FRESH FROM THE FIGHT // JOINING

[STEVE]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]Fortunately for Steve, a voice cut through before he could lose consciousness to dirt-smothering, and he wished he could see who'd decided to step in a little sooner. Instead, he was restricted to listening to her accented voice scare the britches off the bullies, and frankly, he was a bit worried this was one of those "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situations. It wouldn't be the first time someone seemed to lend a hand, only to take a turn themselves at pushing him around. Maybe it was entertaining. Steve would never understand, but at least for the moment, he was free. He pushed himself back up to his paws, still wheezing, and once he blinked the spots out of his vision, he had to do a bit of a double take at the sight of his savior. She was- well, she was tall. Steve wondered if it was uncomfortable for her to crouch so low, but of course he wouldn't ask that aloud. Didn't seem like the right thing to say to the person who saved his skin. "Tougher than I look. I'm Steve. Thanks for the hand." It was more than that, but he probably could have gotten them off eventually. Maybe.

"You wouldn't actually eat them, would you?" Not what he meant to say. "I'm not calling you a- maneater or- anything. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing if you were, I-" The feline decided to shut his mouth before anything worse spilled out, but at least there wasn't room for an awkward silence since it wasn't just the two of them anymore. Steve took care not to stare too much at the prosthetic leg the dark tabby had, though he'd never really seen limbs like it before. Usually, people went without a replacement or had one with low functionality, at least in his experience.

Steve had an urge to draw it, but saying that rarely went well, so he preserved the picture in his head as best he could. The feline wasn't as tall as Marina -he had never met someone that large- though he was still larger than Steve, no surprise there. He wondered if the guy would even notice if Steve were to stand on him. "Anyone else woulda done the same," he answered evenly, a small uptick to one corner of his mouth. "I had 'em on the ropes." Buckingham. Like Buckingham Palace? Steve didn't blurt that part out, luckily. He coughed, situating himself so his good side better faced the two. Didn't want to miss out on anything they were saying. "Appreciate the back-up, Buckingham. You said this is Sunhaven?" The question was directed toward Marina, bright gaze aimed her way.