The Wellspring Arms, Friday - An Unexpected Visitor
Cable hadn't come in at all during her shift yesterday. He hadn't been upstairs, either. And that was kinda weird. In a not-good sort of way. So Rikku went down to the store after her first-period class, just to make sure everything was okay.
Except it wasn't. At least, the store looked like it hadn't been touched since she'd locked it up the night before.
Rikku considered for a few minutes before sliding her key in the door. She didn't really have anything else to do today. She could hang out here, upgrade some weapons, and whenever he got back, she'd be first to know. He was probably just out of town for a day or two, but hey, it was good to show initiative as an employee, wasn't it?
She settled in with some Poison Fangs and a revolver, fidgeting a little to herself.
There was a store. A business, that was a business a little bit ago, but it was under new management, if Turtle's sources were correct. No, they didn't sell guns and the like at Turtle & Canary outside of the basic hunting section, but everything was still competition. Even if that....business of questional merchandise was still in business, Turtle would still be hitting it up to check it out.
Okay, maybe not that one. But this one, yes. So she wandered in, took a glance around before greeting Rikku. "Hey, Rikku. You working here?"
Obvious Question award goes to...
"You bet!" Rikku bounced. "Have you been here before? There are all kinds of weapons. Most of 'em are guns. I've been putting flamestrike on some of them. Oooh, and there's a Zen room for meditating? But I kinda like the guns more."
Wait, she was working, right? She should be more professional. "Hey, you want a gun?"
"I already have a gun," Turtle commented with a slight shift in her expression. A gun she hadn't touched in a while. Mister Deadpool would disapprove. Her head tilted. "Meditation room? So, you guys like, charge people to go in a room and be quiet and think like they could do in their very own rooms?"
Pause.
"That's brilliant."
Rikku had to think on that one. "I think the Meditation Room's free," she said. "I dunno what it has to do with guns? Cable was going on about balance and Zen stuff. Except it's not Zen, it's something else that I forget how to pronounce. And I'm not supposed to sell guns to crazy people. But I know you, you're not crazy or anything. Right?"
Turtle nodded. "Completely full of sanity," she assured Rikku, although a little disappointed about the meditation room. Maybe there were ammenities and special features that Mister Cable charged for. "You can even check my papers. But it's okay, I don't want a gun. I already have one. I'm just sort of checking the place out because I haven't been here yet."
"It's neat!" Rikku bounced. "Do you want a tour or anything? There's gonna be a shooting range at some point but it's not open yet. And there's a room in the back but I dunno what's back there, so not there, but everywhere else is pretty neat."
Turtle appeared to be considering the tour as she looked around a little, but speaking revealed her true thoughts. "You guys get a lot of customers in here?"
Attempting to calculate the official maximum occupancy? Possibly. Or just looking for the sign. She thought people were supposed to post a sign....
"Some," Rikku said. Not many, really, but she wasn't sure if she was supposed to give that sort of information out. "And Deadpool comes by a lot. One time he brought me an ice-cream pony. 'Cause I was having a bad week. So I upgraded his weapons."
She didn't need to extol the virtues of the Best Mentor Ever to Turtle; after all, she was a fellow minion.
Turtle's jaw just dropped.
"I want an ice-cream pony!"
Rikku grinned. "It was supposed to have a gun, too, but the people wouldn't draw one on. It's just frosting. How lame is that?"
Everyone wanted a ice cream pony with a gun.
Mary sure could use one after the day she'd been having. Getting her baby back to his beautiful killer self was proving harder than it had been last time.
But there were other targets to set him off. Less dangerous ones at that.
"Two birds with one stone. My luck's getting better," She practically purred, leaning in the doorway of the shop.
Rikku looked up. "Hi! Uh, welcome to the ... Wellspring Arms?"
When Cable had told her not to sell guns to crazy people, she had figured it wouldn't actually come up. But. Uh. She had a weird feeling this lady shouldn't buy a gun.
"You ... here to meditate?" she asked hopefully. Only not very. Because she couldn't imagine her as the Zen type.
Yeah, Turtle, with her head tilted a little at the woman, was thinking her papers would clear quite as well as Turtle's. There was an ad or two for several things at Turtle & Canary running through her head, too, but she'd save those for right now and decided to be supportive of her fellow businesses.
"The meditation's even free," she offered, helpfully.
Mary simply grinned, sharp as a knife and just as dangerous. "Not my thing, girlies," She said, walking toward the counter, swaying slightly as the injuries gained up until this point started to give her a bit of trouble.
"Eenie meanie miny moe-" She pointed at Turtle, then to Rikku, back and forth with each word. "-catch a hero by the toe, if she hollers, let her go... eeny-" Rikku. "-meanie-" Turtle. "-miny-" Rikku. "-moe."
Turtle.
Oh. Oh. Well. This wasn't gonna be very good. At least she'd brought her Godhand in with her.
"Wrong answer," she said, strapping it on quickly before darting around the counter. Hopefully she could get between Turtle and the crazy lady. Because Deadpool had said Turtle was a non-fighty minion, and the crazy lady looked like she was itching for a throwdown.
Well, then she could have one.
Turtle blinked for a moment, and then her eyes grew wide as she realized what was going on. Yeah. Rikku was all...fighty and stuff and all Turtle had was her kicks. She had a store to manage and a million dollars that would have to go to someone else if she died, although she did have a will, so there was that, but priorities! Turtle was definitely going make the effort to step back and let Rikku do her thing. Yeah.
"Oh baby, right answer. It's no fun when they die with a whimper," Mary replied, pulling a gun and fixing it on Rikku's head. "Best to go out with a bang."
"I hate to be the one to make dramatic entrances," Aly remarked, closing in on Mary. "But that's so not going to happen."
She threw one knife, aiming for the other woman's leg then threw herself, trying to knock her down to the floor.
Okay, Rikku was breathing again. 'Cause for a split second there, with the whole gun at her head thing, it didn't look too good. All right. Still alive.
She was gonna make Aly some cookies or something. A lot of them.
Right now she was going to hope the crazy lady's attention was on Aly, and jump forward for an upslash of the Godhand, hoping to knock that gun out of her hand.
There were...guns and knives out of pretty much no where (um, hiiiiii, Miss Aly?) so Turtle was feeling pretty confused and out of her element, because while there was possibly a law suit here, she didn't think it would be a lot of use right now. So the was Turtle, trying to get a little bit more out of the way and, if necessary, she did know how to use a gun and could potentially swipe one if given half a chance. She hoped it didn't get there, though, oh, man...
Where did that bitch come from? Mary hissed in pain, pulling the knife out and driving an elbow down onto Aly. "Wait your turn, sweetheart. I'll kill you soon enough."
And was forced to fall back to keep the gun and her arms intact. Slow, slow, slow. She wasn't prepared enough for them.
Aly winced as the elbow connected hard enough to take her breath. "I'm not good at waiting," she argued. "Rather jump to the head of the line."
She had another knife out already and tried to slip a foot behind Mary as she fell back and throw her to the floor.
Rikku couldn't see a clear shot that wouldn't also hit Aly, so instead she hopped back. "C'mon," she said, reaching for Turtle's arm and trying to pull the other girl behind the counter.
There were guns behind the counter too, weren't there? She could grab one for her other hand while she was back here. Not that shooting was ideal, in melee range, but it'd be a handy bludgeon if nothing else, and extra weapons never hurt.
"So eager to die, aren't we?" Falling backwards, Mary grabbed Aly by the hair, intent on taking her down with her or maybe just a piece of her scalp.
Hair was just mean. Aly tried to twist as she fell to try to land on Mary and get leverage on her. "More ready to finish you off," she said, aiming a punch for Mary's face.
"You okay?" Rikku asked Turtle. "Want some bombs or anything?"
She popped some ammo into the handgun she'd found and crawled back around the counter, looking for a good place to get back into the fray.
"No bombs!" Turtle said, her eyes growing a little wide. They had one mad bomber in their family, they didn't need another one. "And I'm fine..." They would be, anyway, right? They had Miss Aly, and then the two of them, and what the heck? Turtle let out a breath of air; oh, man, this was nuts. She watched Rikku for a moment before doing a quick search for a gun more in her own comfort zone, got it loaded and tentatively followed Rikku back out from the counter.
"As if you-" She gasped, the wind knocked out of her by the falling spy. "-could."
Mary grinned, hands reached up to grab Aly by the throat, nails digging into flesh.
"I like to be the first," Aly gasped, wincing at the pain in her throat but leaning into Mary's hand to distract her as she brought her knife up and down towards Mary's chest.
No killing Aly, dammit! Rikku scrambled forward, still on all fours, and tried to punch her Godhand into the side of Mary's head.
Drawing in yet another breath, Turtle had her finger ready on the trigger, but there was so much going on right now that she really doubted it would come down to her pulling on it. Well, if there was anything to make a girl feel pretty damn useless, this was probably it, as she bit her lip and waited to see what the result of Rikku's punch was going to be. She couldn't do anything now, true, but, maybe, like chess, the key was anticipating the possible moves of your enemy before they made them, and being prepared for whatever the outcome. She was going through different plays in her head, slowly building different ones to possible checkmate. Most of them involved her not doing anything at all, but she knew she couldn't entirely have to depend on that. Miss Aly, Rikku...both physically stronger. If something happened to them...
Another deep breath.
A knife coming from above and the side. How tedious.
Mary rolled suddenly, pushing Aly toward Rikku as she got unsteadily to her feet. "Two against one? Now, now, fight fair," She teased, pulling a sword.
Aly rolled back into Rikku and back up to her feet, trying not to get in the girl's way. She hated swords. So, so much.
"Funny, I was going to tell you to pick on someone your own size," Aly snarked. "Guess you got to the cliché first."
She used all her speed to dive towards and past Mary, slashing at her with her knife, but more trying to get on the woman's other side.
Basic flanking move. Awesome.
Rikku slammed her Godhand out towards the crazy lady's ribs, hoping to draw her attention away from Aly passing by so close. (Well, and also trying to mess up her ribs.)
Amateurs.
Mary spun on heel, a quick crescent kick aimed at Aly as she passed. She brought the sword up to block Rikku's Godhand, humming quietly under her breath as she moved. "...I'm half crazy, all for the love of you..." Spinning again, this time with a sharp heel aimed at Rikku's head.
That..OW. Aly should look into getting boots like that.
She whipped her knife into Mary's back then threw her own front kick into the base of her spine.
Rikku stumbled back, caught off-guard by the kick and ow dammit that hurt and this bitch was gonna get it and what was going on, anyway? Just Crazy Psycho Killer Day? Dude.
Rikku braced, slamming the Godhand out in front of her, right where she figured the crazy lady would be slammed by Aly's kick.
Turtle had very, very carefully been watching the movement of action (couldn't strategize on a chessboard if you didn't know how each piece moved). Aly with her knife, Rikku with her...thing, and so that would leave Psycho Woman just....about...Turtle drew in a breath, aimed (like a video game, shoot where they will be, not where they were), and pulled the trigger of the gun. Hoping it hit and that she'd at least have contributed something.
Of course, even ametuers got lucky.
Mary snarled as the knife connected shallowly in her shoulder and the bullet hit her arm. "Mommy's not in the mood to play any more little girls," She muttered, pulling the second sword with more than a little pain from the movement. She spun, slashing at both Aly and Rikku before lunging at Turtle.
"Shouldn't play with toys, sweetie."
"Who are you calling little girl?" Aly snapped, reeling back for a second as the sword slashed into her arm and she hated swords.
She dove forward to try to tackle Mary again before she got to Turtle. "Not going to touch her, bitch."
"Get down, get down," Rikku called, hopping over the counter and reaching for Turtle with the non-Godhand-hand, hoping to pull her low behind the counter. "And dude, awesome shot."
There was a crazy woman with a sword charging at her and Turtle had a gun; the first instinct she had was not to get down but to pull the trigger obsessively.
Thankfully, Turtle was never one for impulses, and she noticed Miss Aly moving in for a tackle and let herself be easily by Rikku, perhaps with a small grin for the compliment. "Uh, thanks. Hoo man..."
Falling forward, the swords flew out of Mary's hands. "Bitch?" She drove her elbow down on Aly's head, twisting to pin her. "Such naughty language, little girl."
She cried out at the blow, her neck snapping to the side. "Thought you'd be one for naughty language," Aly hissed, jabbing her knuckles up at Mary's solar plexus.
"It's okay," Rikku said quickly, fumbling through her pouch and scanning the room. Other exits? Mary was between them and the main one. She didn't want to blow a hole in a wall unless she had to, and she really didn't want to leave Aly here with the crazy lady. Dammit, of all days for Cable not to be here ...
"Here," she said, tossing a brownish-colored gem at Turtle. It shattered a few inches from her, exploding outwards, and a hexagonal field shimmered in place before disappearing again. "Stay low. Uh. Although if you can get another shot off, that'd be sweet. But not if it means she's gonna ... you know."
Rikku peered over the edge of the counter, trying to gauge how close they were and whether any of her goodies would hurt Mary without also damaging Aly. Dammit.
Turtle blinked at where the gem was and where the shield was before realizing what it was. "...Why did you not do this before?" she demanded to know, her eyes wide, before realizing that it wasn't important. "And it's not going to, like, mess with anything coming from me? Things can go out, but not in?"
She was trying very, very, very hard not to flail right now, holy crap.
Mary had been in this business far too long to let a child like this get the best of her. Exhaling sharply as the blow connected, she grabbed hold of Aly's hair- "Almost as pretty as that bitch who tried to steal my baby away from me." -and yanked up once before slamming her head down.
"Like you're one to talk about looks," she snapped, thrusting the knife up at Mary's face. Except that as her head slammed back against the floor, her vision went fuzzy for a long moment and she felt the blade skitter out of her hand.
"Forgot," Rikku apologized to Turtle. "In but not --"
Aly's head slammed down and she dropped the knife and oh shit.
Rikku leaped over the counter and slashed the Godhand down towards Mary's back. "Get off of her!"
Turtle winced, as the sounds of the slamming and the blade on the floor reached her and it suddenly didn't matter that she had a protective shield around her, it seemed, because this was really happening and this crazy woman was really good, and the fighting was so close that she didn't dare stick to her gun because of the fear of accidentally hitting one of the others...
While Rikku leaped over the counter, Turtle was going to take a more indirect route, slipping again toward around it. Maybe if Rikku distracted her enough, and Turtle timed it just right...and she did have the shield now...
Stupid children. If she wanted her off, punching her back wasn't going to help. It only pissed her off more.
Falling forward onto Aly, Mary winced. "Can none of you just die like good little girls?!"
Aly shook her head, trying to clear the fuzziness. "Dying's not so much fun," she spat, trying to punch Mary in the face.
"I said," Rikku repeated, her voice shaking, "get off her."
Both of her hands grabbed Mary's arm and wrenched it, to the opposite side, trying to peel her away from Aly and onto the floor instead.
Miss Aly trying to punch a face, Rikku pulling her off, and back, and, oh, man, this was it. Clear shot to the shin, straight line right from where she was standing. Turtle drew in a breath and, after a clumsy start, rushed forward, drew back her leg and kick so hard that she thought she was going to feel it in her own toe for maybe about a week. Like the kick on Umbridge was a love tap.
Mary had been expecting a lot of things, but a kick to the shin? Not one of them at all. She rolled off and onto her feet, heading toward the door. This wasn't worth the pain it'd cause him.
She could find an easier target, all tied up and waiting for her.
Aly was tempted to throw a knife into Mary's back as she left, but poking the crazy woman probably wasn't the best idea just now.
She pushed herself up off the floor carefully. "Nice foot there," she said with a smile at Turtle. "You two okay?"
Rikku swallowed, trying to fight off the excess adrenaline. "Y-yeah. Are you? It looked ... b-bad. Who the hell was that?!"
Turtle was staring for a moment at the door, part wondering if it was really okay for them to just let that woman leave like that, but Turtle's hand was shaking too much to even think of shooting after her, and she'd know if she did shoot, she'd have to have a fatal shot and that was something Turtle knew she could never do. She opened her mouth to express her panic, but found that only a sob came out and she realized that she had, at some point between the kick and now, started crying, bad, and she knew it was ridiculous to be embarrassed about it (she wasn't a fighter like them!), but she tried to wipe the tears away before Miss Aly or Rikku could notice. Also useless, because she was practically shaking. That had been even scarier then when Sandy died in front of her eyes.
"I..I'm fine," she finally managed to squeak out, sounding nothing at all like it was true. "F..fine, I'm fine...."
Yeah, that wasn't fooling anyone. Aly moved over to Turtle quickly, folding her into a hug. "You're okay now, promise. You were crazy brave."
Rikku was totally joining the hug pile for Turtle and not because she was shaking and near tears herself. Honestly.
Okay, maybe not totally ...
She squeezed onto both of them. "Is a-anybody hurt?" she asked, taking deep breaths. "It looked bad."
And this would be Turtle, not sure who to cling to more, so she was kind of clinging to both of them right now. And, for Rikku's question, her toe hurt, but she wasn't going to say anything about a freaking toe after everything Miss Aly went through. Clinging. Clinging to hugs were good.
Aly reached out to include Rikku into the hugging - clinging - pile. "Everyone's still standing," she said, not quite answering Rikku's question and blinking back the headache that was beginning to take over her brain. "We're going to close down the shop, okay? And get you both back to the dorms."
"Y-yeah." Rikku nodded quickly. "Good idea. I, uh, I'm not even supposed to be here today. I just came in 'cause Cable wasn't here. Yesterday, I mean, but he's not here today, either."
Turtle drew in a deep, shaky breath, which caught an exact amount of seven times before she could nod her head a little. "Y..yeah. Dorms're...dorms're good..."
"He wasn't here yesterday either?" Aly asked thoughtfully. She collected her knives and started towards the door. "The woman's an old - enemy from Deadpool's world." She eyed them both. "Let us handle it this time, okay?"
"But I could ..." Rikku bit her lip. Right. The last time she'd gone on patrol, with Mel, she'd ended up with her own Godhand smashed into her head. "Yeah. Okay. Y-you go."
Meanwhile, Turtle was just gawking at Miss Aly like maybe she had a few things knocked lose when she was slammed into the counter if she honestly thought Turtle would try to do something. Beyond suggesting an assault lawsuit after things hopefully got a little more under control, that is. She gave Rikku a worried look for a second before turning her eyes back toward Miss Aly. "You'll...go...after taking us to the dorms, thought, right?"
Had to be clear on these things. Turtle did not take issue with the fact that she was going to make it very clear that she wasn't leaving here without that assurance. Or maybe if the troopers were called in as escorts. She'd be minutely comfortable with that, too.
"After getting you two back to the dorms," Aly agreed immediately because that wasn't even under question in her head. She glanced worriedly at Rikku as well, making a note to check on the girl again after this was dealt with.
(OOC: Preplayed with the lovely stocksgrrl, mouthy_merc, kypriothschoice. NFI, NFB, but OOC is love.)