Northern Winds [NC-17] (IC)

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had chuckled at the bull's reply as she started out of the storage room and back to the counter, the vest draped over one arm while the other hand reached for her coin bag.  "That's a relief to hear then.  Sometimes I wonder if I spend more fixing my things than I do buying any.  As for enchanting," she mused, "the vest may do without it.  Versatility doesn't always come through magic.  And if it has to, I know a few people in the enchanting department."

Out of the door, she could be heard muttering, "five hundred..."  The dark jaguaress took a moment or two to count the amount she had with her.  Gods be thanked for making me a saver, she smirked and placed the money on the counter, which left her still with enough to survive on, she also thanked the luck.  If it stayed on her side, she figured that the escapade would also be well worth the money trouble.

"There you go, no haggling needed," she chuckled and nodded towards the towering bovine, a polite grin on her features.  "I thank you for the vest and your time, señor."

Her new bit of protection donned and her spirit a little more at ease for it, the panther made for the exit, wondering what to do next.  Catching up with someone may be a worthwhile idea.

[Tezkat]

A small feral pigeon--black with a white torso and a smattering of blue on its head--hopped out of a nearby alley. It pecked at a few random specs on the ground, looked up, and took flight. Circling the building housing the club a few times, it finally landed on the club's brightly lit sign, settling into a comfortable perch over the breasts of one of the serving girls. It cocked its head and observed the encounter unfolding below at the door to the club.

+ + +

"Ah... the direct approach..." Edge looked up from his reading--a tourist guide of some kind. "I don't suppose you have a way of monitoring her progress inside."

His new partners in crime hadn't established any communications protocols for their afternoon's cloak and dagger escapade--not with him, at any rate. Then again, they didn't exactly trust him yet. The fox closed his eyes for a few seconds, silently feeling out the level of warding that the club had installed against clairsentience and remote scrying. Given Mel's entertaining choice of cover identity, it would be a shame to miss the show.

[Stygian]

Without turning to face him, Stygian spoke to Edge, making sure to make his voice just a slight bit irritable and his face the tiniest bit sour.
   'No need. Mel is a professional. She knows what needs doing and I trust her,' he said, and slowly started walking toward the exit of the shop. 'She has photographic memory, so she's most likely to find something useful, though we might have to dig a bit. And don't prod around like that too much, or you're bound to be found out.'
   Stepping outside, Stygian paused for a second to light a cigarette and make sure that Edge was behind him. Then he walked around to the back of the building, a large and mostly anonymous wall without so many windows as it was facing another building. A set of firescape ladders were mounted against it. As soon as they got into the shadow, the bat's outline shifted and his features began distorting, as if he were concealed by the darkness so much that he was difficult to see. The effect passed, but not before he had turned into a white and brownish husky in a plain white T-top, shirt and jeans.
   'I won't say anything, but a cubi youngling sounding like that...' he said, slowly sitting down on his haunches. Cautiously he swept his gaze over the alley, then over to Edge. There was little but asphalt and stone around. 'You must forgive me for being so harsh on you, but sometimes I wonder... does he ever have any qualms about his actions, Ky? Ah...' He turned his gaze away again.
   A large rat, probably big enough to give whatever cats might come around doubts about what to do with it, climbed lazily out from a drainage and into view. Calmly, as if it knew that it were too large and out of sight for anything to bother it, it began trotting down the alleyway. Then, Stygian raised his hand, and reached out in its direction. The rat stopped, sniffing the air and turning in confusion.
   'I don't really have a problem with an odd sense of humor, but with arrogance. It wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't agreed to help you...' he said, and slowly began clenching his fingers. The rat tensed up and began clawing the ground, but didn't go anywhere. '...yet now I have, and though I know it's a typical cubi behavior and you're none too happy about the situation...' He continued closing his fingers. Edge thought he could see something else around the rat now, something murky and moving. The rodent had begun twitching and squirming. '...I want you to take it easy and be considerate, because anything else...' Rapidly, he clenched his fist, and with a squeal and a spasm, the rat crunched together in a bloody little mess. '...would be quite stupid.'
   Again, Stygian stood, and then put his hands in his pockets and started walking over to what was left of the little rodent.

- -

The guard's eyebrows rose a hair or three when Mel, or "officer Joy" spoke up, and when she was finished with her tirade he looked a bit confused for a moment, before looking to the side and then at her again. He fumbled with his hand at his pocket for a moment before he spoke.
   'Hold on a second, miss. I'll get the steward,' he said, and then turned and went in. He was gone only for a couple of minutes, before he showed up again behind a tall, lanky lizard-like mythos.
   'Yes?' he said between a pair of tendrils that emerged from the corners of his mouth, making him look peculiarly much like a catfish. 'An inspection now?'

- -

Very slowly and cautiously, the girl, who had to be a spider no matter how one looked at it, though Cog had never seen an anthropomorphic one before, lowered her hands. Her gaze was dead steady facing his, or so it seemed. He thought he could see a hint of reddish irises, but it was hard to tell. And then there was also the fact that she had eight eyes. For all he could make out, the smaller ones might have been looking at his shoes.
   Quite oddly, the woman did not speak. Instead, she raised her hand and made a slashing motion over her throat while shaking her head, and then walked slightly to the side to look around out of the alley. When she turned back to face Cog, she motioned for him to follow him.

[Sunblink]

It didn't take long for Keaton to reach Richard's apartment, having successfully remembered all of Stygian's presented directions just enough for her to approach it. Once she was standing outside of the building, Keaton flexed her fingers individually, feeling the joints crack and creak experimentally. According to Stygian's description, this was indeed Richard's home. Keaton glanced up at entrance number four, as Stygian had stated, and sighed. If people had invaded Richard's home, she would have to remain inconspicuous, especially since she didn't know if they could detect dark magic.

So she would have to call Xianxi.

White light started to encircle Keaton's hands in sweeping bolts, concentrating to a brighter and brighter focus until it was nearly blinding. Before her, a bright halo of alabaster energy began to form in mid-air, radiating like a harmonious miniature sun. In the midst of the white glow, something black began to form, ectoplasmic and elastic, steadily shaping itself until it changed from a clay-like mass to something resembling a recognizable body. Tapered ears extended; little black barbs sprouted like weeds about a lithe sable form; vacant, white eyes opened, and, flashing on both the forehead and in a larger figure on the back of the creature was the Jyraneth clan symbol, angular and archaic.

The light died down relatively, moonwashed ivory suffusing the outline of the black creature--the Warp-Aci--as it finished shaping itself and finally adopted the body of something akin to an anubis, a jackal quite similar to Keaton, only covered in little thistles and spines all over its strangely humanoid body. Paper-thin tail swept overhead, slicing down to a thin fork bifurcating the tip, and coiled around the 'Aci's body as it straightened itself, standing to attention.

"Speak of how I may serve you, mistress." It spoke in an ephemeral, stoic voice, like thousands of little whispers conjured into unison.

"Xianxi, there is a baboon Undead inside of that building. He is likely with several other people," Keaton said firmly, with a surprising amount of assertiveness to her tone. "I want you to fly over and remain undetected, then tell me everything you've heard."

Xianxi bowed his horn-crowned head slightly, eyes closed. "As you wish."

And with that, he spun around, levitating swiftly, yet silently towards the door indicated by Keaton. His tail cleaved sharply through the air for a second, briefly raveling around him as the white light constricted down, down, down, until it nearly vanished, along with his body, as it took the shape of a pleasant-looking, unsuspecting door knocker and fastened itself to the surface of Richard's door. Entirely unostentatious, entirely unassuming, save for the small, subtle Jyraneth clan symbol carved into its head.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

Richard finished off the oysters, not noticing the flash of a warp-aci outside his window. They'd been sitting here awhile. Naturally, the greatest worry this brought to mind was that Marya was bored out of her skull. That and angry never mixed well with her, and she was almost always angry.
Well, always a way of killing two birds with one stone.
"Mind if I go practice while we wait for... whatever we're waiting for?" the musician asked Laertes, figuring he was if not the one in charge, the one who acted like he was and thus far seeming to be the most likely to say yes, "Didn't get the chance to yesterday, what with being shot at-" this provoked another grumble from Marya, "-and I don't want my instruments feeling ignored."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

It took a moment for Officer Joy to look up from her clipboard at the query from the catfishy mythos. "No, this is not an inspection. This is an accuracy audit of the officer who did your inspection. Your file was randomly chosen from among the inspections of the period." It was unclear whether the dour look she gave the mythos and the business in general were because she felt that she would find rampant errors and illegal acts or simply a natural expression for the beagle. "If everything is in order this should not take long. I will start in the food service areas." She walked toward the door as if heading there directly. "And this establishment does not have sufficient volume of garbage receptacles. I will be issuing a warning for that."

[Cogidubnus]

 Eyebrow quirking just slightly, Cog looked behind him and followed the spider-woman, sliding his sword back into it's sheath before emerging into the street. He kept one hand hanging loose at his side, but the other he kept quite firmly resting on his sword hilt. He made sure to stay just a step behind the spider girl as well, with the endcap of his sword just slightly crossing his center. It would take him less than moments to draw and get something between them.
He took a cue from her and stayed silent, however, merely keeping his ears and his nose open as he followed her.

[Tezkat]

The fox padded after Stygian like an obedient puppy. His form flickered--the type of thing one might miss if not paying close attention--and, suddenly, the man following the husky was a greasy-haired rodent who bore an uncanny resemblance to the small critter lying before Stygian. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his worn, faded jeans and looked upward, seemingly pondering the fire escape.

"Of course. I haven't forgotten that we're dealing with powerful Creatures who care little for the suffering of those weaker than them."

[Stygian]

Stygian sighed and kneeled down by the little creature, looking at it.
   'Still the wrong attitude. And "not caring" is much too optimistic. Try "loathe and viciously exploit and kill those weaker than them" instead,' he said. Slowly, he reached down for the corpse, until his hand hovered right above it. Then came the nasty part.
   From his point of view over the Stygian's shoulder, Edge couldn't see too closely, however the black veins and crawling motions that spread over the man's hand, accompanied by something snaking down the inside of his shirtsleeve, it seemed, were hard to miss. Slowly, the blood that had run out from the many lacerations on the rat's skin began crawling and hissing as if it were boiling, flowing backwards.
   Some sort of... thing split Stygian's skin and crept into sight, a shape of deep, deep black that seemed half something slick and steamy, like some very runny liquid, and half organic material. Like a horrid crossing between a centipede and a spider it moved over the rat. Then, quickly, it reached out with sharp tendrils under the rat's skin and crept into it, squirming. The rodent's wounds closed and it twitched. Then, its eyes opened. It blinked, looked around, and then hurriedly made its way over to the wall. Swiftly, it climbed up and out of sight.
   'I for one hope that this will all just be about Ash trying to catch my attention. But things are almost never so well,' Stygian said, and stood.

- -

The catfish-lizard-man frowned and almost made as if to hinder "Officer Joy", but finally stepped aside and gave her a little gaunt, stiff nod. He looked less than pleased, but certainly not more than a bit irritated.
   'I apologize,' he said. 'The two they took this morning haven't come back yet.' He pushed back the door, and the burly guard shuffled out of the beagle's way.

- -

The jackal, Laertes, looked up and beamed a smile at Richard.
   'Oh, please. Go right ahead. It's your house. Personally, I'd love to hear some music,' he said, making a point not to bother with the others and their apparent mood one bit. 'I play a bit myself, in fact.' Ace made a groaning sound and moved over next to Marya.
   'Sorry about this bullshit. Name's Ace. Want to get out of that seat?' she asked.

- -

Surprisingly, the spider-woman led Cog back to the same café that they had visited earlier, walking slowly and, though not apparently so still noticeable to Cog, keeping all those eyes watchful. She went over and sat down by a table, and patted the seat next to her, before taking out a backpack hidden under her own.

[Boog]

Marya blinked at Ace, "Marya. I'd say nice to meet you, but..." she shrugged, "Hell, I dunno. Most cortious home invasion situation I've ever heard of. Gah, I need a beer..." she stood up and walked over toward the fridge, "Don't suppose there's any chance of finding out the full story as to what's actually going on? I keep hearing all these things about explosions and some freak with a name out of some edition of the bible I haven't read."
"Right, cool," Richard stood up and strode over to his room, throwing open the door. Seeing as he didn't sleep, the room didn't contain a bed. And all his books were on the shelves outside of Marya's room. Thus, if one went to look, they would see a room containing a bench, sheets of music, and instruments of nearly every variety filling the remaining space, "Always good to meet a fellow musician. Whaddya play, Laertes?"
As mentioned, he didn't sleep. The undead had to fill those hours somehow.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog looked around the cafe carefully before sitting down, taking the seat the girl indicated. He watched as many hands as he could see, keeping his hand close to his sword, and the other casually laying on his leg. He didn't like this postion - he'd have to both stand and turn to attack or defend, but he really had little choice here. Keeping an almost-closed fist ready to let loose with a wave of force, he choose to sit in silence, as per his host, and watched her pick up some kind of bag and place it on the table. He checked around the place, to make sure no one was taking undue notice to their meeting, and tilted his head at the spider woman. The backpack she had produced was pitch black, and rather small - he looked at it for a moment, then back at the spider.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Officer Joy clicked her pen loudly and made a note on her clipboard. "I've made a note, but there will be a follow-up at your next scheduled inspection."  She stepped through the door and into the kitchen, startling the staff by peering over shoulders and making glum comments about towel cleanliness, refrigerator temperatures, dishwasher gaskets, and blade speeds in extractor fans. Then, with one last observation on the excessively large mesh of the hairnets she was gone, off giving the same treatment to the pantry storeroom.

Popping back out of the storeroom before the catfish mythos could follow she commented, "All foodstuffs stored on the floor need to be moved to shelves or placed in approved containers." Again the pen clicked and comments added to her papers. "Where does this door lead?" was the next question, but as the canine was already heading through it an answer didn't seem to be expected. A short hallway, only a few steps, long led off in several directions. The inspector chose one and found herself in the bar. "Does this zone have it's own dishwashing area or are the items commingled with the dining items?"  While waiting for an answer she was into the bar fridge, checking dates on the ingredients it held. "You have three open bottles of olives. That creates the potential for using expired product. I'm going to recommend food safety courses for all your staff." Then she was up and gone again, disappearing into the main area of the business. For a short pudgy canine she moved remarkably quickly.

[Stygian]

The catfish-like man made a few unsuccessful to keep up with the beagle's tirade, before someone shouted for him to come and do something, whereupon he grunted and left with a look of annoyance.
   While the outside of the club was unimpressive, the interior was, for lack of an adequate description, definitely not so. The bar area alone was large enough to accommodate a large house, and the large dance floor, lowered down along terraced sections of tables, chairs and sofas and even divans, simply didn't look like it could be crowded. The roof was four stories high and to each side of the great main stage were one other, smaller. Smooth pillars of alabaster stone, lengths of white cloth, exotic plants and blossoms and clinging vines, even a waterfall fountain that spilled out just a centimeter of water over a smooth stone floor. And the place was still brightly lit and empty. The staff hurried about the place, readying tables, moving furniture, bringing packages and doing a thousand other things. Most of them didn't look like they were staff, actually, as they wore regular clothing. But when one woman, curvaceous and graceful and probably hand-picked for just that, passed by Mel wearing only a few slashes of thin, silky white, she guessed that was for a reason.
   The beagle's invasion of the bar led her to the knowledge that nearly the entire building was dedicated to the club, which also included a restaurant section and a pool area underground, as well as backstage loges and rooms. It was one of the most expensive pieces of property in all of Haszal. She encountered more than one place though, that gave her trouble. Doors were locked frequently, and she noticed that though she didn't see more than one security guard in the back, a good few of the staff, both men and women, gave her suspicious glances as she passed by. Glances too keen to be comfortable.

- -

The spider-woman leaned on the table a bit and looked at Cogidubnus, and then made a few deliberate hand gestures in his view. When she saw nothing but confusion in his eyes, she sighed, and then reached into her bag. She produced a pen and a sketching booklet, which she flipped open, and proceeded to write something down. She then put the booklet down on the table, and slid it over to Cog. The writing style was thin and cramped but exact. It read 'Sorry for that, but I think you and your friends are in grave danger'. The word 'grave' was underlined.

- -

The jackal got up and went along with the baboon, and as he stepped into Richard's room, still holding his teacup, he nodded appreciatively at the sight of the collection.
   'A bit of piano, a bit of the organ. I sing a little too. Used to practice with the choir back in church when I was little,' he said, and sipped.
   Ace however, stayed behind, sitting down tiredly beside Marya and grunting.
   'His name's Stygian. A real bastard. And if he was in the bible, I think we'd be afraid to be Christians,' she said with a gruff air that clearly said how much she didn't like talking about it. 'I don't think that he blew up the bar yesterday, but I'm pretty sure he was the reason anyway. He and his friends. Your boyfriend there just happened to be at the wrong place the wrong time. Hey,' she said, suddenly shifting subject. 'You got any beer here?'

[Boog]

"Wouldn't've mentioned it if we didn't. Catch," Marya chucked a bottle over to Ace, taking a sip from her own as well as the fridge swung shut. Richard being called her boyfriend got a chuckle out of her, but no explanation. "Yeah, sounds like the sort of situation he gets himself into. So..." she collapsed back onto the couch with a sigh, "The hell's up with Laertes anyway? He always this... Well, this?"

Richard rummaged amongst his collection, looking for something in particular. "Used to do a bit of singing myself," he rasped. Took him a minute, but eventually he found what he was looking for; an acoustic guitar, "Any requests?" He asked as he tuned it.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog suppressed a slight laugh as he read the paper, looking back up at the spider, incredulous. He smirked, passing the paper back to the spider.
"Really? Whatever makes you think that?" he said, bemused. "We're probably in it up to our necks. But..." He turned, regarding the little spider, shades glittering. "More importantly, why do you care?" he said, his hand gripping the endcap of his sword. He watched her carefully, his eyes flickering between her face and the pad of paper.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha wandered in and around the rest of the city for the time being, mentally putting down locations of landmarks and buildings and whatever was good for marking her trail, so she could easily find her way back to the meeting place.  She couldn't help but marvel at the area's look along the way, grand and sprawling, and just as well, ever more dangerous.  She kept the cowl over her features, view partially obstructed by cloth and the rest free to glimpse the roads ahead.  

The jaguaress bypassed the line of shops, instead following the heavy scent of ocean salt in the air to where she could hear waves and water lapping against other surfaces.  She found another tree in a small green alcove, this one higher than the one she was sitting in the other night, and from what she could discern, the ocean could be in its view.  Having seen nobody else that she knew, the panthress shrugged to herself.  We're all doing our own thing.  I'm probably best out of their way for now.

Looking around, the panthress then gathered the strength in her legs and leapt for the lowest bough, claws catching holds in the bark.  She caught the eye of just a few passerby doing so, whom only kept going with a slight mutter about felines.  Aisha just laughed...heights were after all useful, and climbing was a psuedo-sport that she never grew tired of.  And it was something well worth taking her mind away from past and future troubles.

At the highest bough that could hold her weight, the huntress stood up and gazed at her encircled view of a whole chunk of busy city on one side, and lighter areas on the other, with a wall of wood obstructing the small rest of it beside her.  The breeze sometimes grew precarious, but she could never fall out of a tree if she could help it.  It merely whistled past her almost harmoniously as she finally laid her eyes on a shimmering barrier on the horizon that was the sea.

How lucky for them, she thought with a smile, to have a sight which I long ago could never have imagined existed.

[Tezkat]

The beady-eyed rat slouched back against the wall below the fire escape. A scale model of the building materialized at his feet. It opened up to reveal dozens of tiny characters silently gyrating on a wide dance floor or milling about at a bar. The rodent stared down at the display with a furled brow and the intense concentration that a child might afford his favourite game. The almost hypnotic rhythm of the little actors died suddenly as tiny security guards and other, more recognizable characters burst onto the scene.

Chaos. Running in terror. Muzzle flashes. Sword slashes. Dark tendrils. Fire everywhere. A floor stained with blood. The horrific scenario played out soundlessly in miniature on the floor of the dark alley.

"Hmm... so is there a requisite number of pawns to kill off before you two can sit down to chat? This Ash lady knows that her hired goons pose little threat to you. If she truly means you harm, her home field advantage here must consist of something capable of taking you down--more powerful Creatures, perhaps, or traps of magical nature." He glanced up at Stygian and cocked his head. "You know her style. What can we expect? None of those options bode particularly well for those around you."

He sighed, but there was a sparkle of anticipation in his eye.

[Stygian]

'You're just about getting ahead of the game here,' the dog said, suddenly sounding pleased and nodding toward Edge. Sharpness was to be rewarded. And that sudden gleam was certainly not lost on Stygian.
   'Ash, or Ashtareth as she is really named, is a creature much like me, but much different all the same. We're going to have to expect some serious resistance, even if it's just her alone that we are talking about. Psionic, mostly. She's a mentalist, and a powerful such. Most likely she'll have one or two lesser creatures as bodyguards. She knows that I'm most resilient to her mind tricks, and that the same cannot be said of you others. So she'll be counting on using you against me, turning you hostage, that sort of thing,' he said, quickly and concisely. 'This of course means that I should face her head on, and keep her focused on me. Which I am counting on.'
   The dog stood and watched the little illusory spectacle unfold on the ground before the rat, his face once again blank and his eyes lost in contemplative distraction.
   'There are some others too, that you must mind. Adventurers.'

- -

The wolf barked a laugh at Marya's question, opened her bottle with a hard hand that while graceful was strong as wrought iron, most likely from training, and swigged deeply before speaking.
   'Yeah. Always. First time I met him I almost ran a sword through the guy, and he didn't even blink. If there's anything that can move that man, then I haven't seen it yet,' she said jadedly. 'Course, I ain't seen much like the things that he has. Or, at least the things he says he has.'
   'Anything you want. I'm not picky,' the jackal laughed at Richard and eased himself down on the bench.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Finding that she had traveled all the way around the building and back into the kitchen "Officer Joy" decided she had seen all that she was going to see. The catfishy mythos was there. With a disappointed look on her face she announced, "Your paperwork seems to be relatively in order. At your next inspection your inspector will be checking on the number of refuse receptacles, whether your staff have taken a food handling course, and on the strength of the table cleaning solution. It didn't appear to have sufficient disinfectant in it upon my appraisal." She held out her clipboard. "Please sign at the appropriate spot on the form that I have explained the deficiencies to you and that you agree to take the appropriate measures before your next inspection."  She looked glumly around while the mythos inspected the document, as if hunting for some reason she could invalidate her results. When the paperwork was returned she tore off the top sheet and handed it to the mythos before exiting the way she came. The sturdy beagle clomped down the street but when a shady corner was turned a young zebra wearing a gaudy shirt over jeans continued down the sidewalk and into an ice cream shop where she purchased a cone of lemon sherbet and sat to wait.

[Boog]

"Things like what, exactly?" Marya asked, curiosity piqued.

Without replying, Richard quickly got to playing, warming up on the usual scales before continuing on to something that sounded rather like 'Feel Good Inc.'

[Tezkat]

The rat digested this new information about their opponents. A new scene began playing out in the little model club at his feet.

"Some of the others were without even basic mental shielding. We might want to rectify that before going in to face her. Strong defences will be difficult to install on such short notice, but anything that slows her down should give you an edge during the fight." He scratched his chin. "You may also have a brief opening if she tries to get into my head. Even more powerful and experienced mentalists rarely expect... people like me."

His ears perked up and he turned towards the road. A black and white pigeon flew across the alley's entrance.

"Ah. Our building inspector is back."

[Stygian]

The wolf lowered her voice slightly and looked at Marya meaningfully, holding her beer just below her smile.
   'Oh, religious stuff. Angels, Devils, that sort of thing,' she said, and took a slow sip. 'Won't say that I don't believe him, but the guy seems to have been around a lot.'

- -

Upon Edge's words and mention of Mel's return, Stygian just grunted and put his hands in his pockets, walking past.
   'Don't be presumptuous. When I say powerful, I mean powerful. That's something that I want you to keep in mind,' he said gravely, and stopped for a second, looking over his shoulder at the rat. 'She is unlike anything you've ever seen before. I know that for a fact.' For a moment, his eyes went black. 'Just like me.' He stared Edge out for a while, until he finally turned back and began walking toward the shop.

[Tezkat]

Edge shrugged and turned to follow the husky out of the alley. The illusionary building faded into the nothingness from whence it came.

"We'll be in the line of fire anyway. Hampering her attacks to help you take her out faster seems a reasonable way to mitigate damage." The rat paused and held Stygian's gaze meaningfully. "She's about as strong as you, right? Is she just an unusually powerful Creature telepath, or has she already evolved into something... more?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha hadn't been sitting in the tree for more than a short while, but while she leaned her back against the trunk and easily balanced herself on the high bough, it seemed like she was lost in time.  Her eyes scanned the horizon ocean's silvery and reflective surface with contemplation, and her ears caught the wind's symphonic whistling encircling in the loose leaves.  Her mind wasn't on anything in particular, but was simply taking in what serenity could come from an otherwise noisy city at her back.

She was never too far out of reality, however.  The panther kept an ear out as a snaking black tail swung behind and beneath her, a shining emerald tail ring in plain sight like a strange metallic green amidst the tree's natural colors.  An ear suddenly swiveled behind her as she could hear a slight scrabbling sound on the bark, followed by her tail tip brushing over something.  She was still, contemplating this noise, until she nearly felt a grip on the ring.

Then in a flash, she gripped the branch she was on and swung down over it while hanging on with her claws, executing a brief arc through the air before bringing her foot back to kick something hard as she swung back down.  She heard a thump as the individual she had sent from the tree, a raccoon in dark clothing, sprawled there. 

Letting go of the branch she was holding, Aisha landed on a lower bough and sent a glare to the small would-be thief (his expression confirmed the thought), until he got to his feet and made a chance for a hasty run.  Now I wonder just how tight the law is around here with a pickpocket, the panther grimaced and leaped to the ground.  At least the ring hadn't been stolen.  But what cheek to have attempted that in broad daylight...

Aisha dismissed it.  With one more glance out towards the ocean, she sighed before making her way through the streets and back down to the shops, eyeing the ice cream parlor before stepping into it with a shrug and a slight chuckle to herself.  Never stay in a town without comparing their mint-flavored ice cream to everyone else's.  Tradition, chica.

[Stygian]

The bat slowed his walk, and then stopped, looking back at Edge yet again, his face serious but not really grave.
   'To be honest, I don't know. She's... like me, yes. Something more. But which of us is the stronger?' he said, and smiled slightly and shook his head. 'I have no idea. And I am glad that I have never had to test it.' He faced Edge's eyes for a long time now, neither harshly or mildly but simply with an earnest directness that contrasted his previous behavior so sharply that it was confusing in itself, before turning around again and walking over to the shop, answering no more questions. He sat down next to Mel, not ordering any ice cream for himself, silently exhaling and leaning forward on the counter on his elbows.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The zebra just kept eating her cone and swiveling the counter stool in a bored manner. When Ignatz was ready to see what she had seen he'd let her know and until then there was nothing else to do but keep the cone from melting onto her hand. Only a moment behind the husky and rat a very familiar cloaked figure entered the shop. "Was that planned?" Mel asked.

[Stygian]

The husky looked up and back at Aisha, then shrugged and turned back.
   'Not at all. But it's not a bad thing. Did you find out anything crucial? I would expect that Ash keeps to the backrooms most of the time. Though if I am right, she would also like to be directly involved with the business. She enjoys it that way...' he said, before looking at the panthress again and patting the seat next to him.
   'Sit down, Aish. We'll have plenty of time to talk,' he said.

- -

The arthropod woman's look neared irritation when she looked at Cog, clearly telling him not to look a gift spider in the mouth. But she kept on scribbling, and soon handed over a longer piece of text to him.
   I cannot tell you who I am, it read, but I am familiar with Sebastian and with the ones waiting for you in the club. I know what is going on and I wish to stop it. It is most disturbing. You have to take the others with you and leave as quickly as you can, or this will be a disaster. The words were strict and exact, and her insistent manner strengthened them.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had barely paid attention to the husky and rat who had jumped in just before her, the door to the ice cream shop signifying their appearance with another little bell ring.  It seemed that the place was also fairly empty enough, just like the pub had been, bar for a zebra girl occupying the counter and the newcomers going to join her.

Soon the panthress would be thankful for that after they had started conversing, but for the moment she hadn't realized whom they really were...not until after she ordered her mint-flavored ice cream.  An ear turned the other way at the conversation taking place, followed by the fact that the husky who had arrived invited her to sit down...as well as having known her name.

For a quiet moment she regarded him with a confused look, quirking an eyebrow, but then a quick glance at a slight little glow from her tail ring and assessing the topic of the conversation gave her the clues that she needed...Stygian, Mel, and she guessed Edge was the last one.  She jokingly rolled her eyes with a quick sigh of relief.  Damn shapeshifters...

With a slight chuckle through her closed mouth, Aisha set a few coins on the counter and strode to join them with slightly narrowed eyes, taking a taste of her cone.  "I'm guessing the lot of you are playing it safe," she quietly observed of their disguises and, with hesitation, took the aformentioned seat with one elbow resting on the counter and her other hand resting near her belt.  "So what's been found out?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel first cast an illusion spell over their group so that it would look as if they were just chatting and eating their treats. For the second spell a miniature of the club building appeared on the counter. "It is a big business. The club is sprawled over the entire building." The miniature neatly dissected itself into the various floors and laid itself out in an orderly row. Any areas the "inspector" had not been able to visit were filled with white fog but everything else was clear and detailed down to the pattern in the carpet. "The lowest level is not storerooms, as might be expected, but full of a series of pools and related sorts of areas. The second floor is mostly the club itself, excepting the kitchen and drink prep areas and a few smaller rooms. Pretty much the same for the higher levels; private party rooms that look across the hollow core into the stage, working areas hidden behind the stage. Lots of nooks and crannies and doors to pop out of. Lots of people." Images of the people she had spotted started flashing in the air in front of her, in case anyone looked familiar to the others. Not that it was likely, look at how often this group changed their faces.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog read the paper over a few times before looking over at the spider woman, and then read it one more time before he slid it back. He quirked an eyebrow at her, and leaned back into his seat. He continued to stare at her from behind the black walls of his shades.
"I see." he murred, contemplating both what she said, and thinking about possibly getting something to drink. Coffee, or maybe something cold. "Sebastian, you say? Mm. Well. You have perhaps chosen the wrong person to abscond, I fear." Cog said carefully, and then halfway grinned. "I doubt I could get the other to listen to me, really."
He stood. "Would you excuse me a moment?" he said, standing and approaching the attendant at the counter. He handed him a coin and nodded at the menu, and the clerk disappeared for a few moments before handing him a mug of something dark. Cog nodded, and after messing with his drink for a few moments he returned and sat back down beside the spider.
"Apologies." he said, sipping his coffee. "As I was saying, I don't think I can simply make the others come with me. Although, it might be easier to persuade them were I to know exactly why you are so worried." he said, looking at her from over his cup. "I already know we're in for a hellaciously rough time of it, walking into an ambush and whatnot."
He set his mug down and looked out the window, pausing for a moment. He let his gaze slide back to the arthopod, steam curling from his cup in front of him. "I'll tell them it's a bad idea, if you want me to, but..." he shrugged. "I think we already know that."