The Castle [03] (Remba, but don't let it stop you)

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked up at Sebastian's invitation to be an assistant at his curse removal ceremony. She shrugged and took her last sip of tea. "I will join you." Taking his suggestion that a snack be carried along she got up and put some bread, fruit, and cheese on a tray. Then she waited to follow along.

[Boog]

Jeremiah grinned sheepishly. He hadn't been hinting at helping out so much as Jotting down where to avoid and maybe figuring out how to not go insane again. He seemed to be taking in the same group as before, meaning he wouldn't be expected, but he still needed to figure out what was happening...
But not this early in the morning, and not if it means further annoying this particular group of people, and with that, he sat down for a quick breakfast. C'mon, he has to have bought some sort of cerial the other night, didn't he?

[Angel]

Ketefe finally moved to get a piece of bread, still listening. She perked up a little at the mention of magic. "I'm a little curious about magic since coming here. Mostly since I've never used it. Can I come watch?" she asked, buttering the bread with the left-out butter and a knife she'd gotten from the table.

[Cogidubnus]

 As he rose, Cog took the teapot and poured himself a cup, letting the steaming liquid sit for about half a second before grimacing, and kicking back the whole thing. The scalding liquid blazed a path over his tongue and down his throat, and finally settled for sitting quite hot in his stomach. Despite the extreme discomfort, Cog kicked it back in a single gulp, setting his cup down and pouring himself another. This time he waited to add cream and sugar, and stood to follow the bat out of the room.

[Aisha deCabre]

Rynkura kept her ears upon the conversation, though the only sound that came from her side was the soft clanging of the cups and plates together as she helped to set the table, then took some tea for herself.  The tigress did not mind the fact that she was only regarded in her appearance with greetings, and with nothing more afterward.  Likewise she still had nothing to offer for what to do in the storm's duration.

However her attention was caught the instant that Cogidubnus mentioned dispelling curses or at least messing about with magic...to which she noticed the bat take a bit of interest and promptly lead a few of the others out of the room which he had named.  Her eyes narrowed slightly...there was even going to be a tag-along.  A moderate curiosity was tinged behind the tiger's gaze, and she wondered if she should see this for herself as well...

"Where's everyone going?" Another voice suddenly cut through the silence, its bearer walking through the door.  Instead of her usual clothes, Aisha wore something a little more akin to the time period that the castle seemed to have come...a golden shirt with frilled sleeves up to her wrists and a crimson vest which she left unbuttoned in the front--even in somewhat formal attire, Aisha was never one to be too neat.  The panther only wore her navy-blue trousers with it, instead of the skirt it would go with.  Her black belt completed the attire, boomerang strapped to the left hip as was always her habit to carry, as well as the light-enchanted bracer on her wrist.  The tail ring was always a given in anything she wore.

Aisha's red eyes fell on those remaining in the room, her head dipping politely.  "Good morning, Mistress, everyone," she muttered before she turned her head back to the door again.  "What's their hurry?"

"Precisely what I wish to know," Rynkura hummed, before reaching behind her into her cloak and tossing it through the air.  "Aisha.  Catch this."

The panther swerved to catch what the tigress had thrown with one hand.  Her fingers wrapped about a long ornate sheath, quite brilliantly patterned on its surface with runic symbols that seemed akin to some of the things she had seen in the library's annals...some of which seemed to have been partially or wholly erased with time.  A strap ran down one side and connected to the other, allowing it to be worn over the shoulder.  Aisha's eyebrow quirked.  "Where'd you find this?"

Rynkura smiled.  "It was the closet of the room in which I slept.  See if it doesn't fit that fiery blade of yours, perhaps.  Now if you will excuse me..." the tigress started past, hoping to follow those that had left.

Aisha only thoughtfully stared after her, then wore the sheath around her shoulder as she started for a bit of breakfast.  "Alright, what'd I miss?" she inquired to those left in the kitchen...also guessing that not a few of the others haven't awakened yet either.

[Stygian]

Stopping and then turning to look at Aisha as she strode in and watching the exchange between her and her tigress mentor, Stygian smiled somewhat and was a bit amused to see some who got along so well, even though concern and irritation still mingled in his mind. Should he? It was only good order, he supposed.
   "We would have nothing against it if you chose to join us as well," he said, plainly meaning both Aisha and Rynkura. He made a special sort of emphasis as he looked to the tigress. While her decisive and stern manner might have given her an air of authority, it was precisely the sort of thing that Stygian normally frowned upon. And while he disliked attending as host, in this situation he had no compunctions against it if he had to choose between that or the other alternative. He intended to make sure that everyone knew that however little he might intervene, he was still in charge of the situation.
   "If we are all so unoccupied, then perhaps it would be best. Anyone who wishes..." he said, and then turned and walked off, heading for the library.

[Boog]

The invite was all he needed. Jeremiah gulped down the last of his makeshift breakfast sandwich and followed the others to the library, double checking the list he'd made of all the books he'd been over the previous night that had seemed useful.

[Cogidubnus]

 Old bookshevles, half-melted candles and a storm made for a rather ominous atmosphere in the library. Cog reached over to one candle and made a flicking gesture, a few sparks flying out from his hand and kindling the flame to life. He picked up the candlestick, holding the thing by the pewter base, and began to walk down the stacks, looking for something useful.
If nothing else could be said for the collection here, it was varied. Books of fiction and verse stood alongside tomes of magical power, and books of every subject were seemingly juxtapositioned next to books that had seemingly little to do with each other. It didn't quite help that the books were sorted by author; mages, by nature, were eclectic writers. Thaumaturgical tomes were often placed next to pamphlets of light verse. Which, although sometimes comical, wasn't much for helping him find something relating to his particular condition, or something about the castle itself.
Cog sighed and turned a corner. The letter above that particular aisle was marked with a large 'D'.

[Stygian]

Stygian chuckled at the hopeless and somewhat lost gaze and feeling that Cog emanated, walking past him with one heavy tome to find another. The bat's face was somewhat calm, but his ears were pert with amusement.
   "You just figure out what you want to ask of me, and I will answer. In the meantime..." he said, taking out an only somewhat thinner book titled 'Transmogrification Excellence' from the shelf and putting it atop the one already in his hands, continuing to pace and scan the rows. "In the meantime I think that I shall go prepare a few things for practice. And amusement." That last part sounded ominous.

[Angel]

Ketefe followed the others to the library, popping the tiny bit of bread in her mouth and eating it quickly. Don't want to leave crumbs, that would be impolite, she thought to herself, smirking a little. That thought had sounded like her mother.

Once they reached the library and it was properly lit, Ketefe's eyes gleamed as she gazed around in wonder. "It's beautiful," she said quietly, smiling. She began to hunt around for a good fiction book, and briefly wondered if they had any books in Braille. If so, Jarevei would love this place, she thought, grinning.

[Cogidubnus]

 Despite the bat's kind tone, his words sent a chill up Cog's spine. The last time he'd seen Sebastian cheerful was...he'd never seen the bat cheerful, he didn't think. Not really.
He shrugged, and continued down the stacks. Gold and silver filigree peered back out at him, announcing the authors of each work, as well as the title. He sighed, and picked one up at random. It wasn't like he was finding anything titled "Cures for Magical Ailments" or "Words and Philosophy with Werewolf Mages". He took something titled "Response to the Illusionist" and continued to the stacks.
By the time he was finished, he had only three books in his hands. "The Response to the Illusionist", "Advanced Magical Theory Vol.1" and "The Blood Moon". Advanced Magical Theory was there mostly as a reference - there had to have been at least five copies of the thing near the back. The Blood Moon, however, he hoped to be much more helpful. It was written by another were mage, anyway. It might help.
He returned from the stacks to the sitting room part of the library, and took a seat in a comfy chair next to his books.

[Sunblink]

In the middle of reaching up to take another sip from the flagon of whiskey, Keaton froze, her ears swinging upright. Blinking confusedly, Keaton hastily lowered the bottle, staring inquisitively at Stygian. He needed her help? Distantly, in the back of her mind, Keaton was vaguely reminded of how she assisted him in finding information on the curse that once twisted their bodies and afflicted them, and how her knowledge of Dark Magic had been utilized.

"Huh?" Keaton set the bottle on the table, the whiskey sloshing around inside the glass interior. All she had taken from it were a few sips to begin with, as the drink was barely depleted, but she started to realize that drinking such an alcoholic drink so early in the morning wasn't exactly the brightest idea she had. "Sure, I can help."

Noting that Stygian said that they needed something to eat, Keaton gathered some food with her wing-tentacles and followed the others into the library, humming slightly to herself.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

It took a while, as they collected books and scanned the library for points of interests. It took a long while. Stygian began stacking books over on a cleared table, along with papers, pens and other things such as scales, flasks and vials that he returned with after some lengthy disappearances from the library. He began bringing lunch as well; cold slices of roast, bread and cheese appeared on the end of the table, and the smell of some soup began drifting off him.
   'Set that down over there... Now, please bring some candles and a copy of Dauman's Theory of Consistency, will you sweets?' he said in passing to Keaton with a smile. 'Oh, and some schooling books! I'll want to see some exercises...'
   In short time, the bat had ordered the table as it seemed that he saw fit. Following, he dusted and brushed off the floor space he had chosen, and drew a perfect circle, about two steps across, with a heptagon on the outside of it on the floor in chalk. A quite basic starter circle, for the most general forms of magic.
   Once done, Stygian nodded to himself, went out to get the soup (a creamy goulash) and sat down at last, having a slice of cheese and reading from that book on transmogrification from earlier.

[Aisha deCabre]

When Stygian had turned back to regard herself and Rynkura, Aisha simply kept her questioning glance.  Instead of answering her question, people were still filing out of the kitchen and towards the library like the ever-curious sheep that they were.  She smirked at the comparison, however sleepy a mind it came from.  Not sheep...sheep were often led to slaughter.

"Sí?"  She inquired upon catching the fact that she was invited, just as Rynkura.  Another flash of lightning rung outside in the dark gloom that was dawn, and with it, the panther shrugged and grabbed a piece of buttered bread of her own to munch on for a small breakfast.  "Alright then.  Knowing all of you and magic, it may be something worth seeing," she said with a grin and followed Rynkura as she walked out.

The tigress chuckled.  "You may learn a little something as well, child."

Aisha only rolled her eyes slightly.  "Despite that, I'll enjoy it."  This only made Rynkura snort indignantly and chuckle again.  However stern that she was sometimes, Aisha knew that the tigress wasn't without some humor.  The panther's mind then set to other thoughts, including wondering still if the others were just oversleeping.

Rynkura, however, took the invitation with a wise amount of caution, immediately regarding the bat's look as a clue...an exchange that Aisha either failed to notice or decided to shrug off.  This is still your party, bat, and I won't be the rock in the way of it...but still... said the look that she returned.  It was something of a warning without being even slightly provocative.  The tigress just wanted little trouble during the visit, especially concerning Aisha.

As they walked into the library, Rynkura sat with a few of the others near where Sebastian was setting things up, eyes settling interestedly on the circle he was drawing.  Aisha stood to the side, leaning on a bookshelf with her arms crossed.  While she never bothered learning magic, there was always a piece of her mind that kept a slight interest in what it could do.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog kept a wary eye on Stygian as he settled into his chair. His eyes were narrowed a little under his shades - the bat was making him nervous. He took the smallish, leatherbound book by his side and began to read through it. The red lettering on the side proclaimed it to be 'The Blood Moon', the cover an image of a full moon, imposed over the flower of a wolfsbane plant. To Cog, it made a kind of grim irony - both things were deadly to werewolves, but both could also be a great benefit, used correctly. He opened the tome carefully.
He didn't say anything for quite the long while, engaged in reading. Occasionally he would change position, or stretch, but other than that, he was seemingly dead to the world. Raising an eyebrow at one line, he paused, and seemed to mull it over a bit. He paused, and shut the book with a bang.
"I have a question."
Cog stared at the bat seated in front of him. "My problem is I can't access the magical energies I already have. This book, if anything, confirms the abnormality of that. What's more, this curse shouldn't even be on the radar. It feeds from the moon, not me..." Cog shrugged, and lay the book beside him. "I should be fine. So, that leaves me." Cog grinned sardonically, putting his head in his hand. "Perhaps you have some idea as to why I won't access the power? Or, am I missing something?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel wandered around the library rather aimlessly. She kept an eye out for books about removing curses but with so many people searching the picking was rather slim. Coming across a spiral staircase made of wrought iron curlicues she climbed to the second tier. It was darker up there so she called a ball of light that followed her around like some sort of glowing hummingbird. Mel paused and looked down over the delicate railing to the first floor. She winced a little, her sudden transformation two days before had made quite a bit of a mess of the otherwise elegant space. She should be looking for housekeeping books.

She looked around the second tier. It was quieter and dimmer up here, the hardwood floors with Persian runners muffling footsteps rather than amplifying them like the marble floors below. The books here were older, the bindings less flashy and gilded than the ones below. She wandered the stacks, seeing if anything caught her eye.

[Stygian]

'You're missing something allright...' the bat began with a smile, setting his chin in his hand and leaning on his knee. He was looking straight at the wolf with a rather musing expression, secretive but not really. 'I think you've already seen the real solution to your problem. Well, in a way, at least. But you need some more motivation to actually get to it. And more realization.' That could not have been completely lost; as emotionally clueless as most he'd seen, as everyone really was, the wolf had quite the brain when he decided to use it.
   'There's a great difference between types of magic, stemming mainly from intent and application, really. There are things that aren't really magic either, but simply applications of power. For starters,' he said, and raised his hand, the skin visibly paling and his fur ruffling as blackness circled it and streamed through his fur, the points of his clawed fingers already blackening and turning long and knife-like. 'This isn't magic. This is power. Magic is the knowledge, power is the way, and the result is... the effort of them both.'
   He smiled toward Cog. It had been quick enough that it should have sidetracked him successfully.
   'However, in my case, the knowledge is really just there. I can't use traditional magic, with all the flashes and fires, as I've... changed the nature of my soul, rather than my knowledge,' Stygian continued, and then stood, picking up the chalk again. 'You, however, I think have not limited yourself in soul but in heart. Which, in effect, is just the same, only it has to be broken in some other way.' He began drawing on the floor, next to the other circle, a much more complex set of lines and symbols.
   'You seem to have a loathing for mages and wizards. I'd normally try and direct your attention to others who possess even more unjust power. But I don't think that'd solve the problem, really,' the bat continued, made a little glance toward Mel up on the walkway, and then smirked up at Cog, finished with the circle. 'It's not the people that you hate.'
   Suddenly, he pressed his palm down in the middle of the new circle, and the sudden flare of darkness, like black light, blue and purplish toward the edges, dazzled the wolf's eyes for a second.
   When Cogidubnus could see clearly again, the whole of the library seemed somehow to have darkened, the view through the windows obscured behind a murky tenebrum. That was not all that was amiss though. He could feel it.
   'The people you loathe, sure. But it's not them that you hate. And do you know why, miss?' he said. 'Because while you're but a swordsman, there is something that lets those people do nasty things like that.'
   The bat's hand stretched out and pointed toward Mel, who was suddenly a bit more than half of her full real size and clinging to the side of the bookcases in the wall.

- -

Letting her fully formed wings slump and looking down again, Gina sighed and clenched the sheets again.
   'The gate is closed, for now. This place is still very close to the darkness, but... There's nothing pulling it down anymore. I'm just...' she said, and then sniffed. 'I'm not trapped anymore. But this place isn't safe either. I can feel it. There's much more... And something's coming, Bun. I can feel it.'
   Shivering slightly, the angel swallowed and looked toward the cat with wet eyes.
   'I have to stop this. I just have to. Even if I have to destroy this place...' she said, her voice trembling.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog listened carefully to Sebastian speak, and stood to follow him and watch as he drew the circle on the ground. He nodded to himself as he listened, filing the information away. This was useful to know, if nothing else.
He opened his mouth to object that he didn't quite hate mages as much since the whole curse debacle, when Sebastian suddenly pressed his palm into the center of the circle. A dark flare blossomed where he pressed into the stone floor, blinding Cog for just a moment as he recoiled. The darkness was infectious - the dark light seemed to permeate through his pores and seep into his skin and stay. It felt as though mud was being sucked into his skin, and then a feeling of brief heaviness.
Cog opened his eyes to a somewhat darker world. The light from the candles seemed not nearly so bright, and the sky outside was much dimmed, even from it's stormy outlook. The flashes of lightning that crawled across his vision were not nearly as vivid...and there were other things, also. As the bat spoke on, Cog looked at himself. He felt...himself, flush just a little bit. He looked back up at the bat with narrowed eyes.
"You're not making your point very well, sir. This is supposed to make me hate it less?" Cog took a single unsteady step towards the bat. "This is hardly inducive to a cheery outlook."
Cog walked up to the edge of the circle and stopped, sparing a glance at Mel quickly before turning back to the bat. "I've made myself plenty clear about what I dislike, good sir. I hate idiots that use magic poorly. Which, to my knowledge, is almost all of them." Cog crossed his arms. "Thus far, you're not really helping your case, either."

[Stygian]

The bat tilted his head, looking both bemused and confused. He hadn't expected immediate success, but that reaction...
   'My case? I'm not trying to help anything. This...' he said, pointedly walking close and pointing the wolf in the chest, 'this is revenge for earlier. Sweet revenge, really.' His smirk was as acerbic as ever as he looked at Cog, head still tilted a bit sideways. 'I've much time to spend, using this and working out this place,' he continued, gesturing at the darkness. 'And in the process I can toy around; see what's fun, and not just what's on the itinerary.'
   Chuckling lightly, the bat turned and walked back toward his chair. He had to get the wolf angry. It was a perfect opportunity to reach two results; firstly, remove his blockage and get him to really draw upon that power; secondly, to get him off his tail for a while.

[Boog]

Jeremiah was surprised by the flash, to say the least. One, because he hadn't been keeping an eye on Stygian, and two, because afterwards he looked up and saw a big heavy dragon clinging to the bookshelf above him. With a noise not entirely unlike "Yike!" He gathered up his books and notes and moved to another table, setting things up the way he liked them.
While he lacked the power to really ever be a truly powerful magic user, at least his study habits were arcane and unfathomable. An old joke back when he would teach was that if one were to move one of the stacks of papers on his desk two small but occultically significant inches to the left, it was quite possible to summon Cthulu himself. Just a joke, but he'd never once found his papers disturbed. Stacks of books and papers were arrayed haphazardly at best on the table as he flipped through "The workings and maintainance of hexes."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog's face tightened, eyes narrowing under shaded lenses. He briefly considered tackling the pompous ass, but stopped dead in his tracks.
"Revenge?"
Cog let his arms drop to his side and stood still, listening to the rest of the bat's tirade with only half an ear. His face was inscrutable, although his posture was somewhat slack. Even after the bat finished ranting, he said nothing, standing still for a long time. He took a deep breath, as though about to sigh - when his eye caught the bat simply sitting in his chair, the same acerbic grin on his face. He instead snarled, and nearly drew the sword from his hip.
"Fun? Oh, well! Wouldn't want to ruin your fun, you bastard!" Cog's knuckles were white as they clenched his blade. "Revenge? How the hell do you figure that! It's somehow my fault you got your gender bent?! Oh, wait! I know! Perhaps you resented my making advances on you while you were drunk off your ass! Oh, wait - " Cog's voice dripped with acid. "I forgot. That was you!"
Cog clenched his hand reflexively, glaring daggers at the bat, and let go of the sword. "I must admit, turning you into a chair is only slightly less appealing than throwing one at you right now. Who knows? Maybe a good bit of fury is what I need right now." Cog sneered at the bat, taking a step towards him.
Though Cog did not see it, the hand that had been clenching his sword was sparking with electricity as it rested at his side. He continued to walk towards the bat, oblivious.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Okay I think, Com'on then" says Bambi, sensing the building magic as well as Gina's growing fear.  She did not stop to get dress. but She jumps out of bed and wills the growth of a leaf dress to grow out of her fur.  It is still not covering her fulling more a mini skirt and bikini top covering her front.....

"Gina, WE will do our best to save our friends and save the world.  I know, you save us before.. down in the pit.  Please, do so again.  And I promise we will go into town for an ice cream if we live." says Bam as she heads to the library and the greatest source magical disturbances

PBH

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel was standing amidst the stacks, smiling softly in memory as she paged through a book about the enchanting of magical objects. She had known the author and could hear his voice in the printed word. All of a sudden an odd feeling crept through her, it was like her magic was suddenly outside her control. She felt herself sizeshifting without doing it herself. Luckily she only went to half her natural size, about twelve foot. Unluckily that was still about twice the size of the intended occupants of this library and the nearby bookcases ended up in the same state as the ones below, toppling with a series of crashes and a rain of books to the floor, some even making it to the floor below. They weren't the only thing in danger of ending up on the floor below, Mel felt the decking creak dangerously beneath her as her weight increased. She clung to the bookcase bolted to the outer wall, trying to shift some of her weight from the floor. Flight was out of the question, she was hunched over just to fit between the tiers and could no longer fit through the space between the railing and the next tier. She tried and tried to get her sizeshifting back under her own control but it was locked away from her. "Not funny. Property damage happening here. Stop it."

[Stygian]

The darkness promptly receded, and not a moment too soon, the magic sort of snapping back under Mel's control. It had only been a distraction, though not a good one, apparently. And for the moment, Stygian's attention was on Cog. Just a bit more fury, and then the next step would be to hold it and focus it somewhere else. Silas would have loved this, he thought. But so would all the others as well...
   'I let you people stay here. I chose to confide in you, after years of imprisonment and misery, and what do I get in return?!' he snapped back at Cog, in a manner he never normally would. He was speaking his mind, in a way, but wasn't acting anything like he should; no arguing, no points, no perspective. All to get the wolf's blood up. 'I get smacked around, ridiculed and treated like some menial butler!' he snarled, standing and pacing over to the wolf with hard steps. His black eyes seemed to bore their gaze into Cog's.
   'You don't know how lucky you are. Had things been just a little different, I would have killed you and left in a heartbeat,' he seethed, his voice half a purr, half a snarl. Tiny lines of black and crawling movements across his skin were clearly visible to Cog's eyes, and there was something almost palpable about the darkness now, something that the wolf could feel, like a pressure building.
   'I am still considering,' Stygian growled, glaring.

[Aisha deCabre]

While the others seemed to distance themselves from the events, both Aisha and Rynkura (one more so than the other) kept their attention on what Sebastian was doing.  The tigress peered over the table she was sitting on, listening in as the bat answered Cogidubnus's curious--if not eager--inquiries.  She had to admit that it was interesting, as well as the proficiency that their host had with it; that part, she wasn't at all surprised about.  But at the sudden flare, and the skin-crawling feeling of darkness encompassing the room, she was reminded why the particulars of that art wasn't her kind.  Rynkura could only silently hope that the explorations would be more or less harmless, as she turned her head to glimpse a book sitting open next to her.

...So much for the hope.  Before long, an argument had sparked between the curious wolf and the bat, one which the tigress stayed out of.  She hadn't been there to see anything between any of the party members.  Aisha, meanwhile, had.  The panthress tilted her head and uncrossed her arms, perplexed at the sudden explosion of attitude, and looked about to interject...until a loud creaking from above caught her attention instead...the dragon, growing again, and a little late she noticed.  Her eyes widened.  "Mel!"

Rynkura watched as the panthress hovered near the stairs to the upper level until things seemed to feel normal.  The tiger didn't call her student back; the girl was careful enough, and it wasn't at all her place here to throw commands...or questions for that matter.  Instead her eyes settled on the other two, wondering about the real source of the commotion.  She kept the staff in her grasp, shifting a little uneasily in her seat...perhaps things would settle themselves, and if not...

[Sunblink]

Upon Stygian's request, Keaton breezed through the library, busily gathering the books he needed and setting them in a neat little tower on the table. For someone who was recently and partially inebriated, Keaton seemed to be in a much better mood than she was last night, as most of her guilt and feelings of inadequacy had been alleviated. Still, she continued to turn over Stygian's new nickname for her in her head: 'sweets'? Certainly better than some of the epithets that people had dubbed her with in the past (such as 'bitch,' 'sadistic she-hound,' and other unmentionables), so she didn't complain.

Well, now what? Finding nothing else notable to do, Keaton swiped a slice of bread off of the food assembled on the table and took a bite into it, murring quietly. She had forgotten how nice simple food tasted. Taking a seat, Keaton picked up a book, flipping through the pages and fidgeting, occasionally drumming her fingers silently against the hardcover surface of the book.

Cogidubnus and Stygian seemed to be having a conversation of some sorts. Glancing up from her book, Keaton tried to act as inconspicuous as possible, mostly in case something went horribly, horribly wrong. And it did. One moment they were talking rather casually, the next minute Stygian had pointed to Mel, triggering a strange and unexpected transformation in her: her height rocketed up similarly to how it did when her draconic heritage was revealed, only not to the extent that it was before. Altogether dropping the book, Keaton bolted out of her seat as the dragon struggled to regain her footing.

"Shit! Mel!" Keaton exclaimed, running past the shouting Cogidubnus and Stygian after Aisha, to the stairs. Her wing-tentacles began to unravel from her wings, extending to a whip-like length.

Their argument was getting borderline violent, and if worst came to worst and a fight broke out, Keaton juggled with the idea of intervening. She had never fought Cogidubnus, but she had been subdued in the past by Stygian when she was possessed by their arachnid antagonists. Chances were that she would lose to the chiropteran. But he wouldn't kill her...

...would he?

Not that that mattered right now. They needed to help Mel.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe had been listening to a little of what was said between Cog and Stygian, and a few things had caught her ear. Was Cog a werewolf? And what did Stygian mean, "changed the nature of his soul"? Well, she didn't want to interrupt them; questions could be asked later. She went back to looking at book titles, finding one on basic magic and one with Braille dots on the spine. She had just started to take them off the shelf when the dark flash happened.

"The hell?" she said, stepping towards the place where Stygian and Cog were. What had happened was unexpected, but not as bad as some things that had gone on here. Mel was suddenly much bigger, almost full-size Ketefe guessed, and Cog and Stygian were fighting about something - not physical just yet, but she suspected it would be soon. Strangely enough, although he sounded angry, the bat seemed the calmer of the two. Something was altogether strange about the fight, but that wasn't the main concern right now.

Ketefe half-ran towards Mel, not really sure of what to do but knowing she should help somehow. "Mel?! You okay?" she called, hoping the dragon was alright.

[Cogidubnus]

  "Confide!" Cog practically screamed, his voice barely recognizable, and his face was contorted in a snarl. "You have confided nothing, except how much of an, an annoyance we all are! Selfish bastard! We should have let you rot on that stick!"
Cog let the bat finish, his fingertips still sparking and crackling. But as the bat began to whisper to him, the wolf began to shake just slightly, both of his hands clenching and unclenching. His shades, slid down his nose just slightly, revealed his eyes, and they stared out at the bat in pure hatred, the gleaming yellow a compliment to the gleaming white fangs beneath them.
"If things had been a little different...." Cog choked, and the werewolf, normally given to such calm and dignity, so much more suited to peaceful reflection than unbridled emotion, growled - his face contorted with rage and more than a little sadness as he snarled, a sound of complete and utter fury. "Oh, by all means sir - if you wish to kill me, please. Just try."
Cog looked down and finally noticed his hand arcing with ropes of lightning, and drew back a moment before grinning bitterly. "Oho! It seems you were correct! Bastard."
Cog again growled savagely and lunged forward, both hands on his blade - but instead of drawing it, he simply slammed the pommel into Sebastian's nose, knocking the bat backwards. He let go of the sword quickly, one hand pushing the blade deep into his belt, and the other moving in quick, arcane passes as lightning crackled over the digits - and in time with a thundercrack from outside, a thick arc of lightning flew from his fingers at the bat as he drew his sword, charging him.

[Stygian]

That was the cue! Stygian felt the magic surge, and while wild and raging, fluctuating in strength some, it did not waver. A perfect result. Of course, before he could find his composure again and speak, he was faced with the wolf's wrath. And while he'd seen much of his moves up until then, he wasn't prepared for quite such an assault.
   Stygian flew back and hit the edge of the heavy table hard, being knocked down on the floor, his broken nose spilling wet blackness. He snarled in pain and immediately snapped his eyes back at Cog. In the second between that the wolf's sweetened features turned into a twisted snarl and she flashed out a lightning bolt at him, he pushed off the floor and somersaulted back in a smooth arc, continuing the movement with a dash to the side. He felt the lightning slash, the skin and fur on his right arm sizzling and stinging with it. But he was already at Cog's side, black claws extended and ready to brace the first sword strike. Not that he intended to give her the opportunity though.
   His elbow hit the wolf in the chest hard, knocking Cog back as he himself had been. And with that done, he had the time to move he wanted. Darkness tore out and took shape, ripping and flowing beneath and around him. His shirt and hair rustled as if in a breeze.
   'Stop it!' the bat snarled, his voice already twisting as his veins blackened, just as his teeth and mouthflesh. 'I've proved my point!'

[Cogidubnus]

 "You have proved nothing! the wolf screamed, his very countenance seeming to alight as he steadied himself, one arm around his gut. Lightning crackled from his hands and flowed from the edge of his blade, the wisps of electricity sometimes snaking out from the sword to fade into the air.
"What?" Cog stared into the blackness, his eyes still gleaming. "Oh my! 'The horrible wolf has proved my point? Look at him, slapping me around? The one I confided in, look how he repays!" Cog snarled, suddenly standing straight. "Betrayed!" Cog mocked, his voice venomous. "I knew it all along!"
Cog's voice seemed to twist suddenly, not quite the tenor the wolf normally had. His eyes gleamed ferally. "You're not fooling anyone."
Cog spat at the shadow, and faster than the eye could see brought the sword up and struck, the blade a arcing, silver crescent. Lightning flashed from the sword, and underneath his breath the wolf had started chanting, a sudden feeling of ozone and a strange prickliness surrounding the area. As he brought the sword up in a flowing block, he extended one hand to the storming heavens, a ominous rumble echoing through the chamber.