Aisling heard the tentacled one as she continued to watch through the windows.

Odd how people coming from below stairs seemed to know so little about the Tavern and each other.  But the one called Red seemed to know of them... and cared what happened to them, in the tusked one's case.  Perhaps there was no reason to behind how the Tavern and its inhabitants worked? 

Aisling gave another of her mental shrugs (a small one, as always).  She knew very little about beings other than fae.  Maybe she would once she had more experience, Dream Walking or physically?  Or maybe not.  (Shrug.)  So much was just ineffable. 

Well fuck.

Zach wet his lips nervously, taking more steps backwards and almost tripping over a discarded box nearby. He stumbled a little, and it only loosened his already weak grip on the sword. In his nervousness and panic, it slipped past his fingers and clattered to the ground, and Zach felt his breath catch.

“L- Look, things have been real shitty for me lately, and I had to make sure I wasn’t going to end up at the bottom of the Thames like the rest! I needed new staff to make sure I kept up demand, but I couldn’t risk my own neck and I- I’d never …” Zach’s panicked gaze went down to the body before flicking back up again. “He was going to out me, and I’d never killed … killed before, and then I had to try and cover that up as well and-“

Zach choked up for a moment before coughing to clear his throat, his eyes flicking from Catherton’s sabre to his face.

“Please don’t kill me, I was just trying to get by and it got out of hand.”

Best not watch what happens... Joe gave a last look towards the others out on the deck and then he allowed the young woman to guide him along, his expression grim. He had a feeling he knew what was going to happen to them, the poor bastards. Yet he knew that the time for fighting was past; that was a battle that they had lost.

"Aye, sir." He muttered quietly as he followed Browne; he had to think about himself and less about things that he could not change.

***

The next morning, Hunter made his way down to the brig, followed by two others. He paused just inside, watching as their prisoner used the bars to pull her entire body up and down, showing a strength that seemed almost unheard of for a woman.

He stopped in front of the cell door and rapped his knuckles lightly on the bars to get her attention.

"It's time." He spoke quietly, his expression grim as he thought about what was about to happen. "Don't give us any trouble, you hear? Then it'll be over in no time. It'll be easier that way."

Just as he was beginning to relax, Lucy moved so fast, it made him snap upright, instinctively reaching for his own rifle with a sharp intake of breath. Breathing hard, he realised that there was no danger and he slowly settled back, his heart hammering.

Sleep. Yeah... Joe doubted that he'd be able to sleep at all, after everything they'd been through over the last few hours. Yet even so, now that he had finally had a chance to sit quietly, he realised that he was nearing exhaustion.

Joe lay back, moving slowly and stiffly. After a while staring up at the ceiling, he finally fell asleep, automatically moving onto his side so that he didn't snore too much.

"Magic is fine, but it's a drain of personal resources," Akuma said. "Some can't produce any at all without taking the life energy from somewhere else. Counterproductive in the art of medicine. Alchemy has a steadfast position in the realm of healing."

Not to mention poisons. It was no small fortune that the demon had gone unscathed. One small cut in the wrong place and he would have been incapable of tending to the injured. Such unpleasantries, however, were solely hypothetical. It wouldn't do to dwell on them.

"Tawny", Akuma turned their eyes onto the young woman. "You should take a break too. I know that fight took more out of you than you're letting on."

Tawny paused and glanced down at her current project, a poultice spread out on a wide leaf wrapped about a deep gash with a bit of twine. She looked for a moment as though she might protest, but slowly stood and nodded. It was though she had finally taken a moment to realize her own exhaustion.

"Yes, I'd like that, I think. Better I be at my best." She smiled between her two comrades before settling on Akuma. "You should too, Quick. You've been at it all afternoon."

"Aye, when I'm ready. I won't push myself too far."

Tawny gave a final nod to each of them before allowing herself to wander off, stiff from her long period of time on the floor beside the wounded. Akuma turned to look at Joe, silent except for the breathing of their fallen. After a moment of deliberation, the demon spoke up.

"We should talk about what happened in Kaiten. The duel."