Scene #7385: A Bird In The Sand

Owner	Pose
Robin Sundance	Robin Sundance has never had a real job before. That doesn't mean he's not good at it. On his first day of work this morning, he arrived through the window of his homeroom classroom. He hopped off and immediately took control of the room - Robin is nothing if not a commanding presence - with the usual 'stand, bow, sit' routine of a Japanese homeroom. He flowed right into lessons seamlessly, as if he'd done it all his life, leaning on the desk as he scrawled up French on the chalkboard. He didn't know Japanese, of course, but hey, that's what the translation effect's for, right? He'd insisted on starting as early as possible, so he could get a feel for the job immediately. He'd insisted on getting himself set up somewhere nearby - renting an apartment near the school - and making it part of his life. Part of it was, of course, his desire to surveill the environs. The school was Strange. It was Passing Strange. He wanted to keep an eye on it as closely as possible, as much as possible. Part of it was his desire to surveill Amanita Gin, for a number of reasons, including the unexpected 'I don't trust her' as well as the expected 'but I still intend to pursue her.' And, of course, part of it was the strange sense of a peaceful life. Robin had never known a peaceful life. He had never known the normalcy this world owned. Even when he had been able to walk to school with a smile, talking with his friends, there had been officers on every corner, watching them. Always watching. Always waiting. So this is...a pleasant diversion. At lunch, he stopped by the nurse's office, of course, and left a homemade meal on her desk, along with a bouquet. During clubs, he was willing to hang around and supervise, allowing one of the other teachers to go home early. Now, it's sunset, and Robin has had a fulfilling, and pleasant, first day on the job. He hops onto the tree in which he first entered, sticks one hand in his pocket, and looks out at the land bathed under the setting sun. What an odd feeling. But a welcome one.
Kale Hearthward	The sun is setting on the nice day. There's a few people passing by. One of them pauses, looking up, squinting in the fading sunlight at the tree Robin is in. "Wait... that hair, and that scarf..." Rewinding a bit, back to this morning. Kale Hearthwind (who has done nothing but work real jobs his whole life, unlike some people) has his own target that he's investigating. One Ryutaro Muramasa - student council president. It's more pre-emptive than in pursuit of anything specific, and based mostly on Kale's hunches - but it has the added benefit of keeping him near the school for if and when another monster breaks out. The investigation's still in the initial stages, in that Kale's looking into associates, secondary targets, and so on and so forth. It means he has a lot of ground he needs to cover - and thus a disguise and cover story that'd explain why he's running around. "You!" says the clown, wearing a sandwich board advertising 'Ask Me About Singing Telegrams - Three For One Today Only'. "I know you!" And then he dispells his illusion with the usual dramatic sweeping gesture, revealing - - that the Discount Telegram Clown who's been running around campus all day is, actually, Kale Hearthwind! "I knew I'd find you around here somewhere, up to no good!" A note: Kale is still dressed as a clown. There is a rubber nose impaled on his beak, even.
Robin Sundance	"Ah, jour paisibles," Robin sighs and shakes his head, "How fleeting." He turns around in the tree, one hand against the trunk, looking down at Kale. And looking. And looking. And looking. And then he bursts out laughing. He doubles over on the tree, only his impeccable balance keeping him from just tumbling over the side. He laughs, and laughs, and laughs, until he's almost sick. His body shakes. There's tears running down his eyes. Finally, when he's collected himself, he sits down on the branch (perhaps to take a breath) and swings his legs back and forth. "Ah, ah...a most excellent disguise, pierrot Hearthwind," he says, a broad smile on his face. "I truly did not think anything of le clown." He claps. "From one expert to another, I commend you, pierrot. Tres bien." His feet swing back and forth. "Oui, c'est passing strange, non? How could you have known you would run into me here!" At his job. That he works at. Which he's not saying, because this is fun for him. "Indeed, I am up to no good!" His hand sweeps against his chest. "I am out to steal something precious!" "The legendary Couer De La Beaute found only at this school!" 'Heart of the Beauty.' He's straight up making fun of Kale now. Then Robin leans forward, a daring smile on his face. "Pourquoi, pierrot? Do you intend to stick your..." A laugh. "Nose..." "In where it does not belong?"
Kale Hearthward	Kale waits patiently while Robin nearly falls out of the tree laughing. Dutifully, he reaches up and honks his clown nose a bit and then does a little jig, before remembering that he's not actually keeping up the clown act anymore. "I have my methods for finding things out, thief," says Kale, doing three things simultaneously: 1. Not letting on that he's run into Robin by chance 2. Not letting on that he has a lead of his own 3. Aggressively not capitalizing Thief. "And you - in your foolishness, you just let on what your target is - the Couer De La Beaute! Of course! I swear - by my sword, I shall place myself between you and it!" https://tinyurl.com/y5odnzb6 "If you insist on pursuing it - know that even should you seek to arrive first, you shall arrive last, and I, the East Wind Regalia, shall treat you not to the taste of victory but instead the taste of my blade, and should you dare turn your back the night of your mischief will end with my sword sheathed in your insides!" A wind picks up, centered directly on the tree, attempting to shake Robin out to the ground as if he were ripened fruit.
Robin Sundance	There's another little laugh and a clap as Kale honks his nose. "Pierrot, you are a most excellent clown!" It's a genuine compliment, too. It probably sounds just like an insult, but Robin's actually impressed. "You are not scary at all." That...is an odd thing to connect. Unless you've ever seen a toku, ever. "Thief," Robin corrects cheerfully. He can hear when people aren't using it as a name. As Kale declares that he'll get in the way, Robin stands, putting one hand against the trunk. "Oh? You intend to get in my way, do you?" Robin tugs on his scarf thoughtfully as Kale makes a declaration. "I did not know you, also were after Le Couer de la Beaute, mais I suppose I should have expected as much. It seems everyone at this school is." "C'est la vie. All is fair in l'amour et la guerre, non? Mais I did not expect someone to want to kill over this..." The wind starts picking up. Robin's scarf ripples in the wind as the tree shakes. Rainbow light trails from the incandescent cloth. The thief is not a complete idiot. He's seen Kale do the wind magic thing twice now. When the tree starts to shake, Robin hops off, landing a little ways in front of Kale and spreading his arms. "I hope you will not take too much umbrage, pierrot." He pulls the Vaulder out of nowhere. It's probably the first time Kale's gotten a good look at it. It looks like a vault door - big, heavy, with the iconic spoke-handle. In Robin's other hand jingles a ring of keys. He slaps the Vaulder on his waist. A belt grows around it, linking on. Robin holds up one of the keys with a smile, slaps it into the Vaulder's side, turns it, and then sweeps his hand across the spoke-handle. It starts to spin. "Transform." B-B-B-BURGLAR! Robin spreads his arms and raises his right foot like he's about to do ballet. The armor forms around him. Black coat-tails bursting out of the belt. Skintight black bodysuit (for the fanservice, of course). Red-and-gold gauntlets and boots. Key-shaped antennae. Red mask. Emerald lenses. He bows. "Masked Ranger, Thief." He straightens and spreads his arms. "The thief who steals back the smiles of the downtrodden." A snap of his hand, and the Rifler just sort of falls into his grip from nowhere. He raises the grappling gun and fires lazily at Kale. The energy bolts are three-pronged, literally energy hooks with glowing contrails in their wake. It's just for show. But it's stylish!
Kale Hearthward	"Sorry, are clowns supposed to be scary? I thought that clowns were either sad clowns or happy clowns, are there - nevermind!" The transformation starts. Kale waits patiently, because that is what Toku Villains Do. "East Wind Regalia," he says, in response to the introduction. "... Mmmf," he adds. "You do not anticipate that for Le Couer de la Beaute, I would take your breath... He who draws his sword without intent on seeing the full act through is a fool. I would pierce you in the most vile of ways, through and through, till you were gasping for mercy..." "... Though lucky for you, I am also as willing to chain you up - ah!" The banter is abandoned as Robin fires off the Rifler - Kale wasn't expecting it, and gets winged (pun not intended). He stumbles, reeling from the hit, and then takes off - getting up between Robin and the setting sun, to make him a bit harder to spot. "Aye - and to show my passion, I shall take you in here and now - in front of the entire school!" A series of wind blasts are fired off - aimed to try to keep the pressure on the Thief and keep him from getting at Kale again - by literal hook or crook!
Robin Sundance	"Ah, a long story," Thief says at 'are clowns supposed to be scary,' "But, non. Hence why you are an excellent one." The misunderstanding continues. "Ah, well...." Thief shrugs and shakes his head. It's becoming an iconic stance of his. "You have no choice, I suppose, but to take my breath. After all, I am breathtaking in my own right. It is only fair." His free hand comes up into a dramatic point. "And if you do not you have no chance at Le Couer." Fingergun. The bird takes off. Thief swings the Rifler upwards - and immediately gets hit in the face with a blast of wind. Toku sparks. He stumbles backwards, his coattails rippling in the wind. As Kale predicted it's hard to aim any kind of ranged attack, hard to get any kind of bead on the bird. Not ideal, but not impossible to work with. Thief starts running. The sparks follow him - they're apparently just a facet of him taking damage in the suit - but he's not running away from Kale. No, he's running for a wall. The people still cleaning up inside get a good look at Thief hopping his way up the building with remarkable agility. He bounds from one windowsill to the next as if they're as wide as a sidewalk, backflipping and hand-springing up the side of the building until he lands on the roof. Once there, it should be easier to get some kind of lock. The Rifler swings upwards. It fires. This time, though, it's not a laser. It's an actual grappling hook. It shoots out, right past Kale, and Kale will probably think that Thief's aim is atrociously bad - but then it curves around and heads straight backwards. The Rifler can apparently change direction mid-shot. That's...that's not great, considering Thief is trying to drag him down into melee range.
Kale Hearthward	Kale spins out of the way. "Hah - your aim is terrible!" he calls, with perfect comedic timing, just before he gets hit in the back by the curving grappling gun. "SQUAWK!" And down he goes - both literally, in that he's being yanked back from melee range, alibeit with some minor resistance from the jet boots set into 'hover' mode - but also in another sense, in that the solid hit to the back with the grappling hook seems to have knocked him out. He goes limp, eyes closed, listing slightly forward as he comes down... ... And then just as abruptly, as Robin's getting ready to do whatever it is he has planned next, springs back to life and immediately blows a dragon-worthy blast of wind from his beak, point blank! Turns out he was just acting like he'd been knocked out! He likes acting. It's sort of his thing.
Robin Sundance	Unexpected, but impressive. Kale gets him right in the face with the beak-wind. Thief goes skidding along the building as he tries to brace. He's not bracing hard enough. He couldn't've expected that little body to be capable of that kind of output. In short order he loses his footing. He goes tumbling, end over end, over the side. His fingers hook on to the ledge. It's not a great place to be. His free hand snaps a key into the Vaulder. PH-PH-PH-PHANTOM! Thief releases his hand. The Rifler flips up to grab the ledge instead as the armor shifts into its black-and-white form, as it grows the top hat-esque attachment and the bright gold tie. He hangs there for a moment by the Rifler as it switches into a cane, then releases himself from the ledge. A hand on the brim of the hat-rim. Thief runs along the edge of the windowsills, keeping the building between himself and Kale. He's fast, and he's agile, and he's got absurd balance. He even bothers to give a two-fingered salute to some of the people in the classroom as he runs past. 'ah, the new teacher is fighting a monster' is probably the immediate thought. Kale does not get a chance to see him coming. Thief hooks the Rifler cane around one of the windows and swings around the corner into a kick. The cane tucks under his arm. It's very gentlemanly. It's also quite fast. He's giving Kale as little time to react as possible - and spending as little time in Kale's sight as he can.
Kale Hearthward	Kale gets the grappling hook out of his clown costume (assuming it doesn't just disappear when Robin changes modes). In retrospect, the giant bird person dressed as a clown does indeed look like a monster of the week. (He has, unfortunately, lost his red clown nose during the fight.) Kale can't maintain dragonbreath forever. It cuts off as he inhales, replenishing his supply of air, and he kicks his jet boots back into gear, getting ready to take off in pursuit of the fleeing Thief - And doesn't get a chance to react past that, as Robin swings back around. It's a solid setup, with a flawless execution, for a near-guaranteed hit. By all rights, by all fairness, Robin would be kicking Kale off into the side of a building at the other end of the school. And yet, the universe isn't fair, and robs the Thief of his justly earned prize, as Kale's contingency spell goes off. It happens without thinking, happens between moments. The wind picks up into a sudden, very brief gust - just enough. Just enough. Just enough so that Robin's foot goes a little bit too high and too wide, and Kale goes just a little bit off course, and the two don't connect. C'est la Vie. (translation: life's a bitch) It happens so fast that Kale himself doesn't realize what's happened at first - but Robin's in melee range all of a sudden, and he's behind the Thief - he turns, and he goes to grab onto Robin by the back and air-dash-piledrive him into the ground!
Robin Sundance	The tiny bit of wind push is almost enough to get Thief to curse. He doesn't. You shouldn't do that as a teacher and a hero. But it's almost enough. Before he can recover, Kale is immediately on top of him. The bird grabs him by the back and starts driving him down, down into the ground as hard as the bird is able. Considering the bird is a bird, and thus much better in the air than Thief is, that's not a great place to be. On the other hand, considering Thief is a Masked Ranger, he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. The Rifler Cane snaps out. It catches the wall. The impact is tremendous. But it's enough to slip Kale off of him. Only just. It doesn't stop the shower of sparks from his arm, nor the grunt of pain, nor him falling to the ground. It just means he's falling on his own terms. His own terms are much more negotiable. Still, he lands, and tucks the Rifler Cane under his arm, and one might almost believe he did it on purpose considering how graceful it looks. He spins a key into his hand. B-B-B-BURGLAR! The Rifler returns to its grapple gun form. The Phantom mode breaks apart into Burglar Form. Thief flips the Rifler outwards. "Pierrot, I must commend you on your skill." "However, I have no intention of being killed today." He presses his fingers to his forehead. He tosses the Rifler aside. The weapon vanishes. Thief whirls. It looks sort of like he's doing ballet. His coattails trail around him in a semicircle. His hands go up above him. It's very odd- And then he forward-flips, handsprings, and uses the entirety of his momentum to get above Kale. -ah. He stretches out his leg. He flips forward in mid-air. And he swings down on Kale with all the force of a comet. He passes through Kale and lands in a skid on the other side, arms spread, before he straightens and presses his fingers against his forehead. A Domino Mask symbol erupts behind Kale. And then it explodes. MASQUERAID!
Kale Hearthward	Kale loses his grip on Robin, and ends up going to the ground himself. His crash is ameliorated by a quick updraft, keeping him from getting more than slightly bruised and somewhat dirty, but he's still on the ground. "... Hmmmf. Then I must commend you on being a slippery thief." He's doing that on purpose. "I wish you'd come in in one piece - I find no joy in taking a life, but I would be doing a disservice to - what are you doing," he says, not getting why Robin threw away his weapon. The kick lands. Kale lets out a very bird-like "SQUAWK", and then... "Wait, that was-" Explosion. "... cough" Kale picks himself up off the ground again. "... Well." "I would indeed be doing a disservice by holding back..." he says. "I'd hoped to keep you whole, but where hopes end, blades begin." He reaches behind himself and draws his left-hand sword from its sheath. "For you, a thief, Breath Weapon Gobo shall box you in and bring an end to your dreams of escape. Reconsider and repent..." He flips the sword so it's pointing down, and brings it up to his beak, holding it steady with both hands on the hilt as he blows onto it. The posture is very similar to that of playing a woodwind instrument, really. And immediately, the weapon starts shifting. The blade seperates - two Þ-shaped halves with a suspended mirror floating between them, held in place as if through magnets. It shines with a shadowy light. "... for I shall be bringing the curtain down upon you, for as long as I live and breathe!" And with that, he starts air-dashing after Robin, attempting to close in and swing repeatedly. And the trick here becomes obvious - wheresoever Gobo is swung, it leaves afterimages - an ongoing persistent trail of blades, each as sharp as the sword itself as Kale tries cutting off Robin's paths!
Robin Sundance	Thief is not slow. Unlike Kale, he is under no requirement to wait to transform. Thief slams the key into the side of the Vaulder as Kale takes his stance. He spins the belt handle. PH-PH-PH-PHANTOM! The Phantom form reforms as Kale shifts the weapon. The Rifler reappears in his hand in its cane form. He grips it by the hook and brings it up in a fencing stance. Air-dashing. Thief skips backwards as Kale comes in swinging. Kale is the better fighter for sure - the bird's blades flash, flash, flash, drawing afterimages with each step. Flash, flash, flash. The afterimages trail around him, shadows of Kale's own speed. Kale is stronger than he is, and more skilled than he is. Thief has only one advantage here. He's not fighting defensively. He's waiting for an opening. His cane blocks Kale's assault as best as he's able - which, it turns out, is substantially better than he should be, but not nearly enough to avoid the Death By A Thousand Cuts, the scraping sparks, the slashing hits. And then, at one point, in one swing, Thief charges directly into it, bringing both hands up on the Rifler Cane like he's bunting in baseball. The slash hits him dead-on. He goes spinning out of the circle. Sparks explode all over the field, trailing after him. He hits the ground. He bounces. He flips onto his feet, wobbles once, and takes a bow. "Merci beaucyou~, pierrot de gendarme," Thief says as he raises the Rifler Cane in front of him, "I appreciate the assistance." He stamps the cane down once. Then he flips it back up and charges in. He's not fighting like a rapier-fighter. He's fighting like a cane-fighter. He's looking for openings to trip up the bird, to slip up the bird, to exploit Kale's movement and momentum, to weave Kale out of his stride. He spins gracefully to parry attacks and lead Kale onwards. It's, again,distinctly like fighting a dancer - except a dancer who's using a cane with aikido. It's real off-putting.
Kale Hearthward	The dance goes on. Kale's off-put, to be certain. He's got movement and momentum to spare, and they're quite exploitable - he's daring and he's fast, but he's able to be so because he commits to his actions, and uncommitting isn't an option. And yet. Kale has his own advantage here... while the Thief may be waiting for Kale to make an opening, Kale's been creating his own. "Thank me once you're in a cage!" he calls in response as he's struck, and doesn't swing his blade in return - he casts. A massive column of air pops up beneath Robin's feet, aimed to send him flying backwards over Kale's head... and right back into the field of blade trails that Kale's been leaving behind them as they battle!
Robin Sundance	"Pierrot, do you not find it funny, to be l'oiseau speaking of putting another in a cage?" It's a merry chase Thief is on as his cane comes up to parry the swings. Each strike grinds against the Rifler Cane as Thief leads it away from him and into the ground. Each step he concedes is another step he offers Kale, only to whirl to the side and tap him on the back with the cane. It's not doing much in the way of impressive damage, but he's slippery as hell. As befitting a thief. And then Kale's wind blast comes up under Thief's feet. Thief goes up. Thief goes up. Thief brings his foot down onto the tip of the blade. Thief hops off the tip of the blade. Thief lands on the other side of Kale, spins around on his heel, and bows again. "Do you even know what you are fighting to prevent me to take, pierrot?" Thief asks cheerfully as he slams another key into the lock. BR-BR-BR-BRIGAND! Thief's armor changes again. The whirling coat-tails solidify into armor down his sides. His boots and gauntlets turn a faded silver. The key-antennae split away from the hat and fold forward, like a medieval knight's grille. He raises the Rifler. The grappling hook closes into a ball. And it gets big. Really big. It is a god damned meteor hammer. Thief starts whirling the meteor hammer overhead. It snaps outwards at full speed, whistling forward with enormous force. Once again, he misses Kale - but this time, it's obvious it's going to come around behind him, right, so why would he do the same thing again- -he drags it sideways so the cord clips Kale rather than the hammer.
Kale Hearthward	"Ah ha, you think-" Predictably, Kale goes right into that trap and gets clipped by the cord. "Gah! Sweet hurricane, will you just go down!" There's no finesse now. Thrown off his game, Kale attempts to simply bring the wind down on Robin and keep him pinned in one place till he can recover!
Robin Sundance	The wind bears down on Thief. It hammers against him. It's dead-on, sparks peeling off his body, into a trail behind him. It's grinding, unpleasant. It hurts. But Thief is still laughing. He plants the Rifler in the ground. The heavy hammer holds him down, reinforces his place. He holds up his hand to wave it at Kale. "Le Couer de la Beaute," Thief calls up, "Means 'The Heart of the Beauty.'" "I am intending to steal Madamoiselle Infermiere's heart~ and nothing more~" He flicks the hammer outwards like it's as light as could be. It thumps into the ground somewhere off to the side. His fingers close on the trigger. Thief goes flying out of the wind, straight forward under Kale. He lands with a thud, skidding, digging a hole in the ground. The meteor hammer goes whirling around with Thief's momentum. It swings straight up for Kale. And this time, Thief is not swinging it past him. Just directly. Into. His face.
Kale Hearthward	"Wait-" WHAM Kale drops Gobo as he's hit, the blade falling to the ground, and a moment later the blade trails disappearing. Gobo's owner looks like... well, like he just took a meteor hammer to the face. The unfortunate bit is that the happy clown makeup is simply ruined now. "Then why..." He pulls together a huge air blast, the knotted compressed winds visible as dust swirls between his hands. "... the sweet hurricane..." He finishes casting, and pulls his hand back with the ball, winding up... "... are we fighting?!" He hurls it. The ball of winds goes off with the force of a grenade, wherever it lands.
Robin Sundance	Thief's laughter whirls with the wind. "Because, pierrot, you wanted to!" He slams down, hunkering with all force, the meteor hammer Rifler over his shoulder to weigh him down. The ball of wind hits directly at his feet. It blows apart ground. It sends grass shattering across the field. Earth falls. Sparks fly. Thief is unmoved. Brigand Form is just heavy. It's not the light, dancing motion of Phantom, nor the more balanced Burglar. It's just heavy. It's reminiscent of a knight who lost everything in the middle ages, who rode about stealing and pillaging. It's got that...that feel to it, that weight to it, not just the appearance. As the explosion clears, Thief walks forward, tapping the hammer on his shoulder like it's nothing. "If I had said that I was doing nothing more interesting than teaching, would you have believed me?" He laughs again and flips a new key into the Vaulder. B-B-B-BURGLAR! "You were looking for a reason to fight. And une ami of mine, pierrot, told me something the other day." "She got into a fight because some people cannot understand each other without a battle." He shrugs and shakes his head as the Rifler turns back into a grappling gun. "So I thought to myself, 'Pierrot will not understand me if I do not fight, non? They will not believe me if I do not let them realize how foolish they have been.'" "Mais," Thief's hand settles onto his waist, "I am not sure you will believe me even now." "C'est la vie." He points the Rifler at the ground. He fires. He goes soaring upwards into the air, shooting past Kale. The setting sun glints off his armor. PH-PH-PH-PHANTOM! It isn't another finishing blow but rather Thief just moving to step on Kale, to just stomp him into the ground and let him bounce off with his own momentum.
Kale Hearthward	"Maybe so!" Robin's gone for the stomp. Kale twists out of the way and goes to grab onto his ankle. "But if that's true then I've certainly come to understand something about you!" He again attempts to throw Robin at the ground.
Robin Sundance	Wham. Kale catches him, dead to rights. He grabs Thief by the legs and swings as hard as he can. Thief hits the ground and bounces, hard, an explosion erupting around him - an actual explosion, not just sparks. It carries him up, flips him over, and lands him on his back. Another bounce takes him face-first. He groans. That hurt. That palpably hurt. Kale can feel the satisfaction of the impact. Fingers tighten against the earth as he pulls himself to his feet and wavers. "Ah," he says carefully, "Ce n'etait pas agreable." Thief straightens. B-B-B-BURGLAR! He spreads his arms in a shrug. "I, also, have come to understand something about you, pierrot. You are..." "Mmmm..." "Well, I expected this, I suppose." He raises one foot and traces the toes along the ground. "You are in all ways un oiseau de gendarmerie." "Regrettable. I do not much like la gendarmerie. Mais, I commend your tenacity." He breaks into a run. Thief trails gold and silver behind him. He runs straight for the dorm wall, right over the holes in the grounds from the wind blasts, from the meteor hammer. He runs straight up the wall. He backflips. Into a roundhouse kick. Trailing silver and gold. Right for Kale's face. When he lands, he takes a bow, and straightens. "Still!" "I hope we can be friends regardless, pierrot~!"
Kale Hearthward	"Un ouseau de gendarmerie?" Kale's going to have to look up these words later. "I - wait, get back here, you might not have stolen anything, but you're still -" Robin runs. Kale chases. This is the natural order of things. The heroically villainous guard and the villanously heroic troublemaker. Kale can not chase any more than he can stop breathing. "You're still-" As Robin runs up the wall, Kale activates his jet boots, getting ready to ascend - and meets Robin's descending foot with his ascending face. He goes down, in every sense of the word. "... still..." "... a Thief..." And he's out.
Robin Sundance	CRIME OUT! The Thief armor disappears. Robin crouches in front of Kale. He thinks for a minute. First, he spins out a marker. Then, he presses Kale's emergency beacon. Then, he draws all over Kale's face. It's a silly drawing of a jail and a police badge, with the jail cell drawn so it looks like his eyes are the heads of prisoners, and the badge drawn on his beak. On Kale's forehead, he draws: I DO NOT WANT YOU DEAD In a moment of exceptional foresight (or, really, just listening to the radio and having a lick of common sense). Then he straightens, disappears the marker, winces, and heads to the nurse's room for a reason other than flirting with her - he has to borrow a bunch of bandages and antiseptic. Like. A lot.