Furrae Chronicles: Webs of Destiny (IC) [M] {3}

[James StarRunner]

"Hmm... Reformed may not be the best word for my group of bounty hunters... Reorganized I should say, built anew." said James. "We still find plenty of contracts though. There is still a lot of evil in the world." James watched as Cog gobbled down the pie and listened as he spoke again.

"Forgive the pun, but you really wolfed that down." James laughed. "There won't be need to excuse your eating habits in front of me though. As for as those other two go, their method of killing were quite grotesque for most of the group's liking. Not to mention their other actions that have been looked down on as well. They are quite professional about their work though, I know there are far more terrible souls out there."

"As far as the non-lethal combat goes, I'm certainly not one to hesitate to kill when needed. I can't speak for everyone in the group, but it seems most have had some manner of adventures, even if only they were put into dire circumstances at the time and not as professions as Gareeku, Aisha, and myself have chosen. The group still is an interesting assembly though, that's certain. Some of the group really are quite passive, but a few of us are actually willing to kill. Also, I strongly don't think the pies are poisoned, but if they are I have some all purpose anti-toxin that... might work."

[Tapewolf]

"It's not so much they way they did it as the fact they did it at all," Jakob said, glancing at Gareeku.  Was he listening?  The bat probably was - someone seemed to have let him out of his cave.

"What upsets me is that it was unnecessary.  Ignatz is just oozing dark magic and Mel...well for all I know she's a Fae or something.  Either way it would have been trivial for them, with that kind of power, to sneak past the guards or even stun them.  Instead they went straight for murder, and the only reason I can see is that they did it for shits and giggles.  You call that 'professional'?  You wonder why I don't trust them?  What they did back there is just the sort of thing we need to prevent in future, if we wish to continue the mission without our party being arrested or simply killed out of hand as a threat to society."

He glanced at James with a sour expression.  "It may be easier for you to kill all your targets and bring them in dead, but the price is usually better when they're alive, and it reduces the possibility of a bounty of your own when you kill the wrong person.  Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned but from where I stand, killing people simply isn't a nice thing to do.

"I'll admit - reluctantly - that it is sometimes unavoidable, and much as I'd love to I can't ask the party not to kill anyone else ever again.  But if we can keep such occasions to a minimum, and only when we are directly threatened or attacked first, it will make me - and the people we meet - a lot happier.  Is that too much to ask?"

[James StarRunner]

"I thought you knew me better then that Jakob." said James, who seemed a little hurt. "I reiterate what I just said... I kill when needed. I'm no murder happy psychopath. I keep my foes alive whenever it's reasonable to do so. That's what gets me through without accidentally killing innocents, which by the way, I have never done. I don't approve of the way Ignatz and Mel conduct their business either, but they are still professionals in their trade. I know many points of your history Jakob, you know full well we can't be expected not to kill if the need arises. While I don't want to kill innocents either, there are many dark things that do seek us harm. Don't hesitate if your life or the life of your friends is threatened to be extinguished when such dark forces come. That said, I agree we should try to avoid conflict if possible."

[Tapewolf]

Jakob looked somewhat relieved and even smiled a little.  "Good," he said, "you had me worried for a bit there.   If you have any doubts, let me say this a third time - I am not asking to restrict how we handle a battle situation.  I just want to ensure that we don't cause them unnecessarily.  Because one bad apple in our party can spoil the whole barrel, at least as far as the law is concerned."

[Paladin Sheppard]

"I don't care what laws we break I want my sister back." Ephrael said from behind Jakob. "Oh and is this yours?." She asked dangeling a wallet in her right hand.

[Tapewolf]

That's just the attitude we don't need, Jakob thought as Ephrael piped up.  There are still some places where they execute for petty theft...
Sighing, he took the wallet from her and turned it over in his hands.  "No, it's not," he said.  Jakob usually kept private things outside the physical realm, like he had done with the map.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Aye ye sure?" The Tazzie devil asked to confirm. She was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, her face a mask of pure innocence.

[Gareeku]

Having gone back to leaning against the railings on the ship, finishing his ale as he looked out at the water, Gareeku then heard a familiar voice, glancing momentarily to see that Jakob had approached him. Listening to what he said, the white wolf nodded his head slightly as Jakob made his suggestions.
"Mmm. I agree." he replied. "However, you never know, we may end up all becoming close allies, just like what happened a couple of years ago. Call me optimistic, I suppose."

Listening to Jakob continue to explain his thoughts on the situation that they were in, Gareeku then to where another voice had spoken up. Seeing that James had also approached and given his views, the wolf continued to listen as they talked.

Before he could say anything, however, Ephrael suddenly appeared with a wallet in her hand. It was pretty obvious that the wallet was not hers, and that she had stolen it.
"If you want to remain a free person, then I advise that you stop fooling around and stealing people's possessions." the wolf growled, clearly not impressed. "The last thing that we need is to be stoped by the authorities because somebody could not keep their hands out of other people's pockets."

[Paladin Sheppard]

A little intimidated by Gareeku, Ephrael shrank a little. "Ok, ok its no ones...It's one of my gag wallets." She said "I was just trying to be funny, I'm not really any good at this person to person stuff ya know?" Leaving the wallet in Jakob's possession she turned tail and and hurried back to her deck chair.

[Tapewolf]

"I'd like to think we can be allies too," Jakob said, "but... well.  I guess we'll have to see how things go.  Trust has to be earned.  I know that all too well."

"Anyway," he continued, amending his proposal with a certain amount of irritation, "Since I omitted theft from my original list - perhaps we can simply agree that all party members should stay within the law when we aren't in a combat situation... however hard that may be for some people?"
He glanced back at his leader again with some relief, as Gareeku evidently agreed with him - at least in principle.  Hopefully when they were all together again as a group they could finalize it.  After all, they could hardly expect Mel, Keaton and Ignatz to agree to something like this in absentia, no matter how reasonable it was.

Jakob opened the wallet out of idle curiosity, to see who it belonged it.  There was no name and it seemed to be empty, so he left it by the bench and began to work on something, a small cylinder of plastic which he had surreptitiously created and was now filing into shape.

[Sunblink]

Keaton merely laughed hoarsely at Mel, a sound which held all insincerity and no mirth - partially because the jackal found nothing humorous at all about Mel's answer. Ending her laughter with an unladylike snort, Keaton started to work with adjusting the belt attaching Catastrophe's holster to her back. Quite fortunately, Catastrophe being pinioned so uncomfortably against her had not resulted in any unnecessary injuries after Keaton had fallen, but she could still tell that there were a few bruises bloating under her fur from where the handle had hit her back. Other places were starting to ache, too. If the group (or the ship) had a healer Keaton decided she'd see them later.

Keaton wished she hadn't put down the bottle, because she was already craving the wine again. Fancy or not, it was still fucking alcohol, and she wanted it. "Yeah yeah yeah, real funny, sweetheart," Keaton said brusquely. "I'm not stupid. You know what I was talking about." Almost exasperatedly, she threw her hands up. "Race. Don't make me spell it out for you."

Almost lazily, Keaton looked at Ignatz, eyebrows furrowed. "And how about you?" she asked flatly, then laughed. "You look like a Being" - she came close to adding something offensive to the end of that name, but, to her credit, avoided caving into her anti-Being upbringing - "but you can't be. Seem to hate just about every race, though."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The fumbling with the clasp of her weapon earned Keaton a raised eyebrow from Ignatz. The bat didn't move, nor was he particularly tense or alert at the time, but his attention turned and he very quickly focused on the there and then, instead of listening in on what he could catch of the conversation up on deck.
   'Careful, sweets,' he said, not hostilely but with a hint of warning in his voice, raising a single finger at her, before he lifted his cup again. 'Certain questions should be approached with a bit more timing and care.' He put the glass to his lips and had a long, gentle swallow, looking at her with dark eyes over the edge of it. When he put it down, he sighed. 'And somewhat more decorum. As for my general hatred of creatures... I'd say it is justified. But how come you say I can't be a being?' He tilted his head and looked a bit quizzically at her.

[Sunblink]

Almost immaturely, Keaton merely rolled her eyes in retaliation to Ignatz's final question, then responded automatically. "Hello. Beings couldn't do the freaky shit you did back in the holding cell," she stated as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. Keaton shrugged somewhat insensitively. "No way. If they get something lodged in their neck, it stays lodged."

Scowling a little, Keaton stopped plucking at Catastrophe's belt after a while, deciding it was best to just leave it alone, even if her weapon did feel too uncomfortably close to her bruised back. Not to mention, she mentally added reluctantly, Beings couldn't get the drop on me like you did.

"Though, Creatures don't normally like guns," Keaton muttered, extending her index finger and pointing her thumb upright so her hand pantomimed a gun-like shape. "Most of them are pretty uptight about that bull..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Caught somewhat off-guard by the sudden conversation that started around him, the wolf leaned back against the railing of this ship as the other's spoke, listening. He adjusted his hat a bit, giving the incubus somewhat a look as he did so, and let his arm rest across his sword hilt.
"You seem to know a lot about the leopard and the bat's capabilities. They can turn invisible?" he said, looking at nothing in particular. "Or are masters of stealth?" he paused, looking up at the bounty hunter and the incubus in turn. He went back to looking at nothing intently.

"If my intuition doesn't lead me wrong, I'm guessing these guards were guarding something the party needed. I'm also guessing it wasn't something that you could just ask nicely for. Leaving foes behind you alive is never a good idea. Caring for the welfare of others is certainly something I can understand," Cog said sincerely, "but getting killed isn't going to do your loved ones any good."

He pushed himself off the railing. "I've not just fallen of the adventuring wagon. If I suspect something or someone has a bad intent, I will react accordingly. People might die in the course of getting from here to there. Decide how much you value your father's life, or your sister's life, as compared to your enemies."
He looked at Jakob specifically. "In any case...if they are as powerful as you say, how do you plan to stop a hypothetical massacre?" His glasses slid down his nose somewhat. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Don't bind the hand that's going to help you. Or assume that you need to - either their hands are coated with more blood than any of us suspect, or their not stupid enough to kill unnecessarily."

Pausing, he added an addendum. "At least, not stupid enough to get caught killing unnecessarily."

[Tapewolf]

"The 'bat'?"  Jakob said, pausing at his carving to turn back to the other wolf for a moment.
"I doubt that's his base form.  Whatever kind of a thing he actually is, he was a feline when we first met.  Unless of course there are two Ignatz Donovans, both with a female feline companion," he smirked.

"I still say he's a Demon, from all the dark magic he's used.  As you may know, they can literally vanish into the shadows.  As I hear it they pulled something like that off to take Gareeku without opening the door.  Aisha saw it, so perhaps you should ask her.
As for the leopard, I haven't seen much of her magic demonstrated apart from the usual ice stuff, which is not uncommon for a snow leopard Creature.  But consider her attitude.  She acts like she hasn't a care in the world - no natural enemies at all.  That either means she's found enlightenment or she's at the top of the food chain.  And when we were back into the manor interrogating whatsisface, she was talking about mind-reading.  That's pretty serious shit - you have to be many times my age to pull that off and even then it's extremely dangerous.  That was either a slip of the tongue or she's out of our league," he concluded.

"The guards?  They were just a bunch of Beings guarding the manor.  I don't know if they were in on what was happening there or just a bunch of hired goons.  From the look of shock on their faces she pulled some kind of distraction and murdered them."  He shivered.

"I knew a thief once.  His base form was a snow-leopard too and we were defending a Being town from some invading demons.  He put his hands around the demon's head and sort of squeezed.  Froze him completely, bursting the arteries and rupturing every cell in his brain." Jakob shivered again.  "I guess it must have been quick but I can think of better ways to die.  In any case, that's sort of what she did, judging from the corpses, which she left frozen upright in plain view.

"Now, Snell, he wouldn't have needed to do that, because he would never have been seen in the first place.  No need for any messy cleanup. Or, if I'd done it, I could have stunned from from behind, knocked them out for 12 hours or so, easily enough time to do what we had to.  Instead she... wasted them.  And it was completely unnecessary..." he looked rather haunted for a minute.

"Decide how much you value your father's life, or your sister's life, as compared to your enemies.", Cog said, and glanced at Jakob.

"I know that line of reasoning," the incubus replied.  "Turn it around.  My father drummed into me that life should be considered sacred.  What do you think he'll say if his rescue is accomplished by leaving a river of blood in my wake?"

"And as for stopping a massacre?  I don't know we can.  But does that mean we shouldn't try?" he stopped carving and looked up at the other wolf.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend until the other enemy is dead, and then he's my enemy too," he said.  "A bit nihilistic perhaps, but I've seen it happen again and again.  I don't recall a situation where that kind of philosophy worked out in the long run.  Yes, she's our ally now, but she was the demon's ally before, and look what happened to him!  While I'm afraid they may cause trouble enough as our allies, I don't want to think about what will happen when our truce ends."

[Stygian]

The bat looked sideways a bit in a manner akin to rolling his eyes at the jackal. Or, at least that's what she thought he did. Even with a bit of light and wind seeping in through the crack of an opening in the hatch to the deck above, and a long slash of light being strewn on the floor, reflecting in the bat's eyes, it was hard to see any sort of movement in his dark eyes. Keaton couldn't be sure she had seen any even in the sunlight. There was just a bit of the light, glinting back at her with a purplish-blue sheen, as he looked at her from the shadows.
   'In this world, magic has endless possibilities, it seems,' Ignatz said, smoothly and darkly. 'And I would say that Creatures only have a head start when it comes to power. It's mostly because beings live so short a time that they accumulate so little of it, see so little success...' He peered at her for a bit, and then leaned back against the barrel behind him. 'Though, if you must know, I am sorry to say that the answers may disappoint you. I have no idea what dear Mel here is, since I've seen it fit and polite not to ask. And me?' He smirked, and made an exasperated gesture with his hands. 'Heaven only knows what I am. As if it mattered to our situation anyway...'
   Putting his arms down and leaning his head back a bit, the bat gripped and stroked his cup with a hand, closing his eyes and then looking up at the roof when he opened them. Jakob was going on up there again. If you are so insistent on defending your friends against us, Cubi, Ignatz thought, why don't you just try and find some leverage instead...?

[Cogidubnus]

 "You're missing my point, Mr. Peterson. Judo is not going to stop any massacres." he said carefully. "I'm not saying don't stop a massacre. I'm saying, if they are as powerful as you think, you might have to change your attitude about killing."

"As for his base form, if he's a shapeshifter there isn't any telling. You wouldn't know any more than I would. As for invisibility, they say that an Incubus would steal your soul as soon as look at you. They also say a Were transforms during the full moon." he paused, looking at the other wolf. "Him being a Demon doesn't really mean anything, even if he is. I don't know if Demon's can intrinsically melt into shadow - perhaps he can melt into the shadows. Even if he could...doesn't mean the leopard can. People will die in the course of this, Mr. Peterson, and the blood isn't fake or a squib. Werther it be freezing a brain or through a cut to the throat, a death is a death is a death. Life is precious, and a life should not be taken lightly - never taken lightly. Just as it should not be risked lightly."

He paused. "I'm surprised that you can paint those who guarded your foe so innocently. I'm willing to bet the swords at their waists weren't for show." he said, looking at Jakob. "Do you think they didn't understand what their job entailed? Suppose they saw your two bounty hunter companions, and were going to raise alarm? Perhaps getting around them was impossible - perhaps getting around them was too slow. The fact is, Mr. Peterson, you're assuming a great many things that you can't possibly know. Things about those guards, things about the two bounty hunters, and about the circumstances of those deaths. Maybe you could have knocked them out for twelve hours - maybe not. I imagine such precision would have to be a Cubi trait. But not everyone can do such a thing, even if you can. And it certainly does not mean the bat or the leopard can, irregardless of her claimed power."

Cog continued to look at Jakob. "As for your father's opinion...perhaps you can ask him, if you find him." he said, his voice careful. "If he's still alive when we get there. I don't mean to be callous, Mr. Peterson, but I'd rather my allies stab my opponent in the back then let them stab mine." He sighed. "From what it sounds like, if you could heal me later, you'd quite let them."

"As for that last bit, it does happen again and again. It doesn't make it any less necessary, on occasion. And, no, sometimes it may not work out in the long run." he said, looking over a the sea for a moment. "At least there was a long run. I don't know what happened to the demon, but I can guess they had something to do with it. Even so..." he looked back at Jakob. "If your truce ends, I don't suppose there's anything you can do about it, is there?"

[Tapewolf]

Jakob sat quietly for a few moments. 

Finally he looked up at the other wolf and smiled.  It was the Old smile, just for a moment.  Then it was gone.
"Mr. Mithlome," he began, in a low voice.  "There was a time when I was less... caring about the lives of others.  All told I took about ten lives, which truth be told was not many for... my kind.  The tales of which you speak are true to a point.  I have seen Demons use the shadows, and there are some of my kind out there with the attitude of which you speak, but... even in my madness I was not that cruel.  Nonetheless, in certain parts, under an alias, I am notorious."

"For the last century I have been trying to put that episode behind me.  I can't undo what I did but I wanted to try and make amends.  I have never killed since... what you are suggesting I do is... revert?  Surely, there must be another way... there must."

[Stygian]

If only you knew, Mr. Peterson. Sometimes determination and principle changes things. Sometimes, it is the only thing that can. And in this world, one single person can have so much power as to change the world. But people are people, and morons are morons, and cowards are cowards. And most often, things are so much more complicated. Those like you certainly do not detract from that...
   'By the way, a gun is a far greater security and intimidation than that thing of yours...' Ignatz continued, away from his thoughts and with a nod toward the mace the jackal carried. 'Faster, deadlier, and a bit more of a presence. At least around creatures. It makes you more...' He raised the cup in his hand and swirled it a bit, pausing. '...unpredictable.'
   The world remains a slow and backwards and dreary place with your sort of reasoning. Because you cannot change people. You cannot achieve improvement with withdrawal, cannot sustain drive without a need, or a desire. You can only change yourself, and you can only exploit the world until you understand how to improve it; it is all necessity and effect. So far you have really done neither on a significant level. So keep up your struggle, wolf. Until you die, and feed someone else's search for power...
   Slowly, the bat drained his glass.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog was silent as well, regarding the man calmly. His eyes, hidden behind those shades, were empathetic, and the wolf leaned back on the railing. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.
"I couldn't say, Mr. Peterson. A change of heart is an admirable thing, and you are the arbiter of your own soul." he paused, looking at him softly for a moment. "All I mean to say, is that you should not bind the hand that does what you cannot, for you." he said, pausing, "And then accuse the hand of being bloodstained."

[Tapewolf]

"I will take this under advisement," Jakob said dourly, and was silent for a few moments, returning to the work on his object as if it held solace for him.  When he next spoke his mood was lighter.

"But we are getting distracted," he said.  "The original question was not 'we must achieve our goal without killing a single person', which deep down, even I think is unrealistic - though it pains me to say so - but rather 'can we please avoid attracting undue attention to ourselves', a much more reasonable request, don't you think?"

He clicked his fingers and a tiny sphere appeared, which he deformed and inserted in an opening of the cylinder, where the sphere returned to its normal shape.  It was a whistle.

"I think it's ready," he said and with a smile not totally unlike the dangerous one, gave a hard blast upon it.  The whistle was shaped to sound somewhere in the 40khz band, which Jakob couldn't hear, but a bat could.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel chose to answer by changing the subject. She noticed Keaton's stiff movements and her fidgeting with the tight holster for her mace. "As I mentioned, I do have healing skills. Now that we are all one big happy team I would be glad to see to the bumps and scrapes you have recently acquired."

[Cogidubnus]

"Oh, by all means." Cog said, enjoying the cool ocean breeze blowing over him. "But, again, I don't think we're really going to have to worry about that. They may kill people, but they don't strike me as stupid."

As soon as Jakob blew the whistle, however, Cog jerked, and quickly clapped both hands over his ears. His shades slid halfway down his nose, the lenses almost comically askew.
"GAH!"

[Tapewolf]

Jakob almost jumped himself, startled by the reaction of Cog, and by the looks of it Gabi as well.  Oho, he thought to himself, So that's what you are. 

"I'm sorry," he said.  "It should have been outside your hearing range.  I didn't think... I forgot that some Creatures have more acute hearing than others..."

I'll just have to make the frequency higher.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog's eye glanced at Jakob's little whistle, with almost a dangerous look in his eye - he was about to grab the thing and throw it overboard before the other wolf Cubi stopped, leaving only a faint ringing in the wolf's ears. Cog slowly let his hands down, looking sharply at the whistle, and then Jakob in turn.
The little device had sounded like the faint, ringing whine one could hear around electronic devices, but multiplied in volume a hundredfold. It had been painful to the wolf, anyway, and from Jakob's innocent expression the Cubi hadn't meant to make a whistle Cog could hear.

It still made Cog wonder what the hell Jakob was doing with a high-frequency whistle, anyway.

"What the hell are you doing with a high-frequency whistle, anyway?" Cog said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. He seemed a bit flustered, and Cog scowled. If he had meant to make a whistle only certain creatures could hear, that was low. He would have told the man if he'd just asked, but making a dog whistle only Weres could hear seemed like a cheap trick.
Gabi's reaction to the whistle hadn't gone unnoticed by the wolf, either. He'd thought the vixen smelled familiar, somehow.

[Tapewolf]

"It wasn't aimed at you, I assure you,"  Jakob said, looking shocked, and gesturing downwards in the rough direction of the cargo hold.  "Although I suppose it was a bit of a mean trick, even for its intended recipient.  I guess I'll have to increase the pitch."

As he spoke, Jakob scrawled something hastily on a piece of paper.  Ig loves to eavesdrop, I'd like to force him out of bat mode, he wrote, and showed it to the other wolf.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog was still looking somewhat nonplussed as he read the paper, and after reading Jakob's note twice he raised a single eyebrow.
"Why do-" Cog stopped, shaking his head, and taking the pen out of Jakob's hand scrawled something back. Despite being written without any support but his hand, the note was written in script.

Why do you care?, it said barely legibly, and as an afterthought the wolf added one more line before handing it back to the wolf, underlining it once.
Do you really want to poke the 'homicidal maniac'?

[Tapewolf]

Why were mind-shields invented?  Jakob wrote by way of reply.

"You're right though, it was a mean thing to do."

And no, it's probably not wise to antagonise him, although he had it coming.  I'll save it for emergencies. he wrote and pocketed the whistle.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog read Jakob's two remarks - his face had lightened somewhat, as the prank on Stygian had been explained to him, although the effects that it had on him personally had definitely put him in a less than pleasant mood. He could still hear a faint ringing.

After reading the short note, however, Cog's gaze grew positively cold, and saying nothing as the incubus pocketed the little whistle. He stared at Jakob, expression unreadable behind his sunglasses.
"Mind shields were invented because reading a person's thoughts is an unconscionable invasion of privacy. You should never say something within the earshot of another that you don't want them to hear." he said, taking a single step back from the incubus.

And you treat your allies in quite an interesting way. "Remind me to never stand in front of you, Mr. Peterson." he said, tipping his hat to the incubus, and turning to walk to the upper level.

[Tapewolf]

Dammit, thought Jakob, staring at Cog with a bemused expression as he left in a huff.  What the hell is the difference between prying on someone's inner voice and what Stygian has been doing all the time we were in the tavern?  And is doubtless doing now?  Pretty much nothing!   And we were getting on so well.  Memo to self - never mention the m-word in front of him again.

Hoping the other wolf would calm down later, Jakob settled down and watched the waves again.