It's Not a Party Until Someone Gets Hurt

He wasn't opposed to holding hands. He'd actually encouraged Eira to do so when they were younger, because she'd been a small girl and easily anxious and he knew how much she disliked touching other people. It had become something he let slide a lot. Espen never directly took Eira hand unless prompted and he didn't always even then, but in enough of a crowd, he barely noticed when he did. Tonight was one of those nights, her hand slipping out of his as they parted before he hardly had a chance to realize they were holding hands.

Espen started with food, but he was very quickly enticed into drinking games and other sorts of revelry. Dancing was not one of them, but he did eventually find himself in another playful fight with his Thane, which, after a few* drinks, he lost the second time around. Which was fine because he could turn the moment into an excuse to get away from the crowd and take a few breaths of fresh air, piss, and generally attempt to ground himself a little.

After a moment, he returned to the gathering, finding himself near one of the larger fires and it's orbiting dancers. He watched from the sidelines, blending into the crowd a bit and enjoying the moment to himself. He didn't entirely notice that one of those dancers was Eira, but to be fair, he had had a bit to drink and they were moving and spinning rather quickly and it was dark, and asking the man to explicitly remember what sort of dress the woman had been wearing was an impossible task in itself even with how much he liked her.

* 'few' here being an un-quantifiable number, as asking Espen to keep track of how much he drank was an impossible task

The moment to clear his head helped a little. It didn't make Espen any less inebriated but it did allow him to balance and focus a bit better, enough to pay more attention to those around him. His group of raiders were across the way, gathered around one of the tables where his Thane stood on top drunkenly serenading...someone.

He eventually noticed Ingrid (not that he knew her name but he did know Eira was friends with her) dancing alone. She seemed...to be looking for someone. Wira maybe? He tried to study the faces dancing past. None of them were Eira. Which wasn't entirely concerning, the woman had friends and she could handle herself.

But...Ingrid really did look concerned, enough to halt her dancing and move from group to group. Espen was also quite aware how many men could be at a feast like this. He himself wasn't know for containing all of his...urges.

He surveyed the area by the fire again, looking for figures moving close together and thought he caught sight of a potential culprit. Half pushing his way through the moving bodies, he moved after the couple, fending off shouts of congratulations and encouragement. Espen tugged the arm of the man away so he could get a look at the woman with him, making the couple blink in surprise.

"Espen?" Sig chuckled. "You've a bit much to drink there?"

"Leave him alone, Sig, he's had a long day."

"I should say, if he's that desperate to sleep with you."

"Oy!" The woman playfully wrapped her husband in an headlock instead of the embrace they had been locked in mere moments ago. "Maybe I'd rather sleep with him and not you?"

Espen grinned awkwardly but shook his head. "Good luck with that one, Gale," he advised with a slight slur. Not Eira. Which meant he needed too keep looking. He turned in place, feeling a little lost but not any less focused. There were so many people and couples and friends moving about that this was going to be difficult.

So instead, he reached out to Is. Nudging that little connection in his mind with the idea that he needed help. And then again with a mental picture of Eira. Because animals didn't understand specifics. The fox wasn't nearby any longer, but she did move toward him again at the feeling of help.

Is didn't need to hear her to find her. The frost fox relied on her sense of smell more than anything else, especially with all the noise around them. She didn't delve too far into the crowd however, being a naturally flighty animal. Most wild familiar were that way. They were not tamed domestic beasts, the bond did not magically change their natures, but it was a magical reflection of the friendship and trust they had in their single person.

The white fox scrambled around the feet of those at the edge of the gathering, following Eira's scent until she found her. She didn't move very close, partly due to all the people and partly due to the scents of other animals in the area. Dogs of various sizes, familiar and otherwise, deterred her well enough. The raider manhandling Eira had familiar of his own after all and while Is couldn't tell what it was, she did know it was bigger than her.

Espen could feel the sense of pride in finding her target, which was enough to encourage him to follow her location in his head, feeling their bond like an invisible string tugging him closer.

He found the right pair this time just as the man leaned down to forcibly kiss Eira and while sure, Espen was taking a cold reading of the moment, he was falling back on the fact that Eira wasn't the touchy feely type, he was pretty sure she wasn't interested in a hug from a stranger, let alone a kiss. Espen shoved through the last few people and launched his fist at the man's jaw with a growl

The brown haired man wasn't someone Espen recognized but he could tell he was a warrior and could also tell he was drunk. Which made two of them. The raider staggered and growled, shaking off the blow and not letting go of Eira. "Ah, little Elder. You lose something?" He taunted, wiping blood from his lip.

"Get your claws off my woman," Espen growled. Okay, perhaps not his best choice of words but...well he sort of meant it.

Had he been more in possession of his faculties, the flippant commentary on how often he had slept around would have made him much more ashamed. But as it was, it only served to make him more indignant and angry. That anger paled in comparison to the rage at watching the man kiss Eira. Clearly she didn't want it. And clearly she didn't belong to him. Of course, that entered into a debate about morals and owning people, but either way, Espen wasn't about to let this man simply take something because he wanted to, without regard for anything else.

The raider wasn't an idiot. He also probably wasn't as drunk as Espen was, considering his foresight to use Eira as a human shield and prevent the angry Elder from simple tackling him sideways or punching him again. Technically, Espen had given the man a warning. Two actually, a physical one followed by a verbal one. And considering he had been laughed off both times, he wasn't inclined to give him a third, human shield or no.

Espen grit his teeth, hardly capable of words. Eira's kick to the man's leg was the distraction he needed. While it did nothing to dislodge his hold, the raider turned his attention to the woman for a moment and that was all Espen needed to side step and ensure his boot made solid contact with the man's stomach. The man grunted and reflexively let go of Eira this time. Espen was on top of him in the next moment, tackling him to the ground and getting a collection of body shots for his trouble. The two men wrestled for a moment before they devolved into attempting to get a choke hold or arm bar on each other and then finally struggled to their feet. Espen shoved the man back against the crowd, which parted so that he slammed back into a table.

The raider launched himself at Espen who side stepped and grinned, rather impressed with his cat-like reflexes even while inebriated. Then he suddenly found himself being slammed face first into the table, barely managing to protect his face with his arms and taking a bench to his stomach. They were sturdy tables however, and both fortunately and unfortunately, not inclined to break so easily. The raider kept him pinned to the table, grinding his cheek into his hand and that into edge of the wood grain. "Not so much talk now, eh?"

"Go fuck yourself," Espen shot back, also very proud of himself for his smartass joke.

It took him a few seconds to catch his breath as the man released him. And then another few seconds to realize exactly why he had let go of him. He turned in time to watch the man pulled Eira down and sit on her, realizing then that she was probably who had convinced the man through violence to let him go.

Espen pulled himself up and much more calmly than he thought possible, looped and arm around the man's neck and dragged him up and off of Eira. "You need to learn to keep your hands to yourself," he growled in his ear, holding him tightly and slowly restricting his breathing. The man tried to claw into his arms and then realized that wasn't helpful and tried to elbow him in the chest but by that point he was too weak and his movements were those of someone desperate ofr air rather than someone looking to fight.

He released the man, shoving him away to the crowd and moving to put himself between him and Eira. Espen rubbed his chin gingerly where the table had rubbed him raw and watching the raider stagger to his knees and gasp for air.

The two men glared at each other for a long moment, though by this point, the crowd realized this was no friendly drunken brawl but an aggressive one, multiple parties moving forward to make sure each man was both okay and wasn't about to lash out again. Espen shrugged off a few concerned looks and words and turn to Eira. "Are you alright?" He asked. He kept half his attention on the other man, still breathing heavily, his face flush with adrenaline and drink.

He let Eira take his hand for a moment, mostly to make sure she was indeed alright and as a way to ground himself a little. Espen looked her over much as she looked him over, noting the bruise on her wrist but uncertain if anything else was wrong. Her confirmation that she would be fine was enough for the moment that he took it at face value. He only shrugged in answer, intending to say more but he didn't get the chance.

Hearing the man speak, he pulled his hand from hers and turned fully to put his front to the man, Eira behind his back, her body pressed against him a stark and more primal urge to protect and defend. "Next time?" He snorted and looked around at the crowd. "You wanna make that public threat, I'll make you a public promise. There's no fool Manthiran guard to worry about here, whelp," he said, drawing himself up and stepping back toward the other man. It didn't matter that Espen was an inch shorter, he was more than willing to end a fight with promises. "Just me. You talk to her, I'll cut off your hand. You touch her, I'll cut off your cock. Understand?" He paused just shy of touching the man, arms spread wide as if daring him to hit him again in front of everyone.

Would it stop the man from trying something the next time he was drunk? Probably not. But it was enough to cow him now and likely enough to make him attempt to control himself. The raider growled and then finally backed away and back into the crowd, muttering obscenities under his breath. "Go fuck a goat," Espen grumbled at his back, before turning back to Eira. "You alright?" He asked again, wincing a little as the adrenaline faded and he started to feel the bruises and scrapes. He wanted to suggest she take a walk. Or they take a walk. Or that he could find her someone like Ingrid to take her to the hut or something but he'd used a lot of words and after drinking so much, the wrestling wasn't sitting well with his stomach and it was all very much a mess.