The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton inhaled sharply as Sahlena removed her foot, instinctively reaching up to massage her throat. She exercised the slightly sore muscle by ruminating over a few breathing practices, flexing her esophagus until it started to feel normal again. Keaton sat upright, then glanced up at the android once she presented her offer. Keaton raised her eyebrow. Nice of her to offer, but Keaton really wasn't sure if Sahlena could properly assist her to her feet when she was missing one of her arms.

"Nah, I'm good," Keaton answered, but before she concluded that sentence, she quickly interjected with a surprisingly sincere, "Thanks."

Keaton rested her hands on the ground, breathing a little, and then tried to heft herself to her feet. Halfway through her ascension she felt a painful interference from her back, as though her spine suddenly turned to stone, and then yelped. She nearly toppled back to the ground, but managed to support herself by driving Catastrophe's spike-tipped butt into the floor, using the mace as leverage. Keaton pushed herself to her feet. Once she was back on her feet, she massaged her back, grumbling.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Dekuyaketh's metal fingertips, strangely gentle, quickly found a pulse on the jackal's immobile body. Apparently just unconcious and bleeding, the priest was still very much alive.

* * *

Giles continued to laugh as the rain fell, steam rising at first with a gentle hiss, and then with nearly a full-throated roar as the rain really began to fall. The water seemed to be moderately effective, dousing the flames at their extremeties and causing the ring of fire surrounding the two to die entirely. It served a second purpose as well, both reducing the ambient temperature of the arena, making it much easier for a normal person to endure, and weighing down the normally light sand into a sort of mud.
The cone of flames twisting about the blackguard, however, remained standing, although the fires twisting about him didn't grow anymore. Even so, Dani's experimental cuts into the flames proved as fruitless as trying to cut any ordinary fire.

Yet still, the blackguard laughed.

"Love, brings the rain..." he sang mockingly, dancing in the fire with himself. His vioce was still clearly mad, but there was an edge to it, although under great strain. "That falls like tears, from on hiiiiigh..." he sang, laughing to himself, and the blue fire writhing about the blackguard tinted white.
Beneath her feet, the ground rumbled again, and Dani suddenly smelled the stench of sulfur.

[Angel]

Sylvie's face turned a nice shade of spruce, and she looked away toward the window for a moment, an unsure, shy smile tugging at her lips. She couldn't help it; she wasn't used to this kind of attention seeming honest. During her brief glance outside, she noticed that the android and the jackal were done fighting, but from this distance the winner was unclear. She took in a slightly sharpened breath when she saw the fiery tornado in Dani and Giles's arena, her surprise almost making her overlook the rainstorm. When she did notice it, she looked a little perplexed, but decided not to say anything about it until Dani got back in.

"Cruelty is almost an everyday occurrence worldwide there," the elf told Stygian, facing him again and looking less bashful. "And truthfully, of the people I know, you've been one of the least cruel." It was true; even if he did horrible things, she suspected he'd held back a bit during their fight. If he had that much power, he could have killed her instantly. And if he really was as evil as he made himself out to be, he'd have done it just for fun. Of course, she didn't say any of this. That topic had gone by.

---

Dani's triumphant smirk at the successful rainstorm vanished in annoyance at Giles's reaction. She'd just felt like she had the upper hand, she stood a chance of not being burned to death, her skin no longer felt like the surface of a hot skillet... and the damn cyclone was still going strong. In fact, it seemed to be getting hotter amid the sizzling steam. And ... was the blackguard actually singing a power ballad? Dani growled, but didn't move closer; she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of reducing her to dust.

The ground shook beneath her feet, and the Red looked down, curious. At that moment, the stink of sulfur hit her nose, and she understood a hell of a lot more than she wanted about Giles's amusement.

"Oh, no. Oh, shit. Oh, SHIT!" she screamed, bolting from the spot where she'd stood, her sandals slapping wetly against the mud.

[Stygian]

Again, the man's eyebrow twitched, and he looked almost... apologetic in a way. 'Oh. Well... As much as I appreciate the compliment - or is it candor? - I have to say that sounds worse', he said, then turned his gaze forward, mixed the drink lazily with a stir, and took a good gulp, holding it in to wash out the taste in his mouth before swallowing. He wasn't honestly convinced that anything that could spawn someone like Sylvie was a world subject to cruelty that came anywhere near that of his own. But then again, desensitization and detachment like that which was often seen where he came from sometimes made even the most terrible things seem relatively painless. Things weren't so much on a personal level. And he himself knew that cruelty was very relative. You could torture someone out of love. And you could be kind to them by shooting them in the face.
   'I already told you; don't presume too much though, sugar cane', he said, and he meant it. More than she understood. His self-contempt went that far. But as always, he needed to have a sense of humor about things. And since he had no better way to put it, no sleek and elegant explanation, no clever metaphor... he would use someone else's words instead. It had been ages since he had read the book, but the film was not hard to find on the web at all, where he came from. In a society that mourned the past so much, it was no wonder that the people were so intrigued and enchanted with retro culture.
   'There is an idea of a Sebastian Hart; some kind of abstraction', he said seriously, looking solidly at the elf next to him. 'But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory.' She would most likely not understand the words, but she would have a chance of finding out by asking someone else later, at least.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Looking the little (in comparison) creature over Pal thought back to the rules that the barman have just given him.

"So are ye any good with that thing?" Pal said pointing to the Hammer the Orin had. "If so ye up for a little tussle?"

[Cogidubnus]

 Laughing that same, strained laugh, the desert a cacophony of rumbling earth and screaming, hissing steam, Giles suddenly stopped, and grit his teeth - not dancing, not anything, simply paused, as though trying to move a great weight, or push a boulder off the side of a hill. Unelegantly, he grunted, and baring too-white teeth, screamed as though in a berserker's rage. The red bubbles in his eyes expanded until they covered the blue entirely, and with a great crack, the blackguard suddenly began moving again.
The earth shook, and exploded. Magma fountained into the air, liquid fire spraying up into the rainstorm with a terrific sound, melting sand into molten glass wherever it flowed. The blackguard pulled fire from it's flickering surface, and bolstering the vortex of flame around him, and still dancing he began to make the liquid fire move. With surprising speed, it began to flow towards the running red, magma pouring out of the rent in the ground like blood from a picked scab.

Giles laughed madly, manically, unceasing and insane.

[Stygian]

Having said what he wanted, and obviously having either stumped or confused the elf once again, Stygian kicked back the rest of his drink and sighed. Looking around, he witnessed no sign of Boog or a meal, and only weird but unremarkable people and things going on. I suppose I shall simply have to eat something off one of the patrons then, he thought, with clear sarcasm. That will get his attention...
   'The fact remains that I am a monster', the man said harshly, not looking anywhere in particular outside through the windows. 'And that's a little hard to get over.' Even as he spoke those words, he wondered whether if he should tell the elf that she could poke about the subject if she wanted to, just so he could see whether if that was what kept her thoughts occupied and the conversation mildly uncomfortable.

- -

Backing off from the jackal, the machine turned her head to look at the bar as the surroundings of the factory dissolved around them, and they found themselves in the battle circle outside once again. When she had seen whatever it was that she had turned to see, she shook her head lightly, and turned on the spot, walking over to pick up the stiff shape of her arm off the ground a bit away. Straightening a little uncomfortably, she looked over at the jackal silently, and then began walking over toward the entrance while casting a glance over at the battle between Dani and Giles which had, as one could have expected, apparently turned catastrophic.
   ':anyway, thanks for the fight', was all she said. While not obviously upset, it was clear enough that Keaton didn't want much else from the machine. So the latter just walked over and inside, leaving the door open for the jackal.

[Angel]

At first, Sylvie was, for lack of a better word, stumped for a reply. She'd never seen the film he'd referred to, but that was of little matter. It was the meaning of the sentence that she couldn't get. Asking about it somehow would have felt superfluous. In a dimension where a person could sit in a hypothetical bar and still get satisfactory drinks, it wouldn't be surprising that some people didn't really exist. But she was pretty sure that that wasn't what he'd meant. He meant that whoever she was talking to right now wasn't the real him. But is the being I fought really him, either?

His next statement had a bit of an edge to it, and she was briefly concerned over whether it was okay to ask anything about this or not. He had said not to talk about the fight; she was determined to keep at least that part of her promise, even if she'd messed up on the other part earlier. She wisely chose not to look outside at the fights, keeping her eyes fixed on the man beside her.

"Monsters have much less self-control, and usually don't care enough to regret their actions," she said, choosing her words carefully and trying to avoid going back to the previous topic. "And it would be hard to live normally if this wasn't the real you, wouldn't it?"

---

How could I have been so stupid?

It wasn't the first time a Red had thought this, but Dani correctly guessed that she'd be the slowest of her race to move on from this screw-up. She was sprinting for her life from magma being controlled by her no-question-about-it insane opponent, trying not to drop her weapon in panic, and the only way she could save herself was to use a form of magic that she'd just learned how to use and that was, for even those inborn with it, unreliable. Even for her, this had been poor judgment. The hiss of steam the molten earth pursuing her from the storm above it did little to help her think clearly, but clear thinking didn't usually happen in battles - particularly such disastrous (no pun intended) ones as this one.

The magma flowed ever closer to her, and she knew this was her last resort. Desperate and praying to whatever god would listen that the results of her next action would be good, she shifted her arms and cracked the knuckles of her left hand.

Both of them felt the wind shift suddenly and pick up speed, even though Dani didn't stop running. She had a hunch as to what she'd just done, but just to confirm it, she glanced up at the storm clouds. Sure enough, they were now moving very quickly over the dark-greenish sky. Okay, fighting natural disasters with natural disasters. Now to figure out if this is really good, or really bad...

[Stygian]

Stygian almost responded harshly to the girl's insistence. Was she going to keep on denying, until he was forced to reveal even the more unpleasant...?
   He cut his own thoughts off, and stifled a smirk. Clever girl. More probably than not, that was what she was doing. He didn't think that she could be quite so naive as to make the other alternative really believable. And either way, he had almost grown tired of his self-demeaning. He was almost starting to sound as if he felt sorry for himself, Hell forbid. He at last let that smirk slip, and looked at the elf.
   'Please. The more vicious and the more evil, the more likely someone also knows how to mask that personality, to make it easier for them to get away with their deeds', he said, a bit bluntly, looking back over at Sylvie. 'The most horrible people can smile earnestly at you while longing to rip your heart out. Speaking of which, Boog!' he then said suddenly. 'Where are you and my dinner, you oxymoronic string of presumptions?!'

[Cogidubnus]

 Ominous and dark, the tornado began to twist in the green-grey sky, the wind around both combatants picking up rapidly to a gale. Raindrops pounded like small, hard pellets instead of water, and the winds seemed to be working, blowing Giles's conflagration back and distorting it, like a candle in a high wind. The fire parting in the wind like a waterfall through a sheet of paper, for the first time in the fight the blackguard wasn't surrounded by burning flames, although the unobstructed sight of him inspired no confidence.
The ground around him, despite being soaked, way a mass of mashed and melted glass, and contrary to the blackgaurd's earlier wild leaping and dancing, he simply stood in place and stomped in time with some unseen beat, one hand raised carefully in front of him and the other held softly as his side. Heat rose from him in waves with every stomp, scattering sand away from him, but more than these things, the first thing one saw was his face. His too-wide, too-white smile, and his eyes as red as hellfire, and his expression of utter, absolute, gleeful insanity. As berserk and uncontrolled as a burning house - a burning town, a burning city, of regions consumed in flames. The death of all things through fire was in those eyes.

Low, chuckling, building in force, the blackguard laughed to himself, and spread his hands wide, hands grasping something unseen as he continued to stomp. Lava flowed up from the ground in torrents, and some of the thick, vicious liquid rippling just a bit in the wind. The blackguard stared at Dani's fleeing form, and if he could, he'd have grinned wider.
"Oh Red!" he yelled over the din of wind and fire, "Tell me, my little playmate, my cinder!" his hands burst with sparks, spreading out on the wind like bright, burning chaff, or dust. "What happens when you fan the flames?"

"They GROW." he said, and once again, the blackguard was smothered in fire. Drawing heat and fire from the lava erupting from the ground, and using the tornado like a massive bellows, the blackguard began to conjure yet more fire - trying to make a bonfire in a tornado would have been foolishness itself, but instead, like massive wisps of flame, the sparks were carried circuitously by the raging winds.
And the lava bubbling from the ground began to shift, flowing towards where the burgeoning tornado would touch down...

[Boog]

"Decorum, Styggy," Said a voice over his shoulder, which immediately started coming from over the other shoulder when he looked around, "And you know that's a silly question. The very nature of existence and perception, coupled with the concept of 'where,' makes it nigh-impossible to really claim one knows where anything is at all. The senses are, while trustworthy, limited in scope. In addition, the very nature of my own existence makes any assessment thereof a matter of either using more, less, or flat-out different sets of dimensions to work with. In short, I cant honestly say I have any idea where I am if going by your definition of 'where.'" Boog finally leaned forward into view, usual grin in place as he set out the meal. "Your dinner's right here though, mebbe with some food in ya you'll stop victimizing the poor girl. Sylvie, anything you wanted? On the house for keeping The Laws Of Biology vs. Science Exhibit A here from making trouble."

--

Richard smelled burning meat. To a man that usually smelled of formaldehyde, this was BAD. He twisted suddenly and attempted to throw Risky off of him; he needed distance and needed it NOW.

[Stygian]

'Prudence, Boog', was the man's immediate reply, followed by a rather scathing look in the thought entity's apparent direction. It was followed by a curious... twinge of discomfort, and a hint of something like a thought of... tea? 'And you know me. I mean well when I make it hard for someone...'
   The smell that wafted up into his nose kept Stygian from making any further comments. And the sight of the heart, decoratively laid out on a white platter in its own blood and surrounded tastefully by pinches of berries and garnishing, made him forget all about theoretical spaces and entities and quarreling and screwing up conversations with oddly attractive plants. A hand, its nails slightly dark and clawlike, went out to caress the surface of the still warm organ, before the man gently grasped it, put it to his mouth, and slowly took a long bite out of it.
   He enjoyed the taste for quite a while. And from the way he closed his eyes and hummed slightly, quite a lot as well. Yet when the wonderful sensation inevitably ebbed out, Stygian couldn't help but focus his attention again. And incidentally, the first thing that he noticed, was the fight between Dani and Giles, which had obviously gone quite awry.
   'Your friend... seems...' he said, distraughtly, licking his lips free of the last of the sweet blood. He was conflicted. On one hand, it was just another Circle fight, and Dani hadn't made the best impression on him. But on the other, what Boog had mentioned of the mortality rate earlier was true, and the blackguard had proven a real irritation in his eyes. At the very least he felt compelled to do something to bring the risk to attention, and perhaps prevent a future mishap.
   'I don't suppose there's any way that we could... hmf...' he said, then scowled. 'That has to stop.'

[Angel]

Huh. I was wrong. This is actually a bit more uncomfortable than if he'd ordered a salad.

Sylvie ignored her slight unease and smiled warmly at the Boogeyman. "I'm good, thanks," she told him, finishing up the dregs of her juice and thinking. So far, Stygian had learned about half of the important things about her, and she'd learned almost nothing about him. Her earlier attempt hadn't shown much success; he'd caught her. From what little she had gathered, he really hated talking about himself, and probably hated himself, period. She was also stuck on whether or not he was trying to connect with her, or pushing her away for her own safety.

As soon as Stygian's apparent bliss was finished, he pointed out the bedlam going on in Dani and Giles's arena. Not wanting anyone to mistake her fear for lack of concern about her friend, the Green forced herself to glance outside for a millisecond before wincing and looking away. "I think she'll be okay," she said, a tad nervous but pretty confident. "Dani's reckless, but she's not stupid. The only reason she really took a fight like that when she saw what he could do was so she wouldn't look like a coward. She'll quit once she realizes she can't win."

---

Dani mentally reprimanded herself as Giles used her cyclone to his advantage, turning it into yet another fiery whirlwind. She'd seen his image briefly when the tornado had parted his flames (her resisting the temptation to sing "Candle in the Wind"), and she knew. There was no way in hell she was ging to win this fight. Her knuckles had all been cracked to their limit, her legs and arm were badly burned, the rain was coming down so hard she was getting bruises, and Giles looked like a lethal combination of every arsonist she'd ever put away - the difference being that instead of the gleam of embers constantly lighting his eyes, they'd turned to an actual blood-red.

It wasn't just a fight anymore. He really wanted to kill her.

And as the lava flowed away from its pursuit of Dani, towards the funnel-end of the tornado, Dani went through every possible thing she could do. She couldn't try chaos magic again; her hands ached enough to tell her that. She couldn't get close to the blackguard without dying a painful, burning death, or getting hurt so badly she'd become a bigger pyrophobe than Sylvie. As much as she hated to admit it, she was going to die if she kept this up.

She took in a deep breath, and shouted over the flames, "I GIVE UP! THE FIGHT'S OVE-"

Before she could finish, a wave of blackness overcame her, and she dropped her glaive. "Oh, sonuva..." was all she managed to get out before she collapsed into the muddy sand, sound asleep.

[Stygian]

Shooting a look sideways to Sylvie, Stygian noted a bit of anxiety and unease. Not apparent such; the girl was masking it fairly well. But that quick look she'd given when she looked at the circle, the slightly curled together posture that hinted at protectiveness, what she had just said... No doubt. She was uncomfortable. He couldn't tell just how much, but...
   'Well, you could argue that recklessness is a kind of stupidity, but...' Stygian began, then turned his gaze fully to the elf. 'Well, I don't think you're telling me what you're really thinking.' He smiled at her, a little slyly. 'She took that fight to leave us alone, didn't she? Out of a feeling of awkwardness... or obligation to you, perhaps?'
   The man didn't get further in his reasoning, before his eyes shifted again, as he caught the latest thing happening in the circle. Dani screamed out, something that was barely audible from where they were sitting, much less interpretable because of the roar of flames. And then, she keeled over, apparently fast asleep once again. Stygian blinked, and then frowned. That was a fortunate turn of events. Or it could be, if Giles didn't decide that he would like to see what Dani looked like at the end of his spear. He didn't so much as blink however, when Sahlena walked in alone and seated herself at the same table as before, leaning back in her chair with her arm over her knees and sighing.

[Angel]

Sylvie's face flushed the slightest bit yet again. The idea that Dani had taken the fight for ... considerate reasons hadn't crossed her mind - though thinking about it, it made perfect sense. The Red had seemed genuinely sorry, at least towards the elf, about her actions. And the way she'd watched Stygian taking with Sylvie, it was clearly possible that she felt like a third wheel.

Sylvie didn't have time to think further about that, though, as Dani shouted something incomprehensible at Giles and then fell over. Oh Gods, not again... Sylvie thought, worried and exasperated at the same time. "Always at the worst time possible... at least for her," she said under her breath, the second part quieter than the first. Even if it was true, it was rude to say so. Resting her elbow on the bar and propping her chin up with one hand, she glanced once at the re-entering Sahlena before turning her eyes back to the fight outside.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Now in a stable position on her feet, Keaton, with a sense of drunken unfocused lack of grace to her features and her eyes faintly glazed over with pain, watched Sahlena depart. Frowning despondently, Keaton splayed her fingers and raked them through the aerodynamically styled locks of her hair, sweeping them back into a satisfactory tangle. Simultaneously, the tips of each individual strand of hair started to corrode an insidiously atramentous shade as they crept into her scalp, shrinking and reshaping considerably until Keaton's hair was restyled altogether. In the end, her once shoulder-length hair was cropped to a boyish bird's nest of windswept dirty blonde.

At least she still had the focus to handle that complicated aspect of metamorphosis. Keaton sighed, lingered on the battlefield a little longer to massage her shoulder and brace herself against the still-persistent pain in her shoulder-blades, and then returned to the bar. From where she stood at the door she could already see Sahlena occupying a seat next to the blond human. Not far from there was her vacant booth. Feeling slightly ashamed of herself, Keaton shuffled inconspicuously over to her booth and slid onto the leather seat, leaning Catastrophe against the seat.

---

...Piix:

At Paladin's offer, Piix paused contemplatively, pressing a slender digit thoughtfully to her lower lip. Well, it had been a while since she accepted a battle. The last one against Giles was pretty catastrophic, but surely Paladin wouldn't be as... complicated, she supposed. After a moment of consideration, she finally forced a sincere-looking smirk on her face and nodded. "Eh, why not? C'mon. We'll fight. I'll even let ya choose th' battlefield."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Moments after Piix agreed to Pal's suggestion, the bar door swung open one more time. Dekuyaketh edged his way inside the bar, Laertes's incapacitated form draped over his uninjured shoulder like a sack of potatoes. His enormous, chitinous tail was curled in on itself, cradling the shaft of Laertes's scythe, and the tattered remains of Dekuyaketh's sleeve was tied into a knot to secure the grotesque stump underneath it. Without bothering to look at anyone, Dekuyaketh proceeded past the bar and followed the directions into the infirmary, which, fortunately, wasn't too far away. He supposed that he should have considered himself lucky, but an establishment such as the Honor Circle would obviously have facilities intended for medical purposes. Clients were probably getting injured every day.

Once inside the infirmary, Dekuyaketh swung his mechanical arm around, and deposited Laertes onto a vacant bed. Then, he dropped into one purposefully located as far away from the priest as possible, rustling the formerly-immaculate, whitewashed sheets.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[TheGreyRonin]

 Surprised at being flung aside, Risky tumbled across the sand to land on her side facing away from Richard. Pausing for a second to blink sand from her eyes, she turned and stood to face him, wincing slightly.

"You're right, it wasn't fair, I give," she said, raising her hands slightly.

[Stygian]

Following Sylvie's gaze, Stygian sat silent for a few seconds, then put down a couple of bills on the bartop, and finished the last of his meal, popping it into his mouth and licking off his fingers. Swallowing the piece of heart down slowly, he then looked back to Boog.
   'Hey, fighting is prohibited in here, isn't it?' he asked the thought entity. 'So I don't suppose I can smack him around a bit if he does something... dishonorable?' Noticing Sylvie's concerned look, he then leaned in over her shoulder, speaking low into her ear. 'Don't worry. She chose it. You don't owe her an apology.'

[Cogidubnus]

 Swirling a thick, stormcloud green and laced with fire and flames twisted through the air by the burgeoning tornado, to all but a local, the desert arena looked like hell. The lurid red glow of the molten rock, and the maniacal laughter of Giles didn't seem to dispel the illusion either, and for just a moment it seemed like everything was about to explode in a grand conflagration.

Giles heard Dani's voice over the wind and fire, and for a moment everything paused - the fire, magma, and even the laughter stopped, leaving only the blowing wind and pattering rain to break the silence. And then, almost instantly, the fires shrank. The lava stopped, and instead of engulfing the Red where she lay, went back.

The fires simply died, revealing a grinning, blue-eyed Giles standing atop a rapidly dwindling mound of sand. Now that the fight was over, everything seemed to be melting from out of the arena, including the tornado above them and the sand and magma beneath them. The distances were reduced too, until Giles simply had to bend over to pick up his spear in one hand, and grab Dani's collar by the other. The fabric gave a hiss as his iron gauntleted hand closed on it.
"Sweet lord almighty, but I haven't had that much fun in a long time." he said, grinning at the unconscious Dani. "Sun of a bitch, but you're tenacious, you know that?" he smiled. "Almost makes me wish we could have kept going. Throwing fucking hills and tornadoes at me, but hell..."

He dragged the unconcious red behind him, intent on carrying her back to the infirmary. He stepped inside, and caught the man's gaze, and paused. He narrowed his eyes, and spat on the floot, the spittle sizzling just a bit as it boiled off the woot.
"Th'hell are you looking at, asshole? Fuckin' vampire or some shit..." he muttered to himself, and grabbing Dani's collar again began to drag her inside.

[Angel]

Sylvie shuddered a little when Stygian spoke into her ear. She wasn't used to people getting close to her like that, even those who knew her well. Not wanting Stygian to think she was intimidated, she gave him a small smile and a quiet thank-you.

The Green watched with very detached interest as the Maine Coon from earlier came back in with the jackal draped over his shoulder. After a moment, she turned her eyes back to the outside. As if to counteract her distrust of the blackguard, Dani's Circle shrank from the terrifying inferno it had been to just what it was - a circle outside, containing one unconscious prison guard and one pleased-looking pyromancer.

The only time she tensed outwardly was when Giles walked into the tavern, dragging Dani behind him and glaring at Stygian. She examined Dani with her eyes, noting the burns on her arm and legs, the scorched hairs at the end of her still-long ponytail, and the little nicks and bruises all over her body.

The elf moved to stand. "Maybe I should take her," she said, sounding a little uncertain. Even if he hadn't tried anything dishonest, she found it hard to trust someone who so  enjoyed what she feared the most.

[Stygian]

Stygian's eye twitched near-imperceptibly, and he turned his gaze to the blackguard, holding it for a couple of seconds. Then, he turned to Sylvie with an apologetic nod. 'Excuse me', he said, calmly getting up, taking his coat and walking over to the huge knight.
   It was a rather tensing sight. Stygian, who was spot on six feet and quite large in himself was dwarfed by the mass of Giles' bulk and armor. Yet the way he stood, and his pitch-eyed scowl, made him seem at least fearsome enough to match the blackguard.
   'Your mother was a hamster', the man said, causing the blackguard to stop and look in confusion. 'And your father smelled of... well, judging from you, I think we can all tell just what.' Eyes narrowing, he stepped close, nearing Giles' face. 'Drop the girl...'

[Cogidubnus]

The pyromancer clearly heard Sylvie's comment, and remembered her reactions to his alcohol-fueled displays earlier - the girl was a pyrophobic, and he might understand why she would be a little put-off by the blackguard's presence, even around her friend. He was about to let go of Dani when Styg stood, and placed himself only a few inches from Giles's face.

Giles didn't know what the man was trying to do, but he couldn't help it if he was stupid. The blackguard wasn't someone who intimidated easily, and didn't back away an inch - and his hand didn't stray from Dani's collar.
"Why don't you shove it up your ass." he replied, and then spat in his face.

[Stygian]

There was a fizzing sound as the hot spit hit his face. Stygian blinked once, twitched, and his eyes widened. The next moment, his left leg twisted out in a black-clothed blur. A quick snap rocked Giles' hold on Dani. And then a fraction of a second later, his sole stamped down right on the man's chestplate, his leg raised at a not unimpressive angle. There was a metallic pang.
   Shattered glass sprayed, and pieces of wood shot through the air, a hole now where the window and a piece of the wall of the bar had been, Giles' form tumbling out onto the paved street outside. Standing still in the same place, watching the other man's armored form through the hole with a look of contempt, Stygian slowly lowered his leg, put a hand to his face and wiped the spittle off, and then looked at the Boogeyman.
   'He's not inside now', he said, bitterly calmly, turned, and walked over and out through the door.

[Cogidubnus]

Cog's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he gave one sunglasses-covered look at the man, and another at Giles's splayed body outside, and set his drink down. This was going to be something to watch.

* * *

It wouldn't seem like a man as big as Giles's was, or someone who wore as much armor as he did, would be very spry at all. For someone whose fighting style depended so much on movement, however, Giles's was adept at turning a fall into a roll, and at gaining his feet quickly. He hit the ground with an audible thump, and just a moment later was rolling to his feet.

He stood and turned, his face twisted in a snarl. There was no amiability or mirth in it, and he gestured at the man with one hand, and stomped with one foot. Fire billowed up and around him, spreading outwards and up. His too-blue eyes were murderous.
"Come on then, you bastard. I swear to God, I'll burn your corpse and drink your ashes." he said.

He left it at that, and almost reluctantly he turned, walking towards the open circle, the one in front of the tavern.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Paladin raised an eyebrow "Thats rather generous of ye Thanks, so any restrictions on the fight? I mean I have some ranged weaponry on me and ye don't seem to. As for an environment I prefer a nice clean ring, it means less distractions..."

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

In her depression, Keaton didn't realize the confrontation between Stygian and Giles until she heard the impact of Stygian's foot against Giles's chestplate. A resounding ring reverberated through the air, instantly attracting Keaton's attention to the temporarily-incapacitated blackguard, in the ambiguous moments before he was hefted and flung toward the window over her booth. Keaton shrieked in surprise and dropped beneath her table, swiping up Catastrophe and quickly taking shelter underneath the table's surface. As a precautionary move, some of the darkness around her feet boiled and swept over her head like an umbrella, further absorbing any vibrating blows rocking through the foundation of that portion of the bar as Giles, almost like an enormous, armored projectile, came crashing through the window in a magnificent spray of glass and splintered wood. Chunks of glass peppered the surface of the table, bouncing helter-skelter, a sizable, mangled shred of window framing following suit. Over the commotion, Keaton heard the yellow rat who was talking with Paladin exclaim something in a foreign language.

Keaton did not move until she was certain the deluge was over. When Giles had ceased his bellowing and had stormed away, Keaton finally slipped out of the table, unraveling her defenses. She looked very stunned, but unscathed, although her table was covered in a glistening blanket of glass shards and the occasional piece of wood or metal. Keaton unconsciously rested her gauntlet-clad hand on the table, still staring, in profound shock, at Stygian.

---

...Piix:

Piix didn't hear what Paladin said. Not immediately, at least. She was too busy cursing uproariously in her native language, an archaic succession of clicks, chatters, animalistic noises, and incomprehensible words, as Giles was forcibly ejected from the bar. Fortunately, her blackguard companion was unharmed (physically), but he was infuriated. Plus, Piix was concerned for her friend, even if he did deserve what he had been administered. As he stormed away, Piix cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Don't worry, Giles! I'll get y' th' bes' attorney on m' planet!" she reassured him.

Law was such a foul profession on Piix's home planet, especially when the primary source of income was through space privateering and other unscrupulous activities mostly outlawed on other worlds. At least lawyers were consistently in business and had plenty of experience defending obviously guilty cases, at least when the Oriaendi government didn't interfere and bribe all parties involved. Still on edge, Piix turned back to Paladin, her ears leveled slightly. She chuckled nervously.

"Y'r right, I don' have much ranged weaponry," Piix admitted. "But I c'n manage."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Snorting, Stygian watched the blackguard turn and pace away. He certainly didn't have a way with words. But then again, it was pretty apparent from the man's outfit and gear that he wasn't precisely from a highly developed culture... Though he was evidently powerful. One had to give him that.
   Walking down after the man, Stygian began planning out the fight, going over what he knew in his thoughts. The man could conjure considerable amounts of heat, and didn't seem to be affected by it personally at all. Which was bad, considering that his own resistance to flame wasn't nearly as good as that to other things. Potentially, ambient heat also added to the pyromancer's power, as seen by his choice of battlefield earlier. He seemed to do best out in the open... and if that strange spinning and dancing was anything to go by, he had to move to actually activate that power.
   Suppressing a grin, the dark-eyed man stepped into the circle after Giles. He'd nailed down one weakness, at least. And he wouldn't be pulling any punches now...

[Angel]

Sylvie was about to sigh in relief and get Dani when suddenly, Stygian rose, politely apologized to her, and confronted Giles. She couldn't figure out why until he spoke; apparently, he was enraged about the less-than-dignified transport method Giles was using for Dani. While she agreed that seeing the redhead get dragged in like a hunted deer was aggravating, she couldn't why it bothered Stygian so much. He didn't even like Dani, from what she'd seen of the two. Well, courtesy seems to be important to him. That must be the reason.

While she was making an odd connection between Stygian and Hannibal Lecter, her thoughts were interrupted by the patrons drawing in a collective breath. She looked up just in time to see the blond kick Dani out of Giles's grip, and kick the blackguard through the wall and out to the circles. She clapped a hand over her mouth in shock and nearly jumped back from the spraying glass before her thoughts changed again. Oh shit - Dani!

---

Had she been awake, Dani would probably have thanked Stygian for his efforts. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and dropping an unconscious person on their head is never a good idea. The bob of her ponytail saved her from an outright concussion, but she was still jolted awake. "Ow... what the hell...?" the Red growled quietly through her teeth, before Sylvie rushed to her side. "Syl... did the fight end? I gave up, right?"

"Yeah, you did," the Green said breathlessly. "Then you fell asleep."

"Yup, I remember... so when di-" At that point, the guard noticed the missing wall and window. And the two very pissed-off men standing outside, looking ready to kill each other.

"...What the flying fuck is going on?" she queried, trying to push herself up on her arms for a better view - and being reminded painfully by her skin that she'd been burned.

"...I'm still trying to figure that out," Sylvie answered. When her friend hissed in pain, she remembered why Dani was inside now. "You can find out why after you've healed, though. Where's the infirmary?" she spoke up, directing the question at Boog.

[Cogidubnus]

 Giles reached a hand over his shoulder and grabbed the haft of his spear, drawing it from its metal pocket and holding the thing like a staff. Charred blood slid down the iron haft like grease, and ran through the blackguard's gauntleted fingers before pattering on the ground. He didn't look back at the blond haired man, but simply crossed the thin, etched line into the honor circle.

The circle was silent until he reached the other side. He stopped abruptly, raising the spear over his head, and slammed it point-first into the ground. It sunk through the smooth stone like butter, and cracks of glowing char-red quickly spiderwebbed outwards, covering the entire field in a matter of moments. The blackguard turned, and ripped the spear out from the ground, and then slammed the butt into the concrete. It hit the ground like a hammer on glass, and the stones themselves simply shattered and collapsed - several randomly spaced spires of rock remained untouched, although Giles himself simply dropped.

Rocks and gravel fell quickly, and with a massive heat wave blossoming out from the newfound hole in the ground, splashed thickly into a true lake of fire. The circle itself looked as though someone had simply dug a hole through it and into the ground, and filled it with liquid rock. Lurid red light spilled out from the bowl of lava, and the blackguard himself simply splashed into it, untouched by the heat. He took a few steps backwards, climbing atop a smaller platform of rock.

He said nothing, but simply kept his spear horizontal, and waited for the man to join him in his hell.

[Stygian]

Exhaling slowly, watching from right at the edge of the Circle, Stygian's frown deepened as he watched the battleground unfold. Not good, he thought. It gave Giles every advantage and him virtually none. Then again, the blackguard had clearly used some of his own power to influence the battlefield. Or, the both had strengthened each other. And there was nothing to tell that Stygian couldn't do the same...
   His coat fluttering a bit in a breeze that wasn't there, Stygian stepped forward, and dropped. Falling straight, that cloth billowed out around him as he fell fast, but landed suspiciously easily and gently. Standing up, he put his hands in his coat pockets, and stood up, turned a bit to the side from Giles and scowling at the other man behind his blond bangs. The shadows played around him as the light from the fires around rose and fell, and the clouded sky seen through the crack above rolled by, obscuring the sunlight.
   'Before we begin, I just want to state this...' Stygian began, still looking straight at Giles. 'You're an asshole. And you need to learn not to let others suffer that for no reason'. He held the man's gaze, very pointedly meeting the blackguard's fearsome heat with a dark chill that made the very shadows behind and around him seem to deepen. 'That will be the terms of this fight. The first to give in, loses. And he who does will know just who to back down to later...' His coat and hair flowed again, and not in the updraft of the fiery lake beneath them...

- -

':crap. this is not good'. The comment from the machine-woman was set against the backdrop of small clinking and mechanic sounds, as she reattached and began working on her damaged arm. She gave Sylvie and Dani a glance, red lenses gleaming, before looking back outside through the hole in the wall, and then shook her head. Continuing to busy herself with self-repairs.