Northern Winds [NC-17] (IC)

[Aisha deCabre]

With Gareeku's wish for her to have a good night lingering in her ears as well, it took a few moments for Aisha to fall asleep with a light smile.  The night was already peaceful enough...perhaps it was true that there was to be no...more...interruptions.  Finally.

But as the minutes into a few hours waned on ever slowly, with complete sleep taking over the panther's mind and hopefully the wolf's, it soon became present that she was dead wrong.  If tangible threats were to be thwarted, then certainly they were going to be intangible; a dream, carrying snatches of memories that bore down on her like an avalanche.

Her body barely moved in her sleep.  But the smile on the feline's face vanished and her eyelids twitched and squinted...and that was followed by wave upon wave of shuddering.  She's had dreams before, the same ones being drawn from memories best repressed...but none had ever been so dreadfully real.  In her mind, she was right back in the village and felt the very heat as it burned...as people died...as demons raged...as her father...the blood...

It ended with the fires engulfing her.  As they did, a blinding flash brought Aisha back into the living as she sprung up from the couch with a loud gasp.  Teeth bared, claws digging into the fabric, gasping in ragged breaths, sweat clinging to her short fur...and her eyes wide as they registered the darkness and sent information into her fevered mind.

It was still dark...very late, probably.  They were still on the train, moving smoothly.  It had been a dream...but she was far from being in a state of relief.  There was something about it that frightened her...more than any nightmare ever did.

"Estas bien, chica," she whispered to herself, regaining her composure while biting her lip to make sure she still wasn't dreaming.  But despite that, the taste of blood still lingered on her tongue...she would write that off as perhaps having bitten it or something, when she glanced with a bit of concern over at Gareeku.  Hopefully she hadn't disturbed him.

But as the light from the moon fell into the window, she couldn't help but catch a glimpse of her arm...and her eyes widened.  Maybe it was the melanistic fur pattern playing tricks on her tired eyes...but she could have sworn that it looked like bits of her fur were singed...

Aisha nearly reeled, but steadied herself against the couch arm.  "Oh gods..." she whimpered, shaking her head and closing her eyes, unable to look again and just trying to wait until sleep would catch up and take her someplace else, placing her head in her arms as she leaned against the couch arm.  It was just a dream...it had to be.  Come on, hunter, get your head back together.  Like always.

"Oh gods."

[Stygian]

There was nothing around save the thick darkness and the thrumming, pulsating sound and feeling of the train's movement underneath her feet. The sound of the breathing of the other occupants of the cabin was slow and regular, made wispy by the cold that the car walls couldn't entirely keep out. She shivered, but something, some lingering sensation of heat and a wish to cool herself almost compelled her to keep sitting.
   Some time passed. She couldn't have said whether if it was a minute or five. She almost felt like laying down back under the sheets, when suddenly she heard a rasping sound from outside in the corridor.

[Gareeku]

Through the night, Gareeku stayed awake. Though he closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep, he simply could not. His body just could relax enough for it to let him slip gently into slumber. By now, however, the lupine warrio was used to it, so the fact that he could not get to sleep once more did not come as a surprise to him at all. Just the same old restless night.

Suddenly his eyes darted to the side of him, the blue orbs being completely hidden thanks to the dark shadows that the hooded cloak that was wrapped around him created. Without moving at all, not even turning his head in the slightest, Gareeku saw that Aisha had bolted upright, now fully awake. From where he sat up against the wall, he could see the look in her eyes; it was one of almost fear. Observing her as she sat there wide awake with that look in her eyes, he wolf knew that the panthress must have seen some quite horrible and/or terrifying in her sleep.

It was then, however, that his eyes suddenly darted the other way, now looking towards the door. A rasping sound could now be heard from outside in the corridor, and when he glanced back to Aisha, he knew that he wasn't the only one who had heard it.

[Aisha deCabre]

Leaning against the couch, Aisha after a while slowly looked up and glanced around, putting her arms behind her back as if in fear of looking at them again.  At least the quiet hadn't been deafening...the train still rumbled along and people still slept, it was assumed, never heeding the panther that was jarred by a nightmare.

She sighed after nothing came again...hesitant to go back to sleep as she wrapped her arms around herself...not from the cool air, but from the fear that lingered until she became too sleepy to keep thinking about it for long.  Logic still played a large part in her thinking.  Nightmares were nightmares, and the darkness always played tricks with one's senses in the night...and the throes between sleep.

With a shake of her head, she reached over to pull the cloak back up when something else was heard...just outside in the corridor.  Something rasping...a noise which shot adrenaline through her body and caused her to be wide awake once again.

With a gulp, the panthress rolled slowly forward on her knees and reached for her boomerang, ears kept forward like satellites.  "Who's there?" she demanded in a harsh whisper, trying to guess what it might be as a foot came down on the floor.

Can't be a 'Cubi, unless they can be far away when messing with people's dreams.  But if that's all it is, I'm pretty sure it'd be something of a relief, she thought...and waited.

[Stygian]

No one answered. The sound had ended rather quickly even before Aisha could speak, but between the noise and the blurry outline she thought she could vaguely hint through the muddled glass window in the door out to the corridor, she was fairly sure that she wasn't jumping at shadows.

[Gareeku]

Turning back to look where the rasping noise had come from behind the door to the corridor, Gareeku narrowed his eyes. Either someone was playing some sort of trick, or something was lurking outside that shouldn't have been.

Something sinister.

As his eyes then flicked back to look at Aisha once more as he heard her move in her makeshift bed, the wolf watched from the shadows cast by his hooded cloak as the pantheress rolled forward on her knees, reaching for her boomerang before demanding who was behind the door in a harsh whisper as she put a foot down onto the floor of the cabin. Like Aisha, Gareeku waited for an answer.

None came.

Turning to look back at the door, the wolf then saw something, some sort of shape, behind the glass of the door's window in the corridor beyond. Unable to make out what it was, the lupine warrior's eyes then rested on his sheathed sword, which rested against the wall a short distance away, before looking back at the door, and then back at Aisha again.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha fought to suppress an agitated growl, her eyes fixed firmly on the door as she awaited a response.  But nothing came.  Now she was restless; who or what was this thing, and what was it doing disturbing their sleep?  Still the sight of the figure as it stood right out in the window sent a chill up her spine...especially when the rasping stopped.

Her hand gripped the boomerang's handle.  When she was tired and edgy, nothing was going to mess with her.

"Alright then..." she muttered with finality, bunching up the muscles in her leg and pausing for just a second to assess that it wasn't going away.  "Anyone wakes up from this I'll take the tongue lashing."

Using that one foot on the floor, she quickly pushed herself forward and zipped across the room to the entrance in a broad leap, throwing open the door when she landed in a swift motion and, just as swiftly, brought up her blade to catch whatever was there by surprise...if anything was there.

[Stygian]

Rather anticlimactically, the dark figure revealed itself to be very much present, and in the way of the huntress' path, as she slid out somewhat when the sliding door opened itself more easily than she had expected. Her blade settled into a very precise threatening position at the unidentified someone's neck, but not before her elbow had bruised said person in the chest.
   'Wha...?! Don't you ever sleep...?!' a familiar voice started, more growly than usual, and Stygian stared down at the panthress.

[Aisha deCabre]

The claws on her feet worked to brake the panthress as the door opened with ease, the edge of her boomerang easily catching something on the edge of their jugular.  She stood with a grimace on her face that could have put a shudder in the spines of the brave, breathing through slightly parted, gleaming teeth.  It was easy to see that a portion of her had been distressed into a state of anger.

She hadn't even moved when it finally crossed her head that the one before her was the bat...her thoughts having been adamant to take his head at the beginning of the adventure, she was quite tempted to finish the thought...but instead took it back and stood up, withdrawing the blade with a snarl.  "Yeah, normally, murciélago," she hissed.  "But not when I have a nightmare that scares me half to death, leaves scorch marks, and leads me to hear and see things..."  She nearly turned back inside, trying to glimpse through the darkness to see Gareeku's reaction, or whether or not he had even awakened.  Her voice dulled to a mutter and her fingers parted sweat-ridden bangs.  "Dammit, I thought you were..."

Then she turned back again, incredulity in her eyes.  "Sorry about that, but what in infierno were you doing there anyway?"

[Stygian]

The bat merely stared back at her for a short few seconds. She hadn't attributed the growl to anything significant, really, before she got a look at his face. His dark eyes seemed more sunken than usual, his fur was ruffled and stood up and she could hear his breathing clearly, something that while she didn't really notice still managed to unnerve her somehow, as it was not something that usually happened. She would have said that he looked as if he'd had a rude awakening as well. He scratched his arm as if it were itching.
   'Stopped by the bathroom,' he replied, and she noticed that the ends of his hair and his face were a bit damp with water. 'I'm not really used to sleeping at night. Keep waking up all the time...' His explanation was quite easy to understand. She was more aware of his nature than most.
   'It's eight hours left before our stop. I'm going to try and get at least some rest...' he continued, moving around her and toward the entry to the other cabin. He slid the door aside silently, then looked back to her. 'Goodnight.'

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha was quiet as she observed the bat's reaction to her rather hyped condition, which as she guessed was calm despite the way he looked.  He too seemed to be awakened in a harsh way, which made the hunter back off just a little on her own aggressiveness for a more toned-down countenance.  Moreover it was curiosity that made her wonder what kind of nightmare he had, or if he had any at all.

Still, slowly and surely she was just trying to let it be all but forgotten.  They would have an adventure to keep up with on the morrow...and neither she nor any of the rest of the party would let a simple scare ruin their focus.  Such was the discipline.

"Yeah...g'night," she nodded back to Ignatz and slid the door closed slowly, back into the darkness and solitude of the cabin...the shadows were gone, the illusions faded.  But the dream would still linger in her mind until she would fall asleep again.

"Sorry, it was just the bat passing by," she whispered, figuring that perhaps by now with the noise just a bit ago that Gareeku wasn't much asleep...just in the case he wasn't.  It was hard to tell...even for one used to it, sitting on a floor when a train bumped along still must not have been all that ideal.  Quietly she made her way back to the sofa...but instead of laying down, she was sitting up on it with the cape covering her lap.  "Ah, you can sit up here on the cushion if you want, I'm too tired to move..." she said quietly to her comrade before leaning her head back and closing her eyes, none to mindful of just falling asleep that way.

Madre de dios, no more nightmares, please, her mind begged, unintentionally in a meek voice that she'd never use aloud.

[Stygian]

The bat watched the door to the other cabin as Aisha slid it shut, leaning on the doorframe somewhat. Then, as carefully as he could, he slid back out into the corridor, taking out the paper towel he'd slid up his sleeve and wiped away the few black spots on the floor he had made with his bare feet. As he scratched the singed fur on his ankles, he muttered and thanked his luck that she hadn't noticed the slightly ashy smell about him, or taken it for coming from her. Walking back into the men's cabin, he threw the paper in the trash bin, and then threw off his pants, all he'd been wearing, before sliding back under his sheets.

- -

The rhythmical thudding of the tracks rolling away, mile after mile underneath them had virtually disappeared as the train had picked up speed. So it was probably his own frustration and stress that thumped together with Laertes' pulse inside his head. Hours behind their quarry, heading for a large town where it would be considerably more difficult to track them than it had been in Haszal. And all the woman was thinking of was berating him for his maneuver in the club, as if that were not already over and behind them, and as if they didn't need to think constructively right then.
   The Angel could not help but think that when Ace took off her regular clothes, she was still as good as dressed. After having discarded that fancy affair she had been wearing at the Red Sands, she had put on all of her usual gear as quickly as only she could, to get it with her before they boarded the train. The floorboards had creaked under her when she entered their cabin, and it was plain to see why. Though she somehow didn't appear as large as most men, she was as tall as or taller than the average, and if her form was slimmer and more slender, she was all the harder for it, because she weighed as much or more than the average man as well. Still, what really contributed to that weight was not her iron physique, but the steel on her.
   It looked almost like a corset, the way it fit her timeglass torso snugly, but was really just a huge harness, stuffed full with an assortment of knives and blades. Two baton-like swords were strapped to her thighs, along with more of the small leaf-like knives meant for throwing, and on her arms were several spikes, foldable tools and hooks in little pocketed leather straps. In addition, both her forearms and ankles wore other studded harnesses, also with pockets and knives stuck in them, and covered in slim metal bars. Slim though they looked, Laertes had felt those harnesses, and concluded that each must have weighed fifty or sixty pounds, probably thanks to some magical metallurgy.
   'You knew exactly what you were doing, didn't you? And still you had to go and make a scene', she muttered with her back turned to him, in an accusatory tone. 'Why couldn't we just have gone back there, stabbed him in the heart and got it done with?' She was undoing those harnesses on her forearms now, putting them on the floor with slow and graceful movements. If she dropped one, it would probably break the floor.

[Cogidubnus]

Through the course of his relationship with Ace, Laertes had seen the iron corset that the woman wore numerous times. Her ability to use the thing even walking was amazing, and her prowess in combat wearing as much steel as she did was a marvel unto himself. He had often wondered how she had come to possess such remarkable skill and strength, but she had never mentioned it to him - and he had a feeling that she wouldn't want to say anyway.
He averted his eyes as she began changing. He was a gentleman, after all. Carey had gone to the dining car, he assumed, and he supposed Ace wouldn't have cared even if he hadn't.

Her question's pointedness was not lost on the angel. Leaning back smoothly into his chair, he regarded his companion thoughtfully before turning his gaze out to the night sky. He breathed in calmly, feeling the cold emanate from the windowpanes before speaking back to her, his voice careful.
"Yes, I did." he said, still not looking back at her. "And I knew what I going to do before I even saw him that night." - he finally turned, just for a moment, and looked sharply back at Ace. "Gone back there, and stabbed him in the heart? Simon Caerule? I've seen you work. Your skills are superb - unsurpassed. But in the dark back-room of a nightclub? An enclosed hallway? He would have slaughtered you."
Laertes's voice wasn't mocking or sympathetic - he simply spoke with the firmness of someone totally assured of his opinion. He continued to speak, shifting his gaze around the cabin.

"Perhaps I should have given you more warning...perhaps that was my undoing. But I do know this - you do not fight a shadow in shadows. You do not fight him in an alley or a bar. You fight him in an Amphitheater, with a thousand, thousand lights illuminating everything, with nowhere to hide, and no way to run. You fight him in the open. You fight him where he cannot hide."
He made a face. "What do you think happened to that lion woman? You and I both know she was powerful indeed. But he emerged from those back rooms with not a scratch..."

He paused, looking out again at the night sky.

[Stygian]

In response to this, Ace simply snorted, and made a face as if she'd just tasted something very salty. Bending down and undoing the weights around her ankles, she grumbled while she thought of a retort. For someone so hard, she was also astonishingly limber.
   'I wanted to face him, because between us and the lioness he wouldn't have had much of a shot. I wanted to fight him personally', she said, a hint of fury in her voice, before she dropped the harnesses to the floor with a pair of dull thumps, and turned around, scowling as if expecting to meet some hard glare of his. But of course he was turned away. She'd noticed that he was a bit stiff on the manners, sometimes. She sighed, and struggled to calm herself down, before hunching down and starting to go through her packing.
   'The only reason you are this close to catching him is because of me. Do I have to remind you of that?' she said. She didn't consider it unfair. He had been hunting Stygian for a while, sure, but she had been on the bat's trace for far longer and closer. And her target was Stygian alone, while his seemed to be more than just that. He had never really involved her in all of his plans, despite the... trust that had they had worked to build. 'You and your order want him for some crime, but my reasons are personal.' She pulled out a rumpled shirt from her bag. 'I'll leave the rest to you, but if you don't let me get to him...'
   She stopped, and went still. For a moment, she just sat there, rolling her thumb over the shirt fabric. Some of her knives pressed into her ribs, cold even though she'd had the 'corset' under her clothes for a while. Then, she stood up, and walked over to the Angel where he sat. Uncaring of any modesty or his manners, she placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting that he look up on her.
   'Look, Laertes... I know this is important to you, but to me, it's more than just a personal wish', she said, moving closer to the jackal. The front lacing of the harness was right in his face, the hard red strings criscrossing over her silver fur. With her jet black hair falling over her eyes and her smooth muscles standing out in the dim light, she looked both intimidating and enticing. 'I have to face him, myself. And if you won't let me, I can't help you...'
   Slowly, her hand began moving and her fingers rolling, stroking the jackal's neck as she looked down into his golden eyes.

[Cogidubnus]

 The jackal's hand moved up to grab Ace's own, the priest smiling softly as he looked back into her eyes. Even then, his gaze seemed unshaken, the light reflecting from those golden orbs like softly glowing coals. There was an...eerie intensity to them, something that hinted that perhaps it was an edge not entirely safe to be around. He looked at her softly, however, a small smile creeping up on the black muzzle, showing rows of diamond-white teeth, all sharp.
"My dear..." he said, reaching up to grab the wolf's hand. His smile seemed almost sad. "I'm sorry if you feel I've... wronged you. Suffice it to say, I didn't want to see that pretty face of yours marred." he said, letting go of her hand to run a finger over her cheek lightly. His expression took on a different look then, however, his mouth somewhat pressing together and his head tilting. "But I wouldn't count on Ashtareth, my dear. That boy has garnered many...personal vendettas." he said, his voice tinged with disapproval. "It's likely she would have helped to repulse you, if only for the later pleasure herself. She is no ally of ours."

His gaze softened again. "We have discussed this. Our agreement is perfectly clear. I would have let you...vent yourself upon him, after he was safely restrained. Perhaps a twisting of our words..." he seemed to deliberate with himself, his gaze almost regretful. "But it's a moot point, now." he said, sighing. "There will be more opportunities. Many more, if I had to guess"

He took a breath, smiling at her again. "And I would embrace you, my dear, but I know your...'inventive' reputation for hiding knives." he said, brushing a bit of hair from her eyes. "Carey will be back soon, and I've been spoken for since before you were born." he said, giving her another sad smile. He leaned back.
"Your eyes are like the stars, my dear. I hope your vengeance does not change that."

[Stygian]

Ace's hand ceased its movements, and for a moment she just stood there. An uncomfortable silence followed, and when Laertes looked up again, his fears were confirmed. Her face had hardened into an expression of anger, or possibly even disgust.
   'You don't know about me or about anything I want', she hissed down at him, heatedly. She almost exposed herself, went out of her way... and he just kept up that condescending smile and offered pretty words, as if he didn't care, as if saying he could do as well without her. 'And don't pretend you do!' He insulted her! Who did he think he was?! She almost tugged at his neckfur, but instead just drew back her hand quickly and turned back to her packing. The corset came off, but that shirt was on to cover her in two seconds, and then she pulled out and put on a pair of sweatpants just as quickly. Sweeping back her jet black hair, she crossed the cabin and exited without a word.

[Gareeku]

When Aisha opened the door, Gareeku was ready to reach for his sword. However, it appeared that it was only Sebastian who was lurking around outside in the corridor. Through the bat's and the pantheress' conversation, the wolf had not moved. The slow breathing that he possessed made it look like he was asleep, even though Aisha looked back at him to see if he was awake. Still he did not stir, listening to the short conversation as he stayed still in his seated position.

When the conversation ended, Gareeku watched out of the corner of his eye as Aisha slid the cabin's door shut, before making her way back over to the sofa, but choosing to sit on it normally rather than lying down this time. From the way Aisha spoke, it sounded like she knew he was awake. This made him unconsciously raise an eyebrow. He had not given any sign that he was awake, even when Aisha had been having the conversation with Sebastian. Not to mention that the shadows over his face created by the hood of his cloak concealed any facial sign that he was awake.

After Aisha had finished talking, about a minute or so of silence passed.
"I saw you when you woke up from your sleep." the wolf finally said, thus breaking the silence and most likely causing a bit of a shock. "You saw something. What did you see?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha wondered if she could get to sleep if she even tried...the visions had been that harsh, jarring her nerves to their ends.  She sat there in the darkness with half-lidded eyes.  When Gareeku didn't reply to her offer, the panthress figured that he could probably have been asleep after all...when one was too tired, it wasn't all that much to tell if her guess had been correct or not.

Her ears perked when Gareeku spoke, surprised when he did.  With a quiet hum to indicate that she hadn't gone to sleep, she rolled her head back up to regard the wolf.  It was actually a relief after such a nightmare had befallen her mind to hear the voice of a close friend.  She never minded speaking to him, especially when she wasn't all that close to falling asleep yet.

"Well..." she began.  "It was a dream about the attack on my home village...I mean, I've had those before, but this was so real..." she cringed.  "I could feel the heat and everything...I saw...shadowy creatures, everywhere in the flames, chasing.  I don't think there were really any...but, they were there, and they got everyone in the village, I saw everyone I knew...and they got me..."

Her voice was getting slightly low towards the end.  She sighed and cleared her throat.  "Then I woke up and I was sweating like I had been running...and..."  She pulled up her sleeve and looked at her arm under the moonlight again.  There was still the appearance of singed fur in patches where the heat had consumed in her dreams.  She shuddered.  "I'm pretty sure it isn't real, but, I don't know how to explain these burns, then."

Aisha snorted, trying to regain her bravado, but still the fear lingered in her voice.  "And when I woke up I thought Sebastian was one of those shadows until I opened the door.  What was with the rasping I have no idea."

[SpottedKitty]

The Kerya-shaped lump wriggled and shifted a bit under the sheet. The little stoat poked her head out, although she seemed to be still mostly asleep: her ears drooped, and her whiskers stuck out in all directions. "Wossam't'r?" she muttered as she looked blearily across the dark cabin at Aisha and Gar. "No 'splosions? No 'tack? Mrrf... niffliwffle..." She wriggled back under the sheet again, and within seconds her quiet snoring resumed.

At the foot of Kerya's bed, the glowing circle deposited something green on top of the pile of grey cloth, then it shimmered once more and silently vanished.

[Cogidubnus]

 Laertes thought she was going to strike him for a moment. A few slow, tension-laden moments passed between them before Ace simply stuffed herself into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and stormed off. Laertes gazed after her receding form, waiting for her to leave the room before sighing, and turning his gaze back out towards the window. He crossed his legs, and leaned against the window, putting his head in his hand. He stayed silent for a moment before smiling, letting out a quick, soft laugh before returning his gaze outside.
"Oh, my dear. How can I not? It's written all over your face..."

[Stygian]

It was actually too late to be sitting up and worrying about things. Too little time to sleep would mean that they would all be tired once it was time to change trains and head for Jann's Cliff by the longer route around. Still, Carey did not very much care right then. Slouching in his seat, he nursed a lager, looking out the windows at the dark and dull landscape passing by at hurtling speed, and seeming all the more distant for it. Rejected to the dining car like a child when the grown-ups were fighting. Damned creatures, who couldn't even keep themselves under control. He should have simply helped them to track down the damn bat, and then left.
   Why was he doing this? Oh, there was the money, of course, and the very convincing persuasion from Laertes and his brethren that he would be in their Order's good graces forever. He wasn't sure whether if this implied that had he not accepted, they would have gone out of their way to destroy his life because it was so easy for them to do, but now matter how faithful and humble they seemed, with their vows and seven martyrs and robes, he still couldn't presume anything but the worst. Any organization like that seemed almost like a mafia to him.
   Of course, he was just dodging the real reason. He knew that one perfectly well, yet he was trying to stay mad at the other two at the moment, not wallow in his own sadness. And it was working quite fine with Laertes. But Ace, who had saved him... No, he shouldn't think of that. He had laughed at others, heard of adventurers dying from getting too caught up in their work, promised himself he would stay low and always to know when to back out. Now...
   'That bloody religious...! Vodka! Straight up!' a voice called out from just behind him, closing with Carey and moving up his side. He spun around with a surprised and somehow almost ashamed look on his face, watching Ace walk over and up to the bar, leaning forward on the counter.

[Gareeku]

Listening to Aisha speak of her nightmare, Gareeku was intrigued at the way it had seemed so real to her. Indeed, the wolf had seen the burn marks for himself when he first saw the pantheress wake up. As she spoke, Gareeku could tell that she was trying to put up a brave face about it all; he could hear the lingering fear in her voice, as well as the way that she cleared her throat.

"You don't have to put on a brave face for me. I'm not going to judge you. No one should. I too am wondering why this has happened, as well as wondering what the hell Sebastian was doing." the wolf replied from under his hood. "And if it makes you feel any better, which it probably won't, I too have nightmares like yours, though not as real I admit."

[Aisha deCabre]

Listening to Gareeku's reply, Aisha couldn't help but put on a smile and relax a little more, instead of straining to keep her fears behind closed doors.  She was grateful that he was there to listen; even if perhaps all that either of them wanted to do was to go back to sleep.

With a hum, she used the sleeve to cover her singed arm again and sat back on the couch.  "It does make me feel better, actually," she said.  "More than you know.  Nightmares are horrid...but I guess in the long run, there's nothing really any of us can do about it but...forget about them.  At least for now."

Her sentence was interrupted in the middle with a wide yawn...her mind was telling her that it probably had enough stalling on sleep despite the visions it gave her.  "At any rate, amigo, let's try to get some sleep...while we can yet.  I don't think I even want to know what time it is," she chuckled weakly, briefly touching his shoulder.  "Good night."

With that, Aisha closed her eyes and placed her head back on the couch...leaving Gareeku the other cushion to take and rest better on if he so chose, in the waning hours of night that they had left.

[Stygian]

A rush of tense discomfort went through the otter as Ace took the glass that was offered her and kicked back half of the tall drink in one gulp. The barman, a crow, offered her a skeptical glance, and then set about with his business to close the dining car down, something that actually should have been done half an hour ago.
   'He just won't veer from what he wants, will he?' Ace said with a bitter stare, offering very little clarity on what had really happened. But it was enough that Carey could understand what had upset her, or so he thought. They were always getting on each other's throats like that. And still she somehow seems closer to him. Then again, maybe they're just more alike... Irritation twitched in those thoughts. He was quite aware of the gap in power between them. That was probably the major reason why they worked as they did. A pecking order, of sorts. He would have accepted it, knowing how it was among all in their line of work, if it were not so bloody idiotic.
   'Ace, what are you doing?' he asked. 'Why are you even...?' Then he stopped, and sighed, knowing he was already losing his trail. It would have been good if she would not have been so intent though. It put them all on edge. 'There's no point in arguing or even asking. We have to deal with it when we're... when we've caught them. We can't focus on anything but that. That's why you should stop this.'
   'You just don't get it, Carey', was Ace's slow reply that came after a few long seconds, one that sank the otter's hope. 'It's not as easy as you think. Not as easy...' Her words ebbed out, and she drew back the other half of her glass, more slowly this time. She sat there, staring out into nothing, and there was silence. Finally, the otter stood up.
   'I'm going to get some sleep', he said, looking at the wolf distantly, even though something inside him just wanted to shout at her and pull her from her seat. He knew that would be about as effective as trying to reason with her though, meaning not at all. 'You should too.' He stood up. She didn't care for what he had to say and he hated it. Sighing and turning, he wandered back through the dark to the cabin, bedding without a word.

- -

The train made a few stops during the night, but since Jann's Cliff was the end station for the line, and it was a night train, that was the only point where they called out their arrival. By that time, the occupants of both cabins were well awake and out of bed, save Stygian who seemed to have dressed and then laid down again to catch what rest he could before they rolled into the station.
   When the train finally slowed to a halt, rosy dawn light was pouring in through the half-curtained windows. The air had slowly gained warmth through the night, and though it didn't warrant a change of clothes, they could all feel that the climate was considerably more mild where they were now.

[Cogidubnus]

 The sun was a welcome change from the seemingly infinite and freezing nights the party had been enduring of late. The events of the previous day - the meeting with the strange arachnid, the run-in with Laertes, and finally the destruction of the club and most of Haszal with it seemed somehow less surreal, or perhaps simply less real, in the golden light of day. Cog adjusted his hat, his sword securely fastened through his belt and the silver endcap gleaming in the sunlight. He perhaps had an excuse to wear his sunglasses, today.
The train had stopped - Jann's Cliff, wherever that was, was finally before them.

He stretched, already up and dressed, and took a seat in one of the chairs situated next to the other cabin. He wasn't sure if anyone else was up yet, other than the bat, and somehow Stygian didn't quite strike him as a morning person. To be honest, Cog wasn't entirely himself - he already felt the pangs that meant an imminent caffeine headache.
He waited, wondering when the other's might rouse themselves.

[SpottedKitty]

As the train went round a curve, the first light of dawn came in through the window and moved across the cabin until it fell on Kerya's muzzle, poking out from below the sheet. Her whiskers twitched, then her quiet snoring changed gear into a few grunts, before it finally stopped.

"Urgh... morning..." the little stoat mumbled as she poked her head out and opened one eye blearily. "I hate sleeping on the move, I never feel I have a good night's sleep. At least this carriage is more comfortable than most I have ridden in." She threw back the sheet, uncurled, sat up and yawned cavernously, showing that she might be rather more carnivorous than most Beings. A wriggle started at the back of her neck, building into a series of luxurious, sinuous bends and stretches that worked down her spine to the base of her tail. She reached down to the foot of the bed and picked up the small package she'd bought back in Haszal: when she opened it, it proved to be nothing more mysterious than a small travelling grooming and toiletries kit.

Kerya revealed one more thing as she twisted her body and leaned over: a long thin scar, completely healed but still clearly visible, that ran up from just above her right elbow, then down across her shoulderblade before ending somewhere under her third breastband. It had been too dark in the cabin the night before to see it clearly before she'd slipped into bed.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The early light and Kenya's greetings promptly woke Mel up. Still tangled up in her massive quilt and sporting a wide yawn she hopped down from her bunk. "Good morning," she answered the stoat, the only one who was actively awake. Then she slipped out the door to grab one of the shower rooms before they got too busy.

It didn't take very long before she reappeared, dressed in the grey coat and boots from the day before, looking every bit as fresh and unstained as if new.

[Stygian]

Finally getting up from his bed as the train slowed to a halt, Stygian blinked a couple of times and brushed off his clothing, straightening it from his nap. He looked around the cabin at the others, judging how ready they were to go, and then had a peek out the window. The station platform began to hint through steam and sunlight. The rough gravel and stones surrounding the tracks were tinted a rusty red, and there was a fresh, salty smell in the air that revealed they were still by the sea.
   Squinting from the sunlight that took his vision from him, Stygian turned around and made a relaxed sigh, then walked over and slid the cabin door aside, stepping into the corridor. He walked out and then gave a quick knock on the women's door, casually wondering whether if anyone of them had found anything objectionable about things, like Gareeku sleeping in their midst when someone might be a bit sensitive about dressing, or more likely Deirdre and Keaton getting on each others' tits again.

[Sunblink]

...Deirdre:

As Deirdre hovered between the imperceptible boundary separating the waking and somnolence, she at first surmised that she was resting in the comfort of a warm, dry bed, clad not in a smart pinstriped suit but silken pajamas, and not at all in the company of a potentially dangerous collection of miscreants on a train. In the back of her head, as she attempted the ascension from her fitful slumber into the world of the awakened, she felt a pang of discomfort, a horrid juxtaposition to her paradisaical envisioning of herself cocooned in velveteen blankets and warmed by a nest of pillows. For someone in her predicament, it was quite remarkable she could enjoy such a tranquil dream.

My head hurts...

Deirdre's tapered ears angled themselves irritably backwards, flattening against the blackened moptop of her hair. Twitching a little, the smartly-clad Gryphon unconsciously felt herself stir, motion riding up her taut muscles, and attempted to roll to the side. At first she subconsciously expected for her to become tangled in the warm embrace of a bed's luxurious sheets, but within that second her world somersaulted in a sudden, shrieking reversal, forcing her eyes open as gravity smacked her in the face, and she fell in a mess of limbs and wings off of the sofa. A loud clatter rang through the air as her sheathed sword hit the floor shortly before her own impact, which she immediately scrambled for. A second later, she was sitting back on her knees, sword in her hands, breathing heavily and staring around the room, assessing her situation.

She had apparently fallen asleep. Even when she was struggling to stay awake under the mantra of "can't sleep, Keaton will get me" she had drifted away into a very unstable slumber. At least she had lasted the night without any dismemberment. Lord knew what would happen in the following days, though...

Speaking of the jackal, Keaton wasn't in the room. There was a glaringly vacant spot at the opposite end of the sofa where Keaton used to be. The other occupant, Mel, had apparently left as well.

Deirdre sighed and reached for her face, starting to peel some of the false facial hair off of her chin. Using her thumb, she scraped away the residual stubble, while she scooped up her sword and generally tidied her appearance. Deirdre normally wasn't a vain person - far from it, as she hated the way she looked outside of her masculine apparel - but she didn't see the point in wearing the facial hair anymore. It'd just make her itchy. As she flicked away the final shred, Deirdre ran her hand over her face and sighed, looping the belt hooked to her sword around her shoulders.

She didn't like the idea of facing the people who she had made a mockery out of herself in front of, but hopefully they'd let bygones be bygones. Come to think of it, the only one who really would take any offense would be Kerya, and they had reconciled last night. Although that bat certainly seemed infuriated... it had been rather frightening. More than what she could comfortably admit to anyone else.

"Might as well face the day," hissed Deirdre irritably, and she pushed open the door and walked out. Hopefully Keaton wouldn't make things more miserable for her.

Knowing Keaton, however, she would most definitely do that.

---

...Keaton:

Actually, making matters miserable for Deirdre was the last issue on Keaton's mind. Since she had very little to do last night, Keaton plunged herself into a sort of dreamless hibernation for the night much akin to what she had experienced while at the Dragon's Grin. She had almost gone to sleep with the expectation that she would serendipitously be confronted with some sort of dream, to make her sleeping more eventful, but she was graced with no such occurrence. Keaton didn't see why she had thought she would dream, seeing as she hadn't dreamed in over three hundred fifty years...

She had woken up a few minutes after Deirdre. In fact, she had just left the room after she had started rousing herself from her rest. Having awakened on her own accord, Keaton was in a surprisingly chipper mood, most of last night having been blissfully forgotten - excluding the indignities she had suffered at the hands of Stygian, quite unfortunately. That had been erased through engorging herself on Deirdre's anger last night, though Keaton had forgotten the events after Stygian interfering in her and Deirdre's scuffle. Her mind just kept dwelling on the negative events, and was growing increasingly more feverish.

On the subject of the aforementioned chiropteran, she noticed him out of the corner of her eye. Keaton blinked and felt her cheeks flush slightly, hiding a slightly despondent, childishly defiant scowl, just to make her feel like she had won over him somehow. What there was to "win," exactly, and why was beyond her comprehension. She sighed subaudibly and started shuffling incessantly, fiddling with random elements of her attire and adjusting the monochromatic armlet hugging her upper arm. Once her anxiety faded, she found herself quite restless, reduced to simply shuffling her oversized combat boots and drumming her fingers against the wall.

Finally, she sighed in defeat and muttered a quiet, "I'm bored."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Taking Stygian's exiting the cabin as a sign that he was perhaps ready to face the day, the wolf pushed himself up and out of the chair to follow the bat to the door, staying just outside of the corridor. They'd arrived at their destination, although it seemed like some of the party might take longer to get ready than others. Not that he could blame them, of course.
He flicked a bit of wet hair over his collar as he waited for the girls to emerge, and for his hair to dry completely. Finding himself rocking on his heels, he glanced at Stygian from the corner of his eye.

"Sleep well, I hope?" he said, his voice amiable.