Character Lounge

[Gareeku]

Watching the events unfold, Gareeku eyes widened as Stygian seemed to kidnap Mel. Noticing Aisha return, the wolf shot Boogey a fierce glare at his outburst.
"I suggest we split up." the wolf stated flatly, before picking up his sword and dashing off. His destination? The attic. He didn't know why, but Gareeku had a hunch, something that was suggesting to him that they were at the top of the house.

After what seemed quite a trek, Gareeku finally arrived at the attic door. Taking a deep breath, the wolf kicked it open and walked into the room.
"You know...it isn't very nice to suddenly take people away without permission." the wolf growled as he unsheathed his katana, the blade glowing fiercely as both its light magic and Gareeku's sould energy surged through it. "Especially when those people happen to be very good friends of mine."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The effect of Stygian's intimidation on Mel was probably not quite what he intended. She could feel the whisps of fog start dancing over her skin and the floor frosting under her feet as fear started to convert to anger. "That's it? All you want is the day I just went through?" Icy winds started blowing around the attic as more temper slipped the leash. Her delicate five foot form began to swell as her concern for looking helpless and non-threatening disappeared. Not to her full dragon form but an eight foot tall and much more primative looking version of her everyday appearance. "I spent a good portion of my yesterday being constantly threatened and bullied and attacked by an older and nastier version of you." The floor and walls behind her began to frost, then ice as more and more pent-up emotion escaped. "He tried to scare me dead then wanted to dance, his creation tried to make me kill my friends then wanted to be my student." Her voice was getting louder and louder as she ranted, almost a full-belled roar. The winds now held stinging little ice crystals. "He turned me into a weak and powerless human and dumped me into a slum to be raped and killed because he thought it would be a fun way to see his home planet and has now decided that he didn't like the day and is making us do it over with you. That's what happened here."

A gem appeared in her hand. A bloodstone, it seemed appropriate. Blueish light flared as she dumped the entire, unedited memory into it then she hurled it straight at Stygian. "Have the whole goddess-damned day. I would have given you the nice version if you'd just asked downstairs!" Her claws were digging into her palms and her wings rattling with frustration as she added, "I hope it gives you the same headache it's given me." Normally transferred memories were edited and filtered so that emotions could be recognized without being relived and senses that varied among species wouldn't overload the brain of the recipient but she didn't care if it gave him a headache. More theatrics and bullying instead of just asking if this was something she was willing to do. This Stygian was just as annoying as the last version.

[Stygian]

Stygian had reached out against Mel, snatching the ring from the air, when he felt her magic spreading and her temper rising. His eyes narrowed and he smiled, ebon teeth flashing. His mind was racing though, trying to put together all she was screaming about. Then he heard steps, and stepped back. Heavy. Fast. Something else... He had been too focused on the dragoness.
   The door behind them smashed open, and the wolf ran in, spoke, and drew his blade. Stygian snarled. The sword in his hand glowed bright, and reeked of light, even if there was another tang to it as well.
   "True, but you are the one endangering her by coming here, wolf," Stygian said, turning against him. "She is not harmed yet, boy."
   The fiend took a step forward, and his coat darkened and split up, merging with the shadows around him, while his clothing tore and became some sort of black vestment made mostly of wrappings, torn and burnt at the edges. His legs turned digitgrade, and his tail whipped behind him as he moved. Fire began flowing out from his blackened, ashen form, snaking together with the darkness around his feet. The icy chill that had spread around the room was beat back, and steam and smoke began to trail the room as a moving, flaring heat began to grow.
   "Put down your sword. A jumped-up adventurer such as yourself has no place fighting me."

[Gareeku]

As Stygian turned to face him and began to change, Gareeku stood his ground, his eyes fixed on Stygian with a cold, hard stare. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Mel had also changed, and that she was clearly upset about something. However, at that moment, the wolf was only concerned with the shadowy being in front of him.

Hearing what Stygian said, Gareeku laughed slightly, an almost evil smirk appearing on his body.
"And she will not be harmed, either. I think she can ensure that all by herself." he sneered in reply. "Let me tell you something.."

Taking a step forward, the wolf's hands began to glow, white flames engulfing them as they licked and danced around his forearms.
"We have been through enough shit the last 24 hours...and I will NOT have myself, nor anybody else I care about, be talked down to and imtimated by someone who thinks they are above everyone else just because they can weild the shadows..."

[Stygian]

"Shadows, boy? Once I was a shadow. But what you're facing here is no mere shadow or illusion, wolf," Stygian said, his voice sharpened by a dangerous tone. "I can put you through Hell!"
   He whipped his tail, and... vanished. The shadows moved just a bit, very quickly. There was a sweeping sound from beside Gareeku, and the next moment the monster smashed out with the side of a fist with enough strength to equal a car crash. It was just the side though, fortunately, not the beast's claws.

((OOC: Blunt edit, but it's better for courtesy's sake, and there really is no option. Apologies.))

[Boog]

There was nobody in the basement. Cursing, Boogey was going on to the next room when he heard crashes from upstairs. Damn, I wish I had an excuse to be there faster, he thought, storming up the stairs in time to see Stygian posing with the memento clutched in one hand.
"THERE you are. You alright, Mel?" He strode past Stygian to the dragon, and then noticed Gareeku, "Well, he's not. C'mon, you've been through far worse, this should be nothing. In fact, did it even happen?" the concept's voice took on that perculier, hypnotic tone it did when it used an Argument aloud, "You are unharmed. And as for you..." Boogey now glared at Stygian, actually seeming to notice him for the first time since entering the room, "Big kids ask nicely for things. Get over yourself."

[Aisha deCabre]

At Boogey's statement, Aisha shot him a look of annoyance.  But it was tinged by anger as her eyes scanned the group again.  Through their tension, their display of fear...it was obvious to see what had happened.

...Mierda santa...there goes my sleep.  The panther drew her sword just as Gareeku suggested that everyone split up; he was heading off in one polar direction, and Boogey was heading off in the opposite.  After a moment, Aisha turned to the stairs again and followed the wolf.  It wasn't just her instinct telling her to go up there, but a memory...the first battle against the old Stygian had taken place in the attic.  There wasn't reason not to believe it would have been the same thing.

As they ascended the mansion, following level after level, Gareeku had gotten quite ahead of the panther.  But the growing darkness became a little easier to navigate through with each corridor traversed.  Soon enough, she looked up and could see her hunch was right...Aisha felt a blast of cold air the minute she found the door up to the attic.

The pantheress stepped through, not all that cautiously, deliberately making her steps loud and easy to hear so that whoever was inside was warned that she was coming.  Her eyes fell first on Stygian, and then on Mel.  Gareeku seemed to have things under control with him at first, so she stepped over to the dragon with concern, trying to ignore the stinging cold that permeated the room.  "Mel, he didn't hurt you did he...?"  But she interrupted herself, her head whipping around upon hearing a slam, and seeing Stygian attack the wolf.

With a loud growl, Aisha stood in the middle of the room, her sword held up in a defense position, mostly trying to counteract the negativity that Boogey had given at his sudden appearance.  "Is all of this really necessary, Stygian?  You could just listen to us.  Why would anyone lie to a stranger if we didn't know you before?"

[Stygian]

The fiend turned against the Panthress, fires blazing in its eyes.
   "We don't know. The ones on the way tried. We asked the dragon nicely," it said, and shot the Boogeyman a quick and angered look, "But you don't seem very friendly, and that," it continued, nodding toward the wolf's katana, "is a paladin's weapon if We ever saw one!"
   The creature trailed more flames as it slowly moved sideways over the floor, placing itself very safely away from flanking and right where it could either warp again, or slip away into the shadows. Stygian's mind worked in high gear, his senses measuring them up. Strong heartbeats, magic seething, smells, heat... The dragoness was probably going to use magic. That could be countered. The wolf was fast, but not fast enough, though he possessed the most dangerous weapon. The panthress looked quick on her feet, but what did she have to fight with? Most worried, Stygian was over the old mustelid. He had sensed a distortion about him, but not anything that he knew how to define.
   "And who are you to speak, mongoose? This is not your business."

[Boog]

"Not my..." Boogey facepalmed, "You came in, started threatening people, and then snatched someone and dragged them off to be interrogated you idiot!" He forced himself to calm down and looked Stygian in the eye, "Of course we're going to be angry. It's not complicated psychology, just basic social interaction."

[Gareeku]

As Stygian disappeared, the wolf's senses went on high alert. It was then that Gareeku heard a *swish* from behind him. Ducking almost instinctively, the wolf then executed a counter attack on his own as he swung his lblade in a powerful strike. However, this would miss as Stygian vanished again.
"Well please excuse me," Gareeku replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "but you were the one acting threatening towards us. If you hadn't been such an asshole and been the aggressive one out of us, then there would be no need for me to be on guard."

[Stygian]

"And can you convince us to give anything for your anger then? No? We thought not..." Stygian said, smirking at the mongoose. That one's power... what did he do? he thought. Perhaps we can be a bit more provocative...
   "We're not convinced. At all. That's poor on you," the fiend said. The next second it raised its hand at them.
   Fire leapt from around its hand, and streams of it snaked through the air against the mongoose. The next second, Stygian raised his other hand against Gareeku, an open palm facing the wolf. Again, fire seemed to gather, but this time into revolving, twisting symbols inside a circle with a pattern of some kind.

[Boog]

Boogey simply spat some quick, venomous arguments, the twisted logic eating the fire from the air and disappearing. Otherwise he made no move; Gareeku was a competant adventuror, he could take care of himself. Gotta calm down, gotta stop giving into what I want and act as I should. Anger is the path of the brute and the fool. Now then...
"And still, he goes out of his way with the overdramatic spells and whistles," the concept rolled his shoulders, as if getting a crick out of them, "You're just like the other one; you don't know when to just stop and think about what you already have before barreling forward." He stepped toward Stygian, keeping ready with couple rebuttals in case aforementioned fellow tried to attack him again, "Does it even occur to you to stop and devote some time to figuring out what to do next? You haven't even used those memories clutched in your grubby little fist," Those tasty, wonderfull... Bah! Focus, pinky, focus!
"Rather rude, after all the stress you've put Mel here through to get them. Simply barbaric. Tsk."

[Stygian]

The seal in front of Stygian's palm completed, and "locked", flaring up before vanishing. Either, it had not had any effect, it was not noticeable, or it was set for later...
   "You're right. I didn't stop and consider. I was too busy finding out from you the clue to defeating you. Thanks," the monster said as it grinned at the mongoose. In its hand, a small stone played. Its red-speckled surface was blackened and seemed to glow from within.
   Stygian gasped a bit, and took a step back.
   "A thought in one's head..." he said, his face pondering just a bit. "So I think of you? That's convenient." The grin that came after could have scared the dead.
   Something hit the Boogeyman, like a realization, or perhaps an apparition. This was all very wrong. He wasn't... Something very strongly told him that it was that same sophistry that he practiced, but not the same anyhow, that was working. But something else fought it, claiming that since it was logical...
   His skin was yellow. That was right, wasn't it? He was the thought, and the monster thought of... Holes. There should be holes. A somewhat soft, creamy consistency, well-fermented, nice on a cracker... What was he?
   Not waiting, Stygian leapt sideways, turning into shadow and readying for the next strike.

[Boog]

Boogey's face twisted for a second. Then, realizing what Stygian was trying to do, he had to stop himself from laughing aloud. Even then, there was a slight grin.
"You're trying to turn me into- HA! That's great!" For a split second he actually was; his usual self made entirely of cheese. Only a split second though; it didn't last.
There was a time prior to this very moment where I existed. I'm not only a thought in the monster's head, but in many other heads, including my own. His thinking about something else doesn't change the original thought.
"However, it's not just your head. While that wasn't half bad for someone fully real, you still don't know what you're doing," he changed back to normal and cast about for Stygian, "You were quite close for a second there. My compliments. However, that arrogence tripped you up again. Besides, I already have a rather strong idea as to who and what I am. What you did is sort of like what young Theories do to learn what they can and can't do. What you want to do is play off of what's already there, like so..." He filled the room with yet another argument.
A shadow disappears when there's no light to throw it into focus. So the darker it is, the less THERE a shadow is. And this is a very, very dark attic...

[Stygian]

The argument scored home, but the darkness ignored it without a second thought. It was very, very convinced of its own state of being, even if some questions of its origin were still around. And there seemed to be something quite different to it. It wasn't a shadow. It just used the shadows, bent them like everything else. The entity itself seemed to be completely different...
   You don't notice what's behind you... That idea was very determined also, but the Boogeyman managed to realize it in time.
   "You're a mere thought. A concept. I am Law! Fact!" the fiend roared.

    Something was very, very wrong, Gareeku realized. There was a worry, a nagging fear somehow itching at the back of his head. He was used to this sensation, this hint of danger. But right now, it didn't seem to come from Stygian, at least not directly...
   Flames leapt into view, and the room darkened further. The fire seemed to permeate the room, swirling across it, unholy symbols forming on the walls. And then one made itself apparrent under the wolf, a circle like the one Stygian had drawn.
   Something slowly came into view, slithering up behind the wolf, forming mostly from glowing fire entwined with some shadow. It looked like a somewhat human skull, but fanged and feral, with a spine trailing underneath it and slithering as it moved up...
   Give us...

[Boog]

"No such thing..." Boogey replied, turning calmly, "Fact is evidense of the senses, and senses can be decieved. You say you are fact, but what real creature turns into shadows on a whim? A shadow has no depth, no substance. It is, in fact, a LACK of something. All the facts say you would be trapped in such a state." He stepped out of the way of the fiend, moving not unlike a sort of dance, "Meanwhile, facts are often ignored in favor of abstract concepts. Many more have been slain by thoughts than the other way around. This is something I've checked. Meanwhile, There's one thing you're right about. Many aspects of my being are only hypothetical..." Boogey began to appear blurry, and looking at him too long started to cause Stygian to see double, "Such as my location. And yours in relation to me."
Alright, he still doesn't know how to work with thoughts, Boogey considered, as he drifted thoughout the entire room. That which is unknown can be infinate for all one knows, and he was having a little trouble making sure he was merely unfound rather than everywhere. Specific thoughts are easy to distinguish from ones own. However, that ego of his hurts me as well as him; if he knows that the argument is coming from someone else, he's that much less likely to listen. Gotta find a way around that.

[Stygian]

The fiend turned out not to be behind the Boogeyman at all. A distraction again. More shadows and tricks, but this time with a deadly edge to them.
   We don't need to see. Nor do we need to affirm our existence. Ours in relation to yours is in turn affirmed by the laws of that same existence. Facts state that we can shift to that state as naturally as we can, because we base ourselves on laws. Power. And even if it is merely a concept to many, Hell can also be quite real...
   The beast chuckled just before the strike.
   There is no need to be specific. We are quite capable of destroying you, in both memory and thought.
   Some of the darkness solidified, warping. It struck out at both Mel and Aisha, slowly but strongly, aiming to throw them back but not do more than perhaps take the wind out of them.
   We are.
   The next second, the same darkness came to life throughout the whole room, along with fire that flared like an inferno within it, writhing and entwining it. Myriad spear-like shadows struck out quick as bullets, aiming for the Boogeyman. Every single one of him.

[Boog]

Boogey sighed, "Shadows have no physical force, and can thereby harm nobody. Honestly, that was just insulting. And how real I am is indeterminate, and thereby infinate. I could be more real than you, for all you know, and laws are also only ideas." The shadows passed through Boogey harmlessly as he strode toward Stygian, "You know, if you keep this up you're going to force me to do something drastic. And by the way, throwing flames around everywhere is dangerous. You're on fire."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had backed away from the creature upon its answer to her, in its seething voice, still holding her sword up.  There was frustration evident in her eyes upon seeing that Stygian wasn't about to back down.  "Yeah, nobody's being friendly because YOU aren't...!"  She stopped herself and shook her head.  All of these threats are just making things worse...it seems there's going to be no convincing this guy.

She backed up a little just as Boogey looked to be locked in an argument with him, at which point she had started making a quick check to everyone.  Mel was quiet, and Gareeku seemed unharmed.  Aisha held her sword up, prepared in case of an attack.  As Stygian raised his hands and flames lanced outward, she leapt back away from Boogey and within earshot of Mel.  She still felt a little hesitant to make a move, but this wasn't the Stygian that they really knew...with her friends being fought against, and the contents of the attic threatened to be destroyed again, maybe it was time to stop being polite...

That's when she had noticed the flaming symbols in the air, directed towards the wolf.  She was more curious than concerned when they had stopped, and Stygian was focusing his efforts on Boogey.  That is until they saw what was really happening.  Aisha started towards him.  "Gareeku!  Behind...OOF!"  Something hard had struck the panther's midsection and sent her flying...she barely had time to turn in the air and landed on her side rather than her feet, on the other side of the room.  The sword had flown from her grip.

"Oh, that's it..." Aisha snarled as she got up on her feet and shouted towards Mel, who had also been struck.  "Mel, I hope you can help us fight!"  As she ran back to get her blade, her right hand took the boomerang from her belt and sent it wizzing through the air, aimed for Stygian, if only to stun the beast for JUST a second...

[Stygian]

Stygian though, glanced at her for the merest fraction of a moment, and then... wasn't there. The boomerang hit wood. He was...
   I'm behind you. There wasn't just conviction in that argument. There was zeal!
   Stygian lashed out of the darkness against the Boogeyman. His physical strikes came in a blur, claws flashing faster than the eye could keep up, and the arguments came at nearly the same pace. He snarled.
   You are a figment of imagination, you dolt! What could you possibly do? The laws We speak of are not set in text or stone, because they don't have to be. They are, and that is the reason we all exist! What is to say that the shadows are not simply the image of something else, something that light cannot reflect from? And there is fire, yes. But We are fire. We burn!
   The fiend roared, a sound that sounded like a jet engine, a furnace and some monstrous beast, all put together, and the whole shadow next to it drew up and took shape around its arm as it threw itself forward for a finite strike.
   "We have the power to defeat you!"
   The idea was strong enough to build a foundation for a reality on. The clarity, the assuredness and the truth of it seemed so overwhelming, as if the monster had just said something that could not be counterargued sanely at all.

[Boog]

Boogey stood as Stygian pummeled him and simply smiled. No you're no~ot.
"What are physical blows to a thought, Stygian?" Boogey replied, brushing himself off, "Power is useless against me. Oh yes, you've managed to copy a few of my tricks, but all you have is self conviction and none of the experience. No talent, no intricacy, just constant cries of 'because I said so!' It's important to listen to your opponent in a debate, Stygian, so you have things you can use against them. For instance, you're able to utilize powers similar to mine. Not with my technique, no, but you can use them nonetheless. Does it occur to you that you've just allowed it to go both ways? Don't answer that, the answer is yes," Boogey drew his hat down over his eyes, and flame ignited around the brim. The flame spread to drip from the ends of his fingers and glow upon his neck. Smoke poured from his mouth as he laughed.
"Power is useless. All that is worth anything is knowledge."

[Stygian]

Stygian's attacks noneffective, he skidded a bit along the floor, drawing smoldering traces in the floorboards with his claws before the fire seemed to draw back and into him, calming somewhat. He turned against the idea, and watched him. His expression changed.
   Now grinning, the monstrum straightened on his legs and chuckled a bit.
   "We had hoped that you wouldn't fall for that part, but at least now We can safely ignore you. We saw what you did to the others, Boog. Think We wouldn't learn?" Stygian murred lowly, and turned and began walking against the others, making a vague, casual wave of his hand against the Boogeyman but not paying him so much as a look. "We have knowledge, and We plan ahead, and that is quite enough. You're not real, after all, and there's no point in argumenting against an illogical concept, no matter the determination. We know."
   That said, the fiend turned his attention to Aisha, glancing past the wolf and looking over another skull that began emerging from the sign on the floor. When his eyes settled on the panthress they still burned, but his expression was neutral.
   "Feeling allright?" he said, not the slightest hint of mockery in his tone.

   Something... happened. Something started feeling... wrong, to the Boogeyman. After all, he hadn't known what Stygian was. And there seemed to be something fundamental about being like Stygian, even if just a little, that...
   Pain flared, and it was as if a presence, all around, dark and malicious, and absolutely terrifying, watched him. It wanted him. It thought of him. And that was all that mattered. He didn't know why, but it was that way. The certainty wasn't complete yet, the concept not fully formed, but it was...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel got up from where she had fallen, her temper completely off it's leash now. The temperature in the attic dropped precipitously, to a point just above where exposed flesh would freeze. She cast an illusion, a large one to fill the attic. They now appeared to stand amongst the ridges and fissures of a glacial field. Noon on a brilliantly sunny and cloudless day. The glare of the sun on the ice and snow was brilliant and harsh enough to make eyes unaccustomed water. She hoped Gareeku and Aisha were close enough to the attic entrance to keep from freezing.

"Everyone stop! Just stop!" she screamed. "Stygian, I gave you what you asked for. Use it."

[Aisha deCabre]

Tracking her weapon's path from the corner of her eye, Aisha pretty much expected what had happened as it embedded itself in wood instead of what passed for the creature's flesh.  But at least it provided a small bit of distraction as she retrieved her sword and made a direct path for Gareeku, now having seen that two of the ghastly skulls had risen from the floor.  Boogey seemed to keep Stygian busy at least.  She knew the wolf would keep them at bay himself, but she just wanted to be there.

Until she caught with her hearing that he was choosing to ignore their ally.  Aisha's arm shot up into the air to where her boomerang had stuck.  It took a bit of coaxing, muttering the words to the enchantment out loud, but soon it was wizzing straight back into her grip.  Hearing his inquiry, Aisha's eyebrow quirked, feeling a small sense of dejá vu.  He's serious?  Even after I tried to slice him in half?

She replaced the boomerang back into her belt and raised her sword, shooting a smirk in reply.  It wasn't an expression of friendliness, nor hatred.  More like dark humor, tinged still with her emotions of frustration and anger.  "Sí, but I'd feel better if...gah," she interrupted herself and jumped away from one of the fiery spots, "...If we all would just come to some agreement instead of your attacking me, my friends, and my boyfriend," she made a quick gesture to Gareeku before looking at one of the skulls, eyes of blood narrowing dangerously.  "And burning the house down in the process..."

That was when the place was hit with a cold snap, so much so that the panther was forced to sheath her weapon and wrap her cloak around her body.  "What in...?" she muttered, looking at Mel.

[e_voyager]

(ooc. i can't really keep up with this one so i'll sit it out for now)

[Stygian]

Stygian started back, and looked around, his face aggravated once again. He made a fierce snarl, and then spread his arms out and arched his neck a bit, snarling again. Fire flared out down his arms, and even more tainted symbols and circles made themselves present. The magic was wrenched, manhandled from its original state.
   Stygian burst out into shadow again, the ones still swirling around him forming a shape distinctly alike two torn, ragged wings on his back for just a blink of an eye before they closed in on him and he became darkness and ash, something clearly visible now in the light.
   Impossibly quickly, the landscape darkened. The sky turned a blood red, from which no sun shone, across which acrid clouds of black spread. The ice remained, but cracked and shuddered as it was pierced with black rock, and strewn with ash. A flaring, fiery light emanated from the cracks in the ice, and hot steam made the air ripple, freezing cold turning to cooking heat in a few heartbeats. Screams, faint but terrible, came from all around. Yet to the sides, all around, was nothing but darkness and more red sky that was cut off by jagged mountains in the far distance...
   "And trust your 'good' will?!" Stygian growled, drawing together from shadow and embers right before Mel's eyes. He was as tall as she was now. Taller, in fact, with shadows moving all around his winged shape, some of them forming barbed tentacles, some heads like those skulls, but dark and with piercing fiery eyes like his own, glaring and screeching silently at her.
   "Why?"

[Boog]

Boogey felt the pain, but wasn't consumed by it. Like everything else it was just input; data to be consumed.
"I..." Boogey said, "Am not you, anymore than you are me from mimicking my talents. Ergo," He condensed all that pain that had been his until a second ago into a glowing ball in his hand, "This is not mine." The ball hovered there, waiting for whatever Boogey was to do with it, "As for why, I don't even need to enhance the concept. You're the one who seems so hell bent on attacking. We reacted to your threats and the trouble you caused, ergo an absence of threats and trouble will not provoke that reaction."

[KarlOmega1]

(Geez...gone for a couple of days and this topic already jumped two pages?)

*Karl was at the entrance of the Attic, listening to and watching everything going on in the attic. As events went on, He could feel his anger rising as well as Dark energies build up...til he, at the same time as Mel, snapped. Karl bursted into the room...but instead of his feet being on the floor, he floated in the air whilst surrounded by a strong dark aura*

Karl: Enough! First off all, I bought this place from the relatives of said deceased, thought the paperwork probably will had to have taken one to two weeks before being processed! Second, I had originally reownvated the house and found quite a few thing...which I had kept in a Safe in one of the Basement levels! Third, I have the current deed to this place, so if you damage Anything, you pay for it! Fourth, these people are both friends and guests of mine...so if you've laid a hand in malice on any of them, you will experience TRUE HELL!!!

*It was then that Karl then was transforming into his Fal'dev form...but it wasn't just his sub-par "just wings" level of this form, It was the True Form...four horns, Cat-like yellow eyes, Black-feathered wings, and a tail with a ball of quills at the end.  And don't forget the the Purple armor with the black chestplate that had the Symbol of Darkness that was made out of ametyest*

(Sorry, late post)

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel stopped and blinked at Stygian. Why? Why indeed. No one was acting with any grace or maturity today. Time for someone to play the grown up. She released her hold on the magic she'd used. The temperature rose, the icy wind faded, and parts of the landscape blinked out of sight. She reverted to her normal five foot size and more delicate frame as she took a step closer to the seething darkness. She looked up, almost straight up, into the burning eyes. "Why? Because I'm willing to be hostage to everyone's good will, as long as you read the memories I gave you. See that we at least began with good will, although with suspicious minds. I'm trusting your promise to not hurt me if I gave you the memories."

[Stygian]

The moment that the illusion faded out of sight, Stygian was on the same height as he had been before, and most of the fiery landscape was no more. The darkness still lingered though, as did some of the fire, and the screams and whispers. But those started fading quickly, as Stygian felt the dragoness standing down and listened. There was a calm coming from her now... His eyes narrowed for just a moment, and then a smile spread across his face. Still sly, still vicious, but somehow familiar.
   "There never was a promise, but you never needed one." The creature thumbed the bloodstone, now in its hand. Then, it shot a look at the wolf. A trio of skulls now slowly moved around him, watching him greedily. In a flash, they seemed to cry out, and the flames they were made of to dissipate, the sign below him having vanished already.
   Stygian eyed Aisha for an instant, and then the stone in his blackened hand. He didn't even seem to notice the Boogeyman. His lips quirked just a bit, and then his thumbclaw dug into the stone's surface and he leaned his head back, as fire seemed to seep from the gem and into him. He stood so for a while, the dark still thick around him and the dragon. It seemed to wait.
   Then, he opened his eyes again. He took a step back, and began changing. The darkness receded. The torn cloth around him stopped flowing in the flames, piecing together with the shadows and forming the pants, shirt, wrappings and fur-lined coat of before, and a black studded collar around his neck as well. His skin pieced itself together, the fire and embers below darkening before the black ash sealed up and thinned into cracks that faded, and covered with blond fur again. He looked at the floor in front of Mel, now with normal, grayened eyes that only held a tiny hint of a fiery reflection in the little light there was, and sighed.
   "So. I really am an asshole, is that it? You're gonna wave this in my face now?"