Furrae Chronicles: Webs of Destiny (IC) [M] {2}

[Tapewolf]

Normally Jakob would be affronted by a death threat from his leader, but he let it go... they were after the same thing, after all, and Gareeku was clearly just as desperate as he was to get some answers.  So he hung back, keeping tabs on the others... especially that creepy bat-guy.

Turning away from what Gareeku was doing, the wolf suddenly had a faint tinge of guilt... while he deserved it, the demon was going to be in a very, very bad position if he didn't know anything.  Because neither Jakob nor the white wolf was likely to believe it.

[Sunblink]

Keaton watched the brief exchange between Jakob and the bat with both amusement and agitation, the latter quickly escalating to the point it became quite obviously dominant. Upper lip hiked back, exposing the sharpness of her ivory fangs. Wait, who did this asshole bat think he was? Acting like he was so fucking strong, that he could beat them all single-handedly, and talking like he could just waltz right out of the goddamn room when this was all over without any resistance. Keaton herself was certainly guilty of that perceived behavior, but she didn't tolerate it among others.

In response to the bat's bristling Keaton unconsciously brandished her fangs and her hackles stood on end, fire still flaring in her palm. "You, shu--" For a moment, she carelessly forgot the Demon until Gareeku intervened, speaking harshly to Azrul. Keaton's eyes flickered back over--the white wolf looked rather intimidatingly infuriated, as was evident from his expression and how increasingly virulent his speech became.

It eventually culminated in him cleaving off Azrul's leg, sending him toppling to the ground. Keaton watched with surprise as blood shot in spraying streams from the severed stump, her expression incredulous. Wow. This Gareeku guy had a lot in him. Looked like she didn't need to burn the Demon alive after all.

...Pity.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The bat's look darted, first over to Keaton when she seemed about to snap at him, then over to Gareeku and the now mutilated demon bleeding his life out on the floor. Again, the bat snarled and took a step closer.
   'What are you, an idiot?!' he fumed. 'You kill him prematurely, and you won't get a thing out of this.' He straightened his face and posture, letting his right hand slip onto the grip of his gun. 'And if you think I'll just let you walk out of here with him, or anything he has on him, you're fooling yourselves.' His eyes swept over the rest of the assembled.

[Gareeku]

"Shut up." Gareeku replied, not taking his eyes off of the demon now on the floor. "I have my ways. Stay out of my business."

Kneeling down, the wolf then suddely grabbed the bleeding stump that was Azrul's legs in a tight grip, before his hand was suddenly engulfed in a bright white flame. Screaming in pain, the demon struggled, his eyes shut tight as the light magic burned his demonic flesh. As it did so, it began to actually scab the wound somewhat, as the burning from the magic closed up the arteries and veins. It did not, however, burn the nerve endings, which meant that the pain surging through the demon's leg was as bad as it had been when Gareeku had first started pumping light magic through the stump.
"Don't make me cut off the other leg, demon..." the wolf growled, his eyes fixed on the writhing form of Azrul in a deadly glare. "Because I will be more than happy to..."

With that, Gareeku then resheathed his sword, before grabbing the stump of Azrul's arm and doing the same as he had been to the leg with his other hand. Azrul's screams became louder, you could almsot feel the pain he was going through as he body jerked more, trying in vain to escape the incredible pain now surging through his entire.
"Ok! ok! I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Please stop!!"" the demon screamed, tears now beginning to run down his cheeks as he could barely take any more. Seeing this, Gareeku ceased the light magic, though he kept the grip on the stumps firm. If one looked carefully, they would be able to see the corner of the wolf's mouth turned up in a slight smirk of satisfaction. "Glad to hear you're willing to co-operate..."

Unknown to him, however, there were three assassins left. Silently they crept from different parts of the room, staying in the shadows, willing to try and save their master from his predicament. Then, they leaped, blades drawn and magic glowing...

[Aisha deCabre]

As the event went on, what she'd probably call a "forced interrogation", Aisha still held her stance ready with the boomerang.  However, she had to cast a glance between the bat who called himself Ignatz and Jakob, when they traded banter, and roll her eyes afterward.  The bat especially seemed to understandably gather a few nasty looks for his statements...but, priorities.  Things would probably be dealt with after this stubborn demon was taken down.  In truth, the panthress wanted to hurt them all for taking hurting Gareeku and causing this giant mess.

For now though, her attention turned to the wolf as he demanded of the demon what needed to be known by the group that she was with.  For having nobody kidnapped that she knew, still she was more than willing to stand with them.  The hunter hadn't even cringed when the ram's leg was sliced from his body, or when he was sent reeling in pain with his light-magic cast...she was in full agreement.  Taking a step forward, she raised her boomerang again, still despite the banter going on over the rights to the demon's soul, apparently.

But just as soon as the demon begged out for mercy, there was suddenly a glint somewhere in the corner of Aisha's sight.  What in...?

Then, too quickly, the assassins leaped from the shadows...quick and forceful, magic at the ready. "Shit!" Aisha growled and swiftly released her boomerang against one...certainly looked too easy that Azrul wouldn't have some protection left...

[Tapewolf]

To avoid seeing the torture too closely, Jakob was already scanning the room for danger when the assassins came.  While startling it was the kind of thing he'd been afraid of so it was no great surprise, more a confirmation of his paranoia.

"Try to take some of them alive," he growled, casting Stun at the closest one to him.  "If the demon dies before his confession we may need another body for him..."

[Stygian]

'Oh, for the fucking love of...!' the bat started out, almost as if he were still snarling at Gareeku. Then he drew.
   Hiding in the shadows might have been a viable option for any other situation, but against the bat that didn't matter a thing. If anything, it only made it easier for him to sense them. And with his reflexes and the size of the room, the attack was failed before it had even started.
   The assassins were aiming for Gareeku, understandably. But the bat was in such close proximity to the wolf that he came right in one's path. Spinning around, he whipped his dark-hued gun right out at the incoming assailant and blasted off a sequence of shots. Not expecting the thing to go down so easily, he swept his other hand back, darkness gathering to it.

[Sunblink]

What little self-restraint Keaton was exhibiting dissolved rather effortlessly after the bat next spoke. The canine's canines fully exposed themselves as she directed a very sharp, very harsh glance towards the bat, eyes narrowed into thin, ocherous slits and a startlingly bloodthirsty expression of rage scrawling itself over her features in jagged angles and cleaving cuts, becoming particularly predominant on the black crescents and stripes bedecking her face.

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" she snarled. The fire coalescing in her hand, reacting bitterly to her capricious temper, billowed upright into a roaring plume. This time, she did forget the Demon, as subdued as he was by Gar's liberal application of torturous doses of light magic. "Like you have the fucking right to criticize us, yo--"

Keaton realized something. Nearby, Aisha had thrown her boomerang as the harbinger to this miniature catastrophe which had leapt from the shadows, the bladed projectile whistling rapidly through the air. Returning her rather vulgar comment wasn't a concern to the bat, who now had his firearm drawn and was shooting off a barrage of bullets at the triad of assassins, while off to the side Jakob had cast a Stun spell at one of the assailants. Keaton snarled out a loud unmentionable and grit her teeth, one fist clenching around the handle of Catastrophe while the other extinguished the blaze raging in her palm with one squeeze.

"FUCK!" she shouted, and with that she brought Catastrophe down.

The bladed end of its pommel slammed to the ground, the darkness surrounding Keaton's shadow rippling. Beneath the stunned assassin the shadows themselves seemed to writhe, bristling like tiny cactus barbs as they intermittently spiked and rose, then, in the blink of an eye, a sleek, razor-sharp pillar of what appeared to be solidified darkness leapt from the ground and impaled the assassin like a kebab. Keaton twisted the handle of Catastrophe, then the seemingly unbendable column swept around like a whip and flung the carcass off to the side before shrinking and shriveling back to its flat and shadowy state, leaving nothing but a slight ripple which, like a ghost, vanished.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[James StarRunner]

James groggily opened up his eyes, his vision still somewhat blurred. The vision was clearing, but all he could see so far was a female figure in front of him. "M-Mom? Is that you? Please tell the bad men to stop fighting..." said James before he rolled over to his side to fall asleep.

It almost looked like James did fall asleep before his eyes snapped wide open. "Hey... wait a second..." His eyes fell upon Gabi, the other team-mates, the demon, and then one of the three remaining assassins. "Holy hand grenades! Gabi! Look out!" James leaped, pulling his tonfas from mid-air and bringing them down at the nearest assassin's head.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Somehow during the commotion Mel had managed to move away from the fight. The snow leopard was seated at the demon's desk flipping through papers she had taken from a drawer that appeared slightly cracked and askew. "Why are you bothering with interrogation? He will like as not lie to you if he talks at all. Draw what you need straight from his memory then you can play with what is left." She swept the papers back into the drawer and moved on. The next drawer parted company with it's lock with a crack despite the fact that the delicately built feline didn't seem to put any effort into the tug on it's handle.

[Tapewolf]

"That sort of mind-reading is very... difficult," Jakob pointed out in short gasps out as he ran to cover James and Gabi.  "...especially in an unwilling subject...  I certainly don't have enough... experience to do it, and... I'm not sure the other 'Cubi could either," he added, glancing at Keaton and Gareeku.

[Gabi]

Gabi was worried when James was not responding. Her ears kept picking up what was going on around her, but she tried her best to focus on helping James. When he finally spoke, she was startled. She turned around to face whatever was behind her, and was glad that James had been ready to defend her. She took out her knife again and held it firmly as she stepped back, trying to think of what to do.

She then heard someone running towards her and turned round in preparation for another attack, but it turned out to be Jakob. She sighed in relief. With both him and James around things were bound to be alright. She allowed herself to think about Ephrael again. "How is she?," she wondered. "Should I try to help her now, or should I stay here and fight?"

[Stygian]

The bat hissed again and stared narrow-eyed at the demon. Though now there seemed to be the slightest quirk of a smile to his lips. It seemed that some malicious idea had crept into his mind, something that was not hard to see considering his previous behavior.
   'Give him to me,' the chiropteran said, coldly and calmly. 'I'll answer whatever questions you have for him afterwards.'

[Sunblink]

Hearing Mel from over near the Demon's long-forgotten desk, Keaton pried Catastrophe's bladed pommel from the ground and leveled the immense mace's great spiked head to the ground, her gaze snapping over to the feline as she leisurely rummaged through the belongings stashed within the desk. Feeling particularly belligerent at the moment, not to mention her temper was ignited by the actions of the bat named Ignatz and his shapeshifting companion, she hatefully cast an artificial grin at the feline. She hadn't forgotten the grudge she still sustained towards the feline, or the ewe, or the whatever-the-fuck-she-was. Nobody pissed around in her mind and fucked with her memories. Nobody.

"Riiight," Keaton laughed bitterly, a sound that was all spite and no mirth, "I'm sure you'd love doing that, seeing how you get your sick kicks off of mind-raping, you bitch. And you."

Keaton swept around and glared at the bat, eyes narrowed. No longer was the false smile on her face; it was replaced with a look of poisonous fury. Considering his previous expressions, she knew that he was up to something. "Hey, shithead. Piss off," she snarled, "His head is fucking ours."

Sure, she didn't know the entirety or the enormity of this Demon's transgressions, but like hell she was going to give the pair their satisfaction. Robbing them of their vengeance was just another petty victory in the mind of Keaton.

"Besides, you probably have bigger things to worry about in the future." A smirk tugged at the edge of her lips.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel paused in her explorations to look up at the snarling succubus. She shook her head and went back to her scrutiny of the papers. "No need to get your tentacles in a twist, kid. I am not trying to steal your lunch. Reading memories is just business. You can feast on his mind to your heart's content. I am sure you will get some tasty emotions off him while Ignatz plays. He is very creative."

[Stygian]

The faint smile that Ignatz had been wearing faded at Keaton's outburst, and again the bat's eyes swept around against her. Or, at least his face did. His eyes were too dark for anyone to make out clearly just where they were aimed when the light wasn't glinting off his pupils.
   'Do you think you have any say on that point, bitch?' he hissed toward the succubus. But then, when he saw her smile, his own slowly returned with a vengeance. 'Or do you think you have a chance? I wonder...'
   The bat thumbed his gun idly, and for a moment his attention shifted to the windows. The sun was setting. Not that the room wasn't shadowy enough yet. And from what he had seen and felt, the girl was using dark magic even. All things considered, her chances were poor, if even existent.
   'Don't get ahead of yourself, little girl,' the bat purred, smirking.

[Gareeku]

By now, Gareeku had chosen to ignore the battling and bickering around him. A few more assassins had followed the initial three out to attack, but he didn't care. All he cared about now was getting what he wanted, in his own way.
"That was a nice little trick you had going there, sending those remaining assassins out for an ambush like that. Too bad the plan fell at the first hurdle..." the wolf said. A smirk had appeared on his face; a malicious, dark smirk.
"N-no! I didn't know they were there!" Azrul pleaded, shaking his head rapidly as he spoke.

"I don't believe you."

Once again the demon's screams rang out through the room as Gareeku tortured him with light magic once more. Again the demon pleaded and begged for Gareeku to stop, but the wolf continued the punishment, eager to show that, quite simply, he wasn't to be fucked with. "Now then...let's try this again...where are the kidnapped?!"
"My master has them with him!" the demon cried out, causing the wolf to cease his torture.

"Go on. I'm listening." Gareeku said, a slightly raised eyebrow on his face as he spoke.

"M-my master has them. I w-was sent h-here to see i-if i could get a good idea of h-how far you had come. I-I almost thought a-at the time that i-it would b-be a good idea to g-get a b-bounty placed on your head..." the demon explained, stammering slightly thanks to the pain that was still burning like wildfire throughout his body. Talk of setting up the bounty did not impress the wolf, but he chose to cast that thought aside for now. "My m-master doesn't know a-about the bounty, but I w-wanted to please him."

"I don't give shit if you wanted to please your high-school sweetheart." Gareeku growled, looking into the demon's eyes with a burning stare. "Tell me where your master is. Now."

"T-to the north! He is residing to the north with the kidnapped!" Azrul explained, a more panicy tone to his voice as he saw Gareeku's anger. "You will know when you are near."

"And how will I know exactly?! If you're lying, I'll-!"

"No! Please! I'm not lying! I'm telling the truth! I-" Azrul began. From the panic on his face and in his voice, one could tell that he was telling the truth. It was then however, that a dark aura began to envelop the demon's body. Before Gareeku knew what was happening, he was suddenly thrown back by some unseen force as a flash of light lit up the room in an azure colour. Landing on his feet, Gareeku could hear Azrul screaming...begging for mercy...

When the light died down, nothing of the demon could be seen, aside from the pool of his blood in which he had been lying in.

He was gone.

[James StarRunner]

"Well that's fantastic..." said James as he looked towards where the demon had layed. "And remind me not to use this arm before I club somebody, that freakin' HURT!" James touched his arm gingerly. It looked a lot better than it had, but the blood still drenched his fur, clothes, and wings...

"My... my wings! My glove! I'm... No!!" James buried his face in his hands. All those years hiding the fact he was an angel and now his secret was laid bare for all to see.

---

Eph on the other hand stumbled about, still dizzy. She bumped in Gabi, half singing pop tunes. "Did we win?"

[Tapewolf]

"Depends how you define 'win'," Jakob replied.  "We're still alive, and we've got further in our quest.  So by that metric, I'd say we have."

"Come on," he began, kneeling by James and trying to comfort him.  "It's not that bad...  I remember far worse times for Creatures.  I mean, it's not like you'll be attacked on sight, unless we wind up in some hick mountain town."

"It's been a while, but I think I can probably rig a basic patch for you if you need it," he added, and glanced around anxiously.  The uncouth bat-Creature had been really desperate to get his teeth into the Demon, and now he'd been denied he was probably not going to be in a very good mood.

[Sunblink]

"I think I have more than just a chance, assface," Keaton countered ruthlessly, left, unnaturally pale eye twitching slightly at the prospect of being called a 'bitch,' but her anger nevertheless remaining curbed to firing off simple verbal attacks. On the contrary to Ignatz's confidence in her downfall due to the sinking of the sun, Keaton knew perfectly well that she was strongest at night. At that time she thrived, drawing her strength from the darkness and unleashing it in countless improvisational ways.

"You think you're so fuckin' high and mighty because you have that big, strong gun of yours," her smirk adopted a dangerous edge, granting her a demented countenance. Keaton was so highly engrossed with her resolution that she disregarded the threat that Ignatz presented, not to mention how he had defeated her before. "I'll fucking slap you down before you even get the chance to touch me, you flying sh--"

Then her attention was finally garnered away from brandishing every foul word in her vocabulary to the scene of Gareeku interrogating Azrul, the once-imperious and arrogant Demon having been reduced to a bloodied wreck. She didn't know much about Gareeku, but hey, he was getting the job done. Though what was this about the "kidnapped," anyway? That curiosity, and any speculation which would've followed vanished after that question materialized in her mind once she watched the Demon become unexpectedly enveloped in writhing darkness. Gareeku was flung to the side, forcing Keaton to watch with absolute surprise until the room was engulfed in azure light, light which faded to reveal that the Demon was nowhere to be found. Nothing but the slick spots of blood on the floor.

"...Bloody hell," Keaton muttered succinctly, ears flattening, then perking up at another unusual sound.

Off to the side the blue squirrel she had neglected during the battle was bemoaning the loss of--a glove, apparently. Probably a patch or enchanted item used for concealment, because he was now sporting a pair of feathery wings, the loathsome sight of those telltale wings quickly sparking something akin to spite in Keaton's heart. The squirrel didn't have any head-wings, so that made him only one thing. An Angel. She hadn't bothered herself with this fact before, having been caught in the heat of battle, but now that the danger had passed, she was struck with the long-delayed prejudice she had harbored for years.

"Oh, wonderful. An Angel..." she murmured subaudibly, pressing her fingers to her temple. "This day just keeps getting better and better..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[James StarRunner]

"Y-you'd do that for me Jakob?" said James as he lifted his head up. "I was always hated for what I was back home... Where I was from in the far north, angels killed off entire cities... People viewed me as a monster."

Unfortunately for James he also heard Keaton's remark.

"I didn't choose to be like this! I hate what I am! I wish I had never been born as an angel! All it brought me was misery and a childhood I long to forget! I never had a refuge like SAIA! I was just left behind being persecuted and hated without any parents to look after or console me!"

[Aisha deCabre]

To her relief, the few assassins left were easy to dispatch of.  Her boomerang returned to her grip as slick and red with blood from the one she had targeted...the others either paralyzed or thrown to the side quite quickly.  After a quick sigh, she turned to watch the others.  Ephrael looked rather beat, though not as much as James, whom Gabi was tending to.  The other healer, Mel, seemed to be busy elsewhere.  Ignatz and Keaton were bantering, with Jakob listening in...and in the center of it all, Gareeku still had the demon in his mercy...and he showed none to the Creature in his interrogation.

Staying back from the scene, she watched as the demon took what seemed like horrendous pain from the light magic attacks, until he finally cracked under it and told the truth.  The north, huh...wonder how far...

But then suddenly, she had to shield her eyes as a flash of light erupted from the ram's position and nearly blinded the room, causing the wolf to be thrown back as well.  Then, looking up again...what the...?

Gone without a trace, save for blood drenching the floor in a small pool...just gone.  His minions littered the place, and the party stood within the building, a ragged bunch, and for whom this had been a victory for the most part.  Aisha sighed with relief and sagged tiredly onto the floor, polishing her blades clean with her cloak and replacing them in her belt.

But it didn't seem all was right with everything.  The first thing she remembered was that there was the small business of Ignatz and Mel; the kidnappers...and secondly, James was now agonizing over his state of change, Angel wings easily seen on his back.  Aisha tilted her head, and then shook it slightly.  "Get a hold of yourself, amigo," she said softly.  "There are only an average of two or three Beings in this group...you really think being an Angel will matter to anyone?  Or, the mission?"  She glanced at Keaton...the succubus was with them for the kidnapping, but who knew the reason she'd stay with them now.

"At any rate...well done, Gareeku," she cast a nod to him, an optimistic smile on her face.  "Everyone.  Now there seems to be hope yet..."

[Sunblink]

"Where I was from in the far north, angels killed off entire cities... People viewed me as a monster."

Why am I not surprised? Keaton didn't bother to resist the temptation to freely and contemptuously smirk from behind her hand, feeling coldly unsympathetic towards James's story.

While James probably didn't notice her offhanded efforts to hide her grin, he did, however, notice her lackadaisical and spiteful comment, and had vociferously responded in his defense. Despite the earnestness behind his declaration, Keaton nevertheless looked unmoved. Took more than what she deemed as a sob story to sway her long-cemented bigotry. Especially not after all that had been inflicted upon her and that she had seen.

"Really?" Keaton asked, not with compassion, but with icy neutrality. "That's quite fascinating. Brought a tear to my eye. I couldn't imagine why people viewed you as a monster." Then at the mention of SAIA being called a refuge she coughed, her eyes narrowing and all pretenses of saccharine-sympathy fading from her face. "As for SAIA... Bastards couldn't do a thing for me."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Gareeku]

Staring at the spot where the demon was before he disappeared for a few moments, Gareeku then wiped the blade of his katana on the curtains of a window before sliding the blade back into it's sheath.

It was then that, walking part Keaton, he heard the succubus' remarks. Immediately stopping, the wolf glared at her, his eyes burning into hers with a stare that would have made even the hardiest of people gulp somewhat.
"I don't know the hell has happened to you that created these views..."Gareeku said, his voice a low growl, cold, hard and threatening. " But kindly keep your predujices to yourself. My father was killed by demons, but I'm not stupid enough to tar an entire race on the basis of one tragic event."

Heading over to where James was, Gareeku knelt down on one knee. He wasn't the best at this sort of thing, but he would try.
"James. Look at me." the wolf said, his voice now a softer, reassuring tone. "You are not a monster. I know you've had a hard life, but don't let what you are cause you to hate yourself."

And I should know...

[Tapewolf]

"I don't think I could have put it better than that," Jakob said, looking at Gareeku with respect.
"One of the closest friends I ever had was an Angel, and he was one of the wisest, most charismatic people I've ever known.  Now, let's see what we can do about a patch."

With a grimace he rolled one of the assassins over.  He was wearing a pair of gloves, which the wolf quickly relieved him of.  They might be a bit small, but it was worth a try.

He cast an enchantment upon it, muttering and gesturing for a few minutes, before giving one to James.

[James StarRunner]

James turned away from Keaton, he would find no sympathy from her. What Aisha said though struck him. It was starting to dawn on him how stupid and childish he had been. She's right... It doesn't make any difference if I'm an angel, I am still me after all... Why the heck am I hiding what I am when others show their wings out in the open?

Then Gareeku... James had felt like they had much in common. Gareeku had also known James' secret long before, back in the days that James had hunted Gareeku down for a bounty. Why? Why am I complaining when Gareeku is so much like me? We both are something we don't want to be and we both suffer the consequences of what we are. It must be hard for him as well... So why am I the only one acting like such a whiny kid!?

Jakob too? He had an angel friend? That's right... Az... Azrael! It was thought that Jakob killed him to take over Ha'Khun and that's why Jakob or more appropriately, Johan Cross, had a bounty. Still never made sense to me why people thought that Jakob killed Azrael though... But Jakob's right. According to records, Azrael was a great and kind leader.

"You... you guys are right..." said James. "It doesn't matter if others call me a monster, I still choose my own destiny. I've used my heritage to fight monstrosity, not to become it. I suppose I should just embrace it and accept what I am. I could benefit from learning some magic that other angels use... like a good healing spell for one. Still... I envy you cubi for your shape-changing abilities. I'd love to learn how it's done. A guy in my profession could really benefit from it. Probably really hard for a non-cubi though..."

James accepted the glove from Jakob and put it on. "Ah! That feels so much... umm... weirder." James looked back to see only one of his wings having disappeared, the other one still flapping. "Err... Jakob?"

[Tapewolf]

Jakob swore.  "I told you I was out of practice," he said.  Taking the glove back, he performed another incantation upon it.

"That should sort it," he said.

[James StarRunner]

This time things worked out better. Both wings were hidden. He could resume his normal activities again without looking like a one-winged freak.

"Not quite like the gloves Grace made for me, but this should do. Thanks Jakob." James noticed something odd though... unlike his old gloves, these ones didn't suppress his angel abilities. Not that it matters anymore though. James grinned. He was finally starting to accept what he was.

[Tapewolf]

"Good," said Jakob.  "Don't rely on them exclusively.  This is just a quick jury-rig to give you basic wing-hiding abilities.  It should work until we can sort out something more permanent."

So saying, he turned his attention back to the others.

[Sunblink]

As intimidating as Gareeku's penetrating glare was, Keaton revealed no ostensible signs of trepidity, instead returning the gaze remorselessly and burying her hand in her pocket, the free hand gripping Catastrophe's handle. Gareeku's spoken words, as devoid of vulgarity yet as venomous as they were, were equally and disdainfully rejected, although wordlessly save for a quiet scoff. Again, she felt no sympathy towards the white wolf or the blue squirrel, regardless of how heartfelt or true as their testimonies were.

Lips quirking into something akin to a scowl, Keaton muttered something under her breath which sounded like a coldly uttered "says the guy who was giving us all a lesson in dissecting Demons a moment ago," but was too inaudible for anyone to hear. Not to mention chances were nobody was paying attention to her at that moment. Mostly out of suspicion, Keaton watched with a wary eye as James reached his conclusion, then accepted the proffered glove from Jakob, slipping it on. It was certainly effective--well, partially. Only one of his wings had been hidden. After this attempt, Jakob perfected the glove and returned it to James. This time the glove did work completely. In spite of the tension on her end, Keaton grit her teeth to suppress the laughter she desperately wanted to release, averting her head so that way nobody would see the rancorously amused expression on her face.

This did, however, direct her gaze back to Mel and Ignatz. Eyes narrowed darkly, all traces of entertainment vanishing instantaneously from her visage. She almost forgot about them.

~Keaton the Black Jackal