The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Magic]

"That's probably the adrenaline keeping me up. Trust me, I'm about to collapse." Least I won't be bleeding. Curiously, aside from what he used for his injuries, it seems he has taken quite a bit of extra bandages; two 2.5 meter long rolls in fact. After treating his wounds, it becomes obvious why he had taken them. He starts to wrap his wrists and fists with them as a pair of makeshift protective gloves. As he does so he looks towards the medical cabinet from earlier, stands up and scans for some burn salve, as he kept his hands busy, to give Dani.

When all was said and done, he set a wide bottle of salve beside Dani's good arm. "Nevermind about the cold compress. I'll just take a nap and hope the stinging goes away." He takes a nearby chair and sits on it backwards, with his chest against the body of the chair, facing Dani.  "So what happened to you? Went swimming in a fire?"

[Stygian]

Leading Sylvie to the door and holding it open for her, Stygian sipped his drink leisurely and strolled out into the street, looking around. Fumbling with a stainless steel humidor in his pocket, he murmured a bit to himself, then took another swig of his drink and looked at the elf.
   'Kind of makes you wish that they had a garden or something around. I wouldn't have had anything against something like the rooftop restaurants in Berlin...' he said. 'Would have been nice showing you what kind of views we have where I come from. But perhaps, in another Circle...'
   Catching himself straying onto that other topic, Stygian thought about how conveniently the wolf had caught up the jackal earlier, and was reminded that those two were going to be fighting as well. Somewhat curious, he looked back over his shoulder at the door to the bar, waiting for those two to come out.
   'So, anything you're wondering about', he said, as if in passing, gaze turned away from the green still.

- -

Gaze going back and forth between the people around, while she worked on herself, Sahlena quickly grew both bored and frustrated. She did not need that much time, what with her auto-repairs doing for her what tools did not, and all the other people seemed to be challenging each other. Left out, and feeling somewhat disappointed that her upgrade seemed to be going to have to wait a while, she put down the tools in a neat order, looked at the package of metal and cables on the table. Then she sighed, and stood up.
   ':i assume he isn't dead, since he hasn't melted...' the machine said sarcastically, walking into the infirmary and over toward Giles. She looked at the blackguard with that unreadable face for a good while, then made a sighing sound. Turning around, she shifted her gaze first from Dani, and then to the new arrival. ':you look like you could need some help.' Stepping over to him and looking down at him where he sat, she cocked her head to the side, fixing that large red lens on the ermine. ':do you?'

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Feeling summarily neglected, Keaton stood firmly where she was, shoulders hunched together and a decidedly irate look on her face, as though that alone would attract Stygian's attention back to her instead of actual effort. At the moment, she felt too scorned to actually do anything, considering how she believed she was ignored. In the next moment, however, she felt someone tapping on her shoulder, momentarily startling her out of her ire. Keaton craned her head around to look at the person addressing her, only to see Giles's companion from before standing there. After a moment of contemplating his words, she grinned, resting Catastrophe on her shoulder.

"Well. That's an interesting way to challenge me to a battle," Keaton said cheerfully, her ire forgotten. Flattery was the easiest way to a Keaton's heart, after all. "Alright then. I'll show you."

---

...Piix:

The individual orbs comprising Triad's formation rotating rapidly around her, Piix maneuvered herself over Paladin's lowermost sweep in the form of a somersaulting leap, indignantly wondering how someone so large and armored could move himself so quickly. She repaid him in kind by preparing Orpiment, swinging it at his midsection.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

"Excellent." Cog said, standing aside and gesturing with one arm to the door. "Ladies first."

The wolf set his hat on the bar counter upside down, and then put his glasses inside of it, waiting for the jackal to exit the tavern and then making his way to the circle outside.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

"Aren't you a gentleman," Keaton said coyly, grinning deviously at Cogidubnus. She pushed open the door, ambling cheerfully outside, and to one of the unoccupied circles. Once there, she stood, drawing Catastrophe again, and waited for Cog to approach. Once he arrived, she grinned and leaned back, thinking.

"Right. So I guess our first order of business is to set the rules of this little engagement, huh?"

---

...Dekuyaketh:

With the medical treatment he was given, Dekuyaketh found that the regeneration of his arm was exponentially accelerated from its previous level. Amidst Dekuyaketh's sleep, the bloodied stump of mangled flesh and ruptured bone was restored to its former, undamaged state, without any traces of scarring or damage. Being a Demon, even if there was any ostensible mutilation, Dekuyaketh knew it would repair itself. After awakening, he examined his arm a little, astounded by the speed of the restoration, then sighed as he glanced over, instinctively, at Laertes's bed adjacent to his own.

Dekuyaketh didn't see any more reason to linger in the infirmary. It was, apparently, getting rather crowded. On the other side of the room, he could overhear some people chattering in indistinct, unfamiliar voices. Dekuyaketh glanced distastefully at his tattered clothing, then started to unbutton his shirt, pointedly ignoring the rather tight knot of discomfort starting to twist at his intestines. The explosion which had formerly taken Dekuyaketh's arm had decimated the sleeve of his jacket and shirt, also incinerating the cufflink respective to that sleeve. Not to mention he was missing a button from his shirt. His pants were perfectly unscathed, so he supposed he could suffice with simply wearing his pants until he purchased, or uncovered, a replacement for his earlier garments. Finally sweeping off his jacket and shirt, Dekuyaketh bundled up the clothing and deposited the maimed apparel underneath the sterile hospital bed, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. An almost imperceptible pulse of crimson electricity pumped through his mechanical arm, revitalizing its internal system.

Dekuyaketh shifted through his pocket, and finally uncovered his wallet. Walking past Sylvie, Dani, and Stygian, he entered the tavern just as the jackal and her companion left, casting a skeptical look at the booth coated with glass near the shattered window, and then seated himself at the counter. He started rifling through his wallet for some coins. "Let's try this again. Glass of water?" Dekuyaketh asked, scratching at his neck compulsively. He really hoped nobody would interrupt him this time. "Also, do you have anyplace to smoke?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

"To the yield, my good lady." Cogidubnus said, standing opposite to the jackal. He stood up straight, his yellow eyes watching the saffron-colored canine carefully. One arm was draped over the hilt of his sword, and the other was inside of his coat, reaching for something. "Other than that, anything goes. The field of battle is yours to make."

He pulled out a few pieces of silver on chains, putting one around his neck and the other two around his wrists, and waited.

[Stygian]

After watching Keaton and Cogidubnus emerge without a response, and a few awkward seconds after that, Stygian sighed and turned his gaze down, turning on the spot and fumbling within his pocket for more cigarettes. Slipping one out between his fingers, he looked up at Sylvie, with an almost apologetic expression.
   'Alright, unfair question then', he said. 'I'm not the greatest conversationalist, but I'm trying. I'm wondering what the silence is about though. I really hope I haven't put you off or irritated you or something.' Walking closer, he approached the elf, then realized that he didn't want to loom or give off too stiff an expression, and with a casual step turned and leaned his back to the wall of the building instead, sticking the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and putting his hands in his pockets. 'I can understand if the whole thing with the wall made me...'
   Suddenly and at first unexplainably, he stopped, and the slight green gleam in his eyes only visible thanks to the small shade over his brow, Stygian's gaze turned to the side, moving slowly horizontally. Sylvie didn't grow aware of what was responsible for this until after she caught that gleam, and then heard the soft, heavy footsteps of boots rounding behind her. Passing to her right, an almost ocher-skinned woman with short, spiky hair in worn-in jeans and a leather jacket passed, giving Stygian a short, head-on, blank-faced glance that somehow managed to convey so much meaning that it passed anyone looking by. She held that look for just a second, even shorter perhaps, and then just as quickly and with that same decisive way of movement, turned her eyes back to the entrance to the bar and pulled the door open, walking inside. Stygian's eyes followed her to the door and stayed there for a moment, his face almost troubled, before he muttered and then composed himself, turning back to Sylvie as if nothing had happened.
   'Look, whatever the case, I apologize, alright?' he said, then made a little bitter half-smile. 'Technically, you've talked to me now, so you kept your end of the deal. If you don't like what I do, I still hope you speak up though.'

- -

The woman who entered the bar was, save for the unusual tattooing that encircled her right eye and her hair which in the murky lighting ranged from black to red, so normal at first glance, and acted so much as if it was just a perfectly normal bar, that a bit of shock and a feeling of sudden apprehensiveness couldn't help but pass through the place. It passed in just moments though, the time that it took for her to take off her leather jacket and expose a well filled-out black tank top and firm arms, and throw said jacket over a chair and seat herself at a table. A couple more seconds, as she leaned back a bit and looked around, and then, as no light bulbs exploded, no monsters started creeping out from under the chairs and the floor remained in place, everything went back to normal.

[Boog]

Boog was in a Good Place, overall. The newcomer was a suitable distraction from his frustrations for him to have left his frustrations with Bloody arrogant blowhard psychotic twerps with more power than maturity comple- well, almost completely behind him. He was busying himself cleaning a glass that didn't need cleaning when someone else walked in.
The man(-like thing) spared a little attention for the woman's physical appearance (even he could appreciate such things on an aesthetic level), but his main attention was upon her mind. Most people, either they kept things to themselves nice and close or they decided they had nothing to bother hiding. But minds that locked down most outer layers, with a sort of gap left via which to vent ideas at their convenience were rarer creatures altogether. To Boog's senses she'd fashioned some manner of funnel out of her mind, shielding and focusing her thoughts in order to...
... In order to something.
Well that's interesting.

"Hello!" A man in a tweed coat who almost definitely hadn't been there a moment ago, leaned in from Andrea's peripheral vision with a grin plastered across his face and a gleam lurking in his eye, "Welcome to the Honor Circle! Is this your first time here? Anything I can get you?"

---

Marya stepped out of the infirmary, rolling her shoulders to get the kinks out of 'em. It always seemed to her that vulgar bastards ought to look after their own. And on the subject of looking after bastards, where was Rich' again...?

---

Richard snorted, which was impressive to watch when the snorter in question didn't have so much a nose as nostril sockets, "Can't think of a responsible way of using that, really. Not that doesn't involve too much risk. How on earth did someone come up with-"
"I already like the sound of this conversation." Marya interrupted Richard with a grin, thumping the zombie on the back. Her smile froze ever so slightly, however, when she noticed Richard's burns. "Oh, don't let me interrupt." She turned toward Risky toolevolently. "Do continue."

[TheGreyRonin]

 Risky raised an eyebrow at Marya, and took another long drag from her cigarettes before addressing Richard again. "Oh, you're married. That explains a lot."

She stubbed out the butts of her cigarettes, purposely ignoring Marya. "There's risk, sure. Without some hellacious computer programming overseeing your every move, you could make things worse, split off another timeline..." She paused to pull a green cigarette from her pocket and light it with her fingertip. "...Or end up stuck in a bar at the ass-end of time."

[Paladin Sheppard]

...Piix:

The individual orbs comprising Triad's formation rotating rapidly around her, Piix maneuvered herself over Paladin's lowermost sweep in the form of a somersaulting leap, indignantly wondering how someone so large and armored could move himself so quickly. She repaid him in kind by preparing Orpiment, swinging it at his midsection.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

Smiling as the Orin gracefully avoided his swipe, Paladin recovered and set himself for her return. As Piix's hammer arced down at him Pal bought Cobalt up to block, but one handed as his left darted behind him and drew out one of his shortswords. As the Hammer and Axe met Pal flicked his wrist and swiped the sword at the Orin's hands going for a disarm.

[Angel]

Sylvie allowed herself to be led out of the bar and nodded a thank-you to Stygian when he held open the door for her. For someone who claims to be such a monster, he sure has good manners... She didn't say this out loud, though, because she knew he'd repeat his earlier statement regarding deceptive natures.

Once out in the street, she looked at Stygian for a long moment while he spoke. The question kept her quiet in though for a while, with a brief distraction when Keaton and the grey wolf left the bar to enter a Circle. It was a difficult question, not because she couldn't think of an answer, but because she couldn't think of an answer he'd take well. There were thousands of things she wanted to learn more about: the fact that he was the second person ever (who wasn't a Green) to say she was attractive and (possibly) mean it; why he had gone all-out on Giles when it couldn't just be that he was a jerk; and why he seemed to be switching back and forth between trying to get her to trust him and getting her to understand that he was a monster. And those were just the questions she could think of off the top of her head. One or two of the others sounded far too naïve; quite a few could be dangerous if misinterpreted.

It seemed she had taken a little too long to think, though, because Stygian took her silence the wrong way. The elf watched a newcomer walk in – who looked just a hint like a darker-skinned, punk-rock version of Dani – and answered Stygian once he turned to her again.

"No, that wasn't the reason; you just caught me off-guard and got me thinking," she explained, her face honest. "I'm curious about a few things, really, but ... I can't quite think of how to put them." She paused, unsure whether the real reason would bother him. "In any case, don't think that I don't want to talk to you."
------

Dani's face flushed a little at Alex's reference to her injuries - even if she was mostly over it now, the results of her foolhardiness had left a bit of an impact on her ego. The android from earlier entered and spoke with the ermine, allowing her a little time to recover. The smirk reappeared, though a bit less anarchic than before, and she answered Alex, uncapping the salve bottle and massaging the soothing cream into her arm and legs as she spoke.

"I didn't so much go swimming in a fire as... challenge one and lose," she said a little sheepishly, glancing almost unconsciously at Giles. She shifted a little, avoiding any real pain while doing so, and examined Alex from their relative distance. "What about you? 'Cause it looks like a shark decided that you didn't taste very good after all, but then your blood fooled a few more into trying a bite of you."

[Magic]

The ermine shrugged. "Maybe it was," he answered sincerely. With a straight face. "I couldn't see anything at the time, It being pitch black and all," he muttered "--but it felt like a bunch of sharks trying to eat me." Alex idly rubbed at his left shoulder. I felt my arm getting bit off, doesn't help that I can't erase the memory of the pain., was what he wanted to say, but considering that the odd man from earlier could still be listening to him, he decided against it. The erratic and frequent rubbing his shoulder was, in fact, him trying to compensate for the mismatched blood pressure and the feeling that his arm wasn't really there-- "Not something I want to experience again."

"So uh-- you challenged a fire-- fire creature-- fire elemental?" While stumbling around for the right words, the ermine noticed the ambient heat coming from the unconscious pile that Dani suddenly hinted at with a glance. "Would that be this guy? He looks like he's out cold." He paused then, "You sure you lost?", Alex amended quickly; having not known about what happened earlier.

[Stygian]

The single red lens staring down at Alex narrowed, and the machine rolled her fingers once against her thighs, making a strangely tinkling sound. Then, she looked at Dani instead, and Giles, shook her head, and turned away, walking over to a chair and settling down. If no one was going to take advantage of the presence of someone with tons of medical experience and skill, then the less work for her. She was not about to remark on anything.

- -

Had the Boogeyman expected some sort of snappy response or comment or perhaps an order in return, he had clearly been fooling himself. Instead, the woman twitched as she backed up her head on her neck a bit, one eyebrow rising upward and an expression in between profound confusion and nausea manifesting itself on her face. Her eyes flicked away from the thought entity for a bit, but since the other patrons were scarce and no one seemed to have anything to do with this... thing that was approaching her, she found no help there. Fixing her eyes on the anomaly again, she narrowed them as if she were trying to get a better look at it.
   'What?!' she said, in a voice only slightly louder than speaking level, and as a teatray flashed past, Boog felt something focus about the woman, a greater-than-normal presence of mind trying to discern just what the Hell was going on.

- -

Chuckling a little in a continuation to that bitter smile, Stygian watched Sylvie for a moment, then looked down, and stepped closer. Cocking his head to the side a bit, he looked down at her curiously, black eyes gleaming off the edges under his platinum bangs.
   'Can't help but have a hard time with that. On both points. Personally though, I have to admit that I feel...' he began, then sighed, and carefully, wary that she might back away, reached out and stroked some of her grass-like hair out of the way, down her cheek. 'I think it would be hard for anyone not to feel intimidated or sad when compared to you. And since I'm not easily intimidated...' Snerking, he showed a bit of sharp, pearly white teeth. 'I have to deal with a plant being more pleasant company than I. But it's alright...'
   Realizing that he was digressing, Stygian turned a bit to the side, and looked down again, lowering his hand and rolling his fingers. He watched them, thumbing a claw-like nail for a bit.
   'Look, it's okay', he said, after a pause, looking the Green in the eyes again. 'Whatever you have to say, you can say it. What's the worst thing that could happen?' He smiled a bit, then caught himself, looked over his shoulder, and stepped a bit to the side to cover the sight of the hole in the wall of the bar.

[Angel]

Dani glanced over at Giles again, her smirk still in place, albeit still rather bashful. "Actually, that wasn't me. I was unconscious by the end of our fight; someone else did that to 'im," she said, feeling eyes on her for a second. She turned to Sal. The android was giving off an annoyed air pretty well for someone who couldn't express emotions facially.

"Sorry to impose, but you said you could help him earlier," the Red said inquisitively. "Do you know anything about treating second-degree burns? I just know how to relieve the pain, not treat them."

------

Sylvie took in a surprised little breath when Stygian touched her. This was something she really wasn't used to, but she didn't back away. What he said about her made her yellow-green eyes widen just a bit, but not out of fear, just curiosity.

He lowered his hand at last, leaving a warm, tingly feeling where it had been. His reassurance helped her relax, and she smiled gently for a bit before pondering what to ask first.

Once she'd settled on a question, she looked back into his startlingly black eyes. "Well, this may sound a little foolish to ask, but... most people aren't necessarily scared, but shocked, or sometimes a little disgusted when they see a girl with green skin. You weren't. Why's that?" It sounded naive, but it was a confusing matter to her, and she wanted to know.

[Stygian]

Stygian nearly snorted, a grin forming on his face, before he dimmed it into a smirk. He couldn't really believe that she was serious, but he decided to treat the question as such anyway.
   'Because I've seen girls with spikes and wires coming out of their necks and cameras for eyes', the man replied, still smirking, though more bitterly. 'I've seen girls with half their skin burned off and regrown. I've seen girls with fur and fangs. I've seen girls that weren't really girls at all. I've seen creatures, in the mirror as much as elsewhere...' He stopped, leaving any continuation to that unsaid, simply fixing his gaze on hers. Hopefully he got the message across, and didn't just sound more self-pitying.
   'I can honestly say I'm an expert', he continued, 'and as an expert I can, with utmost assurance, tell you that in comparison you are a most pleasant sight.' His serious gaze was unwavering, for the few seconds it lasted. Then he chuckled, and turned his face down again. If she hadn't seen what she had of him yet, the elf might have actually believed that he was hiding some embarrassment. 'That might not sound like such a compliment, but...'

- -

Sitting still on her chair, the android fixed that central lens on Dani, and almost seemed to raise her brow somehow. Then, she raised her hand, and rolling her fingers, as the mechanics and surfaces of them shifted, she replied.
   ':i have a great portion of the accumulated knowledge of the quantum age of technology in my memory', she said, matter-of-factly. ':that includes late 24th century medical tech.' A bit of smugness entered her voice next. ':i could fix that like nothing happened with what we have laying around. do you want me to though?'

[Magic]

The ermine eartwitched, and simply listened to Sal. It had been a good amount of time since he was up to speed on any sort of medical technology given the nature of his travels, however he vaguely recalled the Earth he came from having just developed mere prototypes of medical nanites and/or reconstructive technologies of that sort. At least he wouldn't have to worry about getting brutalized too badly around here. I sincerely hope so.

Figuring it to be rude to interrupt Dani's treatment, Alex decided to head back to his corner of the infirmary for some rest, giving Giles a brief glance before setting his weary eyes on the bed.

[Angel]

Though it was nice of Stygian to hide his amusement, Sylvie still caught it. Her resulting embarrassed look was genuine, but she was relieved that Stygian treated the question seriously rather than mocking it outright or disregarding it. Seems like he didn't mistake that as a hunt for compliments, though... that's good.

She smirked shyly when he finished speaking. "Well, considering the last person to compliment me besides you was the god of deception, I'd say that's kind of a relief. But that's another story." From the frank way she said god of deception, Stygian got the feeling that maybe she wasn't just exaggerating...

"What else was there..." she muttered, her face getting a more serious cast as she thought. "Hm. You never did tell me how you got to be the way you are. Of course, you don't have to." Something told Sylvie that Stygian would be reluctant to tell her that, even now.

---

Under normal circumstances, Dani would have agreed to have her burns treated in a heartbeat. Thankfully, she swallowed that reaction in time to think. Taking into account what Sahlena was and what dimension she was in, treating her wounds probably would be more unpleasant than healing magic (the worst that ever did was itch a lot). There was always a catch, and having the job she did, it seemed stupid to her to put immediate faith in a medical treatment sh knew next to nothing about.

"That depends," the guard said cautiously. "Does the treatment hurt worse than the burns themselves?"

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

As Cog prepared himself, Keaton followed suit. Adjusting the opalescent pendant holding together her top, she hefted Catastrophe and slid into a battle position, her feet gliding apart along the dirt, forming great, indented smears in the earth shaped like her zigzag-patterned soles. Deep down, Keaton was somewhat surprised Cogidubnus didn't state any conditions other than what was already addressed, such as limitations on magic or weaponry (Keaton didn't think he looked like much of a magic-caster, with that sword of his), but if he was confident she wasn't going to complain. Besides, it was just to the yield. Nothing worth complaining over. After Cog finished preparing himself, Keaton narrowed her eyes, white light flashing briefly in the depths of her pupils, and she charged, starting off the match by swinging Catastrophe horizontally.

---

...Piix:

As Piix was not anticipating Pal's incoming swipe, his disarming maneuver worked. The shortsword successfully swept Orpiment out of Piix's grip and sent the golden hammer spinning like a pinwheel into the air, over her head, and away. Piix gasped sharply, but didn't relent in her assault, knowing that while she had been divested of her main offensive weapon, she still could hold her own until she retrieved Orpiment. Concentrating a little, Piix started to spin her body away from Pal, twisting her form around. Discus spun between her shoulder-blades, then, miraculously, changed positions, levitating rapidly up Piix's body until it was hovering a hairsbreadth away from her wrist. One by one, the orbs comprising Triad's formation started to pummel at Pal, attempting to distract him while Piix went for her weapon. While very small, those spheres could still pack a punch, quite literally, and aiming for one was quite like trying to knock down a fly with an overly heavy broadsword.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

"You may not have picked up on this, but this is kind of a bar." What is she? That Mind... It looks orchestrated. Controlled. Like there's a few of us in there... Or is that what I'm seeing? "And as the barkeep, I assumed I should be keeping new customers seen to. Brilliant strategy, yes?" He grinned again, setting out a glass of water for Dekuyaketh with a mutter of "don't break the bank, buddy, I only got so much space in that cash register."

--

Risky had suggested something with the express purpose of being offensive, insulting to both the target and an innocent bystander, and was crude to the point of being flat-out revolting. Marya burst out laughing as Richard's attempt at explaination was interrupted by his mouthful of cheap beer.
"Nah, nah. More like siblings. He's adopted." Still snickering to herself, the beastfolk started for the door, "I'm gonna go get the second aide kit Rich'. Keep track of this one, I like 'er."
The zombie finally wiped the alcohol off his face and sighed.
"That was Marya, and I sincerely apologize for her."

[Stygian]

Had it not been asked before, Stygian might have hesitated with the explanation to that question, so that it might have showed how he was thinking of some diversion or easy explanation. It wasn't a pleasant subject with him. And he'd veered too close to it
   'Well... the nightmares I'd created sort of caught up with me. It would be terribly hard to explain anything beyond that', he said, shrugging a bit and not averting his look. That sort of thing was always a sign of dishonesty; everyone knew that. 'It's a self-afflicted disease. And I've probably deserved it. Not much more to think about it than that, in the long run.'
   Silence following, the conversation was brought to a standstill, it being clear that Stygian was not about to explain anything further.
   'Look, I'm sorry. Now is just not the best place and time to tell', he said, after that pause. Then he chuckled. 'You know, few have ever seen what I can do, and I usually strive to keep it that way. I should be worried...' He gave her a look that told him that somehow, he wasn't.

- -

The machine looked at Dani in such a manner that she got the feeling of a smirk. It was hard to understand how that was even possible, really.
   ':well, that depends. i am hoping we have some analgesics around here though...' the metal woman replied jovially, the fingers of one hand shifting surfaces and displaying various tools as she rolled them. ':otherwise i could just paralyze you for just a little bit. don't worry; it's nothing dangerous, and it only lasts for a few minutes.'

- -

Watching the glass hover over to the strange man-creature, whose mind was like a whole arrangement of layers and wraps, all made of different shapes and... if there were different fabrics or materials for making minds, she would have said just that, the dark-haired woman blinked and then just shook her head in confusion, still staring at... whatever it was in front of her. If it was a thinking thing, she had no idea what it was trying to say to her. It all just came blaring at her like an excited crowd of people all screaming in her face from a couple of steps away.
   'What... the Hell is...?!' she began, then almost glared for a second. Then, very suddenly, a rather powerful suggestion hit the Boog in the face, a proverbial arm wrench in thought that could have made a lesser mind conform blindly and stupidly: You want to go away!

[Magic]

I can't sleep.

Alex confirmed the thought to himself while staring at the ceiling, attentively listening to the only two other-- humanoids around the infirmary. He is consciously thinking too much to let himself go to sleep, even if he knew he was tired. Deciding to sit up just as the android mentioned temporarily paralyzing Dani. "Right," he paused for a moment to get off the bed, "I think I'll help you look for the drugs. Should be some around." Stopping before the medical cabinet he rummaged around in earlier, and without knowledge beyond first aid he abruptly asked, "..what am I looking for, specifically?"

[Cogidubnus]

As soon as the jackal hefted her mace and swung for the wolf, something seemed to change about Cog. Perhaps the wolf stood taller or straighter - some subtle shift in weight or balance, or perhaps even just some imperceptible change of energy, but all at once the wolf seemed somehow more real – the black of his clothes was deeper, the silver of his charms brighter, and the yellow of his eyes like a candle-flame, or the glow of the harvest moon.
He blurred, and there was a flash of silver, and the sound of metal impacting metal. The wolf slid back as the jackal's powerful hammer-blow slammed into the wolf's blocking sword.

His feet had slid into a wider stance, and with one hand gripping the hilt of his sword and the other pressed carefully onto the dull back of the blade, pressing against Catastrophe in a desperate block. It was evident that despite the jackal's thin frame, the force of using such a massive weapon, even if it wasn't enchanted, might give her the advantage of raw power. Two trails of dust left by the wolf's feet attested to this.
The wolf was fast, though, and knew how to use his weapon. Twisting suddenly, his hand dropped from the back of the blade to join the other gripping the hilt, and he lunged forward, scraping his sword along the mace's side, inside the jackal's guard, as the edge danced like a needle of ice for the jackal's face.

* * *


Upstairs, a doorknob clicked, utterly unnoticed by the patrons of the noisy tavern. A few minutes later, however, the thumping of feet on the wooden stairs that lead to the main room turned at least a few heads, if it didn't exact universal notice. The place was a dimensional tide-pool - surely more than just the few who arrived just that day must have found themselves stuck there, and the rooms were if not cheap, than at least always affordable.

The newcomer appeared to be a black kitty of some sort, and a big one at that - oddly dressed, as though only half-ready to go to work - shirt neatly tucked into a pair of slacks, covering the tops of black leather shoes, and a black-and-white pinstripe waistcoat buttoned neatly over a cream-colored shirt. A white tie completed the ensemble, also tucked carefully inside the waistcoat. Somewhat at odds with his businesslike appearance, in his left hand he carried what appeared to be an acoustic guitar which could only be described as beautiful. It practically glowed, the wood a dark, rich red, and gleamed almost wetly under the lights of the bar.
His eyes were as white as milk, devoid of iris or pupil. Apparently blind, he managed to descend the stairs and find a barstool rather quickly, across from the momentarily indisposed bartender. Along his neck and face, and where his hands were exposed, scrawling blue tattoos glowed an eldritch blue.

"You should have told me there was company." He said, stretching. "I would have gotten up sooner. Coffee, please."


* * *

In the infirmary, Laertes's eyes snapped open.

Then they snapped wider. His jaw was broken crooked, and he began to cough up blood profusely, staining his red robe a deeper crimson as he sat up. More pain blossomed in his head, and the coughs wracked his jaw with yet greater agony.
There was no way he could speak as he was, but his left hand spasmed and then clenched, and then began to slowly began the process of spellcasting. Moments later, his jaw began to shift, and coughed up another mouthful of blood before the blood began to staunch. The area tinged a fuzzy blue as the grievous wound healed, until the priest could speak without feeling like he was talking with fire. He mouthed a few slurred syllables, and with a click the jaw snapped back into place. His eyes bulged, and his right hand dug furrows into the bed, but the priest simply remained silent instead of screaming.

It was almost a full minute before he untensed, relaxing enough to lie back on the bed. He swung his legs over the side, and gingerly stood up, grabbing his scythe set next to him and leaning on it like a cane.
He said nothing, but his eyes turned to stare at the door to the common room, the golden orbs somehow thoughtful rather than filled with rage.

[Boog]

The woman squirted a thought at him. That was the only way of describing it; she opened the gap in her funnel of a mind and shoved it through, right at him. If that was one of ours, they're either incredibly cocky or terminally stupid. Neither was particularly likely in anything able to rearrange a mind to this extent; in a species that reacted to each other with aloofness at best, cerebacidal mania at worst and cannibalism on average something that prone to immediate, inneffective attacks wouldn't have lived long enough to get that powerful.
Boog did nothing visibly, at first. Mentally he played shell games of how his thought patterns were arranged, cycling memories and facts and calculations through one another just so...
And the hurled mental command landed squarely as part of the pattern. You want to go away, Was definitely in the pattern now, but it was a description and facing the wrong way.
Visibly, Boog was still unchanged, but now what was there took on far more sinister connotations. His huge eyes were madder than they were comically impractical, his skinneyness brought to mind more a man starved to death rather than one who was simply built that way... It was distilled repulsiveness; not revulsion, where it is a matter of being disgusting, but some unnamed quality that repulsed the viewer.
The pattern continued its motion, for all the world just as it had been earlier. You want to go away was stretched out, inspected, passed from one part of the pattern to another like a magician holding up his perfectly ordinary deck of cards.
In the middle of being passed again, a set of teeth came down on the thought. It was drifting through the rest and what looked like another perfectly ordinary (or at least as ordinary as this mind got) set of concepts crushed it to nothing and put that nothing away somewhere.
Boog looked like his affable self again, without ever having changed a bit.
"Amateur."
With that, he turned to see to the cat. He rather liked musicians anyway, this would be a good pickup after that disappointment.
"No, you wouldn't have," he replied with a quirked eyebrow as he set out a cup of coffee for the fellow. "But I'd have given points for the attempt."

[Cogidubnus]

"Touché." the panther said, and lifted the steaming mug to his lips, slurping the black liquid without further comment. He leaned back in his chair, seemingly at home in the small barroom, and gave the room a brief once-over, looking at the various patrons that had arrived while he slept. He raised an eyebrow, and lowered the mug, raising an eyebrow and giving the Boogeyman and half-smile.
"A full house, huh?" he said, fangs gleaming. He took another drink, cracking his neck absently. It was apparently the man was either incredibly lazy, or used to staying up at night and sleeping during the day.

"Shall I play for my supper again, then?" the panther said, his guitar resting easily on one foot. "I count at least ten...more than ten, wandering around here." he said, changing the subject quickly. "Did I sleep a week, or something?"

[TheGreyRonin]

 "She reminds me of a drill instructor I once had. Not a bad sort, in his own way," Risky said, puffing on the last of her cigarette.

She glanced at the new arrivals as if seeing them for the first time, then stood. "I need to go freshen up a bit. Don't get suckered into a fight with some of these folks."

Risky cast one last glance at the fights outside, and quickly made her way to what was marked as, and possibly even was, the ladies' room.

[Stygian]

Looking in Alex's direction, the machine waved a little not-so-directly at the medical cabinets, which she had not checked. Unlike Stygian, she was not pessimistic about the possibilities of the availability of good service and wares in the sort of place they were in, but rather just confused and at a loss to all probabilities.
   ':if this place doesn't have [lidocaine] it's not even third-rate. check the bottom drawers. it should say "[lidocaine hydrochloride]", preferably on a bottle', she said, getting off the chair and walking over to the side of Dani's bed. ':see if you can find some steroids as well.'

[Magic]

Alex mentally sounded the phrase lidocaine hydrochloride out in his head a few times or more, tipping a few bottles slightly to check for their labels and pushing them back when they disappoint. Eventually, he comes across a couple of red and yellow vials of steroids which he plucks out and sets on the table while he continues to, quite tediously, look for a very specific bottle in the bunch of cabinets.

"Figures as much, on the last bloody drawer. Here we go." Finding the specific bottle. he takes the pair of steroid vials in one hand and the analgesic in the other, then briskly walks over to the android and Dani.

[Paladin Sheppard]

...Piix:

As Piix was not anticipating Pal's incoming swipe, his disarming maneuver worked. The shortsword successfully swept Orpiment out of Piix's grip and sent the golden hammer spinning like a pinwheel into the air, over her head, and away. Piix gasped sharply, but didn't relent in her assault, knowing that while she had been divested of her main offensive weapon, she still could hold her own until she retrieved Orpiment. Concentrating a little, Piix started to spin her body away from Pal, twisting her form around. Discus spun between her shoulder-blades, then, miraculously, changed positions, levitating rapidly up Piix's body until it was hovering a hairsbreadth away from her wrist. One by one, the orbs comprising Triad's formation started to pummel at Pal, attempting to distract him while Piix went for her weapon. While very small, those spheres could still pack a punch, quite literally, and aiming for one was quite like trying to knock down a fly with an overly heavy broadsword.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

Paladin made to pursue Piix but stopped short as the orbs started their attack. Not expecting them Pal  took a hit to his muzzle before he managed to bring his arms up to block. Spitting out a tooth and some blood he took the metal wolfshead helm that was clipped to his belt and put it on after he had sheathed his sword. Still while he was doing this he had still taken hit from the orbs but his armor had shrugged it off. Gripping 'Cobalt' Pal made after Piix the orbs thumping into his armor but not slowing him.

[Stygian]

'Few who are still alive anyway. I don't suppose you have family?' Stygian asked, when another uncomfortable silence began settling, then looked away and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why all these personal questions? He was not feeling threatened and he had no obligation or reason to be looking into the elf's life. It was enough that she sealed up like a clam once he spoke. He was beginning to sound like some Greek tragedian to himself as well.
   'Look, we don't have to be this formal', he said, stepping a bit closer. 'It's easy to get uncomfortable when you're just standing around like this...' He glanced over her for a second, thumbing something in his pocket, then took out his hand and put them together behind his back. 'I'm going to go see if there are rooms. More comfortable ones. With sofas and coffee tables. And preferably with a view.' He looked her straight in the eyes. 'You're welcome to join, if only for more free drinks.'
   Smirking, the man turned, and slowly walked away, taking one last deep breath of the clear air before pushing open the doors and going back inside.

- -

Taking the steroid vials while holding the bottle of local anesthetic in her other hand, Sahlena scrutinized them each in turn, placing two down on the table stand next to the bed before she found the right one. Opening the self-sealing top of first the anesthetic, then the steroid concoction, she raised one hand, and with a little singing sound a pair of syringe-like needles shot out of her fingers.
   ':so, now...' she said, and then turned her unblinking red gaze toward Dani. ':shall i?'

- -

Gaping just a bit, the dark-haired woman looked with incredulity at Linos as he entered into and held conversation with what, to her senses, was essentially a... floating cloud of madness, for lack of a better description.
   'Wait... That thing talks to you?!' she blurted out, her strong, high alto voice full with disbelieving amusement.

[Boog]

Boog shrugged, "Please don't ask me how time works here. You slept awhile, leave it at that. As for your supper, a song would always be appreciated." The entity grinned, just as the newcomer interrupted.
The concept entity shrugged at Linos in confusion. The woman either lacked certain important senses or had rather intriguing additional ones. Then there was that mind... He made gestures for 'don't ask me/help me out here' in a language of signing best referred to as Universal Confused Male (a language he was rather glad he'd picked up a while back, as almost everyplace he'd ever gone intuitively spoke some dialect of it or another).