Blood, Death, and Friendship

Starring...


 * Kane as Shax


 * Grafsburg as Tirin Moor


 * NPCs (A tiger, a bear, and a hybrid hippo/rhino) as Themselves!

 The night was cold. Well, colder than usual. The previous snow-fall was a testament to that, although the cloud-cover over Shantytown did mean it wasn't as cold as it could be. Most people were inside already by this hour, and it wasn't even midnight yet. In fact, this particular street was utterly devoid of life. At least, for a moment. Bursting from a seedy looking bar, a familar figure of a scarred iguana stumbled into the street. He looked drunk, and was drunk even, although he had a bloody nose and mouth to complement the features. The three large men, one lion, a bear, and what looked like some violent mix of hippo and rhino. All of them looking less than pleased with the stumbling reptile. They followed, roughly shoving Shax forward, towards a back alley. "Move it, freak." The leader, the hybrid, growled, to which Shax just giggled. "That's not very nice, y'know. 'Course, the punch in the face wasn't nice either. How's that fist, by the way?" The lack of concern the iguana had for his situation only seemed to enrage the leader further, who pushed him again. "I said MOVE!"

 Tirin was roaming Shantytown tonight, mostly because he had so little else to do. The city, despite its bright lights, gambling dens, places of ill repute, and other forms of entertainment, did not appeal to the Drifter. He wanted to be out in the desert, exploring new places, hunting dangerous creatures... In other words, he wanted to survive, not live. Living in Shantytown presented no challenges to him. It was all meaningless hedonism. At least for the time being anyway. When he heard shouting and a familiar voice and, even more worrisome, Shax's familiar face being led away by a group of thugs, the lemur went quiet and slinked into the shadows, pulling his revolver from its holster. Oh dear... This wasn't looking good!

 The unlikely group didn't go far from the bar. The back alley they were going towards was just behind the bar anyway. Shax, in what could very well have been usual style for the reptile, was joking and giggling the whole way, which earned him a couple more shoves, until he was all the way back in the cover of the narrow access. Shoved into a wall, he turned towards his tormentors. "Shouldn't have slept with my wife; me and my boys are gonna pound you into the pavement." The large hybrid growled, letting his two friends do the fist-pounding for him to make his point. Shax seemed remarkably unperterbed. "If you were do'n your job as a husband, she wouldn't have gone look'n for someone else, now would she?" He grinned again, before another punch to the gut doubled him over. The tiger looked pleased with himself for a moment, before Shax laughed and struggled to his feet again. "That the best you got? Come on, big boy like you should be able to hit harder than that..." This was followed by a second punch, which Shax took longer to get up from. "Ok, that one was better. But I still think my grandmother could take you."

 Tirin scowled, watching the three men gang up on Shax. It was low-down, though hearing that the lizard had slept with the hybrid's wife, and Shax not even trying to deny the accusation, made Tirin wonder if perhaps Shax deserved it. It didn't take him long to convince himself to intervene anyway. "Okay gentlemen. Enough is enough. Let the lizard go," he said as he rounded the corner, pistol in hand. "Adulterer or not, you've beat on him enough."

 "What the fu-" All four heads turned towards Tirin. All four registered surprise at first, but the three larger men turned to scowls rather quickly. Shax's registered... Worry? Just for the barest of moments. "And who the fuck are you? Some good samaritan?" The leader growled. His two friends both pulled their own side-arms, although they weren't aimed directly at Tirin just yet. "Fuck off kid; we'll be done with this runt when we say we are. Unless you wanna join him..." Shax himself made a motion with his hand. "Don't worry about me, Tirin. These pukes look tough, but they can't hit for shit." The rage in the groups leader was starting to reach visibly radiating levels.

 "Aye, I'm a 'good samaritan'. A good samaritan with a gun. Drop the lizard and bugger off, or else," Tirin growled; the hybrid had just hit his berserk button: being called a 'kid' in a patronizing manner made him angry, very angry, and now that the thugs had set him off, he was going to be playing for keeps. "I'll give you to the count of three." The lemur glared and levelled his gun. It was ploy; he didn't really intend to shoot any of them. But hopefully he could intimidate them a little bit. "One..." he began.

 The leader just growled. They'd only planned on making one corpse tonight, but two would do just as well. They weren't even waiting for the count-down to finish. The tiger aimed his weapon at Shax, the bear at Tirin. Of course, they didn't get much farther than that before something happened. There was a sudden movement from the iguana, and a surprising flash of red. The tiger blinked in shock, slowly coming to terms with a missing hand. As he screamed, Shax turned towards the other two with an unnaturally feral grin. "Three." At least for Tirin, the two were now much more concerned with the iguana, and the sudden apperance of his katars.

 "Son of a bitch!" Tirin shouted. It was too late for any kind of diplomacy now... Tirin did the first thing that came naturally; he pulled the trigger and shot the bear right in his center mass. A big revolver like the one the lemur packed was going to cause a lot of damage, and it certainly didn't disappoint him, blowing a decent-sized hole in the ursine, who stumbled into a wall and then fell dead.

 Shax decided to finish putting the tiger out of his misery first. Perhaps not the best idea, since the hybrid was backing up and fumbling with his own revolver, but he did what he did. It was over with a couple of strikes, leaving only one standing. The hybrid had cleared his holster, taking quick aim at the iguana. He fired, again and again, yet never did manage to seem to hit the flighty dancer. Of course, Shax was also in the way, between Tirin and the last remaining target. At least the rhino/hippo only got three shots off before Shax was upon him. Literally. The iguana leaped up, landing on the large mans chest, and with a slash, well... The spray was all Tirin would need to know that dagger had sliced upon the hybrids throat. After that, it was all a matter of gravity, and Shax road the felled hybrid all the way to the ground. He didn't get up just yet either.

 Tirin winced as three shots came from the hybrid. He winced even more when Shax pounced on the hapless idiot and cut his throat with those nasty-looking punching daggers. That was certainly going to be a painful way to go, but the hybrid had, at least brought it upon himself. Without waiting for the lizard to finish, Tirin opened the cylinder of his revolver and reloaded the single shot he'd spent, then flipped it back closed. "Well hell..." he mumbled under his breath, thinking of nothing else to say.

 The reason Shax didn't come up right away was because he was a bit busy around the hybrid's neck. Or, at least his mouth was. He finally let go after swallowing a few good mouthfulls of the crimson liquid, panting. "Oh fuck..." It was almost a moan that escaped his mouth, his literal thirst for blood finally quenched for the moment. "I do love the dumb ones..." He seemed more engrossed in his own thing, rather than actually paying attention to Tirin. In fact, he might have even temporarily forgotten Tirin was there at all. Of course he looked a right mess, blood coating his muzzle, most of it not his own though.

 Tirin holstered his revolver (reluctantly), eyeing Shax. "Uh... Shax?" he said, tilting his head aside, brow raised. When the iguana turned around and Tirin saw the blood that his 'friend' had been devouring, Tirin's eyes shot wide. "By the Saints man, what the hell did you do?!" he demanded. "Were you drinking that poor bugger's blood?" It seemed he was genuinely upset to learn this.

 "Do?" Shax blinked, and turned back to look a the lemur, almost genuinely surprised. "I slit his throat; what do you think I did? And yeah, I drink blood. It's not like he needs it anymore anyway." He nudged the body he was sitting on, as if to prove his point. He stood, eventually, although he hadn't bothered cleaning his blades off yet. At least he had the good grace not to lick them clean, just yet. Not that Tirin would know about his usual habits in this regard. "If he's dead, he's dead. It's not like you're tied to your body once your gone, so whatever happens to it is a moot point, right?"

 "Drinking blood... That's... that's disgusting Shax!" Tirin had always figured the iguana was... off in some way. But this? This was unbelievable, and it made him sick to think about it. "Ugh... Why... Why did you do that? Why would you do something like that?" Oh boy, he was definitely upset now...

 "Tirin... Tirin. Look, Tirin..." Shax tried to interject before the explosion. He really did. 'Course, it didn't help. The final thing came, though, and there just wasn't any avoiding it. He sighed, honestly not as concerned as he should be, and wiped off his blades on the dead hybrids shirt. "I'll explain if you want, but two things. One, you have to calm down. I'm not gonna try and talk to you if you aren't actually interested in listening. Two, this ain't the best place to have a discussion. It's cold, it's dark, and sooner or later somebody else with a gun and some self-righteous 'police' badge is going to show up. So can we retire someplace a bit better for this? Drinks on me, even. Won't ask for a thing from you except time."

 Tirin was holding onto his head, about to just explode at the iguana. And yet somehow, Shax was acting... Well, sane about the whole ordeal. It would've been hilarious if he wasn't so horrified. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm calm, I'm calm. Explain to me then why you're going and drinking peoples' blood," he said, motioning for Shax to lead him to somewhere less likely to attract unwanted ears. Of course he was also keeping his eyes peeled for treachery; at this point he wouldn't have thought twice about shooting the iguana if Shax seemed to be threatening him in any way.

<Kane> At least Shax put the daggers away. Not that it would matter much if he was going to kill Tirin, given how fast he could draw those. But he honestly didn't have any intentions of the sort, surprising as that may be to some. The bar he took them too, after filching the money purses off the dead men, wasn't terribly far away. It was not the same one he had come out of, probably for obvious reasons, and it was... Well, a bar. Nothing really special about it. The booth was, at least, comfortable. And it was warm, something Shax seemed greatful for. He'd cleaned up before entering though. Or as best he could. His nose was still bleeding, and he kept playing with his jaw. Still, seated and with drinks on the way... "All right, so... Despite a rather intense dislike for my time spent in Scorch, I did learn a few things while there. Combat, like you saw, sexual training, identifying drugs and toxins, whole bunches of things. And one of those things was where people's essences are. Now I've heard arguments that the seed is more potent in terms of essence, but honestly that's a bunch bullshit. The true essence of someone, all they are and every strength they have, is the blood. That life-giving liquid. You can live without seed; you can't live without blood. Now, by drinking it, you take a bit of that strength someone has into yourself. You carry a bit of them with you, incorporate their powers with your own. You follow?" It was as if he was explaining the mechanics of some firearm, and he honestly seemed to believe what he was saying. He made it sound sane, or worse; plausable.

<Grafsburg> Tirin followed the iguana, keeping both eyes on him at all times. When they finally came to the bar and took their seats, he remained quiet whilst Shax explained why exactly he'd seen fit to drink the tiger's blood. The explanation did little to ease his fears to say the least. It sounded like some kind of folk-magic a tribal would talk about, and the lemur didn't buy it for a second. "Shax... That's... That's not true. You don't 'gain someone's essence' by drinking their blood. That's superstition."

<Kane> "So are spirits, Saints, and karma." Shax flopped back in his seat, managing to look vaguely worse for the wear. "The only difference I've seen between 'superstition' and 'religion' is that the city folk have religion and all those 'backwards tribals' have superstition. Just because superstition is organized doesn't mean it's not still superstition." The waitress came with their orders, which Shax accepted with a surprisingly polite "Thank you" before passing Tirin's drink to him. "I'm not trying to convince you or anything. I'm just telling you why, since you asked."

<Grafsburg> "Yeah but the Saints are rea-..." Tirin paused. He'd never really explained who or what the Saints were, but he stopped himself mid-sentence anyway. How could he claim something he'd never seen was more real than what Shax claimed. The lemur sighed, rubbed his eyes, and took a drink of the beer that had been brought to him. "The point is, Shax, that... Well, people are going to think badly of you if you drink blood. It's not something normal people do."

<Kane> "I don't recall ever claiming to be a normal person." Shax grinned, mouth still a little bloody, although this was more of his own than the hybrids. "I am a lot of things, my friend. Murderer, blood-drinker, psychopath, hedonist, addict, just to name a few. I'm not exactly under the illusion that I'm normal, or even good. I am who I am, and I really make no apologies for it." The iguana shrugged, took a drink of his burbon... And winced as the alchohol hit the wound. "Mmmph. Still, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not exactly in the habit of going off and shanking random people. Those three back there, if they'd been any smarter, had just as much opportunity to kill me as I did them. You saw how close it was, dumb as they were. And besides, they were going to shoot you too..."

<Grafsburg> "They were..." Tirin conceded with a nod. Still, to hear Shax admit that he was a psychopath, among other things, made the lemur uncertain. Should he really have been sticking around someone like that? For all intents and purposes Shax certainly didn't seem to be as bad as a great many other 'psychopaths' that he'd met, and the iguana was at least sane enough to realize he was crazy (however the hell that worked). Eventually, Tirin resolved that perhaps sticking around the iguana, whom he had to admit he genuinely liked despite his flaws, would help curtail some of the damage Shax would otherwise cause. "Alright then. I guess you're right."

<Kane> "Damn straight." Shax smirked again, although there was a plesent feel to it. It wasn't hostile, or crazed, more... contented. He took another drink, which was followed by another wince. Damn that hybrid had a nasty right hook... "I know you probably don't trust me a whole lot right now, which I can understand by the way. But if you don't trust anything else, do trust me when I say I'd count you as a friend. You're nice, cute... Fuck man, you plugged a guy 'cause he was going to kill me. That probably counts for a lot more than anything else. And... And, well... I dunno. I just get a good vibe off of ya, for whatever reason. Anyways, what it means is that I'd never... intentionally, harm you. And I mean that. There aren't a lot of people in this world that I care for, and somehow you got yourself there." The iguana paused, glancing a moment at his half-drunk burbon. "Hmm... Guess this is a rambling night for me... Happens on occassion when I'm drunk."

<Grafsburg> Flattery. His one weakness! Despite himself, the lemur coughed nervously, and it was obvious he'd be blushing were it not for his fur and skin tone. Shax had called him cute! And considered him a friend! He wasn't sure whether to be honest or horrified. The former choice won out in the end though, if only because Shax did come across as a pretty decent person when he wasn't killing someone and sucking them dry afterward. "Well... Alright. I guess I can live with that," he said with a nod. "Friends, then." He raised his glass in a toast.

<Kane> "Cheers." Shax grinned, clinking the two glasses together and taking another drink. Damn but alchohol on open wound stung. "Now, mind, I don't change myself for anyone. But at least I'm honest about it, right?" It was, Shax hoped, a foregone conclusion that Tirin was accepting him as he was. But it was best to be clear about these things.

<Grafsburg> "At least you're honest about it," Tirin agreed with a nod. "And of course I'm still taken, so flattery won't get you much of anywhere. I appreciate it all the same of course." He stuck his tongue out at the iguana and took a hefty swig of his beer, then slammed the glass down. "Not that I'd try and change you. Or more likely, I'd do it with subtlety."

<Kane> "Hah!" The iguana barked a laugh, feeling a plesant buzz from more than just the alchohol. "Well, good luck with that endevour. Spirits know you'll need it." He still chuckled, until he finished the last of his drink. Ah, that familiar sting... After all the different types of pain he'd gone through, one would think he could take a little alchohol burn without grimacing. Ah well... "Hey, what's this partner of yours like, outa curiosity? I know his name, Henry I think you mentioned, or something like that... And I know you two are close. But what's he like, personality-wise? If ya don't mind me asking, I mean."

<Grafsburg> "I was born lucky, fortunately," Tirin said, smirking. He believed it too; luck had been one of his strongest allies throughout his life, though it sometimes appeared that misfortune favored him more. Truth was, things had a weird way of turning out for the better for the young lemur. "He's ah... Lizard chap, much like yourself. Got a frill, though. He came from offworld. Sent here for uh... civil discourse." He didn't want to call it 'terrorism' because that was an unfair term, and untrue. "Kind of a recluse."

<Kane> "A reclusive exile for... 'civil discourse'." Shax seemed to mull the mental image over in his head for a bit. Not helped that it was a bit fuzzy, his head. He'd been drunk before the attack, and was just as drunk now. Plus one glass of good burbon. "I'm not even sure what that means. Civil discourse, I mean. Think he'd be up for a drink or two though? I kinda want to meet him. You, me, him, just have'n a chat or something. That's all. Word of honor I won't make any lewd jokes." He paused, having put his hand over his heart for the promise. "Well... Ok, I'll -try- not to make a -lot- of lewd jokes. One or two are gonna slip by, despite my best efforts I'm sure."

<Grafsburg> "Civil discourse is like... Okay, he blew up a building. But it was an accident." How one blew up a building by accident, Tirin didn't say. "The point is, it wasn't his fault." He wasn't sure how to reply to Shax's suggestion though. "I... I don't know man. I'm not sure if he'd really be up for that." Henry didn't drink much as far as Tirin knew, and he wasn't sure how the lizard would react to Shax. "I'll ask him about it sometime, I guess."

<Kane> "Blew up a building on accident... Man, that's gotta have some story to it." Not really a question, just a musing. Shax did try to hide his dissapointment about the response to his question though. He did want to meet this Henry person, and he respected Tirin enough not to try anything serious. The flattery, while truthful, was all fun and games anyway. Gentle teasing, of a sort. But he would like to see who it was he didn't have a chance against, if only once. "It's not, like, immediate or anything. Just someday. Or, somenight. Whenever."

<Grafsburg> "Yeah. I don't really know the full story. I don't wanna dredge up bad memories..." Tirin mumbled with a shrug and another drink. "Yeah. I'll talk to him about it. Maybe once he's acclimated to Shantytown a bit better, you know?" He assumed it would take some convincing to get Henry to agree to meet someone, and Tirin knew he wouldn't be able to lie to his companion about who and what Shax was.

<Kane> "Oh, recent transfer? I gotcha..." That made a bit more sense. Most had a hard time adjusting to life here, after getting kicked out the doors of the Dominion spaceport. A recluse would have an ever harder time. But anyways... "In any case, thanks for listening. Wouldn't have changed me if ya didn't, but it would have hurt if you'd walked away. And I'd really have hated to have to kill you if ya pulled that gun on me." Shax frowned a moment, more at the table than anything else, then shook his head to clear the idea out of it. "But what's done is done, and it all worked out in the end anyway. Not exactly one to dwell on the past too much, me. Glad it turned out how it did though."

<Grafsburg> "Not too recent. He's been here... Three or four years? But yeah, compared to you or me, he's a newbie. And I dunno how he survived before I found him." Alone and in a shack, actually, but it still made Tirin wonder just where he got his supplies from. "Don't mention it. Anytime my friend," the lemur said reaching over to pat Shax on the shoulder with a smile. "Heh. I wouldn't want to see which of us would walk away from a fight. I really wouldn't..." And here was hoping that would never happen.

<Kane> Shax seemed to brighten up a bit at the contact. Even if he knew it wouldn't go anywhere beyond that, it was still nice to know the lemur wasn't physically repulsed by him. He made a bit of a snort at the mention of a hypothetical fight, and waved his hands dismissively. "I tend to live in the present, meself. Past you can't change, and the future is always too subject to chance to plan accurately. So, I live in the moment, which really is the only thing that matters. Which is basically a long-winded way for me to say, 'I wouldn't think about it too much'." The iguana chuckled, debating getting another drink. "I mean, outside of maybe a bit of fist-fighting. Just a friendly sort of brawl." A shift in his seat brought another wince to his face. Of all the bloody... "Just, after my ribs heal, I think. Damn but that fucker could punch... Gonna be sore for days, and not in the fun way."

<Grafsburg> "Fair enough. Not like it'd prove anything anyway. Fighting shouldn't be about proving who's better or not. It's like... A contest between friends. To test yourself, you know? And then get piss-drunk afterward. That's the important part, I think." The idea was that friends fought each other, and then the winner bought the loser a drink. That was the proper etiquette.

<Kane> "Heheh, if I had any left, I'd drink to that." Shax giggled a bit, indicating his empty glass. Ah well. "Should probably lay off for now. Would be nice to actually be able to walk to the nearest motel, instead of stumble." Not that he was looking forward to that either way though. Now that the pain had set in, it was going to be a tad uncomfortable to do just about anything.

<Grafsburg> "Yeah. Well, I can drag you to the motel if need be. No big deal there," Tirin said with a shrug. It was the least he could for a friend, right? He finished off his own drink and declined a refill, having had enough for one night. "I wonder what the hell they put in this beer," he mused suddenly. He hadn't seen any wheat farms around so it probably wasn't wheat beer... But nor had he seen any barley. Was it some kind of... fool's beer?

<Kane> "Heheh, careful; if I get too drunk, I can get a little touchy-feely." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis, giggling again. It was true, but he couldn't resist the joke even if it wasn't. On the subject of beer though... "Ya know, I hadn't thought about that. Gotta be some kind of desert plant they use. Though, it's not like we've got a lot of 'traditional' wheat beer to compare it to. Me especially, having been born here." Shax seemed to be settling into a happy-drunk phase, if his little giggles were anything to go by. It was odd that he was still as functional as he was. And even harder to belive he'd just killed two men, almost easily, not that long ago. And yet, there it was...

<Grafsburg> "I've handled drunks before, namely myself. I know how to deal with them." Tirin rolled his eyes. Besides, what was the worst Shax could do when he was hammered? Grope him on occasion or something? "I... You know, good point. If it weren't for what my mom told me, I wouldn't even know what beer was made out of." Cora had taught him a lot, actually. About beer, about the Saints. Hell, she'd been with him the first time he'd gotten drunk. 'Better you get drunk with someone who can keep you safe than by yourself' she'd told him.

<Kane> "Heheh, well fine then." Shax stuck his tongue out at the lemur, long as it was, and signaled for the barmaiden again. "Just don't say I didn't warn you. When I'm more sober and coherant again." He didn't drink a lot more, but what he did drink was pretty hard stuff. Having spent six years playing with drinks off all kinds, he knew how to get himself absolutely hammered the quickest. It was a surprise he was even able to speak, a bit slurred as it was, at all when he finally called it, having made some small talk in between drinks. "Hokay..." He pushed the last empty glass away from himself. "I think... It ish time... to find a room... to crassh. Or at leasht lock myshelf into." He giggled, a bit more freely this time, somewhat reluctant to stand.

<Grafsburg> Tirin nodded and stood, offering the iguana a shoulder to lean on at least. "Yeah yeah... Come on then, let's get your ass across the street," he said. If Shax cooperated, he'd start to drag his friend toward the door (and he was, of course, polite enough to leave their bill on the table with a bit of a tip). "You need a bath too. You smell like booze." Friend though he was, though, there was no way in hell Tirin was going to help with that.

<Kane> "I've drunk myshelf into a barely conshioush shtupor." The iguana grinned, although he didn't breathe into Tirin's face or anything like that. He was at least that considerate. "What am I shupposhed to shmell like?" At least he didn't weigh a lot, and was doing his best to carry himself. It helped a bit. "Ya know..." He mumbled, as they left the bar and entered the cold street, much later than when they'd first come out here. "Your Henry ish one lucky guy. He damn well better appreshiate you. And your shexy ass. I should know; I've sheen it." He giggled again, memories of that night in the club apparently running through his head. "You're lucky I wash there, though. Worsht ya did was shtrip. Not that I'm complaining about that, mind..."

<Grafsburg> "I don't know really. That's not the point. I'm just saying you smell like booze." But alas, no helping that. "Yeah, here's hoping he appreciates me. I'm sure he does," he replied with a smile, though his cheeks grew hot when Shax mentioned seeing his ass. "Yeah, let's not talk about that. In fact, never mention that again," he mumbled, dragging Shax over to a cheap motel across the street. "Yeah, I'm not going back there again. If I do, I'm bringing my own drinks."

<Kane> "Aww..." The mock-whine was evident, even in Shax's drunken state. "But it was shexy!" He chuckled, although he paused a moment later, tilting his head at a thought that popped up to him. "I shuppose I could shtrip. You know, make thingsh even. Nothing shexual, just shexy." He tried to strike a sexy pose while walking, but this involved leaning back a bit and puffing out his chest. Which the iguana immediately regretted. "Fuck'n ow... Memo to shelf; never do that again..." Fortunately, the motel had vacancies, and Shax insisted on paying for this one. Well, insisted turning into handing Tirin the money pouch, and shoveling half of what remained after paying for the room for a couple of nights into the lemur's hands. "For the drinksh and shtuff." He claimed, and refused flat out to take any of it back. It wasn't as if he was going to use it for anything other than vice anyway, he said, although much less coherantly.

<Grafsburg> "Hah! Easy there boyo. Don't go hurtin' yourself trying to impress me. It won't work," he warned the iguana. "No need to convince me of your attractiveness or lack thereof. I'm taken, an' nothin' you can say or do is gonna change that." He was just teasing of course, but still. After Shax provided the money, Tirin paid for him, and then led him up to the vacant room. "Hey, I figure, after I saved your life, we're even now," he joked, even though Shax would've been completely fine without him.

<Kane> "Everybody wantsh the shexy Shax. Even if shome won't admit it." He stuck his tongue out again, not quite manaing to get it all back in at once, and spending a couple of moment fighting with the appendage. But, all teasing aside, once they got up to the room, Shax was more than willing to let Tirin go. Or, at least, recognizing he could take care of himself from here. However reluctant he was to actually part company. "Besht get yourshelf home too; It'sh cold out there. Though, you cheat and got yourshelf that fuzzy coat built-in, you cheater." He giggled again, before putting a hand on Tirin's shoulder, managing to look surprisingly sober for a moment. "And shtay shafe, OK? Shpiritsh know itsh hard, but I'd be shad if you got hurt."

<Grafsburg> "Hey, think of it like this. In the winter, this fuzzy coat is a gift of the Saints. In the summer, it's a bloody nightmare." He winked at Shax and turned to head toward the door once he was sure the iguana was safe. "Yeah, I will. You too, you hear? No more picking fights, leastways not until you're healed a bit," he said. And with that, Tirin opened the room's door and stepped outside into the cold night air to head back to his own warm bed for the evening.