NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR // OPEN

[STEVE]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]Steve did what he could for the clean-up, but the kids were doing better, more consistent work than he was. At least they weren't in the mountains- the altitude had been playing with his lungs too much for comfort, and he'd be even less useful wheezing. He did what he could to clean up things, though most of the time he ended up finding trinkets and returning them to their owners. Seemed like the right thing to do. If he couldn't comb through debris, the least he could do was poke around for items that had been swept away. Asking around to see if anyone recognized whatever possession he found wasn't too bad, either; he didn't have to make much conversation, though the terminal awkwardness always struck whenever someone was grateful. Just smile and nod, right? How he'd managed to help people without the greatest social skills was a bit of a mystery. At least he was managing something.

The small feline found a pile of wood and glass he was carefully sorting through when he noticed some strangers similarly combing through debris. He squinted, and his nose twitched as he tried to tell if they were Sunhaveners; he didn't think so, and their mouths were moving, but from over here, he couldn't really hear what they were saying. Steve could catch pieces of it, but just- meaningless sounds. Nothing he could piece together, so, as surreptitiously as possible, he made his way closer to them, pretending he was just looking through other piles.

After a few minutes, he was close enough he could pick up on more of their conversation.

"-nothing really valuable yet. Can't believe traders keep so much junk." Now that Steve was closer, he could see they each wore bags. Didn't paint a very honest picture.

Inhaling, he decided a direct approach was best, so he dropped all pretense and headed straight for them, not missing how they straightened up and eyed him. Whatever they saw -his small size, most likely- they seemed amused by it. They were...admittedly larger than he was. Fortunately only fellow cats -it wasn't that he wouldn't back down from someone larger, but there wasn't as much danger of getting crushed with other cats- so if he did end up on his rear, it wouldn't be too awful.

"Excuse me," he started, and one of them snorted. "I don't wanna make assumptions here, but you oughta know how this looks."

"It's exactly what it looks like, which is why you're gonna turn around before it gets messy."

"It looks like you're a buncha vultures picking over what doesn't belong to you." The small feline tilted his chin up, bright gaze unwavering. That lasted all of two seconds before there was a bag catching him across the jaw, sending him sprawling. Steve pushed himself back up, blinking away spots and baring teeth bloodied by a cut along his mouth. "That all you got?"

It wasn't, and Steve wound up flattened to the ground, pinned by his shoulders. A very familiar position at this point.

//feel free to powerplay the thieves

[venus]

[div style=" background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid black; width: 550px; min-height: 9px; font-family: arial; line-height: 109%; text-align: left; padding: 20px;font-size: 12px;"]

to be fair, it was not the clean-up that sucked the most about the whole situation going on in this past month, if venus let go even the slightest ounce of their selfish pride then perhaps they might see that,  but in the moment with mud halfway up their arms and still more than a third of the place to go - it sure seemed that way. the dreaded task of having to back to their no-doubt bogged laboratory filled the corners of the teen mind with anxiety, venus just trying to focus on the task at hand and not let fears take over their conscious. besides, kade had promised something "good" in return for doing a good job. venus would be a fool not to try their hardest.

for a good chunk of time the solbinder was doing well, keeping to the task, collecting the rubbish and discarding the general debris, not letting their curiosity lead the teen astray - you know, good girl things. finding the rhythm for it for a bit, fatigue nibbled at venus' bones as the mess never seemed to ever end, always being another piece of rubbish to chuck. in their momentary lapse of concentration baby blue gaze found its way towards the edge of the territory, to where venus vaguely recognised the scrawny little guy underneath the larger and bulky arms of someone who venus failed to recognise completely.

that was odd. the men were not from here certainly, and it would be even weirder to be sparring with someone in the middle of the major cleaning day, and with probably one of the weakest links of the group to boot. very fishy, venus pushed further.

approaching calmly, the teen gathered a good gander at the strangers with a curious eye drifting slowly to the procured goods that they had stashed away no doubt to resell for an "bargain". venus knew, they had bought a few goods this way. a few goods now probably half buried underneath the mud and about to be thrust into the same vicious cycle yet again, if the scavengers here were just the last dregs of the thieves brave enough to scavenge even when the sunhaven members had returned. scum, but sometimes useful scum. "hey, what party is going on here? don't leave me out!" chuckling in the face of the overtly aggressive theives, it was amusing to see them get so worked up about the little steve underneath them. it was okay to fight for what you want, but picking on someone smaller just because you know it's going to be an easy fight was so lame, and only proved that you are too weak for anything stronger. ugh. "but cut маленький ведмедик some slack huh? he doesn't like getting roughhoused, right маленький ведмедик?" then again, steve could really do with some bravado and at least put up a better fight. what was venus going to do? sure they might weight more, but they were a medic and never really learnt to fight.

[align=center]tags

[Hope Arcanium]

Stranger or not, Leona despised thieves. Her fur was raised, eyes flashing red for a moment as anger took over her body and she approached in a strong, yet hostile manner. Through her fur, if one paid close attention, they would see movement beneath, as if something were lurking and waiting to strike.

“You know, I really hate thieves and bullies.” The former Solbinder growled, her tone sharp and threatening. The mutant’s long, monitor lizard tail curled, at the ready to give these thieves a bruising.

Her eyes remained red as her skin appeared to move on its own, her demeanor protective and unwavering.

“Come here and pick on someone that’s equal to you, or you can give up those possessions and we won’t have any problems.”

[guts]

[align=center]

Despite her jabs at how plain or isolated it was, Ymir had become fond of Sunhaven. It was full of good people, who only wanted to mind their own business and sell some wares or two. Then there was others, looking to cause harm and chaos for their own pleasure or self-gain. She had experience with those types, and to be frank, she had no patience for them. She itched to sink her claws in their sorry hides.

She came across them next, but unfortunately for the pair, she wasn't as eager to negotiate, nor was she an inexperienced healer. Lips curling, sharp white teeth glinting, she rushes forward and aims to slam into the one pinning Steve down, hopefully sending them sprawling into their buddy.

The wolf stands over her clan-mate, sneering at them. "[glow=black,2,300]I think you've gotten the message, yeah? If not, I'd be happy to carve it into your damn skulls.[/glow]" she goes on, tail waving behind her like a flag signaling war, bright eyes focused hard on the hooligans.

[align=center]

  "[color=#e4cf81][glow=black,2,300][/glow]"

[buckingham barnes]

At times, Buckingham still can't believe what an awful person he was back in his old home. While he was manipulated into that living breathing weapon, he made the decision to stay there after he was freed from Ximen's grasp. For months, he made an excuse that he couldn't stop the person he was forced to become. He tried to accept it, and that only made his guilt and regret grow heavy on his chest. Living his life as a second chance, especially in Sunhaven, has given him the opportunity to see how he was so, so wrong. And it's in moments like this, where thieves deliberately pick on people who try to do the right thing. Deliberately inflicting more harm to their victim when they realize they got the upper hand. It makes Bucky's chest spiral with anger. And when Bucky padded into the scene, eyes landing on a bloodied and bruised Steve, and Ymir attacking the thief who pinned the devon rex, his light blue eyes landed on the other thief.

Eyes blazing with anger, his lips curled into a snarl. First off, these thieves aren't going to walk away with any valuable items. They won't have time to grab their bags as Bucky will make sure their tails are tucked between their legs, running. He's more pissed that they're hurting Steve-- god he knows that Steve never turns away from any kind of danger. When Bucky's house capsized, Steve was the first one to jump in to pull Bucky out. Steve also risked his safety to pull Bucky away from Stryker. In those two moments, Steve wasn't harmed, but in situations like this, his blood boils at the bullies.

Without even any kind of warning, the maine coon lunged at the other thief. Having no time to get out of the former assassin's aim, the second tom crashed into the ground, with Buckingham holding them down firmly. The thief hissed at the Helion, which only resulted with a metal paw coming their way, smacking their skull. They quickly went quiet, whimpering from the pain. It's almost amusing-- one moment, they were so high and mighty and the next they're whimpering like cowards. He placed his metal paw back on their shoulder, staring at them dead in the eye. "Listen to me very closely," He began to hiss, ears flattened to his skull, "You, and your buddy over there, are going to leave my territory empty handed, before it gets messy, capiche?"

[STEVE]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]//wow im late to my own thread lmfao

Well, Steve was glad someone could find it amusing. Maybe he'd find it funny later, when he wasn't flattened by the other feline, but for now, it was kind of difficult to laugh when his breath wasn't all there. His asthma wasn't what it used to be, though his lungs would quiver in certain situations, like they were going to seize on him. He wasn't too keen on suffocating under some nameless bully, one who didn't seem like he'd be getting up anytime soon. Guess trying to talk with him wasn't going to work out, was it? Of course, the small feline already knew that- he'd tried talking in the beginning, and here he was now, flat on his back, hoping his lungs cooperated. "I can handle it," Steve said, voice a little airy, and that wasn't really the answer he was certain Venus had been going for, but he wasn't going to give these bullies any ground. Even if it was obvious he wasn't the strongest person around.

He couldn't turn his head to see, but he heard someone else speaking, and she must have been pretty intimidating, because the guy on top of him stiffened- not like he was going to fight, but like he was going to run away. A bit like those guys when Steve first showed up here, although whoever the Sunhavener was, they weren't Marina.

"We didn't steal anything. We're just cleaning up." The guy above him dug his claws in a bit, and Steve wondered if he could shift enough to sink his teeth into his paw, but another person -how many people were gonna see Steve get his ass handed to him?- threw the feline off of him. Steve immediately rolled over, picking himself up off the ground, and coughing a bit as his lungs gave another quake.

"You wouldn't. Bad for business if people get word you're killing customers." The bully picked himself up too, and might've wanted to say something else- but Steve would never know what that would be, since Bucky -he knew him, at least- was tackling the second fellow, crushing him to the ground. Steve couldn't hear everything that was said, his bad ear dropping some of the syllables, but he got the gist of it. Something threatening, and he couldn't blame the guy for looking like he'd just been shoved off a cliff.

He saw the feline beneath Bucky give a few vigorous, desperate nods, but Steve didn't pay him much mind, lifting a paw to rub at his chest, expression tight. It wasn't too hard to breathe yet, though uncomfortable, like something was gradually leaning into his rib-cage. "Think he gets the message," he managed to say, a bit breathless, and he approached Bucky, gently touching a paw to his shoulder.