The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Cogidubnus]

Linos raised an eyebrow at the woman, his cup of coffee steaming silently in his hand as his head turned slightly towards the gesturing Boog and then back to the girl. He took a sip, and then nodded.
"Yes, he does. I admit, when I first saw him I was impressed too, but he's really full of surprises. He can make drinks too."

The panther drank deeply of his cup, and then turned back to the Boogeyman. "Aha, well. Hopefully I won't die of old age next time I take a nap. And when you feel like it, just give me a request. Something to scour the soul and make longing for a drink, huh?" he grinned, showing those white fangs again, and adjusted his grip on his guitar.

[Angel]

Sylvie turned quiet once again. Now she genuinely couldn't think of anything to say. She wasn't sure how to lead in with another question, and she didn't know what to make of his last statement. This was getting ridiculous; she couldn't kep going quiet whenever she was confused. Anyone would take that negatively. But what could she say to that?

She was still feeling moronic and increasingly awkward when Stygian broke the silence. Her skin prickled a bit at his suggestion, and her eyes were a bit wider than usual, even as he walked in. For a moment, she stood, glancing between the door and the Circles, taking in warmth from the daylight.

In that vague, half-surprised way that just-now-remembered tasks make a person seem, she walked over to one empty circle, standing carefully outside it, and picked up Dani's forgotten weapon. Then she took a last, slightly regretful look at the sun and walked back into the bar.

-----

Dani, for the most part, watched and twisted her fingers a bit as she watched Alex and Sahlena look around for ways of subduing her. She was starting to wish that her body would get the message and knock itself out. After so many years with her condition, it would seem that she'd be used to randomly induced sleep spells, but it had been a while since she'd had an injury needing this level of treatment, and she couldn't help being just a little nervous. She watched the ermine and android attentively, only looking up when Laertes awoke.

Once the appropriate medicine had been found, she looked up at Sal, quelling her anxiety. An analgesic, she vaguely remembered, was a painkiller, meaning that maybe she wouldn't need to be knocked out. She wasn't sure why steroids were needed, but she assumed it was legal to use them. It wasn't technically a real infirmary, true, but laws and limits applied almost universally when it came to medical-grade drugs.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for this," she said a bit more confidently than she felt, offering her arm to Sal.

[techmaster-glitch]

Mechangel

   In addition to keeping a small portion of attention attached to the time-manipulater, the cloaked hunchback in the corner was now tracking two more newcomers. One of them was a woman, and didn't seem to have any particularly noteworthy physical characteristics aside from a few tattoos. However, the other appeared to be a 'blind' musician, judging by his eyes, but certainly didn't need them as he aptly demonstrated with his observation that there were more than ten people in the room. Interesting...I wonder what the abilities of these two are?.
   The man continued his surreptitious surveillance and data-collecting, now splitting his attention between the two newcomers, and occasionally glancing through the wall into the next room to see if anything interesting happened in the infirmary with the time-manipulator.

[Stygian]

Walking past the conversation where Linos and Boog were confusing the new arrival, Stygian leaned over the counter to put his glass down behind it, and then straightened his coat before walking up behind the Boogeyman, tapping him on the bony structure he had for a shoulder.
   'Are there any available rooms upstairs?' he asked, voice low. 'Rooms. As in ones fit for people. Not storage spaces or the attic.'
   'Okay, someone has got to tell me', came the much louder voice of the dark-haired woman. 'What the bloody heck is that thing? I think it just tried to... shout at me or something. I can't make anything out.' She looked at Stygian as if he somehow owed her an explanation. He returned the look with still, black eyes for a couple of seconds, then grinned, and patted Boog on the shoulder yet again.
   'Have a fun time with this one', was all that he said. It was not clear whether if he was speaking to Boog or the woman. She, however, seemed to take it as the latter, and seemed to get a bit offended as well, as she immediately scowled in Stygian's direction.
   'You tell me or I swear I'll make you a mess', she replied, with a certainty that was surprising. Stygian's brow simply twitched, and he smirked on.
   'Yeah, good luck with that Annie. Anyway...' the man said, glancing to Sylvie as she walked back in through the door. 'Rooms?'

- -

Nodding in return, the machine woman paid no heed to Dani's obvious hesitance, but merely took her arm and narrowed her optics as she leaned in, spotting out the best place to make the injections. After a couple of seconds, she pressed the tip of the needle with the anesthetic down, easing it in with that familiar, uncomfortably intrusive feeling of all syringes. When done, she waited a short while, and then found a larger blood vessel for the steroid, mixed with a slight nutrient concoction, both of which were meant to supplement her body's own immune and recovery system.
   ':there. i would rather have used some nano-mixtures for this, but the regular stuff is cheaper and more available. i recommend you take some antibiotics though. burns tend to get infected so easily.'

[Cogidubnus]

"Rooms aplenty, trust me." the black feline said to the man in white, turning to stare right at him and smiling. He drank slowly, gesturing with a tilt of his head towards the tops of the stairs. "Pay what you think they're worth, like the drinks. They do know if you cheat." he smiled to himself, winking one milk-white eye before turning back to the stilll quite-confused lady. He raised an eyebrow again.
"He doesn't shout so much, really. You sure you're feeling quite alright?"

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

The impact rattled Catastrophe, but didn't falter Keaton's stance, unfortunately for Cogidubnus. During the short interval of recuperation that transpired between the two, Cog took advantage of Keaton's momentary lapse to strike, his sword moving like a quicksilver blur. In the moment his sword started to lance toward her face, Keaton moved instinctively backwards, her feet shifting and sliding rapidly to backpedal her away from the incoming slice. After all, she assumed that a sword that sharp could definitely compensate for Cog's apparent lack of magic by disfiguring her.

The sword bypassed Keaton's muzzle by a few inches, sweeping through a few locks of hair which lingered, suspended in mid-air, and severing them. Abruptly decapitated from their roots, those long strands of hair tumbled lifelessly in clumps to the ground, leaving Keaton to stare in abject disbelief. For a moment, she fingered the now-cut tufts where the right side of her bangs used to be, supplementing their length with additional pulses of metamorphosis magic to regenerate the lost hair. The hair elongated, turning a wicked black as they encroached like intertwining roots, then, betwixt the hue, the dirty blonde hue was restored, caking the darkness.

"That was... quick," Keaton conceded, still seeming quite awestruck by the feat. She swept her hand through her hair, tossing the bangs back. At least she knew the kid gloves would be off.

She prepared Catastrophe again, starting to ready the darkness around her feet as the shadows spiraled up her form, collecting around her back in amorphous tendrils. Almost like a set of wings, the tendrils splayed, hooking like insidious scythes, then started to move in a whirling dervish of blades toward Cog as she advanced on him, going from solidified to elastic in a matter of moments to provide flexibility, and crane like sentient whips.

---

...Piix:

Each time the orbs were deflected, instead of resuming their collective assault, they spun out of sync, spiraling in a disoriented, swirling pattern as they struggled to restore their formation. Meanwhile, the Triad's persistence had provided ample opportunity for Piix to collect her weapon. Skidding to a halt near the fallen hammer, Piix used her tail to scoop Orpiment up and deposit its handle into her paw's grip. She made a mental note of installing some sort of strap or handle onto her weapon in order to prevent further incidents from occurring, but right now she had to take care of this battle.

Jerking Orpiment down, Piix charged full-speed toward Paladin, spinning Orpiment in a rapid motion around her. Once the Triad realized its owner was approaching, the individual orbs fluttered back, zipping like oily streaks of gold until they returned to their orbit around Piix's body. Bringing Orpiment back, Piix swung it forcefully, letting out a triumphant battle cry.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 One of the grey wolf's eyes narrowed, a tuft of the jackal's dirty blonde hair drifting off the wicked edge of his sword as the jackal simply regrew the small portion of her hair that had been cut. The wolf's clothing fluttered as he paused, and he watched the jackal take a step back and conjure a almost a dozen blades of darkness that twisted and scythed for the wolf. In a display of eloquence, the wolf grunted.
When someone's got your wrist, use your other hand to punch his nose.

The wolf couldn't hope to simply block twelve directions at once, from tentacles likely sharper than his own steel - so instead, he shifted on his feet, one hand clenching as if trying to grab a handful of iron, and punched. If he had been fast before, the wolf was a blur now, and the wolf's coat flared behind him as a distortion in the air, a wave of pure force, tore at the saffron succubus. Another charm, apparently hidden under his shirt, began to glow, shining white through the black material, and the wolf himself shimmered once before the effect died away.

[Stygian]

Looking elsewhere, Stygian fumbled in a breast pocket for a bit. Taking out a wrap of bills, he removed some and put them down on the table. He wasn't cheating, but he was being cheap. It was the least he could do for the Boog...
   'I'll be upstairs then. I'd enjoy it highly if I could get a bottle of something fancy-named and chilled, and perhaps strawberries or grapes or the like with it', he said, turning. 'That means fat tip. Oh, and since I know you and you know me; No, I don't mind if you put strychnine in it. Only whoever else will be drinking it might.'
   Nearly sighing a bit, the man put his hands in his pockets, and then walked off calmly, slowly up the stairs.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Out of all of the tricks Keaton was expecting for Cog to have up his sleeve, she was not expecting for him to resort to punching her. Amidst a momentary lull as Keaton started to prepare the barrage of tentacles again, Cog dashed forward with supernatural speed, drawing his fist back and swinging it full-force as he weaved between Keaton's rapidly jabbing tentacles, just enough to get within range. One of the lancing tendrils missed the mark entirely, another speared the edge of his jacket and tore it, but Cog utterly avoided any physical damage. Keaton's eyes widened at the incoming fist and saw the imperceptible rippling surrounding it; she screamed, only for the sound to cut short like a record skittering to a halt on its player once the outward deluge of pressure smacked her in the face.

Keaton would have hit the ground if she wasn't saved by the swift maneuvering of those tendrils. Weaving out of place and bending disproportionately, the tentacles embedded their bladed tips into the soil, preventing Keaton from making contact with the soil. Keaton could feel warm blood trickle from her nose. Not broken, but bleeding. Snarling, she reciprocated blindly, reacting entirely on instinct, as she had a tendency to do when struck - still supported, parallel to the ground by those tentacles, she swept her leg at Cogidubnus, the heavy boot gliding almost weightlessly as she tried to kick him in the stomach. Just in case that failed, she prepared her tentacles, withdrawing the muscles compacted inside the paper-shadow skin so she could spring out of the way of any incoming attacks.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

With his sharp hearing and enhanced senses, Dekuyaketh easily overheard Boog's disgruntled murmuring, but decided against remarking on it, for once. He decided it wasn't in his best interests to get in a verbal skirmish with the proprietor of the tavern, considering he had no idea how competent he was at battle, and didn't want to get thrown out so soon after he had finally settled down. Swirling the contents of the glass a little, Dekuyaketh started rummaging around in his pocket for his cigarette lighter, hoping he hadn't misplaced it during his altercation with Laertes.

Fortunately, his hand closed around a familiar metallic shape and he emerged, flicking open a nondescript silver lighter. Resting the glass of water on the table, Dekuyaketh dug around in his other pocket for his cigarettes, eventually slipping out the box - emblazoned with a stylized, archaic symbol which was possibly the company logo for that particular brand - and thumbing a cigarette out of the box. Pocketing the box again, Dekuyaketh held the cigarette to the fire at the end of the lighter, lit it, and took a long drag from the cigarette, breathing out a trail of smoke (and making sure to turn his head so he didn't blow it in Boog's face).

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Magic]

Observing the android as it went about inoculating Dani with her precise instruments, he sat in a nearby chair. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've seen technology the likes of which back at home. Or more advanced, for that matter. Alex looked at the door, wondering if that strange man was still outside, perhaps looking at him through the keyhole or something. The timeshift drive was just about fully recharged, by now, as a slight alarm pierced his senses. It was about time he went about with his plan.

He then decided to get up, not long after he sat, "Will you be alright with the android, Dani? I need to go do something for a bit." As he spoke, he head over to the corner, grabbed his stuff and pocketed them back in his jacket, "Not that I'm implying that the android isn't capable," Alex made eye contact with Dani, "--but if you want me to stay or anything.."

[Cogidubnus]

Cog certainly didn't expect the jackal to recover so quickly, using her tentacles like second arms and legs to prevent herself from falling to the ground, and then launching herself at the wolf feet-first in an attempt to knock the wind out of him. The wolf moved quickly.

The wolf reached into his pocket in a blur, and sidestepping quickly tossed a coin into the air that flared like a second sun - hopefully dispelling the dark tentacles, or at least blinding the succubus while he prepared for another attack.

* * *

Something tapped Dekuyaketh on the shoulder.

As the Maine Coon nonchalantly blew a trail of smoke, he turned to see the priest from before, standing as silent as a statue behind him. Before the demon could say a word, however, Laertes simply bowed, shallowly, but respectfully nonetheless. Saying nothing, the jackal walked away, and sat in his corner by the window, looking at nothing in particular.
Underneath his fur, his knuckles holding the scythe were white.

[Paladin Sheppard]

'I like this one shes feisty' Pal thought as the distance dwindled between the Wolf and the Orin. Grinning inside his helm, Paladin pirouetted as they both reached striking distance. 'Cobalt' clashed with Orpiment and Pal slid behind Piix and aimed a kick at her behind.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Fortunately for Cog, the following events proceeded exactly as he had hoped. The coin somersaulted into the air, dusty light catching off its pristine surface and flaring tremendously, the rapidly-expanding balloon of light encapsulating the coin. Exposed to the intense concentration of light, Keaton's tentacles started to evaporate into great, wispy gouts of smoke which, almost as though they liquefied, slithered back into the soil, corroding the earth a pitch-black as they slipped back into the shadows. Keaton herself managed to foresee the dissipation of her tentacles shortly after Cog dispatched the coin, so she was relatively prepared - once she was on her back, released from the tentacles, Keaton sprung back onto her feet, armed with Catastrophe.

---

...Piix:

Once Paladin successfully deflected Orpiment, Piix almost immediately recuperated, starting to swing the hammer around. Evading the blow, Pal slipped out of the way of the hammer and aimed a kick for Piix's rear, which, unfortunately for the Orin, connected. Letting out a yelp, Piix was thrown forward and rolled along the ground, recovering quickly enough to jump to her feet and spin Orpiment around repeatedly. Snarling, Piix jumped at the wolf again with her weapon raised, bringing it down in a perfectly vertical arch.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

As the smoke dissipated around Dekuyaketh's face, he stared in rather blunt surprise at the priest standing in front of him. A moment passed without either one of them saying anything; Dekuyaketh rubbed compulsively at his neck, resisting the urge to fall into his mostly-medicated tics out of anxiety. For a moment, he suspected Laertes would try and cut him down, so he gripped his cigarette between his digits and elevated his guard.

Instead, Laertes bowed briefly to him and left, leaving Dekuyaketh quite awestruck. For once, the Maine Coon-Manticore looked very speechless, but decided it was best left that way. After all, he didn't want to instigate another fight and lose another arm.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

Boog tsked as he snatched the bills off the table; all payment was supposed to be in coin, but he could fetch it from the man later. Strychnine, honestly. How crass. A quickly muttered argument and the desired refreshment was already waiting in the room Stygian selected. Just to be a jackass, the bottle was labeled Fancy. Fortunately, it warranted the name.
"Catboy, see if you can play us something upbeat," the concept entity threw over his shoulder, "Relaxed people buy booze, in my experience." He turned his attention on the new woman again. He was having trouble coming up with a way of communicating with her, which would make it awfully hard to get her to buy drinks. He figured he'd try talking to her the same way she had to him, and tried to drop a thought into her head. You see a strange-looking man in a tweed coat... As blunt as what she'd attempted on him, but hopefully a tad more effective in making the point understood.

--

Marya came back with the Second Aide Kit, a box full of materials useful in repairing your standard zombie (a pair of rowenwood sticks enchanted with fleshwelding abilities, tape, a stapler, paste...) and got to work on Richard, lecturing him about the damages he'd sustained.

[Cogidubnus]

 Linos raised his eyebrow at the strange woman, tilting his head just slightly at her back-and-forth with the man now walking upstairs, and her reaction to the Honor Circle's mostly harmless bartender. He narrowed one milky eye, not quite looking at the girl as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He adjusted the deeply gleaming guitar resting on his foot, bringing it around in a position to play.
Mess you up, huh? Hum...

"Of course." he said, simply turning on his stool, so that he faced the entirety of the room, adjusting the positioning and grip on his guitar, tucking it in just so before lowering his head just slightly. He closed his eyes, covering the blank orbs, and his hands positioned themselves without guidance. The panther took a breath, the claws of his right hand extending just slightly - as though testing the sound, he plucked a single string. It was a deep bass tone, but without any rhythm or context - the most basic sort note that any idiot with a pick and a guitar could have played. Nothing to scour the soul or move the heart, to cause tears or smiles. Nothing to pay any attention to, certainly - by all right, something to simply fade into the background of the bar.
There was something electric in the reverberating note, something that by no virtue of the note itself, and yet by every virtue of the note itself, made one sit up and take notice, as though the note was ten times louder than it really was, or worth listening to ten times more than it should have been.

The panther nodded, and smiled. Then he began to play.

A rich sound, one that could only be described as the yellow of creamy butter and the blue of the open sky, the endless distance of waving wheat in a prairie without even mountains in the distance. The smell of dust. A curtain billowing in the breeze, wheat bread with cold tea, and slick, wet grass. It was the essence of these things - the essence of wistfulness. Of Wanderlust.
It was just music, although one might say it was only music. But it was music like no music ever heard - it spoke to the soul without trying, tugged at the heartstrings as easily as Linos plucked the strings of his guitar. It was music - very real music. Those who could hear would find that suddenly they were listening closely, and that along with a feeling, a desire to wander, a desire to rest, perhaps a cold one to slake a deep thirst wouldn't be so bad.
Those who were more aware of their mental processes would find that, although they felt differently, it was, really and truly, only music.

* * *

To Keaton's surprise, the wolf simply backed up, smiling softly to himself, and gave her a nod. His eyes gleamed.
"Thank you. I had wondered." he said, suddenly sliding his left foot backwards, and lifting his sword into a middle guard, and saying nothing more. He still grinned, however, and waited for the jackal to make her next move.

[techmaster-glitch]

Mechangel

   The cloaked man had continued his passive observation of the two newcomers, as well as the battles and other going-ons in the bar. Until the musician turned around, and started playing his guitar. For a moment, the man's breath almost caught. The music was simply, in a word, beautiful. Unbidden, he faintly recalled memories of his former self, back when he was whole. Back when he was...truly angelic.
   But, the memories returned to the back of his mind quickly as he reminded himself (mainly with aid from the other 'new' part of his mind), that he still was angelic, but in a different way. He then began thinking about this strange musician, and how the song had made him feel something. The augmented part of his mind carefully picked apart the composition, analyzing every nuance of every note, while his eye shifted into several specialized arcane spectrums.
   But, despite his scrutinies, he found nothing out of the ordinary with the harmonics. However, that did not dissuade his suspicions. There is no way someone can weave music that well without a special virtue to show for it...
   However, what he hadn't realized until he 'rebooted' was that he hadn't even received the full effect of the music, what with half of his mind and body no longer being 'authentic'. However, the very opposite could be said for another occupant of the bar...

Karazkt

   The Insectis had remained oblivious to nearly everything that had been happening in the bar in his unwavering vigil of focusing entirely upon the Queen. However, that was shattered when a sudden note twanged through the bar. To his super-sensitive antennae, the note slammed right into them, reverberating down their bases into his carapaced skull. What in the deepest cores of Furrae was THAT hideous thing? He thought to himself, but quickly tried to regain his peaceful posture.
   But then, something even more attention-grabbing took hold of him; the music itself. Of course, it wasn't 'music' to him per se, as his species' idea of music was rather different from that of surfacers. Nonetheless, it was still music, and it especially still had power.
   Initially, Karazkt was almost paralyzed from the feeling the sounds induced, due to it being magnified by his antennae. His mind was filled with wonderful memories and feelings; the taste of fine nectar-ale, the visceral pleasure of mining underground, the safety of his own hexagon-cell in his hive-city's resting catacombs, the satisfaction of designing and construcing a new clockwork machine with his fellow Engineers, and of course, unwavering servitude to his original Queen.
   After some time, he mentally shook himself of this (with extreme difficulty, despite his regimented engineering mind), and turned towards the source. He listened for a small time, desperately trying to hold off the inexorable feeling of motion, although his antennae were gently waving to the melody. Eventually, he tore his focus away from it and turned back to the Queen. She did not seem to have been disturbed by the music. After an intense internal battle, the power of the music and his own curiosity beat out his sense of duty and loyalty. Barely. He pushed his bottle of nectar-ale closer to the Queen, and silently prayed to the Mother Queen that the gift would be enough to placate her until he got back, if she woke up while he was gone.
   With that, the bug got up, turned around, and gradually made his way across the bar towards the musician, replacing his goggles back over his eyes as he went.

[Paladin Sheppard]

...Piix:

Once Paladin successfully deflected Orpiment, Piix almost immediately recuperated, starting to swing the hammer around. Evading the blow, Pal slipped out of the way of the hammer and aimed a kick for Piix's rear, which, unfortunately for the Orin, connected. Letting out a yelp, Piix was thrown forward and rolled along the ground, recovering quickly enough to jump to her feet and spin Orpiment around repeatedly. Snarling, Piix jumped at the wolf again with her weapon raised, bringing it down in a perfectly vertical arch.

Turning to face the Orin as she recovered her balance, Pal set himself as Piix snarled he fury at him and brought her hammer down at him. Just as he was about to bring up 'Cobalt' to block he switched tactics and stepped back just out of reach of the swing. As Orpiment slammed into the ground after passing a mere inch Pal stomped on its head putting the considerable weight of wolf and armor against it.

"Lass I think we should stop now this isn't exactly a fair fight..." Pal said.

[Stygian]

The woman blinked, and twitched a little where she sat. Then her eyes flickered to the others for a brief second.
   'Okay, did you just see that?!' she blurted out, before she could catch herself. 'It's some kind of...' She almost said precisely what she thought it had looked like. For a second, the haze of oddity and noise had conformed to a shape, and she had seen some sort of image over it all that had been oddly resemblant of that lobby flasher that had walked in on her once. Long coat, bony hands, hideous face with a creepy grin on it.
   'Okay, where's the manager?' she asked out loud, just barely managing to ignore the haunting music. 'I have a complaint.'

- -

The drifting, compelling tones chasing after him upstairs, Stygian's feeling of disillusionment and slight melancholy remained unshaken. Fantastic of you, Creepman, he berated himself. You come here to have a good time, and get a shot at the nicest girl in the place, and what do you make of it? He pushed open the first door that he simply stopped by, and then walked in, confident that in the convenient way that this place had of being, it would be the right one. She's a pretty sort of girl, and those don't take initiatives, or face difficulties. They either wait until some guy gets lucky or they end up with the assholes who are full of themselves enough to think that any woman would want them, and who thus feel no modesty or hesitation about approaching them. He was not surprised when leather sofas and chairs, a bed at the other end of the room, a tasteful coffee table, a Gibson and an amplifier in the corner and a bucket of ice with a bottle in it and a couple of glasses appeared before his eyes. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he walked in, humming along with the music from downstairs a bit, and sat down.

- -

Turning that single red lens onto Alex, the machine almost managed to look indignant.
   ':she'll be fine. once the [lidocaine] kicks in she won't feel a thing in her arm. really', she said. It was meant to be reassuring, however something that sounded like that never really managed to be.

[Angel]

Sylvie entered and watched quietly for a while, specifically the cat with the guitar and the short-haired lady from earlier. Stygian apparently knew the woman, but the elf wasn't sure why she was so confused... she'd seemed collected enough on her way in. Stygian ordered drinks and went upstairs, giving Sylvie a moment to think. She suddenly remembered the glaive in her hand. She had been hoping to check on Dani... might as well give this back to her too.

She'd moved about six paces toward the infirmary when the blind cat-being began to play.

The Green stopped, the effect of the music so overwhelming that her knees gave way, and she sat down in a nearby empty chair with a soft thump. For a moment, she wasn't in a maybe-existing bar between dimensions, but back home, in the Northern Hemisphere; she was in her forest, where no-one was scared of green skin, or any other strange color, because they all knew not to fear the unknown. She could smell the irises and rosebushes in full bloom, she could taste water from the spring near her home; not just dull tap water, but the purest water in the world, so clean, cold and perfect that the first sip felt like a newborn's first breath of air. The music awakened memories of her safe life, before she left the forest and got arrested.

After a moment or two, she remembered where she was, and blinked herself back to the present. She stood a little shakily, walking over to the infirmary.
-------

Dani watched as Sahlena shot the medicine into her, surprised that it was only slightly more unpleasant than getting a booster shot. She nodded a thanks to the android again, but was distracted from responding to Alex for a moment. She made the "one minute" sign to the ermine and twisted a bit to look out the door. Through the open door, she saw Stygian head upstairs, and Sylvie walk in, looking unsure and a bit flustered. Figures, Dani thought with a mental sigh. She meets a guy who isn't freaked out by her skin in the least and is actually hot, and she's too scared to do anything about it. Not that I blame her for being doubtful...Still, seems she may need a push in the right direction.

These thoughts were rather rudely interrupted by the music... though the intrusion was nowhere near unwelcome. Somehow, the song made her think of Rustburg. Granted, that wasn't exactly a calming place, but the soothing tones of the music made her think of the few stable aspects of her town. How her mom always made cocoa the first morning it snowed; how little kids would flock to the kid who'd just found his trigger; how everyone knew everyone else's name and current problems and triumphs, and was willing to help you out of any scrape, because they'd all been through the same one at some point. If she'd lived on Earth, it would be about the equivalent of a Southern suburb with no accents or gun violence. (The latter, though, was only because gun violence wasn't necessary.)

Sylvie stepped in right after Sahlena had reassured Alex. "'Scuse me," she said politely to the android, kneeling beside her friend's bed and putting the glaive underneath it. "You okay?"

Dani looked at Sylvie, still a little lost due to the music. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "That goes for you too," she said, directing the comment and her gaze to Alex all of a sudden. "But thanks for your concern. I'll be okay." She turned back to the elf. "What about you?"

Sylvie looked a little confused now. "I'm fine. Why?"

Dani smirked knowingly and turned her head so neither Sahlena nor Alex could see her lips moving, or hear her if she made a sound. "Go upstairs," she mouthed. Sylvie's cheeks flushed a little. "I was going to already!" she mouthed back, a little indignant when her friend rolled her eyes disbelievingly and mouthed, "Then get going."

Sylvie tucked an errant strand of grassy hair behind her ear and turned her eyes to Sahlena. "Thanks for helping her," she said. "Hope you're better soon, it'd be boring to have that be your only fight," she told Dani, clearly meaning it wouldn't just be boring for the Red. Then she stood, raised a hand in a short goodbye gesture, and headed out of the infirmary and upstairs, slightly nervous, but not really in a bad way.

[Stygian]

Slow tones emanated from one of the upstairs rooms, much like those created by the panther's guitar from downstairs, but amplified and sharpened, even if they were muted, and sordined by the walls and door. They seemed to be half mimicking the tune from downstairs, half accompanying it in a sometimes slightly syncopated, lower-key variation of the melody. It wasn't anything approaching to the excellence of Linos' music, but it was pretty damn good for improvisation at least.
   It was when Sylvie stepped just outside one of the doors on her right that the music suddenly stopped, and some sort of chilling sensation came over her, much like something she had felt downstairs very recently, as if something were watching her from behind. It lasted for a couple of moments, and then the door right next to her opened a crack, and a familiar pair of platinum-framed black eyes looked out.
   'Hm? And here I was thinking you weren't going to take me up on that offer', Stygian said, opening the door and inviting the elf in. Having discarded his coat and loosened his shirt and tie, he kicked back in the sofa, and set the guitar over in its stand, reaching for a glass instead. His pack of cigarettes was laying on the table, next to an opened roll of peppermints.

- -

Looking after the elf as she left, the machine would have smirked if she could properly. She hadn't seen Dani's mouth, but Sylvie's answer she had caught just fine. It wasn't amusing for too long, not when she thought about what whas probably actually going on, but neither was it anything to comment on. Turning back to Dani, she eyed the woman with solid, mechanic precision.
   ':well then', she began, raising the hand from which she had extruded the syringes. ':tell me when you start to doze off, and we'll get to the fun part.' With a few metallic scrapes and rings, her fingers were transformed into an assortment of sharp edges and instruments, gleaming in the bright light of the lamps above.

[Magic]

Alex walked out of the infirmary without any further word or action other than a nod to Sahleena and Dani, closing the door behind him with a swish of his tail, and was about to find the cloaked man again when he heard the faint sound of music drifting over to the hallway. His ears twitched, and listened intently in his alert state, and found himself lowering his ever present guard for once. The worries of the world; of all worlds, started to melt away from his shoulders, and seemingly along with the pain from his wounds. He reflected upon himself, a broken man running from twisted corridor to twisted corridor, facing the horrors of imagination made incarnate. Ever vigilant but ever afraid, he thought, while he flexed his neck back to release some of the stiffness.

Briefly he stared upwards, almost as if to wipe the slate of his mind clean in the faceless ceiling that seemed to look back at him.

He then shrugged. The rational part of his mind taking control again, and again did his muscles tense ever so slightly in his paranoid alertness while he resumed walking towards the bar again, perhaps to see the cloaked man again and ask the bartender if there was any room and bed available.

[Cogidubnus]

 The low notes from the man upstairs, muffled through the wood though they were, still made the blind guitarist grin to himself. His own playing subtly changed, and then paused, as if waiting for the other guitar to answer - and then continued playing when the other instrument fell silent. The panther shrugged, although still grinning to himself.
Finally, the song began to slow, and then softly and yet somehow abruptly, the music stopped. The tavern itself seemed to jerk back into reality, the effect of the music passing as quickly as the notes, although leaving a lingering feeling of wide open spaces, of dry air and distance and comfort.

The panther turned, setting his guitar back on his foot, and leaned against the bar. He opened his eyes, and drumming his fingers on the bar once before turning to the strange, distressed woman. His grin widened.
"You're looking at the management, miss. Him." he said, nodding at the Boogeyman. "Personally, I like the ambiance here, but I guess it can be kinda tacky..." he said, looking quite amused with himself.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton narrowed her eyes, slightly quizzical, but didn't interrogate the wolf about his motives. Twisting her heels into an appropriate position, she started to take a few steps backward, twirling Catastrophe like a baton along the way. In spite of its seemingly cumbersome structure, the weapon rotated effortlessly, like a pinwheel, at first simply mesmerizing in its fluid movements, but then becoming outright spectacular as it started to belch sprays of purple and livid red sparks from its clubbed, spiked crown.

She wanted to see what he made of this.

Abruptly, Keaton brought her hand to the center of Catastrophe's shaft, stopping it in its rotation at the opportune moment, so that way it was angled, parallel, its head facing upright, from her body. Trotting forward, Keaton spun Catastrophe again in a sweeping flourish of sparks, then struck forward, a bolt of horrible, intensely red electricity lancing from Catastrophe's head.

---

...Piix:

Piix raised her eyebrow skeptically when Pal suggested they stop the match. For a moment, she simply tugged on Orpiment, testing Pal's considerably heavier weight atop the hammer. Even a weapon enchanted to be weightless could be encumbered if additional weight, such as a person standing on it, was added. Finally relinquishing her efforts, Piix let her arm slacken, realizing that Pal's intention was not to attack, but to disarm and formulate a truce. She looked up at Pal.

"Whaddya talkin' about? I don't see wha' yer talkin' about. I mean, I'm only under five feet and armorless, while you're completely... an'..." Piix trailed off, her eyes rapidly scanning over Pal's armored body. "...totally covered in armor an' weapons an'..."

Finally, Piix seemed to get the point.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping, and looked momentarily disappointed, but didn't complain. After all, she was definitely at an automatic disadvantage, given the significant difference in height, weight, build, and equipment. "...Ah. Well, okay. I see yer point. Want to get a drink an' forget this ever happened?"

---

...Dekuyaketh:

As the music played, Dekuyaketh didn't do anything. Seemingly staring off into space, he simply smoked his cigarette, reacting minimally to his surroundings. When Dekuyaketh breathed deeply, the opposite of his cigarette flared a subdued amber and his chest inflated as though he was sucking the smoke right out of that ivory cancer stick, only for him to pinch his fingers tighter around the cigarette and bring it away from his lips, a thick trickle of smoke spilling from his carefully-parted mouth, painting the air like an oily smear.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[techmaster-glitch]

Karazkt

   The song ended as the Insectis made his way across the bar toward the surfacer who produced it. The music made have stopped, but Karazkt's curiosity was still strong; he must learn more about the musician.
   He reached said musician just as he finished saying something to another occupant of the bar. Karazkt normally would have known better than to inspect a surfacer without announcement, but that song had done a number on his conscious mind. Immediately he began standard Insectis preliminary information-gathering and introduction; his long and prehensile antennae extended forward and began gently poking and prodding both instrument and musician, acquiring scent and feel. The jaguar may have looked and felt like a Being, but he definitely didn't smell like one. His 'third eye' and other tattoos gave off strange auras in his infravision. The scent of his instrument was also a little off.
   He inspected the person for only a few moments, then retreated his antennae.

[Cogidubnus]

 No one is faster than lightning. Not without some sort of time-distortion ability could one possibly hope to dodge a bolt of lightning before it hit, or try and watch it crawl like living, crackling water through the air. Despite the wolf's prodigious speed, it was no surprise that the spear of red light hit the swordsman straight on, lifting him off his feet and into the air, and then slamming him back down into the cold pavement below.
What might have surprised Keaton was the speed with which the wolf reacted.

A blur of black and silver, Cogidubnus seemed to simply twist back up onto his feet before lunging for the jackal - the succubus would have just enough time to see something blindingly bright glowing through the wolf's shirt before the wolf struck. Another bolt of lightning poured from the wolf's free hand and clawed its way towards the jackal, a bolt of silver and blue in response to the jackal's own bolt of dark red.

* * *

"Can I help you?" the panther said to no one in particular, still looking straight at the Boogeyman, as if waiting for something.

"Oh, wait. Right." Linos turned and stared at the insectis waving it's antenna about at him. He raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?" he said, smilling that same lazy half-smile.

[Angel]

Sylvie wandered the hall a little ways, hearing a different music up here complementing the music downstairs. It wasn't as powerful, but it was pleasing to hear, and clearly the product of someone very talented. She listened carefully, trying to separate the harmony from the original music.

Outside one of the right-hand doors, she stopped. She had the feeling of eyes on her back. As someone who didn't like being watched by unfamiliar eyes, it was, to say the least, very uncomfortable.

A second later, the very door in front of which she'd stopped opened up, and Stygian's slightly scary, but comfortably familiar eyes looked out. She smiled and walked in, taking a seat at the opposite end of the sofa.

"Thought I'd be too scared?" she asked, keeping her tone light enough for it to be taken as a joke. "You shouldn't be worried about that. Even with what you told me, there's less reason for me to be scared than there was ... before." By before she meant during and directly after the fight, but she hoped that much was clear.

"You play beautifully," she said, partly to keep things from getting awkward and partly because she meant it.
------

Dani was smirking as Sylvie left, but once Sal spoke up, she turned. Then she saw the assortment of menacing medical devices glinting in the light above them, and the smirk melted and turned into a "really-scared-but-unwilling-to-show-it" look. That better be a joke. Or maybe she was trying to shock me into a faint? That idea made her a little annoyed, but there wasn't really any evidence that it was true.

"I should warn you, I can't exactly predict when I'm going to fall asleep," the Red mentioned, lying back and staring at the ceiling again. "And considering that I dozed off earlier, it'll be hard for my body to realize I actually want to sleep for once." Even as she said that, she shut her eyes, slowed her breathing and attempted to fall asleep of her own free will. At least then she wouldn't wake up having no clue where she was or what had happened...

[Stygian]

Snorting a little, Stygian began opening the bottle, flicking his thumb to extend a black claw and draw out the cork. Pouring himself some, and then putting up the other glass, he looked up at Sylvie for a moment.
   'You want some?' he asked, then filled the glass without really waiting for the answer. In case she wasn't much for strong stuff, he could always down that one as well. 'Please... I'm an amateur compared to "Ray With a Guitar" down there. Who I suggest we go down and listen to later, in case he does another number, by the way...' Kicking back, he stepped off his already untied shoes and turned, laying his feet up on the sofa while he leaned against the back and the armrest. 'I'm more of a vocal artist, actually.' He took a long, shallow draw of the glass, just tasting the drink. It seemed that the Boog hadn't made a poor choice after all. Though, under the circumstances he wasn't so sure that he was focusing enough to really tell.
   'No, I didn't think you would be scared. I might still surprise you, but not right now', he said, after a brief pause. 'I thought you'd be fed up though.' Sipping his glass further, he eyed her appraisingly. 'Yes, I know I must seem somewhat strange and full of myself. I try to get past it though.'

- -

A bit of time passed. It seemed almost as if the machine wanted to frown for a bit. Leaning forward, she observed Dani a while, then raised her metallic voice in a more careful, not quite so loud comment.
   ':you know, this stuff is only supposed to numb your arm. are you feeling all well?' she asked. At the same time, she pinched the Red's arm, just a bit away from the burn, rather hard. The lack of a response showed that the analgesic had hit home, or almost as good as. The woman might have felt that, but probably not as anything but a little tingle.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Red sparks exploded outward from Cog's chest as the bolt impacted him, the immense strength of the lance of lightning lifting the wolf in the air, then, as it dissipated, dropping him back to the ground. For a fraction of a moment, Keaton started to feel a small twinge of satisfaction at having, ostensibly, won, her victoriousness eclipsing her concern for the wolf's survival. Keaton didn't remain on this tangent for long. In almost a heartbeat and a silvery-black blur of motion, Cog was back on his feet and moving rapidly toward her, the wolf almost immediately closing the distance between them at an inhuman speed. White, livid electricity pealed from Cog's palm in bending, writhing arcs, whirling and weaving together like a giant spear as it leapt toward Keaton.

Keaton managed to get out a loud, frustrated exclamation of "You HAVE to be kidding me!" before the bolt collided with her body, igniting the air with glowing electricity. Blackened dollops of solidified shadows rolled and rippled off of Keaton's form as she was flung back, the droplets of condensed darkness evaporating almost instantly as they separated from her body, and therefore what was keeping them solid. With a heavy thump Keaton hit the ground, the vestigial traces of lingering electricity crackling around her body.

From where she laid on the earth, Keaton twitched like a half-dead cockroach. The acrid stench of burned fur and clothes drifted into her nostrils. Catastrophe lay on the ground a few feet away from her. After a moment of recollecting herself, Keaton felt her hands transform on their own, enlarging grotesquely in size and becoming simplistic in structure, each finger ending in serrated nails; monster's claws. Embedding her new, obsidian-black fingernails into the earth, Keaton grappled her way to her feet, glowering at Cog with eyes devoid of pupils. Now that she was on her feet, what protected her was easily apparent: a thin barrier of crystallized darkness glistened around her chest, still flaking away, surrounded by a corroded halo of burned fur and singed clothing. The former had become blackened and charred, the latter peeled back in thin clumps. Given the short interval of time Keaton had before the lightning bolt hit her, she didn't have enough time to protect her entire body, or even thicken the patch of shadow-armor to completely keep the bolt from damaging her. Because of this, the bolt still grazed her body, the damage mostly minimized, but nevertheless there.

Without Catastrophe, Keaton decided she had no more than brute strength to rely on. Claws flashing in the air and darkness swarming underneath the clothes on her back, Keaton sprinted for Cog, bringing her hands around with the intent to slash him across the chest. If that succeeded, she would continue the combo. Either way, she was at a disadvantage until she could get Catastrophe back.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[techmaster-glitch]

Karazkt

   The Insectis cocked his head at the musician's question. "Thoze zounds you produzed...they were unliKe anything I have heard before. IT waz powerful...even though the minzTrelz of my own Kind are very good, I have never heard anything az...deep...az thaT."
   His antennae quivered a little. "I wished To learn more abouT the one who Kan maKe muziK zo vivid thaT iT Kan reach inzide zomeone."

[Magic]

Backtracking his way to the bar took Alex a bit of thoughtful repose, not to mention copious idle rubbing of his bad shoulder, which in retrospect contributed to the meeting of his nose and the door with a hearty bump. Reflexively backing up a bit and rubbing his nose with one hand, muttering some things best left unheard by children and opening the door with his other. Boogeyman's face was a welcome sight, which at least confirmed that he didn't travel dimensions partway through opening the door or tesseracted an endless void on the other side of the door.

The ermine puts on a smile, again, while he heads over for a seat, another drink and perhaps a few more things in mind; all the while, perhaps, keeping a paranoid eye on the same hooded man from before.