's shrieking like that. Without a second though, she crouches her legs a bit before suddenly jumping up in the air, almost soaring if wasn't for the fact that she is still falling, albeit much slower than gravity demands. Her legs still makes running motions during her descent as she "runs" towards the sound of the scream below.

The two of them rushed backstage to the source of the noise, but no one was there. Safiya's eyes were quickly darting back and forth to various locations, looking for signs of a scuffle, of which there was a few. "Dammit...DAMMIT! I took my eyes off of her for one second!" She was sweating bullets, as she examined the backstage. Props, some guidelines, a few dance steps for good measure that showed that even Eshika needed a few reminders on small details every now and then, but no sign of the woman in question. There was some torn pieces of fabric on the ground, however, that showed that something had happened, and that something hadn't been pleasant. Safiya pointed her nose to the air, sniffing something that wafted through the air. "Alcohol...beer. I swear to the goddess, if this is who I think it is..." She grit her teeth, and her balled up fist shook as she continued to look at the surroundings, desperately so. It was easy to see she was getting more and more distraught, looking for any signs of where the wayward dancer had gotten to. "Cmon, cmon! There's gotta be something! Just because I don't like her doesn't mean I want something to happen to her!"

In her desperation, she had passed over a trail that seemed to be multiple sets of footsteps leading out behind the stage, multiple times. Her worry was getting the better of her, and preventing her from noticing the small details that might actually give them a lead.

Camli, who was nowhere near as panicked arrived at the scene herself. Her landing resulting in a brief downdraft around her, kicking up a bit of dust. Looks like a conflict occurred but at first glance there wasn't sign of what was going on.

She then goes down a bit low on the ground to try to look at something signs, especially tracks. Her tracking skills almost immediately pick up the footsteps.

Camli stands back up to her full height. She waves over the panicking draconic woman towards the track. "Partner, ya outta take a look at this. Looks like ya tapper got in a brush whoever is on the prod full of piss and vinegar here and skedaddle outta dodge. Got the boot steps in the mud here. There's yer longrider....wait scratch that. Looks like a posse" A brief sniff of the place before her nose wrinkles. "A buncha white liner from the smell of corn-juice too, I'd say."

"W-Wha-?" Safiya, for all of her earlier bluster and huffing about how much of a pain Eshika could be, was clearly distraught by all of this. Her tail almost brushed away some of the tracks on the ground, but thankfully it didn't as it whipped back and forth in her worry. Safiya's gaze looked downwards, holding up a hand to produce a pink flame as a torch to get a better look. "Ohhh, I'm going to burn every last one of them. Ohh, yes..." The words had an icy edge to them but the shiver behind the words showed more than she let on. She was holding herself together as best as she could.

She turned to Camli. "Y-You're....you're gonna keep helping me, right? I don't know what the hell's going on...but I know if I find them on my own, I'm gonna end up doing something I'll regret tomorrow..."

Camli wince at the dire tone Safiya is repressing.  She looks like a rattler ready to strike at any more.

"Hold yer horses, let's not piss off the tall hog here.  I'm rattled to think what ya gonna do.  Ain't a good thing having a human barbeque and end up on the wanted list and end up in the calaboose or up on the noose."  The bounty huntress recall Safiya's ultimatum of living.  

"I reckon a bit of sockdologer is fair though."  Camli tightens her leather gloves tightly and grips it a few times into a fist, clearing sending a message.  "Now let's round up them whittled fools and show them they ridin' in the wrong town this day."

As much as Safiya was doing to hold herself together, there was telltale signs of her worry written all over her face and body language. Her hands shook slightly, and the cold sweat running down her face was impossible to ignore. Her tail twitched, as well, moving its way back and forth suddenly before settling and starting again. And yet, behind those eyes was a fury that was being kept behind lock and key...for now. Camli's words (at least, what she could understand, anyway, she got maybe a quarter of that) were enough to get her to at least stop, and attempt to take a breath, shaky as it was. Unfortunately it wasn't really working, but she was trying.

She took a few moments to try and calm herself, to little avail. "R-Right...right..." This was as calm as she was going to get. It wasn't much but it was all she had to work with. The thought of what she was going to do with them if she was a free woman gave her some small amount of comfort. "God, I hate being tied with a good image..." She shook her head as she looked at the path left behind, and then back at Camli. "I hope that beer didn't put you out too much." Her wings extended outwards, and with a single flap, it pushed her off of the ground in a long step, following along the trail left behind.

"Eh, ain't to jingled to brawl. Now let's go find the fools kicking up the row and haul their asses to the calaboose." With that the gunslinger stands up. Unlike last time, she didn't use her mid air running as before but kept on the ground. Her baby blue eyes are glued squarely on ground, hot on the trails of the footsteps on the ground.

The two of them followed along the trail, with Safiya keeping a fireball in her hand as a light to keep it visible. The city streets were dark at night, barely lit by torches placed along the sides of buildings. There was definitely signs of a struggle along the path. No doubt, Eshika was putting up resistance. She wasn't one to just roll over and let others do what they wanted with her. The path they took was winding, through the city streets. They were probably hoping the desert winds would be enough to cover their trail. Luckily, the two of them had found it soon enough that it was still mostly intact.

It took them about 10 minutes of following before, around a corner, sounds of voices, footsteps and the faint light of isolated light could be heard. Safiya put a finger to her lips and silently creeped around the corner to see where their trail had led them, and sure enough, they had found their quarry: a collection of at least 10 humans, male and female, what seemed to be camped out on the outskirts of town. One of them was the same drunk that Safiya had thrown out earlier, but he didn't seem to be leading this show. That honor belonged to someone that she hadn't seen before, a well built person in a mask and cloak.

And at the middle of it all sat Eshika, bound, gagged and blindfolded. Various cuts and bruises lined her body, but she at least seemed conscious. While the sight of her that vulnerable was enough to make her anger flare up, the fact that they blindfolded her concerned her. "They know about what she can do...damn." Her fingers dug into the wall, conflicted about the best course of action.

"Blindfolded. Something messin' her up with it?  I reckon most of the lots of them are tenderfoot...well 'cept with the big bug.  Betcha that one's the one that hog-tie your gal all tuckered up and blindedfolded."  Camli whispers as she thumbs towards the masked one.  Her appraisal eye had sized out the whole gang and picked off the leader from the crowd.  The bounty huntress tries to discern any information with her appraisal and experience on how outlaws move.

She looked back at Camli. "Something like that. Every Fellblood's got talents, "gifts" the goddess calls them. Hers are in her eyes, and if they hadn't done that, chances are she wouldn't be in any danger at all. But...they knew about that. Or at least that one does." Her attention went to the hooded masked individual as well. "These other idiots couldn't plan their way out of a paper bag. Hell, they probably couldn't even if they were sober. But it wouldn't be the first extremist that we have to worry about. Probably won't be the last either." Seeing how things were was enough for Safiya's fury to die down just a little. She was calculating, trying to think of the next best move.

"We need to get closer, figure out what they want." She needed an opening for the two of them to get closer. An idea sprung into her mind as she picked up a rock from the ground and lit it on fire, throw it the other direction. The pebble sparked on the ground when it connected with the sandy walkway.

"What was that?!?" One of the more alert ones jumped up when they heard the sound. All the others followed suit at the noise.

"Go and investigate." The voice of the masked one was deep, probably modulated by the mask. It had that tone that seemed to not be quite normal. "We don't need them finding us early." As a couple of them nodded and ran after the noise, Safiya crooked a finger and urged Camli to follow her closer, hiding behind a few boxes.

"So if we snip those blindfolds off, she can get those tenderfoot all sweet on?" Camli quietly asks to Safiya as she follows suit. Despite her rather tall stature, she does a decent job at making sure she doesn't give away any signs of their presence. As they snuck around, one of Camli's hands never strays far from the holster that houses her pistols. If it ends up in a fire fight, she'd be the first one to draw.

It didn't stop her from being acutely aware of her surrounding, and those sharp eyes caught something ahead of Safiya. Quickly, she move to her shoulder and hold her back the fellblood from walking forward momentarily before points down at the ground. There were a couple of sticks that Safiya was about to step on. The snapping sound would have grabbed their attention in the worse way possible. Camli then pointed around several other sticks lying around, almost as if they are arranged in a way that forms a barrier of sticks of a sort.

She had almost missed the row of sticks that lined the camp, nodding to Camli when she pointed them out. Definitely more than your run of the mill bandits, that was for sure. Even if it came down to a brawl, she wasn't too worried about herself, or Camli, who was armed and more than capable of defending herself...if anything, she was worried about Esh, who was still bound and helpless. The two of them quickly made it to a new hiding place, much closer and entirely unnoticed by the group. The sound of trotting footsteps showed that they had settled in at just the right time, as the group of people that had went to investigate Safiya's distraction had come back, out of breath. "We...we couldn't find anything..."

"Probably just a rat, then." There wasn't a hint of emotion in the masked figure's voice. He slowly got up from his seat, and approached Eshika. "We can only hope they are not any of your rats."

Despite his tone, Eshika only scoffed. "My, such venom! You could put a cobra to shame. Be sure not to choke on it." Despite her injuries, she was not letting it stop her personality from coming through. "So, what is your 'grand plan' with all of this, hmm? Starting war upon the Grimleal? Ransom? You would not be the first who tried to kidnap one of our own to force conflict between us and the government, for the record. You probably would not be the last, either!" That seemed to catch a few of the others off guard. Although Eshika could not see it, it was clear to anyone with eyes that she had hit the nail on the head.

The man with the mask pulled out a knife and used the very tip to pull her head upwards, the sharp blade leaving the tiniest of cuts on her chin. "You chirp far too much, little bird."

"Big man, flaunting force upon a bound and blindfolded dancer." She truly seemed like nothing would really get her to back down, not pain nor threats. "If I was in any danger of dying at all, you would have murdered me right on that stage and been done with it. Kill me, and the full force of things beyond your mortal comprehension will be brought down upon you like a sledgehammer. Death will seem like a luxury you will forever be barred from." The tone in her voice and the confidence in her words was starting to shake a few of them, as some of them went pale at the thought.

"I...I have a family to provide for...m-maybe this was a mistake..." One of them spoke up, and then another. "S-Should we really have done this? I've heard the stories, but I thought it was all just poppycock..."

"Oh? Stories, you say?" Eshika didn't miss a beat and kept going. "Stories about how the Grimleal is lead by a goddess dressed in our flesh, perhaps? Because I can assure you that much is true! I have met Her myself. She is a wonderful woman, one who welcomed me with open arms when I needed it most. And She has blessed me with this form that I wear now, a fusion of my own earthly flesh and Her essence that flows in me!" She was really playing it up now, and it was clearly working. "I was human once, just like the lot of you! And She chose me to be something more. She could have crushed me like the insect that I was, next to Her presence! And instead, I wear Her blessing with pride. Why, I-"

"Enough!" The masked man brought his knife across her side, a nasty gash that caused her to cry out in pain. The main whirled around to his worried compatriots. "Do not listen to the words of the crooning harpy! This country is our country! Do not forget that! We fight for our fathers, and our brothers, and the children that will live on past us! Do we not?!?" Despite his words, many of them were starting to have second thoughts. And Eshika was bleeding out fairly quickly due to being unable to being unable to stop it from bound limbs.

"We're running out of time." Safiya looked to Camli. "We might have to brute force this. You ready?" Her words had, at the very least, shaken the majority of them. There was only one left that was even slightly a threat, now.

Huh, did the mask figure say our country?  Some insurgency going after Valencia?  Or some wannabe rebels thinking they are "liberating" it from these Grimeal?  Now she hasn't seen too much of the Grimeal personally aside from Safiya and Eshika but they seem like normal folks, aside from the lizard bit-

The gun witch's ponder is interrupted when that bastard stab the dancer.  Eshika might be a bit too chatty to Camli's liking but that is going too far.  And it looks like Safiya is going to dive right time.  Can't blame her though, that gut wound looks mighty bad.

She holds up a hand and almost immediately, the sand underneath her starts to flow around it and starts to condense into a rather dense ball.  "OK I shoot this over to the big bug there, you go over there and raise some hell and I'll follow you up.  We clear?"  While one hand continues to create a sand sphere, the other has her hand on the grip of her pistol.

At the very least, Camli had her back. Taking on the whole group on her own would be tricky. She could totally do it, but it would be way too much work. With the two of them, though? Safiya was a lot more confident in their chances...and in Eshika's. She didn't have time to ponder plans or careful strategy, not when Eshika was bleeding over the sand. All the while, the man in his mask was trying to rile up his "compatriots" to little avail. "Look at her now, brothers! Look at the she-witch, bleeding out on the sands! Are you such mewling babes that such a thing would inspire fear within you?!? Gain control of yourselves, or I shall do it for you!" The figure's tone had turned violent, and despite his words, quite a few of them were still flustered and out of sorts.

"Got it. Now or never. I'll draw attention. Wait for my signal. You'll know it when you see it." Safiya quietly got up from the hiding spot, making sure not to bring attention to Camli. Making sure not to break any of the sticks laid across the camp, she moved to another hiding spot before walking out to them, lighting her hands ablaze to cut through the darkness of night. "Party's over, boys."

The crowd of people whipped around, shocked by her presence. "B-Boss! She followed us! W-What do we do?!?" It was easy to feel just how hard the masked figure was rolling their eyes at the response they have given them, shaking their head as they walked towards her with bloody knife in hand. Away from Eshika, too.

"Worthless, the lot of them. Thought I could whip them into shape right quick, but clearly the spineless bastards are too worried about the now. Plus, that friend of yours has got a silver tongue something fierce. 'course, if we let you go now, you'd just-" The sound of Safiya bursting out into confident laughter was enough to interrupt the figure. "Don't mock me, freak!"

"Oh, I definitely am gonna mock you. You haven't thought this through at all, did you? Did you think I was going to run? You're dumber than I thought. Let me put it this way..." She stretched a little bit as her hands still held a pink flame, fierce in its burn. "You think you are doing actions against a cult? I hate to inform you that all you have done is disruption of peace, destruction of property..." Her eyes went to Eshika. "And unprovoked assault. Trust me when I say, the law is on our side. And everyone involved is going to pay for it. Greatly." Safiya took a few steps forward, and the crowd was fully shaken by now, a number of them stepping backwards with a cold sweat. The only one who wasn't was the masked figure. Her tail had been swishing back and forth through the sand the whole time, and as soon as she did, it moved around herself, right between Camli and the figure. The signal was subtle, but she was hoping Camli could pick up on it.

Camli nods to Safiya, not saying anymore words.  They both know what to do.  

From the corner of their hiding place, she watches as Safiya drews attention to herself.  Within her hand, the condense sand pellet was harden enough that she draws her pistol from her holster and stuff the pellet into one of the handle where she holds all of the ammo for it.  Locked and loaded!  She is kind of enjoying the fact that aside from the boss man, the others are pretty much lily liver cowards that are quaking in their boots just from Safiya appearing.

As she watches, she notices the tail motion that Safiya was making right through the sand.  She's signalizing alright.  With a deft motion, the sharpshooter have the gun pointed at the masked figure before firing a shot.  There was a very brief pop noise as her weapon discharge and out was the sand pellet, speeding towards the figure at blinding speed.  However the pellet wasn't just going to hit her target.

Halfway through the flight, the pellet seems to break apart and into smaller pellet, flying at a cone shape at the man, while breaking of the original pellet also causes a cloud of dust to fly at its wake.  The enemy is about to get hit by a sand shrapnel grapeshot followed by a solid current of sand.

Safiya had a toothy grin on her face as the noise went off. "What was-?!? Argh!" The masked figure didn't have a chance to respond before they were assaulted by the burst of sand that spread out across the crowd, a few of the partners cowering at thought of actually getting shot. The masked one was thrown off balance enough that the knife slipped from out of their hands, clattering onto the ground as they caught their balance. Safiya quickly leaped into action, grabbing the blade off of the ground and shoving herself against the figure, pressing them into the back wall of a building, with the tip of the blade against their neck. She reached up and removed the mask from their face, flinging it backwards to reveal the face of a dark-skinned woman with blue eyes. "A thousand curses upon you, demons! Begone from our lands, an-"

She didn't get far as Safiya pressed the blade a little tighter against her neck. "Save it for the goddess. You'll have plenty of things to talk about then." She looked behind her at the crowd of people the woman had rallied. "Does anyone else wanna press their luck today? Hmm? None of you have swung at me yet, after all. Keep it up and you might be able to get off on coercion. Sounds a lot better than accomplice, doesn't it?" At her words, a few of them that were rallying to take action stopped, considering their options. A few of them started to put down their weapons.

"TRAITORS! How dare you all! All've you deserve whatever's coming to y-" Once again, she was cut off by the sharp blade against her neck.

"Ah ah ah...you bark too much, little doggy. Let's see if I can't leash you..." She raised her free hand and, at the tip of her index finger, brought a small pink flame that the woman's gaze latched on to. Her protests quickly died down. Safiya looked behind her at where the well timed distraction had come from. "Nice shot, Camli. Think you can check in on Esh? I'm gonna wring this one for all its worth...plus if I let them go, who knows what they'll do." She says that, but having a little fun with a new toy wouldn't hurt, either.

"Don't brisk up just yet, partner.  Who knows what fiddle faddle that trickly gull got up her sleeve."  She warned as she fully emerges from her hiding spot.  She didn't waste any time getting over to where Eshika is bound.  On the way, she gives a good stare down at the shorter men just so they will stay in line before she finally holster her gun.  Once she reaches the dancer, she reaches into her belt and draws a tourniquet on a spindle.  

"Now try to stay still, ya hear?  This might sting a bit?"  Camli press one end on the tourniquiet so it sticks to Eshika's clothing before she starts to wrap it around her body but not quite up to the wound yet as she needed to align the gauze to the stab wound before pressing it.  Almost immediately there is a few stinging sensation for the dancer as the gauze has a bit of cleaning alcohol to disinfect the wound.  Without missing a bit, Camli held the gauze there while completing the wrapping around her body after removing the gauze.  Pausing briefly, she once again glares over to the lily livered followers to many sure they aren't trying to pull a fast one before returning to the task and finishing dressing Eshika's wound before slicing the tourniquiet band with a knife and sealing the other end in.

Camli's glare was enough to shake a few of the already shaken members, but at the very least Safiya seemed to have things under control on her end. No one rose or spoke up about her after that little display, and Safiya was clearly having a little fun watching the woman's protests go silent and still. She was in her element, once again, and after a night like tonight, a little fun to improve her mood wouldn't hurt.

"A-Ah...hey...I remember that voice..." Some of the color had drained from Eshika's face, and her voice was a bit strained, but luckily she was still with them physically. A testament to how durable she likely was, considering how much blood the dancer had lost already. She let out a sharp quickness of breath when Camli placed the gauze on her, but she seemed out of it enough that it was only for a moment. "N...Not quite, how...you expected to spend the night, hmm?" She let out a weak little giggle. "It's a pity...I was going to ask you...to dance with me, tonight...ow..." At the very least, Eshika could have looked worse as Camli attached the tourniquet to her wound.

"Eh, ain't nothing haint seen before. And being honest, I'm feelin' pretty hedge so I went along for the ride; didn't lambasting any tenderfoot or longriders but I think Safiya there got ya covered if she wanted to." Camli glances over to the accomplices briefly as a dire warning before turning back to Eshika. "But hey, had a hog-killin' time with this lil' brush, so it ain't too bad."

She reaches up to untie the blindfold off of the dancer's eyes. "Ya hale and heart there?"

The light from the torches was rather blinding for a moment as Eshika's blindfold was removed, blinking a few times as she adjusted to her new surroundings. "I have...been worse, at least! Nothing I cannot walk off. Well...mostly. I might need to spend a few days under Chandresh's care, at this rate." Her legs shook as she pulled herself to her feet, rubbing her wrists that were recently unbound. The color was definitely missing from her, but it was clear the dancer was nothing if not determined.

"...aaand, drop." The two of them caught the tail end of Safiya's words as the once-masked individual drooped downwards into a hypnotic trance, fully at her mercy. "And now we've got an informant to present to the goddess. No doubt, if there's more we can use this one to sniff them out like a good little doggy. And then, once we're done..." She had a smile on her face as she licked her lips, imagining a few things she could spend some time doing. As she released the woman, she had a blank expression as she mindlessly followed Safiya. "So...what's next? You seem like you need to lay down for a while, Esh."

"Yes, perhaps...however! Before we do that...I would like to return to the stage."

Safiya gave her an incredulous look. "Esh, I swear if the next things that come out of your mouth are "I wish to continue to dance lessons"..."

Thankfully, she scoffed. "Come now, Safiya, I am not that bull-headed! I simply do not wish for things to be left so suddenly, that is all. You can rest assured, I will not be attempting that tonight...but I still must address the crowd that was so enamored by things and is most likely waiting for us." She tried to take a few steps forward, but stumbled. "Ah..."

"Eshika!" She approached her, but the dancer held up a hand as she slowly pulled herself up.

"I...I am alright..." The sweat coming down from her forehead said otherwise, as she looked at Camli next, expectantly. "Camli, yes? Would you be so kind as to...offer a shoulder I can lean upon as we return. I understand that...we have asked quite a bit of you, in this short time...b-but the Grimleal can handsomely reward you for your efforts, if you are concerned about that!"

Without missing a beat, she draws Eshika's arm up around her own shoulder. However, it wasn't just to have Eshika lean against her sturdy frame. Camli bent down while reaching behind her that Eshika would be leaning against Camli's back before she straightens, not too abruptly to aggravate Eshika's nausea "Alley oop!" The fellblood dancer now finds herself up on Camli's back, getting a piggy back ride on the gunslinger. "Well I reckon this would be might quicker than a poke in a race."

Camli turns towards Safiya who looks like she already done her work on that perpetrator. "I got her partner, but it lookin' like she needs to see the pill soon. Lead the way and I'll tag behind ya."