The City (IC) [M]

[Gareeku]

As they walked through the eerily lonesome streets, Gareeku smirked at Aisha's comment as to whether go to the museum or the sewers. Like the pantheress, his mind also cast itself back to the others who were at the bar earlier, and whether they too had entered the city, but then they would looking after themself for the time being. Right now Gareeku was only primarily concerned about his and Aisha's welfare. The dark being-shaped shadow that had been on the rooftop for a split-second had not gone unnoticed, either. His eyes looking to the spot where the shadow was for a second before looking back straight, his eyes narrowed slightly. They were being watched, it seemed.

It wasn't long before the two of them had reached the museum. At first, Gareeku observed the splendor the architecture of the building before them, but it wasn't long for his eyes to fall on the remains of the crucified demon. It's death had obviously been a slow and painful one, from the rust-coloured stain running from the demon down the pillar, to the silent scream that it's face had become frozen in.
"Welcome to the neighbourhood." the wolf commented. One would probably have mistook the comment as part of his dark humour, were it not for the grim expression on the lupine's face.

Heading inside while his eyes stayed fixed to the crucified demon as he passed by it, Gareeku then brought his attention to the interior of the museum, which was just as grandiose as the exterior. Looking up at the mummified dragon before them before bringing his attention to the sculptures and paintings that decorated the museum, the wolf could only imagine what it would have been like in its glory days.

Gareeku would have most likely walked around the museum for quite a while to take in everything it had to offer, were it not for the fact that he noticed the smashed display case, with its contents nowhere to found. Looking closer, the wolf read that the display case once contained ancient javelins. This would probably not have concerned the lupine warrior as much as it did if he hadn't also taken note of the fact that the museum looked lived in. Some of the dragon's wrappings had been stolen, and in one corner the wolf had taken note of the burning dustbin; the fact that the fire in it was still very much alive without any magic proved someone that been here recently...or may still be there.

With a darker expression on his face, Gareeku tightened the grip on the hilt of his sword.
"Looks like we might have also stumbled upon someone's home sweet home..."

[SpottedKitty]

The tip of Andrace's tail flicked thoughtfully from side to side as she paid careful attention to everyone's comments. "Yeah, more's usually better," she said with a nod to the mechanical spider. "Like I always prefer t' go out on jobs wi' all m' sisters an' brothers. Don't happen often on payin' jobs, though — we got a real good rep, an' we ain't cheap: hirin' all o' us at once costs a small fortune. Say, that's you been drivin' around outside, ain't it? That's a big bus, y' ought t' have room f'r a swimmin' pool or a bowlin' alley in there."

She raised an eyebrow at Sister Alex's statement. "Y' been at this twenty years?" she said in a respectful tone. "Th' only one o' us been in th' business longer 'n that — recently, anyway — I think it'd be m' great-aunt Veryan. Got herself killed by an Undead gone rogue way back in '04 after a couple years o' goin' solo, an' she didn't retire 'til 'bout ten years ago. A bit weird havin' an Undead in th' family, but she's still one o' th' best combat teachers we got. I've been in th' business 'bout eight years m'self, an' that's pretty good goin' f'r one o' us." The lioness seemed to be no older than her early twenties, so a quick subtraction showed she must have been even younger than Kali when she'd begun her adventuring career.

Andrace's ears perked forward for a moment as she listened to Kali and Mykst. "Glad t' hear it," she replied to the younger lioness with an amused spread of her whiskers. "An' o' course, I s'pose black dresses are right out. Yeah, I know 'bout affinities, m' sister Despina's a mage, she made sure we knew an affinity don't have t' be ev'rything. An' it's good t' hear th' pair o' y' got a bit o' oomph b'hind y' if w' need t' get noisy. Just keep close t' us two terrible ol' ladies —" she grinned mischievously and flicked her tail to indicate herself and Sister Alex "— an' we'll see y' get out o' here again still in one piece. Prob'ly."

[Aisha deCabre]

Despite the bloody greeting for visitors at the door, Aisha had to admit that much of the museum's interior had kept up a grandiose appearance over the years of decay and abandonment that it had been left to.  The dry air and musty smells were their guides...the silence was their shelter...the exhibits their only clues to the races left behind and the people who kept up the care here.

Much like Gareeku, Aisha could have lost herself for a day walking around the place and just taking in everything.  The positions of Creatures and still-life events portrayed by the statues of wax reminded her of things she read about, though one or two weren't all too familiar, and more than likely not important to warrant much thinking.

And the mummified dragon of course was most eye-catching.  From the few dragons she'd met, Aisha figured that they would have been all too vain to let one of their dead become immortalized as a mere tourist attraction.  Still, one could never tell with dragons.  It made her wonder what kind of ancient race had that kind of ritual to its name.

But then, the mystique of it all was broken by the little clues left around the rooms.  The broken case that had once held javelins, the scraps of cloth stolen from the sacred dragon mummy, and the freshly-burning fire in the garbage bin in the corner.  The smells mingled with the dry dust and numerous cobwebs in the building itself.

The hunter's mind flashed back to the crucified demon on the column outside...and tried not to cringe when her mind started to wander to the possibility that it's the sentence for trespassers.  And like her companion, her hand was in close proximity to the silvery weapon on her belt.

"Sí, looks like it," she whispered in reply, keeping watch as she kept walking along through the museum with him...ears listening for every out-of-place sound, nose to every out-of-place smell.  "And I got the feeling they won't take us barging in very well..."

[Boog]

There were corridors leading out of this room of the museum. The information booth, tragically, had been ransacked and few if any of the scattered paper maps looked like they were in readable condition. Fortunately, they were labeled with signs. The photography wing was to the left and ahead boasted an exhibit on civilizations of the east, and to the right was the ancient sculptures. And coming, echoing, down this last hallway, was the soft scratching of pen on paper.

Moze fetched the items for Raek quickly enough, amused by his selections. "Bit of a chef, are we? Wouldn'ta pegged ya for the type..." He blinked at the request for maps and chuckled. "Not too much, most of 'em ain't too much use. Sort of a mixed bag, what you'll get. Some folks managed to cover a lot of ground, block out large swathes and neighborhoods. Others actually looked AROUND the places, have some idea of what to expect in 'em. How much you lookin' to spend? There'sis one written by a mythos named Borogrove, I hear that's a nice guide to the more well-known horrors of the place, but it's more of a book than a map. BIG book."

"Well then there's the old derelict," the hostel owner scoffed, "Most damn fool thing I've ever seen. Build a town next to ruins for the tourism, find out that it's lethal, and just keep on funneling the tourists there. Just make sure to get all their money before they go in. World's goin' to shit, so they decide to get into the manure business while there's still a surplus to sell." She grumbled to herself and made her way behind the front desk, before finally getting out the guestbook and leafing through its pages like they'd somehow offended her. Seeing the looks that crossed her face as she glimpsed the occassional old name, it was possible some had. "But we can at least give 'em a good night's sleep before sendin' 'em into the goddamn hellmouth. So, you'll be wanting a bed for the night?"

Most of the houses around Mao were of the same uniform size and general shape. At some point in time some ancient neighborhood association had ruled with an iron fist. It possibly still did; what little overgrowth of the yards that was visible didn't grow outside the boundries of the house's yard. One tree, huge and starting to lean, roots torn from the ground and sticking off to the side, even had a branch end as if cut off on the edge of another yard...
There were a few good vantage points though. A church, maybe thirty blocks to his right. It was the highest nearby visible point. Somewhat smaller were a few slightly larger houses, one of which had a third floor.

Leaving the body of the girl-cat far behind, Eph and Ed eventually reached the bridge. At the very base of it were the old toll booths, lined up across the road like a beaurocratic stonehenge guarding the way to the city proper.
And standing, right there, in the shade of one of the booths, was what we'll for the sake of description call an iguana. The upper half of its head was that of the feral creature, with an upper lip and tiny, fingernail-sized teeth extending far beyond the beinglike lower jaw. The arms were beinglike, with feral clawed hands, and its stunted hind legs let its tail drag along behind it. A hiss rose in the thing's throat...

Jinx continued down the street, still hearing the occassional rustle of nearby foliage that one desperately hoped was the breeze. Ahead of him was the fellow he'd been behind when he'd first entered the city, the Nictarl from earlier. While he wasn't actually turning his head to look around, he gave the impression of being very intently studying his surroundings...

[Lisky]

As the pair reached the bridge, Ed was about to start his flirting back up when the iguana thing slithered out of seemingly nowhere.  As it walked out of the shadows and hissed, Ed cocked his head a bit.  The Cubi's wings formed a plethora of bladed tentacles, and his fingers had suddenly grown into massive, demon-like claws.  Ed looked wicked, yet hid face was impassive as he watched the iguana.

The leopard crouched low, as if in a position to pounce.  At the same time, the clawed hands started giving off a dark mist as Edaric prepared a pair of exploding bolts of dark energy.  He would let the iguana make the first move, and then quite literally tear it apart, either through magic or raw brute force.  His primary focus was on the iguana, but Ed let a small part of his mind wander, searching for other threats in the area.

[Kafzeil]

Jinx caught sight of someone. The Black and white thing, it seemed.  The one who reminded him uncomfortable of Max-

He had to brush that off. As much as the antisocial feline hated to admit it, Wandering Hell's Gate alone was a bad idea to end all bad ideas. The assassin bit his lip before stepping forward, breaking the eery silence.

"Hey, you!" Jinx called out as he picked up his pace, coming up to the Being. He seemed to be examining his surroundings. Somehow. Jinx was sure exactly how, but it seemed that was what the guy was doing.

Jinx was normally fond of avoiding social confrontations, so saying his social skills were slightly weak was like saying a snake was a little lacking in the limbs department.  "You look...uh, I've seen you before. In town, leaving the bar. Yeah." Hecalled out to th Being, unsure if he'd even get a response.

[Myr]

"I just know what I need, is all," Raek responded in that rather mild tone as the simian chap got everything together, "And I'd rather not eat the ones I'm working for if I can help it." Good point. Especially since it was against what few ethics he actually had. "Besides, I'm not ashamed to admit that I know the rest of my kind live pretty much to eat anything that moves." Pity he didn't seem to get the fact Moze had been trying to add a little humor to the moment either...or at least not yet, anyway.

Though, at least, he did smile. "Stands to reason I'd know how to cook, in that light. And they'll need food, I think." Well, depends on what one terms 'cooking' as. A troll's concept of the ideal was certainly much broader in scope than most...made for very interesting recipes.

Hmm? He paused as the innkeeper asked what he was willing to spend...and went into detail about how reliable the maps were: As if he was willing to read them himself anyway-unless he had to. The mention of a book written by a fellow Mythos was of interest though...shame he didn't know the name. "Don't know that one, but I might want it if it's good. However..."

"I won't be the one reading them; they will." The lupine troll glanced back in the direction of the others; hopefully they didn't bolt off without him! Though, if they did he certainly could catch up, couldn't he? Back-bent legs like his actually made him a rather good sprinter, especially with the type of muscle he had. "Maps give me a headache."

Got to give the Mythos credit; at least he tended to be rather honest.

"As to a price...For the supplies..." His brutish muzzle wrinkled a little in thought as he eyed the fistful of...well, somewhat viable currency. "Would what I showed you pay for it?" The fellow suddenly seemed slightly abashed. "I know, it's not the best of condition...but still. Would it do?" Then he looked at the large book thoughtfully. "As to that book, or maybe something more workable..." His other hand dug into its respective pocket before pulling out an assortment of small trinkets-a few tarnished rings, a chain necklace with an oddly archaic emblem, and a piece of metal that looked suspiciously like the thumb of a steel gauntlet. A closer look might give one consideration that the reddish-black tarnish might actually be something else, as it were...

The monstrous canine smiled a little, so it seemed. "How about these? I got them on my last job, so I know they're not so bad." Right, tell that to whoever he got them from. Or more precisely, whomever might have lost that piece of gauntlet.

[Mao]

Once he had figured on where it would be best to try and get a vantage point of the area, notably the church,  Mao started towards it.  No sooner than he had though, he head a voice calling out.  He had felt the presence of others near by but hadn't figured they had noticed him.

"You're getting rusty.  Not a good sign at this young age." he thought, jokingly, to himself.

He turned his head to the calling voice and made sure to center his face on the source of the voice, while turning his inner sight to the source.  It was the feline that had bumped into him from before.  There was something strange about the fellow, but Mao couldn't tell what it was.  He brushed it off quickly as just being on edge and affected by the context of the situation.

The feline called out again, this time seeming to say more than something to get Mao's attention.  Mao smiled a quick smile and nodded in response to the statement.  Mao made a slow and deliberate motion of looking back and forth and then centered his sights back on the shouting fellow.  He brought his index finger up to his lips hoping that the message would be clear.  He paused there for a second hoping to drive home the idea, while giving fellow a slightly raised eyebrow.  After a moment or so had passed he motioned his head towards the church and pointed upwards, again holding it for a moment to drive the message home, whether it was needed or not.

Realizing that he still had no idea what had happened here, or was maybe even still happening, Mao quickly started moving again, hoping that the noise from the fellow calling out hadn't drawn any undue attention.  If it had, Mao didn't want to be around when whatever might be listening came around.  Not yet at least.  He resumed his careful method of travel and began scanning the church to see if he could reach the top safely from the outside, not quite ready to plumb the depths of any dwelling in this supposedly cursed city, but resigned to the fact that he eventually would.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex nodded in acknowledgement of Andrace's comment. "I took my vows young, but twenty years isn't as long in acquisitions as it is in adventuring. A lot of the time my job isn't anything more than going to some deceased mage's home to take care of his library before it eats the grandkids. We don't get to do these exploratory acquisitions as often as we'd like, or perhaps as often as optimal to the environment."

Finishing the last of her soup the Gutenberg nun pushed away from the table and stood up. "I think everyone who wants to enter the city with our group should prepare to leave. I understand we want to be in and out before dark."

Alex looked around for either of the proprietors. In the spirit of positive thinking she wanted to engage a room for when she returned for the night.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Well you certainly seem eager to dispose of everything we come across Eddy" Ephrael said with a smirk and crossed her arms in front of her. "He's....well it's all yours"

[Cogidubnus]

 "No, I'm not interested in sleep." the blackguard said, adjusting his posture. He scratched his neck. "Not here, anyway. I wouldn't want to bring you bad luck."

He grinned and reached for something in one of the small, oiled-leather bags at his hip. "I'll take booze if you've got it, though. The worst pig-swill you have is fine. It's not for drinking. A point in the right direction and I'll be on my way if not."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt sat there, spinning the coin every so often, and watching it spin down. Sooner or later, the girl behind the bar, or the owner, would provide him with another beer. After all, it wasn't like he was going anywhere.

Besides, once she did, he could give her a piece of his mind - what was left of it - about the delay. Or just have another drink.

He passed the time listening to the conversation going on behind him, and watching the book on the bar. It appeared to be one of those semi-sentient grimoires; he'd run across one a while back, while looking into his past with a Gutenberg, and, if he remembered correctly, it'd challenged him to a drinking contest. Some time later, it'd conceded - after washing a couple of pages blank - but didn't do too badly; better than some, even if it was just a stack of paper. Not that sentient books were just anything, that is. Other than more entertaining than the conversation.

He snapped his fingers at it, to gain it's attention, and flicked a pretzel from the bowl in front of him over it. It bounced up, snapped shut on the pretzel, and dropped back to the bar, munching happily. Introductions over, he started checking his pockets, wonder where he'd left it from last time. He started fishing things out - a couple of foot-long blades, half a dozen bottles with liquids of varying lethality in them, some small cardboard boxes that rattled, a strange sort of bent metal thing with a hole in the end, a shiv, a small, sealed pottle of some mysterious waxy substance, a couple of rubber gloves... He'd got about halfway through his pockets when he found what he was looking for, placed it between his teeth, and rapidly put everything away again. Once the bar was clear, he took the small box he had out, opened it, and fished out an elderly, slightly worn bookmark. Closing the box, and putting it away, he bent the bookmark gently in one hand, and placed it on the bar, balanced on it's side, by the still munching leather-bound volume.

"Have a bite."

[Lisky]

Ed's tentacles stayed between him and the beast, while a pair of the blades went around and also covered Ephrael keeping a razor thing barrier between her and the beast.
His impassive face suddenly grew into a look of what some might consider glee.  He said in a voice filled with his suddenly playful mood, "well Gee Eph, how thoughtful... and here i thought my showboating wasn't getting anywhere..."

The incubus smirked while edging forward towards the iguana thing.

[Boog]

The iguana tilted its head at Ed, dumb animal simplicity evident on its mangled face. It considered the blades, but didn't seem overly concerned. It took two steps back, further into the shade of the booths. A pink, transluscent tongue reached up to lick one eye...
Eph briefly heard the scrape of a manhole cover behind her opening, very slightly...

--

Jezebel replaced Witt's beer in passing, palming the coin with a polite smile. The demon girl had started looking in his direction, her expression gradually shifting from low-grade scorn to amusement to something a touch more contemplative.

--

Moze looked over the rings and necklace curiously, setting aside the gauntlet thumb with a wince. "Well lets see now..." He finally set aside two rings and a necklace. "That should cover the main supplies. Call it two extra rings for the Borogrove guide, they're getting hard to find these days, and ten bucks for one of the pamphlets. Sound fair to you?"

--

"Dear, this place mainly caters to adventurers and college kids. Of course we have alcohol." The hostel owner's look said that this was probably the strangest question she'd been asked all day. "Gimme a sec, I'll get you somethin'. Just leave a buck on the counter, it probably ain't even worth that much." And with that she was off into the back room again, leaving the blackguard to his own devices.

--

As Mao continued onward with Jinx in tow, eventually reaching the large open square in front of the church. It was... Well, a suburban church. They'd sprung for a bit more than the standard red-brick-with-a-cross-on-top of most neighborhoods, instead opting for a fancier looking imitation gothic design. While this offered many handholds for getting up to the tower if one desired to, it was worth noting that said tower was very, VERY high, and the stained glass windows on it would make climbing toward the top get somewhat more difficult for the narrower handholds.

--

Back in Oldhill, a troupe of comedians and performers were groaning as they finally stood up after their long bus ride. They were there to give a show for a local high school that had churned out the winning entry in an essay contest, and nobody was looking forward to it. The bus driver, an old and rather ill-kept platypus, finished unloading the last of the luggage and sighed, stomping back inside to usher out the last of them.
"Oi, clown girl! 'ere's your stop. I know you love that back seat so much, but'cha can't stay here!" He stepped back to give her space to leave and tapped his foot impatiently. She gave him the creeps. Sooner the girl was gone the better.

[Tipod]

"They're probably just keeping salvageable material in there on purpose as bait. That way, anyone who goes in gets mutated or eaten by God-knows what." Payden snorted, rubbing his nose carefully. "We'd lure criminals the same way back in Brossburgh, dangle some carrot in front of 'em. You don't think it's the same deal here, especially when the risks are worse than just death?" If the city was "smart" enough to draw people in and make them lose their minds, then it obviously had very, very nasty things to inflict upon would-be explorers.

[Myr]

"Don't worry, the thumb's not in it anymore," Raek said quickly as the simian fellow made a face at the aforementioned memento-perhaps a bit too quickly, as it were. Eh, probably shouldn't ask what happened to it, at any rate. Still, Moze seemed more interested in the jewelry than in the...well...one might as well say the embittered remains of more common currency, at any rate.

Still, the lupine troll decided to stuff the money back into its respective pocket as the innkeeper started considering what he wanted of the assorted trinkets. Or was going to, as the chap made a selection before suggesting what else he'd prefer. "Hmm...." The brutish canine's tail twitched- even as he went ahead and crammed the fistful of money back where it'd come from.

Eh, why not. No doubt they're waiting on me, he thought after a long moment of consideration. Granted, he may be wrong in his assumption, but...

"Suits me," He huffed (While, of course, surreptitiously stuffing the gauntlet piece into its pocket again and rummaging inside for other questionable valuables), "Should be a couple more rings in here..." He grunted, an ear quirking slightly as he continued with his checking. Ah, here it is...I think. He smiled in a toothy, if friendly, fashion as he pulled out a couple more rings. One was a rather plain; nothing more than a band of silver and just as stained as the rest. The other, however, was certainly more eye-catching and probably made one wonder precisely where the brute had gotten it.

Not overly ornate, but certainly something that would have belonged to someone mildly wealthy, the band itself was ridged so as to look like either a series of concentric waves or serrated blades on either side. Curious runes of a different substance -possibly bronze, since the ring itself appeared to be gold- encircled its center. Didn't seem to be dangerous, however.

"Got that one off some mage or other," He said by way of explanation, "They didn't need it anymore. Doesn't do anything either that I know of. Anyway...a bit of money too, huh?" Raek sighed as he reached back into the other pocket-and quickly pulled the motley collection of currency from earlier. Well, there might be ten bucks somewhere in that mess. "I'm not good with paper money, so how about a few of the silver coins?" He seemed a bit unsure, as it were, as to if that'd be fair or not.

[Lisky]

Ed's movements were fast and brutal, yet also graceful as he  began his attack on the Iguana thing.  A pair of tentacle heads clamped down on the structures of either side of the monster as Ed bolted forward, at the same time he launched anther 6 at the beast from above, hoping they would at least distract it, if not kill it outright.  With the tentacles launched, Ed flicked his right arm in line with beast as a narrow black bolt flew straight towards the beast's chest at a rather high speed.

The bolt trailed a deep black mist with silver specks in it, as it flew.  The specks were shimmering, and meant to be distracting, drawing attention away from the deadly spell, and flurry of death homing in on the beast.

As if that wasn't enough, Ed's left hand began tracking the movements of the thing, readying a second bolt, just to make sure.  His hand gave off a mist similar to that the bolt was shedding, only the magic ebbing from his hand faded as soon as it cleared a few inches from the leopard cubi's surface.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen checked his monitors again, and uttered a groan of disappointment as he realized that Sam was missing from his drone's displays. On top of that, the hobo and the gun-toter, and even the Nictarl weren't with the jittery Being anymore. Traxen didn't even bother checking the logs as he glumly recalled both of them. This cut down his potential forces considerably.
  Returning his attention to the spider-drone in the bar, he noticed everyone seemed to be getting up to leave. Traxen sent a recall signal to that drone, too.
  Finally, the cop spoke up again. Traxen switched over to the van's external speakers. "Well, as I said, the barkeep is living proof that you can go in and out alive, and he seems sane enough by my standards. Just as long as we're out before nightfall, we don't intereact with anything that looks like it's supposed to be alive, and double-check everything before touching. Besides, what happened to your theory that it's some Fae's bad joke? I'd buy that over some Creature conspiracy."

[Kafzeil]

Jinx had closely followed the Nictarl, weapons drawn not out ill will towards the ADventurer, but to cover the rear, a green eye alert to even the slightest movements.

The Assassin maintained silence, hopefully so as not to attract attention. Well, by maintain silence he merely stopped sining and started humming to himself as low as he could.  It did little to calm the black cat; a collapsing fence board, finally giving up in it's fight against the elements, nearly cause Jinx to unload six bullets into the piece of wood.

The Church was what you'd expect. It's gothic nature seemed to clash with the modern looking suburb. Jinx stared at the wall, then the top.

Jinx spoke for the first time since he started following The Adventurer, and indeed, it was the first thing he thought open noticing the spire's gothic nature made it somewhat easier to climb. "We're not actually climbing that thing...are we?" While Jinx was speaking, his vision didn't waver from the apex. " Shit man...I hope the stairs still work.'

SOmehow, Jinx knew this would be the only way up. Just more evidence to Jinx's belief the gods hated him.

[Aisha deCabre]

As they continued through the museum, looking for more clues as to the presence of somebody there before them, Aisha still felt it slightly shameful that the place and its treasures had been left as they were.  They were uncared for, left to rot without evidence that such things had ever existed.

Not long after her statement to Gareeku in reply to stumbling in on someone, her sharp ears caught the soft and scratchy movements of paper and pen.  The other hallways also carried some interesting choices on where to go...decisions, decisions.

"Think we should make ourselves known?" Aisha said, glancing to the white wolf.  "Considering what we've seen I don't know if splitting up is a good option either."

[Noone]

Kyirri kept himself quiet, content to observe those around him. He wasn't much for social interaction. While studying those that saved him, he found it odd how open Andrace was with herself. I just hope she doesn't get too interested in my past exploits, if they can be called that. If she starts pressing me, I might want to come up with a reliable way of encouraging disinterest. He said nothing else however.

He pulled near where she was sitting. He was ready to go, but kept his silence.

[Angel]

Mykst grinned a little uneasily at Andrace's comment. I can't tell whether I want her to be kidding or not... But Kali grinned much more calmly.

"Yes, black dresses are out of the question. But as long as I'm not back at my old job, my folks are happy."

"Happy?" Mykst repeated incredulously. "Every time I go over there, your dad gives me a look like he wants to kill me and go find another lion for you."

"Yeah, but as long as Mama's not looking at you like that, you're fine," she coolly replied, swishing her tail and moving to stand. "Enouh chatter, though. We're not gonna get anywhere by moving our mouths." She grabbed her staff and looked at the others, ready to leave whenever they gave the word.

[Stygian]

Clown. The resentment that twinged through the girl's head was enough to draw her attention from the window view she had not been taking in while thinking of more interesting things, and for her to turn her eyes toward the platypus. She tilted her head a little as she looked at him, as though curious how he had come to be there or, more likely, as to how this scraggly old thing thought he should be adressing her like that, and let her gaze linger just past the point where it induced serious discomfort. It wasn't as though she were wearing any makeup at the moment. Most people these days seemed without either culture or tact, or even the fearful insecurity and conscientiousness that fostered them. Nor did they seem concerned with anything beyond immediate bothers; she would have bet that he would not have mistaken her if she'd been a mime. Still, the pointy hat and the little bells on her clothes ought to have given him some clue.
  Either way, as with many things, it was a minor point of irritation. The black-dressed, jingling young woman dismissed the old fool without a word, and reached down and under the seat in front of her. She had entrusted the driver with most of her luggage, but not all of it. There were some things that she didn't let other people carry. Or which, indeed, most of them even could. The slightly worn large string bag she lifted out, decorated with embroidery and pressed leather pattens, didn't clink despite its contents, but rather it rasped metallically, as the objects within it shifted. She slung it over her shoulder, absentmindedly adjusting her three-tipped hat as she did, and stood up. Immediately, her hand went to one of the pockets of the equally embroidered but far more well-kept and luxurious jacket she wore, colored with a few patterns of black on a green so dark it was hard to tell the two apart without the right light for it. She pinched the bridge of two round, silver-rimmed sunglasses, so black they almost passed for blind shades, and settled them gently on her long muzzle, adjusted the weight on her shoulder, and walked calmly down the length of the bus to the accompanyment of slight metallic creaks from below.
  The platypus inched back some more as the rat girl stopped just in front of him, a couple of steps from the door, and looked at him again. There was some more light jingling, as she bent slightly forward, peered at him over the top of his glasses to catch his eye, and bored an acid-green stare into his skull.
  'Thank you,' she said, the words clipped, then turned and stepped out into the daylight, the hand not holding her bag sliding into a pocket as she took up a nonchalant stance. She squinted slightly, narrowing her eyes to keep out the light that passed over the edges of her glasses, then pushed them back. Turning, she surveyed the small square where the bus had stopped, her gaze slowly tracing a half circle around it, until it stopped at the two large black suitcases still standing in the open luggage compartment. Of course, the coot hadn't been able to get them off. Sighing, she strolled over and lifted them down onto the pavement. The bus tilted visibly, and she slammed the hatch shut, turning around as the driver ground the gear in and took off in an obvious hurry. She scanned the heads of the surrounding assortment of people, searching for a familiar pair of horns and finding nothing.
  Despite appearances, the slender rat woman standing on the worn gray pavement outside the hotel that the surrounding crowd of circus artists were currently checking into was not, in fact, part of the troupe. Oh, she had been traveling with them alright, even done a few rounds with them. But there was no more feeling of 'togetherness' than between businessmen making orders from each other. She was different from them; one could tell just by looking. Whatever some might think, performers are just people, and look like little else but people when off the stage. She, however, did not. Among the shirts, jeans, boots and tops around, the black and green tights she wore under the loose jacket and hotpants, the bells and her three-tipped jester's hat stood out like a neon sign. And there was something about the way she moved as well; a calm, graceful purposefulness that not even the acrobats came close to, flustered and stiff from the ride as they were. It was the kind of self-assured motion and presence that results only from either long, old experience, intense training or hard-pressed focus, and mostly as a result of a degree of all of them. They were off the job, but the act was not a mere job to her. They were performers, but she was a performance all of her own.
  Again, the rat's hand went to her pocket, and she looked down, her hat shifting over her almost maroon hair. The couple of crumpled notes she had palmed from the platypus she could easily have done without, but it was the sport of the thing that counted. He could buy her a drink to pay for his rudeness. And the real fun would be when he noticed the chiming little present she'd left him in return. She smiled at the thought, and adjusted the jingling headdress a bit, her day a little merrier already. Stuffing the cash into her hotpants once more, she gave the parking lot one last survey, then came to a decision. If there were anything more about the troupe she had to bother with before she left for good, she could always come back to the hotel. She was there on different business than them.
  Thus it was, about a quarter of an hour later, that the brown rat stepped into the Last Chance Inn, walked into the bar, and set the suitcases down in front of the counter. Untying the bag around her shoulder, she gave the place a cursory glance, and then fixed her eyes dead on Jezebel.
  'I take it this is the place you come to if you're going into the City,' she said. It was a statement, not a question. 'Do you have rooms available?'

[Cogidubnus]

 Giles counted out the woman's money, pulling out numerous currencies and denominations and sorted through the lot until he got what he figured was an appropriate amount. Two smallish coins, a larger iron one about as large as a seashell, and a greasy looking bill in rainbow colors.

While he waited, he turned heavily and clumped in his iron boots towards the slat covered windows, looking out into the streets. Practically deserted. Trash everywhere.
Giles felt  his stomach settle a little lower. For all his bravado and very real anger, there was something odd about this place. He'd seen deserted cities before, but deserted cities were ones too broken burned to be habitable any longer. You didn't just find an empty city. The people he had seen...other than the bar up the way, he'd barely seen a soul since he got here. How did you run a hostel in an empty city, anyway?

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's ears twitched as she listened to the two young mages. Some lion families, she knew, were almost as clannish as Demons, only marrying other lions. Kithara had almost gone down that road once, a long time ago: even now, lions still made up more than half of the sprawling extended family, relatives of married-in relatives, and distantly related business associates living on and around the Mytilene estate. Pride members, too, were still usually lions, or if not, almost always some type of feline.

A movement caught her eye, and she glanced towards the door in time to see the garishly clothed rat enter. Andrace's tailtip flicked once, and her ears dipped, then perked forward for a few moments. She'd never seen the woman before, but she knew the type. Someone like herself: dangerous, and, although she didn't look it, probably heavily armed. The smile and jester's hat were carefully crafted distractions, but the jingling bells couldn't hide the soft clinking of a certain kind of metal in her luggage. The rat was hiding a lot of secrets, and she was definitely someone to keep an eye on.

The lioness abruptly surged to her feet, hitched her backpack over one shoulder, clapped her hands loudly, then rubbed them together energetically. "Right then, people, time we were movin' out!" she said with a sudden burst of enthusiasm, nodding at Kali and Sister Alex. "Th' pair o' y' are right, we better get our tails in gear b'fore it's too late t' do much explorin'. Th' place has a bad enough rep in th' daytime, I don't fancy spendin' a night in there 'less I know a lot more 'bout it. We just got t' wait f'r th' big guy t' finish his shoppin', then we're off — who's comin' in wi' us?" Andrace looked around the room, catching each person's eye, asking the question (including an unspoken "do you dare?") with a raised eyebrow and a curl of her tail.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Snappy appeared to tilt it's head and look curiously at the bookmark, which was a remarkable and possibly alarming effect from something that had no head, neck, or eyes. It was used to people offering it the snacks available at the bar when it remembered to be "cute," but no one had ever offered it a delicacy before. Snappy slid a little closer and took a cautious nibble at the bookmark's end.

"I'll be with you in just a moment, Ms. Kithara." Seeing that the younger orangutan was back behind the bar waiting on the hedgehog Sister Alex approached to pay for a room for when she returned.  As she stepped up to the bar she noticed a familiar shape on the bar. Snappy had recently learned how to teleport itself short distances and she'd been finding it everywhere. "I'm sorry sir, is my book bothering you?"

[Noone]

Kyirri felt a small tug in the back of his head, a sharp pain went through. The feeling passed momentarily. After taking a moment to shake it off, he looked up at Andrace. I suppose it's just an excuse to go with them...

He nodded as he softly said, in his usual monotone, "As long as you deem my debt unfulfilled, I shall accompany you." He turned a nod towards Kali and Mykst as well. After saying that, he resumed scanning the room with a blank stare, ready to silently come with them when they deemed to.

It might be for the best after all,.. I could certainly use their power and prowess.., I just hope this doesn't end like it always does...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt glanced over at the demon girl, one eyebrow raised, then returned his eyes to the nun. A momentary flash of the eyelids down to where the book was nibbling at the mark, and then back up. He held out one paw, the fingers outstretched, before reaching for his drink. He knocked back a healthy, or, if you prefer, unhealthy slug, then put it down again, not looking at her.

"I've still got all my damned fingers. I'd say that makes it 'not yet'."

Slurp.

"Early days, though."

Another slurp.

"One can fucking hope."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace wasn't looking at the kangaroo rat, and didn't see his slight flinch. She'd just settled both straps of her backpack over her shoulders, wriggling to make sure she could still reach and draw her sword easily, when she heard Kyirri's quiet comment. Her nearside ear flicked towards him, and a concerned expression on her face was quickly hidden. She turned towards him, crouched to bring her face down to his level, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Kyirri," she said, "Y' don't owe none o' us anythin' — I want y' out there wi' us b'cause y' want t' be, an' b'cause we'll do better an' be safer keepin' t'gether as a group. B'sides —" she grinned wryly "— chances are we'll all be busy 'nough soon, keepin' each others' tails out o' th' blender. Okay? Now, get ready, we'll be movin' out in a minute." She gave the roo-rat a reassuring if toothy grin and a pat on the shoulder, not quite hard enough to knock him off balance, and stood back up, looking around to see if the others were nearly ready to go.

The lioness was worried, though, and did her best to keep it from showing on her face and tail. What th' frig's made th' little guy act so spooked? she thought. Y'd think he wasn't worryin' 'bout comin' out o' here in one piece... or at all. Better keep an eye on 'im. She hoped that wasn't the case: it was bad enough to have to force someone away because of a bad or dangerous attitude. It was much more upsetting to everyone if one of the party skipped gaily down a Dragon's throat, body smeared with hot sauce and pockets full of secret herbs and spices.

[Mao]

Mao turned slightly towards the feline following him, to show that he was listening.  He wasn't sure why really, but he  did it none the less.  The fellow had been making noise the whole time, but there was little to be done about it.  It was his choice to make the noise after all.  Mao simply hoped that the things here, whatever those things skittering about just out of sight of his senses, weren't triggered by or attracted to sound.

Dismissing the thought, he smiled a quick little smile at the fellow as he asked him about their method of approach to the church.

"I intend to scale it." he said in as low of a voice as he could manage.

Best to keep what communication he had to have short and to the point.  With that, Mao began to look about for safe spots he could either jump to or scale to begin his ascent up the church.  To some, he knew, this might seem a bit risky, but compared to being trapped inside a building whiled face with who knows what, he preferred to have some running space available.  Terrain that was favorable, as it were.