Lunch (and Doom) at Noodle House
Raphaela says, "and the name for the scene has arrived. we're in major kerfuffle"
Caine switches his bloody dagger to the other hand and draws his sword. It is not, unfortunately, a cannon or railgun, so he's retreating back toward the doors to the kitchens as fast as he can. Chairs and tables get mowed aside, and the dagger is still sticking out of his chest, adding more blood to his attire. The teeth he bares at the oncoming Benedict is in no way a smile.
Quinlan raises an eyebrow at the uniforms. "...Seriously man. You can't be more specific than 'his' under the circumstances? Proper nouns. They are your *friends*." He glances toward the princes. "Well. Fifty fifty chance they're your friends." Squeezing through, he tugs Maggie to the side, to let the uniforms through and see which 'he' they're helping.
Benedict has most of his attention on Caine, and not on Taleyn, as if he sees her as a cipher.
Taleyn spins to the side from Caine's shove, such that her trajectory does not allow Benedict to shove her out of the way so easily-- in fact, she actively blocks his progress in getting to Caine.
Shao assesses the situation over. He nods to himself and re-re-opens the chamois around his books, to place them on his table side by side, with his ink block and brush closer to him. From the kitchen, the waitress is heard talking loud and fast, trying to cover the sobs and cries for heveanly grace of the elderly owner. The musician switches instruments for the more dramatic and calming flute.
Apparently Maggie is not that easy to strong arm as the attempt to forceably move her meets with resistance. She glares at the men, "And you are doing a bloody bang up job of it, too." Still, she had begun a graceful turn to let them by when she thought they were the watch. Hearing the non-specific 'his' in their claim, she narrows her eyes and spins back, having retreated a step or two, "Which, 'he'?" Her thoughts echo Quinlan's query though tries to shake off her cousin's tug, "Not until they state whom they are trying to protect."
"Prince bloody Marshal," says one, trying to get through. The other , also trying to squeeze through the gap - and slowing his friend- says, "Here to save the Admiral."
Benedict pivots to put his right hand side forward - with Taleyn between himself and Caine. He stamps down on the front of her foot with his boot, grinds sole of his shoe backwards to get a decent drip, and puts the left foot forwards, going past Taleyn at a tangent. He has slowed down, but he has also slowed her down.
Taleyn hisses through her teeth at the sudden pain, and Raphaela and Liyandra are able to firmly yank her out of the way. "Stop, don't you see they're going to fight? We can't just let this happen!"
Caine has the time to take in the others in the room, from Maggie and the arguing guards, and Quinlan, and others trying to get to the lady knight. There's calculation there, and the bloody blade is stowed as he moves backwards, the sword shifting back to his left hand, back to a line of defense.
"Sure, but you get out of the way," Liya says, firmly. "I'll go throw myself in the middle, for all the good it will do, but you need to stay out." She tugs, until Taleyn is out of the way, and then moves herself between Taleyn and the fighting. "Shao, can you help keep Taleyn safe over here?" she calls.
Raphaela pulls Taleyn's face so she looks at her "Reckless!" she is so angry, it's quite rare to see "Let me think about something other than YOU TWO then!!!" she lets Liya hold her as she looks at the two princes.
"Brawl," Shao mutters, finding the page in his Thari dictionary. He fuels his brush with ink and starts a new page of his work. 'B-R-A-'... Cooking instrument and breaking china clatters errupt from the kitchen. The waitress is now crying out loud, begging the owner to stop or something. A noodle bowl breaks against the floor next to Caine's feet.
On getting confirmation of intent, Maggie ducks out of the guard's way, angling to end up nearer Quinlan and the downed man in the table mangle. As he has not moved, she kneels to touch two fingers to his throat, dagger still ready in case he does anything foolish. Peripherally, she tries to keep tabs on where Taleyn, Caine and Benedict are.
Benedict is past the others now, and the men who claim to be his bodyguard are breaking into a run, but they still have the whole room to negotiate, including the mess he left behind him. He speeds up, heading for Caine.
Benedict brings his sword up into a neat upper-body guard.
Raphaela adds a cold "Knock her out if you have to."
Taleyn is practically enraged, herself, at being told to stay out of it. "I AM HIS KNIGHT! I must protect him-- from HIMSELF if necessary!" She makes one last-ditch effort to shake herself free.
Caine's back foot slides back, knocking the dropped bowl out of the way. He stops a moment, making a gesture at the oncoming Benedict with his right hand. "Come on, asshole," he says coolly, displaying the Mark on his hand; the palm has soaked up blood, leaving skin and a moving /thing/ there. "I have something for you."
Raphaela heads for the princes, at what speed she has available.
Benedict says, precisely, nothing.
Quinlan looks at Maggie, then at the two bodyguards, then at the two Princes. Hands in his pockets, he then studies the ceiling. And then notes to the guards in the doorway, "In or out, boys. I don't think there's a soul in this place that'd listen to a word I've to say about being, y'know, rational people. But I *will* contain this mess. And I'm going to do it by putting a very big wall of fire where you're standing. So - in or out. And anyone who isn't a prince or sworn to the service of a prince in this room, is going to the cells once this calms down."
A quiet 'thud' is heard from the kitchen and all the Penglai cries are over.
Conventional wisdom might dictate that one ought to think twice about going into an eatery, after two armed uniforms have just recently hurried inside. But that doesn't mean you can't crack open the door a foot or two and take a wee little peek. At least, check out the menu board for today's special! And so Kerfuffle just kind of leeeaans in, gaze shifting slowly about and stopping pretty readily on the bloody, howling melee near the kitchen. He can just tell service is going to be lousy here. So why does he continue to enter?
Something nags a bit at Maggie's thoughts. A frown begins to take hold. "Oh, blast it." Jumping up, she leaves the downed man, "Hey!" That might be directed at the two men running across the room, but might be offered to anyone, really. Dagger in hand, she darts after the two she just let by.
With Raphaela still behind him, close by, Benedict seems to think there is little danger other than Caine in the room.
Caine holds his ground, gaze squarely on Benedict, as any person in their right mind would do. Then he launches an attack with his sword, as anyone in their right mind would not do.
Raphaela shouts a "STOP THIS!" somewhere in between. Voice going nicely with the flute.
Shao pries his eyes from his copy work. Lifting a hand, he beckons Kerfuffle to his table, smiling.
Liya has hold of Taleyn, and does her best to keep it. "You are, but you - " She stops not wanting to say things that shouldn't be said aloud. "Please be reasonable," she adds, as she does her best to hang on.
Taleyn gives a slick twist of her lower and upper body and wriggles free of Liyandra's grasp. She is clearly about to do something stupid. Here she goes, hopping right onto a table and negotiating the throng as if tables and people were stepping stones, so that she can get to the fighting Princes.
Quinlan raises his voice. "Last call! Anyone not a Prince, or sworn to a Prince, wander out *now*. I'm sealing this place *shut* and anyone involved after that had better be the Hounds' problem!"
Benedict has, to the careful observer, a very good defensive posture. He takes a parry low down on his blade and through sheer force puts a tiny nick on Caine's shoulder, but he keeps from commiting when perhaps he could have.
The bodyguards are trying to get around, but not getting to the fight in anything like decent time.
Raphaela is, clearly, more suicidal than Taleyn.
Shao closes his book just in time to let Taleyn pass, then re-opens it to resume his inking.
Ignored by Shao, and then knocked back as Taleyn escapes, smacking into a nearby table for her troubles, Liya cusses in Sukhoti, before she gets to her feet, following after Taleyn at a slower pace. Cause she's not a monkey. She hears Quinlan, and just ignores that for the moment, moving towards the fight. Not away from it.
Caine is bleeding heavily from both hands and the blade still in his chest; the knick on his shoulder is foreplay. He circles away from it a bit, moving through tables that he hasn't knocked over yet, feinting at Benedict's forward knee. The right hand with its writhing Mark stays up, as if waiting for its moment.
Benedict puts his sword down for Caine's right wrist, leaving his hand exposed to the mark, if Caine is wile enough to take it.
Raphaela comes close, and by now surely realises she's an idiot, throwing whatever she can reach at princes like a woman who found husband with the maid. Mostly aiming at the heads. YAY PISS EM OFF! MORE!
Kerf is obviously starving.. for female company, that is! He makes strides in the direction of the fighting, eyes pinned to the tussling, yelling ladies, then notices Shao seated all calm and beckoning. He hesitates in mid-step, then veers over towards the man from Jade, despite the orders most recently made by Quinlan. "So, Shao... nothing to sweat over, this?" he gestures, glancing across his shoulder back to the site of chaos. "Who are those fellows, with the blades?"
Dodging the tables and spinning around people, Maggie leaps a downed chair and skids to try and get between the self-proclaimed bodyguards and the fight. Holding her dagger at the ready once more, she motions for them to stop, "Hold up, fellows. Let's see some identification."
Quinlan just looks...tired, perhaps. Resigned? Then raises his hands toward the doors, growling the words of magic. The way out is now sealed by a very large, very visible wall of fire. "Can't put the fire out, build a firebreak," he says quietly, the words perhaps lost in the scuffle.
Shao rises and forcibly hits both his arms against his table, having all his displayed effects jump up right before his table is knocked over. Deftly, he kicks a book closed and fishes one from the air, piling everything on top of the next item one at a time, with one hand. The other catches his teacup.
Privately, to Kerfuffle, Benedict is, whoever he is, damned good. One handed, he seems to be keeping the man with two hands at bay.
Caine is wily, but not stupid, so he doesn't make the grab offered. A cross cut, and he's attempting to create more space instead of close the distance. Even as the wall of fire lights up beyond his mean brother, his expression is intent and not, to appearances, concerned.
Taleyn is a DETERMINED DYNAMO as she barrels toward the Prince Fight. But, abruptly, something causes her the SLIGHTEST hesitation, right as she gets to their fray-- a tiny concentration-line appears on her forehead.
Princes get doused by boiling hot noodles. They can continue fighting, but Raph just made them look ridiculous.
Benedict leans sideways to avoid that cross cut, and at the same time to kick at the table on which Taleyn was about to safely land. Bastard. Those who are close enough - Taleyn, probably - might wonder if he timed that on purpose for the hesitation or the jump.
Liya could wish she was as slippery as Taleyn, but she makes her way toward the fight, whether trying to get Taleyn back out of it or to throw herself in the middle. It's surely not that big a noodle house is it? The fire wards lighting up don't get a look, because she's facing away from them.
Benedict is the one closer to Raphaela, and he has a moment's grace. He turns, and instead of a knife to throw he has a cutlass. You would have to be mad or insane to do it, given Caine - or maybe to know you were fast. Maybe.
Benedict does it.
Caine follows up Benedict's cutlass gain with a step toward Benedict, fancy sword dipping and stabbing up at his brother's gut. A small cough escapes him as he does so, and flecks of blood shine on his lips, which turn oddly dark at the touch.
Shao peaks from behind his pile of things at Kerfuffle. "Sorry, Sensei? Prince Benedict is fighting his brother, it looks like," he answers with fake calm. "Another time, I would invite you to sit with me but no seat right now."
Taleyn is like unto a cartoon Coyote who has suddenly run out of cliff. Her feet cycle on air for a split-second as Benedict knocks the table out from under her, and she lands on the knife-edge of a foot-- onto slippery noodles. She slides, but does not appear to have fallen hard. But now the game between the Princes is changing by the second, and Taleyn looks up to see Raphaela, and mouths a frightened, "no!"
The bodyguards split up now, one going for either side of Maggie. The one who spoke to her first shouts, "Dumbshit, he's going to kill everyone!" He might be right.
Raphaela is perfectly still, calm eyes on Benedict, or on Caine behind him as the thrown cutlass pierces through her chest. She takes a step back from a hit, mouths a 'stop' and falls mutely, eyes remaining open.
Benedict has to jerk back, although he tries for a boot to Caine's knee to help keep his brother busy. Caine's blade comes away from his bloody. Was it bloody already?
Taleyn redirects her efforts from getting between the Princes to reaching Raphaela. "Raph-- Raph, you're going to be all right..." She crawls army-style on the floor to reach her, then lays her hands on her...
"And you wonder why I tried to kill him!" Caine finally says, anger spilling past his intent facade. And he makes another attack, pulling his blade in from the side, slashing closer.
Despite the rather impressive displays of parry-dodge-spin over there, magic air-lock door sparklies, wasted noodles, and well, women's wrestling tournament.. Kerfuffle finds his attention yanked closer to home, where Shao just performed a juggler's wet dream. He whistles a clear two-tone note. "That's.. quite alright. Princes, huh?" He turns again to watch, and his lungs seize up for a second, no sound coming out as his lips form the shape of a name. "...aela..!"
"Kitchen door," Shao quietly orders to all those near to him. He abandons his books on the noodly floor and walks for the kitchen, trying to squeeze unnoticed by Caine's back.
Quinlan stays in a corner now, maintaining his fiery ward to keep the violence contained. And keeping track of who's damaging up the noodle shop. Probably there will be a discussion with the owners of the place later when fines have to be assessed.
Taleyn yells one word-- "MANDRAKE!!!" in a booming field-command voice. Then, in an instant she is beyond speech, as she shields Raphaela's body with her own. A cold, silent wind whips up out of nowhere, and flutters the two women's hair, tinging both of them with a cold, ashy grey.
Benedict says, "TOUCH MY DAMNED PEOPLE," to Caine. More shouts, really. "AND I AM ANGRY!" He has a knife again, and it moves with the dazzling speed that only great skill and practice can bring. He keeps it underhand, and scores up Caine's arm, taking the speed out of the slash at him and maybe taking out tendons. He hit the wrist or the base of the hand pretty square.
Liya's eyes go open wide as she gets near enough to see poor Raph get skewered and go down with a plop. Ugly, ugly mess. She draws her blades again, the two knives about all she's got, and no healing in her case for Raph. "Oh, good - lava rocks." She skids to a stop where Raphaela and Taleyn are at, but there's nothing she can do to help, so her attention goes to the two brothers trying to kill each other. "Maggie, let the guards through," she calls, in case they're still being blocked.
"You're not King anymore so you're picky all of a sud--" Caine's retort is cut short by the pain in up his left arm, and the blade he grips clatters to the floor. Unfortunately for the sneaking Shao, the prince takes several steps back to get distance, his words pained. "STOP THIS," he snarls at Benedict.
Benedict says, "Whine all you like, little pirate. /Your fleet sank as you swam ashore./"
Raphaela bleeds nicely, poor owner that will stain. SHe looks rather fragile and broken, and young as she really is, when she's not being a smartass. Being killed while trying to separate two trash talking kindergarden kids. Honestly. Lame.
Shao dive-rolls between Caine's legs, like a cat through a needle's eye, to recover his stance by the kitchen doorframe. He raise his arm to beckon people at him and steps out of sight. "Roof," he states over the clamor.
Caine's stance is wide enough, though some of his attention shifts down. By the time he attempts to dodge whatever just rolled at his legs, Shao is through. Another cough, more blood; the words he shouted took a lot of air, and it seems the dagger hit something important. "Just stop," he manages. "Another time."
Benedict says, "Say please."
Raphaela joins Taleyn.
Liya takes her opportunity to close in, but she stands back of the two princes, getting a good look at the mess they are creating. That haunted look that was on her face when she first came into the noodle house has returned. She doesn't say anything, but she's near enough to at least try to get in the way of any attacks by either man.
Caine eyes Benedict with an even gaze, eyes narrowing. There's no anger there, just more calculation. "I tried to kill you because you're turning into a menace to the Kingdom," he says instead. "You're proving me right, right now. Your move."
Kerfuffle takes off after Shao, although he stops decidedly short of diving. Caine would find himself playing piggyback on a big ol' stranger, which may or may not have improved his chances here. The blond man veers to the side to skid on his knees through noodles and gore and settle in a crouch beside Taleyn and Raphaela. "Miss Feldane! Let me help, she... is she..?"
Benedict says, "You turned me into this, because you're a paranoaic. I had a house, Caine. And servants. /Dependents/." He is building back up to the high fury again.
Caine's eyebrow lifts at that, dubious. His breathing is labored now, though his gaze is still focused on his brother. His left arm is effectively out of commission, hand a limp claw. Some of the building rage before him reflects in his dark eyes, smouldering there in readiness.
Maggie says, "/Who/ will kill everyone, asshat?" Yes, they split and go around her. Whirling, Maggie turns to follow them once more, "Damnit." That is when she sees Taleyn, Raphaela and the knifework, "Oh... Oh, no." She lets the guards past, trusting Liya to know them. Still, on seeing the destruction and Raphaela, then Benedict's words. Maybe Caine's as well. She growls, then shouts. As loudly as she can, cold fury in her voice, "Is this what you /choose/, Prince of Amber? To hurt those who try to help you in an irrational attempt to kill your brother? What... the fuck is /wrong/ with you?" To Caine? To Benedict? Maybe to both.
The two bodyguards step up carefully towards Benedict, their steps in synch.
In the kitchen, Shao breaks through a window and climbs for the roof. Maybe some can notice or guess Shao is doing so. If called loud enough, Shao may hear you. Shao is not leaving the place though, for there is a ward.
Nearby, Taleyn says, "You're not going through this door. Not going to happen." She pauses. "Of course, if this standoff keeps up, and the Mandrakes don't get here in time to repair you, we're all three going through."
Nearby, Raphaela lingers, spiritually to watch the fight, or waiting to bleed out "You know what worries me? People will say: he came to her ball, so she had to die."
Taleyn is still in the midst of a sort of silent coldness, holding Raphaela, who seems to be hovering on the very brink of death.
Nearby, Taleyn laughs merrily at that.
"You still have dependents," Liya says, though she figures that's nearly a death sentence the way this is going. "I've met some of them." Gardeners. Grooms. Kitchen staff. Her words are soft spoken and nearly a whisper, but she does say it. Liya inches closer, determination on her face.
Benedict says, "And this man killed one. And I stopped caring for him, or other beings." He salutes Caine with his blade. "Father."
Quinlan sighs. "If there's anyone willing to carry her to the hospital, I'll lower the wards to let you out." He studies Taleyn. "You'd need to go with her, wouldn't you?"
Nearby, Raphaela says "You think seeing me will cool him off? he killed too."
Nearby, Raphaela seems genuinly worried for Benedict. Wtf.
Taleyn's eyes widen as Benedict utters the word "Father," and it very nearly breaks her concentration.
Scratch scratch. Plaster crumbs are dropping from the ceiling. The point of a knife is cutting through. Again. Someone is digging an opening.
Caine wheezes, "What's that mean." He sees Liya sneaking in, and stays still, watching Benedict.
Taleyn is able to focus on this world long enough to utter to Quinlan an answer, "Needs medic here. Now."
Nearby, Raphaela mutters "Slip him the haunted saltier."
Nearby, Taleyn says, "It's his memories, I think, making him crazy. I think he's thinking of Oberon and Osric!"
Benedict says, "That you made me what I am. I had that control you feared I would lose, and with Mnason's death, you took it from me. And here I am, caring a little less, and wondering if I should care at all. I, who moulded you, could not help but be touched in the end, could I?"
Nearby, Raphaela nods. "I wish I finished my magic in time."
Not an opening, after all, only two peepholes. Someone is watching from above.
Nearby, Taleyn wonders, "Who is Mnason?"
Receiving no response from the still-as-statues before him, Kerf starts to grab Taleyn by the shoulder to haul her off Raph. But the preternatural drain of colour makes him stop, and draw back again mistrustfully. "I.. don't know if any are close," he tells the suddenly vocal lady Feldane. He wheels on his knees to look at Quinlan. "I'll carry them both if I have to!" he offers over the general din.
Liya isn't sure what that means either, but she listens to the explanation, inching closer. "Yes, you should care. Or else you are just the same as they are. And then there is no point," Liya says. It may be exactly the wrong thing, and she knows that, but her words are still spoken gently. And she makes no move to attack anyone, just inching closer.
Taleyn's immediate environs are several degrees colder than the surrounding air. "I have to touch her or she'll die," she utters carefully.
Whether Caine is worried about what the sneaking woman may trigger or he's suicidal is anyone's guess, for he lifts his arms slightly to his sides, hands empty of everything but blood and chaos. Words don't come, but an odd invitation is there, his gaze focused on Benedict.
Nearby, Raphaela shrugs, "He needs to cool off...Get control again. I gave myself too much credit. Emotions are bad for him. We need to pull him back to here and now."
Nearby, Taleyn says, "I'm too busy pulling YOU back to here and now!"
Benedict stays where he is, cold gaze on Caine as he appraises or thinks or just resets his mind.
Nearby, Raphaela says, "He needs...I don't care if I die, you know that."
Nearby, Raphaela is merely frank. No more no less. As she used to be waay back.
Quinlan looks around, sees no volunteers, and nods. "I see." He turns to Maggie, and Liyandra. "Please do me a favor. While I'm gone, don't let anyone jostle Taleyn. I'll send the word out to the Gulls and hopefully that'll keep any new would-be heros from making this worse." But he doesn't wait to see if either of them agree. He just turns for the door...and the flames disappear as he heads out.
Nearby, Raphaela asks 'Can I ghost-slap him?"
Nearby, Taleyn clicks her tongue "MNASON was the BUTLER!"
Nearby, Taleyn says, "I don't care if you don't care. *I* care if you die."
Benedict looks away from Caine for a moment, but keeps his gaze in that direction. To Liyandra he says, "I know," in a quiet voice. It only travels because of the silence after the crackle of flame has gone. "How could I not?"
Nearby, Raphaela looks at Ben-Caine, then blinks at Kerfuffle.
Liya isn't paying attention to Quin, as she's way over with Benedict and Caine. Maybe Kerf will help Maggie? She doesn't even look back or seem to hear her name, instead watching both Benedict and Caine. She breathes a little bit easier, but not too much so, her gaze going now to Caine for a moment. Then back to Benedict. She bites her lip, but she says not another word.
The light from Quinlan's flame ward shimmers in Maggie's hair and sparks in her gaze. She seems about to add more unwelcome change of the 2 cent variety when she hears Taleyn. She glances at the two women, then nods to Quinlan. "Right." Her gaze flickers to Kerfuffle as he offers to carry the two of them, "No... no. They can't be moved safely. Stay where you are?" Liya's words spark a nod from the redhead. Benedict's answer to Liya, however, solidifies her slightly uncertain anger into cold fury, "You know? And yet you do /this/? To a woman who was trying to help /you/?" Shaking her head, she stops between Liya and Kerfuffle and the women.
Liya moves at that, towards Maggie. "No, don't," she says, simply. "Ease off, please."
Caine watches his brother silently, before turning his head to cough, and spit blood. He takes a step that way, gaze down now and looking for his sword more with the air of someone who has dropped a contact lens, and less of someone who wants to re-arm.
"Boss," says one of the two bodyguards urgently. "Stand. Down." The other looks furiously at Maggie and draws a hand across his throat. A cut-it motion.
Benedict turns half away from Caine, and all the way away from Liyandra, to look at Maggie with disdain and maybe disgust. He might be about to explode.
Fury still high, Maggie narrows her gaze at Benedict and Caine. She thrums with it, then darts a glance at Liya, then the bodyguard. Perhaps it is through force of will, but she slowly nods and fades back a step or two toward Taleyn and Liya.
Benedict breathes deeply, stuck in place, and does not try to kill anyone else.
Caine finds his blade and wipes it on his sleeve before sheathing it and starting past Benedict as if the man hadn't been trying to kill him and bystanders moments before. Also, he's stolen one of Benedict's daggers.
Benedict lets Caine's chest-related dagger theft pass.
Liya's worried gaze goes to Maggie, hoping the other woman understands, and then back to Benedict. Liya is set to move, on tenterhooks, but she stays in place, watching. Her voice stays soft, somehow maybe getting through when all the noise and violence did not. "I think it might be time to go home?" she suggests, even as Caine starts on his way by.
Taleyn murmurs carefully, "Can... Someone... Get... A Medic?"
Privately, to Kerfuffle, Raphaela's bleeding, yes. And for a moment Kerfie can likely feel a chill.
Benedict says, "If you wish," to Liya. "I should have a walk."
Caine steps over overturned chairs and approaches the group around Raphaela, looking over them for signs of life. "How is she?" It's much more effort than it should be to voice anything.
Taleyn just nods, indicating she is keeping Raph alive through Feldane magicks that require concentration. She gets a lot into a nod.
There is no fight in progress now, although Raphaela is still dying and Taleyn is still holding her there.
Quinlan returns with a few somewhat breathless looking orderlies and a physician from the Mandrake Hospital. He doesn't have to do more than indicate Raphaela's general direction for them to set to work.
Liya is standing next to Ben who seems to want to go for a walk. She bows her head oh so carefully, and then takes a step back, but keeps watch on Ben, cautiously.
Around the edge of Raph's blood pool, salt crystals. Not that it's very noticable.
Caine glances up and steps back to give the medics room, then further back to find an upright chair, where he sits heavily and eyes the dagger sticking out of his upper chest.
The eyes in the peepholes cut into the ceiling are not there anymore.
As the medics arrive and set to work, Taleyn rolls off Raphaela and just lies on the floor for a while, pale as Death herself, cold grey eyes slowly reviving to a warm brown.
Kerf, kneeling guard over the chill-encased Taleyn and Raphaela, had heeded Maggie's warning with a nod of grim frustration. But when Taleyn calls once more for a medic, he looks around for Quinlan, getting up just as the other man bustles back in with personnel. So he moves back along with Caine, with a last glance at Raph, and even seeing the knife protruding out of the Prince, doesn't appear to think priorities don't still lie with saving the lady.
Watching both Caine and Benedict, Maggie stands wary. When the two Princes stand down, she breaths a soft sigh. Anger still rides high in her gaze, but she manages a nod Liya's way. When Caine moves closer, Maggie fades to keep her body between his and the duo. In case. The question asked eases her tension a little and when the medics arrive, she stays out of their way. Once Caine sits and it seeps Benedict and Liyandra are going for a walk, she turns and offers her dagger to Quinlan, "I take it that I am under arrest."
Benedict says, "Perhaps, but you have just insulted me," to Maggie. "So you might prefer to pause while I explain why. I will use short words."
Benedict holds up a hand to Liyandra, in a 'pause' motion.
Shao enters from the kitchen door, pausing there to assess the mess.
The physician focuses on getting Raphaela ready to be carried by the accompanying orderlies to the hospital. It's fairly quick work, but then it has to be. Quinlan just nods toward Benedict, indicating he'll wait until that's done. Looking toward Caine, and then back to Benedict, he asks, "Do we get another physician for Prince Caine, or do I send someone for the Hounds?"
Liya stays for the moment near Benedict, her gaze sharpening as he turns to speak to Maggie. A breath, eyes closing briefly, and then she simply pauses, as requested.
Maggie glances at Quinlan, then turns to face Benedict, her eyes remaining glittery bright and focused. "Yes, Highness?"
Caine glances up at Quinlan's words, sees who he's directing it to, and rolls his eyes. Then he works on regaining his feet.
Benedict says, "Do not think to judge me. Never that." All he does then is bow his head slightly. "Just bill him for the dagger, Quin." He glances towards the door instead of his dangerous brother.
Maggie draws a slow breath, then nods, "As you wish, Highness." She keeps her voice as calmly neutral as possible, under the circumstances. When he turns his gaze away, she inclines her head, then turns to Quinlan and reoffers her dagger.
Caine shuffles past the greater emergency silently, though he seems to be making note of faces there, people he couldn't Notice with the threat of death rushing toward him. Then he's out under his own power, unless stopped.
Benedict does not try to stop anyone.
Quinlan shakes his head. "Technically you're the Hounds' problem," he says to Maggie. "Privelege of parentage. You're in exactly as much trouble as your dad says you are. Which, um. May not actually be an improvement on the Gull cells, so really it depends on what the uncles here *tell* your dad about today."
Benedict runs a hand through his short hair, displacing droplets of soup, and unsticking the bloodied length of his shirt on his chest. Caine scored him too, after all.
Maggie shrugs, "It won't matter in another few days, Cousin." Her tone for Quinlan is gentle enough, but she does incline her head to him, then pauses, "Uh. What do hunting dogs have to do with it, though?"
Oh Beeen. There's a nooodle behin your ear.
Taleyn takes several long moments to recover, then slowly pushes herself up to a sitting position.
Quinlan coughs quietly. "The Hounds are the Palace guard, Maggie," he says quietly. "It's their job to arrest and otherwise contain royal blood. We tried putting Jaymesin in the Gull cells for a while, and there was a big thing about it, so now royals just get handed over to the Hounds and you stay in the palace dungeons until one of the Elders lets you out."
Shao breaks his stillness to bravely enter the room, now Caine is gone. He walks for Benedict, not even trying to dodge the blood and noodles soup puddles. A halts a step removes and says... nothing. He stares at nothing, too.
Benedict turns at the footsteps. He looks Shao up and down.
Maggie nods, "Ah." If the dagger is not taken, she sheeths it then looks about for her cutlass. Oh, right. It left in Raphaela's chest. "See you whenever dad or someone lets me out, Cousin." Turning, she starts for the door. Apparently she means to turn herself in.
Liya blinks, and then she says, "Shao?" as the man approaches the prince. In halting Penglai, she adds a couple soft words.
Quinlan doesn't seem to mind that. He does turn his attention to everyone else. "Taleyn is Benedict's knight," he says slowly. "The rest of you? Can take a time in the cells, pay a fine for the damages, or work for the noodle house until you've paid off the *damage* done to this place. Good grief, people, don't you know to *get out of the way* when the Princes are fighting?"
Benedict says, "My groom is one of mine."
Shao bows for Benedict, something quick, given the scenary. "Yes, Liyandra?" he asks, a bit confused. "Maybe, yes, if Prince Benedicts say so, we go for a walk," he mutters. He looks to Quinlan, nods.
Benedict says, "Walk if you will," to Shao.
Taleyn grins weakly at Quinlan's quip. Then she assays to rise.
After observing the literal official wrap-up silently, Kerf stands away from the table he'd been sitting against, and starts for the door after Maggie. Until that is, Quinlan informs him he'll be doing otherwise. "Pfeh.. the choices," he says, not breaking stride. "I need time to decide.." Like a year or five.
Quinlan nods to Benedict at the comment. To Liyandra, he says, "Good on you. Just, um. Try not to damage the civilian populace too much in future, right? And their furniture."
Liya glances swiftly at Benedict at his words, and then her head bows once more. "As you wish, your Highness." A glance at Quinlan, and a grin. "Yes, Quinlan. As much as I can avoid it."
Shao glances at Benedict. "I am, Prince Benedict, at your service. We drink here, then. I walk to the kitchen, to get sake," he decides. And he does walk to the kitchen. To get sake.
Benedict turns and walks away from the kitchen, once Shao is safely through the door.
Maggie does pause briefly as she notes Shao approaching Benedict. However, she does not stay to see it through. Walking across the littered floor, she slips out the door and into the city.
Taleyn sits on a non-floor surface, then she sighs and rises again. Making her way to the back of the restaurant, and dipping a curtsey to Benedict on her way out.
Liya blinks glances at the door whre Shao went, and then she slips along, following Benedict.
Benedict comes out into the road, flanked by hiw two black-clad bodyguards, to join a third outside.
Liya is shortly behind Benedict, since he did not tell her not to come along.
Benedict walks downhill as he comes out of the noodle house. And across the road.
Not stopped from leaving by Quinlan, possibly because what dignified lawman would stoop to bothering a man named 'Kerfuffle', the latter steps out moments after Maggie, catching up with her as she moves on down the street. "Never going to outrun the Hounds at this pace."
Liyandra follows Benedict, not stopping at all. She just gives a glance to those she spies and heads after him.
Maggie turns to glance back at Kerfuffle as he catches up with her. She laughs an almost bitter laugh, "Oh, I'm not trying to outrun them, Kerf. I'm going to turn myself in." She tucks her hands in her pockets, walking a few paces in silence, then adds, "When I get out, I have arranged that trip I mentioned. If you are still interested."
Kerfuffle doesn't look that surprised by the correction. "I wouldn't miss it. And I won't miss this city.. except for a handful of the people in it," he adds the last in a lower mumble. "As far as I saw, you did nothing but try to stop them from interfering with the fight, which I -thought- was that man Quin's point? You can't be punished for that.. not for long."
The fury in Maggie's eyes remains, though it fades slowly as they walk away from the fracas. Nodding, she sighs, "Agreed. I... Honestly, Kerf, if we find my ship I might just sail back to Minos or somewhere near there and... stay there." She walks a few more paces, then laughs, "Well..." The sound is just a little bitter, "That and 'judge' Prince Benedict when he was being an ass. Who knows what the penalty for that is." She is walking with Kerfuffle away from the Noodle House.
"Oh, royalty," he says in an impatient tone, too distracted by events to wonder at his consistent disdain. "Ah well. Cheer up, I also have the option of sitting in a cell," Kerf says, following Maggie's lead as they turn up the road to the palace. "Though I have a feeling it won't be anywhere near yours.. or as fancy."
Turning north once they reach the main road, Maggie slips him a glance, "Apparently, I'm royalty. But, if that is how 'royalty' around here behaves? Who needs it." She ambles a ways then, the silent snowfall marking his passage and hers. As the palace nears, she looks up at it, then over to him, "Screw it. If I am 'royal' I'll see how far that goes. You probably can't share my cell, but I'll see if we can at least be near enough to talk and that you get the same treatment I do. I haven't a clue what this 'royalty' thing is worth, but it can't hurt to try." Again, she it touched with faintly bitter laughter, "Though... I shall have to be careful about how I make the request..."
He says nothing to her reminder that she's lumped in with the ruling class, mouth sealing shut tightly for a few moments, and the crunching snow is the only noise in their immediate vicinity. As she gets to speaking again, he lifts his eyes from their prints to see the majestic rise of the palace's spires and ramparts, lips now at even keel. The rebellious plotting to secure him better prison conditions makes him smile, presently. "Oh, do word it carefully, please. If you say, for example, 'I would like a great deal of kerfuffle around me', you might get it.. everything but my head."
Maggie shudders at the jest, "Gruesome. I was thinking more along the lines of avoiding saying 'I would like us to have the same treatment.' I expect that we would get exactly that." She shakes her head slightly, lowering her gaze a bit. The notion that there are likely to be two standards of treatment for royals and non is irritating and, for a moment it shows. She is walking with Kerfuffle toward the palace, their steps unhurried.
Kerf starts to recognize the intersection and turns his attention to Maggie's profile for a time. "Don't be disturbed on my account. More likely I will just make restitution to the shop owners for... damages." He's apparently decided not to quibble over the fact that the only thing he managed to personally damage were the knees of his trousers, in soup and Raphaela blood. "I have the funds on hand, that I earned with work at the docks. I meant to buy back my waistcoat from the tailor I'd traded for more weather-suitable fashion.. but when I went back today, found it already gone. Sold to some other. Figures," he sighs.
Maggie shakes her head, "No, don't. You were not there when it started and you didn't contribute to the mayhem. Okay, you didn't leave when Quin said to, but that does not mean you are libel for damages you did not cause." She sighs again, her frown deepening, "Benedict and Caine should pay for the repairs." Looking up at the castle, she watches as each step taken draws them closer to the grand structure. "Bother. I bet they won't. So... If it is divided up between people and you get squeezed, please let me know. I'll cover it. At least I was there at the outset."
Maggie turns to watch him in turn, a small smile tugging at her lips, "Damn. I am sorry, Kerf. But, fear not. I suspect that your crimson coat; or one like it, will turn up sooner or later."
Kerfuffle laughs, but it is a night for the bitter kind. "Yes.. at a fancy dress costume party, with a matching feather-mask. I wish I had not discarded it in the first place. You said yourself it had jogged your memories of me specifically." He smiles back. "I'll take care of my own debts.. except for eggs, which I promise to always leave to you. You've already done a lot for me, Maggie." He turns his head again, smiling down at her more genuinely. "As has Raphaela.. I'll make the hospital my next stop, and send you word of her condition."
Maggie walks with him, nodding once, though without enthusiasm. "Alright, Kerf. But, I still don't think it is fair." She looks up, her own smile warm and sort of wistful, "I know. Life is not fair. And to be honest, I am not sure that I would want it to be all that fair anyway." For a moment or two, she studies his face, his eyes and she nods, "It did. Does. In a way. I can still almost see you in it. Almost place that image." She frowns and shakes her head, looking forward again, "Just not quite." Laughter begins after a moment, "Right. Eggs are on me." That includes a wink though the laughter fades at the reminder, "Please. Please let me know how she is. Gods, I can't believe he used my cutlass to hurt her so. I could...." She pauses, glances up toward the castle, and then sighs, "throttle him. If he wasn't who he is." Finally, the palace is reached and she turns to offer a hand, "Thanks for walking with me, Kerf. You are a good friend."
The dimples at his jaw deepen as his molars set together painfully when it comes to light that Raphaela wasn't struck down accidentally whilst meddling in the princely brawl... as he had once assumed, having been distracted with Shao during the moments in which it occurred. Kerf looks away quickly so she doesn't have to read the hot burst of outrage in his eyes, and mentally counsels it away... away. Away. When he's ready to face her again, he looks pained but pleasant enough, and it's time to say goodbye with that same determined smile. "I am honoured by your opinion." He receives her offered hand, cupping it in his larger palm, fingertips barely brushing her wrist, and covers it with his other hand for a few snug seconds, before stepping back. "Don't languish for any longer than is strictly necessary," he reminds with a sober wink. "Even if there is caviar."
Caine switches his bloody dagger to the other hand and draws his sword. It is not, unfortunately, a cannon or railgun, so he's retreating back toward the doors to the kitchens as fast as he can. Chairs and tables get mowed aside, and the dagger is still sticking out of his chest, adding more blood to his attire. The teeth he bares at the oncoming Benedict is in no way a smile.
Quinlan raises an eyebrow at the uniforms. "...Seriously man. You can't be more specific than 'his' under the circumstances? Proper nouns. They are your *friends*." He glances toward the princes. "Well. Fifty fifty chance they're your friends." Squeezing through, he tugs Maggie to the side, to let the uniforms through and see which 'he' they're helping.
Benedict has most of his attention on Caine, and not on Taleyn, as if he sees her as a cipher.
Taleyn spins to the side from Caine's shove, such that her trajectory does not allow Benedict to shove her out of the way so easily-- in fact, she actively blocks his progress in getting to Caine.
Shao assesses the situation over. He nods to himself and re-re-opens the chamois around his books, to place them on his table side by side, with his ink block and brush closer to him. From the kitchen, the waitress is heard talking loud and fast, trying to cover the sobs and cries for heveanly grace of the elderly owner. The musician switches instruments for the more dramatic and calming flute.
Apparently Maggie is not that easy to strong arm as the attempt to forceably move her meets with resistance. She glares at the men, "And you are doing a bloody bang up job of it, too." Still, she had begun a graceful turn to let them by when she thought they were the watch. Hearing the non-specific 'his' in their claim, she narrows her eyes and spins back, having retreated a step or two, "Which, 'he'?" Her thoughts echo Quinlan's query though tries to shake off her cousin's tug, "Not until they state whom they are trying to protect."
"Prince bloody Marshal," says one, trying to get through. The other , also trying to squeeze through the gap - and slowing his friend- says, "Here to save the Admiral."
Benedict pivots to put his right hand side forward - with Taleyn between himself and Caine. He stamps down on the front of her foot with his boot, grinds sole of his shoe backwards to get a decent drip, and puts the left foot forwards, going past Taleyn at a tangent. He has slowed down, but he has also slowed her down.
Taleyn hisses through her teeth at the sudden pain, and Raphaela and Liyandra are able to firmly yank her out of the way. "Stop, don't you see they're going to fight? We can't just let this happen!"
Caine has the time to take in the others in the room, from Maggie and the arguing guards, and Quinlan, and others trying to get to the lady knight. There's calculation there, and the bloody blade is stowed as he moves backwards, the sword shifting back to his left hand, back to a line of defense.
"Sure, but you get out of the way," Liya says, firmly. "I'll go throw myself in the middle, for all the good it will do, but you need to stay out." She tugs, until Taleyn is out of the way, and then moves herself between Taleyn and the fighting. "Shao, can you help keep Taleyn safe over here?" she calls.
Raphaela pulls Taleyn's face so she looks at her "Reckless!" she is so angry, it's quite rare to see "Let me think about something other than YOU TWO then!!!" she lets Liya hold her as she looks at the two princes.
"Brawl," Shao mutters, finding the page in his Thari dictionary. He fuels his brush with ink and starts a new page of his work. 'B-R-A-'... Cooking instrument and breaking china clatters errupt from the kitchen. The waitress is now crying out loud, begging the owner to stop or something. A noodle bowl breaks against the floor next to Caine's feet.
On getting confirmation of intent, Maggie ducks out of the guard's way, angling to end up nearer Quinlan and the downed man in the table mangle. As he has not moved, she kneels to touch two fingers to his throat, dagger still ready in case he does anything foolish. Peripherally, she tries to keep tabs on where Taleyn, Caine and Benedict are.
Benedict is past the others now, and the men who claim to be his bodyguard are breaking into a run, but they still have the whole room to negotiate, including the mess he left behind him. He speeds up, heading for Caine.
Benedict brings his sword up into a neat upper-body guard.
Raphaela adds a cold "Knock her out if you have to."
Taleyn is practically enraged, herself, at being told to stay out of it. "I AM HIS KNIGHT! I must protect him-- from HIMSELF if necessary!" She makes one last-ditch effort to shake herself free.
Caine's back foot slides back, knocking the dropped bowl out of the way. He stops a moment, making a gesture at the oncoming Benedict with his right hand. "Come on, asshole," he says coolly, displaying the Mark on his hand; the palm has soaked up blood, leaving skin and a moving /thing/ there. "I have something for you."
Raphaela heads for the princes, at what speed she has available.
Benedict says, precisely, nothing.
Quinlan looks at Maggie, then at the two bodyguards, then at the two Princes. Hands in his pockets, he then studies the ceiling. And then notes to the guards in the doorway, "In or out, boys. I don't think there's a soul in this place that'd listen to a word I've to say about being, y'know, rational people. But I *will* contain this mess. And I'm going to do it by putting a very big wall of fire where you're standing. So - in or out. And anyone who isn't a prince or sworn to the service of a prince in this room, is going to the cells once this calms down."
A quiet 'thud' is heard from the kitchen and all the Penglai cries are over.
Conventional wisdom might dictate that one ought to think twice about going into an eatery, after two armed uniforms have just recently hurried inside. But that doesn't mean you can't crack open the door a foot or two and take a wee little peek. At least, check out the menu board for today's special! And so Kerfuffle just kind of leeeaans in, gaze shifting slowly about and stopping pretty readily on the bloody, howling melee near the kitchen. He can just tell service is going to be lousy here. So why does he continue to enter?
Something nags a bit at Maggie's thoughts. A frown begins to take hold. "Oh, blast it." Jumping up, she leaves the downed man, "Hey!" That might be directed at the two men running across the room, but might be offered to anyone, really. Dagger in hand, she darts after the two she just let by.
With Raphaela still behind him, close by, Benedict seems to think there is little danger other than Caine in the room.
Caine holds his ground, gaze squarely on Benedict, as any person in their right mind would do. Then he launches an attack with his sword, as anyone in their right mind would not do.
Raphaela shouts a "STOP THIS!" somewhere in between. Voice going nicely with the flute.
Shao pries his eyes from his copy work. Lifting a hand, he beckons Kerfuffle to his table, smiling.
Liya has hold of Taleyn, and does her best to keep it. "You are, but you - " She stops not wanting to say things that shouldn't be said aloud. "Please be reasonable," she adds, as she does her best to hang on.
Taleyn gives a slick twist of her lower and upper body and wriggles free of Liyandra's grasp. She is clearly about to do something stupid. Here she goes, hopping right onto a table and negotiating the throng as if tables and people were stepping stones, so that she can get to the fighting Princes.
Quinlan raises his voice. "Last call! Anyone not a Prince, or sworn to a Prince, wander out *now*. I'm sealing this place *shut* and anyone involved after that had better be the Hounds' problem!"
Benedict has, to the careful observer, a very good defensive posture. He takes a parry low down on his blade and through sheer force puts a tiny nick on Caine's shoulder, but he keeps from commiting when perhaps he could have.
The bodyguards are trying to get around, but not getting to the fight in anything like decent time.
Raphaela is, clearly, more suicidal than Taleyn.
Shao closes his book just in time to let Taleyn pass, then re-opens it to resume his inking.
Ignored by Shao, and then knocked back as Taleyn escapes, smacking into a nearby table for her troubles, Liya cusses in Sukhoti, before she gets to her feet, following after Taleyn at a slower pace. Cause she's not a monkey. She hears Quinlan, and just ignores that for the moment, moving towards the fight. Not away from it.
Caine is bleeding heavily from both hands and the blade still in his chest; the knick on his shoulder is foreplay. He circles away from it a bit, moving through tables that he hasn't knocked over yet, feinting at Benedict's forward knee. The right hand with its writhing Mark stays up, as if waiting for its moment.
Benedict puts his sword down for Caine's right wrist, leaving his hand exposed to the mark, if Caine is wile enough to take it.
Raphaela comes close, and by now surely realises she's an idiot, throwing whatever she can reach at princes like a woman who found husband with the maid. Mostly aiming at the heads. YAY PISS EM OFF! MORE!
Kerf is obviously starving.. for female company, that is! He makes strides in the direction of the fighting, eyes pinned to the tussling, yelling ladies, then notices Shao seated all calm and beckoning. He hesitates in mid-step, then veers over towards the man from Jade, despite the orders most recently made by Quinlan. "So, Shao... nothing to sweat over, this?" he gestures, glancing across his shoulder back to the site of chaos. "Who are those fellows, with the blades?"
Dodging the tables and spinning around people, Maggie leaps a downed chair and skids to try and get between the self-proclaimed bodyguards and the fight. Holding her dagger at the ready once more, she motions for them to stop, "Hold up, fellows. Let's see some identification."
Quinlan just looks...tired, perhaps. Resigned? Then raises his hands toward the doors, growling the words of magic. The way out is now sealed by a very large, very visible wall of fire. "Can't put the fire out, build a firebreak," he says quietly, the words perhaps lost in the scuffle.
Shao rises and forcibly hits both his arms against his table, having all his displayed effects jump up right before his table is knocked over. Deftly, he kicks a book closed and fishes one from the air, piling everything on top of the next item one at a time, with one hand. The other catches his teacup.
Privately, to Kerfuffle, Benedict is, whoever he is, damned good. One handed, he seems to be keeping the man with two hands at bay.
Caine is wily, but not stupid, so he doesn't make the grab offered. A cross cut, and he's attempting to create more space instead of close the distance. Even as the wall of fire lights up beyond his mean brother, his expression is intent and not, to appearances, concerned.
Taleyn is a DETERMINED DYNAMO as she barrels toward the Prince Fight. But, abruptly, something causes her the SLIGHTEST hesitation, right as she gets to their fray-- a tiny concentration-line appears on her forehead.
Princes get doused by boiling hot noodles. They can continue fighting, but Raph just made them look ridiculous.
Benedict leans sideways to avoid that cross cut, and at the same time to kick at the table on which Taleyn was about to safely land. Bastard. Those who are close enough - Taleyn, probably - might wonder if he timed that on purpose for the hesitation or the jump.
Liya could wish she was as slippery as Taleyn, but she makes her way toward the fight, whether trying to get Taleyn back out of it or to throw herself in the middle. It's surely not that big a noodle house is it? The fire wards lighting up don't get a look, because she's facing away from them.
Benedict is the one closer to Raphaela, and he has a moment's grace. He turns, and instead of a knife to throw he has a cutlass. You would have to be mad or insane to do it, given Caine - or maybe to know you were fast. Maybe.
Benedict does it.
Caine follows up Benedict's cutlass gain with a step toward Benedict, fancy sword dipping and stabbing up at his brother's gut. A small cough escapes him as he does so, and flecks of blood shine on his lips, which turn oddly dark at the touch.
Shao peaks from behind his pile of things at Kerfuffle. "Sorry, Sensei? Prince Benedict is fighting his brother, it looks like," he answers with fake calm. "Another time, I would invite you to sit with me but no seat right now."
Taleyn is like unto a cartoon Coyote who has suddenly run out of cliff. Her feet cycle on air for a split-second as Benedict knocks the table out from under her, and she lands on the knife-edge of a foot-- onto slippery noodles. She slides, but does not appear to have fallen hard. But now the game between the Princes is changing by the second, and Taleyn looks up to see Raphaela, and mouths a frightened, "no!"
The bodyguards split up now, one going for either side of Maggie. The one who spoke to her first shouts, "Dumbshit, he's going to kill everyone!" He might be right.
Raphaela is perfectly still, calm eyes on Benedict, or on Caine behind him as the thrown cutlass pierces through her chest. She takes a step back from a hit, mouths a 'stop' and falls mutely, eyes remaining open.
Benedict has to jerk back, although he tries for a boot to Caine's knee to help keep his brother busy. Caine's blade comes away from his bloody. Was it bloody already?
Taleyn redirects her efforts from getting between the Princes to reaching Raphaela. "Raph-- Raph, you're going to be all right..." She crawls army-style on the floor to reach her, then lays her hands on her...
"And you wonder why I tried to kill him!" Caine finally says, anger spilling past his intent facade. And he makes another attack, pulling his blade in from the side, slashing closer.
Despite the rather impressive displays of parry-dodge-spin over there, magic air-lock door sparklies, wasted noodles, and well, women's wrestling tournament.. Kerfuffle finds his attention yanked closer to home, where Shao just performed a juggler's wet dream. He whistles a clear two-tone note. "That's.. quite alright. Princes, huh?" He turns again to watch, and his lungs seize up for a second, no sound coming out as his lips form the shape of a name. "...aela..!"
"Kitchen door," Shao quietly orders to all those near to him. He abandons his books on the noodly floor and walks for the kitchen, trying to squeeze unnoticed by Caine's back.
Quinlan stays in a corner now, maintaining his fiery ward to keep the violence contained. And keeping track of who's damaging up the noodle shop. Probably there will be a discussion with the owners of the place later when fines have to be assessed.
Taleyn yells one word-- "MANDRAKE!!!" in a booming field-command voice. Then, in an instant she is beyond speech, as she shields Raphaela's body with her own. A cold, silent wind whips up out of nowhere, and flutters the two women's hair, tinging both of them with a cold, ashy grey.
Benedict says, "TOUCH MY DAMNED PEOPLE," to Caine. More shouts, really. "AND I AM ANGRY!" He has a knife again, and it moves with the dazzling speed that only great skill and practice can bring. He keeps it underhand, and scores up Caine's arm, taking the speed out of the slash at him and maybe taking out tendons. He hit the wrist or the base of the hand pretty square.
Liya's eyes go open wide as she gets near enough to see poor Raph get skewered and go down with a plop. Ugly, ugly mess. She draws her blades again, the two knives about all she's got, and no healing in her case for Raph. "Oh, good - lava rocks." She skids to a stop where Raphaela and Taleyn are at, but there's nothing she can do to help, so her attention goes to the two brothers trying to kill each other. "Maggie, let the guards through," she calls, in case they're still being blocked.
"You're not King anymore so you're picky all of a sud--" Caine's retort is cut short by the pain in up his left arm, and the blade he grips clatters to the floor. Unfortunately for the sneaking Shao, the prince takes several steps back to get distance, his words pained. "STOP THIS," he snarls at Benedict.
Benedict says, "Whine all you like, little pirate. /Your fleet sank as you swam ashore./"
Raphaela bleeds nicely, poor owner that will stain. SHe looks rather fragile and broken, and young as she really is, when she's not being a smartass. Being killed while trying to separate two trash talking kindergarden kids. Honestly. Lame.
Shao dive-rolls between Caine's legs, like a cat through a needle's eye, to recover his stance by the kitchen doorframe. He raise his arm to beckon people at him and steps out of sight. "Roof," he states over the clamor.
Caine's stance is wide enough, though some of his attention shifts down. By the time he attempts to dodge whatever just rolled at his legs, Shao is through. Another cough, more blood; the words he shouted took a lot of air, and it seems the dagger hit something important. "Just stop," he manages. "Another time."
Benedict says, "Say please."
Raphaela joins Taleyn.
Liya takes her opportunity to close in, but she stands back of the two princes, getting a good look at the mess they are creating. That haunted look that was on her face when she first came into the noodle house has returned. She doesn't say anything, but she's near enough to at least try to get in the way of any attacks by either man.
Caine eyes Benedict with an even gaze, eyes narrowing. There's no anger there, just more calculation. "I tried to kill you because you're turning into a menace to the Kingdom," he says instead. "You're proving me right, right now. Your move."
Kerfuffle takes off after Shao, although he stops decidedly short of diving. Caine would find himself playing piggyback on a big ol' stranger, which may or may not have improved his chances here. The blond man veers to the side to skid on his knees through noodles and gore and settle in a crouch beside Taleyn and Raphaela. "Miss Feldane! Let me help, she... is she..?"
Benedict says, "You turned me into this, because you're a paranoaic. I had a house, Caine. And servants. /Dependents/." He is building back up to the high fury again.
Caine's eyebrow lifts at that, dubious. His breathing is labored now, though his gaze is still focused on his brother. His left arm is effectively out of commission, hand a limp claw. Some of the building rage before him reflects in his dark eyes, smouldering there in readiness.
Maggie says, "/Who/ will kill everyone, asshat?" Yes, they split and go around her. Whirling, Maggie turns to follow them once more, "Damnit." That is when she sees Taleyn, Raphaela and the knifework, "Oh... Oh, no." She lets the guards past, trusting Liya to know them. Still, on seeing the destruction and Raphaela, then Benedict's words. Maybe Caine's as well. She growls, then shouts. As loudly as she can, cold fury in her voice, "Is this what you /choose/, Prince of Amber? To hurt those who try to help you in an irrational attempt to kill your brother? What... the fuck is /wrong/ with you?" To Caine? To Benedict? Maybe to both.
The two bodyguards step up carefully towards Benedict, their steps in synch.
In the kitchen, Shao breaks through a window and climbs for the roof. Maybe some can notice or guess Shao is doing so. If called loud enough, Shao may hear you. Shao is not leaving the place though, for there is a ward.
Nearby, Taleyn says, "You're not going through this door. Not going to happen." She pauses. "Of course, if this standoff keeps up, and the Mandrakes don't get here in time to repair you, we're all three going through."
Nearby, Raphaela lingers, spiritually to watch the fight, or waiting to bleed out "You know what worries me? People will say: he came to her ball, so she had to die."
Taleyn is still in the midst of a sort of silent coldness, holding Raphaela, who seems to be hovering on the very brink of death.
Nearby, Taleyn laughs merrily at that.
"You still have dependents," Liya says, though she figures that's nearly a death sentence the way this is going. "I've met some of them." Gardeners. Grooms. Kitchen staff. Her words are soft spoken and nearly a whisper, but she does say it. Liya inches closer, determination on her face.
Benedict says, "And this man killed one. And I stopped caring for him, or other beings." He salutes Caine with his blade. "Father."
Quinlan sighs. "If there's anyone willing to carry her to the hospital, I'll lower the wards to let you out." He studies Taleyn. "You'd need to go with her, wouldn't you?"
Nearby, Raphaela says "You think seeing me will cool him off? he killed too."
Nearby, Raphaela seems genuinly worried for Benedict. Wtf.
Taleyn's eyes widen as Benedict utters the word "Father," and it very nearly breaks her concentration.
Scratch scratch. Plaster crumbs are dropping from the ceiling. The point of a knife is cutting through. Again. Someone is digging an opening.
Caine wheezes, "What's that mean." He sees Liya sneaking in, and stays still, watching Benedict.
Taleyn is able to focus on this world long enough to utter to Quinlan an answer, "Needs medic here. Now."
Nearby, Raphaela mutters "Slip him the haunted saltier."
Nearby, Taleyn says, "It's his memories, I think, making him crazy. I think he's thinking of Oberon and Osric!"
Benedict says, "That you made me what I am. I had that control you feared I would lose, and with Mnason's death, you took it from me. And here I am, caring a little less, and wondering if I should care at all. I, who moulded you, could not help but be touched in the end, could I?"
Nearby, Raphaela nods. "I wish I finished my magic in time."
Not an opening, after all, only two peepholes. Someone is watching from above.
Nearby, Taleyn wonders, "Who is Mnason?"
Receiving no response from the still-as-statues before him, Kerf starts to grab Taleyn by the shoulder to haul her off Raph. But the preternatural drain of colour makes him stop, and draw back again mistrustfully. "I.. don't know if any are close," he tells the suddenly vocal lady Feldane. He wheels on his knees to look at Quinlan. "I'll carry them both if I have to!" he offers over the general din.
Liya isn't sure what that means either, but she listens to the explanation, inching closer. "Yes, you should care. Or else you are just the same as they are. And then there is no point," Liya says. It may be exactly the wrong thing, and she knows that, but her words are still spoken gently. And she makes no move to attack anyone, just inching closer.
Taleyn's immediate environs are several degrees colder than the surrounding air. "I have to touch her or she'll die," she utters carefully.
Whether Caine is worried about what the sneaking woman may trigger or he's suicidal is anyone's guess, for he lifts his arms slightly to his sides, hands empty of everything but blood and chaos. Words don't come, but an odd invitation is there, his gaze focused on Benedict.
Nearby, Raphaela shrugs, "He needs to cool off...Get control again. I gave myself too much credit. Emotions are bad for him. We need to pull him back to here and now."
Nearby, Taleyn says, "I'm too busy pulling YOU back to here and now!"
Benedict stays where he is, cold gaze on Caine as he appraises or thinks or just resets his mind.
Nearby, Raphaela says, "He needs...I don't care if I die, you know that."
Nearby, Raphaela is merely frank. No more no less. As she used to be waay back.
Quinlan looks around, sees no volunteers, and nods. "I see." He turns to Maggie, and Liyandra. "Please do me a favor. While I'm gone, don't let anyone jostle Taleyn. I'll send the word out to the Gulls and hopefully that'll keep any new would-be heros from making this worse." But he doesn't wait to see if either of them agree. He just turns for the door...and the flames disappear as he heads out.
Nearby, Raphaela asks 'Can I ghost-slap him?"
Nearby, Taleyn clicks her tongue "MNASON was the BUTLER!"
Nearby, Taleyn says, "I don't care if you don't care. *I* care if you die."
Benedict looks away from Caine for a moment, but keeps his gaze in that direction. To Liyandra he says, "I know," in a quiet voice. It only travels because of the silence after the crackle of flame has gone. "How could I not?"
Nearby, Raphaela looks at Ben-Caine, then blinks at Kerfuffle.
Liya isn't paying attention to Quin, as she's way over with Benedict and Caine. Maybe Kerf will help Maggie? She doesn't even look back or seem to hear her name, instead watching both Benedict and Caine. She breathes a little bit easier, but not too much so, her gaze going now to Caine for a moment. Then back to Benedict. She bites her lip, but she says not another word.
The light from Quinlan's flame ward shimmers in Maggie's hair and sparks in her gaze. She seems about to add more unwelcome change of the 2 cent variety when she hears Taleyn. She glances at the two women, then nods to Quinlan. "Right." Her gaze flickers to Kerfuffle as he offers to carry the two of them, "No... no. They can't be moved safely. Stay where you are?" Liya's words spark a nod from the redhead. Benedict's answer to Liya, however, solidifies her slightly uncertain anger into cold fury, "You know? And yet you do /this/? To a woman who was trying to help /you/?" Shaking her head, she stops between Liya and Kerfuffle and the women.
Liya moves at that, towards Maggie. "No, don't," she says, simply. "Ease off, please."
Caine watches his brother silently, before turning his head to cough, and spit blood. He takes a step that way, gaze down now and looking for his sword more with the air of someone who has dropped a contact lens, and less of someone who wants to re-arm.
"Boss," says one of the two bodyguards urgently. "Stand. Down." The other looks furiously at Maggie and draws a hand across his throat. A cut-it motion.
Benedict turns half away from Caine, and all the way away from Liyandra, to look at Maggie with disdain and maybe disgust. He might be about to explode.
Fury still high, Maggie narrows her gaze at Benedict and Caine. She thrums with it, then darts a glance at Liya, then the bodyguard. Perhaps it is through force of will, but she slowly nods and fades back a step or two toward Taleyn and Liya.
Benedict breathes deeply, stuck in place, and does not try to kill anyone else.
Caine finds his blade and wipes it on his sleeve before sheathing it and starting past Benedict as if the man hadn't been trying to kill him and bystanders moments before. Also, he's stolen one of Benedict's daggers.
Benedict lets Caine's chest-related dagger theft pass.
Liya's worried gaze goes to Maggie, hoping the other woman understands, and then back to Benedict. Liya is set to move, on tenterhooks, but she stays in place, watching. Her voice stays soft, somehow maybe getting through when all the noise and violence did not. "I think it might be time to go home?" she suggests, even as Caine starts on his way by.
Taleyn murmurs carefully, "Can... Someone... Get... A Medic?"
Privately, to Kerfuffle, Raphaela's bleeding, yes. And for a moment Kerfie can likely feel a chill.
Benedict says, "If you wish," to Liya. "I should have a walk."
Caine steps over overturned chairs and approaches the group around Raphaela, looking over them for signs of life. "How is she?" It's much more effort than it should be to voice anything.
Taleyn just nods, indicating she is keeping Raph alive through Feldane magicks that require concentration. She gets a lot into a nod.
There is no fight in progress now, although Raphaela is still dying and Taleyn is still holding her there.
Quinlan returns with a few somewhat breathless looking orderlies and a physician from the Mandrake Hospital. He doesn't have to do more than indicate Raphaela's general direction for them to set to work.
Liya is standing next to Ben who seems to want to go for a walk. She bows her head oh so carefully, and then takes a step back, but keeps watch on Ben, cautiously.
Around the edge of Raph's blood pool, salt crystals. Not that it's very noticable.
Caine glances up and steps back to give the medics room, then further back to find an upright chair, where he sits heavily and eyes the dagger sticking out of his upper chest.
The eyes in the peepholes cut into the ceiling are not there anymore.
As the medics arrive and set to work, Taleyn rolls off Raphaela and just lies on the floor for a while, pale as Death herself, cold grey eyes slowly reviving to a warm brown.
Kerf, kneeling guard over the chill-encased Taleyn and Raphaela, had heeded Maggie's warning with a nod of grim frustration. But when Taleyn calls once more for a medic, he looks around for Quinlan, getting up just as the other man bustles back in with personnel. So he moves back along with Caine, with a last glance at Raph, and even seeing the knife protruding out of the Prince, doesn't appear to think priorities don't still lie with saving the lady.
Watching both Caine and Benedict, Maggie stands wary. When the two Princes stand down, she breaths a soft sigh. Anger still rides high in her gaze, but she manages a nod Liya's way. When Caine moves closer, Maggie fades to keep her body between his and the duo. In case. The question asked eases her tension a little and when the medics arrive, she stays out of their way. Once Caine sits and it seeps Benedict and Liyandra are going for a walk, she turns and offers her dagger to Quinlan, "I take it that I am under arrest."
Benedict says, "Perhaps, but you have just insulted me," to Maggie. "So you might prefer to pause while I explain why. I will use short words."
Benedict holds up a hand to Liyandra, in a 'pause' motion.
Shao enters from the kitchen door, pausing there to assess the mess.
The physician focuses on getting Raphaela ready to be carried by the accompanying orderlies to the hospital. It's fairly quick work, but then it has to be. Quinlan just nods toward Benedict, indicating he'll wait until that's done. Looking toward Caine, and then back to Benedict, he asks, "Do we get another physician for Prince Caine, or do I send someone for the Hounds?"
Liya stays for the moment near Benedict, her gaze sharpening as he turns to speak to Maggie. A breath, eyes closing briefly, and then she simply pauses, as requested.
Maggie glances at Quinlan, then turns to face Benedict, her eyes remaining glittery bright and focused. "Yes, Highness?"
Caine glances up at Quinlan's words, sees who he's directing it to, and rolls his eyes. Then he works on regaining his feet.
Benedict says, "Do not think to judge me. Never that." All he does then is bow his head slightly. "Just bill him for the dagger, Quin." He glances towards the door instead of his dangerous brother.
Maggie draws a slow breath, then nods, "As you wish, Highness." She keeps her voice as calmly neutral as possible, under the circumstances. When he turns his gaze away, she inclines her head, then turns to Quinlan and reoffers her dagger.
Caine shuffles past the greater emergency silently, though he seems to be making note of faces there, people he couldn't Notice with the threat of death rushing toward him. Then he's out under his own power, unless stopped.
Benedict does not try to stop anyone.
Quinlan shakes his head. "Technically you're the Hounds' problem," he says to Maggie. "Privelege of parentage. You're in exactly as much trouble as your dad says you are. Which, um. May not actually be an improvement on the Gull cells, so really it depends on what the uncles here *tell* your dad about today."
Benedict runs a hand through his short hair, displacing droplets of soup, and unsticking the bloodied length of his shirt on his chest. Caine scored him too, after all.
Maggie shrugs, "It won't matter in another few days, Cousin." Her tone for Quinlan is gentle enough, but she does incline her head to him, then pauses, "Uh. What do hunting dogs have to do with it, though?"
Oh Beeen. There's a nooodle behin your ear.
Taleyn takes several long moments to recover, then slowly pushes herself up to a sitting position.
Quinlan coughs quietly. "The Hounds are the Palace guard, Maggie," he says quietly. "It's their job to arrest and otherwise contain royal blood. We tried putting Jaymesin in the Gull cells for a while, and there was a big thing about it, so now royals just get handed over to the Hounds and you stay in the palace dungeons until one of the Elders lets you out."
Shao breaks his stillness to bravely enter the room, now Caine is gone. He walks for Benedict, not even trying to dodge the blood and noodles soup puddles. A halts a step removes and says... nothing. He stares at nothing, too.
Benedict turns at the footsteps. He looks Shao up and down.
Maggie nods, "Ah." If the dagger is not taken, she sheeths it then looks about for her cutlass. Oh, right. It left in Raphaela's chest. "See you whenever dad or someone lets me out, Cousin." Turning, she starts for the door. Apparently she means to turn herself in.
Liya blinks, and then she says, "Shao?" as the man approaches the prince. In halting Penglai, she adds a couple soft words.
Quinlan doesn't seem to mind that. He does turn his attention to everyone else. "Taleyn is Benedict's knight," he says slowly. "The rest of you? Can take a time in the cells, pay a fine for the damages, or work for the noodle house until you've paid off the *damage* done to this place. Good grief, people, don't you know to *get out of the way* when the Princes are fighting?"
Benedict says, "My groom is one of mine."
Shao bows for Benedict, something quick, given the scenary. "Yes, Liyandra?" he asks, a bit confused. "Maybe, yes, if Prince Benedicts say so, we go for a walk," he mutters. He looks to Quinlan, nods.
Benedict says, "Walk if you will," to Shao.
Taleyn grins weakly at Quinlan's quip. Then she assays to rise.
After observing the literal official wrap-up silently, Kerf stands away from the table he'd been sitting against, and starts for the door after Maggie. Until that is, Quinlan informs him he'll be doing otherwise. "Pfeh.. the choices," he says, not breaking stride. "I need time to decide.." Like a year or five.
Quinlan nods to Benedict at the comment. To Liyandra, he says, "Good on you. Just, um. Try not to damage the civilian populace too much in future, right? And their furniture."
Liya glances swiftly at Benedict at his words, and then her head bows once more. "As you wish, your Highness." A glance at Quinlan, and a grin. "Yes, Quinlan. As much as I can avoid it."
Shao glances at Benedict. "I am, Prince Benedict, at your service. We drink here, then. I walk to the kitchen, to get sake," he decides. And he does walk to the kitchen. To get sake.
Benedict turns and walks away from the kitchen, once Shao is safely through the door.
Maggie does pause briefly as she notes Shao approaching Benedict. However, she does not stay to see it through. Walking across the littered floor, she slips out the door and into the city.
Taleyn sits on a non-floor surface, then she sighs and rises again. Making her way to the back of the restaurant, and dipping a curtsey to Benedict on her way out.
Liya blinks glances at the door whre Shao went, and then she slips along, following Benedict.
Benedict comes out into the road, flanked by hiw two black-clad bodyguards, to join a third outside.
Liya is shortly behind Benedict, since he did not tell her not to come along.
Benedict walks downhill as he comes out of the noodle house. And across the road.
Not stopped from leaving by Quinlan, possibly because what dignified lawman would stoop to bothering a man named 'Kerfuffle', the latter steps out moments after Maggie, catching up with her as she moves on down the street. "Never going to outrun the Hounds at this pace."
Liyandra follows Benedict, not stopping at all. She just gives a glance to those she spies and heads after him.
Maggie turns to glance back at Kerfuffle as he catches up with her. She laughs an almost bitter laugh, "Oh, I'm not trying to outrun them, Kerf. I'm going to turn myself in." She tucks her hands in her pockets, walking a few paces in silence, then adds, "When I get out, I have arranged that trip I mentioned. If you are still interested."
Kerfuffle doesn't look that surprised by the correction. "I wouldn't miss it. And I won't miss this city.. except for a handful of the people in it," he adds the last in a lower mumble. "As far as I saw, you did nothing but try to stop them from interfering with the fight, which I -thought- was that man Quin's point? You can't be punished for that.. not for long."
The fury in Maggie's eyes remains, though it fades slowly as they walk away from the fracas. Nodding, she sighs, "Agreed. I... Honestly, Kerf, if we find my ship I might just sail back to Minos or somewhere near there and... stay there." She walks a few more paces, then laughs, "Well..." The sound is just a little bitter, "That and 'judge' Prince Benedict when he was being an ass. Who knows what the penalty for that is." She is walking with Kerfuffle away from the Noodle House.
"Oh, royalty," he says in an impatient tone, too distracted by events to wonder at his consistent disdain. "Ah well. Cheer up, I also have the option of sitting in a cell," Kerf says, following Maggie's lead as they turn up the road to the palace. "Though I have a feeling it won't be anywhere near yours.. or as fancy."
Turning north once they reach the main road, Maggie slips him a glance, "Apparently, I'm royalty. But, if that is how 'royalty' around here behaves? Who needs it." She ambles a ways then, the silent snowfall marking his passage and hers. As the palace nears, she looks up at it, then over to him, "Screw it. If I am 'royal' I'll see how far that goes. You probably can't share my cell, but I'll see if we can at least be near enough to talk and that you get the same treatment I do. I haven't a clue what this 'royalty' thing is worth, but it can't hurt to try." Again, she it touched with faintly bitter laughter, "Though... I shall have to be careful about how I make the request..."
He says nothing to her reminder that she's lumped in with the ruling class, mouth sealing shut tightly for a few moments, and the crunching snow is the only noise in their immediate vicinity. As she gets to speaking again, he lifts his eyes from their prints to see the majestic rise of the palace's spires and ramparts, lips now at even keel. The rebellious plotting to secure him better prison conditions makes him smile, presently. "Oh, do word it carefully, please. If you say, for example, 'I would like a great deal of kerfuffle around me', you might get it.. everything but my head."
Maggie shudders at the jest, "Gruesome. I was thinking more along the lines of avoiding saying 'I would like us to have the same treatment.' I expect that we would get exactly that." She shakes her head slightly, lowering her gaze a bit. The notion that there are likely to be two standards of treatment for royals and non is irritating and, for a moment it shows. She is walking with Kerfuffle toward the palace, their steps unhurried.
Kerf starts to recognize the intersection and turns his attention to Maggie's profile for a time. "Don't be disturbed on my account. More likely I will just make restitution to the shop owners for... damages." He's apparently decided not to quibble over the fact that the only thing he managed to personally damage were the knees of his trousers, in soup and Raphaela blood. "I have the funds on hand, that I earned with work at the docks. I meant to buy back my waistcoat from the tailor I'd traded for more weather-suitable fashion.. but when I went back today, found it already gone. Sold to some other. Figures," he sighs.
Maggie shakes her head, "No, don't. You were not there when it started and you didn't contribute to the mayhem. Okay, you didn't leave when Quin said to, but that does not mean you are libel for damages you did not cause." She sighs again, her frown deepening, "Benedict and Caine should pay for the repairs." Looking up at the castle, she watches as each step taken draws them closer to the grand structure. "Bother. I bet they won't. So... If it is divided up between people and you get squeezed, please let me know. I'll cover it. At least I was there at the outset."
Maggie turns to watch him in turn, a small smile tugging at her lips, "Damn. I am sorry, Kerf. But, fear not. I suspect that your crimson coat; or one like it, will turn up sooner or later."
Kerfuffle laughs, but it is a night for the bitter kind. "Yes.. at a fancy dress costume party, with a matching feather-mask. I wish I had not discarded it in the first place. You said yourself it had jogged your memories of me specifically." He smiles back. "I'll take care of my own debts.. except for eggs, which I promise to always leave to you. You've already done a lot for me, Maggie." He turns his head again, smiling down at her more genuinely. "As has Raphaela.. I'll make the hospital my next stop, and send you word of her condition."
Maggie walks with him, nodding once, though without enthusiasm. "Alright, Kerf. But, I still don't think it is fair." She looks up, her own smile warm and sort of wistful, "I know. Life is not fair. And to be honest, I am not sure that I would want it to be all that fair anyway." For a moment or two, she studies his face, his eyes and she nods, "It did. Does. In a way. I can still almost see you in it. Almost place that image." She frowns and shakes her head, looking forward again, "Just not quite." Laughter begins after a moment, "Right. Eggs are on me." That includes a wink though the laughter fades at the reminder, "Please. Please let me know how she is. Gods, I can't believe he used my cutlass to hurt her so. I could...." She pauses, glances up toward the castle, and then sighs, "throttle him. If he wasn't who he is." Finally, the palace is reached and she turns to offer a hand, "Thanks for walking with me, Kerf. You are a good friend."
The dimples at his jaw deepen as his molars set together painfully when it comes to light that Raphaela wasn't struck down accidentally whilst meddling in the princely brawl... as he had once assumed, having been distracted with Shao during the moments in which it occurred. Kerf looks away quickly so she doesn't have to read the hot burst of outrage in his eyes, and mentally counsels it away... away. Away. When he's ready to face her again, he looks pained but pleasant enough, and it's time to say goodbye with that same determined smile. "I am honoured by your opinion." He receives her offered hand, cupping it in his larger palm, fingertips barely brushing her wrist, and covers it with his other hand for a few snug seconds, before stepping back. "Don't languish for any longer than is strictly necessary," he reminds with a sober wink. "Even if there is caviar."