The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[techmaster-glitch]

   The cloaked man had inspected his room a little bit over, then went back to keeping an eye on the battles through the walls. Eventually [The Boogyman] went outside to inspect [Siolen], and requested for help moving him, which the cloaked hunchback barely managed to hear. Under his hood, the man smiled. He had always had a small charitable spot in him, and this sounded like the kind of thing he could do. He got up,  exited his room, making sure to grab the key from the inside and lock it, and walked through the hallway until he found a door to the courtyard. He opened it and stepped outside.
   He walked his way over to [The Boogyman] and [Siolen]. In a whisper, he said to [The Boogyman], "I'll carry him in. I'll help anyone who's been thrashed by the man who did this, I don't like him." Though the cloaked hunchback spoke in a whisper, there was something...strange...about his voice. There was an undertone in it that just didn't seem right.
   The man shifted his cloak around himself in a way that he could extend an arm to carry the gargoyle and keep it covered by the cloak, hidden mostly from [The Boogyman] next to him. Reaching out with what was presumeably his right arm, he hefted the stone man unnaturally easily. However, even though the cloak was coveing him, it was apparent that he was putting all the weight on his right side, and very little on his left. Then he began walking towards the door to the medical war, walking with a slightly noticable limp, as if his left side wasn't as strong as it needed to be to carry the wieght.

[Stygian]

Stygian snorted in return to the Boogeyman's comment. 'That's easy to say. But I wonder if you've ever really fought against someone in that way. Tch...' he said, and looked over to Giles, still sitting at the other end of the bar counter. 'Or what would you say, for example? Playing chicken? Suicide tactics? Honestly...' He growled a bit, showing sharp teeth slightly, and glared darkly into nowhere. 'That's the sort of thing that destroys, both companies and nations. If you aren't strong enough to hurt your foe without pulling them down with you, you shouldn't even fight. You don't deserve to. Even evolution goes against that sort of thing.'
   Stygian closed his mouth, and growled a bit for a couple of seconds. Then, he noticed his hand, resting on the counter top with no glove on. Just like the other one, hanging at his side. For anyone close enough, even to the jackal and the wolf sitting a bit away, just a glance would reveal his grayish, claw-like nails. Not to mention that he was leaving prints. Cursing, the man turned on his stool and reached his neatly wrapped hands into his pockets, taking out the tight black gloves and pulling them on. Then, staring down at his hands, he sighed. He didn't look up as the hunch-backed man dragged Siolen inside.
   'Alright. So I guess I shouldn't really be complaining. A fight's a fight,' he admitted, after a couple of seconds. 'There are no rules in war. Or, in this case, none other than those specified.' He shook his head, and straightened his face, leaning his head back and focusing on his thoughts for a bit, shrugging the anger off. As if it mattered in the first place...
   Exhaling, Stygian finally slumped a bit where he sat, leaning forward. 'Okay. Bit of a pause,' he said, then looked around. 'Anyone have anything else to add?'

[TheGreyRonin]

 As the first of the hailstones began to fall, the Queen carefully gauged angles, trajectories...and leapt for her opponent, all four arms outstretched to grapple.

Her tail extended out straight behind her for balance and guidance, and the hydraulic pressure in her sacs full, she intended to end this fight with the miserable flying creature.

[Boog]

The Boogeyman didn't take too great a notice of the hunchback's oddities. He wasn't exactly the picture of normalcy himself. He did allow himself a chuckle at the man's reasons for helping though.
"Don't feel too special about it, most people don't. Most things that aren't people don't like him much either, honestly. Prickly fellow."

Siolen thanked the cloaked man quietly as he was brought in, reacting somewhat differently than the barkeep.
"I see not why. Sir Stygian fought within the rules settled upon, just as I. If anything, I was caught up in it too much toward the end. Nearly killed the both of us. That's how one is taught, though." The gargoyle grinned tiredly, "Throw yourself against the foe with all the strength and fury you have, and if you should fall then crush them with your body."

Their arrival at the medical ward yielded no doctors, but a note on the front desk written in precise, neat handwriting.
Out for a minute, please leave patients on a bed and return to front room.

Many Thanks 
Dr. Holic

[Cogidubnus]

 At the man's sudden words, the Jackal turned from his place at the window and gave him a slow look, narrowing one eye before turning  back to the window in front of him. The blackguard beside him merely grunted, taking a smoke of his pipe before responding to the man sitting at the bar.

"Oh, I dunno." he said, large iron-plated shoulders shrugging. "No poor bastard every won a war dyin' for his country, they won it for makin' the other bastard die for his an' all that." the blackguard took another puff of his bitter-black pipe. "But if he's got a dagger in your gut, you might as well sit on him and stuff a bomb up his ass. Only fair."
The blackguard was calm as rain as he said this, the smoke floating lazily about his head.

The Jackal merely shrugged.
"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. If through his own death your enemy can reach you, the fault lies with you. A warrior uses what is at hand - there is no shame in this."

The Jackal said nothing else, merely staring out into the ensuing battle with the dragon and the queen. The blackguard gave him a distasteful look, and shrugged before turning back to the arena.

[Stygian]

Stygian listened to the comments of all, raising one eyebrow. He pondered for a second, and then closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly.
   'Yes, you are all right, in a way. However,' he said, with clear emphasis, 'you are all presuming one thing that makes your arguments flawed; that you have something else than yourself that you are fighting for.' He shifted his look between them all. 'Sacrificing oneself for a country, a goal or a cause can be right and honorable. But merely destroying oneself to get to an enemy is lowly. In addition, I wasn't even aiming to harm him.' He glanced toward Siolen. 'Merely to make him give up.'
   Stygian paused for a few seconds, taking another sip from his recently arrived next drink and not looking at the others, hopefully letting his words sink in. Then, he turned to look at the coated man with the hat and sword. 'Wouldn't you agree?' he asked. 'Or perhaps I should ask, "what does Honor say"? In case you follow Bushido, that is...'

[nikename2]

Heh, expected as much.....You don't have to say anything....it doesn't matter what world they're from they are all the same.....atleast my conscious will be clear when it comes time for Round Two.....

Rip began to snicker a little to himself; then looked down at the cloaked hunchback lift up the gargoyle onto his right shoulder. The gargoyle had to be pretty heavy, to do that with one arm....most certainly there was more to this man than meets the eye, as if the cloak wasn't enough of a tip off. Rip stretched his arms up a little and yawned as they went inside. Having lost interest in the other fights raging on, he stood up and decided to walk casually after them, down toward the infirmiry. He opened the door then walked in, spotting a desk of a certain Dr.Holic.

Hmmm, out for a bit?....guess they're in the back.

Rip made his way into the next room and spotted the hunchback lying Siolen down onto a reinforced steel bedright. Although he didn't notice it from earlier outside, Rip could see numerous cracks spread across the gargoyle's torso, with an eerie green light radiating out from the wounds. Rip walked up toward them and placed a hand on a nearby bedpost, a small grin spreading across his face. "That was quite the display out there friend. You alright?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   The cloaked man carrying [Siolen] read the note on the desk, and dutifully placed the gargoyle on a hospital bed, quickly withdrawing the arm that was carrying him and hiding it beneath his cloak again before [Siolen] could see.
   "Oh, I know he followed the rules, and you may have gotten a little too zealous at the end, I certainly saw that," the man said, again whispering. "But that's not why I dislike him." The man's voice was a little more noticeable this time, there was some sort of inconsistency, as if he was partially speaking with a voice that wasn't his.
   Then the strange insectoid Angel designated [Rip] entered the hospital wing, and came over to [Siolen]'s temporary bed. The man took a small step back and drew up his cloak a little more, making sure every part of him was covered and his face was likewise hidden.

[Cogidubnus]

 The blackguard gave a rough laugh at Stygian's words, although he did not turn around. "Other than myself? Yeah. I'm in the volunteer fire department too." he said, snorting. "I don't fight for anyone but myself. But if I'm going to lose, I want to make damn sure that the other sunavabitch loses too."
The Jackal beside him turned for just a moment, and gave the man a look of utter loathing before turning back to the ongoing fight outside.

The moment before the bat had spoken, the wolf had returned inside again, to retrieve his glass of whiskey. The bat's question made the wolf turn his head and look directly at the man, the wolf raising one of his eyebrows. He regarded him for a moment and shrugged.
"In some ways. I have my own honor, although it is not found in the shadows of leaves." he said cryptically, taking his glass and sipping it before returning to walk outside. "If he was going to kill the both of you in a match to the yield, I say he made it a battle of wills, and not bodies, then. You say destroying yourself to get to an enemy is lowly..."
The wolf paused. "My honor would say there are few enemies worth that kind of sacrifice." he said slowly. He stopped, and then continued. "There are some things that are worth dying for, though."

The wolf walked out of the bar and back outside to the ring, where sipping his drink he watched the alien queen leap into the sky and after the Mel, braving the hailstorm and the wrath of an ice-dragon.

[Stygian]

Stygian shook his head, and passed Giles a returning glance. 'The principle remains the same. Think about it,' he said, and then slipped down from his stool. Draining the last of the concoction in his glass, he left it behind on the bar counter, and with a last look slipped the other pocket watch into his coat. Bloody computer, he thought. If she's late, she can at least call...
   Giving himself a last check-over, feeling his guns in their holsters against his ribs, the extra clips fastened against his back, Stygian walked over toward the doors, leaving for outside less than three minutes after the wolf had. He'd revealed by now that he was physically superior to a regular man. But he wasn't planning on unveiling more than that yet. He'd step things up slowly.
   Walking up beside the wolf silently, but hopefully not too silently to arouse his suspicion, the man stopped and looked at the battle for a minute. 'In the shadows of leaves...' he murmured, after some time had passed. 'That is a metaphor one does not hear often.'

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel was shocked that the huge hailstones appeared to have no effect on the Queen, she had thought they would at least dent her hard shell. The combination of surprise and damaged wing left her a bit short of maneuvering time when the monster leapt. Unable to get out of the way she grabbed the lightning dancing through the storm clouds and wrapped it around herself like armor. Having a storm dragon grandfather meant it wouldn't kill her, but it wasn't pleasant. Hopefully grabbing a handful of lightning bolts would be more unpleasant for the Queen. The dragon then spread her 8" claws to help catch the monster coming at her.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton the Black Jackal:

During the battle between Stygian and Siolen, the jackal had remained outside of the door, drink in hand. A pleasant sense of inebriation was starting to spread from the absinthe, much to her appreciation, so she decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to order another drink at the risk of her mood degenerating. By the time the battle had concluded, the glass was empty and Keaton walked back into the building, humming cheerfully to herself. The conflict had been incredible--an excellent match. For an establishment that specialized in hosting fights, this place could be rather comfortable...

Stygian returned inside the building around the time Keaton seated herself at a table nestled near the window. As he bypassed her, Keaton directed a nod in his direction, one acknowledging the entertaining battle, then glanced back to the window. Another battle was going on between an anthropomorphic rat and the green-skinned elf who had greeted Keaton during her entrance--Keaton was personally rooting for the elf, but since the rat didn't seem to have any supernatural powers the battle was less explosive than it could've been. In the background, she heard the draconic newcomer and the monstrous, alienoid abomination depart as well, so that way they could begin a match.

Now that was something Keaton wanted to watch, but that meant she'd have to be outside in order to see everything. And after becoming so cozy, she had no intention of leaving, yet. She was just... content, yet at the same time restless. Probably was the booze combined with the atmosphere sizzling outside the building--those people were fighting, something she loved to do, and she wanted to be part of it, but simultaneously she simply wanted to enjoy her drink. The restlessness was becoming disturbing to her, if only because Keaton couldn't handle stress and conflicting emotions without exploding.

As time passed, she continued ordering drinks to soothe her anxiety. Glass after glass was drained, and soon each emptied cup was stacked up to the side. Currently, the jackal was busying herself with the deck of cards she had secreted in her pocket. Drunk or not, she wanted something to entertain herself with, and had more concentration despite her mild intoxication than one would have initially credited her. Outside, the dragon and the alien queen were still fighting, as was the rat and the elf. Sharply inhaling a gulp of air, Keaton slid an Ace of Spades out from the box in her hand and leveled it over the intricate arrangement of pyramids and platforms she had created out of her organization of cards, ready to crown off her work.

---

...Piix Raiyn Daei'Lunn:

A few minutes prior to that moment, the soft sound of the door snapping shut disrupted the relative silence lurking behind the sounds of the conversations occurring within the building. The Orin had slipped out from behind the door before nudging it shut with its prehensile tail, craning her tail around the folds of her cape. This specimen was oddly dressed; utterly nude other than her cape and hood yet somehow not being indecent, as the thickness of her oddly patterned, yellow fur provided enough coverage. The hood was structured in a way which offered a pair of slits for her large ears to poke freely through. Gripping the drawstrings of its hood with one paw, the Orin slipped her ears through the slits in the hood, then threw the hood back, sighing and blinking her inverted eyes as they adjusted to the lighting in the building.

The Orin spun what appeared to be an elongated, golden staff--no, it was a mallet, judging by the giant, clubbed head--effortlessly around her fingers as she let her gaze flicker between the occupants, then approached the bar with a cocksure grin coloring her features. On her way, she whistled happily to herself, only to stop as she noticed Keaton across the room, from the corner of her eye, who was hunched devotedly over her card fortress. For a moment, the Orin meditatively watched the jackal slave over the card tower. The Orin blinked, angling her head. She looked contemplative for a second.

Should I really...? the Orin thought, adopting a troubled countenance to her expression. Suddenly, she grinned, then flicked her wrist behind her back, her middle finger glowing subtly.

Around Keaton, the air itself seemed to distort like an image in a funhouse mirror, wavering and tremulously quaking in rippling strokes. Just as the Ace of Spades was rested atop the card foundation, the structure beneath it dismantled, toppling in a heap of cards onto the table. Keaton let out an indignant cry and stared in disbelief as her momentary masterpiece was demolished, so captivated in her shock and frustration that she didn't notice the Orin walk over the bar with an accomplished grin on her mug. Finally releasing a ultimate, snarling sigh, Keaton started scooping up the cards and prepared to stuff them back in their appropriate box, being too angry to bother attempting another card castle again.

It was then she realized something was amiss, just as she gathered the Queen of Hearts. The card seemed as heavy as a stone in her hand. This was one of the cards she had used as support amidst the dearly-departed structure she had built--if this card went down, the rest would follow.

From afar, steepling her fingers beneath her chin and reclining in her chair, Piix grinned maniacally.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[TheGreyRonin]

 Sensing the gathering of energy around her opponent, the Queen was unable to alter her trajectory in any way to dodge contact with the lightning-clad dragon.

Sparks skittered across her exoskeleton as blue-white arcs slammed into her again and again. Shuddering and convulsing, the Queen's world turned into bright flashes of pain. Even as her body spasmed, her acid sacs contracted, spraying gallons of concentrated molecular acid over both of them.

The Queen felt none of this. The shock and pain of the electrical onslaught consumed her world, leaving only agony.

[Boog]

The Boogeyman snickered at the tiny newcomer, setting out the various ordered drinks. He could always appreciate a good prank... or a bad one. Or a completely tasteless but funny one. So long as someone was jumping up and down cursing later he was happy. He murmured a "nicely done," as he passed by her seat and returned to the window to watch the display outside. Two titans clashed in one circle, tooth and claw and alien pincey thingey meeting in midair. There was something breathtaking about really big things fighting, in a mildly different way than there was in a well executed prank. He wasn't disappointed as the fighters clashed with an outpouring of sparks and glittering spurts of acid.

--

Siolen coughed once, but smiled eagerly at Rip's concern.
"Quite a display? You think so?" The gargoyle sat up a little with a wince. "I hope so; if it was good enough it may retain some of that in the retelling. A warrior's reputation is half their armor, after all. These," he looked down at the cracks marring his form and grimaced, "Hopefully these are temporary, I'm certain I shall be fine. Eventually."

[Cogidubnus]

 The blackguard, Giles Monterrey, merely squinted at the strange man's words. Giles was by no means what you would call an intelligent man, and at that moment, he was having difficulty understanding quite what the gun-toting man was talking about. To his spite-clouded mind, nothing was quite so readily and obviously apparent than the golden rule of dueling: if you can't win, just make sure your opponent loses.

Sometimes men stumble over truth, but they often hurry off as if nothing had happened. In this case, Giles simply skipped the part about understanding, and shrugging turned back to watch the fights outside. He took a single long draw off of his pipe, and coughed up a storm of fumes as the door to the bar swung open.
Striding in with the swagger of unbridled confidence was a stark-naked....something, clad in only a cape and bristling with weaponry. The watery-eye blackguard raised one eyebrow, taken aback at the sight, and the heavily-furred little thing strode yet further into the bar.

Giles narrowed a single blue eye. Whatever she was, she seemed to have taken an interest in the succubus's game of architectural solitaire, and standing behind the jackal she gave the unsuspecting 'Cubi a malicious grin. From where Giles was sitting, he could see behind the impish little creature, and clearly perceived her middle finger glowing.
A moment later, the Succubus's card game collapsed. With a smirk, the small alien took a seat at the bar, conveying a great deal of mirth without laughing.

The blackguard grinned, white teeth clenched around the black pipe. He blew a puff of smoke into the air, and spoke to the creature through the ensuing smog.
"I've seen sorcery, and I'm familiar with the universal sign language." the black-clad man grinned "But I've never seen anyone able ta' use obscenity and spellwork in the same hand." he said, referring to the glowing middle finger. His eyes danced with a strange kind of mirth. "That is my sort'a clever."

* * *

"Hagekure." the wolf said a moment after the man spoke. "The book of bushido. In shadows of leaves." Cog turned to look at the man, keeping one eye on the ensuing fight before him. "I do not see everything in that fabled book as honorable." He paused, looking back at the fight. With a tremendous leap, the Alien Queen had managed to grasp onto Mel, finally, and the ensuing carnage brought a tightness to the wolf's gut.
"...not all honorable. But you learn what you can." he said quickly, wondering what the dragon was going to do.

[Stygian]

The man tilted his head a bit, and looked pensively at the wolf for a moment. '"Hagekure"... Wouldn't that mean something more akin to "the darkness of leaves"?' he asked, then looked to the ring where the titanic battle was still raging. The dragoness seemed to have received a rather nasty... shower. 'Then again, I don't really speak Japanese. And I was not fostered to follow such a code. Or any code.' He drew a finger over one of his guns. 'Things where I come from are not so easy and uncomplicated that such theories always work. And even if they did, people seem to have forgotten honor in favor of...' He stopped, and searched for an appropriate word. 'Necessity,' he finally settled on. 'And greed and power and fear.'
   The man stood there, simply watching the battle between Mel and the Queen. His eyes were dark and distant. He seemed almost to be reading something out of the battle, something else than the mere fighting.
   '"O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!",' the man then quoted. '"How beautious mankind is! O brave new world: That has such people in't!"'

[nikename2]

"Well, I saw that the Doc is apparently indisposed at the moment. I'd assume that he or she would probably be back sometime soon.", Rip shrugged as he sat down on one of the beds, looking over the cloaked hunchback who've backed off slightly upon his arrival. "You're right though...."

He then nodded at the hunchback, "So.....I'm guessing that it was you a few minutes ago....what's your story...and why the animosity towards that man? I mean sure he does seem all too full of himself, but..."

[Cogidubnus]

"A direct translation is 'Hidden in Leaves'." the wolf responded softly, still keeping his eye on the two embattled foes. "And I was not fostered to follow Bushido either. But I find there are some good things in it."

The wolf paused to watch the fight, considering the man's final words. He gave a half-smile as the watched. "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport." he mused, giving the man a sidelong glance. "What news? None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest. Then is doomsday near."

He paused. "Not a lot of people who speak of the bard. Unless I'm mistaking your quote."

[techmaster-glitch]

   I'm getting a little tired of whispering..., the man thought to himself.
   [Voice synthesizer offline]
   "My story I will not divulge at the time being." This time, the man's speech was definately unnatural. There was no real 'voice' to it, it was completely hollow. It sounded like he was talking through breath alone, with sound like a whisper, but loudness of a regular voice. It was almost as if he didn't have any vocal cords...if he was even really humanoid under that cloak. "As for the man...ah, it was a foolish notion. He just didn't seem like the kind of person I'd get along with. Think nothing more of it, my previous statements are now invalid."
   The hood then looked down slightly, at [Siolen]. "Ah, I pity you greatly, stone creature. You were born of magic, and require magic to live. I cannot think of any greater curse. When will people learn, magic is obsolete and unreliable now? I still can't believe I ever thought of this crass force as an art..."

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Suspended between a mixture of fascination at whatever gravitational phenomenon had resulted in her card structure's collapse and barely-restrained frustration, Keaton reduced the explosion that would've ensued to a grumbling tirade of curses and snarls churning under her breath, some of them escalating to a more audible volume as she finished shunting all the cards into the worn, beaten box in her hand. With a punctuating growl of something unprintable, Keaton pressed the lid shut with her thumb and thrust the box of cards in her pocket. By now she was convinced someone had used some sort of bewitching to play some stupid prank on her, but there was no need to risk looking like an asshole by standing up and demanding who had compromised a card game of all things. Keaton's heightened Succubus intuition and emotional empathy was able to detect a great deal of amusement radiating from the yellow newcomer sitting at the counter. She hadn't noticed the newcomer before, being too concentrated before.

For a moment, Keaton wanted to walk over and punch the creature in the face, but thought better of it. Any fighting, after getting drunk, wouldn't be a good idea, unless she wanted to blow chunks over her enemy's face and look even more like an idiot. Casting a ferocious glare around the bar, Keaton slumped back in her seat and fixated her expression into something similar to an angry snarl.

---

...Piix:

Around that time, the little yellow Orin was practically beaming with triumphant glee. Although she didn't possess the same emotional empathy Cubi were renowned for and thus couldn't sense Keaton's indignation, Piix knew perfectly well what the jackal was experiencing, and felt all the more victorious for it. Splaying her fingers, she cockily admired her extended middle finger, bioluminescent eyes combing over the blackened length of her nail all the way up to its tapered tip, which was tarnished with venomous white. Like her individual finger nails, Piix's entire coloration reflected her poisonous nature and abilities, the very colors of her pelt screeching virulence with shockingly lurid hues and patterns reminiscent of a poison dart frog. The crest of quills and spines coating Piix's back was colored in a manner similar to her finger and toenails.

Unexpectedly, she was being addressed by someone--a mountainous, furless individual garbed in thick black armor and drawing great tufts of smoke from the pipe perched between his teeth. Human, Piix guessed. Or something similar. Humans, or, furless, as they were snidely referred to by some Orin Piix knew who weren't too fond of their involvement in the tourism to her planet, were by no means an unusual occurrence in Piix's life, but she never knew any who were this--huge. Regardless, Piix stifled any awestruck comments and turned around to face the blackguard.

"Heh, y'like that?" she asked. Piix's voice was laden with an accent of indeterminable origins, although one would assume it was a bastardized combination of something urban and tropical. "It ain't that big'a deal, really. Hand t'God, all it takes is a little manipulation of gravity, and voila, y'have a disaster in th'making on yer hands. Of course, if y'really want somethin' more catastrophic, you'd need a lot more concentration, but, eh, little details."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

"Oh, yaah, I like that." the man said, crystal-blue eyes appraising as the blackguard looked at the alien. He scratched his chin, a curl of smoke rising from his pipe. A grin peered our from his ash-blued face. "I mean...well, y'know. Sometimes you'll see this wizard givin' you the finger, and 'e says that he's just casting Moridin's Magnificent Martini or some bullshit, and you just want to pound the little olive-drink sippin' bastard's head into a flaming piece of...sharp, and you...well."

The blackguard paused, realizing he was going off on a bit of a tangent. Although he did like to fondly recall the incident in which he personally stomped Gestin the One-Fingered, so named for his one unfortunate vice, into a very small metal box normally used for the holding of coal for room-heating apparati, it wasn't really quite that relevant here. The blackguard took a puff on his pipe as he paused for a moment, reminiscing.

"It's like tha'. Except that with you, instead of just tellin' what you think, y'actually do it as well." he said, again grinning. "And a'course, despite what the long-winded wolf somtimes says, I'da never seen a greater example a' Poetic Justice."

[Sunblink]

...Piix:

Although she was starting to lose focus halfway through Giles reminiscing, mostly because she had no idea what he was talking about, when the blackguard begrudgingly acknowledged Piix's abilities she grinned broadly. Initial confusion aside, she was starting to understand what the blackguard meant, and even sympathize with him--once or twice Piix had ran into a few characters who had the gall to try and flip her off or discreetly insult her, and it normally didn't end very well for the recipient of whatever attack she had personally warmed up for him or her. The last person who did that to her was a rather loudmouthed Karvswati who had quite a lot of bark to him--but whatever bite he had was probably rendered obsolete when Piix made him the victim of a nasty uppercut to his jaw.

Piix returned the blackguard's grin tenfold, sharp white teeth gleaming in her mouth. Every one of Piix's teeth were abnormally sharp, especially the cuspids, which were capable of administering the venom her species was accredited with. "Why thank ya kindly, good sir," she said loftily, sweeping her arm around and bowing quickly. "I try my best. First an' foremost wit' me, if ya're goin' t'go out of yer way to be an ass, at least have somethin' to back it up with so y'don't get your ass handed to ya. Otherwise ya're rightly fucked.

"Name's Piix" - she purposefully did not present her full name, but such a title was unnecessary. Piix smirked - "and you are?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Screaming at the sudden splash of burning liquid Mel released the lightning and used  her flight magic to pop upwards like a cork into the moisture laden clouds. The freezing rain helped only a little but it gave her healing ability a moment to hold back the greatest damage.  A bit frantic and shaking from pain she scanned the glacier below her.  The circle had created this place from her memory, that meant the moulin should be there too. It took her an anxious moment to locate one dark round hole amidst all the shadows and reflections. Relieved she dove for the glacier's drainpipe. If this was an accurate recreation this moulin would be draining all the water she had been dumping on the glacier during the fight into a river that wound through a series of glacial caves before dumping into the sea. A moment later she discovered the river with a splash.

[Stygian]

'You are most correct,' Stygian replied. 'Which leads me to believe that perhaps out both worlds are not so different, save in time. However... that was not all I implied. Though...' He broke off, and then gave the wolf a most sinister grin. 'Your reply was quite proper though, even if characterization... Ah, forgive. But if people keep up pretense, but nevertheless all know what is truly taking place? Is it honesty or knowledge then, that heralds doom?' He chuckled, and then shook his head. 'Knowledge is worth life, and yet that is still pointless wondering. Even more so at gunpoint. Better then to use the world and all the fools in it. And to cease thinking, and speaking, so old-fashionably.'
   The man stepped over toward the vacant circle, stopping a single pace from it, and then turned back toward the wolf. 'I say, leave the pondering and the philosophizing to the lazy and indolent, and the codes and beliefs to the needing and weak.' He grinned slightly. 'The strong have other things.' He let up the show of teeth, and canted his head slightly to the side. 'Do you consider yourself strong?'

[Angel]

Sylvie had been using her staff to pull herself up off the ground when she was temporarily blinded by something Ian had done. Light was usually her strongest ally, but this... this was far too much. Too bright. Too powerful.

She shielded her eyes with one green-sleeved arm, using her staff for balance. Big mistake. A heel connected with her stomach, and she toppled backward, landing on her backside and choking for breath. When the whiteness faded, she did her best to sit up and point her staff at Ian's legs, trying to catch her breath so she could cast a spell...

[Boog]

Siolen smiled politely at the hunchbacked man, disregarding the implied insult against magic. Those who distrusted magic or the sciences typically did so for the same reasons, and he often found that arguing with those reasons just made people angry. "I've always got on well enough. Most people require something to live, after all. May as well be magic."

--

Boog let his attention wander slightly from the fight. The new... thingermajig, he decided to think of it as, thingermajig seemed to sum up the creature, was already making friends. A behemoth in armor and a tiny thing that looks like it should be either a poison ingredient or a type of candy... Eh. Not that astounding.
The other conversation he couldn't tell too much of, but at a glance he'd say Styggy was causing trouble again. Again, unsurprising. He returned his gaze to the fights outside and grumbled. He'd lost track of the dragon.

[Cogidubnus]

"Perhaps not by your definition." the wolf said, narrowing one eye at the man. His implication that the strong needed nothing but their strength seemed to rankle at the wolf, though. As he watched the dragon high overhead become doused with the Queen's potent acid, and then as she was shuddering begin to nosedive towards some unknown location, he let his hand fall across the sword at his hip.

"There are those who are strong in mind, strong in spirit, strong in heart as well as being strong in arm..." he said, slowly. "Might makes right. An interesting philosophy. But ultimately...self-defeating." he said, turning his gaze away from the distant battle between dragon and queen. "Strength always fails, in the true end. And there is always someone stronger."

He stood silent for a moment as he stared at the man, his eyes appraising beneath shaded lenses. Guns were something that Cogidubnus was not unfamiliar with: battles that involved guns could be difficult, depending on a few factors.
"I suppose that I could not answer you. I am strong as I can be."

* * *

The blackguard chuckled at the strange little alien's words, and then took his pipe out of his mouth to speak.
"I am Giles Monterrey, the Lord of Ashes." he said, a wide grin suffusing his features as he pronounced his name and unofficial title. "And it's my pleasure to meet 'ya, Piix."

The black-gauntleted man extended a black-armored hand to the fantastically, poisonously colored alien.

[Stygian]

About halfway throughout the wolf's comments, Stygian rolled his eyes, and then folded his arms across his chest, the inside of his muscular arms pushing against the handles of his guns. 'Well, let's just try that then, instead of standing here drawling further,' he said, an edge to his voice. He gave the wolf a rather menacing, pointed look.
   'If we are to determine simple strength and skill, and a battle of wills turns into playing chicken, let's make some clearer rules this time,' the man added after a short pause. 'We fight until we draw blood. No further. Oh, and...' He suddenly grinned, looking down for a moment before turning his eyes up again. 'For the sake of principle, this means that if you happen to kill your opponent, you violate the rules. Thus, you lose.'

[Cogidubnus]

 A challenge, then. The wolf thought, his feet already sliding subtly into a combat stance. Cog regarded the man lazily, and very calmly removed the hat from his head, setting it on the ground, the chapeau quickly followed by his shades. Setting the lenses on top of the soft hat, the wolf paused for a moment, his yellow eyes pensive, before nodding to himself and looking back at the man.
"The rules are accepted." he said, already beginning to walk to the now-open circle. "Without addendum. Now I just have to hope you bleed..." the wolf said sardonically, crossing into the wide-marked circle.

As he walked in, the stone ground beneath him suddenly morphed and twisted, first growing irregular and lumpy before sprouting a layer of dirt, and then over that layer of dirt another layer of grass, old pine needles, and frost. Upon all sides, trees erupted through the ground, the wolf moving slightly to the side to avoid riding one of them up into the sky. The evergreens continued to sprout up until the former bare, stone circle was a proper forest - thick, almost impenetrable with trees and undergrowth, the air itself deathly cold, and as the sound of some distant stream or brook came to life, a deep, deep mist fell upon it. The sunlight became visible for just a few moments as it danced through the mist, and then the vapor became yet thicker, obscuring the forest and then even the wolf as he walked further into it.

The wolf removed his sword, and then his coat, and setting his coat upon the lowhanging branch of a nearby tree and leaning his sword next to it. He then began to shuck the rest of his clothing, hiding it in a bush. He then took a few steps further into the forest, using his forelegs on the third step.

The wolf, eyesight penetrating in even the thick mist, and nose keen even through the vapor, stalked into the woods, and waited for his opponent.

[nikename2]

"Hmm...sometimes you just gotta play with the hand you're dealt with and make it work for you.", Rip added, then turned over his left palm, igniting a small calm white pyre in the center of it. He gazed half-heartedly into it and continued, "Whether it be mystical or technological, you work with what you have and what you can get."

Rip then placed his left palm on Siolen's right shoulder, sending forth a soothing sensation throughout his body to ease up the pain and speed up the mending. He held for only a few seconds then immediately retracted his hand. Some of Siolen's pain had feedbacked back through his palm into Rip's own body. It could only be expected, with what little experience he had with his light-based abilities having only become aware of them a little less then a month ago. "Hopefully that should ease some of the pain you're feeling. When the Doctor gets here he/she will probably be able to get you back in prime alot faster then I can, heh. Either way....I'm gonna head back out for another drink. Siiiooolen....was it? You can call me Rip."

Rip stood up with a grin and began to walk toward the exit, before he opened the door though he looked back at the hunchback, "Oh, heh forgive me, what can I call you by?"