On the Street, near sundown

"You will leave now, sir! I will not have my brother's life put at risk!"

"Luke" replied in a dry, sarcastic voice, "Well, since you've asked so nicely, I suppose I should just leave this opportunity to communicate important information to my family before terrible mistakes are made behind. If you would be so kind, you are free to join me or move aside and let me finish my business."

"You should leave now," Alistair snapped, "I want my brother back."

"I think I shall. Good day, Mr Fairchild," Replied "Luke" as he turned to go, heading back in the direction of the ships.

Garrett, meanwhile, just stared at the scene form a good distance away, not quite sure what to make of all of it. He was still convinced that Luke was insane, but wasn't entirely sure how to convince Alistair of the same.

"That's not what I meant!" Alistair yelled, chasing Luke. "Good God, man!"

As Luke headed down the street, he turned to address Alistair, not stopping even for a moment, "I should have you know my time in a body is severely limited. If you would be so kind as to either help me or move and allow me to do my business..."

"You're not running off with my brother," Alistair insisted. "What's so bloody important?"

"I need to warn my son not to propose to the daughter of the man who murdered me," "Luke" replied in a dead serious tone as he continued along the street with purpose.

"Murdered you?!" Alistair asked in utter shock. "What the bloody hell are you on about?"

"Coxish Lords do not perish in accidents. To sickness, perhaps. But accidents generally happen to people who use low grade equipment," Lord Fairfax said as he walked. "My associate and friend, viscount Morenne, murdered me. I would go into the details, but I imagine they would bore you."

"So you plan to go, steal my brother, and put him in line with a madman who will not believe you? Not only will he not believe you, he will try to hurt Luke. Maybe I deserve it, I don't know, but Luke... Luke never would."

"Unless you can offer an adequate way to get my message across, I believe in person is the only way to even come close," "Luke" responded.

"Well, you're not going," Alistair snapped. "You're staying here."

"Luke" rolled his eyes at the stubborn display and continued his walk, deciding that arguing anymore was not worth it.

Alistair decided that the time for words was over. He raced after Luke, almost managing to catch him, until he slipped on the pavement and landed face-first in a muddy puddle. Angrily, he shouted after Luke, "Come back here, damn you!"

There was no reaction from the continuous retreating form beyond a sigh.

Garrett followed after the two as they headed down the street, finding himself only somewhat invested in the strange drama unfolding before him. He was beginning to think that there were more interesting things to do than watch Alistair cling to his insane brother. Like get a hotel. Maybe head back and get his stuff and find himself somewhere a little less... eventful. "Just leave him. The problem will take care of itself in one way or another before long."

"What do you mean by that, precisely?" Alistair snapped at his pupil. "You think letting him confront Lord Fairfax is a wise move? He is either the wrong mind in the wrong body, or completely insane and incapable of deciding in his own best interest at the moment. Either way, we cannot let him go there as he is!"

Garrett took a step away from the outburst. A few people in the crowd had stopped to watch the two as they talked on the street with a vague curiosity worn by wanderers. After a moment of consideration, he moved closer to offer Alistair a hand, replying as quietly as he could, "We're already tried the reason route, and that's not working in the slightest. Pretty sure any tricking routes is out of the question, unless you want to try and convince him Fairfax is on the ship and hope you don't get torn a new one when he finds out you're wrong. And if the rumors back on Phiah were true, brute force ain't an option either. So unless you can think of some other plan, I think we'd do best to just leave him."

Alistair accepted the hand up and looked at the mud all down the front of his new suit with anger. Today was just not his day. Luke was well gone now, and he was attracting attention. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, bugger, fuck fuck!" Alistair snapped, letting out his frustration in a string of expletives that made most listeners move on hastily. "He's bloody well going to fucking die a fucking, fuckety, bloody stupid death!"

Even Garrett flinches at the string of expletives. While he wasn't exactly the most moral young man, he grew up with certain expectations on language. "He's not going to die. Maybe incarcerated or admitted, but not die. What kind of Coxish Lord runs around murdering people? Not any I've heard of, though not sure I can say the same for anyone from Central City or Audum..."

"The man is vindictive and angry at me," Alistair growled. "I don't think there's any end to what he would do. Last we met he came close to zapping me on the spot."

"I guess there is a bit of reason to worry there, though I doubt he'd do anything more than keep your brother hostage if he had nothing to do with your two's business," Garrett continued.

"With him running around saying he's the late Lord Fairfax? It's unlikely he'd manage not to gain the current Lord's ire."

"Then guess all we can do is hope for the best if we can't do anything else. Come on, there should be a hotel with a bar not far from here," Garrett responded with a shrug and an attempt to plant an arm around Alistair's shoulders to help guide him elsewhere, perferably away from the scene he had just created. He wasn't much of one for hope himself, he found it tended to do nothing much but get in the way of survival, but it was an idea other people seamed to take comfort in.

Alistair grumbled, but having lost his brother in the crowd, and with no idea where either Lord Fairfax could be found, he allowed himself to be led away. "I though' 'e was dead an' gone for good before a wee' ago," Alistair mumbled. "'aving 'im back 'en losing 'im can' be much different." He knew he was trying to fool himself. Before he had been utterly helpless to stop the accident because he had been far away. This time he had had an opportunity... but Luke had slipped through his fingers.