Heart, Wild

?Avy! C?mon Avy where are you hiding at?!??

The twin girls rushed inside the abandoned theater, both of them pale and rail thin with bright blue eyes. The only separation of the two was the choice of the clothes they wore. One dressed in bright colors with canary yellow hair with a hippie bohemian flare and the other dressed in darks with purple dyed hair with black tips and gothic fashion. The pair stopped on the stage and looked around for the one they were starting to consider the Ring leader in their little group of misfits.

??ey Mockin? Jay, Nightengale. Wha? tis tha word??

The pair turned toward the warm brogue coming from stage left to grin eagerly at the sleek, toned woman leaning against the ropes before dashing over to the older girl to throw themselves literally in Avy?s embrace. The vibrant and rich tones of the twins? voices blended to become pleasant in her ears as she hugged the pair in greeting.

?You should see what we got this time, Avy!?

?Oh aye? Still robbin? from da rich and givin? ta us poor eh??

The soft chuckle rustled and rummaged through Avy?s vivid brogue as pale green eyes flashed with mirth at the notion of all that the little misfits were doing. Ever since Avy had found the twins on the street she had ended up collecting the street urchins and lost souls like new pets.

Taking care of them and bringing them back to health if they needed it. There was a constant vibe of Avy?s nature to make sure they were fed, clothed, and taken care of. Avy couldn?t help but think that she was just doing it to make amends for her own faults and mistakes.

Arms thrown around the slender shoulders of both girls she nudged them along to the old dressing rooms of the theater that now had become the place to bunker down in. Judging by the state of the twins it seemed perfect to have such a safe house for them to return to.

Nightengale still looked shaky from her withdrawals and just as rain soaked as her sister. To Avy it was just more of a reason to keep the place safe and open for the kids no matter what the cost or the risk.

A side glance was spared to Mouse perched on a stool she was dwarfed on, judging that Mouse was only a six year old girl with shaggy brown hair and impish brown eyes. The way the girl peered at her reflection had Avy grinning before her gaze caught on her own reflection with a rueful smile. Those pale green eyes were playing a dramatic history in the background forged of moments lost and forsaken lovers.

Fingers reached out to ruffle Mouse?s hair with a wink before she was heading off with the girls to separate out the goods for the night . A rag tag bunch they were but to Avy they were family. It was funny to think that for one like Avy that had only been concerned about the love and lives of two she now was fully absorbed in taking care of an entire litter of kids and teenagers.

?Avy are you going to take us out tonight?!? You promised?!?

?Course ah?m goin? ta take ye out, gels, jus? get yerselves ready!?

Grinning from ear to ear, Avy shook her head as she watched the girls run off to prepare for a festive night of celebrations at the local pub. Sure Avy didn?t have much money to her disposal but what they couldn?t find they all could steal. It wasn?t the best way of living but it was something.

It still was something so strange to deal with as she watched the twins retreat gossiping and giggling to themselves. Well into their twenties the girls still held the eager anticipation of fresh, young teenagers. Still they figured Avy as one of their own, and surely Avy fit and looked the part as a twenty-three year old runaway that worked random odd and end jobs. Funny thing was, the appearance couldn?t be any farther from the truth.

If only they knew?

Arm in arm they were a rag tag trio, Avy was framed by the twins feeling like she was lost in some unusual fashion show. The twins if given a different life could easily be runaway models, and judging by the eager saunter of their walk they were dreaming of the same hopes and aspirations.

Avy peered up and over their heads before tipping her head back for her eyes to search the sky and chase the stars. It was the Nightengale's choice tonight of where to spend the hours until the break of dawn.

The redhead couldn't help but grin at the idea of what Nightengale may choose. Would it be a smoky coffee shop with open mic nights of haunting tunes and free verse poetry or the goth club tonight? Avy and the Mockingjay had always stood out like sore thumbs amongst that group.

The dark shadows of males and females that sometimes danced like night haunted ballerinas and other times just seemed as trees cemented to the ground. All stiff save for the sway of arms. The occasional steps around perimeter. Still there was something about transfixing about those dark patches of souls.

Tonight though Avy was surprised when the Nightengale drew them towards a cheerful looking pub. The place should have left Avy grinning but instead she looked over the pub with a sense of apprehension.

"Ye sure bout dis lass?"
"Oh c'mon Avy. Pleeaaaaaaaaaaseeeeee"
"Cor alrigh' le's gae."

Avy began to chuckle as she was tugged on inside and was met with the caterwaling of off key drunks singing their own rousing of lullabies and romance.

A wistful smile caught her lips as she released the twins to go about in their own directions to flirt and drink and sometimes pocket pick to their whims.

Avy instead found herself wandering to the bar and requesting a pint. It was going to be a long night.

It had begun as a quiet evening for Avy to enjoy her first pint. She settled in that easy fashion of a near boneless slouch of nonchalance as the pale green of her eyes took in the pub patrons even as her eyes kept an even closer watch on Mockingjay and Nightengale.

A grin curled her lips as she watched Nightengale getting into some heavy discussion of politics and religion with some of the older drunks while Mockingjay remained near the jukebox with her surrounding of doting fans.

Avy never had a hard time finding the twins, no matter that they were as different as day and night, Nightengale?s heated voice in topics others would shy from and Mockingjay?s vibrant giggles were always easy to find in a crowd.

Avy settled in with a sigh as she sipped from her pint, tongue licking the froth from her lips as she watched the room from her vantage point of the mirror behind the bar. That mirrored reflection was what set her back to straighten and the pale greens to narrow in wary consideration as one male approached her and took the stool beside her.

She knew there was something just off about him. The unnatural way of people came natural to Avy as a second nature. She always said it was a second nature when really it was a pure instinct and an old habit of the even older forgotten ways.

?Hm. Well now gel, ye know ye should nae be here.?

?Las? time ah checked nae one was keepin? ordinance ova me.?

?Dat sae. Did nae think it was dat long fer ye tae already forget. Already ye be overstayin? yer welcome.?

The pale greens flicked to check on the twins before fixing coolly on the man beside her as a smile reached her mouth cheerfully while never reaching her eyes.

?Ah jus? got here. Ah?m nae even finished muh pint.?

?Dat be time enough donnae ye think, lassy??

?Ah?m bloody tired of ye sods followin? me around is whut ah?m thinkin??

The pint was near slammed down on the bar as she lifted a brow to the man beside her with her expression set in the ?don?t fxck with me face.? Sadly he decided it was a better decision to laugh at her then take that face serious. It was never a good thing when it came to Avy but then again she had become quite used to people mistaking her and her capability of holding her own.

What tipped her off to react with that blind fury was when the man lashed out and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. Growling out a low string of curses those pale green eyes flashed with that shimmering glow of energy as he whispered low into her ear.

?Ye know lassy, the red hair is nae foolin? aneone. Ye can change yer hair but yer still tha same gel. Lil white flower, whut name ye goin? buh now??

?None of yer damn business ye soddin? fool!?

She didn?t know what was worse, the fact that she had been found or how much it affected her. Only a few moments were taken to yell out to the Nightengale and Mockingjay to head home with the disposition in that brogue of it sounding like an order before the troublemaker grin crawled across her lips.

No time wasted as her fist knocked quite the punch into the other man?s face even as his grip tightened in her hair. It only took a reflective ponder of how she hadn?t even had a chance to finish her first pint before she went flying across the room to crash into the opposite wall of the pub. Just another crazy night for Avy and it seemed this evening was meant for an all out brawl.

Fists raised she recovered from hitting the wall and went right back to what she did best? fighting and getting her adorable arse in trouble.

Trouble seems to be becoming his stock and trade.

He loves a good brawl. It must be the Irish in him. And - as always seems to be the case - it's the right place, the right time.

He's kind of in the restless mood, had been ever since that Ranger character had made his little appearance. The man is right, Finn's been busy - that itch, ever since that first flight, that one night...

And to think it started as showing off. He might have known it wouldn't end there - he knows himself too well. It's been his way, his life, the purpose of his existence, for so long that he can't remember a time when he hadn't been that guy.

The hero. Guardian, protector, angel, god, superhero. He'd been called them all, and more.

There had been dark times. Errors, mistakes, things done wrong.

Losses, pain, at his hands or at others.

He'd felt responsible for them all. Had been responsible for them, in his eyes. But as time wore on and the world grew, he made less of a difference.

And less.

Here, though - here, there is a chance. Here one man can make a difference.

So it's not that the man was wrong about Finn. Far from it.

His problem is simple - trust.

That's what he's struggling with when the sounds of chaos in the pub get his attention, even through the closed doors, out in the street. Not that it's all that difficult, really, with the crashing and yelling...

It's not even a question, really. He needs the diversion, something to clear his head of the thoughts rattling around in it. And what better way to do that than by some good, old-fashioned, blood-and-thunder violence?

The door being opened gets lost in the chaos inside. Just like any good bar brawl, fists, bottles and bodies are flying in equal measure. As he looks around the bar, he comes to the center of the chaos, a flash of crimson locks glinting in the dim light.

Migh've known.

The guy she's tangling with is near to twice her size, ugly as sin, and paying for whatever he did to earn her ire with a right hook at the moment, followed by a swift uppercut. As he watches, another man comes up behind her, a bottle raised over his head.

His blow never lands - with one hand Finn grabs him by the back of his shirt and takes a step back, yanking hard. With a ripping sound and a yelp the man gets flung down to land on his back with force enough to send a ripple through the floorboards, knocking two nearby tables over. Turning, Finn puts a boot to his midsection that sends him skidding across the floor to collide against a wall with a resounding CRASH! He doesn't show any inclination towards getting up.

A glass bottle comes crashing over his head, shattering it to shards. He looks around just in time to see a fist the size of a canned ham come looping in at his face. His own hand balls up, snapping up and colliding with the bigger man's. Surprisingly high-pitched screams accompany the sound of his fingers and wrist fracturing in multiple places as he drops to his knees, grabbing for that hand instinctively. A swift tap to his temple puts an end to that.

He turns just in time to see Avy kick her opponent in the knee. Wincing slightly at the crack as the man drops to the floor, he grins and catches her eye with a wink just as she's putting her boot to the back of the ugly's head.

"Well, now...if'n et isnae one sexeh Irish lass in a pub kickin' the crap ou' a man twice her size. Ah'm pre'y sure I've nae seen an'thin' sexier than tha'!"

Catching a hint of motion from the corner of his eye, he turns and brings his hands up just in time to catch the bar stool being swung at his head. With a hard yank he pulls it from the assaulting man's hands and tears it apart like it's made of cardboard. The former owner of the stool looks like he's about to have second thoughts when a piece of that stool flung by Finn catches him right in the center of his forehead hard enough that it throws him back to land on the bar, out cold.

Turning back to Avy, he chuckles. "Oi...ye sure know how tae pick 'em, don' ye?"

The fight sang through her veins in a vibrant song of mischief and mayhem, as she was a fey bright blur of red and cream, a wicked spark of pale green as perhaps just for that moment she let go. The fight was easier to succumb to then anything else come the garish light of day.

In that night she would have no regrets and a good ol' pub brawl wouldn't wake her up cursing the next morning. There were times she spared the glances to the pub owner hoping he wouldn't hold any regrets against her and leave it being just one more bar she couldn't come back to.

Snorting out a breath she caught the wrist of the man swinging for her as she went down, sweeping through his stance spread legs and twisting around just as she let go to snap out both feet to connect with the back of his knees.

So many times women went for the groin to fight off assailants when there were far weaker points to hit. Those points were always her favorite. That troublemaker's grin was nearly wolfish as another came for her just as Finn's voice cut through the thunder of that brawl and she threw back her head and howled out that triumphant cry admist laughter near close to the brink of insanity.

Another man had fallen down to his knees before her and she took a moment to stroke her own ego to make it seem to her like he was worshipping the ground she walked on. The reality check kicked in then as her boot nudged his shoulder and he went down like a pile of bricks just as her boot rested on his head.

One. Two. Down for the count.

Fists raised in the air she crowed out victory as the adrenaline rush began its slow taper off as she moseyed over to the Irish as the pub fell into that afterglow of half silence, half groans. Admist that recovery from chaos she watched as the fight left the rest of them and they stumbled out into the night leaving the pair to face off with the pub owner, the unconscious, and themselves.

Perhaps the latter was what Avy worried over the most. "Donnae think ah did nae hear ye call me sexy."

A crooked grin as she reached for him, fingers tugging at his shirt as she fell into a half embrace with him breathing in the sweat and aura of him. That vibrant energy something liquid sweet and drug heady she would drink in from the Irish.

Those pale greens went to him, lost in a linger of topaz in the contemplation of those just before a kiss sort of standstill in time moments before she nudged him away to reclaim her pint. A collapse at a table watching as he gathered his own pint from the pub owner.

Bloody, battered, and bruised Avy assessed her own damages and battle scars as he took a seat beside her.

"Ye always comin' around now a' tha right bloody time ye are, darlin'"

Languid grin she kicked her aching feet up into his lap and threw her head back as she closed her eyes. Smiling with the indulgence of another full swallow of the pint before she drank it down to the bottom.

A hand swiped across her mouth and she would glow with her own shine, all spitfire and lightning wild. It was the silence that left her undone as those eyes were set fixed again upon the Irish.

"Muh hero."

There was a playful jest in the words, a mirth spark in her smile but it was her eyes that told the stories of later chapters and prior prologues as one foot slipped from his lap to stretch avalon long. Collapsing in his lap she threw her arms around his neck and buried all her cares and concerns in his scent.

The light cut through the holes and severed pieces of the roof of the broken down theater, tearing rays of sunshine against her closed lashes till a shadow mark covered and coated her in darkness.

Avy grumbled as she lifted an arm and swatted at the shadow without contact. The masculine chuckle radiated in the air above her and she hid a grin in her pillow.

"Just five more minutes."

She was hauled in the air, laughing and squirming as she clutched at the solitaire sheet that covered the mattress they shared.

It wasn't past Avy to take pleasure in the simple things. The care taking of the outcast had made her ever so accomodated to their lifestyle and she treasured it.

He whispered all the promises to her that they had made, as much to each other as to the others.

The sheet was pulled closer to her naked figure as she threw her arms around his neck, lips against his skin as she smiled up to Finn before looking over his shoulder.

Grinning from ear to ear was that rag tag group so patiently waiting. Avy could see the eager glow in their eyes of anticipation of the day out she had promised them at the park.

She couldn't help but laugh with pleasure at the sight as her heart near felt it would burst with joy.

"Alright...lemme jus' gae get dressed. Care tae help me?"

A saucy wiggle of brows to Finn as he let her go and she waved off the rest of the crew so she could have some privacy.

Mockingjay laughed before grabbing Mouse and Nightengale's hands and grinning to the other small handful of the outcasts before they all took off running to the next room with a shouted request of Finn and Avy not to take forever.

Avy made no promises when it came to that. A shake of head, grinning she wrapped her arms around him with a sigh of pleasure and contentment.

Alas she couldn't be too distracted by her lover, as much as she wished. They had forever, but the day on the other hand... did not last through eternity.