The Honor Circle (IC) [Fa Teen, for language]

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The pool player nods, makes a whatever-ish sort of shrug, and racks up in quick, precise movements, wiping the balls on the nap as each one goes into the triangle, to clear off any speck of chalk that might remain. He finishes up, balances the 8-ball on the top, and places the balls perfectly in place, the black still spinning in the middle.

"Pub rules? First down is yours, spots or stripes, foul is free ball, and sinking both on first is my choice?"

He flicks the triangle up, spinning it jauntily in one paw before slipping it into it's place under the table, and steps back, breezily confident. He bows slightly, waving Risky on with one hand, and stands, with his beer, awaiting her play... and smiling gently to himself.

[Gareeku]

Watching Aisha move past and behind him, Gareeku was about to whirl round and face her when he saw the boomering whizzing towards him from his left. Baring his teeth in a slight snarl, the wolf quickly swung his sword like a baseball bat would be swung. As the blade collided with the boomerang, sparks were sent out as the metals of the two weapons violently collided with each other, sending the boomerang whirling away where it slammed, and subsequently lodged itself, into the wall of the circle.

Whirling round to face Aisha, a playful smirk was now present on his face as he shifted into a stance, although he was panting slightly from the fight so far.
"Shall we continue?" he said playfully. For a few moments the two warriors stood still. There was no sound, save for the breathing the two warriors made as they stood still.

Suddenly, Gareeku moved; dashing foward, the wol brought down his sword in a vertical slash, hoping to force Aisha to concentrate on that attack as he swept his foot round for a leg sweep, before throwing an elbow forward in the hopes of it connecting with her gut, followed by a spinning roundhouse kick aimed at the pantheress' head.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched for a moment as her boomerang was diverted, the sawblade lodging itself straight into the wall.  The energy from the magic of the artifact flashed briefly like lightning before staying still, and then she slowly turned her gaze back with a grin.  The warriors were for the remainder going to fight on an equal stand, which was just fine with her.  While catching her breath, she smirked back in reply to the wolf, her blade flashing in the lights as she brought it up.  "Let's," she said, that one word tinged with challenge.

As he charged, Aisha kept her eyes on him while the flexible muscles in her legs and back bunched up in preparation for whatever he had coming.  She backstepped, sweeping her sword upwards to meet his downward slash as the two metallic surfaces met in a shower of sparks.  With a grunt she started to push the sword away, only to feel her feet swept out from under her.  Dammit, her thoughts cursed...but instead of trying to stay upright after that, she caught herself on the ground as her side was almost flat against it.

She felt the wind from what would have been the blow to her gut straight over her, as well as the kick which narrowly missed her head and made her pulse race...there was a slow-motion moment as Gareeku's kick hung in the air, and at that point, Aisha swept an arm out to try and swipe his remaining leg out from under him, rolling away as he finished his chain of attacks...as the panthress got back to her feet, she rushed forward and made an upward swipe, once again hoping to use her sword to drive the wolf's own from his grip...

[Stygian]

When the gouts of flame swallowed Giles up, and the floor split from underneath, the lava rushing out and blinding several of her sensors with its intensity, Moira regretted that she had taken this approach to the fight. She had almost run out of options right now; she didn't want to kill Giles. After all, it didn't seem like people could be resurrected here. A fight to the death...
   The machine-woman reared back a bit, the two arms on her back separating into four ones with a clacking sound, and kept her distance from the flames. She was somewhat out of options. Having charged her shields, she could hope to withstand possibly a minute of bombardment from all that. Then, she'd have nothing, not even layers of ablatives or polymers, to depend on. She had a weapon that she could use, but at this stage she would probably kill Giles and blast herself half asunder as well with it.
   The only solution she could think of was almost being melted by the lava. She sped to the side, beginning to charge up her system heavily, and made some leaps and hops on all of her legs, snapping up the crate and what she had left in it, and rolling to the side. From the crate she pulled a sort of cell, a cylindrical thing about the size of a large fist. She snapped it into a lock on her backside and immediately made an energy transfer that caused her body to strain. Then, she unlocked it, grabbed it with a back-mounted arm, and threw it away, its timer set to two seconds. It flew in a high arc, against Giles.
   Perhaps forty feet from him, it exploded, though not in an explosion as per the conventional meaning. Supercooled hydrogen and lithium swirled around a negative charge in the air that provided both the conductor and the charge for the reaction that was to take place. The humidity was sucked from the swirling air, drying it instantly and forming glass-like crystals that flew through the air at hurricane speeds. All the heat was drawn to compensate for this immense negative overload of freezing cold that appeared for a few seconds.

[Gareeku]

As Gareeku executed his assault, he looked down as Aisha went to the floor. It was then, however, that he realised he was left exposed as Aisha went to strike at his leg. "...shit..."

Having had his foot swept out from underneath him, the wolf rolled away as soon as he hit the ground. However, no sooner had he got back onto his feet, he saw the Aisha was making an assault of her own. Feeling his sword leave the grip of his hands as Aisha's tactics worked, Gareeku grimaced slightly. It seemed that, for the time being, he was limited to non weapons combat.

However, as soon as Aisha had knocked his katana from his possession, the wolf realised she had left herself exposed. Taking this opportunity, Gareeku immediately threw in a fist towards the pantheress' ribs, before bringing his other arm up in an uppercut aimed at Aisha's jaw. If the strike connected, the wolf would then aim an elbow strike to her gut with his left arm, followed by a hook punch with his right fist and a spinning axe kick with his right heel.

[TheGreyRonin]

Risky stepped to the head of the pool table and smiled softly. She leaned down for a second to sight along the cue, then placed it between the fingers of her right hand and drew back. "On break, blue in the far right corner." With a deft flick of her wrist the cue ball slammed into the others with a loud crack!, and the solid blue ball went spinning into the far right corner.

Flit raised her head suddenly and arrowed over to the flaming circle, her eyes widening. "Pretty! Bright! Pretty!" She waved her little fingers at the flames as though she had control over them from outside the circle.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The as yet unnamed pool player smiles briefly, nods, and comments "Stripes it is. Play on."


He makes no further comment, deeming such unnecessary, and merely awaits the outcome of the match...

[Aisha deCabre]

There was a light smirk on Aisha's face when her sword connected with his, the katana flying out over his head.  But it was in that split second, looking at his face, it was almost like she could read his mind on what he was going to do next...and the realization of her mistake was painful.  She jumped as his punch connected, sweat and blood flying away from her body as she let the momentum carry her through the air.  She had barely felt the uppercut take hold soon after, her jaw clenched from the pain as it hit...

By that time, however, the panthress had started to regain her composure, adrenaline coursing through her body like a rapid-flowing river and bringing her reflexes back into focus.  Only having a brief second, Aisha moved the broad side of her sword in front of herself to block his elbow hit, driving it into the ground and using it as a support while she brought an arm up to block his punch...though she could do nothing then to avoid his axe kick but to try catching it.

Relinquishing the grip on her sword, she took a hard blow and almost skidded around on the ground as she gripped his leg while it was in midair, the heel stopping only a few inches from her face.  Seizing that moment, her right leg swept back to drive the wolf's remaining one from under him.  Then, she let go of his ankle and spun in another kick to hopefully trip his hands were he to try flipping back up again...and if that worked, she swung an elbow out to hit his side, followed by clasping her fists together and coming up, swinging them around for a blow to his head...

[TheGreyRonin]

Risky nodded, then lined up a second shot. "Orange near side pocket, one rail," she called, then let fly. The cue ball moved perfectly, tapping the orange ball into the rail just hard enough that it bounced and tipped into the pocket closest to her.

Smiling and confident, she moved past the other player. "Excuse me," she said sweetly, as she brushed past. He could catch a hint of her scent, ozone and sandalwood, as she lined up another shot. "Red far right corner," she called, then flicked her cue stick into the cue.

The red ball headed towards the corner but barely grazed the striped green. It came to a halt just a quarter inch short, and Risky sighed. "Not enough english. Your table," she said with a shrug.

Flit came fluttering back into the bar, giggling, then started doing barrel rolls that nearly grazed the ceiling above the main room.

[Gareeku]

As Gareeku began to bring his heel down in the axe kick, he grinned slightly as she grabbed his foot. His pride for fighting a warrior such as her was only strengthened as he thought of the agility and strength that she possessed. It was then, however, that he felt his other foot leave the ground at the pantheress swept it from underneath him.

Falling to the ground, the wolf then planted his hands on the earth to recover, only to then have them swept out from underneath him as Aisha struck at his arms, causing him to fall to the ground in a heap. However, by then Gareeku had recovered from the initial shock of the hits landed on him, and parried Aisha's elbow strike with a fist as he got back onto his feet, before twisting his waist to barely dodge the strike aimed at his head, the wolf being able to feel the slight rush of wind the attemped strike created on his face.

However, Gareeku then immediately seized the chance for a counter attack and so, grabbing one of Aisha's arm, he tossed his opponent about a meter away in a similar to that of a judo throw. Not stopping there, the wolf immediately rushed forward and struck out his right palm in a strike aimed at the pantheress' chest, followed by swinging his left fist in for a hit aimed at her ribs.

Continuing his assault, Gareeku then swung in his right leg aimed at the side of Aisha's knee, hoping to cause her to buckle slightly if the strike connected, before his other foot left the ground and came in towards the pantheress' jaw in the form of a spinning kick.

[Aisha deCabre]

By now, Aisha was feeling the fatigue of the fight, wondering for a passing second if he was too, though either of them were plainly too stubborn to break from their assaults...the fight had turned from the challenged one, of weapons, to purely physical, yet there were no complaints from either side.  It would continue that way, so be it, even if in the back of her mind she knew this was Gareeku's area of strength.

Snarling with frustration as the final attack of her chain missed, she was only starting to get her wind back when the wolf swiftly grabbed her arm.  There was a slight surprised yelp as she was tossed through the air, though felid regained her composure and pivoted her body so that she could land on her feet...the maneuver was slightly painful however due to the bruise in her midsection from his last blow to it, and she was soon met with his oncoming assault upon touching the ground.  Her red eyes seemed to flash in the light then, saturated with resolve and focus as tight as ever.

As soon as her foot touched the floor of the arena, she watched his fists closely, leaping back on that foot away from his palm and raising her right arm to block his blow to her ribcage, merely causing her elbow to have been driven into her side with the force.  There was a wince, but that didn't stop her...she gathered that force in her bunched-up leg muscles to leap away from the kick aimed at her legs, only tripping slightly as the wind passed beneath her feet.

It was at that moment, in midair, she tried to make a risky counterattack of her own, pivoting and bringing her left foot up to try and catch him right on the side of the head...but then his right leg was coming up to hit her as well, both attacks coming in at once from opposite sides, and seemingly unavoidable.

Aisha didn't know if her kick hit, but she did feel his, and before the panthress knew it she had landed on the ground, hard.  With a groan, she tried to order herself back up slowly, looking to where the wolf was...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The pool player hefts his cue in his left paw, thoughtfully, gazing at the layout, noting the careful way none of his balls are accessible from where the cue ball has ended.

"Let's see. Yellow in the far left corner, blue in the left middle, red in the near right corner, and.. yes, purple in after the yellow. Off the Flit."

He drops the cue into his right hand and fires off a jump shot, just as Flit zooms over the table, before Risky can do more than mutter "... Wait, what?". The cue ball ricochets off Flit, bounces back down off the far end of the table, and spins into the indicated group, sending the balls spinning off - the yellow dropping into the corner first, the blue somewhat slower to roll, dropping into the empty middle pocket, the red rolling slowly into the corner, and the purple bouncing off the other pocket, back across the table, and slicing off the cue again to drop square into the middle pocket.

He straightens up, shrugs sort-of apologetically at Risky, and moves around to take his next shot. "Thirteen in over the three," he says, lining up at the empty pocket...

(edit: Ten/red was already sunk. Continuity error. Non-critical, but annoying. Fixed -> thirteen/orange.)

[TheGreyRonin]

Risky's eyes were wide after the last shot, and she put her hands on her hips. "That was just mean!" she exclaimed. "...I liked it!" She smiled broadly, as her opponent took his next shot.

Flit was knocked about a foot off course and stopped, spiralling in for a landing on the bar. She staggered two steps, then sat down hard. "Whups!" she said, then stared at Stygian with crossed eyes. "Twins!" she said, and tried to point at both Stygians at once with the same finger.

[Gareeku]

As Gareeku brought his leg round for the final hit of his assault, he saw that Aisha was bringing up a leg of her own in a counter attack. Not having enough time parry the attack, the wolf quickly throw up his arms in front of him in an x-shaped fashion.

As her kick hit, the force from the blow knocked his arms back into him, knocking him back slightly, before flipping and landing on his feet. As soon as he did so, however, the fatigue from the fight caught up him. Dropping to one knee, Gareeku panted heavily, lifting his head up with some effort to look where Aisha was. He had felt his kick connect with something, but wasn't sure whether it been a block or a successful hit. Seeing the pantheress having hit the floor hard and slowly getting up, the wolf realised, with a slight smile of satisfaction through his panting, that the strike had connecting successfully.

[Aisha deCabre]

During the pause as the warriors started to recover from the successive blows, Aisha watched Gareeku with satisfaction as he started to falter himself.  Struggling, she started to stand up, only to wince and fall over again while clutching her side with one arm and clenching a sore jaw, with blood trickling down her mouth.  Had the damage not come to hit her mind as hard as it did, Aisha probably would have had the will to get up.

Then she noticed something else...their swords, still strewn around the Circle, and either one or both of which were near the wolf.  She could have had the strength to retrieve hers, but certainly not the time before he could get up again...and with the fatigue catching up, panting hard, it was near impossible.  Going over the angles, the panthress inwardly cursed herself for being foolhardy around such a talented warrior.  Were they to continue, it would have either killed them, or have been a very painful deadlock.  But nonetheless, there was much pride in the fact that it was an honorable fight.

Instead of trying to get up, for her injuries kept that from happening too quickly, she stayed on her knees and bowed her head towards the wolf, a polite gesture of submission.  "Gareeku...I concede.  You've won."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The pool player hums thoughtfully to himself, watching Flit's somewhat erratic path back towards the bar. Satisfied it'd taken no permanent harm from the cue ball, he returns his gaze to the table, and, almost negligently, thwacks the white into the orange striped ball, which shoots away into the far left corner, spins around the rim of the pocket like a ping-pong ball in a draining bathtub, and pops out on the rim... rolls across the end of the table, and drops into the far right corner pocket, behind the three.

He pauses a moment to re-chalk his cue, and glances over at Risky, then smiles quietly, with just a hint of smugness, and states "Fourteen in the right middle pocket."

[Cogidubnus]

As Giles wrapped himself in blue fire, the flames forming strange and elaborate extensions to his armor, he shielded his eyes from the sudden bright flash and Moira's canister, and cursed at the odd crystals now descending towards him.
"I don't care what you throw at me, girl! It all burns the same!" he shouted, directing the flames into the whirling crystals. They were a vortex – everything he threw at them, they sucked and and asked for more, and continued their flight unabated. Giles narrowed his eyes at the object and frowned yet more deeply. It wanted more fire? It could have all it wanted. He threw yet more flames into it, another tornado of fire springing up, yet to no avail, all of it being sucked into the now-glowing shards. Giles paid it no heed, and simply threw more and more heat into it. It was not as if he could run out, after all.

[Gareeku]

As he stayed there on one knee, Gareeku winced as the pain from the blows he had received during the course of the battle started to make itself known. Up until now, the adrenaline in his blood had kept it at bay, but now that the adrenaline was started to die down, so did the resistance against the discomforts. Looking at Aisha, the wolf saw that she was in no better shape herself. He could not help but smirk slightly at the evidence of the effect that his strikes had made.

Panting hard as fatigue also started to make itself apparent, Gareeku listened to Aisha's word. Hearing that she was conceding to him, his eyes widened slightly. It was then that, Glancing around him, he saw why. Both of their swords were lying on the ground nearer to him than they were to the pantheress, the wolf realising that she would not have the time to grab her weapon if he went to retrieve his, or even both.

Forcing himself, with great effort, to stand back on two feet, Gareeku wobbled slightly as his fatigue seemed to try its hardest to prevent him from doing so. On his face, however, rather than a smile of satisfaction that he had won the fight, was a warm smile; a smile of pride for the pantheress only a few meters away from him. She was truely a brilliant warrior, and truely more than deserved the reputation that she had made for herself as an adventurer.

With slightly shaky legs, Gareeku slowly made his way over to Aisha, before helping her up onto her feet, providing himself as a leaning post for her if need be.
"Had circumstances been different, Aisha, I have a feeling you may very well have won that fight. You should be proud of yourself. Your skills are still as brilliant as they ever were." the wolf said as he helped her up, the warm and proud smile still on his face as he looked at her.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha coughed and lifted her head as she awaited his response, observing as he tried to get up again with much difficulty.  She started moving herself, but as the fatigue grew, her nerves were screaming each time she tried.  The winded panther took her rest for the moment, scanning the wolf's face and waiting for the satisfactory look after his victory...and yet she was a little surprised that it held warmth instead.

As he came towards her, Aisha moved her right knee to prop herself up, yet gratefully accepting Gareeku's help while slowly moving back on shaky feet and aching limbs.  She listened to his words while leaning on him and regaining her balance.  In reply she couldn't help but smile back, her usual cocky smirk replaced with something of a sheepish demeanor, on a ragged face that winced with the pain.  "I'm glad that's so.  Yet still, today, I lost."

Straightening herself as much as she could, Aisha stuck out her arm to where the boomerang was still lodged in the Circle's wall, the relic dislodging and flying back into her grip on her quiet spoken command.  Then, she reached out for her sword, only to fall on her knees again, one hand gripping the handle and the other the wolf's hand, before getting up again and replacing both weapons on her belt.  She looked back at Gareeku with the same amount of pride in her eyes as he had for her.  "But it was a brilliant match, and I am honored to have had it with you," she admonished with utmost sincerity, before slumping with a shaky laugh.  "...And now I think we're ready for a break, si?"

[Stygian]

Moira watched the negativity pull in all of Giles' flames, consuming them to satiate its enormous energy deficit. Still, Giles' power did not seem to let up, and while she had enough power left to fire a few rounds against him, she hadn't built up a large enough surplus yet to use any of her more powerful weapons. At least, not the ones that did not use solid ammunition, and neither of those was any good if either of them wanted to get out alive.
   She backed up, locking and putting safetys back on, and watched the last of the energy stream die down. Then, she stood down, and stretched her hands out a bit, showing that they were empty just for the sake of the gesture.
   "Allright. Fine. You win," she said, with a sort of bitter humour. "I've got nothin' that's good."

[Boog]

Tock chuckled as the Flit zoomed off, "Exitable little creature, isn't she? However," he continued, removing the gears he'd added, "An oddly perceptive one as well. This is but a trick, and a poor one at that. I can't keep it going for too long, and wouldn't insult you by using it." He raised an eyebrow as the noise from one of the fights ended, with the mechanical woman as the loser. A shame, that. If only she'd had longer to counteract the force he was able to bring to bear... "Well, my expiditious friend, it seems we shall have our chance to discover whether I can keep up quite soon. If you would give me a short amount of time to prepare?" He asked politely as he placed the gears back into his bag with a rattle and reached into it to remove a pair of clockwork hands and a wrench, "A few minutes to ensure I am at my best."

[Gareeku]

Listening to the pantheress speak, Gareeku smiled warmly once more as he looked at her. With some considerable effort, he then went to grab his sword, putting the blade back into its sheath at the side of his waist. Listening to Aisha's comment, the wolf laughed softly.
"Oh yes, I totally agree." he replied, before helping her walk back out of the circle to the bar. Slumping down on one of the bar stools, Gareeku winced slightly again as the pains from the fight made themselves known once again..

[Cogidubnus]

Giles was concentrating on keeping the crystal shards at bay when he heard Moira's exclamation. He quirked his face in confusion, not quite understanding the concept, and then backing up quickly to get out of the way of the falling shards. The flames instantly died down, and even the miniature volcano pouring lava into the arena seemed to suddenly dry. The place would feel like a furnace for quite some time, but the heat had stopped pouring in. Giles face settled from the quirk into a half-smile. He'd been pretty sure of his loss there for a moment, and he turned to run around the now-healing melted stone barrier and run towards Moira, trying to avoid the falling crystals.

[Aisha deCabre]

With a limping gait, the last thing that the panthress gathered from the Circle was her cape, tying it back around her neck with a few winces as she tried to erase the pain of the blows she had taken from her mind.  The bracer she was wearing helped, but the light healing magic always worked slowly on internal wounds, of which she suspected there were many.  Grateful still for the wolf's help as they walked out, she also helped to support him once some of her strength returned.  Two wins in a row, he deserves a break.

Stepping out of the battle area and back into the main lounge, her eyes swept over the place briefly...there were a few newcomers, and those who still stuck around were scattered.  Aisha released a shaky sigh...at the moment, all she cared about was getting to the bar to rest.  She sat next to the wolf on another stool and slumped her upper body on the table, jaw clenched as she tried not to move too much.

A quick glance was spared back to the second Circle, and she noticed that the spectacular battle there was ending too, and most likely someone was waiting for the opportunity to spring up and take either of them.  The panthress had a quick smirk on her jaw.  "It'll take a crowbar to get me to move..." she laughed, glancing at her former opponent and thinking the same of him.

[TheGreyRonin]

Stalker nodded to both Aisha and Gareeku, setting fresh drinks in front of them. "Good fight. You're both very skilled."  He watched as Flit got up and walked down the bar in front of him.

She squinted her eyes to get their focus back, then smiled sunnily at Garreku and Aisha. "Heal!" she said, throwing both of her arms forward, palms-out.

The two fighters were both suffused with healing energy in a warm, comfortable rush. Flit grinned, said "Better," then fluttered up above the bar to sit on a ledge, little feet kicking.

Risky watched her partner sink shot after shot with a bemused look on her face. "Good thing we didn't bet anything on this," she remarked casually, puffing on her cigarette.

[Stygian]

The machine-woman seemed to make a little exasperated shrug, and folded back her arms and other back-mounted mechanized parts, the mass of them deceptively tucking into a much smaller, more compact form behind the compressing generators, locked into her spine. She eyed Giles as he came loping for her, wondering what the man might be thinking.

   "Beaten, if not soundly. Though she still made a good call, for once..." Stygian said, leaning back with a smile and an eye toward the second circle, pulling on his drink. "I think she's going to be a soar loser, especially for quitting that early. She behaves too much like a human like that."

[Gareeku]

Glancing to see Aisha sitting down next to him, Gareeku smiled at her, laughing slightly at her comment.
"Hehe, yeah same here I think. You certainly gave me quite the beating." he replied with a soft laugh, before looking over to see that the other battle had finished. Hearing Stalker speak, the wolf smiled.
"Thank you very much. It was a great fight to be in." he replied, before noticing the presence of Flit. Blinking at her, the wolf then saw as she seemed to cast some sort of spell.

Once Flit had cast it, Gareeku could feel himself quickly heal back to 100% fitness, a look of pleasant surprise of his face.
"Thank you very much." he said with gratitude, smiling warmly at Flit.

[Aisha deCabre]

Wiping the last of the sweat from her brow, Aisha gratefully accepted the drink given by Stalker with a quiet nod of thanks, her lip quirking in an agreeable smile with Gareeku's statement as she took a sip from it.  The liquid felt cool and refreshing to her bloodied and warm body.  "More than great," she added after swallowing.  "And hopefully we see quite a few more great ones," she added with a light laugh, until she saw the little creature smiling in front of them.

Her head tilted, but before she had the time to inquire, the panthress felt a rush of warmth, so fast that she had squinted her eyes for a second.  The feeling was a familiar one though; the tingling on the inside of her nerves were the internal injuries sealing, the bruises disappearing as if they weren't even there.  She sat up slowly, the healing process complete, and she also cast a smile at Flit.  "Indeed, thank you."

Aisha took another sip of her drink, while stretching her spine a little while sitting down.  "More surprises from this place," the panthress commented, watching the little fairy-like creature fly up.

[Cogidubnus]

Running around the wall of slag, it took Giles a moment to make the circuit to his spear, and wrenching that from the half-melted stone run towards and stand in front of Moira. The crimson spots in his eyes were slowly fading, the crystal blue again becoming the dominant shade. He stood quiet for a moment, and moved an armored fist up to his chin, cracking his neck. The pops punctuated the odd silence.
He offered his hand. "There have been armies that have given me less trouble." he said, a grin splitting his face. "You fought dirty, and fought smart. Most people simply assume I'm just full of hot air." His eyes twinkled. "Well, I am, but usually a lot more than they counted on."
He slapped her on the back and began walked back to the bar. "C'mon! I'll buy ye a beer."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The pool player smiles down the length of the table at Risky, and comments "It seems a bit silly to bet a drink on the game, but you're welcome to do so, if you wish."

He pauses, and sends the green ball 'round the houses', missing all the other balls on the table and dropping cleanly into the right middle pocket, the cue ball following it smoothly around the table and back to the end it started at. "Maybe on the next frame, though. Brown into the three."

He twists sinuously to one side to avoid a waft of smoke, and sends the fifteen rolling smoothly down into the red three, just nudging it, and leaving the cue ball over between the black and the cushion.

"I believe it's your go." He steps back, and has another mouthful of his beer, urbanely waving Risky over to the table.