[FIN] Welcome to the Jungle

[BlackFireKitsune]

Under the combined attacks from both pokemon, the Persian stumbled sideways from one immediately being flung into a wall by the other, and subsequently passed out.

The man's eyes widened slightly as Luke lunged for him, clearly not expecting that reaction at all, and only had time to move the gun's aim to somewhere in the far side of the room before he was tackled to the ground. His grip on the gun tightened as he fell, and consequently fired it accidentally, though he didn't much care where or what it hit as he tried to push Luke off him. "The ******** are you doing?!" What kind of suicidal maniac tackled someone with a gun?

Nicolette could only watch in silent horror at the situation before her, though the sharp report from the gun made her cringe and elicited a short, pitiful cry in response, and the girl squeezed her eyes shut and ducked her head. This was all so horrible. What had she walked into so blindly? Why had she even come to this country in the first place? She hadn't even been there for two hours and already she desperately wanted to go back home to Grande Ile.  

[Suudonym]

Tartarus struck his clawed hands together victoriously, rounding on the enemy human now that the pokemon threats were all taken care of. His own human seemed to be out of his mind, though, as per the usual, so he watched for the time being, Tenebrae taking up an attentive posture.

Clearly the man had not been expecting to confront an actual suicidal maniac. The gun fired, but the crashing of nearby glass assured Luke that the bullet had not hurt any of the room's occupants. He moved one hand to try and pin the arm wielding the firearm, balling the other into a fist to strike at the man's jaw.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Though his arm was successfully pinned and he took the blow to the jaw, he retaliated in full by swinging his free fist up to attempt to collide with the side of Luke's head.  

[Suudonym]

Luke recoiled but didn't relent, bringing his elbow back towards the man's temple. The shadow of an Aggron appeared over them both, Tartarus staring down into the stranger's face with a low growl.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With his arm already up, he could easily deflect the blow away from his head by using said arm to shield it. Immediately he was trying to think of how best to retaliate, but the Aggron suddenly looming over him and the fact he was veritably pinned to the floor didn't really bode well for his chances, so he sneered up at Luke. "Alright, alright, you win," he said, and to symbolize his submission he let go of the gun. "Call off your metal watch dog already."

As the sounds of fighting ceased, Nicolette chanced another peek before raising her head fully, hoping so hard for the end of this whole thing.  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah, right." Luke gestured with a nod from Tartarus to the man, swatting the gun out of reach as the Aggron advanced a step to set a large, clawed foot on the enemy's chest with enough pressure to prevent him from rising without squishing any of those fragile little human organs. When he was sure the man was secure, Luke finally backed off, drawing his gear from his pocket to call for the police and listing off the details he remembered about their location as he moved to collect the fallen knife. Blade in hand, he advanced towards the girl in the corner, wearing an expression of gentle concern as he reached to remove the cloth from her mouth and cut the ties at her wrists, "Hey, are you okay? Were you hurt?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

All the man could do was mutter a forced curse from underneath the Aggron, and though he made motions towards trying to get away, he eventually gave up the effort.

When Luke approached with a knife in hand, Nicolette couldn't help but tense due to everything that happened thus far, but she visibly relaxed as he moved to release her from her bonds. She was mentally prepared to speak to him in French at first, given his earlier shout in that language, but his English words briefly threw her for a loop. It didn't take but a moment or two for her confusion to pass, and she shook her head with a sniffle. "No, I'm fine," she admitted as she rubbed at her wrists. They were sore, and she was terribly frightened and wanted absolutely nothing more than to get out of this building immediately, but she was physically unharmed. Uncertainly she raised her gaze to meet his eyes, hesitating only slightly before asking, "Can we leave..? Please?" She wasn't sure if she could stand being here much longer - even just sitting in the corner with someone helping her scared her more than she could even process at the moment. Such a situation had never happened to her before in her life, and it certainly wasn't one she would have ever thought could happen.  

[Suudonym]

Luke relaxed slightly, offering a smile in sympathy and speaking in mild tones, "Can you bear with it until the police get here? They'll probably want to ask you a couple things." He could understand her fear - she looked awfully young - but if they just left now then who could say what would happen. For all he knew, the man downstairs could be starting to stir.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

That was not at all the response she was hoping for, but she closed her eyes and bowed her head, and nodded it a bit. Yes, of course - speaking to the authorities was important, and was necessary for bringing criminals to justice. She knew this, and yet she never thought she'd be the one needing to speak with them about something. It would have been unnerving, had she not already had her nerves completely and wholly shattered over the past fifteen or so minutes. Some thought struck her suddenly, and she quickly raised her head, honey eyes searching his desperately as panic surged through her again, "You're waiting too, yes?" He wasn't going to leave her alone here, right?

In the back of her mind, something was nagging at her that he seemed awfully familiar, but such a thought took the backseat to their current circumstances.  

[Suudonym]

"Of course," he replied, brightening his disposition slightly in efforts towards reassurance. "Don't worry."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She nodded once very slightly, then again with more emphasis, followed by a hesitant, "Okay." Another nod as if to affirm that he was, indeed, staying with her, and she bowed her head again to press the heels of her hands into her eyes before wiping away the tears. "Thank yo," she said at first, then more emphatically as the reality of the situation and his presence there slowly hit her, "thank you so much."

Though the tears threatened to fall again after her admission, she forced them back, trying as hard as she could to regain some semblance of dignity and good appearances despite the circumstances, and wiped her eyes again before raising them partially. Only partially, because her gaze stopped and rooted on his bloody arm. Her hands had half-lowered by that point, but they also paused briefly before they flew to her cheeks. "Oh! Oh, your arm!" She said suddenly, concern and worry immediately filling her features. Her hands quickly lowered but then hovered uncertainly over his injured limb, an overwhelming desire to help him barred by her inability to do so because she was ignorant of how to treat or deal with injuries. Such a dilemma left her with a quickly growing anxiety, and her worried gaze raised to his face. "Are you okay?" What, no, of course he wasn't okay, he was bleeding profusely. "How can we fix it?"  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head slightly in reflexive deflection of her gratitude. "I'm just glad you're okay." He'd only followed out of curiosity and largely unfounded suspicion, and he'd very nearly been convinced by his thoughts to abandon his efforts. But as it was, he was glad. If no one was hurt, he was glad.

Her exclamation called attention to the even throbbing in his arm and the occasional drip of blood running to the floor. He moved his hand to cover and stanch the wound. "I'll be all right," he said, giving a light shrug. Honestly speaking, he was just a little bit proud. She looked understandably distressed, though, so he offered an attempt at distraction, "My name's Luke. You're from Grande Ile, right?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The girl shook her head when he did, not wanting her gratitude deflected but overlooked it for now because his arm was practically bleeding all over the place. Her hands moved away, then moved forward again to hover over it, then back again in very obvious hesitation; she wanted to help so badly but her ignorance of any medical aid prevented her from actually doing anything, and it only furthered her distress that he was bleeding and she could only sit there and watch.

His distraction was quite effective, as she focused back on his face with a vague expression of surprise. Oh, of course, she should've recognized him sooner, but.. Wait a second - Luke fon Fabre was dead, wasn't he? "Fon Fabre?" She added hesitantly, and then, "Lucien?" Luke had died, and Lucien was alive, and it was Lucien who her parents had encouraged her to seek out. Regardless, she suddenly blinked rapidly a few times, then shook her head. "I'm Nicolette. Nicolette Lachapelle."  

[Suudonym]

The hover hand routine was almost stressing him more than the actual pain; he considered pushing her hands back to her lap but assumed she probably wouldn't appreciate being touched when his hands were all bloody. "Don't worry; it'll stop if I keep pressure on it."

The sound of his surname surprised him, as did the mention of his given name. "Uh," he hesitated briefly, "yeah. Most people call me Luke, though." The name she gave sounded familiar, but it took a few moments before he could pinpoint the reason. "Oh. Lachapelle's daughter. We've met before, haven't we? Sorry." Luke had always been encouraged by his father to socialize with the children of the other houses whenever they were present for some kind of gathering, but he had always been more or less disinterested. He felt kind of bad that she apparently remembered him while he found her almost entirely unfamiliar.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At his words, she finally (slowly) moved her hands back to her lap, although internally she was still a little distressed that she couldn't help because she didn't know how to. Still, his reassurances helped assuage that stress a little, and she nodded. Hopefully that meant he'd be fine by the time the police arrived, whenever that would be.

"Oh, no no, it's okay," she said, moving her hands again but this time to hold them up, palm out. "We have but not very often, really. I only recognize you because my parents sent me here to stay for a few months, and said I should find you and Natalia, and any others from Grande Ile." She didn't mention, however, that Lucien's picture was the only one they had provided her with, and that he had been the one named more frequently as one to seek out as soon as possible. "Ah, alright," she said with a small nod, then tested it for herself, "Luke." Nicolette was more than a little tempted to ask why, though, since his name was Lucien and Luke was his dead brother. It was a little confusing and weird, all things considered.