Mateo
If you asked Mateo - nobody does, and that's their loss - he'd have said that turning into half a bear is also far from a legal move when it comes to a fight like this, but of course nobody else in the crowd gives much of a fuck. Rallying to see Koa pull himself to his feet and land an impressive number of blows on Berty the Bear Man (and he probably gets himself a fair few bets placed on him as a result of the unexpected increase in odds), Mateo's hope is short-lived, alas, and when his friend goes down he goes down.
Flinching and shoving himself to his feet to see Koa bounce off the walls and floor, it isn't a matter of chance that gets him beside the dragoon by the time he's trying to limp away; Mateo has practically fought his way to the space himself. "Hey," he says, breathless and far too hot in the crush of people, a few curls having escaped to tumble around his face. "Did you run out of money or something?" He could understand being flat broke as a reason for Koa to get drunk off his ass and square up against the bear. Clearly he hasn't done it for fun.
Putting himself on his friend's injured side as if to take the brunt of the impact from people jostling around them, the botanist's hand presses gently but insistently against the small of Koa's back, and he nods towards a side entrance that will have them spilling out into the nearby alleyway. "Let's get your arm back where it should be to start, no?" he suggests; with his nonna's magic warm against his chest, he's confident, at least, that he can do that much for the other man.
Flinching and shoving himself to his feet to see Koa bounce off the walls and floor, it isn't a matter of chance that gets him beside the dragoon by the time he's trying to limp away; Mateo has practically fought his way to the space himself. "Hey," he says, breathless and far too hot in the crush of people, a few curls having escaped to tumble around his face. "Did you run out of money or something?" He could understand being flat broke as a reason for Koa to get drunk off his ass and square up against the bear. Clearly he hasn't done it for fun.
Putting himself on his friend's injured side as if to take the brunt of the impact from people jostling around them, the botanist's hand presses gently but insistently against the small of Koa's back, and he nods towards a side entrance that will have them spilling out into the nearby alleyway. "Let's get your arm back where it should be to start, no?" he suggests; with his nonna's magic warm against his chest, he's confident, at least, that he can do that much for the other man.
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
