Northern Winds [NC-17] (IC)

[Gareeku]

Listening to the conversation unfolding in the pub, the hooded figure took another swig on the glass of ale, finishing off its contents as he order another. Taking a swig of the fresh glass of ale, the figure listened to the lapine sitting with the undead.
She is confident...prehaps overly so... the figure thought to himself, a slight smirk appearing on his hidden face as he pondered what the lapine said. It was a mistake to be a smartass, but it was a deadly mistake to underestimate one such as Aisha. She wasn't a demon hunter for nothing.

[Boog]

Richard laughed a bit louder at Somber's reply to his little tirade.
"Betrayal, murder, and that a little bit of that last one. The third, not to my knowledge, but the night's still young, who knows what could happen?" he took another swig of his drink, "Jokes aside, respect the dead, toots. We're in the majority," he dodged the gobbet of blood and winced. Really recent death. Possibly still recent enough for him to... taste... Oh no no no, I am not going to break down in a public place. She flicked it from under her nail, for crying out loud! Ugh!
"See, that's exactly the mentality I mean," Richard pointed out, a look of concern crossing his face, "I'm guessing you're some sort of demon; beings don't go in for killing with their bare hands. They have tools for that. Very efficient tools. It wouldn't be all that foolish of them, because it's well within their ability. Just keep that politeness in mind, hm?" He leaned back in his chair and sighed, "You're interesting too, and I'd hate to see you get stabbed first time we meet."

[Somber]

"The dead may be in the majority, but those still walking and talking inspite of being dead is far less common." She replied as she looked away.  "Well, my condolences for your troubles.  I'd say I'd had worse, but I don't know if that's true or not."  She looked back at him with a smile.  "Besides, it would be foolish to attempt to out angst one as yourself."

As he gave his warning the lapine looked back at Aisha and her companion, "Would it be much of a loss?"  She asked softly.  "I'm sure the world would get along fairly well without me.  In fact, it might even be bettered by my leaving it.  I wouldn't know for sure but I can suspect.  If she can destroy me, then it is her perogative to do so.  I would like to know why, but what I would like matters little.  The powerful destroy the weak.  The weak survive at the sufferance of the powerful.  And I'm sure that would she destroy me she would do so with sanctemonious satisfaction, certain that my mere existance warrants death, and how much more virtuous she is for acting in such a way."  Her soft voice turned hard as she closed her eyes.  "I have no time for that self deception or hypocracy.  If she wants hate and contempt to rule her action then she is little better than that she hates, no matter how she consoles herself with her gestures of magnatomy and mercy."

She opened her eyes slowly, the hard edge softening as she smiled at the undead, "Though thank you for the warning.  It implies a spark of concern for my well being, and is likely as not more than I deserve."

[Stygian]

The rust-colored wolf chuckled into his glass. Oh, this bunny was a fun one. She didn't mind dying? Might makes right? Mocking Aisha? Hopefully those were no lies. Maybe this would all turn out for the best and he'd even get to talk to her afterwards. It would probably be entertaining.
   Then he looked up at the huntress before him, a bit of a smile still on his face and a gleam in his eyes.
   "Let her speak as she wishes. This is a monitored and guarded tavern. In situations like this I think it would be better to just walk away," he said. However much his look and tone was polite and calm there was something beneath it, something that he seemed to want to get past. As Aisha's gaze focused on his face, for a second his eyes darted between the stranger in the hood and the three roughnecks in their jackets sitting by their tables.
   "In fact, I think it would be better to leave early this evening," he said, and then took another sip, his gaze not moving an inch from hers.

   Outside, the fourth man stopped speaking, and started walking.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha busily took a sip of her ale, the only notice given to the conversation going on at the other table having been a quirk of her ear in that direction, and still through the cover of her hood.  She rolled her eyes slightly.  How could a simple dirty look have garnered such attention?  But the panthress hummed thoughtfully and just shook her head, mostly to herself.  What does she think that she knows of me anyway?  Though it would probably do me some more good to work on the skill of ignoring.  The lapine's not important most likely.

Listening to the strange wolf though, there was little change in Aisha's features as she seemed to sense something uneasy in his demeanor, especially when he was intent on focusing somewhere other than where he had just looked, at the suited strangers nearby.  Though she wasn't about to question what.

Not until the light comment he had just made.  She quirked an eyebrow and leaned back in her stool just slightly, her crimson gaze also easily seen like a ruby glimmer in the dim light.  "Leave early?" she inquired with a bit of calm curiosity, while hiding a tone of suspicion as she took another sip of her ale.  Now the tension just seemed to have been added on.  "Ah, in a rush, I take it?"

[Stygian]

The wolf's smile dimmed into a determined expression, and after he turned his face to eye the weasel bartender go behind the bar his gaze returned to Aisha, his eyes hinting with some familiar gleam.
   "What I meant was... I think we had better get out of here before this turns into one of those sad stories," he said, his voice changing through the sentence. She had heard that voice before.

   The door to the bar opened up, and an alligator in a long black coat with a sour expression on his face walked in. He dropped something from his hand and kicked it, and it clattered along the floor with a glassy sound against the bar. Then, he began pulling something out from under his coat, while the three roughnecks dashed out of the way.
   There was no time. The wolf screamed and grabbed Aisha hard and leapt over the counter, tumbling into the gray wolf and bringing him a bit along with them as the floor exploded into sparks and torn wood and metal. Flames started pouring out from the alligator's direction, filling the place.

[Gareeku]

By now, the hooded figure had taken an interest in the conversation between Aisha and the brown wolf. With his ear swivelling their direction under the brown cloth of the hood, the stranger listened closely, filled with curiosity over what they were discussing. ...Leave...why would they-

As if on cue, the door of the pub opened, and stepping inside was an alligator wearing a long black coat. Watching the strnager kick something away as he reached into his jacket, the hooded figure moved instantly, leaping off of his seat as the fires started. Reaching into his cloak, the figure withdrew a shimmering katana. As the figure ran, a white tail with a black tip exposed itself as the stranger darted between the fires, making a beeline for the alligator as the figure swung his sword round for a strike. Prehaps, to some of those in the pub were they watching, the katana and the tail would be familiar...

[Sunblink]

During all the conversations that were started and the general interaction, Keaton remained relatively isolated, gulping down her booze like it were the last drink she would ever have in her lifetime and staring miserably off into space as intoxication started to take its place. Wiping the residue of moisture away from her ebony-dyed lips, Keaton pushed away her third mug and leaned against the counter, grimly cupping her head in her hands.

She didn't overhear the lapine-Demon or the Undead baboon's words, nor did she make any effort to analyze them. She wasn't in the mood to do much of anything besides drink away her frustration until she either collapsed on the ground or chucked everything she ate since last Christmas.

Another thing Keaton didn't notice until it was too late was the arrival of the alligator inside of the pub, who proceeded to kick something in their direction. Blinking, jolted out of her entranced state, Keaton watched with a raised eyebrow as the indistinct object rolled past, then finally turned her head to face the reptile just as the floor burst into flames.

Letting out an involuntary shriek of surprise, Keaton wasted no time in catapulting herself off of the chair, launching herself over the counter where the others had retreated. Sparks and tongues of flame whipped into the air as the floor was torn asunder, reducing it to firewood in a matter of moments. As her heart hammered in her chest, Keaton looked wildly about, her ears laid flat and her head-wings--the only part of her Succubus heritage she hadn't bothered to conceal, for once--ruffled atop her disheveled mane of dirty blonde.

Pupils dilated, Keaton peered over the countertop, watching the fire spread. Nearby, the cloaked figure rushed out, drawing what appeared to be a long, glimmering katana blade from the folds of his cape. Instinctually, Keaton's hand grasped the handle of her mace, starting to lift it from its holster strapped to her back--it was completely weightless, so it was easy to carry around. However, at the sight of the katana and the exposed tail, she froze, narrowing her eyes.

'No. No way,' she thought with increasing shock, though it certainly wasn't unpleasant, 'What the heck is HE doing here?'

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The alligator contently watched his handiwork with a many-toothed grin and scanned the bar quickly. The three rough-looking types had proceeded in kicking the door to the back of the place in to spread the fire and were moving up around along the outer wall, heading behind the reptilian to get between the flames and over the bar. They were hardly in the way for the man as he brought out some sort of heavy, chained book from under his coat and gripped it. His gaze went to the incoming attacker and his blade, and then, with a throw of a sleeve he swept out a tattooed hand against him. Another explosion erupted right at his assailant, like a shockwave, fire magic and a bit of alchemy put to practice expertly. Clearly, the man was a mage of quite some power.
   While the gator shouted something unintelligible over the roar of flames and the resulting sound of the blast, the wolf snapped out a large darkly silver-colored gun, then another. Slapping a pair cylinders into place he muttered something under his breath as his eyes turned black, and he glared upward over the counter. The huge revolvers in his hands glistened in the flames.
   Then came another clatter, and he almost fired as he trained his right gun on the object that sailed in over the counter. Then he saw what it was and just barely averted his eyes, before a blinding light and a loud bang flashed out.
   "Frickin' Hell!" the wolf snarled, and blinked. His ears were flat to his head and his eyes unfocused, his hearing and sight completely shocked out.

[Gareeku]

As the figure closed in the alligator, he saw his target revealed his tattooed hand, which was pointed straight at him. Knowing no good would come of it, the hooded figure dived to the side out of the way of the explosion, though his cloak was now quite singed on the ends. Just as well he dodged.

As soon as he had stopped rolling, the figure was on the attack again, darting to the side of the alligator as a leg swung in to trip the man up. Once he had done so, the stranger brought his katana up in a powerful upwards slice. The man was indeed a powerful mage, but the hooded stranger was a powerful warrior.

[Boog]

OHFUCK, was a fairly good summary of Richard's thoughts when the place started to go up. He quickly knocked over the table to crouch behind it, pulling Somber after him (on the basis that her first reaction would most likely be to charge in and as mentioned, he would personally object to her death).
Great. I keep expecting the other patrons to cause trouble, and this clown bursts in. That's what I get for expecting the least of people, I suppose. When the flashbang went off, he was still right there hunched behind the table. He started muttering an incantation for a small ice spell, hoping to put out any flames that got too close.

[Somber]

Indeed, she hadn't needed to be pulled anywhere.  With surreal swiftness and grace she had stood and averted her eyes before the grenade detonated.  Moving almost casually she knelt down behind the cover the Richard had created.  There was no longer a smile on her face as she looked at the alligator intent on causing crude murder and mayhem.

She had a distinct loathing for technology.  Any fool or idiot could pull a trigger or set off a bomb.  Magic took skill and discipline, some times over years or decades or even centuries.  It was power you earned.  She sighed as she closed her eyes.  With all the fire there were shadows to work with, but they were splintered and dancing.  It would require more discipline to marshal them.  She looked at Richard with almost an apologetic smile and shrugged.

The illusion bled away, melting as her form changed.  The dark cloak twisted and bunched at her shoulders, becoming her maroon wings.  Her hood twisted about her brow as her horns appeared, and the shadow dripped from her eyes like evaporating tears as her maroon eyes appeared.  The soft velvet dress seemed to blow away in an etherial wind, reveiling the tight black form fitting armor that emeshed her torso, arms, and thighs.  Blood red nails... no, these were claws... dug furrows in the wooden floor as her lips parted and showed her razor sharp fangs.

Without having the illusion to maintain, she focused on the shadows behind the rampaging lizard.  The darkness began to seethe like a living thing, dark tendrils waving out around behind him only to pool over his eyes in a dark shroud.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha's eyes narrowed briefly while listening to the dark-colored wolf give his explanation.  Her muscles bunched, as if she was suddenly thinking of springing out of her chair at any second.  Then they widened slightly as his voice became familiar to her ears.  And she seldom forgot a person, even their voice.  "What...?"

However, she barely had time to register it to memory before the doors were thrown open, admitting the reptilian.  In a flash, the peace was shattered, the masked tension literally exploding into the ears of the patrons.  Chaos was abrupt, and for the adventurers, so too was the action.

Before the huntress knew it, the wolf had swept behind the counter, dragging her along as flames licked the edge of the bar and had already started climbing the walls.  She hung back there for a moment, just like many had done, taking cover within the too-small alcove.  She wrestled to her feet with little effort and peeked over the edge, her hood having been swept off of her ebon face, catching sight of who was fighting whom among the flames, and who was left standing.  Through the intense lighting, she could still see a katana flashing.  And she definitely knew that blade.  No friggin' way...

Aisha's shocked state wasn't long-lived.  With a furious growl, she leaped from the back of the counter as it was no longer a place to hide, pinning her ears to her skull and drawing her own sword, making for the nearest of the alligator's cohorts to slice him down...and thanking the enchanters who made her cloak fireproof.  She wasn't worried so much about fighting as just trying to clear a pathway outside, especially now that she knew a few of her old comrades were stuck in the midst.

[Somber]

She could only hope the shroud kept the alligator blinded long enough for that flashing Katana to dispatch him.  There was something familiar... no.  Right now she couldn't spare the time or attention for reminicence.  Her long legs bunched up beneath her, toe claws digging into the floor for purchase and she proceeded to move.  Aisha moved towards one, and she to the second of the three thugs.  She didn't attack directly, of course, but rather around and to the side.

The sensation was not unlike a sculpter pressing their fingers into soft clay.  Holding the attacker's shoulder in one hand, her fingers pressed into his flesh beneath the curve of his ribs.  There was only a moment of resistance, and then she felt her fingers moving inside, fingers together in a scooping shape.  Hot blood fresh from the vein gloved her hand as fingers, then palm, then wrist sunk into his body.  Her touch detected the firmness of organs, the movement of muscle, and the ever present drip of blood as she drove her hand into his side.  Almost clinically she identified the organs by touch and location. Spleen.  Gall bladder. Pancreas.  The tip of his liver.

Then the scoop turned, the fingers spread wide, the claws extended, and reversed her hand's direction.  Blood and gore exploded from the wound as she ripped her hand free.  A bloody, dripping void remained in his side.   The thug was dead, or would be shortly when his body's fluids finished emptying out the hole.  "I bear you no malice," she replied softly, "But you really shouldn't have interupted my conversation."

[Stygian]

The alligator almost made a grin, half angered and half bemused at the resistance he was getting. Not minding his companions, he clasped the chain-bound tome in his hand harder with clawed, leathery fingers. His eyes, glowing like embers, burst flames, and then so did suddenly the ground around him. The windows and glasses that had not been smashed asunder by the initial blast were so then, as a shockwave spread out from him, burning and ripping asunder everything around him, leaving scratches on the cleaned-out floor and sending both his assailant and the tendrilous darkness back with force, cutting and thrusting and scarring.
   When the fiery wave subsided, two of the gator's companions were laying dead on the floor, their clothes and skin shredded. The third one was thrown behind a table and dying from the wound that Somber had given him, clutching some sort of huge knife in his hand. The alligator just stood, smirking in the middle of a floor swept clean, his eyes still burning and his feet floating a few centimetres off it before he sank down.
   "Learn to stay to your business, hunters!" he almost laughed out, and then turned, dropping something behind him, a small clear glass orb with a slowly rolling substance in its centre. He pushed quickly through the doors as he hurried back out.

   Behind the counter, sight and hearing were returning to the rusted wolf's senses, fortunately faster than what was natural. With a furious growl he got up and laid an arm and a gun across the smooth counter, but didn't have time to aim with blurry eyes and the gator moving away. He got two shots away, both misses that just smacked through the wood of the door. And then he saw the floor.
   "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" he shouted, and threw himself past the panthress and away against the backdoor exit. "Everybody out!" he roared.

[Boog]

Richard didn't have to be told twice. Venting the ice spell he'd prepared to cover as much of the burning areas as he could in frost, he reached out and swatted Somber on the wing to get her attention.
"Alright Hannibal, we're all impressed. Now lets get out of here before we have to find out why that doesn't work on fire. C'mon, you." Not waiting for her answer, he wheeled and made for the door at top speed, the occasional tearing or creaking noise accompanying his movements, "Save those conversational skills for those who can answer!"

[Gareeku]

As the hooded figure brought his blade around for the strike, he was suddenly forced backwards thanks to the skills of the mage. Watching the alligator with narrowed eyes, the stranger's gaze then fell upon the thing on the floor and, hearing the rusted wolf's words, took heed, grabbing the wolf who had been sitting next to him on the way towards the back door. What was supposed to be a quiet evening had gotten a lot more exciting, that was for sure.

[Somber]

She had swung the still standing thug between her and the lizard to catch the brunt of the explosion, letting it carry them through the air and into the wall.  Her wings flapped as she twisted in midair to land neatly on all fours, against the wall while her victim smashed into a heap.  Dropping to the floor neatly she looked at the gator as he left... and what he left behind.  "Spit and ashes," she muttered, and then jerked at the smack, her bloody hand raised a moment to strike before she halted herself and lowered her hand.  She followed him out into the chill night, glad to be away from the fire and light.  As she stepped out the door she summoned the copious shadows and let the darkness restore her illusion.  Following Richard, she pulled a black hankerchief from the darkness and wiped away the blood upon it.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha snarled as she slashed straight into the back of the one minion, not long before the reptile's blast rendered the rest of the bar to shreds, shards of glass and splinters flying every which way and at times sticking into skin.  They made few wounds though, too little to be noticed amidst burns or the adrenaline coursing through frightened and angered adventurers and Creatures.  If her quarry wasn't dead as soon as she had hit him, then he certainly was after the shockwave threw everyone a few yards back.  And by her disgust, he cared nothing for the dead around him.

"That should go for you!" the panthress had started to shout after the gator, about to show him her own sword, only to be interrupted shortly by the wolf.  And by the way everyone was quickly exiting, she was inclined to agree that was the best measure taken.  Crapcrapcrap...

She only quickly searched around for survivors before sheathing her sword and leaping after everyone through the back door, and back into the shadows of the night, looking back at the heavily-singed roof of the bar...or what was certainly soon to be left of it...the felid pulled the cowl back over her head, racing after the others and stopping among them with a skid on the ground.

[Boog]

Richard couldn't feel the cold, and didn't exactly calmly stroll outside. He hadn't stopped running until he was a good block away. He was waiting there reconciling the fact that he'd just seen a few people die, a bar be engulfed in flames, and overall a lot of senseless violence. He was never an adventurer; he had been on one or two adventures, but that hardly qualified. This was not part of his normal week. He was still standing there and rubbing his eyes when Somber caught up with him, and hadn't noticed that the cuff of his pants had caught fire; no sense of pain, being dead.
Richard could smell the blood on Somber. Saw what she'd done. Can I call them or what? Cold blooded killer. He sure as hell wasn't going to comment on it though. Besides, he didn't entirely object to her killing those individuals. It was just creepy how she'd done it.
"You alright?" He would have been panting, if he still breathed. Instead, there was just this extra creak to the usual rasp of his voice; that all out run had taken a lot out of some choice muscles.

[Stygian]

There was not quite enough time for them all to get out the back door. The thing had been barred shut from the outside, and the wolf had to kick it out to allow them. Once he did, they were all about to cram out through it. But they didn't. Instead, they were more correctly hurled out through it as an explosion shook the whole building, blasting out the front walls like nothing and smashing most of the house's structure to pieces. The structure was fortunately just three stories tall, and balanced on its back a bit, so that what was not held up by the adjacent buildings fell forward against the street that was directed out against the waterfront. But crumbling pieces of house still landed dangerously close to where the five who had been sitting in the bar were strewn about, back in the alley behind the place.
   Getting to his feet after having been slammed into a crate, the back and end of his coat having been torn and shredded by shrapnel and his form still smoking, the rust-colored wolf steadied himself against a wall and looked around. The jackal lay in a garbage pile, hurled oddly with her head down. The panthress he had managed to cushion a bit, though she was down on the stone-tiled ground now. And two wolves, one grey and one white, were thrown head-over-heels up against a tarp covering some barrels.
   The rust-colored wolf just stood there looking a bit, before reaching down a hand to help Aisha up.
   "Well, not a sad story, that's for sure," he muttered. "Just a violent one. As always." He shot a look to the wolves and made a bitter smirk. "I'd tell them it's a tarp, but I think they know."

[Gareeku]

No sooner had the figure sheathed his sword and gotten through the door had he been thrown out by a powerful explosion. Everything seemed to be a blur for a second, before he felt himself land hard against something. Slowly but surely rising to his feet, the figure dusted himself off, before realising that his hood had been lifted from his head in the explosion. Not sure if anyone had seen, the familiar white furred wolf put the hood back over his head as he turned to inspect the others...

[Aisha deCabre]

As the blast rocketed behind the group, pushing and scattering them forward through the darkened ally with a heat-ridden intensity that only seemed possible coming from hell, Aisha fell quite ungracefully to the ground, though her landing was cushioned somewhat.  "Ugh..." she growled out of ebbing anger and rising frustration, wondering what kind of fate was playing at her now to have walked into such a literally explostive start to a quest.

At least we're sharing some pain, the panthress thought with grim humor, looking around at the strewn individuals.  She hoped that her comrades were unhurt...at least one of them was, she noticed, only glimpsing the white wolf's countenance for but a moment.  Knew it.

Looking back up at the other, darker lupine, Aisha's eyes were narrowed just slightly, before she released a cough of debris and dust inhaled from her lungs and accepted his hand with a light laugh at his comment.  "Thanks.  And I'll take violent over sad so long as it leads to something for everyone, be it a happy ending or a sense of justice," she replied, her crimson gaze meeting his.

Then, it slowly turned from light-hearted to a grimace.  "Speaking of which, there's one thing."

Without moving her eyes, quick metallic sound was heard.  With her gleaming bladed boomerang held up in one grip and the wolf's hand in the other, the huntress gave a very serious glare, her voice more in a calm and level accusatory tone than a threatening one, even if intimidating.  "I think that we would like to know...what...the...hell...just happened, and why."  She smirked.  "Care to say something?"

[Somber]

"Of course."  She seemed almost surprised at the question as she wiped away the blood before tossing the cloth aside.  The magic left it, and it reverted back into shadow.  Once more she seemed the small, black eyed little rabbit in the black dress and cloak. "Had he of focused flame upon me I might have been injured, but unfocused it was rather incidental."  She paused and looked back at the inn and the adventurers outside it.  "I believe that I should return to the others.  I want to know what is going on.  Some one blasting an inn I am visiting is unforgivably rude and those adventurers may know something of it."  She turned and started back and then stopped and smiled at him.  "I understand if you don't wish to accompany me, Richard.  If you're not involved, then perhaps it would be best if you go home."  She paused and added, "But if you did want to accompany me, I would be grateful."

With that she approached the pantheress and wolf and others, her hands crossing behind her back as she picked up those last words spoken by the hunter.  "I would also like to ask that same question.  I would like to know who those people were and why they were so bloodthirsty."

[Boog]

Richard considered his options, and reached an important conclusion.
"The roomate's gonna want to know where he hell I got these scorchmarks anyway," he replied, finally noticing the flames on the cuffs of his pant leg and hastily stomping them out, "May as well have some answers for her if I don't want to spend the rest of the night trying to find my toes." He brushed himself off and grinned, "How do I look? Reputable enough to talk to a bunch of big, bad adventurers?"

[Somber]

She looked back at him and nodded warmly.  "This is Richard.  Call him Dick and die.  He's a bit unpleasant at first, but I suspect he has a good heart."  She then looked back at the others, "I am called Somber."  Not a name, but something she was called.  A pointed difference.  "I would very much like to know if I have some how inadvertantly earned an enemy by coming here."

[Sunblink]

Upon the copper-colored wolf's orders, Keaton tucked the mace she had slipped out of its makeshift holster back into place and sprinted after the rest, her boot-clad feet manuevering her swiftly through the roaring flames and beside the retreating group. The alligator had made his escape along with his remaining comrades; the rest had been killed, one of them done in by the lapine Demon's own, bloodstained claws. If it were any other scenario, Keaton probably would've been impressed, maybe even intimidated, but she was too distracted by the fire that had consumed the floor and was rapidly growing through the rest of the pub.

Once she made it outside, Keaton nearly collapsed in relief altogether, gasping. She hated fire. Was a complete pyrophobic. How she was able to keep herself from having a panic attack in the presence of the growing flames was beyond her, but despite this small exercise of self-control, she couldn't restrain the shudders that wracked her body.

"Gah," Keaton muttered, dropping her head in her hands. Great, just great. All she wanted was a fucking beer, and then this happens. Not that she wasn't used to dramatic interruptions, though, as her life had become a sordid tangle of such misadventures. Hand slipping up to bind itself in her dirty blonde mane of hair, Keaton asked no one in particular, "Can anyone explain what the hell just happened?"

She certainly wasn't the only one. The pantheress (who was becoming steadily more familiar to her, especially once she brandished her boomerang) had demanded the very same thing, advancing threateningly on the rust-colored wolf. Certainly Keaton wasn't going to stop her. In fact, she encouraged it. Drawing her mace out from its cradle, she walked over, making no effort to stop Aisha.

"I'd like to know as well," she said coldly, "So start talking. Now."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Somber]

"Please.  Violence and threats have their place and time.  Now isn't one of them."  She smiled at the red brown lupine, her eyes dark as buttons.  "Please sir, what is happening?  I trust there is an acceptable explaination for this night.  Unless grand displays of pyrotechnics are the norm?"  She asked, looking back at Richard, then back at the wolf.  Shadow was a substance of unpridictability and contrast.  It was no difficult task to assume a calm demeanor.  Of course the glove of smeared gore that remained on her left hand reminded otherwise.

[Stygian]

The dark bronze wolf didn't even flinch at Aisha's sudden threat, but he did adjust his feet the slightest, his souls scraping a bit, and regarded the sharp blade of the boomerang coldly, his smile vanishing. One of his guns was laying over by the crate, down on the ground, but the other he held in his right hand in a slung grip. He wasn't a slow draw, and the panthress' blade couldn't do much more than cause him pain, but if he got into a tangle with her, with these people around...
   "I really know about as much about what happened here as you. I came here to see an old acquaintance over new business, and then these people show up," he muttered, slinging his heavy gun around and slipping it adeptly into a thigh-held holster. "I have seen that alligator before, but there isn't much more I can tell you this shortly." Well, that wasn't a lie. But he would hardly entrust them with all knowledge of events right there and then, even if the attack indeed had been aimed at them as well.
   "Now, what are you prepared to say or do in return? I think you know by now that you have a poor chance at bringing me down in a straight-off fight, Aish, even if you do have your friends with you. By the way, nice to meet you again, Gareeku." The wolf smirked and made a nod in the hooded man's direction.

[Aisha deCabre]

The panther hadn't moved as he made his answer, her gaze still rigid and focused.  Still, she was more prone to listening than making any kind of move as of yet.  Sometimes she would glimpse the gun that the wolf carried in caution.

"Hm," she replied after a second of thought.  "I wouldn't underestimate my friends..." Aisha cast a quick smile at Gareeku and a friendly nod to Keaton before turning back to the coppery wolf.  Slowly, she lowered her boomerang and put it back to her belt.  He had helped her, after all, as well as ordering everyone else out of the destroyed bar.  Not to mention that though it was hard for her to accept, he was indeed right.

"There won't be a fight...now.  But there will be answers at one point."  The look she gave back to him was a glare of finality, before turning back into a quiet smirk.

The panthress sighed and crossed her arms.  Such as why that alligator made so bold a move as to blow up an entire bar gettting to someone.  Or all of us... she thought grimly.

Before she made any more assumptions, however, Aisha did turn to her friends, deciding to keep the situation as much light-hearted as could be managed.  "Wonderful to see the both of you again indeed.  Soon as we reach a safer place than a dark alley I'll have to interrogate you on how the hell you've been," she laughed, directing the comment mostly at the hooded Gareeku.  Then to the new faces, she paused before politely bowing her head.  They did introduce themselves...the hunter could be tolerant at least.  "I'm Aisha.  Greetings."