The City (IC) [M]

[Boog]

"Largely seems to depend who's doin' the sneakin'," the rat replied to Gareeku with a chuckle. "Other things sneakin', usually. And try to be out by nightfall, it REALLY goes to shit then."
Aisha and Gareeku soon found themselves in the suburbs that surrounded the city proper. In the hot morning sun the place had a bleached look, almost overexposed. Something moved in the windows of one of the houses and not a block away a trash can fell over with a crash as something darted by. A few hours walk away they could see the bridge leading to the main part of the city.

"Erm..." Jezebel pondered over the drones words. "What dangers to expect? Well, if every survivor's story is to be believed, all of 'em. Things hauntin' the buildings, things livin' in the buildings, the buildings themselves..." she shrugged, "Dad's gone into it pretty deep before, but he don't bring me along. Says the place gets in your head, he doesn't go any deeper than the suburbs these days and even then only in the truck. If you're scavengin' you should do fine; it looks like a modern city in there, hear there's even the remains of old cars and computers, although most of 'em don't still work. Just be careful what you bring out with you, you never know what's gonna turn out hazardous. Dad says he once saw a man get eaten by what he thought was a saxophone in there. Oh! And keep an eye out for other scavengers. I hear that there's people what live in there, and they can get a tad funny after a while." She finally looked up at where the rat was being seen to, "Hey! I gonna need to call an ambulance or a coroner?"

"Call me Moze," The being stuck out his hand to shake, taking another swig from his flask with another hand, "And if you have any trouble with gettin' a proper job I could use a part time bouncer. Bloody adventurers can't keep from hitting something, looks like. Might as well be someone who'll give 'em cause to think first."

[Lisky]

Ed nodded, "so you spent some time with those warriors, usually a pretty good lot from my experience... though a bit of a hodgepodge and less centralized compared to many clans.  I must admit it's quite refreshing to not have to constantly hide in plain view.  Back at that bar, it sounded like that law man might have started shit just on the grounds of what i am, and not who i am..." His grin broadened, "not that i'm opposed to laying a smack down when someone's ego needs to be put into check."

His thoughts drifted for a second, "so i don't suppose you took the time to learn much about several clans... Ahnasazi is the clan of confusion, and from what i've heard of this place, it'll be like a 24/7 buffet.  And that's on top of it being a place where one can enter a beggar, and leave very rich indeed."

He smiled at that thought, and decided the cloak was going to get in the way.  Taking a moment to prepare a spell, Ed's hand's gave off a black mist.  He untied the heavy cloth, held it's edge in one hand, and it suddenly disappear.  The sudden lack of cloak revealing the full length of his orangish spotted wings, which he folded around his back in a much more comfortable position.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's nearside ear flicked round in the barmaid's direction when she shouted. The lioness turned and gave her an only-slightly-forced reassuring smile. "Nah, he'll be fine," she called back. "I dug out a couple bits o' th' gun that blew up on 'im, an' th' kid here —" she waved her tail towards the grey cat "—he's doin' a good job o' healin' th' poor guy up. He'll be okay in a little while."

Then she leaned closer to the cat, put her muzzle close to his ear, and whispered very, very quietly. "He will be okay, won't he, kid? An' what's y' name, anyway? Can't go on callin' y' th' kid here all th' time. I'm Andrace Kithara, o' th' Kithara Pride."

[techmaster-glitch]

   The insectoid robot was motionless as "it" listened to Jezebel. When she finished, traxen's voice responded, "So basically, double-check everything before approach, and mind the denizens. Got it. Though, I doubt I'll have to worry much about stuff getting in my head. It'd have to get in my van first, and I make sure to keep it far away from anything nasty. So far, that's worked out pretty well for me, heh."
  The drone got up on its legs. "Well, thank you for the answers. If your dad's been in deeper, I think I'll go talk to him, too. Thank you again." The robot turned and began to trek back to the window.

***


  After setting the drone to be recalled, Traxen began moving the van with the keyboards from the "command terminal". He back it up slightly, then turned it to slowly rumble over to where Moze and Raek were speaking, but since it was rude to interrupt, he didn't get very close.

[Angel]

Mykst calmly worked, sighing in relief in his mind as the wounds closed, and briefly smirking as he remembered when healing spells used to blow up in his face. As he moved to the rat's stomach wound, he heard his comment about not deserving kindness and responded. "Don't say things like that. There's a hole in your stomach; I can't fix a wound that's moving." This one looked deeper than the hip wound, to say the least, but the shrapnel had been hot enough to cauterize the wound and keep it from bleeding as much as such a wound typically did. So healing it wasn't too much more troublesome than the hip.

He muttered the same spell again, then looked up when Andrace introduced herself and gave a small, nervous smile. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Kithara. I'm Mykst Necrado, and hopefully, he'll be just fine. Believe it or not, I've seen wounds worse than this healed with no trouble." As the stomach wound slowly knit itself together, he looked at the shoulder wound and winced. "Sorry, but this one's going to take a more advanced spell. Kali!" he called to the younger lion, doing his best to ignore the hedgehog who had extinguished the fire.

********

Black Magic offered a closed-mouth smile and clasped the squirrel's hand. "Good to meet you, Sister. You can call me Black Magic, but don't be shocked if you hear me referred to as Kali Fiyernos." She, like the others, noticed the brief pause in the air over Witt's actions, but did no more than twitch a tulip-shaped ear. Once again, she was briefly reminded of the males of her species, though Witt was probably as far removed from her father as possible. She finally looked the other way when Mykst called her name, giving a small grin to the boy and turning back to Alex. "Scuse me a moment, my boyfriend needs help." She loosened her cloak so it wasn't completely closed anymore, just so it would be a bit easier to walk, and made her way over to Mykst and Andrace.

[Myr]

"Depends; can I eat anyone that causes trouble?" Raek said as his own hand engulfed the smaller simian's briefly-perhaps having spoke a bit too quickly to catch himself. Well, one couldn't say he wasn't interested...It also suggested that, perhaps, he'd served in that line of work before.

Still, it was slightly funny to see how his muzzle twisted as he realized what he'd said a few seconds later. "Er...I didn't mean that..." Or did I? Eh, he'd think on it later, no doubt. The lupine troll's tail flicked lazily as he leaned back against the wall, those somewhat tatty-looking ears perked. "I meant I might do that work...just have to see what that lot says." He smiled toothily. Okay, that's just plain creepy. "Been listenin' to what you lot have been talking about here, and I figure they might want something to help." He sighed. "Shame the good ones already left; I figured they'd offer a good meal or enough to get such."

'Something' as in him, of course. And he still had the others to ask, despite the selection being limited now...

Hmm? One of his ears twitched in the direction of the van as it moved their way...and of course, one hand lowered itself to grip his axe-he'd put it back on that belt of his at some point earlier, and certainly before he'd moved Giles. Wouldn't hurt to be ready just in case, right? Granted it probably wouldn't do more than put a moderate dent on that thing's armor if he threw his weapon, depending on the material.

"But," He decided to add, "If I do decide I want to work for you...I doubt you'd afford to keep me fed for long." True, that. Already, despite it having not really been that long, his stomach was starting to silently announce it's wants to him again.

[Noone]

Kyirri yelped out in pain when the shrapnel in his shoulder was removed. He took a few moments of panting to calm himself down, but eventually managed to relax himself, and prevent himself from placing his hands on any more of his wounds. He closed his eyes, and let out a soft smile, he wasn't used to being shown such selflessness, but he certainly appreciated it. They could have just let him bleed to death, and they didn't appear to get anything tangible from helping him either.

Kyirri became tense when he heard the prospect of an ambulance being called, his eyes opened wide in surprise, and partly irrational fear. No.. no.. no.. no.. kept going through his head, and he wasn't exactly in a position to refuse, however, he calmed down again when it was called off. I wouldn't want to be hauled off to a hospital only to have my bleeding body thrown on the streets after they found out I wouldn't be able to pay their fees... The thought quickly passed from him, for now, he was more than happy that he was getting his injuries tended to for free, so it seemed.

Kyirri remained silent, awaiting having his last wound healed. He thought of what to do after that, but came to very few conclusions. Thanks I can give, but only giving words would be a rather hollow thing, I barely have enough wealth to feed myself, let alone give to them. I could tell them my name, as would be polite, but, I'm not sure how they would react, I've only seen such behavior, so long ago... so long ago... He stopped himself, and then remembered that his clothes were torn in three areas. He exhaled deeply. I wouldn't be able to have them repaired, I can't afford new clothing, I can clean off my blood, but I'm not sure what to do about the tears... His face relaxed to a rather blank expression. He didn't move, he didn't want to make his healing any more difficult.

[Mao]

Mao took a moment to consider all that he had seen transpire.  Between the brawl, the reactions of the other patrons and the clean up now happening Mao began to realize that he would likely find nothing of use here.  It was unfortunate, but such was the way of things.  Maybe he would find new friends elsewhere.  He had noticed that others had decided to check out the ominous looking city that was not far from here.

"If what folks have been saying about that place is true, there's plenty of reason to go and just as much to not."

Mao paused for a moment.  He had hoped to find companions here and maybe some stable work.  There was naught for it though.  Most of them were tied up in their own companionships or were far too volatile to be safe companions, let alone friends.   Now that the confusion had died down and there was little left to see Mao decided to head out quietly and without notice.

"Would have liked to have had the food, and maybe even that tea, but I haven't the inclination after some of the things I've just seen."

The image of the fellow using his own personal form of fire control briefly flickered into his mind, thankfully only his minds eye version.  He wasn't sure he could have suppressed his gag reflex if he had seen it with his physical eyes.  He shook the idea from his head and reached into his pouch to fish out some coins to pay.  Once he had what he felt was probably a bit more than was needed he placed them on the table.  Thinking about it a moment, he smiled to himself.

"Hopefully that helps with the damages a bit.  Those fellows could have ruined the place."

Mao took one look again at the remaining folks tending to the wounded and the wounded themselves with his minds eye.  They all seemed pre-occupied but for the most part they were safe and/or on the mend.

He quietly snatched up his belongings and made his way to the door.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Luckily for her hemlines Sister Alex had stepped towards the other casualty before the "firefighter" had arrived. She politely didn't roll her eyes as she reminded herself that adventurers tended to act in offensive ways just for the hope of a fight or at least a reaction.

A glance out the window showed that Moze and the troll were still standing near the sleeping fighters. She'd let them continue to doze until everyone was out of range. Addressing the three caretakers of the downed rat she asked, "Do you need any assistance?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Not exactly specific, Gareeku thought after the guard-rat answered his question.  Aisha, standing nearby and hearing all that was going on, had to agree.  She guessed that it was his job after all to keep things vague for the adventurers.

As for leaving around nightfall...well, she figured there might have been a good chance of that if they were tired enough.  But right now, the adventurers were looking for excitement, and more than surely so they could find it there.  Even if it was presented like a sideshow.

So, satisfied and with curiosity and caution at its peak, the two adventurers said their farewells and casually pushed the gate open into the territory at hand.

The suburbs were even more quiet than was thought.  Looking around, their heads protected from the warm sun by their cloaks, the jaguar and the wolf soon seemed to find themselves in what was largely a ghost town.  The scuffling noises that they heard were enough to make them jump and tighten the hold on their swords, and if the place was even inhabited, there weren't any people willing to wave hello to passerby.  The two adventurers decided not to bother anyone lest it would just lead to more trouble, continuing down the path.

"This place reminds me of one of my first adventures," Aisha murmured.  "A village was cursed into acting the very same way, people locking themselves in or disappearing altogether."

"Mm," Gareeku acknowledged, his eyes on the buildings rising upon the horizon before them.  Aisha's adventuring stories were always as heart-pounding as his own, and if this was anything like what either he or she faced before, it was going to be interesting.  "Was it solved easily?"

The huntress nodded.  "With fairly enough bruises.  But that place was only cursed for a few weeks.  Who knows how long this city was underfoot of something."

As if on cue, the bridge to the main city appeared like a mark upon the map.  Across, they could barely see beyond much, but it was guessed that it must have been a sight to behold once.

Aisha's right hand came up to head level, resting itself on the pommel of the Dragonblade strapped to her back.  "Well then, my friend, let's see what we can dig up here."

"After you," Gareeku answered with a smirk, his own hand resting upon his katana as they tentatively crossed the bridge.

[Kafzeil]

Jinx sighed, getting up out of his seat, getting out his money pouch and paying for the drinks and snack, though he might return for a room. He payed a bit more then was really necessary, but given one of his coins was minted by the League of Assassins, carrying their mark, a canine skull skull and crossbones wearing a crown, with The words Intentio neco Sulum Vos Opportunus on the button of the silver coin. It was The League's usual way of saying "I wasn't here, if I was, you didn't see me."

"He he...going to find the Paladin, Felix?"

Felix glared at Max silently as he yanked his rapier out of the floor.

"I'll take that as a yes, Felix.Max grinned, laughing a bit.[b"]Well meet again Later Felix...Catch you on the Flipside." [/b]The deceased canine chuckled, raising his right hand and waving goodbye. With Jinx next blink, Max was gone.

Jinx visibly jumped, though given everyone in the room was either apathetic or tending to the wounded Adventurer, he figured nobody noticed. Jinx had noticed an...odd looking Being wander in. A hedgehog it appeared whom could be be described as a walking ball of spikes.

Jinx began hauling his luggage behind him as he picked up the letter, trying to read it in peace as he walked towards the door-

And right into Mao, literally bumping into the Nictarl on his attempted exit, the nearly skeletal feline  knocked off balance, his grip on his belongings the only thing keeping him on his feet.

[Boog]

Mist obscured the main part of the city on the other side of the bridge, and eventually Aisha and Gareeku were enveloped in the white cloud so it looked like all there was around them was white puffiness and the road under their feet. Above them was the footpath, on the same level as the crossbeams helping hold the bridge up, and they could see the remains of subway tracks to their left. Occasionally the mists parted to reveal the towers of the city in the distance, some skyscrapers looking ruined and others surprisingly intact. They passed the occasional abandoned cars, old models but not quite so old as the city was rumored to be. Finally, up ahead, at the end of the bridge, they could see it open up onto the streets of the city itself. It had apparently once been a fairly upscale section of town, great buildings with enlongated windows or walls that looked entirely made of glass reaching for the clouds. Steps led up to a pavilion outside another building where some immense work of modern sculpture was letting rust add to whatever confusing message it had been meant to symbolize. And sitting on the steps was a man with long, unwashed blonde hair and equally rank looking clothing; ripped jeans and a basketball jersey over a thick hoodie, like the clothes you see homeless people wearing in summer. As if to complete the image he had a ragged blanket wrapped around him and a tablecloth covered in what looked like brick-a-bracs and trash for sale. The scenery had a certain... Grunginess where he was. Like the overexposure that bleached the rest of the architecture in the midday light didn't quite reach him in the sharp shadow cast by the building behind him.
He took a brief puff at his cigarette, the orange light illuminating a human face for a second before the hair was shadowing it again, slightly red in the manner of one who was a little drunk or spent a lot of time in the sun, and watched the adventurers.

"Right then," Jezebel replied to Andrace, fetching a mop and bucket to deal with Witt's 'assistance.' She raised an eyebrow at the coinage Jinx paid with, but didn't have the chance to stop him. She had pressing matters to see to before Moze got back inside.

Moze looked shocked at Raek's initial question for a second, before bursting out laughing. "Sense of humor, eh? Yeah, suppose you can tell 'em that. And you got a point about your appetite, I saw you wolf down what we put out for you inside- hm?" He looked up at the approaching van "H'lo?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen was just getting a few things straightened out when he noticed the orangutan looking at the van on the external monitor. He quickly realized he had forgotten to tune into the van's external microphones, but he didn't bother with that now. Instead, he just toggled the van's speakers and gave a brief reply. After that, he then decided to occupy a few minutes of time, and continued working on the unfinished spider drone still the workshop table.

***

   Traxen's voice was emitted from an unseen speaker on the van. "Oh, don't mind me, I just have a few questions. I can wait." As this was said, the little spider drone that was inside the bar scaled up the side of the van, and disappeared into a hatch on the top.

[Myr]

Raek seemed honestly confused at the fellow's amusement-how does one go about explaining that he'd actually meant what he said about eating troublemakers? The canid Mythos wisely decided not to correct Moze; besides, if you were going to eat someone you didn't warn them anyway. That was essentially saying you wanted a fight! At least he had no intention of harming the Innkeeper though, thank heavens.

"I guess that works," He grunted in agreement- if a bit lamely, perhaps. Right now he was also trying to keep an eye on Traxen's transport-if rather unobtrusively, he hoped. "But yeah, I eat a lot." For previously explained reasons, of course.

And of course, the mechanical marvel had to talk right then, didn't it? How is any self-respecting Creature not pay mind to that? Well, at least in Raek's case. And the voice reminded him somewhat of the flying bug/shield thing he'd encountered earlier on top of that. My, it got big... was his first thought, and anyone observing him could have sworn he'd have raised his eyebrows...if he'd had any. And the second thought? I'm not even going to ask how.

Someday, somewhere, someone was going to have to explain advanced machines like that in careful, simple to understand details to the lupine troll. If that was even possible.

Well, I better make my offer while there's still someone here, Raek thought as he glanced down at the two unconscious men -if they tried to kill each other after they came to, all he had to say was that they kept him out of it. And I'll keep his offer in mind. "Well, I'll see what they say now," He said finally while scratching the exposed, furless hide of his stomach, "'Less you want to tell me what's in that city they're all headin' to." One could note that, apparently when he was more or less relaxed he tended to talk slightly choppy at this point.

Couldn't hurt to know about what's there, he reasoned even as the Nictari and said feline bumped into each other-not that he was in a position to see that, at any rate.

[Mao]

Mao stumbled a bit as he was bumped into unexpectedly, but managed to maintain his balance.  He looked back at the feline who had bumped into him to ensure that they were alright.  They seemed fine, no worse for wear than they were originally.  Mao tossed him a quick smile and nodded and then skirted out and on his way as quickly and as quietly as he could.

As he had moved closer towards the door he had grown more and more sure of his decision to view this city that he had been hearing about and the riches that lay within.  While this was not normally something that would draw him in, he had to admit that stable work had been hard to find of late and a nice take from a little fringe exploration could be entirely beneficial.  His thoughts paused a bit as the image of the injured Demon passed through his mind a bit.

"I hope that whatever got her isn't something that I run into..."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

A second look out the window showed Sister Alex that the innkeeper and the troll had wandered far enough away from the dumpster that they would probably not be the first targets if either of the humans woke up still in a fighting mood. She tore the piece of paper the spell was written on in half, neatly bisecting the sleep glyph, breaking the spell. She carefully put the paper, somehow whole and blank, back into her pouch and went back to watching the trio of felines, ready to help if needed.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Ed nodded, "so you spent some time with those warriors, usually a pretty good lot from my experience... though a bit of a hodgepodge and less centralized compared to many clans.  I must admit it's quite refreshing to not have to constantly hide in plain view.  Back at that bar, it sounded like that law man might have started shit just on the grounds of what i am, and not who i am..." His grin broadened, "not that i'm opposed to laying a smack down when someone's ego needs to be put into check."

His thoughts drifted for a second, "so i don't suppose you took the time to learn much about several clans... Ahnasazi is the clan of confusion, and from what i've heard of this place, it'll be like a 24/7 buffet.  And that's on top of it being a place where one can enter a beggar, and leave very rich indeed."

He smiled at that thought, and decided the cloak was going to get in the way.  Taking a moment to prepare a spell, Ed's hand's gave off a black mist.  He untied the heavy cloth, held it's edge in one hand, and it suddenly disappear.  The sudden lack of cloak revealing the full length of his orangish spotted wings, which he folded around his back in a much more comfortable position.

"I gotta say you seem rather comfortable around me too...Considering I'm an Adventurer." Eph said after Ed had shed his cloak.

"I mean for all you know I could be here to take care of a few creatures." But She giggled as she said it, evidently joking.   

As they approached the city, she pulled her longbow out of its sheath and made sure the string was taunt, then slipped it around her shoulder and checked that her two swords were resting easily in their scabbards.

[Lisky]

Ed smiled and replied, "it's not like all adventurers are a bunch of blood thirsty murders.  Besides that, you really think i'd pass up a chance to meet a cute girl... Succubi can become whatever they please, and as such, every cubi girl is at least pretty, if not gorgeous.  It's a something subtle, yet i find natural beauty far more appealing."  He smirked and continued, "besides, being a creature doesn't automatically make one guilty of a crime... and unlike yourself, where you display the weapons at your disposal, many of mine have yet to be revealed."  Ed smiled slightly wickedly, then quickly added, "but you don't have anything to worry about, i always abhor harming a pretty face... so as long as you don't try anything to me, your quite safe in my company."

He continued walking, but flexed his wings to their full span several times, working stiff muscles out from being hidden under the cloak in an awkward position.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace nodded in acknowledgement to Mykst, and watched the young lioness out of the corner of her eye as she approached. A pretty girl, but I still say she's a bit short an' skinny for her age, she thought. Most of her attention was focused on the rat's wounds, now that the chunk of metal was out she had to keep up the pressure on his shoulder until Mykst or his friend healed it up enough to stop the bleeding.

There was something else about the girl that Andrace noticed, now that she was closer: subtle signs that another of her sisters, the family's mage, had showed her how to recognise. It might not be anything to worry about, but the signs pointed to the younger lioness using a lot of dark-oriented magic. Ah well, it probably didn't mean anything serious, unless the girl developed a preference for wearing overdecorated underwear — and nothing else — or incinerating random passers-by while soliloquising.

[Angel]

As Black Magic made her way over to Mykst and the older lioness, she gave both a quick smirk and nod before moving to examine the rat's wound. It was indeed bad, though someone with basic training and a natural affinity for healing magic might have been able to do it. Of course, she had slightly more advanced training than Mykst, even if healing magic wasn't even close to being her natural affinity. She looked over the wound, then saw Sister Alex approaching and turned her head to answer her.

"I think I can do it. Hang on just one second..." She looked back at the rat. "This may hurt a bit, but it won't hurt as much as it did before. Hold still and don't touch it till I'm done." She let her hands hover over the wound, a warm light surrounding them. "Vis veres iuvandum, purga et renova hoc malum." As the light permeated the injury, the rat would feel a slight stinging feeling and a deeper itch than before, but again, it was much less painful than receiving the wound in the first place. Black Magic stood up and faced the other lioness. "Sorry I didn't do this before. I'm Kali Fiyernos, but call me Black Magic."

[Kafzeil]

Jinx felt something awkward about Mao's smile...it had nothing to do with Mao himself: It had brought something up in he hadn't felt in a long time.

The smile...it was how Max used to smile at him. Well, back when max was alive and well and not causing Jinx to doubt his own sanity. Mao's smile had brought back a wave or memories...and regret in Jinx over spilling Max's blood.

Get over with it Cross. you're...just not used to having people pretend t like you...Jinx tried to convince himself, hoping to untie his knotted stomach.

Jinx walked out the front door and begin circling the bar, finding the Paladin alright. And the barkeep, and that huge ass troll.

It would be...most unwise to to disturb the paladin now so the assassin did what he often did during long stakeouts.

He whipped out another cigarette and lit up, leaning against the wall,keeping an eye on all parties involved, hoping that, somehow, the smoke would clear his thoughts.

However, all the smoke had really seemed to do was cause the feline to debate with himself over going to bed, waiting,  and just going to the city as is, and sigh deeply in exhaustion.

[Noone]

Kyirri remained calm as his shoulder wound was tended to, it didn't pay to panic. His treatment didn't exactly feel pleasant, then again, neither did getting blasted with pieces of a gun. He remained still as the healing spell was applied, but did groan softly, doing his best to try and mitigate the amount of noise he made. His last injury tended to, he was finally able to relax. His breathing became more steady. He spent a few moments still lying on the ground, taking a spare moment to rest before rising. A short while later, he put his hands against the ground to support himself, and then rose to his feet. It took a short while for his vision's blurriness to fade. He took a moment to brush some dust off of his clothes, and then to take a look at his gloves. His left one was covered with his own blood, which had soaked through. At least it's my own... he thought, but it gave him little consolation.

He picked his head up, and took a good look at his three saviors, he had heard their names too, Andrace, Mykst, Kali. He saw a fourth, whom he did not know the name of, standing nearby him as well. They didn't know his name, though Kyirri had the feeling that they wouldn't want to know. Still, it was his place to be thankful, even if he didn't know how to express it adequately.

Kyirri looked up at them, it was difficult to make eye contact, being roughly half of their height, but he remained polite. "I..." Kyirri had trouble starting, partly from hesitation, partly from physical constraints. "I... I...", he exhaled softly before continuing. "I thank you all for your timely assistance, I...". Kyirri stopped himself again. He felt that he was being discourteous, even if he wasn't. Somehow, only thanking them with words... seemed hollow, yet, he was at a loss for what else he could do.

[Cogidubnus]

 Giles awoke. His eyes, however, remained shut.

He heard the bartender and someone else - he didn't recognize the voice - talking about work, it sounded like. They were very close. He tested his arm, moving it just slightly, very slowly.
He didn't feel any resistance. If he was tied up, it wasn't tightly. He opened one eye slightly.

They weren't aware of him yet, just standing next to him and talking, it seemed. He opened both eyes and stood, the sound of armor on loose dirt and rocks breaking his silence.

He wasn't sure how he'd gotten there. One minute he'd been about to plant a spear in the guy's gut, and the next thing he knew he was waking up outside with nary a scratch.
He coughed. Spat. It sizzled on the ground a moment, and looked at Moze.

"Sorry, bartender." he said. There was surprisingly a bit of contrition in his voice. "Your bar ain't the place for that sort of thing." He looked behind him at the whole and seemingly unburning bar. He nodded. "Sum'bitches like him ain't reason to throw bottles around." He paused, looking to the side a moment, and felt his back. "Ah...I do need that spear. I understand you prolly don't want me back in there."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace rose to her feet and gave the younger lioness and the Gutenberg squirrel a friendly smile. "Likewise," she said, "I'm Andrace Kithara, o' th' Kithara Pride, if y' heard o' us. That's a nice neat job o' healin' y' did, an' y' friend Mykst here did well, too. Heh, an' I heard what y' said t' th' nitwit hairless monkey over there." The lioness scuffed her paw on the floor in the sherriff's direction as he was picked up and hauled away, raising a small puff of dust. "Don't matter how long he's had that badge, he don't know us Adventurers too well, does he?"

Inwardly, she was trying hard not to giggle. She calls herself "Black Magic"...? she thought. Hoo boy, th' girl's part way t' pickin' out a set o' leather knickers wi' sequins an' spikes. Hope Mykst can keep 'er from goin' off th' deep end, or someone'll have t' deal with 'er. Hope that someone won't end up bein' me...

Andrace broke off from her musings taking a grimmer turn when the kangaroo rat recovered enough to climb to his feet. He spoke hesitantly, apparently still in shock from his wounds. The lioness crouched to bring herself down closer to his height, and reached out to hold his shoulders in case he lost his footing. "Hey, take it easy, fella," she said reassuringly, "y' took a pretty bad hit there, better not jump about too much for a while."

[Boog]

Jezebel, still sputtering over what for all the world looked like a fake coin, noticed that Jinx wasn't actually leaving. Thus, on his second loop around the bar, he saw in his path the orangutan girl looking particularly peeved and holding out the coin, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, buncha things. Remember a buddy of mine once found what looked like a sax and, well- hrm?" Moze looked down at the awakening blackguard and frowned. "Well, no it isn't, no he isn't and no I don't, in that order." The man looked pensive a moment, as if weighing what he'd heard in his head, "But I can't say I hadn't done similar, back in the day. I'll bring your spear out for you, and then you'll get the hell off my property. Come back in two days, I might be less pissed off then." The steely glare from the orangutan softened a little. "There's a hostel in town, not the best of lodgings but they'll take you in for a few nights."
With that he turned back to Raek, "Yeah, given your appetite you may do better findin' a group to go with, supplement your income a touch. Of course, there's always treasure in the City itself. Assuming there ain't a safer option, like stealing a dragon's gold teeth. Lets see, some good advice..." The man scratched the back of his head, thinking, "Don't touch public transportation, 'specially not the subway. It still functions, buuut... Well, if something looks like it still works that might be just what it wants you to think. ATMs, subways... The traffic's goddamn carnivorous, let me tell you. The most dangerous stuff, though, is the stuff that looks like people. Or used to be people. Generally, though, a lot of things that LOOK like normal stuff isn't. Paintings in the museum, entire buildings... They act like livin' things, and they want people to find 'em. If you feel yourself wantin' anything you see there more than anythin' else you ever wanted, question th'feelin' first."

Ahead of Ed and Eph, a fence and a gate came into view. In the booth next to the gate was a thoroughly overweight rat, sleeping soundly with a dirty magazine open across his chest.

[Cogidubnus]

Giles grunted, and leaned back against the wooden walls. He fumbled at a pouch at his hip, unclasping the oilcloth and bringing out a pinch of tobacco. Some paper soon followed, and he busied himself rolling the cigarette while he waited for the bartender to get done talking and leave him alone with Payden's unconscious body.

[Tipod]

"...about that first thing, you were right. I'm not a reason to throw bottles around." Payden spoke curtly and rubbed the side of his sore head. ...my gun isn't here. Remembering how it had scalded his hand and looking at the burnt tears in his pant leg, it was pretty obvious what happened to it. "...try not to assault people just for resembling your former CO. It's inconsiderate." His tone wasn't even condescending. If anything, it was bitter. There was no point in being snide if it led to another fight.

He slowly got to both feet, making sure all his limbs were intact. "Innkeep, two questions: where's my pack, and does the city have a police station?" Such a huge and forboding place had to have an HQ at some point, and if they did, they probably had some wicked gear in their armory. Anything suited for a metropolitan cop would be a step up from the piecemeal kit he'd been using most of his life. "I'll need to pick up another service revolver since someone here destroyed mine."

[Cogidubnus]

Goddamit Giles flicked his thumb and lit his cigarette. Bastards chat all day and I lose my chance. If he tried to go for him now, undoubtedly the other two would dogpile him, and he wasn't sure he could conjure enough fire to handle all three of them that quickly...

The sheriff's tone still rankled, though. He took a drag of his cigarette. "What, you're not going to take me in? Pretty sure assault on an officer is a really big offense. Attempted murder some might say." he smiled coldly at Payden. Something glared in the sunlight above the sheriff. "Not when it's -your- life on the line, yeah?"

He seemed quiet for a second, before piping up again. "It's odd that an officer of the law wouldn't know where the police station is. 'Sepcially a sheriff. You don't mean to say that you're not actually part of this jurisdiction here, sheriff? I'd hate to think you were trying to impersonate an officer or somethin'. Far as I understand, you can't just call yourself a sheriff and start shooting suspicious folks in bars. You gots to have jurisdiction or some shit."

[Lisky]

Ed watched the sleeping rat in mild amusement as he approached the open gate.  Besides being a bad idea to leave something like that wide open to the public, it made Ed's job of getting in a lot easier.  He whispered to Eph "just let 'em sleep, looks like he's having a rough day."  Smiling wickedly as he noted the type of magazine the guard had displayed across his chest.

He gently guided Eph onward with an arm around her back.  Barely touching her as they made their way through the gate and into The City's outskirts.  He gave a cursory look around at the strange place then said, "so, here we are, you have anywhere in particular you want to try and go, or just explore for now and see what we find?"

Depending on what Eph was looking at, she may or may not notice the small and unobtrusive bump coming from something underneath the backside of Ed's shirt.

[Myr]

The oversized canid panned his head slightly to listen-granted, he didn't understand some of what Moze said, but he did get the general idea. And if he remembered right, carnivorous meant the same as meat-eater. Though as the simian being talked he did keep Giles just within his line of sight, once the man had gotten up. Someone who can make things catch fire was worth watching, in his opinion. This meant, however, that he'd taken what little attention he had on Traxen's van away entirely.

Raek was silent for a moment or two as he sorted out the varied information-and at least tried to make sense of it. It helped that, as a Mythos, the lupine troll did know about others that fell into his category. Only natural to know what one could fall in with and not have too much prejudice, right? Still...

Living buildings... His muzzle twitched slightly, sounds like those whadoyacallems-mimics. Not supposed to be that big, though. So no touching stuff, 'less I think I can get in a good bite or two in advance. His scraggly-furred tail arched slightly as he puzzled over the next thing-something that looked like a being, but wasn't. Doppelgangers? No, they're not that bad...but they only look out for themselves. A few other things came to mind, but they were quickly-for him, at any rate- dismissed.

"Thank you," He said a touch gruffly, "I'll see if I can remember that." He paused, before smiling a bit toothily-or was that a regular smile for him? Who knew. "By the way, if they don't want one like me around, I can start on that job by eatin' that one." He panned his head at Giles, trying to look as solemn and serious as possible despite the vestiges of a smile still on his muzzle as he turned towards the bar. "You'd have to pay me extra for the other one," He grunted over his shoulder in a tone that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle as Payden came to...and Giles had decided, it seemed to fan a few embers that were lying about.

Now, maybe I can see about that work...or I'll just see about walking in for a bit, see what it's like in that place, Raek thought to himself, might even see if that demon-Alice- might be interested in a bit of help. Perhaps he'd forgotten about her earlier rebuke or something...otherwise he'd have considered the probability that he might end up with more than just a broken jaw, should things immediately turn south. But first, make his pitch to the beings still inside, see what they thought...