Unwind and Unravel

[Boon]

Boon unlocked the door to his unceremoniously tiny room in the Hafenstadt and stepped inside. The unkempt and somewhat run-down furnishing bathed in dim lighting wasn’t exactly what he considered suitable for a droid of his status, but it would have to do for tonight. He needn’t stay here any longer then it would take to freshen up anyway, as sleeping and eating weren't top priorities for a machine. And if there was one thing Boon hated, it was any sort of blemish on his appearance.

That and intoxicated, noisy humans, which appeared to be a staple at the old inn.

He flicked off a few dust balls on the sheets before taking a seat at the edge of the bed, then propped his staff up against the wall beside him. He rolled up his sleeve and was about to start to work adjusting and polishing the faces on his various watches, when a crash came from the room next to his. Then another. And another after that, followed by a stream of loud, but inaudible voices. He glared fiercely over at the wall, waiting for the noise to cease, and when it didn’t, rose to his feet and stomped out of his room and down the hallway to where the rabble was located. “I’ll kill them,” He muttered under his breath, fists curled into balls as he went to bang on their door.

[Yevrin]

There was small clicking sound as Yevrin finished picking the lock of the room’s window. Boon had left her field of vision from where she had been watching from the roof, so she had quickly set to work on the lock. She slowly opened the window, listening intently for any sound from the room, but all she heard was the background noise that one would expect from a tavern and inn. She lithely entered the room through the window without a sound, and then set up her grapnel on the windowsill in case she had need of a quick getaway.

She looked around the room. It seemed very average in her opinion, not what she would have expected from the pompous jerk she had tracked here. There was also, unfortunately, nothing of obvious value lying around. She had been hoping to find Boon’s money pouch lying around in here somewhere rather than on his person. She figured he was not the social type to go down to the bar and have a few drinks so he would have no need of his money and would leave it in his “secure” room.

Yevrin quickly began a search of the room. Opening and looking through drawers, under the bed, under the pillows, and all other common hiding places in the room. As far as she knew, Boon had no idea of her profession so was not likely to be too cautious of guarding his possessions from any thieving attempts. She did not know how long she would have the room to herself and her search had so far unearthed nothing. “Perhaps that jerk did take his money with him,” she thought, disappointed. She looked around the room again, trying to spot a place she missed. She eyed the bed. “Perhaps under the mattress…?” Yevrin quickly crossed the room and started to feel under the mattress to see if there was anything hidden there.

[Boon]

The noise died down considerably when Boon swung a fist onto the guests’ door, sending one of the small metal numbers identifying the room tumbling to the floor with a tiny ‘clink’. A scrawny, young man opened the door as gingerly as he could muster, a stupid grin plastered on his face, and asked Boon what the trouble was. His words were a little slurred and his mannerisms clumsy, he was obviously just a rowdy teen who had had one too many with a couple of his buddies, who were also in the room with him.

“If you could keep your incessant babbling to a minimum,” Boon growled, clenching his fingers around the boy's collar and glaring at him over his glasses, “I’d appreciate it very much.” The drunken kid seemed apologetic enough and promised to keep it down, to which Boon responded with an indignant grunt and left the gang to their evening. He really didn't care to stand in their alcohol-sodden presence any longer and wasn't particularly interested in getting his hands dirty trying to shut them up by force. Honestly, was it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet in any corner of this town without having to create it himself?

He opened the door to his room for the second time in minutes and stepped inside, slamming the door behind him with a kick. He was briefly rubbing his temples and grumbling something to himself before lifting his gaze over to his original seat, the bed, which appeared to have acquired a new accessory, other then a nightstand... He stared in disbelief for a moment, not quite able to discern the features of the intruder in the awful lighting and the fact that they currently had their face scanning for something under his mattress. His shock quickly dissipated and was replaced with a familiar feeling of rising rage. "Can I help you?" He asked venomously.

[Yevrin]

Not only had she failed to find anything of value under the mattress, she had failed to leave the room before the jerk came back. As soon as Yevrin had heard the door open and slam shut, she knew her original plan of sneaking in and out without being noticed was an impossible dream. For a brief moment she had hoped it might be an inn attendant that had entered the room, in which case she could simply dash to the window and escape and hope that the jerk would not realize his would-be burglar was her. However, upon hearing that hated voice, even that small hope was dashed.

Yevrin sighed. “Why must I have to put up with him?” she thought morosely. Of course the thought of just forgiving his debt was such a foreign idea that it never occurred to her that there was a way to rid herself of Boon forever. “So he’s caught me red-handed rummaging about his room… what should I do now?” She could always make a dash for the window, but the thought of leaving her back exposed to him and running did not appeal to her at all. Logically, she knew, that if she had been involved in any other botched thieving job, she would bolt, especially with such an easy and accessible escape route. However the thought of running from him sickened her. “The jerk owes me money. I have every right to do whatever I want to get my property returned to me,” she reasoned to herself. So Yevrin dropped the mattress, and sat down on the bed to stare at her opponent. She crossed one leg over the other, and held out her hand, and as boldly as ever stated, “Yes, you can help me. I’d like my money returned.”

[Boon]

Boon's breath hitched inside his throat as the regretfully familiar face turned to him, dissolving his confidence in an instant. Admittedly, his notorious foe looked rather foreboding in the gloom. His words would not come to him at first and he stood stammering like an idiot for a few good seconds before managing to sputter her name.

"Yevrin!" His hands flew to his head and pulled at tufts of matted hair, "Listen to me, because I'm going to tell you this for the last time... I have no money here with me on this blasted island. Now, would you please get out of my suite you bloody psychopath?!" His hands slid down his face to sit clenched at his sides, "How the hell did you get in here, anyway?" He had only been gone for a few minutes, and whether he had decided to lock his door or not his room had been in plain view the entire time; he would have easily seen her enter. His eyes darted around the room before settling on the open window across the room, curtains billowing in the gentle night breeze.

"Oh... I see what you're up to," Boon straightened up, a slight sneer tugging at his lips. "You've come to commit the petty act of stealing from me... Really Yevrin, that's a new low, even for you." He laughed derisively at her. He should have suspected she might have attempted thievery, as there was currently no other option at her disposal for forcing him to hand over what was technically rightfully hers. He stepped over to where she sat on the bed, arms crossed and head cocked. "Well? You're obviously no good at it, maybe it's time you gave up on your little quest and go back to wherever it is you come from..."

[Yevrin]

Those few moments where Boon had completely lost his composure were as enjoyable to Yevrin as catnip to a cat. She could have watched him tear at his hair and stammer for quite some time and been content. However, he always seemed to do something to ruin her mood. Though he was a total jerk, he was not, no matter how much she would like it to be true, a complete idiot. He had caught on pretty quickly to the fact that she had snuck in through the window and had been casing the room. However, though being caught had definitely not been in her plans, this was not what had ruined her mood.

“Petty?!” she thought, “PETTY!?!”

She wanted to scream. She wanted to slap him.

“Petty,” her mind obsessed with the word. He continued to heap on the insult saying that she was no good at stealing either. “As if what I did any common person on the street could do, or any common pickpocket! Scale onto the roof. Stay unobserved on said roof, watching and waiting for an opening. Pick the lock on the window and be inside in less than a minute with barely a sound. Efficiently and silently ransack a room in that short amount of time. I highly doubt anyone in this inn could do all of that half as well as I just did, and he dares call it petty? He dares tell me I’m no good at stealing?!”

Yevrin’s body had stiffened at the phrase “petty act of stealing”. Her lips had tightened into a thin line. She tried to calm down, using the memory of Boon’s previous reaction as a balm on her raging pride. She tried reconciling herself with the word. She smirked a bit at his ignorance when she thought of his comment of how stealing was “a new low” for her. Far from it. Stealing was her profession. She took pride in her work. She enjoyed her work. True, you could call the job she was doing here “petty” in comparison some of the previous jobs she had done. As well, she had originally had made Boon her mark for pickpocketing when she had first had the bad luck of meeting him, so it was not entirely new to be stealing from him either… though she had ended up fighting with him rather than pickpocketing him. Also, it was in that same accursed meeting that her precious sword had been damaged as well.

Her train of thought, though meant to calm her down, was beginning to have the opposite effect. She stood up, and though her height could not match his, her temper could. As he had come to stand right in front of her, when she stood they were barely an inch apart. She glared up at him.

“What did you call this?” she gestured at the room. “Your suite? I didn’t know your standards were so low you’d consider anything like this a suite. As well, I have a problem with the ‘your’ part of that as well. This place was an inn last time I checked; not a homeless shelter. Which means you had to pay money for this… space. Money. So how can you expect me to swallow that lie that you have no money, when you are clearly spending my money at this inn?!”

[Boon]

Boon stood rigidly as Yevrin rose to face him, returning her glare with his own hot gaze. He observed her confidence flare up into obvious irritation and was pleased to see that making a mockery of her efforts had not lost its venom. His eyes narrowed upon hearing her remarks about his choice in rooms. It had almost physically pained him to to swallow his pride and set up shop in this dusty little inn, but there were at least no familiar faces around to witness the embarrassing decision. Until now.

He gritted his teeth and looked away from her when she shot a hole clear through his lie about being without any money. As ludicrous as it seemed to him initially, he had had to actually pay for what he considered a bona-fide dump. He regretted that action now more then when he first stepped foot into his blight of a room.

He cleared his throat nervously and glared back at her. “Well, who is to say how much money I had on me at the time? Or where it came from? I could have spent it all by now,” He looked up towards the ceiling for a moment, unimpressed with his own excuses. He hated this, he truly did, having to dance and dodge around Yevrin’s accusations (and once in the past, her sword strikes), but stubbornly, he refused to let her win. Nothing brought him greater satisfaction in recent weeks then to know that Yevrin was either livid and / or generally unhappy, or the knowledge that she was in need of something that he had complete control over. He had hoped, however, that by now she would have given up on the whole fiasco and returned home, empty handed, or at least, stopped stalking him around town.

He shook his head in frustration. “I have had it with your nonsense, thief,” He spat loudly and leaned over her, “I don’t have to stand here and suffer through your interrogations, especially not from a woman who has just broke and entered my room to steal right from under me!” He pointed to the window from which the feline burglar had slunk in, "Leave now or I will remove you myself!"
As soon as the words left his lips, a sudden and nauseating sense of de-ja-vu came over him, and he almost regretted shouting the familiar threat. Almost.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin laughed.

After a moment she placed a hand over her mouth in an attempt to keep her amusement contained. Having been on the receiving end of his threats before and being the one less scathed at the end of it, she felt confident that he could not forcibly remove her from this room. She could stay and torment him for a while longer. At least until she had done or gotten something that made this whole misadventure worthwhile.

“You will remove me yourself…” she said tauntingly. “Now where have I heard that before? Let’s see. Hmmm… why yes, it was when we first met wasn’t it? How nostalgic. You remember how well that worked out for you don’t you?” She smiled evilly, fingering her sword hilt.

She dropped her hand and her haughty posture then, and gave a dramatic sigh. “Ahhh, you are so tiring…” she said in a whiny tone, then fell back onto the bed. She crossed her arms and placed them behind her head as a pillow while bringing one booted foot onto the bed and crossing her other leg over the knee. Now as comfy as she was likely to get in this place, she let her thoughts run. She wondered if Boon had actually caught onto the fact that she was a professional thief. True, he had called her one, but he had just caught her sneaking into his room to loot it. His calling her a thief could just be his usual abrasive-self trying to insult her. Though unbeknownst to him it might be one of the nicest things he had ever called her. At least of his own free will. So she decided her profession was still a secret from him.

“If the imbecile cannot even come up with a decent lie, how could he figure that out from one bungled break-in,” she reasoned with herself. “Ah yes, there’s still that to deal with: my money. He is such a terrible liar. Even if he does have bad taste, he’s not going to beggar himself for one night in this room.” She turned her gaze from the ceiling to her horrid debtor, smiling at the thought of how terribly this was eating at him: that she could lie down nonchalantly in front of him on the bed he had paid for. She wondered if it had occurred to him how that if she had found and entered his room here, she would track him down and find him anywhere, constantly hunting him as her prey until she got her desire.

“You want me to believe you spent all of my money on this room. I really hope that’s not true, else I’d feel really disappointed. I mean, that’s incredibly stupid. Phenomenally stupid. I knew that hothead of yours was dense but to spend every last bit on this…?” She laughed mockingly. “If that’s the case I’d have to tell you to get out of my room.”

[Boon]

Boon's rage doubled when Yevrin’s laughter filled the room. Humiliation was a feeling he was not accustomed to and he certainly did not find it pleasant. On the contrary, he wanted nothing more in that very instant to throttle his gloating opponent, but was forcibly reminded of the excruciating results of when he had originally attempted physical confrontation. His eyes followed her hand as it fell onto the hilt of her sword and instinctively took the slightest step backwards.

Then she decided that it was a wise idea to flop down on his bed and take up space. Space he was paying for and wanted dearly to have all to himself. Boon could feel his face grow hot with aggravation. She continued to goad him, and all the while he remained silent, eyes narrowed into slits, teeth and fists clench so tightly it caused him pain. Yevrin was one of the very few creatures in existence that have managed to elude Boon’s methods of intimidation, and there was nothing in the multiverse he found more infuriating then being ignored, mocked or threatened. It certainly didn’t help any that his home world was inhabited by a race of obedient, gullible robots who waited on him hand and foot.

When she dared utter the suggestion that this place was hers for the night, his scowl twisted into a taught sneer. He slackened his fists, leisurely stepped over to where she lay and said, “So... you want to sleep in this dump, do you?” He placed his hands on the bed and bent over her brazenly. “I’m afraid a shamble like this isn’t even good enough for the likes of you... Perhaps you would like a more appropriate spot at my feet!” He slipped his fingers underneath the mattress and heaved it upwards, sending Yevrin and the hefty mattress tumbling to the floor.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin was shocked when Boon actually lifted the mattress to toss her off the bed. She had been enjoying the sight of his anger and frustration when he had ruined it all with that horrible act of temper. As well, she had been lying in such a position that it was impossible to get off the mattress before it had tipped. Thus she had been sent sliding down the mattress until she hit the floor, though she managed to land on her hands rather than her head. She had also managed to catch the mattress with her feet to stop it from falling completely on her, but she was still in a very awkward and unflattering position. She knew it was far from a dignified pose and the fact that her hair and clothes were dishevelled from the tumble did nothing to help either. Worse than any of that though was that when she had been sent tumbling she had unfortunately let out a very feminine “Eeek” of surprise. Blood rushed to her head, both from rage and the blush staining her cheeks. This had to be the second worst moment in her whole association with Boon – the destruction of her beloved sword still the most grievous wrong in their history.

Slowly, Yevrin extricated herself from her position. Swapping one hand for her feet to hold the mattress from falling on her, she place both feet on the floor. With the balance provided by both feet and one hand on the ground she managed to push back the mattress and rise from the floor. She stood nearly trembling with rage, white hot anger searing away thought from her mind. She wanted nothing more than to rush that monster and slash with any and all of the blades in her possession. She wanted that disgusting blue blood to cover every inch of him. She wanted it staining the walls and the floor, and running down her blades. She wanted it so badly… but a small part of her argued against this option. “You cannot extort money from a dead man,” she thought, though it pained her to know she could not satisfy her extreme bloodlust. “But he needs to pay! How dare he even have the nerve to think of doing this to me?! He should know his place!”

Yevrin was not even aware of the decision she had come to, anger consuming her rational thought. One moment she had pulled out one of her throwing daggers from her vest, the next it was embedded in the wall behind Boon, who now had a bloody scratch on his left cheek. She quickly replaced and duplicated it by withdrawing two more daggers from her vest, one for each hand. She pointed them towards the source of her misery.

“You JERK!” she screeched. “You bastard! You idiot! You Fate-accursed, scrap metal junk heap! You dare treat and speak to me like this?! It does not matter whether I want this room or not. It is mine! My money paid for it, thus what my money bought is mine! And I’ll show you what I’ll put at your feet!” Yevrin threw both daggers and they implanted themselves right in front of Boon’s feet. So close were they that their edges were touching the fronts of his shoes. Yevrin drew yet another dagger from her vest, and toyed with it in her right hand. She smirked. “Aww, you lucked out," she said tauntingly. "My aim is often a bit off whenever I throw double, but next time…”

[Boon]

The sight of Yevrin plummeting to the floor was cause enough to produce a pompous chuckle from Boon, let alone the theatre of watching her struggle from under the heavy mattress that had come to join her on the floor boards. As she came to crawl out from underneath it, her reddened face clearly visible, he cocked his head and placed his hands on his hips, a grin spread across his face so wide it seemed as though every perfect tooth in his head was visible. He had never heard such a comical sound come out of Yevrin before that moment. It was surprisingly entertaining and even more so satisfying knowing that he was the cause of her embarrassing squawk. In those few fleeting moments, Boon could have sworn he had just experienced what was an elusive emotion for him: true, unadulterated joy.

“There, there,” He cooed mockingly, “In time I’m sure you’ll get used to --” His train of thought was derailed instantly by the blade that flew past his face. He stood frozen in disbelief, then slowly, turned his head to where it sat embedded in the wall, still quivering slightly from impact, to confirm the reality of what had just occurred. The next set of knives she had sent into the floor mere millimeters from his boots caused him to stiffen up considerably. After a moment he felt something wet on the side of his face and raised a finger to the spot, smearing a sliver of blue blood onto his glove and examined it, eyes wide with shock.

“You filthy wretch!” Boon finally shouted, his previous dumbfounded expression transformed into a horrible grimace. She had done it again. The insane creature had marred his immaculate person with one of her pointed toys. His rage came flooding back to him in an instant. “Do you really think you can bring my demise with your pathetic game of darts?” He reached to the floor and plucked one of the blades she had thrown from the wood, and waved it around in his hand as he continued, “You may have won that lousy scuffle in Aeon, yet I still stand here before you, able to tell the tale. If you had been on the receiving end of one of my blows you would have wound up six feet under the ground -- where you belong!” As he finished he hurled the blade back in his foe's direction. It did not find it’s mark, as his aim was generally on the low end of the scale, but it did manage to pierce the wall directly above a painting that was hung up behind her, the impact knocking it off its perch and sending it crashing to the floor.

"If you dare speak such insults to me again I will wring your scrawny neck, you low-life." His eyes were fixed on Yevrin as he reached blindly to the side, searching for more ammunition. His fingers came to wrap around the neck of a vase on the nightstand. "Perhaps a good bludgeoning will knock some sense into that rubbish-filled head of yours." He said with a wolfish grin, tossing the vase up and down in his hand as he spoke. Then, he let it fly, sending the fragile projectile crashing into the wall where the painting once hung. It exploded on impact, and a hundred little pieces of porcelain scattered onto the floor.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin was not sure whether to be amused or wary that Boon had started to throw objects at her. Certainly his childish act of randomly throwing things while yelling empty threats was entertaining to behold. His aim seemed dreadful, but even he could land a lucky shot. Especially if he threw objects like that vase that would send unpredictable shrapnel flying everywhere. As well, she had lost half of her throwing daggers in her fit of temper, though luckily one had made its way back to her side of the room during his temper tantrum. However, since she was not aiming to severely injure – though she still wished she was – she would be disadvantaged during this throwing match. Whether she wanted to or not, it would likely be best if she made her retreat. The window was easily accessible to her so she would be able to get away quickly and with hardly any risk. Yevrin was hesitant to do this though. “The jerk will think he has succeeded in threatening me if I run. Then he would be even more insufferable to deal with in the future, if that is even possible,” she thought, loathing the idea of letting Boon think for even a moment he had cowed her. Until she could leave without losing face, she would have to stay in his hateful presence. Perhaps when he ran out of things to throw at her she would be able to orchestrate a retreat that did not appear so shameful. As well, she was likely to lose two throwing daggers if she retreated now, and she hated to leave them without taking something in return.

“I would be six-feet underground would I?” she shouted mockingly, gesturing with her dagger. “You would be unfathomable leagues underwater if I had not taken mercy on you, you ingrate! The only reason you are still standing here is because I found it more profitable to drag your worthless carcass out of that ocean rather than let you drown! Not from any skill or smarts you possessed to manage the feat on your own. In fact, it is your own cursed fault that we were in that ocean to begin with. You even took full responsibility for it and promised to repay me the damages you inflicted upon me. So until I receive said repayment, I will continue to track you and hunt you! It is my right!” Yevrin turned on her heel and started to pull out the throwing dagger Boon had thrown into the wall, snubbing Boon even further by turning her back to him.

[Boon]

Boon’s eye twitched visibly when Yevrin dredged up the memory of what would have been his watery demise, if not for her rescue. There was nothing he wanted more then to forget the dreadful experience, to push it back into the very darkest recesses of his mind and lock it there to wither away into a shriveled heap of dust. Unfortunately for him, that fateful day they shared was burned into his memory, and it would be a very, very long time before he could go a day without that trauma rearing its ugly head in his mind.

“Look at me and listen carefully, you vile creature,” He hissed, his eyes burning fiercely at the sight of her turning away from him, “If you haven’t caught on yet, I am never, ever going to toss even a sliver of a copper your way. EVER. I would rather you crawl in the streets without a cent for what you did to me. I should never have had to agree to your ludicrous terms! I am Lord of Aeon, and you -- you a lowly worm had the audacity to even think to touch me, let alone strike me!” His body trembled with constrained rage as he spoke, his terrible temper filling up every inch of his being, “You are not fit to receive anything from me other than a thrashing!”

He whirled around to search for another projectile to hurl at Yevrin, and when he saw nothing of obvious weight, grabbed hold of the nightstand itself and prepared to lift it upwards and heave it over his head to where she stood. His mechanical body was neither coordinated nor fast, but it did, at least, provide him with a frightening amount of strength, and while the piece of furniture did not weigh a ton, he was sure he could fling it hard enough across the room to cause considerable damage.

Before he could lift his arms to commit the act, there came a bang at the rickety wooden door to his room, and a few seconds later it swung open violently on its hinges, and came to a stop clattering against the wall. Boon’s eyes darted over to where the second intruder stood. He was wearing a nightgown and cap, which contrasted jarringly with his stature and body type. A veritable man-mountain, arms as big as tree trunks and hands like shovels, took a broad step inside the room and demanded to know what the reason for all the noise was.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin had gotten the dagger out of the wall easily enough. She quickly unbuttoned her vest to place it back into one of the slots designed specifically to hold it. She did this while listening as that infuriating jerk confessed to never intending to uphold his promise to her. “Deceitful bastard,” Yevrin thought angrily. “I should have just let him sink to the bottom of that ocean and spared the world his existence. How dare he not give me what is mine? If he is such a great lord then he should have plenty of money to spare as a reward for saving his pompous, unworthy life.”

Yevrin was seriously considering turning around and throwing the dagger still in her grasp into Boon’s lying mouth when she heard a crash at the door. She froze, wondering what was happening, listening intently and keeping her dagger ready in case she had a real threat to deal with now. Boon was closer to the door so she need not worry about being attacked first at least. Soon after she heard the door burst open and a male voice complain about the noise. “Perfect,” Yevrin thought, pleased with the turn of events. She had been waiting for a chance to retreat without losing face and her opportunity had just been handed to her by this unknown intruder.

Quickly and with no hesitation Yevrin used the dagger in her hand to slash open her blouse. Since she had already undone her vest earlier she at least did not have to damage that. She quickly cut her cheek – a clean, small cut that would bleed but not scar her face – then put her dagger back in her vest. Her back was towards the door and since everything that had needed to be done was close to her body her arm movements should not have been excessive enough to be noticeable. With one hand she clutched her blouse, as if trying to hold it together; however, she did it in such a way that would still show off her bra and midriff. She brought her other hand to her mouth, schooled her expression, and slowly turned around, just as a scared girl who was almost too petrified to move would.

As she completed her turn Yevrin saw the mountain of a man that had now entered the room. She made sure to keep her expression terrified though inside she was grinning with glee. Yevrin knew perfectly how the sceen would appear to the new comer. Boon was in the middle of the room – for some reason holding a night stand – with only a scratch on him. Yevrin was cornered against the wall, with a bloody cheek, mussed hair, clothes disarranged and torn, in the center of destruction surrounded by shattered pottery, a knocked painting and the flipped over mattress. She could not have wanted more if she had had a chance to plan this scene. Well, she was still wearing her sword and thigh dagger, but they were sheathed, and she was betting on the attention of the new comer’s gaze being divided between her face and her body.

“Please,” Yevrin half sobbed, “Please help me! This man… he forced his way into my room and attacked me! Please, I don’t know what to do…” Yevrin brought both hands to her face and pretended to cry into them, letting her blouse fall open as she did so.

[Boon]

Boon could feel his molten rage fizzle away the moment the towering figure entered his room, the light from the hallway casting his massive shadow half-way into the space. He slowly released his grip on the nightstand and turned to face the newcomer, a lump forming in his throat at the sound of his low, gravelly voice. He had obviously been woken up by the pair’s incessant clamor, and was not happy about having to pay them a visit. Under most circumstances Boon would never allow himself to be intimidated, but truth be told he had never seen a human man as giant as this gentleman was, and usually, he did his best to pick his foes wisely. “Wisely” meaning only ones who he surmised would require little effort to dispatch. It was the same train of thought that had caused him to challenge Yevrin when they had first met, and admittedly, that did not work out as planned. If one human woman could do what she was capable of, he’d rather not think of what this human held in his arsenal.

He stood stupidly in the middle of the demolished room for a few moments before realizing he had been asked a question. He took in a breath to reply, but was distracted by what sounded like Yevrin’s voice. But, it sounded strange. Were those sobs he heard? Then, her words registered in his brain and a rush of anger washed over him. His head whipped around to where she stood, and what his gaze was met with nearly caused him to fall backwards onto the floor. Yevrin looked completely and utterly disheveled, and truthfully, in a hundred thousand years, he’d never thought he would ever lay eyes on her undergarments. As he stood there frozen, mouth agape, he felt his face burn with a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. After a long moment, he tore his eyes away from his exposed nemesis to look back at the man.

“Sh-She’s lying!” Boon stammered, half enraged, the other half of him growing fearful, “This snake of a woman broke into my room to steal from me !” His gaze drifted over to Yevrin’s performance again, watching helplessly as she manipulated the sleep-deprived giant into believing her. Well, not that it was hard to accomplish, even without her wily act. He looked around at the disaster that was his room, finally realizing the magnitude of damage they had done during their arguing. And unfortunately for Boon, Yevrin was not only skilled with blades, but apparently theatre as well.

“This is my room, I swear it!” He squawked, “Here, I can prove it to you,” His hands began padding down his coat, frantically searching for the tiny room key, when suddenly he realized he was without something of infinitely greater importance. His eyes flew to his staff that he had placed against the wall earlier. There. He was safe. All he needed to do was retrieve his prized weapon and he could effortlessly defend himself from this brute. Ideally, by opening a portal out of this cursed inn. He moved to make a bolt for it, but was yanked backwards by his collar. The man-mountain curled his giant fingers around the cloth and, pressing them against Boon's neck, growled in a threatening tone for him to leave the poor girl's room now, or he would remove him by force.