midnightstar | Shionne and Alphen in Menancia

WHOoooooah, that threw Law off, and one of his swings went wide as he stared at Alphen, "Wait, what?" Did.. wait those two weren't.. he meant casual touches right? "You two .. I mean you're.. uh.." He skids to a stop for a second, trying to think of a *gasp* tactful -- oh hell it's Law we're talking about - "You got that far?"

"Far? What's that supposed to mean?" Alphen was a different kind of dense though he did see an opening so naturally he pushed forward to rush Law and keep him off balance which was not easy given his status as a martial artist.

Law swayed backwards, arms up in defense as he put his physical guard up, watching for a moment to get a hit in on Alphen. "You know.. i mean, you and Shionne.." A little awkwardly said, "You're. .. you know.. close. I mean that's great for the two of you, but I thought that kind of thing would be really hard for the both of you. But if you make it work, then that's awesome, congratulations~!" He just stammered through the misconceptions as quickly as possible.

He was not about to give him too much time to think as Alphen went for a sliding kick and slam of his sword aimed to sweep Law's legs out from under him.

"You're making it sound as if it's something strange to even try."

Crap, he was going full on aggressive - which was understandable when he was a front liner too. But he saw that sliding kick coming in and leapt upwards to dodge it, aiming to land behind Alphen for another chain of kicks and punches - although perceptive as he was he might see that one coming too! Either way he's a little out of breath after his attack, and huffed a bit,

"Well.. I mean.. it is, isn't it? A little? Shionne's great, but if I were in your position I wouldn't be able to do what you're doing. Probably a lot of people wouldn't - couldn't be with someone if they couldn't even touc-"

... and a flash of pink and white out of the corner of his eye drew his attention as he realized ...oops. Worse still, Rinwell had been watching through the window with Kisara and Dohalim and .. they probably all heard that too, judging from the assorted looks of annoyance and disappointment and judgment. :/ At least Kisara left the window shortly after, no doubt to check on Shionne, but Law felt many shades of uncomfortable from the glares. He didn't think he'd said anything -bad-!

The sound of some knuckles being cracked could be heard from behind him as Alphen looked...oh he'd thrown away his sword after Shionne had left. Oh dear. This was going to get messy.

"THere are some things you shouldn't say Law."

Law scratched his arm awkwardly, wondering if he should say something - but he didn't know she'd watch and.. and then he sensed DANGER. Immediately he pivoted to face Alphen, seeing he'd thrown his sword aside, and held up his hands defensively, "That.. I didn't know she'd be there.." He kinda feels like he deserves a punch from Alphen, actually..

Too bad ALphen wasn't thinking of a punch but as he dashes out at the young man, his arm goes for a clothesline at the last second, the shift happening with disturbing swiftness as if he might have had more experience and training in hand to hand combat than a former slave should have had.

Law initially braced for the punch to come, but he was caught off guard by the last second shift - the speed in which he did it was insanely quick too, "KWAg-" Right in de troat, the clothesline knocks him off his feet and he coughs a bit when he hits the ground with a grunt. "Arright -- I *koff* I deserved that.."

"At least you know that." Alphen sighed as he went over to help Law up. AFter all he had to make sure he wasn't actually hurt since then they'd have to rely on Shionne to heal him and odds were she would not be comfortable seeing him so soon. Hopefully Kisara would be able to smooth things over... Well if she didn't he'd go after her himself and reassure her all over again that none of what Law said meant anything because it would never come true.

It would be the most -awkward- heal. Law got to his feet with Alphen's help, glancing over his shoulder, "Should I... y'know, do you think..?" Although Shionne probably wouldn't want to see him even to apologize to her right now.

Aaaah he looked fine. Nothing a little gel can't fix. Though his question did make his frown soften a little before shaking his head.

"Not right now. Give it a day or two to let her settle down again."

Phew, he wasn't sure he'd be able to face her if Alphen suggested he apologize right that minute. "Alright." Hrm. Maybe at the next town they stopped at, he should suggest that they get more than one room. Alphen and Shionne could have one, and he'd bunk with Dohalim while Kisara and Rinwell had the other. Maybe the cramped arrangements were also making Shionne testy. "We should probably head back inside anyway.. Shionne did say something about wanting to leave early right?"

Law was somewhat off the hook after that clothesline finisher. Only somewhat though. That being said Alphen wasn't a monster and he had been watching Shionne the most so he absolutely knew that now was not the time for that conversation.

"Mmm yeah. You should probably go get cleaned up too. It was muddy after the rain after all."

Law looked at himself, "Oh. Yeah, Kisara and Rinwell will chew my head off if I go in all muddy like this." He was already going to get yelled at for his slip up, he didn't really want to give them MORE reason to yell at him. "See you inside, Alphen."

"I'll be inside in a bit." He called out before looking up at the sky now that the cloud cover had lightened enough. He listened to his surroundings for a bit to make sure no one had snuck back when he looked distracted before letting out a faint sigh.

Someone might have been -tempted-, but their stubbornness won out over that need to talk with him, this time. Still the sky was just clearing up from the rain earlier that day, and some people were still wrapping things up before closing their shops down for the night.
He probably picked up the presence of someone not sure if they should interrupt, before that polite clearing of throat from Kisara was audible, the shieldmaster standing hesitantly at the door to the Inn, watching him.

He came out of his contemplation at that sound and looked over in the direction of the Inn.

"How is she?" Of course that would be his first question. Did anyone expect anything else at this point?

Kisara was unsurprised that that was the first question out of his mouth. Still she had no good news he might have been hoping for, as she gave him a helpless shrug and a sigh, "She's... Shionne. I know she must have been hurt, and I know Law didn't mean to say what he did, but she won't admit to having her feelings hurt. She just said she was going straight to sleep and was planning on getting everyone up before dawn so we had an early start after 'wasting so much time'."

Another deep sigh spills from his lips.

"I heard a proverb about this sort of thing. One step forward two steps back. Worse when the two steps weren't even of mine or Shionne's own making." Alphen shook his head.

"Pushing any further right now is pointless anyway. I guess I'll just have to give her a bit of space and try again when she slips into her desire for closeness again."

Kisara shot a look at Alphen - well maybe the rumors weren't untrue after all. "It must be hard for you." She knew he must want to be close to her more often, but with Shionne pushing him away.. "You're a good man, Alphen."

"I don't know about that." It didn't feel hard. Just frustrating. As far as he was concerned his will to be there for her was more than enough to push through her protests. He just...hated seeing her suffer like that. Suffer alone. Especially now that he knew part of the reason why.

"I try to be. It's not like I know what I'm doing most of the time." Hell he never thought he'd become more or less the leader of this group. That was supposed to be Zephyr's job.

Kisara smiled, "Be by her side. But that part I needn't tell you about that. What you're doing right now is the right thing." Both as someone who had feelings for Shionne, and as a leader looking out for his team.

She could tell Shionne wanted to be with Alphen - would rather have been with him than her a little while ago. But Kisara wasn't going to say that Shionne would rather be comforted by him. That was like putting salt in the wound.

"So in other words keep doing what I have been? I guess I can do that. Just wish there was an easy clear cut solution for her troubles. She's been through enough." There was a faint flare of frustrated anger though not directed at anyone in particular other than the circumstances that Shionne found herself in.

Kisara smiled, "She has .. unique circumstances. I don't think that there is any easy solution for her condition. At least, there are only two more cores, and we should be in reach of the fourth one tomorrow afternoon if all goes well." Which it won't.

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