Northern Winds [NC-17] (IC)

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Ignoring the banter between Cog and Ignatz, Mel nodded acknowledgement she had heard her request to the smaller mage. The disguised dragon pulled up spells that she thought might be helpful if something did get out of control, but wasn't really sure how much help they would be if some sort of strange synergy happened between the two different magic styles. Focusing her vision upon Kerya she nodded a second time, signaling she was as ready as it was possible to be when one was pioneering new magic.

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya nodded back to Mel, leaned over and picked up her staff from where she'd left it before her hasty exit. Grasping it firmly in one hand, she raised her other hand and slowly, carefully, ran through the spell she had worked out earlier with the snow leopard's help. A faint haze grew about her upper body, gradually coalescing into a translucent sphere of swirling iridescent colours, like oil on water, about two feet across. She was still clearly visible inside it as she licked suddenly dry lips and made one final commanding gesture. A swarm of tiny, faint sparkling lights appeared around the silver mountings at either end of her staff, flowed together to meet in a brighter glow at her hand, then ran up her arm and merged with the coloured sphere. The swirling rainbow non-patterns whirled faster for a moment, becoming almost opaque, then the sphere collapsed about the little stoat's head, the colours draining away like ink splashed over waxed paper.

Panting slightly and completely visible once more, Kerya opened one eye. Reassured that the world was still there, she opened the other one. "Well, that was not so bad: it did not require too much power," she said as she got her breathing back under control. "As for whether or not it is working, when Keaton returns we will find out for sure."

[Stygian]

Closing his eyes and chuckling, the bat looked down for just a bit. Absently he wondered just what Cog had thought of him during their first, impromptu meeting back at an inn in a coastal city. Certainly, the wolf must have perceived just a few things he thought curious. Things that Stygian had let on, of course. But ones that the other should have thought he wasn't actually trying to. The wondering about Mel's wisdom divulging her magic, not to mention his questions as to whether if Kerya would be able to perceive her and her spells as a magic supply, and what the stoat's impression of him was, were all close behind that thought.
   'You would wound me,' he replied to Cogidubnus, 'were it not for the fact that I'm such a bastard. I'd have thought from our previous experiences that you would know that no one is safe around me.' He grinned back and mocked the wolf a bit, just for sport. Whatever retort the other might have had in store though was rudely interrupted by a rather flashy light show from Kerya. Narrowing his eyes and raising an eyebrow in sync, stygian looked over at the little mustelid. In that sort of situation, he could not help but think of her as just a little girl. The difference in appearance between them, and doubtless also a considerable one of age, did more to add to that though.
   'Are all your spells that flashy?' the bat asked. 'Forgive me then if I put you last in line if a fight is to be expected.'

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya actually looked slightly embarrassed as she looked up at Sebastian with her muzzle still pointing a little down. If the lights in the cabin had been a little brighter, it might have been possible to see whether she was blushing on the insides of her ears. "It is a nuisance sometimes, I know," she said, "but all varieties of my shielding spells have that characteristic iridescence when I cast them, and some also when I dispel them. And not just Four Rings mages, as far as I know all schools of magic, back home, at any rate, share the same characteristic in just those spells." She smiled wryly and continued, "One of my instructors — not a mage, she taught us how to defend ourselves with ordinary weapons — could never abide it either. She always called it the shoot-me-now-please-I'm-not-hiding procedure. Many of us agree with her, but there is little we can do. All attempts to create a more stealthy spell have so far failed."

She held her head up straighter, showing more confidence in the set of her whiskers and ears as she continued, "As for the rest of the... light show, I believe I have heard it called, that was only because I was stepping through the spell slowly and carefully, using none of my own power; I did not wish to make a mistake, the results may have been... <ahem> unfortunate. When I cast it at normal speed, all of that will no longer be visible."

[Aisha deCabre]

As Aisha replaced the cape about her neck and stood with a stretch (which felt good after the train's very filling meal), she stole a glance around the atmosphere of the dining car.  Neither she nor Gareeku seemed to have paid attention to how many people had come and gone, but the place was certainly significantly more empty than it had been.  Cogidubnus had left only moments before, barely paying the other two any heed.

She stood with her back against the doorway, waiting for her companion as he paid the check.  The panther had her eyes curiously out towards the rest of the car where the cabins were, wondering just what the others were doing; if they were already asleep or not.  There looked to be lights still on in the windows, but it was hard to tell if those were just reflections of some other passing lights or the moon itself.  She wondered also about the accommodations; two large cars had been reserved for the group, each divided into small areas with sofa-beds and pull-out bunks just above on each wall.

"If we're sharing with any of the others," she muttered with a humorous snort, "Hopefully none of them snores TOO loudly.  Just may have to go out and sleep on TOP of the car."  At least joking to herself took her mind off of the way her heart still beat quickly, after the conversation.

"I hope the two of you have a nice ride," the maned wolf waitress could be heard saying to the adventurers with a polite smile on her face.  It was hard to tell if the smile was genuine or from her business, but at least one thing to be thankful for was that they hadn't been kicked out for the slightly bedraggled way they looked.  Aisha just nodded back, ready to head back to the cars when things were done with.

[Stygian]

'I sort of doubt it. I haven't seen a spell from you yet that isn't palpable half a mile away,' Stygian commented back at Kerya. 'So it seems we'll have to put some work in there as well, if we can afford the bloody time.' He shook his head and grunted. 'But all that is rather irrelevant right now. As Cog said, it's starting to seem like a good time to get to sleep. If one can, that is. I think the train is going to be starting on the high-speed stretch anytime now, as soon as we're out in the mainlands.'
   Pausing to look out through the window at the racing landscape, the bat tensed a bit in his seat. He undid the top buttons of his shirt and slipped off his jacket, then stood and stuck his hands in his pockets, gazing for a while, before turning back to the others.
   'I'm sorry for getting you all into this, if it turns out to be all my fault anyway. And I apologize for being less than agreeable. But as I'm sure you understand, the situation is pretty uncomfortable,' he said, giving them a slightly bitter look. 'Let's just finish here and think on it all.'

[Cogidubnus]

 "Magic-users should be distant anyway." the silver wolf smiled at Kerya. "And certainly a little color when testing it can be forgiven. Besides." He tipped his hat. "A little flash can be intimidating sometimes. There are times and places for such."

"Speaking of times and places..." Cog said, looking around and coughing, before quieting and listening to the bat's statement.
"Well, I for one have found this...agreeable." Cog looked at the bat for a moment. "Most agreeable. Much better than if I was by myself. The least I can do is provide assistance in return."
Cog didn't quite elaborate on what he meant, although in his mind he was running through Stygian's and Laertes battle through his head.

The wolf yawned.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton wasn't sure if she was entirely convinced by Kerya's reassurances, still keeping her devious smile under consideration, but regardless she dismissed any worries with a noncommittal shrug. Any paranoia she'd have after that grin was irrational, even for her. It wasn't like the stoat was going to slaughter her when her back was turned, and besides, what could the pipsqueak do?

That question seemed to be answered in the next moment. Keaton watched with some amazement as the stoat in front of her weaved together an intricate, empyreal strand of glistening sparks and flashing lights, a colorful sphere inflating around her upper body like an oily-iridescent halo. Once the spell's afterglow faded and Keaton was left staring safely back at Kerya, she nodded her assent and hesitantly extended her mental influence again, studying Kerya's defenses from the outside.

"Good, good," Keaton murmured attentively. "Seems to be a nice structure you have here, but I can't really know until I get in close. Hold still for a minute, will you? I'll check it out. Gimme a minute, Cog."

Retracting her probing, Keaton kneeled behind Kerya, then gently rested both of her hands on her temples. Spreading her fingers, Keaton started to concentrate, once more allowing her mental influence to expand and unravel invitingly, welcoming Kerya's own so she could thoroughly examine the newly-forged barrier. Face-to-face with Kerya's defenses, Keaton narrowed her eyes, an eldritch light igniting within her irises and subtly flaring along the lengths of her fingers, and focused, honing in on that ephemeral wall...

---

...Deirdre:

In the other cabin, Deirdre had comfortably situated herself on one of the sofas, angling her sword, sheathed in its scabbard, toward the ground and leaning on the pommel. After her conversation with Richard, she was starting to feel somewhat relaxed and adapted to her predicament - it wasn't a favorable one, not by a long shot, but if she cooperated she was certain she wouldn't face an early (well, earlier than preferred) demise. Before she could open her mouth to say something next, she felt something telltale tug at the back of her mind, yanking herself out of her pacified state and back into high alert, indicated by the upright position of her ears and her widened eyes.

Deirdre had plenty of experience in magic, so she could detect spells - when they were in close proximity and gave off a strong enough pulse - when they were cast. She couldn't tell whether it was hostile or not, but the instant that magical presence flared, it had her attention garnered. Deirdre narrowed her eyes, throwing her head to the door, then kept her ears perked.

Much to her dismay, she heard a rather familiar, raspy voice speak, muffled on the other end of the door, and felt another surge of magic.

FRIG! Deirdre mentally cursed, grabbing her sword by its handle and leaping to her feet, bounding over to the door and throwing it open. Before Richard could interfere, she was out the door and on the other side, looking quite panicked and still bedraggled from her being jostled about previously, her eyes locking onto Keaton's form. The jackal was kneeling next to a stoat woman Deirdre recognized from before, her hands leveled around the stoat's temples, illuminated brightly with wavering slivers of orange-gold light.

Moving swiftly, the Gryphon jerked her sword forward, still sheathed, and leaped at the jackal, whose concentration snapped away from the stoat's head and up, wide-eyed, at the incoming avian. "Get AWAY!" Deirdre snarled, bringing her sword down in mid-air -

- with a loud, resounding crack, the scabbard impacted Keaton's back, not with the intention of killing, but to disable. Caught off-guard, and with the force of the blow, Keaton was slammed to the ground with a guttural cry, the dying vestiges of her spell crackling and glistening along her fingers just before they extinguished. Using her wings as brakes, Deirdre flapped her wings in order to safely gauge her landing, then spun around to face the jackal, who was writhing on the ground and cursing liberally, attempting to clutch what would certainly become a very nasty bruise in the near future.

"FUCKING HELL! FUCKING HELL!" Keaton shouted from on the floor, eyes squeezed shut, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, YOU GIANT BITCH?!"

"Quit your whining!" Deirdre snarled in retaliation, drawing her sword back up and clenching the scabbard in her hand. Fortunately, it had not sustained any damage from its weighty reunion with Keaton's back. "It could have been much worse. You're lucky I didn't use my sword, when you were trying to -"

"WHEN I WAS TRYING TO CHECK HER MIND SHIELDS?!" Keaton yelled, then returned to her grotesque mantra of curses in-between nursing her back.

Deirdre went very silent. Her sword slid back into the scabbard with an imperceptible snap. She blinked, staring down at the writhing jackal, then at the stoat she thought she was supposed to save.

"...fuck."

That was the second time Deirdre had said that word today.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The whole scene might have been amusing to watch for a sadist. But it was late, there was nothing fun in the interruption and most of all, it was very loud. The latter was what immediately ticked Stygian off the most, and made him spin around, ears laying back and face caught in a snarl.
   'On the other hand, I think I know two who could very easily sleep together with you in the dining car, Cog,' the bat hissed, eyes going numbingly cold and passing between both Keaton and Deirdre. 'And I said finished, since I think we have had quite enough of both magic and vociferousness for one evening!' He stepped in between the both of them, his dark gaze awling its way into their respective heads and forcing even Keaton to look up at him after she'd finished a couple of hisses between her teeth.
   Before either of the two women beside him could say anything, Stygian bent down and lifted Keaton by the neck of her clothes and a bit of fur as well. Then he did the same to Deirdre. Practically lifting the both of them until the tips of their toes danced on the floor, he turned back to the others, Mel and Kerya in particular.
   'I think that we should go to bed now. Let's try and get a fresh start in the morning. Meanwhile,' he said, and then hissed between his teeth as he turned to Keaton and Deirdre, 'you two can calm down. Because if either of you disturb my sleep, I will see if you can get any rest hanging from the side of the train.' His obsidian eyes turned back and forth between them both.
   'You, Turkey,' the bat continued, when he felt that he had scared them both enough, and rustled Deirdre lightly, 'can try and realize that you shouldn't overcompensate so much with that sword, and think about why she would try and invade someone's mind with us all sitting right here. And you, Yappy...' He turned to Keaton, gripping her scruff a bit more and giving her the same treatment. 'You're going to think about being nicer to people like her so things like this don't happen again, and to not be so fucking loud!'
   Without waiting for some sort of confirmation or comment from either of them, Stygian dropped the two women, and then placed a hand on the back of each one, pushing them out into the corridor and shutting the door temporarily, before turning against Mel and Kerya again, now with a hastily composed and deceptively mild smile on his face.
   'As for you,' he started, pausing as he thought he noticed a bit of a reaction from them too, but catching up quickly. 'I bid you a good night. Keep an eye on those two. If they keep you from sleeping, let me know in the morning.' He then slid the door open a bit and stood aside, bowing slightly.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton and Deirdre:

It was quite likely that after Deirdre's revelation, Keaton would have turned on the unfortunate heroine and attempted to rip her limb from limb regardless of who was present in the room. Considering her history, her temperament, and her solution to every persistent problem which fell in her path - something Deirdre knew very well - it wouldn't have been much of a surprise. Before Keaton could lurch to her feet and act upon those impulses, however, Stygian reacted, intercepting the battle-that-could-have-been by scooping both jackal and Gryphon off of the ground, holding them suspended over the floor by the scruffs of their necks. Deirdre yelped in protest, reaching up to paw at the large hand restraining her neck, while opposite from her, Keaton thrashed and snarled, only for her to be silenced by a very harsh, insidious glare from Stygian's eyes.

The effect was immediate. Both women stopped, staring at him. Deirdre's eyes were wide, her ears flat; while Keaton's expression was mirrored into something near-identical, although characterized by a slight, indignant petulance unbefitting of her centuries-old age. She looked like she wanted to complain, but her words had been petrified in their tracks, leaving her only to lukewarmly glower at the bat clutching her neck.

He addressed the both of them, then deposited the two on the ground unceremoniously, ejecting them out the door before either one could complain. All Deirdre did was yelp and flap her wings a bit, clutching her sword to her chest, while Keaton barked out a curse and craned her head around, trying to protest more actively. "But - but - it was HER -"

The door was closed in her face.

"...fault," Keaton finished lamely. Her ears plastered close to her head as she glared furiously at the door, clearly seething with rage and humiliation at being chastised.

Bitterly spitting out a curse, she whirled away from the door, then turned to glower at Deirdre. The ex-Adventurer was looking quite scared into pacification and disheveled, resorting to flattening her appearance down to something semi-presentable. Innocuous as her actions were, they somehow infuriated Keaton, and she stormed over to the source of her ire, jabbing her finger in front of Deirdre's face.

"I don't see why Styg decided to bring you along, bitch," Keaton hissed, "But consider yourself lucky. If he hadn't interfered, I would have slit your fucking throat six hundred different ways before any one of them would've reacted, understand?"

At first Deirdre merely stared at Keaton in response, befuddled - then her ears flattened and she returned the glare defiantly, face fixated in a snarl. "Save your empty threats, Keaton," she spat, her hand gripping the stylized pommel of her sword. "I'm going to be civil. You should at least give me that courtesy."

In Deirdre's face, Keaton merely grinned, swiping her finger in a clean line in front of Deirdre's eyes, invisibly tracing the thin line subtly cleaving through the semi-opaque membrane. "You know as well as I do that my threats aren't empty."

There was a momentary silence, then, before Deirdre could react angrily, Keaton jauntily waved to her and trotted away, her voice mockingly light, spitefully teasing. "Anyhoo, I don't need to sleep, but I'll be going to bed, seeing as there's nothing to do on this moving shithole. Better keep good on your promise to be civil, Deirdre!"

And with that, Keaton mirthfully sat down, deliberately placing herself at the sofa at the other end of the cabin. Deirdre merely stood there, absorbing the enormity of Keaton's words, then, as her face contorted into a caricature of pure anger, she whirled away and clamped her hand over her mouth and screamed, stifling her rage through that single exclamation. Her fists clenched and her expression depicting endless frustration, Deirdre trudged over to another seat and dropped down, resting her sword on the ground, and buried her head in her hands, seething.

Keaton smiled to herself. Deirdre's rage would sustain her nicely through the night.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

Things went too fast; Richard really couldn't keep up with everything that happened until after the fact. Gonna have to watch those two pretty damn close.
"Anyone else think that it is a damn stupid idea, making those two share a room?" The undead leaned into the room with the others and jerked a thumb after Those Two, "We're trying to keep a low profile; 'Cubi and Gryphon Murder/Suicide Amongst Pack of People Fleeing City' is an attention grabbing headline. But what do I know?" it could be tricky to tell when the mutilated-looking man was grinning, or in this case smirking. "Could be lucrative. Find some jello to have them settle their differences in and we could sell tickets." He leaned against a nearby wall. "So, what set Deirdre off?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel's face was very solemn but her eyes still held a touch of amusement as she bowed a good night to the men remaining in the cabin. "If they do not cool down on their own as an ice mage I can always offer to assist. If they look a bit frostbitten in the morning you will know why."

She moved down the tiny train hallway to the adjoining cabin and found the jackal and the griffon in neutral corners and quiet. Still seething, but at least doing it quietly. Mel reached over Keaton's head and lowered the upper bunk. Unclasping her belt pouch she tossed it up onto the bunk then quickly followed. Removing her long grey suede coat she somehow managed to store it in the small, hand sized bag. Her tall boots followed. As she removed the blue silk tunic that had somehow come through the pouring rain soft and without a single watermark she commented to no one, "Aisha and Gareeku have not returned from the dining car. Hopefully they merely stopped on the observation car to stare at the moon and have not found trouble so soon."

Reaching one last time into the pouch Mel pulled an enormous blue velvet quilt from within. Not a mere luxury her own blanket would keep her cool instead of warm. Wrapping it around herself until only her nose and eyes were visible the disguised dragon laid down to sleep.

[Stygian]

'Goodnight, Mel' Stygian offered, before walking away and settling down in his seat again, sighing and rubbing his temple. He chuckled halfheartedly at Richard's last suggestion. If the undead commented at that...
   'Keaton was about to pry a little at Kerya's mind-shields. And I guess we can conclude from Dee's reaction that she's at least a decent mage,' he said, thumbing his earring a bit. 'And no, letting them share a room is not really stupid. Deirdre might learn a lesson or two, and Keaton gets to work on that bloody emotionality of hers. She could very much need that. And my threat should be enough to keep them both down.' Then he growled a bit, as he had no problem hearing what Keaton said next in the adjacent cabin. 'We'll just have to put up with it for a while...' he added.

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya was just beginning to get used to the feeling of Keaton poking and prodding at her new shields — although she was quite sure she would never get to like it — when everything went wrong.

Whatever spell the jackal used produced a distinct glow in her fingertips as they lay on Kerya's head, so she closed her eyes to shut out the distraction. This also allowed her to concentrate on how the shield felt from the inside. It was oddly familiar, and it took her a moment to realise why. Back in Haszal, the rabbit 'Cubi had been "speaking" in her head, taunting and threatening her. Behind the rabbit's odd non-voice, she had sensed the same faint haze, very slightly deadening sounds from the rest of the hall. If the rabbit had set up a shielding spell of her own, to prevent anyone else from interfering with her plans for Kerya, that was one very good sign that her own spell had been built along the same principles and was probably working properly.

Which raised the question, she suddenly realised, of how Sebastian had known to intervene, disrupt the rabbit's spells, and free her...

The sudden crash of the cabin door bursting open scattered her thoughts. She'd just opened her eyes to see what was going on when she heard shouting, then a loud thump, and Keaton collapsed, her muzzle trailing down Kerya's back. There was a lot of shouting after that, but the little stoat was too distracted for a minute to pay attention to it: something was skittering and clawing at the outside of her new shield. All she could see at first was a swirling orange-yellow haze, which slowly began to clear after a few seconds. She realised it was Keaton's spell, disrupted when something happened to the jackal. It was fading naturally, but too slowly — she had to find out what was happening. Just as she'd done in the club, Kerya grabbed hold of the disrupted spell and drained it. The haze soon faded away, but now the little stoat had another problem. Two Sebastians held up two birdlike creatures and two Keatons by the scruffs of their necks. She blinked. By the time the Sebastians threw the other four out of the cabin, her vision was starting to clear, but she still felt dizzy.

"I am coming too, Mel, I need a rest after all this excitement." She picked up her staff and her bag, nodded politely two feet to the left of Sebastian, Richard and Cog, and followed the snow leopard. She only walked into the door frame once. In the other cabin, she pulled open an unoccupied bed and sat back on it with a sigh of relief.

[Gareeku]

Listening to Aisha speak, Gareeku smirked somewhat.
"Yeah. It's quite eventful." the wolf replied, gathering his things before leaving money to pay for the meals.
"Keep the change." he said to the waitress, before walking to where the pantheress was.

Listening to Aisha speak of the possibility of people snoring in their speak, Gareeku rolled his eyes somewhat.
"If they do, then I'm going to shut them up." the wolf replied.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cogidubnus was watching Kerya and Keaton's various magical spells interact with each other with a sort of impatient curiosity. Lights emanated out from the Cubi's hands and seemed to mingle with the colored inkdrop spirals of Kerya's own mindshield. Curling around each other, the Jackals lighter-colored threads of magic were seeming to slide off the stoats own when suddenly the Gryphon from before, Dierdre, walked into the room and seemed to almost wilt at the sight of Keaton's hands around the stoat's face. She panicked, the sight apparently incensing her greatly, and smacked the Jackal across the skull with her sword.

Cogidubnus watched the ensuing fight silently, a single eyebrow raising at the debacle. Keaton and Deirdre looked about ready to scratch each other's eyes out when Stygian broke up the fight rather quickly, and picked them both up by the scruff of their necks. A few rather menacing words later, and he threw them both outside the car. Mel and the others soon followed, and Cog bowed to Kerya on the her way out.

"They'll probably be fine. I'd be surprised if either of them really have the energy to cause much trouble." Cog said, slipping the bed out from the couch. It was one of those rather thinly padded, uncomfortable numbers with a single sheet and a very thin, blue woolen blanket for warmth. Cog sighed to himself, and tossed his hat on the bed as he began to undress.
"Besides, Mel seems a rather reasonable sort. I'd think twice before disturbing a dragon's sleep, anyway."

Cog kicked his shoes under the bed and hung his coat on a nearby doorknob before crawling into the freezing sheets, and attempted to see if the beds in the cars were any more comfortable than the booths in the dining car.

[Stygian]

Chuckling, the bat undid his white silken tie, and loosened his collar, starting to slip off his jacket. A pair of other people were approaching, somewhat silently but not quite as their balance was slightly disrupted by the swaying of the train as it came out of a turn. Just a few steps were off, before returning to practiced smoothness, inaudible to him again, especially through the sound of the wheels against the tracks under them. That was probably Aisha and Gar coming back.
   'Reasonable is the nice way to put it,' the bat said with a smirk, standing up and walking over to hang the jacket on a hook by the small locker-like wardrobe by the door. The tie came next. 'Cold does not begin to describe that one, for good or bad.' He chuckled. 'She'll keep them on their toes and shivering, trust me.'
   Slipping his shirt off and hanging it together with the rest of the things in the room, Stygian undid his ponytail and ruffled his hair and the mane-like scruff just above his tight shoulder muscles. His top exposed, pallidly and velveteen-smoothly cream-furred and athletically built, the fit of his suit got a visible reason. Not really much larger than many other men, he was nevertheless lean and smoothed out and toned in a way most rare to find. It was as if one had taken the build of a normal man, then boiled off the fat and lengthened and perfected the lines, and slapped on hard and wiry-strong muscle to cope for the weight loss, and then some for good measure. The kind of build that only dancers and martial artists, those who move and work hard and constantly, ever develop. It also gave ample view of the inky black, sharp-edged tattoo covering his right arm, edging up onto his back and neck. And of the two large, vertical scars, folds in his fur, situated against his shoulder blades. Precisely where the primary wings of a Cubi, or those of a Demon or Angel, would have been based.
   'It's not a bad thing to pair them together either. Deirdre's an adventurer,' he continued, undoing his belt and slipping down his pants past his short, pointy tail and cotton boxers, over shapely hips and equally muscled legs, laying them on the side of the bed-sofa he had now marked as his own. 'And Keaton especially needs to learn to be more careful. Not necessarily nice, but careful, and considerate of her own actions. That girl thinks way too much with only the right side of her brain.'

[Aisha deCabre]

As Aisha looked out towards the cabins, her ears had suddenly caught more disturbances toward the first car where everyone else seemed to be gathered...the rattling of the train's wheels on the metal rails and the smooth growl of the engine was hindering even her own sensitive hearing, but at one point she thought she heard yelling.  And then there were shapes heading back into the second car, going quiet again.

That was when she heard Gareeku's comment as he came back, and that made her bark out a laugh.  "Y'know what, I think everyone might appreciate that if so," she smirked, walking back towards the cars, only stopping to balance herself when the train turned.  "Of course all I hope is that nobody's going to be fighting along the way either.  I'll shut them up too, then."  The last part was said in all seriousness.  Ever since they departed it seemed that there was some unresolved issues between a few of the party members.  If they were going to be traveling together, they were going to be working as a team, one way or another.

"Here we are," she yawned as soon as they reached the second car, where they had put their things.  Again over the roar of the train it was hard to tell, but it seemed like everyone in the rooms had finally gone quiet.  Silently, she pulled open the door, looking around to see if there was nobody was on the floor in their path, before stepping in and setting her stuff on an unoccupied couch-bunk near a window, opposite from where the others were nearly clustered and, it was thought, sleeping.  A spacious, quiet corner.  "Finally."

[Sunblink]

...Keaton and Deirdre:

Despite the previous confrontation, Deirdre and Keaton had remained in their respective places when Mel entered the cabin. Deirdre was seated on the very edge of the sofa, her body tense and taut and her hands nestled atop her sword's pommel, the scabbard-sheathed length of the blade itself leaning against the floor like a cane. Aside from the ruffled appearance of her hair and the slight prominence of the lines subtly tracing her eyes, she bore no marks of her earlier breakdown; face schooled into a disciplined mask of silence.

Keaton, meanwhile, didn't bother hiding how pleased she was at pettily and proverbially slapping Deirdre and kicking her while she was down. Her back was audaciously facing Deirdre's from where she was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa, her own face mirroring nothing short of content glee. Quiet and defiant as Deirdre seemed, Keaton was absorbing a smörgåsbord of varying degrees of anger radiating off of the Gryphon's stonily-still form.

Funny thing with Keaton. She could never be happy without pushing someone else in the dirt.

Once Mel had unloaded her quilt and had comfortably cocooned herself in its voluminous folds in the bunk overhead, Keaton decided to test her limits even more. Crossing one leg over the other, Keaton folded her arms behind her head, then leaned back, visibly luxuriating in the perpetually-smoldering ambiance of Deirdre's emotions.

Deirdre witnessed this wordless mocking out of the corners of her eyes, but merely narrowed her eyes and hunched her shoulders. Keaton detected her anger petering out into a small, fizzling sputter, one which was short-lived but quite satisfactory in that condensed burst of fury, then decided to end her games by closing her eyes. She knew Deirdre wouldn't try to kill her in her sleep.

Deirdre, on the other hand, wasn't sure if she could grant Keaton that same confidence.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[SpottedKitty]

After a minute or so of leaning back in the bed, seemingly half asleep, Kerya's eyes blinked open. She sighed heavily, sat up and looked around the cabin. When she spotted the bird-thing sitting on one of the other sofas her ears perked up, and her tail flicked back and forth once.

"I see our merry band has another new member," she said, with a slight edge in her voice. "Who are you? I cannot continue to call you the bird-thing, or the big angry turkey. And why did you attack Keaton?"

The little stoat snorted in annoyance. "The way you charged in, anyone would think you expected to find her devouring me where I sat..."

[Sunblink]

...Deirdre:

Tense-bodied and razorbladed of gaze, Deirdre seemed almost relentless in her vigil, up until she heard a near-inaudible shuffling and rustling of leather, one which indicated Keaton turning away and diverting her attention away from the decidedly uninteresting emotional antics of the Gryphon. Finally feeling some form of sanctity, Deirdre nearly sighed out of relief, but kept her emotions as smothered as possible. Still didn't know if Keaton was still spying on her, after all.

An oddly melancholy expression drifted over Deirdre's features as she leaned her chin against her hands, stifling another sigh. She would have been absolutely content to staying there for some time, finding some comfort in the fact Keaton wouldn't assault her with Mel sleeping over them, if it wasn't for Kerya's sudden appearance. One look at the agitated stoat and Deirdre's face fell flat, her ears falling back and her eyebrows furrowing over her half-lidded eyes. The rather diminutive stoat was speaking rather abrasively, considering her poorly-veiled epithets, but Deirdre was uncertain if she could safely lay any blame on Kerya's behavior. Regardless of any understanding, however, Deirdre felt some form of defensive rebuttal swelling inside of her, which she attempted to quell as she spoke.

"Your group does have a new member, whether I like it or not," Deirdre said, keeping her voice as even as possible, then cut right to the chase. "I - look, I really am..." she sighed, fighting back her irritation. "I am sorry. I sincerely thought I was trying to... well... save your life. I thought she was, well, doing something to you." A momentary pause, then she threw up her hand, her other one still gripping her sword. "It wasn't my most rational or intelligent moment, okay? But I don't have the most pleasant history with Keaton.

"That's irrelevant, though. I truly am sorry. I didn't mean to cause you any harm," Deirdre concluded her apology with a sigh, reaching up to massage her right temple. "God. One minute I'm telling someone I'm nothing like the brainless hack-and-slashers who I've had the misfortune of working with, the next minute I'm acting just like one."

She paused again, then added, almost as a distant afterthought, "And to answer your earlier question, I'm Deirdre. But I guess after my earlier actions you're free to continue calling me whatever, as long as you keep it creative."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya's ears flicked alternately back and forth as she listened to Dierdre's apology. At the end she nodded and gave a small, tight smile. "Very well, Dierdre. I am Kerya. I know what you mean, I seem to be having a day like that myself. Only a few marks ago I was preparing for a meeting at that club back in Haszal with another mage — who then attacked me. Sebastian aided me in extricating myself, and I think the rest you know, if you were in the club as well."

[Sunblink]

...Deirdre:

Any apprehension Deirdre felt during the dismal moments before Kerya gave her that tight, hesitant smile dissolved, quite gratefully. The Gryphon's ears angled backwards inquisitively, then she sighed. Good thing she had apologized. The last thing she needed was to create any unnecessary enemies in this... an action which was contradictory to her behavior which landed her in this mess initially. Whether or not Kerya had relieved Deirdre of any resentment was uncertain, but it was a start.

Deirdre laced her fingers together, then she returned the smile, with equal tightness. "I was in the club, yes, but I'm not really as informed about the situation as the rest of you are," she explained, "When you get right down to it I was sort of a bystander dragged into the conflict. Seems you are, too..." A hasty addendum to that statement, "...no offense intended."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[SpottedKitty]

"None taken, Dierdre," Kerya replied with a laugh that turned into a yawn. After a moment she blinked and scratched the back of her right ear. "Anything more shall have to wait on tomorrow, m' tired..." she murmured through another jaw-cracking yawn. She pulled the dagger out of her sash and slipped it under the pillow. The sash itself was next to come off, although when she unhooked it, her dress slipped and developed a list to one side from the damage it had taken when Dierdre's car crashed. Through another yawn she scribed a faintly glowing circle in the air above the foot of the bed. She picked up the bag of stuff she'd bought back at the railway station, fished out a small package and tipped everything else — brightly coloured fluffy beach towels and t-shirts, apparently — into the circle.

Finally she wriggled out of the dress and held it up, frowning at the rips and strained seams, before she yawned and tossed it into the circle as well. A wide belt around her waist supported several small pouches and bags; she unhooked it, rolled it up and laid it beside the sash. One last cavernous yawn accompanied a wriggling stretch that ran the length of her body. She scratched vigorously at the exposed fur between the three bands around her chest and stomach, then she curled up into a ball of fur and pulled the sheet over herself, leaving only the end of her snout poking out. Within seconds, the little stoat was snoring quietly.

A couple of minutes later, the glowing circle shimmered and slowly began to extrude something made of soft grey cloth, piling it up at the foot of the bed.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog muttered something affirmative to the bat, seemingly already in the throes of sleep. Apparently one could fall asleep on the rather uncomfortable and cold looking beds, and after only a moment of moving his feet around he found a comfortable position to fall asleep in. It wasn't long before the wolf ceased to move, and with his eyes closed, it became impossible to tell if he was awake or not anymore - his breath being perhaps the only indicator that he might cling to consciousness. Even that too began to shallow, and the wolf fell well and truly asleep.

[Stygian]

Just about to ask what was fogging up the windows, Stygian stopped and listened in to the conversation in the other cabin for a while, his sharp ears perking and swiveling just a little. Then he shook his head and looked over his shoulder at Cog, and sat down on his bed. Scratching his neck slightly, he yawned, displaying wicked teeth, and then pulled the sheets aside, laying back down and enjoying a bit of chill before he pulled them up over himself. Thinking about how events had just transpired and the rest of the group, he concluded they had all not been too pressured just yet, but they were taking things very levelly. And not thinking too hard about them just yet.
   That will change though, I can imagine, he thought to himself. The gears are finally grinding to work again, at last.
   Finally closing his dark eyes, the bat exhaled in a very long, drawn out sigh, and relaxed, falling down into the comfortable darkness of sleep.

[Gareeku]

Listening to Aisha's response to his own comment, Gareeku smirked slightly as she spoke.
"Makes things more interesting, though." The wolf replied. "But yes. It won't help with our dilemma at all. They had better learn to get along, otherwise they should go out on their own. I for one am not prepared to put up with their bullshit."

After saying his piece as the two of them made their way towards the cabins, Gareeku glanced to the side, looking out of the window at the scenes rushing past as the train sped through the landscape. It seemed to be such a peaceful night, that one could easily forget what situation the group was in, and what danger came with it. The moon shone as brightly as ever as trees and hills whisked past the window, the only seemingly unchanging object outside of the train.

It was then that, upon turning his head away from looking out of the passing windows, the wolf found that they had arrived at the cabin in which they were to rest inside, Aisha pointing that fact out as they walked up to the cabin's door.

It did indeed seem like everyone in the rooms had finally gone quiet after their bickering and discussions as Aisha silently opened the door. Like the pantheress, Gareeku wasn't sure whether the peace and quiet was in fact due to the roar that the travelling train made. Looking around in the darkness as Aisha checked that nobody was on the floor and thus in their way, the wolf stepped inside after the pantheress had done so.

Watching as Aisha set her stuff down on an unoccupied couch-bunk near the window, Gareeku collected up his hooded cloak, putting it back on over his shoulders. Pulling the hood up over his head as he pulled the rest of the cloak around him, the wolf then sat down on the floor beside the head of the couch-bunk, resting against the wall as he bowed his head. Gareeku had slept this way nearly every night for the past two years, having never stopped travelling due to the fact that he had no home to go to, along with the fact that 9 times out of 10, he had been no where a place to stay. It was safe to say that by now, the lupine warrior was quite used to it. Hearing the pantheress' word, the wolf replied with an "Mm" as he sat there.

[Aisha deCabre]

In the dark quiet of the room, another yawn escaped Aisha's jaws as she prepared herself for sleep, removing her own hooded cape and collar to rest it over the rim of the couch where she had also placed her belt and attached weapons.  Though it would be rather hard to be attacked on a train, the cautious huntress still had a habit of putting them within easy reach.

She took her time in doing so, allowing Gareeku to find his own place within the cabin.  Outside of the window above the head of the couch, she observed, the night was streaming along peacefully, and the light of the moon shining through the window with all of its blessings of hope.  The panthress hoped that they wouldn't have to get there so soon as to wake up early.

As Aisha sat on the bed, she glanced over at the wolf, who had taken a place on the floor next to the head of it, his eyes hidden by the hood of his cloak as he waited for sleep to come.  She tilted her head...like Gareeku, as a traveling adventurer, she too was used to sleeping in less-than-perfect conditions for it, and could understand.  Yet still her concern for him showed once more...how long since he had a good sleep, other than when they were at the inn.

Instead of pulling out the bed part of the sofa, Aisha decided to sleep on it as it was, using her own cloak for a blanket.  As she took it over herself and started to lay down, just before going to sleep, her hand reached over and lightly pulled a portion of Gareeku's hood back so she could see his eyes.  He was met with a rather sleepy, though soft, smile.  "Good night and good dreams, amigo."

[Gareeku]

As he sat there, with his hooded cloak wrapped over him, Gareeku closed his eyes, trying to head off to sleep. He couldn't remember the last time he had experienced a decent night's sleep. Trying to rest outside in his travels, the wolf reguarly experienced disturbed nights, and at times he was lucky to get any sleep at all. Still, he tried, and sometimes he would get a good few hours worth of rest in.

As he closed his eyes, it wasn't long before Gareeku felt his hood shift. Opening his eyes to see who or what is was, the lupine warrior found that Aisha had gently pulled the hood aside to look at him, gazing at him with a soft and sleepy smile. Hearing her goodnight, Gareeku nodded his head as the corner of his mouth turned up slightly into a slight smile.

"Goodnight, and rest well, Aisha." the wolf replied, before pulling his hood forward once more, closing his eyes once again as the lupin warrior tried to get himself to fall asleep.

[Stygian]

...

- -

The crackling of flames was everything she could hear, and the soft scent of burning wood mixed ill together with a rancid, sickening other smell. Aisha recognized much of it, even though she didn't think about it. The thick, sweet edge of it, she knew very well. Her father had tarred the wooden steps to their house the summer before the last one, and the pleasant odor had reminded her of coming home ever since. A murky part of it reminded her of what she sometimes felt from the kitchen, when her mother was cooking. All the good feelings were taken out of it though, by a stinging, ashy dryness that made her eyes and nose sting and blur. She could barely see through the tears.
   She had seen the main street of the village a thousand times. She had walked down it again and again. Even the darkest night had not been able to make the familiar place seem threatening to her. She knew it too well. And little Isha, as her mother had called her, had learned early on that she saw and heard much too well for that also. That's why she could smell so clearly, even when her breath came in ragged, wet gasps. That's why she always won when she played hide and seek with the neighbor's kids, why she never got lost and why her father would sometimes let her go down to the lake to play and bathe, even when it was getting late and she had no one to go with her. She was so sure of herself, little Isha, her father used to say, half with reproach but with a pride in his voice that always made her smile. But not now. The little girl who was running down the main street now might as well have been someone entirely different. She hoped she were, and that she were not. She hoped that she would just wake up.
    It did seem like a dream. Between her itching eyes and the roaring in her ears, the swimming light and the thick darkness, she thought it must be. But she didn't have dreams like that. And even in the bad ones, the ones that made her wake up crying and running to her parents' bedroom, she never felt so tired, and her legs never hurt like they did right then. But it had to be. They couldn't be burning. The houses couldn't be burning. They had stood where they were forever. She remembered, and nothing in the little town had ever changed. She would wake up, and she would stay up, just so she could go out and look at it in the morning, at first light. She would go down the curve from their house, where she could see the orchards underneath the sun in the mornings, and down behind the hill right onto the way into town. Old Manuel's house would be right there, and he would be out on the porch before anyone else as always, and he would be standing by the saddle that was always on the railing and smoking his pipe before he rode off to work. The burning, skeletal frame that stood where his house should be to her right wasn't really there...
   A crumbling, breaking sound made her look up, and just a second later her breath caught in a quick yelp, before she tumbled over and into the mud that had formed from water spilling out from a toppled barrel. A sour, oily stench hit her and made her blurry eyes water even more, as she pushed herself up, the black fur on her arms soiled with muck. Debris lay all around her, and a burning section of ceiling had fallen down the porch, laying down over the stairs and a big, dark lump of cloth that...
   She could not help herself. She screamed. Dirt and small, sharp stones scraping and raking her bare feet, Aisha ran, leaping over the scorched beams and heading away into the nearest alley, leaving the burning house and the stiff, broken arm sticking out from underneath the wreckage. Had it been moving? Had it been reaching for her? She hadn't seen. And what could she do? Her father could have done something, but he...
   A sharp pang of pain somewhere deep down made her close her eyes, and push her aching legs into an even harder run. She didn't know where the pain came from. Didn't know, because she refused to know. But actually, she just wished she didn't...
   Defying the towering, flame-entwined shapes everywhere, hollow and smashed windows and wooden frames glaring at her like burning, skeletal faces, she ran. She ran and ran, even though her lungs ached with the smoke, and her calves felt as if they were burning. And she forced herself not to look, not to hear the calls, or see the shapes laying in the street. To not see the ones hinting in between the flames as they ran and leaped, they too. They looked like they were dancing. Shadows, dancing a graceful, terrible dance of death. Around and around, through the streets, coming for her. She had never thought that flames could sound so loud.
   She never heard or saw them coming. And to little Isha, who had always seen and heard, who had always been so sure and confident, the shock was almost enough to make her drop right there. But she kept on running, turning away and clenching her teeth, blocking them out even when she heard their laughter. She wished so hard that she couldn't hear them that they almost seemed gone for a while. Until a fleeting, loping shape moved up at the corner of her vision, so smoothly that it might as well have been gliding across the ground. Its eyes were glowing and its teeth bared, gleaming light amid jagged darkness in a wicked grin. And it was only the first.
   Like a dancing troupe of harlequins, more laughing shapes, outlined by the flames behind them, cackling and shrieking with the thrill of the chase and the madness of the destruction around them, emerged from out of between the shadows and fire. They circled her, moving swiftly and easily up on her sides. She was aching, her heart was beating so fast that she almost felt as if her chest would burst, and she could barely feel her legs anymore. And they were high on the light of the fire and the taste of blood. She couldn't outrun them. She couldn't hide in any of the burning buildings. Even if she made it out of the village, the old woods were far away. And they already had her. They were just toying with her now, playing with their prey before they went in for the kill. Aisha had seen a cat do that once with one of the field mice that...
   The realization struck her so hard that her legs finally gave out under her, and she tumbled to the ground, like a deer that gives in to exhaustion as the wolves close in. Wet, cold and too scared to even cry, she lay shaking on the ground.
   She was going to die.
   The silent scraping of a step came from just behind her, and she didn't even flinch. Then another, and another. She still stayed down. She felt too heavy to move. If this were a dream, then this would have been the point where she would wake up, wet and tossing. Why didn't she? It couldn't be true. It couldn't! Any second now, she would jolt up, and she would run to her parents' bedroom, and her father would be there and... Her father...
   She began weeping again. She knew why. She just wished she didn't. The pain consumed her, and drowned out the voices around her. It crushed her underneath its terrible weight, blinding her to the fiery lights, numbing everything but the jagged feeling of loss that cut like a dull razor into her soul. She didn't even feel the clawed hand that grabbed her. She was a helpless bundle of pain in a burning, dark void. There couldn't be anything worse than this. There couldn't be.
   The stillness that followed was so long she thought she were dead already. It was the short, desperate scream that woke her up, followed by the thud as the last figure beside her crumpled and joined the other shapes in the street. She was sitting on the ground again. The fire was still all around, shadows playing and dancing from out of the darkness. Sparks and cinders glowed like miniature stars as they drifted through the air. But somehow, all of a sudden, she felt... cold. And she knew why. She knew where it was coming from. She just wished she didn't...
   'I'm sorry.'
   The fire touched her.

Sweating and panting, Aisha jolted up and into paining wakefulness on her bed in the train cabin. Her heart was thudding hard against her ribs, and there was a taste of blood in her mouth.