The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Stygian]

At first, the bat didn't speak. She just watched the others leave the room, still with her arms crossed under her breasts and with a very slight frown on her face, ears slanted. Only when the last back receded out the door and it swung closed did she speak, and the jackal could see that her shape was already shifting, her skin crawling and practically turning itself inside out from her feet and up, turning black before taking on a new form. His old one, fortunately.
   'Not quite the reaction that I had hoped for, but at least they're gone. And I think they'll be glad to grab a few more drinks later now...' Stygian said, voice changing mid-sentence, looking a bit distraught. He turned back to Keaton. 'Talk, yes. You were worried that it would be about something else?' He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog nodded at the dragon, a smile on his face. "Oh, I see. Thank you. That could get quite embarrassing." he said, giving her a grin before dashing out the door. He barely felt the cold in the round anteroom beneath Sebastian's new bedroom, and probably not just because of the drinks. Still.
He allowed himself to relax again, taking deep breaths of the chill night air as he followed the others back downstairs. He resisted the urge to sit down in a corner somewhere for a moment and continued to follow the others. He'd find a room to collapse into later.

****

When they got downstairs, Cog quirked an eyebrow and simply leaned back into a wall, mildly surprised. It would seem they had attracted some attention with the stunts in the town. College students were already daring each other to come up here. He sighed.
"I see. Well. If you want to stay, we're not going to stop you. Mister...?"

[Sunblink]

Unconsciously, Keaton felt herself smirk at what Stygian said next. Not quite the reaction he had hoped for? Was he expecting to scare her then? Ah well, now wasn't the time to speculate over the inner machinations of Stygian's mind. As aforementioned, she did intend to speak to him at some point, whether she was prepared or not. After all, she needed to eliminate this barricade one way or another.

Keaton set her hands on her hips, feeling infinitely grateful that Stygian had opted to transform back into his original state rather than morph into some indescribable monster. It was unnerving that he had decided to transform right in front of her, but the results were much more fortunate than she had originally predicted.

"Well..." Keaton scratched behind her head. "I wanted to talk about our, uh... little unpleasant run-in at the town. I did some thinking after talking to Cog, and I realized..."

Keaton sighed, then looked away, appearing slightly shamefaced. "I guess I didn't really stop to consider your situation. Far from it. And now that I think about it this is no different from me, well... stealing souls and devouring them." She ran her hand through her hair, sighing again, although much more heavily. "And yeah, I've done that, for the record..."

Keaton then shook her head, swatting some strands of dirty blonde hair from her face. "But anyway. I just think I have been jumping to conclusions about this. And like I said, not stopping to think about your situation."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The bat nodded and closed his eyes, chuckling a bit at Keaton's response and comments. 'It's not merely about souls. I need to feed on life and on power,' he said. 'It takes a whole lot for me just to sustain myself. The natural equilibrium of things means that I have to expend power just to stay in this world. If I don't devour life, I slowly wither back into the darkness.' He made a short, bitter laugh. 'You know, in fact this isn't even my original body. That one was destroyed. Right now I'm just clinging to existence as well as I can.'
   Strolling over the floor and sitting down at the end of the messy bed, Stygian bunched his fingers and took a brief pause, looking slightly depressed. 'And then there's my own power, of course. You cubi are fortunate enough to be able to feed yourselves well on emotions. But I can't, and I'm a veritable blast furnace when it comes to power turnover.' He sighed and licked his lips shortly. 'But there are few alternatives if I wish to keep going.'
   There was another pause, longer this time, and more awkward, before Stygian took word again. 'Still, that wasn't really the most awkward situation here,' he said, a smirk reappearing on his face and his fangs glinting as he fixed his pinpricked, gleaming pupils on Keaton.

[Sunblink]

There was a period of lingering, tense silence over where Keaton stood, an almost contemplatively solemn look on her face as she absorbed the first words Stygian spoke. Releasing a heavy sigh, she blinked, then looked up at Stygian over the rims of her glasses, just where color broke away into colorblind dissolution in her right, injured eye and the world became suffused in monochromatic, static-garbled hell-world.

"Well that offers a bit of a new perspective," Keaton said, massaging her temples. "I didn't think at first that you actually needed to do that..." For a minute, Keaton looked genuinely ashamed of herself, maybe sympathetic, until she realized that Stygian might not appreciate being pitied and managed to curb her expression into something more neutral. "And I didn't think that I was fortunate about the fact I could simply feed on emotions. I guess I..."

A weighty sigh. Keaton glanced back down into the lenses of her glasses, color restoring to her right-eye vision. "Yeah. I owe you an apology there."

However, when Stygian slipped in his final remark, Keaton burst into a quick fit of laughter. Even so shortly after such a period of shocking awkwardness she still found the concept amusing, or at least when Stygian presented it in such a manner. "Okay, true that," Keaton admitted, wiping away a restrained tear from her left, organic eye. "True that."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

As Keaton decided to show an obvious ease about the subject, Stygian allowed himself to laugh along with her a bit, though far from as strongly. 'Yeah,' he said, a bit distantly, and Keaton almost thought she could see a slight redness to his cheeks. 'Well, what do you expect? You lock yourself up for a century, and you'll see how much you'll start to crave company.' He chuckled, then looked at her, his face a bit more serious. 'I hope that it's not a problem. I mean, I'm... Really. I just needed to... get it out. If you have anything against it...'

[Cogidubnus]

 Before the rat could respond to his query, Cog cursed something under his breath and pushed himself off the wall, his making a small bow. "Excuse me."
He turned and walked back towards the stairs, coat whipping just a bit behind him. He'd forgotten to get his knife back from Mel, and the dragon had probably set it down back somewhere in the room. He still wanted to see if he couldn't enchant the thing - he'd catch the rat's name later.
A few minutes and some stairs later, he found himself climbing up the spiraling tower towards Sebastian's bedroom, fighting off the chill in earnest. Rain still pattered off the windows, and he wrapped his coat a bit tighter around himself. The cold was starting to bite again, despite the previous warmth and the drinks. He hurried softly towards the room, pausing just before he opened the door, ear twitching.
Keaton was talking to the bat - something she needed to do, really. He lifted his hand away from the knob, and leaning against the wall, waited for them to finish.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The dragon followed the adventurers at a slightly more sedate pace, content to let those with swords go ahead. She arrived in the main hall just as the wolf decided to make a return trip up the stairs and to see Rynkura disappearing into the shadows that led back to the library. She had caught the fact that the child standing before Aisha was both the source of the noise and was planning on staying a while. Mel rolled her eyes as she stepped up beside Aisha, children did such reckless things. The same stunt just two days ago would have left him dead already. She smiled at the rat, which probably wasn't as reassuring as she believed, particularly coupled with the fact that since the threats in the village she had altered her height to a number closer to six foot than five. "What is your name?"

[Angel]

Ketefe admired the bracelet for a second longer after Mel described its magic, then tied it around her left wrist with her right hand and teeth. Then she followed the others downstairs to see who the new person was.

To her partial surprise, it was a rat who looked to be about the same age as her. He looked a little punkish, but Ketefe wasn't really one to judge by appearance when she herself was constantly masked. She let the others question him, but nodded a greeting to the newcomer.

[lucas marcone]

"Ian." He said more confidently he was hopeing nobody would try and kill him but they wouldn't have bothered learning his name first. "Nice set up you got here. Has a 'rustic' thing going for it. You could throw a kickass rager in this place."

[Angel]

Ketefe walked up to Ian. He seemed like a nice guy, but he looked tense, and she knew why. "Well, that wouldn't be our decision. We don't own this place; we're all just guests for the time being. I'm Ketefe, and since we're all thinking it, I'm gonna go ahead and say it." She looked him in the eyes. "We won't kill you if you don't kill us. Okay?" She held out her hand and smirked.

[lucas marcone]

"A pleasure." He did an over the top bow and kissed the hand. Obviously makeing fun of the romantic movies and yet being sincere in the same fashion.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel shook her head a bit at Ian's display.  "Pleased to meet you Ian. As Ketefe said we are guests here ourselves, but the host should show up in some unpredictable manner at some unexpected time." She looked him over. The rain must have slowed down quite a bit since their excursion to town as he was only a bit damp and bedraggled. "Come down to the kitchen where it is warmer and get dried off. There was both coffee and tea there earlier." She turned and started down the hall, "I'm Melodie Icewing, generally known as Mel."

[lucas marcone]

"Greetings Mel" Ian was glad to be welcomed in....the longer he stayed the more of an excuse he had to scare the crap out of his room mate. for this reason Ian turned off his phone and disabled the voicemail.

[Sunblink]

Halfway through forcing herself not to laugh and not to smirk, Keaton started to forget how tense the atmosphere enveloping both her and Stygian's surroundings was. At least she was able to laugh at something which was formerly so borderline heart-stopping a few mere moments after it had occurred, that was a good thing. The next moment Stygian spoke Keaton managed to pluck herself out of her temporarily lightened mood, at least enough to address what he had said.

Of course, it was enough to nearly make her burst out laughing again (at least his comment about wanting "company"), but she was able to curb her chortling and muster an indifferent shrug. "Well, uh..." she reached up and scratched behind her head, looking off to the side with a vibrant, pink blush flushing her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess that's understandable."

Probably not the reaction he was looking for, but hey, she deserved a gold star for her effort at self-restraint. Go Keaton, you're on a roll.

The next thing Stygian said just made her raise an eyebrow. "Against it? What do you--" Keaton blinked, then snickered. "Oh. Well..." Again, Keaton compulsively scratched behind her ear, making it flicker and twitch reflexively. "The only reason I had freaked out before was that I had walked in on it. Personally, I have nothing against it."

At least, now that she knew Stygian wasn't going to devour Cogidubnus alive.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe blushed and snickered good-naturedly at Ian's exaggerations. It was nice to have someone normal around at last, though she wondered whether he'd stick around after he saw how chaotic everything here could get.

Then she realized something. One element of that chaos was noticeably absent - and had been for quite some time.

"This is a weird question, but does anyone know where Bam went?" she asked the room at large.

[Stygian]

The bat nearly raised an eyebrow at Keaton's response. The blush he could understand, though it was unexpected from a Cubi. It didn't seem much like she'd gotten the full meaning of his words.
   'I was speaking of interest, Keaton,' he said. 'I've been looking for some comfort, but I'm pretty much fine now, and if I am in your way...' He turned his face down, eyes hiding behind his blond bangs for a moment. The smirk on his face when he looked up didn't seem forced, but it was rather sudden. 'Well, I think you'd only have to turn on that cubi charm of yours.' He showed a brief flash of teeth. 'And you would probably have fun while at it. He's a bit stiff sometimes, but real nice.'

[Sunblink]

At first Keaton wasn't entirely sure what Stygian meant by "speaking of interest," so she decided hesitantly to leave that statement unattended. The vivid crimson blush had cleared from Keaton's cheeks within a few moments, leaving a soft afterglow of red in its wake. Ears pricked as Stygian lowered his head, speaking. "In her way"? What was THAT supposed to mean?

Stygian glanced back up, wearing a smirk on his face. Keaton blinked, then barked out a laugh. "Turning on the Cubi..." Keaton shook her head again, albeit much more slowly. She couldn't help it, the idea was just so amusing. The closest attempt to seduction Keaton had ever mustered involved an unfortunate calamity in which some poor soul had tried to hit on her in a bar--she had laughed, led him on, and five minutes later she had nearly broken his jaw. Bad habit, most likely.

"Uh, hardly?" Keaton scratched behind an ear, smirking. "I'd probably have him wrapped 'round my finger without even trying, but hey..." That was mostly her being egotistical while simultaneously joking, obvious from the easygoing smirk on her muzzle. "I'm not really looking. In all seriousness though, you're not in my way or anything."

Five-hundred-nineteen years old and single. What a world.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The sarcasm of her tone was hardly lost on Stygian, but Keaton's remark did seem rather puzzling though, mostly because the smirk which was supposed to mean one thing was a bit hard to read, considering that she had been laughing and smirking just before. The bat's smile dimmed, and he tilted his head to the side, blinking once. For a moment he sat, just looking at her like that, pondering her reaction and her blush. Had he just pricked something there?
   Slowly, Stygian stood up, and casually walked over to the table, making himself another drink, face down and blank. 'Well...' he began, trying to think of what to say next. He had a shot at finding something out here, but he had nothing specific to go on. To get her to open up, he had to get her interested, or too off-balance to be careful. Turning against her again, he sipped his glass, and strolled toward her.
   'You know, usually I'd take that as a bet, but... Well, I'm trying to change,' he said and smiled. Making the impression of warming up to her was key. She didn't seem the most socially adept, so that might well faze her a bit. 'I've behaved enough like an idiot to last me the whole month. So I'll try to be nice from now on.' He chuckled, a low sound that had smoothed out along with his speech, calm and purring.
   It was when he stopped up close to her and took another sip of his drink that it really hit Keaton, as if her senses had been clouded or he had made some effort to hold it back up until then, played crude and sour and fiendish to hide it. Stygian really was beautiful. His muscled and hard but smooth-lined physique, his velveteen and unblemished fur, the contrast between his dark-eyed gaze and his flawlessly shaped, pale predatory face, his very body language; all were so naturally handsome that it was hard to believe that she hadn't remarked them to herself, even less noticed them yet. A slip of teeth showed in his smile and she could see that they too were as impeccable, sharp and fiendish though they were.
   'But as I said, go ahead if you want to. I suspect you would do well,' he said, a murr that made hairs stand on end. 'He's a wolf, after all. Show him a soft spot and he'll hump it, just like any other puppy.'

[Aisha deCabre]

"Ian, huh?" Aisha muttered as the newcomer introduced himself to the group, settling down a bit when he saw that nobody was going to be very hostile.  The panthress even had to roll her eyes a bit at the rat's charming attitude towards Ketefe.  First appearances were always deceiving, of course, but what she saw before her most likely was just a child...if not in age then in attitude.  Should've expected people coming up to the "haunted" castle on dares.

Still, people were people, guests were guests.  Aisha just uncrossed her arms and nodded her polite greetings along with the others.  "Yeah, make yourself comfortable and watch out for bats," she smirked.

Seeing that the storm had picked up and it was getting to be night outside, Aisha really hadn't a thought on where else to go...perhaps spend some time with Rynkura in the library, or just go to bed...the drink hadn't made her that tired.  Her ears quirked upon hearing Ketefe's inquiry though.  "Bam?  Huh...last I heard, she was in the library."

"She went outside," a deeper voice entreated, before a familiar pair of emerald eyes peered from the shadows.  Aisha snorted.  It was just like Rynkura to have stayed and kept an ear on the conversation.  The adventurer finally heard the tiger's footsteps as she returned to the interior of the library.

"Out in the storm?"  She muttered, shaking her head and fingering her new amulet...that was something to get used to, having a trinket wrapped around her neck.  "Chica's gonna get hit with lightning."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel led the way to the kitchen where she found the tea and cookies missing. She guessed that the tray had gone with Rynkura to the library. But both the tea kettle and the percolator with the remaining coffee were staying warm on the back of the stove so they should be able to make do. "Grab a mug of whichever you prefer, and get yourself warm. We have cookies if I remember where I put them."

[Sunblink]

"He's a wolf, after all. Show him a soft spot and he'll hump it, just like any other puppy."

Well if that wasn't the best line Keaton had heard all day, she didn't know what was. If it weren't for the sudden revelation about Stygian's appearance Keaton probably would've mustered another smirk, but instead, taking advantage of the absence of the lopsided leer she desperately wanted to create, she felt her cheeks go ablaze with bright, erubescent sanguine. That was the problem with her--instead of being bestowed with a frightfully feminine accent such as peach-pink for her blush, Keaton had a much more conspicuous blood-red. It was almost like tattooing a giant, embarrassing "NOTICE ME" sign right on her face.

"Uh..." Keaton blinked, ears lying flat back and eyes attempting to shift in an opposite direction, preferably towards a very interesting groove in the wall. She failed, still finding her eyes inexplicably locked onto his. "Y'know, I was kidding about that, Sebastian..." she said with a slight amount of uneasiness to her voice, face still afire. Shakily, she forcibly attempted something akin to a confident grin. "Really."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 A few scant moment after Keaton spoke, an audible click snapped through the stone room, startling and turning the heads of both the Jackal and the Bat. The knob dipped down as the door swung outwards, letting in a cold draft of air from the outside - Cog's boot made a soft footfall as he stepped through the doorframe, stopping just a little way inside
Keaton he mostly ignored, his yellow eyes instead staring at the Bat. No tears fell from his eyes, although from the wet stripes on his cheeks, it was obvious some had fallen. His body shook for a moment, his eyes soft as he met the Bat's eyes, and almost made as if to speak - but before a sound left his throat, Cog clenched his jaw, and he stopped shaking as his body tensed. His eyes grew hard, the yellow orbs staring at the bat with hatred.
He turned to Keaton. "Don't worry. You don't need to hide your pillows. I'm not that sort of fellow." he said, his fiery eyes brushing past Sebastian as he walked past, picking up the knife Mel had left on the table. He walked stiffly, and after staring at the little thing for a moment simply held it in his hand as he walked back out.
"I needed my knife." he said, walking past the both of them. Without another word, he opened the door and slammed it behind him, steps echoing as he descended the staircase down.

[lucas marcone]

"I'd better not have coffee. You know how rats get with our high matabalism and all" He said pouring himself a cup of tea. "You said we're all guests, Who is the host is what I'd like to know. I guess I'll find out later. In all honesty I didn't even want to come in at first. I already have a criminal record for 'hacking the school computers' though I was just getting rid of a bug I found. Didn't want to add breaking and entering to it."

[Stygian]

His mouth still slightly open and his ears tensely standing, Stygian stood and looked after the wolf for a few very long seconds. For a short while, things became as dreamily distant and unreal as whenever something terrible happens, the shock detaching the bat almost completely as his mind raced. He wasn't sure whether if he was confused or utterly ashamed or afraid. It seemed as if he were seeing things through someone else's eyes. He couldn't have made such a terrible blunder again, could he?
   The slam snapped Stygian out of his paralyzed state, and brought a venomous sensation of guilt and despair to him. He started for the door, and Keaton could feel more than see him gripping the shadows to move faster.
   'Cog! Wai-' he began, but mid-stride his voice turned into a painful grunt as he shuddered and fell forward on one knee, hitting the floor hard, his left hand slapping the floor and his right clutching his chest as he shivered and hissed. 'Stop... please...' he croaked painfully.

[Sunblink]

At first Keaton wasn't sure how to react when Cogidubnus burst into the room. One part of her was relieved that she didn't have to listen to Stygian's response to her awkwardly presented statement. Another was hoping that he hadn't noticed her aforementioned uneasiness at all. Most of her, however, was screaming an endless tirade of shrieking curses and insults at how much of an idiot she was and how ridiculously sour her luck had become.

Motionlessly, she stared at Cog as he stormed past her and snatched up his knife from nearby, only beginning to move after he took a few steps past her. Apparently her body had taken its precious time in allowing her to move again. Such was her shock that she didn't even realize most of what the wolf had said--all that had processed at that moment was that he had been, apparently, crying, and she had fucked up badly.

"Cog, hold on a second!" she blurted, starting to move after him. Five milliseconds before her muscle gave the slightest twitch Stygian gave a very late reaction, starting to pursue the wolf after the door was slammed. He didn't get far--shortly after trying to gather up the shadows he had stumbled, falling painfully to the ground. Keaton snarle as yet another aspect deteriorated. "Oh SHIT!"

The jackal raced over to Stygian, kneeling down slightly so to look at the fallen bat. "Sebastian, what the hell happened?! You okay?!" Of course he wasn't, but damned if Keaton wasn't going to end up checking, one way or another.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Sebastian's cry fell on deaf ears. Through the wooden door and stone walls, the patter of rain outside and on the windows, and the despair covering the ears of the wolf, the cry never reached Cog's ears. The sound of tinkling metal falling on stone echoed through the cold chamber, the knife slipping from Cog's hand. Without sound, without word, he simply left, passing those in the lobby without comment as he walked through the main doors to the outside. The chilling, wet wind blew his hat off his head, depositing the thing inside just before the oaken doors closed - and then they shut.
And he was gone.

[Angel]

Ketefe was puzzled as to why Bam would've gone outside in this storm. Aisha was right, she was putting herself in slight danger now that the storm had picked up. She had just decided to go see if the fae was all right when a very upset-looking Cogidubnus left the castle, not even bothering to retrieve his hat when it blew off his head.

She found herself torn for reasons she couldn't explain. Go after Cog and figure out what the hell's the matter... or check on Bam. Go after Cog...check on Bam...Cog...Bam...

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right," she said under her breath. She waited to see how the others would react to the wolf's departure, her tail twitching with indecision.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel offered some cookies to Ian then took a mug of tea for herself. "Our host is Sebastian, but I think I will leave it at that. You can form your own impressions." She sampled one of the cookies before adding, "You were smart to not want to set foot in here. Two days ago the reception committee consisted of bats and spiders. The kind that left neither fur nor bone behind."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha hummed as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, watching as Mel became the host to invite Ian into the kitchen for food.  She watched the rat leave, shaking her head slightly.  He'll fit in, alright.  Huh, well I wonder where the others...

Her thoughts were interrupted as soon as the people in the front hall had started to disperse, and that was when Cogidubnus came trudging through the foyer with a curious demeanor about him; hurt, angry, what have guesses have you, he had it.  The panthress quirked one eyebrow, then the other in sudden concern when he opened the door and left into the darkness and the rain, lightning painting the sky white in small flashes.  All that was left behind was his hat...and she didn't even hear footsteps coming back for it.

"Well that's not like him..." Aisha muttered and kicked away from the wall, wondering what had gone on, how his demeanor had suddenly changed so.  The hat still lay on the polished floor, and she watched Ketefe look around in the traditional feline sense of indecision.  Aisha's own tail tip twitched...but she figured, on a day like this, nobody deserved to be out in it.  And there was nobody else left to try near the door, but them.

She nodded over to the masked felid and picked the hat up, pulling her cape hood over her head at the same time.  "Alright, friend retrieval duty.  I'll go after him.  You can go after Bambi," she offered, and then lost no time in passing through the large doors, her dark form blending in with the ominous night's shadows just perfectly.

Dashing down and splashing her bare feet in the puddles, rain pounding her back, Aisha thought for a moment that she had to use the speed feature on the amulet again...but that wasn't needed, for soon she happened to spot the canid's familiar outline not too far off the path.

"Cogi!  Hey!  Amigo!" She called after...but either the storm seemed to drown out her voice or he was focused on ignoring anyone who would come for him...his pace looked quite fast.  Her eyes narrowed, and that's when she used the speed feature.  A press on the amulet, and her feet flew fast enough for her to be mistaken as a dark red blur...a dizziness that was easy enough to get used to when one's focused.

Cogidubnus would see the blur rush past him, then brake a little ways in front of him, a figure in a cowl that hopefully looked familiar.  Or if not, at least the accented voice was, and the seemingly-glowing red eyes.  "Hey!  You know you left this behind?"  She said, holding it out in front of her.  "And it's probably none of my business, but I oughta ask what's wrong anyway."