The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Stygian]

For a moment, against common sense, Keaton thought she saw the machine flinch. Then, the mechanical woman turned and gave her a blank stare with that single red lens of hers, and blinked a blinder once.
   ':what do you suppose i could do if he really intended to?' she asked, her metallic tone a bit puzzled as she leaned her head a few degrees to the side. ':no, sorry', she said, a second later. ':you don't know. i shouldn't expect...' She stopped and shook her head a little, looking down. ':i know him, alright. it's not like him. not entirely.' Again, she turned to look at the fight, waiting for a while before she spoke again.
   ':if [Stygian] wanted to kill her, he wouldn't... play around like this', she said. Something in her tone had changed. Where before she had spoken of the man with a jokingly disdainful fondness, this time there was a more genuine tone to it, some hint of serious and fearful emotion that she had obviously not wanted to show before. Again she looked at the jackal. ':there is a great difference between doing something for fun and just doing something to him. at least i think so.' Then, she blinked again, and her speech lightened. ':enough of that. you challenged me, so does that mean i choose the battleground, or...?'

- -

The girl's response was quick. Stygian had already been prepared to divert his strike, but he didn't have to. Hard, thick roots cracked open the ground just a fraction of a moment after her hands touched the ground again, and he was forced to shield himself with his arms from the oncoming assault. Fortunately, no matter how strong, the plants were still terribly slow compared to his darkness, and while he crashed into the roots the black mass around him was already gathering, forming blade-like shapes. A long spike of wood pierced his hand, and he landed uncomfortably, rolling forward before getting up again. Baring his teeth a bit, he stood, and looked at the elf.
   'Want to rip up my face some more?' he asked, sneering, the still present wound to the corner of his mouth and his cheek twisting his smile. 'Come a little closer then...!' Carelessly, disdainfully, he grabbed that splinter through his hand, then pulled it right out with a rip and a bit of black, evaporating splatter, and advanced on her. Though burned and subdued by the still lingering sunlight, the darkness gathered to him, moving like an extension of his body. No, not an extension. The blackness was within and without. It was his body, as much a part of his physique as any other. His hands were already pitch-black and clawed, some ashen substance trailed his steps, spreading like frost over the ground, and slight wisps of smoke hinted around him and at his breath. The air seemed even chillier than it had before. The borderline between what seemed his humanoid form and that dark matter was getting thinner. And the darker it got...
   'Can't blame you though. It always feels so good to destroy something beautiful...!' he snarled, not really referring to himself. Throwing himself after her, he swept his hand forward in a strike, and a wing-like shape of utter black followed it with speed, already preparing to take another shape and release a shockwave that would throw the girl an even longer distance than before. He would subdue her...

[techmaster-glitch]

Mechangel

   The cloaked hunchback moved around the edges of the Inn, monitoring the occupants. Eventually, he picked out the three he was looking for. Again, a pure-white-furred left hand came put from the folds of his cloak. Clutched in it were three identical copies of the same note he had given to the yellow-and-black jackal Succubus; slips of paper with electronic tags on the corners, and the same note: This is a challenge. When the red light flashes, go to the Circle where I am.
   With his targets locked in, he proceeded to make his way around the room. He wordlessly delivered one of the slips to three people; a male scorpion-Angel person, another black jackal who was a male Angel instead of a Succubus, and a female white Dragon. As he dropped each slip in front of their respective recipients, the cloaked hunchback made sure to quickly turn away and move on after each drop.
   After dropping the three slips, there was only one more person to recieve one. The cloaked man glanced outside. Why did I not give him his note while I was out there? Ugh...I really need to run another debug program soon. The cloaked hunchback then proceeded to return outside. He walked over to the stone gargoyle who had just finished his fight with the Insectis. The cloaked man dropped a fourth (fifth if you counted the one he had already given to the jackal Succubus) and final tagged slip for him. The hunchback turned away and quickly entered the Inn at another door, one directly part of the quarters corridor.

Karazkt

   Karazkt did an Insectis bow to Siolen, which was basically dipping one's antennae forward as a sign of respect, then fired up his mech and started steering back towards the buildings of the Honor Circle Inn. He took it into a garage, where he shut down his mech, putting it into a deep crouching position. He got some tools out of a compartment in the mech, and went to work taking apart the tarred-up left arm of the mech. Karazkt groaned at how thick the stuff was. This was going to take some time.

[Cogidubnus]

The Jackal found himself absently taking the slip of paper from the robed figure, giving a distracted stare inside the darkness of the hooded figure's cowl before opening the note up. He read it quickly, golden eyes scanning the short scrawl before he set it down on the windowsill beside him. His face twisted into a sort of sneer, but it was quickly replaced by the expressionless mask of before.
I am not a dog to be called. he thought, his eyes carefully looking at nothing. Still. If he wants a challenge...

* * *

Giles continued to grin as the little alien and himself sat down - as she started to slide money towards the strange barkeeper, he set a hand down quickly and pushed it back towards her.
"Oy, ah said I'b pay, and I bill." he said, his nose starting to clear just slightly. He suspected it was the residual alcohol fumes from the bar. Reaching into a rubbery-looking pouch attached to his belt, he pulled out a slightly lumpy-looking piece of gold and slid it towards the Boogeyman. He tried breathing through his nose again.
"And I'll habve what she's habing." he said, his nose tingling faintly with the slightly cool feeling of running blood.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

In response to Sahlena's almost indifferent question, Keaton canted her head dryly in the android's direction, an unimpressed, flat look which didn't complement her features at all on her face. "Gee, I don't know," she answered, "Possibly stop him? You are his... whatever you are, after all..." A slight pause, then Keaton looked quizzically at the sky before she sighed with resignation. "I assume. You were with him."

Though Sahlena's following, thoughtful comment made Keaton look somewhat flat again; not uncomprehending, but with steadily-growing dislike for the human. It wasn't something she particularly understood, like all her emotions, but she simply envied him. For that reason she automatically found him contemptuous, just in the fact he was rivaling her with his display of dark... she wasn't even sure if it was darkness, it just looked too organic. Normally, as Keaton harnessed her spells, they adopted numerous forms - often fluid, often laced with electricity, often paper-thin - but far from fleshy, pulsating, intestinal things. No other magic, though, could deform and disfigure the body so carelessly. Not to her knowledge, at least. If these people were from other worlds then the concept of other types of magic wasn't out of the question. That was what relieved Keaton.

Keaton was rather happy when Sahlena interrupted her musings, although some of the turmoil was visible in her eyes when she looked back to the android. Right. A battle. Nothing made her feel better when she was feeling inadequate than kicking someone into the dirt. "You choose the battlefield," Keaton told her indifferently. "I'll win anyway."

---

...Piix:

Piix watched the Boogeyman with some curiosity as he ducked out of sight and under the counter, rummaging around the assorted drinks and bottles she imagined to be stashed down there. Inquisitiveness nearly controlled Piix's actions, as she resisted the urge to peer over when the Boogeyman was preoccupied and see what he was grappling with in particular, but by the time the thought really wrestled its way out past her control he stood back upright and set the drink in front of her. Piix tried (and failed) to look innocent by playing with her tail, toying delicately with the large tuft on the end. At the sight of her favored beverage, however, she grinned wildly and nodded her thanks to the Boogeyman, scraping the bill back into its drawstring bag, and scooped up the drink, starting to guzzle down the slightly-acidic contents.

In response to the Boogeyman's question, Piix stopped, and glanced to Orpiment. An elusive grin on her face, she turned back to the Boogeyman, and lifted her index finger. "Right, 'bout that... it's..." After a lengthy pause, she, cheerfully, added, "A secret." She allowed the anticlimactic answer to sink in, then smirked. "Nah I kid. I got this around... what, a few years back. It's - "

Before the Boogeyman could accept Piix's hard-earned (stolen) money, though, Giles intercepted by scraping it back in and placing his own form of currency on the table. "Hey, you don't need t'do that," Piix said in a rare show of politeness (especially when it involved money), though she stopped cold when the blackguard roughly ordered "what she was having."

Looking slightly dumbstruck, Piix glanced down at the drink cradled in her hand, eyeing the foaming substance churning inside of it. True to the drink's affectionate name, the liquid was a very dark blue, and smelled rather strongly of fruit.

"Uh..." Flatly, Piix stared back up at Giles. "'Ey, not t' interrupt or anythin', but I don't think that's a very good idea. That is, if y'have some sorta tolerance t'somethin' made outta an acidic fruit that I didn't know 'bout..."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Around the time Piix had spoken to Giles, the sound of the door opening cut inconspicuously beneath the syllables of her conversation, punctuated dully by the practiced pounding of heavy footsteps. Being occupied at the moment, Piix didn't pay it any mind, even as the door yawned open to permit the new arrival's entry.

An abnormally tall, feline character, handsome and yet beautiful, strode inside. His hair was unusually long, around the same shade of black as his velvety fur, but the edges of his locks highlighted with a bloodstained red. That same, lurid shade of red slashed in twin crescents over both of his unnaturally sharp, golden-amber eyes - the left one had what could only be seen as an imperceptibly thin, wrinkled scar over it - and cleaved down the lengths of his elongated, tufted ears. Other than that, no other notable markings could be immediately discovered, as his attire was mostly concealing: consisting of a crisp black suit with a red button-down shirt underneath the open jacket. Draped heavily over the right side of the feline's body was some sort of weighty manteau, its buckle sufficing as a brace to keep it at its awkward angle. At the way it was, the manteau effectively veiled the right side of his body in its entirety. Adjusting the manteau in a compulsive, mostly habitual manner, the feline man unflinchingly approached the bar, his immensely bushy tail swaying stiffly behind him.

The feline picked a seat, and sat down, purposefully a few feet away from the two individuals he had designated as the little piss-colored thing and her overgrown companion. Not far enough to be considered antisocial, per se, but enough for him to get some privacy. Again in that habitual, practiced manner, the feline reached into his pocket with his exposed left hand and fumbled with something.

"I don't suppose you have anyplace to smoke, do you?" Dekuyaketh asked the Boogeyman explicitly. Despite the sour displeasure in his voice, as though it pained for him to be polite to someone, his voice was as handsome as the individual who used it; deep and faintly accented with an inflection not immediately recognizable. "If not, any water?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

Piece of paper sitting silently on the windowsill beside him, the black jackal suddenly gave the newcomer a hard stare, the hair on his neck raising. Perhaps it was something about the newcomer, but it seemed to raise the priest's hackles, and Laertes quickly pushed himself off the wall to stand behind the strange feline fellow. He narrowed his eyes.
"Water?" he said, speaking suddenly from behind Dekuyaketh. "Allow me to bless it then, my child, that it might give you strength for the times to come."

His golden eyes gleamed.

* * *

"Bah! Nonsbense!" Giles said, taking the thick metal cup from the bartender's hand. "S'what all liquor is, you bow." The blackguard took the mug, and fumbling with the oddly shaped handle spilled a bit onto the wooden counter. The wooden surface smoked where the blue colored liquid fell.
Giles breathed the acrid fumes for a moment, and set the mug down.

"I've always been bartial to a bwhisky." he said suddenly, pushing another coin across the now slightly-pitted bar.

[Sunblink]

...Piix:

Piix flinched in almost painful anticipation as she prepared herself for Giles's undoubtedly explosive reaction after he consumed the drink, but quite fortunately, due to some serendipitous slip of the wrist, a small portion of the acidic contents of the drink trickled onto the countertop before it could reach his lips. As expected, the blue liquid splashed onto the wood and started sizzling, thick wafting trails of malodorous smoke rising from the drink. Piix stared at it, self-consciously sipping her own drink.

Quite fortunately, that experience seemed to dissuade Giles from trying the drink, though what he said in particular made Piix press her palm to her mouth in an earnest effort to stifle her snickering.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Similar to the reaction Laertes experienced after his entry, Dekuyaketh's hackles bristled along the back of his monochromatic neck from beneath his luxurious hair as he heard the priest's bold, imperious intonation. Unconsciously, Dekuyaketh felt his hand tense atop the countertop, drawing his razorbladed nails along the wooden surface, a small, almost canid snarl departing his throat. Priests. Fucking priests. Either they were trying to vanquish him after encountering him amidst an assignment by his dearest master Jack the Ripper, or they were spreading their creed around like the useless garbage it was. In the world Dekuyaketh was familiar with, priests were the primary opposition against the Demonic invaders which preyed upon hapless Mortals. Priests, paladins, and those endowed with fighting abilities that could appropriately rival a Demon's in combat. The Order had its hands full, deploying warriors left and right to handle the oh-so-insidious abominations.

With a belligerently indifferent look on his face, Dekuyaketh inclined his head in Laertes's direction, his eyes half-lidded. The scar over his eye trembled slightly, the skin seemingly writhing beneath the scarred muscle, then the rough flesh bifurcated and opened like a weary eyelid. A chitinous replica of an ordinary eye, inscribed with intricate intaglio of hieroglyphic designs, swiveled and rotated to follow the direction its organic companions were pointing, its bejeweled pupil glaring in the acrimonious light.

"Bless it...?" Dekuyaketh repeated the jackal's words under his breath, then an inhuman smirk tugged at his lips. "Ah, are you going to save my soul, Mister Preacher-Man? Good luck doing that; it's already been sold cheap."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Contrary to what Dekuyaketh might have thought, Laertes was not that sort of priest. He didn't see damned souls so much as heathens as abominations upon the earth, and whatever mercy might have lurked within that jackal's black heart, it certainly wasn't reserved for those like the maine coon. In all honesty, the angel would have plunged the feline into the rivers of hell himself.

"Yes, I expect it was." Laertes said, giving the demon a cold, golden stare. "Perhaps for gold, or revenge, or a moment of carnal bliss. I speak to you truly, though, as a man of my word." he paused. "I'd love nothing more than to help you find it again."
The jackal bared a long, white tooth.

* * *

"So, I take it yer not exactly from around these parts." Giles said, knocking back a smaller glass of something more suited to human consumption. "Well, not these parts, nobody is from around here exactly, but not...well, your a damn long way off, is what I mean."
He coughed, feeling the burn of the alcohol mix with the various toxins and fumes he'd inhaled in the last moment or so. "And I'll be careful toasting to anyone who drinks something like that. Th' hell is that, anyway?"

[Sunblink]

...Piix:

Piix laughed good-naturedly, grinning in a way which fully revealed her pearly-white rows of teeth. "Took y'that long to figure it out?" she asked, adding an insidious inflection to her voice which clearly showed she was joking. "Yeah, I'm not from 'round here. Not by a long shot. In fact, I'm from a different planet. Mother Oriaendi, t'be precise."

She wasn't sure if this all sounded like no more than insane ramblings to the blackguard, but Piix gambled to continue. After all, if they were all here, the concept of other planets existing wouldn't appear too outrageous to the more thoughtful individuals. "As f'r that there drink, it's pretty common on my planet. Normally m' species c'n drink it down easy. It's called Blue Xvarru."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Deep down, it seemed Dekuyaketh was supernaturally aware of Laertes's contempt for him and his kind, and he received that abhorrence rather indifferently. Not because he particularly wanted Laertes to be angry with him - but because Dekuyaketh found some strange form of comfort in the fact their loathing was mutual. Laertes hated those who had sold their souls for their personal benefit and therefore condemned themselves; Dekuyaketh hated those who had sold their souls to a deity he viewed as nonexistent, hollow, and the concoction of chimerical fairytales made by lunatics who had wanted to convince themselves that there wouldn't be an oblivion awaiting them after their demise. Religion and Dekuyaketh went together just about as well as fire and ice. Goodness, a Demon apathetic to religion, how original.

Although Dekuyaketh wanted to laugh to simply illustrate his skepticism to the priest in a more direct fashion, he decided to do so in a more subtle manner. He smiled mirthlessly, the insincere curve of his lips failing to touch his triad of eyes, and instead muted the laughter that wished to erupt from his throat to a chuckle.

"Ooh, good guess. Though no." Dekuyaketh casually extended each finger on his exposed hand as he counted off Laertes's speculations. "Gold? Sure, that would've been a great deal if I knew I would be making as much as I am killing off holy men like you. Revenge? Only goes so far, Preacher-Man. Not worth the hellfire and brimstone. Carnal bliss, on the other hand..." Dekuyaketh finally permitted himself a small and largely heartless laugh. All acting, all fake. "I wish. No..."

Dekuyaketh smiled again in that artificial, purposefully provoking manner, that third eye of his locking its dead-ruby pupil onto Laertes's iridescent irises. In comparison to his vibrant and uncharacteristically lively eyes, the third eye found over Dekuyaketh's right eye looked to be, even in its intricacy, no more than a cheap, imperfect knockoff. "How about something akin to stability? Safety? Sanity? I may have been the one who sold my soul cheap... but you're the one who sold it for nothing."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Sylvie grabbed her staff, stood and backed away quickly when her roots failed to strangle Stygian, even though he did get a nice stab through the hand. She glared at the man with not a hint of emotion other than purpose; if he meant what he'd said to her before, now was not the time to judge him. He was her opponent right now, not her friend, and not someone she should go easy on.

She shuddered lightly at the man's twisted, cut-up face. More of that darkness presented itself when he was healing, she noticed. And the more darkness there was, the less human he became. And if he lost all vestiges of his humanity... Don't think about that. Just beat him and end this!

She watched for a second or two, showing a little surprise when Stygian ran and swung for her. She blocked the strike itself with her staff, but the shockwave couldn't be helped. Sylvie was flung through the air yet again, but this time she had a plan. She pointed her staff at the ground and uttered a spell. A large vine, bigger than the one used to throw Stygian, sprouted up underneath her and lashed around her waist as she passed, then lowered her gently and quickly to the ground.

"Aren't you the one acting cowardly now?" she called to Stygian in a moment of daring. Narrowing her eyes, she planted the blunt end of her staff into the ground and smirked. She charged the ground with plant energy again, but this time, the effect wasn't widespread. A bolt of raw plant magic surged along the ground and aimed straight for the man. She may have been more wounded than him, but she wasn't going to give up so easily.
---

Back in the bar, Dani Sanders could have been doing much better, thank you. She was wringing her naginata in her hands, biting the blade lightly as she watched the fight go on. Whatever that ... man was, he wasn't something Sylvie or she had ever fought, She doubted whether something so powerful even EXISTED in the Northern Hemisphere. And if she'd had a choice, the Red would have run out there long ago and declared the fight over.

Okay, Dan, get a hold of yourself. You didn't come here just to watch your best friend get slaughtered, but there isn;t much you can do about it. Distract yourself for now. You can kill that darkness-loving bastard later.

She took her teeth off her weapon, took a deep breath and watched the patrons around her. The cloaked figure who'd been sitting outside came in at one point and silently handed a few people slips of paper. That did look interesting, but Dani guessed that having not received a paper, it would be best not to ask about it.

Then a new person entered. Another Animal. She'd become accustomed to the creatures, despite their rarity where she came from. And this one looked VERY interesting, for reasons the chaos-girl wasn't quite sure of yet. Desperate for something to do besides panic, she swiveled around in her seat to face the bar again - and stopped herself from leaning on the table when she smelled smoke and saw the bluish, burning stain.

She eyed the furry little creature - who was apparently drinking that stuff and suffering no harm at all - with an expression of awe and puzzlement. "I'd think the fact that someone can drink something that can do that-" she glanced at the table again - "- and not die would merit a toast by itself."

She placed another coin on the bar, tentatively. "This day just earned more coffee."

[Cogidubnus]

The Jackal sneered. "I gave my soul, spawn of hell. But I suppose I can't expect one born of a worthless father and the womb of a rancid whore to know not to speak blasphemies. Especially to me."
You could cut stone on the stare the Jackal gave the cat. "And I don't give a damn what you sold your soul for. No doubt for something worth less than even it, which must have been a trick."

He bared his fangs, and somehow was holding his scythe. "But perhaps you have tarried to long without it. Pray, allow me to help you find it again."

* * *

Giles knocked back another one, a silver coin sliding across the bar. He listened carefully to the little alien's words, and nodded. He wiped his mouth before speaking.
"Another planet...Mother Oriaendi? S'at....far?"

Giles was, again, not an astronomer.

[Sunblink]

...Piix:

Piix stared bluntly at Giles for a few seconds, looking decidedly unimpressed. Despite this, she refrained from making any smartly-veiled remarks at his expense, as she was prone to do in situations with less friendly people, but considering she and Giles were now unofficially acquaintances she didn't want to sour the relationship. Instead of succumbing to her hidden cynic, Piix forced herself to respond in an informative manner.

"Probably a few solar systems away, yeah." After a pause, she added quickly and helpfully, "That's far."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Under normal circumstances, explicitly insulting Dekuyaketh's mother or father would be the easiest way to get your jaw broken against his fist. Determined by the ugly twitch Dekuyaketh's lower-right eye gave, he appeared sorely tempted to do the same to Laertes, right in front of everyone. But no, while the temptation teased away at Dekuyaketh's tensing knuckles, he didn't want to give the holy man the satisfaction, or a reason to gloat his superiority to anyone else. Biting back a snarl, Dekuyaketh buried his nails underneath the counter, splintering the polished wood around his inhumanly sharp claws.

While he looked like he was going to scream, and a vein was probably going to pop like a blood-filled balloon in his neck, Dekuyaketh forced another one of those insincere smiles, this time large enough to reveal his perfectly pearlescent fangs. "Aha, someone thinks they're witty now, do they...?" Dekuyaketh forced out. "For one boasting such holier-than-thou religious values, you certainly seem to pride yourself in low blows."

A glint of obsidian brought Dekuyaketh's attention to the scythe clutched in Laertes's hands. Dekuyaketh smiled in a way which insinuated nothing but bad intentions. "But if you truly insist, fine, Preacher-Man.

"Help me find my everlasting soul."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

Giles smiled softly as another whiskey made it's way towards him. He sipped this one, instead of knocking the glass straight back, and glanced at the little alien out of the corner of his eye.
"Couple hundred thousand astronomical units, I'd expect." He grinned

Just because Giles wasn't an astronomer, didn't mean he was an idiot.

* * *

Laertes kept that same stare on the man before stepping back just a bit, and nodded towards the door. He kept his scythe clutched in one hand.
"Outside. In the circles. And you choose the arena." he said, waiting for the demon to rise. "The magic in those circles will keep our fight...contained. You may not care, but I would object to having anyone else...injured."

[Stygian]

Stopping in the middle of the fight didn't come naturally to Stygian, and as into the fight as he was a great part of him was also quite detached. Any small emotional part, for instance. Neither would giving in to... was it really goading that the elf was attempting? She seemed to be trying to seem confident... Still, he almost felt like stopping to retort to her statement. But that would have been futile. Instead, he just opted to prove her wrong. It would be a bit hard, but he wasn't easily exhausted, even when the light made his powers that more difficult to use.
   The man could sense the girl's attacks well enough, even though the sort of energy she used for her tool was a bit strange to him. And either way he was already set and ready to move, reacting to the smallest sign of an attack. Anyone had to be in a fight, and he had trained to see even smaller and subtler signs of impeding danger than most. The distance between him and the girl was at the same time both quite great and small, comparatively, but he knew he could pull off what he wanted in one move. So he sprang forward and to the side. And vanished.
   It was hard to explain what it was that Sylvie saw. It seemed partly as if the man turned into black smoke as he took his second step, partly as if he just blended into the shadowed background. It was an eye-eluding action. A... distortion ran through the air, and the shadows bent. And then Sylvie felt a chill draft against her skin.
   'No', Stygian growled, his voice low and yet absolutely clear, just to her side. She had been able to see the point where he stepped off, perhaps notice some sign of how he approached her, but to follow him... It had been too fast. Much too fast. The blackness was thickening right at her now, and she could feel it on her skin, chilly and terrible. And also, clearer than that, a sharp sensation, right against her neck.
   'No, I don't think so', the man continued. 'I see it as giving you a fighting chance.'

[Angel]

As Stygian had (almost) guessed, Sylvie had been trying to mask her fear this whole fight. After a while, she had almost overcome the sight of the tendrils of blackness writhing at the man's feet, and the sound of his sadistic, dark voice. But his next maneuver gave her terror a whole new reason, and caused her to immediately regret her halfhearted taunt. He dodged her bolt easily, and then vanished without a trace into the shadows.

Sylvie's body tensed, her eyes growing wide and darting through the blackness as she uttered a quick spell. The spell wasn't meant to attack Stygian - yet. Thorny vines sprouted from her staff itself and wrapped around it, making it suitably more dangerous if he tried a close-range attack.

She felt the air grow colder and began to shiver. She'd always hated the cold, but this seemed like something far more sinister than a mere change in weather. Stygian's voice at her side proved her suspicions right, though how he'd gotten there so quickly remained a mystery. For the briefest of seconds, she allowed her fear to take over her body, remaining perfectly still as the darkness thickened around her.

Then when she felt a sharp pain on her neck, she reacted. "Get off - !" she shouted, spinning quickly around and swiping her staff at where she thought the man's voice had come from. Then she issued annother spell, and more spiked branches began to grow into the darkness. It was a small effort, but a blind attack was better than none.

[Stygian]

The attack was not unexpected, but came faster than he had thought, and confirmed his suspicion that she was afraid and thus getting jumpy. Seeing her shriek and twitch, saying she was merely afraid might have been an understatement, even. But it was something that he could capitalize on. It made for an easier way to end the fight than injuring her.
   The girl's staff swiped across his fingers, but the man turned monster had already leaped to the side and flipped over, spinning on one hand to come against the girl from the side and behind. Dark, reaching matter taking shape behind him, he made a powerful sweep with his leg to knock hers from out under her. And in case that attempt failed, he had a dozen spike-like tentacles already forming to come up and snag her. Once he was through with the spinning movement, he would leap up, and aim to knock her over and pin her to the ground.

- -

Making a little doubtful chuckle, the machine shook her head and turned around. She cast a thoughtful glance to where the packing she had brought earlier was resting against the outside wall of the bar, but then shook her head and decided to leave it be. The heavy stuff could wait. Instead, she thought that giving the jackal a bit of a taste of how the environment might very well change the outcome of the fight would be a better strategy.
   The very moment the machine set her foot within the circle, the area within began to swirl and change, and not long after she had descended into its depths did she seem to have vanished. The interior of the circle was dark now, lights and gleaming metallic reflections like stars amid its depths. Obviously, the woman had chosen a battlefield that was as mechanical as she was.

[Boog]

Boog muttered a quick Argument to remove the stain the spill had put in the counter, setting out other drinks as needed. People-watching made for a rather nice hobby, and they were always doing something worth watching. Unfortunately, Giles saw the effects of the drink he'd requested before the thought-entity had the chance to make "Wait, wait, I wanna see how this goes," motions to Piix. Ah well, best not dwell on the hilarious story that got away. Now then...
There was the newcomer, who was quickly snatched up by the priest. The way they spoke to one another... Was intriguing. For one thing, the thoughts he'd managed to get off of the priest so far indicated that there were probably in fact very very few people present who he'd really lose any sleep over harming.
He finally placed Dani's drink in front of her, apologizing for the slow service. He glanced out at the fights again.
"Your friend is doing extraordinarily well."

[Angel]

Dani ran her hand through her hair and looked up at the bartender, assuring him that the lateness wasn't a problem for her. "I wonder if she'd agree with you," she said nervously, eyeing the windows again. "I've seen her fight guys stronger than herself before, but... they were never like him. Hell, nothing in our world is like him."

---

Sylvie's eyes grew in surprise when she felt her staff scrape something, but she didn't have time to react further. Stygian maneuvered too quickly. His legs swept past hers, knocking her to the ground. She started to get back up, but several dark tentacles were already lashing around her ankles and knees, and the man was in the middle of a jump toward her. Somehow, maybe thanks to the time she'd spent in Diekan-Duria, Sylvie guessed what he was going to try. She felt her fear mix with fresh anger, and an old, suppressed defensive instinct rose up.

"Don't even think about it!" she screamed, swinging her thorn-covered staff out sidearm in an attempt to catch the man in the chest and knock him back. She didn't have time to focus on a spell; she just wanted him away from her NOW.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Disregarding how petulant she sounded earlier, Keaton quietly followed Sahlena once she stepped into the circle, smoldering with semi-palpable fury. When she felt inadequate, she grew angry very quickly, particularly because it reminded her too much of being weak, helpless, and vulnerable; three sensations she quite vehemently detested. The chuckle the machine-woman emitted made Keaton's rage flare, slightly, and she had to stifle a snarl to keep her composure from collapsing altogether. Something akin to displeasure sparked in the pits of her ocherous irises, muted to a dull simmer.

She witnessed the metamorphosis of the environment occurring around her somewhat indifferently. From what she could determine thus far, it was dark. That led to her advantage; plenty of ample resources to manipulate. To prepare herself, Keaton twisted the handle of Catastrophe and hefted it against her shoulder, narrowing her eyes. That discontent glow petered away into a pallid shine, enveloping the brown luster of her eyes; similar corruption started to encroach along her body in the form of her markings, which seemed to come to life, creeping up and down her curves from beneath her dark clothing.

---

...Piix:

Piix looked quite stunned into silence at Giles's comment. Since Piix piloted her own spacecraft, she had to possess some degree of astronomical savvy, but the intelligence behind the otherwise brutish blackguard shocked her. Piix lifted her index finger, trying to reassemble her words. Time and time again she failed, and ultimately resigned herself to staring down at her mostly-empty cup, her lip settled in a pout and her hand cupping her chin thoughtfully.

After a moment, she finally managed to respond. "...Yeah, tha' sounds 'bout right."

Tipping her head back, Piix downed the residual remnants of the acrid beverage. Wiping away the blue substance on her lips with the back of her hand, she tried to continue this vein of talkativeness before it was robbed from her again. "So, uh, what 'bout you? Don't suppose y'r from galaxies away or somethin' like that..."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Dekuyaketh merely chuckled at Laertes's words, as though he didn't quite believe the sentiments behind them for reasons beyond his general disdain for religion. "Isn't that just like a true saint?" he pessimistically asked no one in particular, but did as Laertes had commanded.

Resting his bare palm against the surface of the table, he used it for balance as he stood up and liberally flexed the sinewy muscle of his exposed arm over his head. Despite the fact he still seemed quite acerbic with anger, he had a scornful smile on his face as he regarded Laertes, then strolled past him, approaching the door. Effortlessly, he pushed it open after toying with the idea of doing something petty to infuriate Laertes (such as holding the door open for him and then, when he walked in front of it, slamming it in his face; but that was just too childish for Dekuyaketh's tastes), and gently closed it behind him, again curbing his rage. After all, if he destroyed anything in the pub, it was going on his tab.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

"You get used to stuff like him," Boog said as he watched Dekuyaketh walk out, smiling at what was a-buzzing around the creature's head.

--

A van pulled up to outside the building, looking as much as a vehicle can as though it would like to simply roll over onto its door and die. There was tape over both headlights. The paint on the roof had been scorched off by something, and the difference between that and it's ugly tan paint job wasn't too noticeable. It was anyone's guess how the front bumper stayed on. And inside, two people were bickering.
"Oh you're kidding me Rich'." This first voice was slightly nasal, and always sounded at least a little angry. Femenine, but just barely. "Of all the places to stop for directions, you're checking this dive?"
"Hey now, did you notice that the terrain changed when we-?" This second voice, a low and tired rasp that was, at the moment, tinged with mild surprise.
"Don't try to distract me with sightseeing, Richard. What the hell do you think you're-?!"
"Shaddap a sec, Marya!" A hand that was missing the skin on three fingers thumped the steering wheel to catch the other person's attention and pointed outside, "We're in the middle of the desert!"
"Yeah, so?"
A rattling sigh escaped lipless jaws. "Marya, remember five minutes ago when we were at that little town that you wanted to stop at?"
"Yeah, it had the nicest game park..." The slightly nasal voice trailed off, followed by a scrabbling of someone getting out of the passenger seat to get to the back door. Marya threw them open and gaped. Behind them was more desert, no sign of the nice little town with the lush green game park.
"... Ah hell."
"C'mon, let's go inside and find out what's going on."
So, a zombie and a mongoose walk into a bar...

[Angel]

"Hope so," Dani muttered in response to the Boogeyman, lying her weapon crossways over her lap and propping her feet against the legs of the stool she was on.

The Red was getting bored with this. Fear, interesting as it was in small doses, got boring after a while. She needed a distraction, but so far, her only distraction had walked right out the door into a fight, and the wolf next to her was being unusually quiet. All she wanted was a chance for her usually short attention span to kick in.

Blissfully, something happened to trigger it. A pair of newcomers walked in from their parked and decaying van. The Mongoose looked normal enough, although her eyes reminded Dani of her time-bomb-tempered clients. But the presumably male figure made her jaw drop. Undeads in Rustburg and many places around it were only a myth, or a weapon used by Necromancers. To see one in person was unheard of, much less a sentient one. But here it was: proof that the horror-movie buffs had been right all along, and that a few of her clients may have been telling the truth.

"Holy shit, you guys ARE real," Dani said, her voice a mix of admiration and glee, a large, toothy smile gracing her features. "That, is SO, COOL!"

[Stygian]

Unfortunately for Sylvie, though she had cover for her back, laying on the ground never was an ideal fighting position. And when her staff swung out, instead of meeting the man's chest the thorns pressed into the palm of his hand, raking his skin mildly before they broke against it. His other arm crossed down over her, his hand landing near her neck, and his knee hit her thigh. Things snaked, seethed and constricted around her limbs, snagging whatever free ends he hadn't been able to pin immediately. The shock was intensified by the horror of suddenly ending up only inches away from his gleaming fangs.
   'A foolish expression', Stygian snarled at the girl. 'I've already done it!' Claws edging at her throat, he pressed his face closer to hers, the hard gleam of his dark eyes meeting hers head on. He hissed at her, a deep sound from the back of his throat, bestial and acidic. His breath was lined with some sort of fumes, and that chill she had felt before was all over now.
   The monster looked at the elf for a few, very long moments, his gaze intense. 'One quick snap, and I could crush your neck...' He had her at his mercy, or at least, so it seemed.

- -

The jackal's boots thumped against cold metal as she entered the ring. All around her, angles and smooth, hard surfaces, some scrubbed to a gleaming finish, others scratched and worn and dented, reflected the meager light from a few halogen lamps far above. It seemed that she were standing on some factory floor or in an assembly hall. Tarp-covered or exposed, menacingly-looking and unartistically functional machines stood all around her, some obviously meant as lifting or welding equipment, while some others had purposes that clearly eluded her first inspection. Most of the things were much too sleek and simple to relate to anything that she had ever seen before anyhow, dials, instruments, screens and armored cables and undecorated, armored surfaces hinting at a technology level beyond her comprehension.

[Angel]

Sylvie, although still angry, couldn't suppress her frightened shivers. She was pinned to the ground by the monstrous shadow-of-a-man in whom she was steadily losing trust, tethered by writhing vines of darkness, and could very well die at any given moment. Stygian's claws grazed the edge of her throat, and his fangs gleamed in the surrounding shadows. Much as she wanted to, she didn't twist her face away from his burning eyes, but she did try to push herself back into the ground in a futile attempt to get as far away from his gaze as possible.

She glanced over at the sun, only a sixth of the gold disk still in the sky. If she tried to fight him much longer, she'd lose more strength than she cared to, and he might become all the more powerful. She thought briefly about lashing out with poison, but the man was much faster than her, despite being bigger. The poison would take too long to take effect, and in any case, his skin had already proved to be too tough to pierce. She had only two options left...

She glared at the man evenly, keeping a quaver out of her voice as she spoke. She knew she couldn't win, but she wasn't planning on quitting again. "If you plan on winning, you'd best attack me now."

[Stygian]

Had Sylvie happened to know her foe better, she wouldn't have said those last words. Or perhaps she would. She didn't seem the calculating type. There were better times to think about things like that though, why Stygian ended that trail of thought at once. Not a problem, since what really occupied his thoughts was how to lead things on from there. They hadn't exactly agreed upon any terms, but he assumed that as long as he could get her to give up... The question was still whether if that was what he really wanted. He was fairly sure, but...
   'No. I think not', he hissed, narrowing his eyes and pushing up a bit, raising his head and reducing the proximity of his fangs to her throat. Giving her a thoughtful look, he closed his mouth, growling breaths silencing. At the moment, it really depended on what he said. He had to keep the upper hand somehow, maintain the idea that he was doing her a favor by letting her get out unscathed, rather than letting her turn it around and make it seem as if she were the victim and shouldn't have to suffer anything more than defeat. It was already leaning toward the latter, seeing as how she was the sweet little girl and he the monster. The way he'd pinned her could be interpreted suggestively as well. He could practically smell her distaste through the fear. That was a very bad thing.
   Licking a fang with his tongue, the monster frowned down at Sylvie. 'You're not really in a position to say anything like that. And I think you are mistaking me here. I don't want to hurt you. Well, not badly...' He grinned slightly, the corner of his mouth quirking upward. He couldn't let the menacing image slip immediately. That might trigger doubt in her as well. 'No... If you surrender, then I think we can call this fight concluded. And I'll let you go and back off.'

[Boog]

Richard glanced up at Dani and looked away, muttering something to the effect of "I'm too sober for this." Marya glanced at The Red once. Didn't strike her as a goth, like the usual who marveled at Rich's condition. She shrugged and thumped a fist on the bar.
"Hey, barkeep!"
Boog was behind her in a second, leaning over her shoulder. Had he been there the whole time? It didn't look like he'd moved...
"Hello, and may I welcome you to-"
"First thing's first, beanpole." The mongoose replied curtly, cutting the thought-entity off. "Whiskey for me, a brew or twelve also for me, annnd... Rich', what're you having?"
Richard considered the hopeful, pleased expression Dani had a second ago.
"Same."
"Two whiskeys and a brew or twenty four. Hop to it." She clambered up onto a seat next to the zombie, who was simply shaking his head at her behavior. He knew better than to try and stop her.

[Cogidubnus]

 Laertes opened the wooden door and strode out after the feline, glancing at the two strange looking fellows about to enter the bar for just a moment. One of them carried herself with that certain, special air that said 'look at me wrong and I'll eat your kidneys', and the other with the pallor that spoke of spending far too long away from sunlight. He paid them little attention, instead following Dekuyaketh towards the nearest open circle. To say that his eyes were like the wrath of God wouldn't be too far off the mark.

He stood at the edge of the circle, waiting for the Maine Coon to enter the circle first. The metal endcap on his scythe's handle plinked softly against the concrete-like surface upon which the circles were etched.

* * *

Giles took another sip. "Not really sure, ya'know. I don't really think anybody's from here, if you know what I mean, so's I think everyone might be from too damn far away. But, I dunno. They called it Aspira, where I come from."
He watched Laertes leave, the sight of the jackal bringing a slightly sour expression to his face, and then watched two more newcomers walk inside. His eyebrows creased together.
A zombie and a mongoose walk into a bar?

"I think I've heard this one before..." Giles muttered.

[Angel]

Sylvie waited on pins and needles for Stygian's response, not changing her expression for a second. She looked a little surprised when he not only answered her, but became less threatening in manner. True, he was still pinning her and smirking like he could kill her if he wanted, but it was clear he wasn't going to knock her out and end the fight himself, or tear her throat open with his fangs and claws. And if he really were as much of a sadist as she'd thought him to be a moment ago, he'd have used her comment to his advantage. So maybe he was telling the truth when he said he didn't want to hurt her. The question was, did that really change whether she trusted him or not? But that was for later.

The elf looked into the monster's eyes, her glare softening. "Okay, then. You win."
-----
Dani's grin faded a little at the reaction of the new people, but she continued to watch them as they ordered. "Sorry. Just my nature to over-spaz about everything," she told the pair, grabbing her coffee and glancing outside. She went a little bug-eyed at the position her friend was trapped in, but she noticed that she and the monster weren't trading blows anymore.

"I think they're finishing up," she said, directing her comments to the bartender and wolf. "Thank goodness. Now I can kill them."

[Stygian]

Stygian's pose and face relaxed a bit with the relief. She wasn't going to be trouble. A lot of the girls he'd fought would just have tried to knee him between the legs instead of answering. The rest might have answered, then tried to as soon as he dropped his guard.
   There was one thing that prickled the man's thoughts though; being merciful was good and all, but if he didn't get anything out of this, he might as well just have left it be. He had won, after all, however expected that result was. And while merely stepping back was the noble way to go, he didn't really feel like putting up that pretense right then. So, acting quickly, he tightened his grip a bit again, and looked a bit closer at the elf.
   'Excellent', he purred between blackened teeth, and that sickly green light gleamed a bit stronger in his eyes for a moment. 'Then I believe it's time we discussed the victory terms.'

[Angel]

Stygian probably felt Sylvie shudder under his now not-so-slack grip, but her eyes only hardened as she looked at him with a mix of shock and fury. Her cheeks flushed the color of pine as she answered him, being careful not to look too long at his fearsome teeth and the fiendish glint in his eyes. Sure, he may not have meant what she thought he did, but there was no sense taking chances with a guy holding you down in the middle of nowhere and looking at you like that. And there was no way she was going to be taken advantage of on top of being defeated.

"What, exactly, do you mean by that?" she asked, her voice only just level amid her anger and fear, and her grip on her staff tightening.

[Stygian]

The stingy response did not bode well for Stygian's chances at attaining some reward. He had thought of perhaps demanding something creative, or something that might lead up to something else, like a leaf from her hair, or that he be allowed to draw a picture of her, or take her somewhere to dine. Instead, it seemed that he would have to take a step back.
   'I'm not letting you go without something for it, sweets', he said, cutting back on the malicious tone. 'To the victor go the spoils and all that. But I can see you're... disinclined to rewarding me for your defeat. So...' He tried to think fast. There was nothing that he wanted, that she could do for him, or that was proper to ask of in the situation that he didn't think she'd deny him. So...
   It seemed that Sylvie's admission of defeat had caused the Circle to determine the battle was over, because the surroundings were slowly beginning to warp and distort back to their former shape, and instead of the mossy ground underneath her the elf now felt slick cobblestone at her back. This hadn't passed Stygian by either, and since it seemed the situation was a bit more 'exposed' again, he decided to back down. Slowly, as a sign of good intentions, the man began retracting the darkness that twisted his shape and seethed around him, letting go of her.
   'Firstly, please refrain from trying to stab me in the back when I get up. Secondly...' he began, finding his footing and trying to think of a demand that sounded reasonable enough. He found it pretty quickly.
   'Secondly, I want you to try and ignore the fight we just had, as if it never happened. That means, no telling anyone else what you felt or saw. And I'd like you to ignore... certain other things as well.' He got to his feet, backing up and straightening his shirt, the retreating darkness already beginning to return his appearance to normal. His claws were retracting, the veiny blackness retreating from his features, though the nasty black wound to his face still lingered a bit. 'I'd rather you not go hide in a corner and refuse to talk to me after this.'

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Around the time the gradual materialization of the new fighting environment finalized, the darkness crawling over Keaton's form had smothered the majority of her saffron coloring. That syrupy second skin splayed over the remainder of her bare body, tightening and solidifying into the shadowy armor she so frequently wielded. A slight rippling sensation rattled over her forehead in erratic, vibrating patterns, the quaking ink breaking away to form a white, angular shape identical to the one on her left-hand hip. An empyreal white glow illuminated the symbol seemingly from under her skin and spread to her eyes, drowning out the hue of her irises.

Now fully clad in her "shadow-armor," Keaton stepped back and slid into an appropriate battle stance, readying Catastrophe. Sharp, acridly-luminescent eyes surveyed her surroundings for any sight of her opponent.

'Come out, come out, wherever you are,' Keaton murmured in a low, yet nevertheless eerie voice; her voice seemingly disembodied from her form and amplified to include the trailing, apparitional echo, as though one had smashed a hundred repetitions of that sentence into her voice. 'You can't fight me like this...'

---

...Piix:

Piix listened somewhat detachedly to Giles's description of his homeworld, studying the interior of her drinking glass. Almost absently, she struggled to recall if she had ever visited a planet known as "Aspira," but no such memory came to mind. Not once, even. Frowning inquisitively to herself, Piix angled her tufted ears back, then glanced in Giles's direction, continuing to listen to his testimony. For a moment, she looked rather concerned when his expression soured once he saw his companion (Piix assumed he was, at least...) depart, but he seemed to recover quickly enough. Or at least quickly enough for it to not be an issue, even though the animosity made Piix curious.

Piix watched the two newcomers enter, and she arched her eyebrow. The mongoose, by Piix's standards, was by no means unusual, as she had witnessed several dozen different species and races similar to her, but the decomposing furless thing... that was new.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Dekuyaketh casually stepped over the periphery of the new circle, his tail swinging behind him. As Laertes followed close behind, he seized the pendant keeping the manteau's clasp together and started fiddling with it, yet didn't quite force it to relinquish its grip yet. He glanced to the shoulder concealed by the manteau, his mechanical eye independently swiveling in Laertes's direction. Just like earlier, a strange, rippling sensation was squirming palpably beneath Dekuyaketh's skin, mostly hidden under his clothing and long, luxurious hair. Each individual fur on Dekuyaketh's largely bushy and voluminous tail was prickling and bristling, seemingly going dead and stiff along his tail's length.

"You might as well choose the battlefield," Dekuyaketh said indifferently, and twisted the pendant. "I don't see much of a difference."

~Keaton the Black Jackal