Taking measures

JP with Lucian, Winteroak and Bandorchu

Tarmen kept his focus on the game for a bit, both to look for his next move and keep himself from too hasty of a reaction at the inquiry.
He looked towards Alexis as if still trying to understand what was being asked, trying to convey to her to be ready for trouble.
He never trusted a conversation among strangers that started that way, they usually ended up with the man dead and the woman… not, regardless of the answer. He had grown especially cautious around the subject after meeting the tribes of Fang and their unique perspective on women.
He held a firm gaze at the man who asked, giving a hesitant yes before signaling for his opponent to make a move.

Alexis could guess the subject of the ‘conversation’, and hadn’t needed Tarmen’s warning look to mentally get ready for whenever things got ugly, being seized up like that by the female of the trio.
Not that Alexis blamed her, she was doing the exact same thing with the assassins, just as as she had no doubt Tarmen did as well. And now the woman was looking at her companions, probably waiting for a signal of some kind.

No idea why their relationship status was such an interesting topic, but as far as she was concerned they were welcome to assume whatever they liked about it.
The woman in their midst seemed to be on somewhat equal grounds with the men, so it didn’t necessarily seem to be same issue as it had been with the Odonine.

So Alexis focused on preparing herself for whatever those ‘friendly’ acquaintances were playing these games with them for.

The man that asked looked back at Alexis leering at her. He looked back at Tarmen nodded his appreciation, waving his hands in the air showing that she had all the curves in the right places. Tarmen could tell the man was starting to goad him. His opponent captured three of his markers.

Meanwhile the woman sitting next to Alexis rose from the found and stood a few steps back from her. She bid that she stood up too and took her long curved blade out. Alexis readily grabbed at her own hilt but relaxed when the woman reverted her own blade and offered it to Alexis while pointing at her own.

He gritted his teeth at what was happening. These were truly professionals and it was something that always pissed him off.
He could care less about the way the man was gesturing at Alexis, she truly was a beautiful woman.
It was his paranoia about the whole thing that was getting to him, something that had been used against him in the past mostly by those too smart for their own good.
He gave no comment to the focus on Alexis, though did glance at the presented blade with concern before taking a breath. Whatever was at play needed a more level head than what they were wanting.

In other circumstances Alexis would have delighted to have a closer look at the interesting blade. She WAS a Garrahn after all.

But in this scenario she had to decide wether she could adjust to the unfamiliar weapon fast enough to be able to defend herself. At least the woman would likely suffer the same disadvantage.
So she took a good look at it from a distance instead of accepting right away, remembering what Ekero had told them about those weapons.

Her short analysis concluded that she should do decently with it if she adjusted her style accordingly, though of course not nearly as good as any of those guys.

But, as Tarmen already pointed out, they were at a disadvantage anyways, both in numbers and terrain-wise. If they wanted to tussle with the Helians their best hope was that the assassins severely underestimated both of them. Given their smug behavior, there was a chance at least.

So in the end, knowing that it wasn’t a smart move but doubting it would make much of a difference in the end, she did take the offered blade, and once she had it securely in her hand offered her own up for inspection.