The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Yugo]

Kaela grinned, downing the rest of her lager in a couple of large gulps, and wiped her mouth clean of foam. She felt strangely invigorated at the prospect of a decent fight, wondering if that was a particularly healthy thing to do. "What say we up the ante? All three of us in a circle, winner takes all." Flicking open a pouch at her stomach, she withdrew several crisp bills, raising them up as proof of their existence. "I'll put five hundred in the pot," she growled confidently, leering at Bart with bared fangs. "Unless of course you're afraid you'll be beaten by a couple of girls."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace snerked loudly at Bart's question. "I'm not nearly drunk enough t' lose t' a weedy shrimp like you... Shiny. As f'r soberin' up, why bother? Soon as th' grown-ups —" she waved one hand (not entirely accurately) to indicate herself and Witt "— are done here, we c'd get started." She grinned toothily, raised a hand to breathe on her unsheathed claws, and idly buffed them on her jerkin.

Her grin widened. "Assumin', o' course, y're still vertical an' not horit... horo... laid out flat in th' corner."

[Tipod]

"Oh hell yeah." Bart felt relieved knowing he wasn't the only one with paper cash. "I can put up something. Say about..." He rifled through his wallet. "...250 bucks. Three of us go in, one comes out richer and with all their limbs attached. By 'one,' I obviously mean 'me.'"

That one rational piece of his brain screamed that going up against two vicious animals was suicide. Don't do it, it cautioned, it's not worth having your throat ripped out. Why can't you just sit back and enjoy a couple drinks?
To which the larger, more boisterous part of his feeble mind replied, Shut up, you puss. They're just a couple broads.

"So all we gotta do is set up the terms. Some rules of engagement, where we throw down, all that."

[Boog]

Boog set out the drinks silently, Barts suggestions again served in fruit (this time a pomegranite, just to mix things up), "Yeah, you can challenge anyone to anything." He replied to his patron's query's, adding as an afterthought, "So long as they accept the challenge. That bit's important."

--

"Guy never shows up until everyone else is gone. Think he's shy, I've seen him skulking around the back a bit." Richard entered the medical ward after the Mechangel, his face even more unreadable than usual. "Probably a good idea; after the stunt you pulled out there she's pretty likely to rip your arm off and beat you with it, and I just might let her." The dead man walked over to the bed, unclasped Marya's gauntlets to get them off her. "These are just gonna get in the doc's way, better get 'em to the car..." Giving the angel another Look, Richard wandered back through the bar.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace looked at the armoured wolf speculatively. She's old, she thought, must be more 'n twice my age. Looks tough as nails, though, an' one heck of a fighter. Yeah, me, granny, an' Mister Optimist, should be a fun fight!

The lioness fought hard to keep a straight face when she saw what Bart's selection was being served in this time. "What's this, fruit juice?" she asked. "Bottoms up, then, kiddies." She picked up the pomegranate and tossed its contents down her throat in a single gulp. Then she coughed slightly, chewed for a moment, and swallowed something a little more substantial than tequila.

The bottle of 307 was next. She turned it back and forth for a moment before drinking, trying once more to see how the two loops of glass, one outside, one doubling back inside, curved round and met without actually making a hole in the side of the Klein bottle. As always, she soon went cross-eyed, gave up, shrugged and started chugging back the more-than-200-proof booze. She could taste it now, and her fur fluffed up several times as her badly confused tongue signalled some incredibly wrong guesses as to just what the stuff should taste like.

The lioness belched, a little quieter this time, and picked up the first of the two tiny glasses set out in front of her. She looked at Bart and smirked. "Hey, Shiny, don't f'rget y' scumble. It's good f' y' — puts hairs on y' chest! Look what it did f' me!" She brought her hand up and hooked a claw in the shirt lacing at her throat, pulling it down just enough to reveal a shadowy hint of furry cleavage.

Andrace snickered and took a miniscule sip from her own glass. Perhaps a little too much: her eyes bugged out, and she gave a single explosive cough. "Oh, that's good stuff," she wheezed with a barely audible squeaky whisper, "goes right t' th' back o' y' throat, don't it?" A single stray drop ran down one whisker and splashed on the bar top, where it dissolved the varnish and started to discolour the wood underneath. She finished off the rest of the innocent-looking liquid that was just apples... mostly... in even smaller sips, although her eyes were watering by the time she emptied the second glass.

[Yugo]

Kaela coughed softly, locking eyes with the huge lioness briefly. She found herself taking a rapid liking to the girl. She seemed derisive but genial, perhaps even out-and-out nice Overall, Andrace seemed like a friendly, although potentially quite frightening, person. The huge wolf stifled her laughter at Andrace's antics, amused by her combination of aggressiveness and playfulness.

Their companion was a completely different story.  He's got his head so far up his own ass it'd take a particularly painful thrashing for him to find it again, Kaela thought, shaking her head ever so slightly. Kaela had certainly seen arrogance before, as it was the most common vice among warriors, but rarely at such a ridiculous level. "Don't let too much of yourself go to your head, kid. Wouldn't want my new friend and I have to relay the news about how your head got so bloody big you went and broke your own neck before the fight started," Kaela chided him, rumbling with suppressed mirth.

Still chuckling, she extended a friendly to hand towards the now expectantly drunk lioness., holding it in a clear manner as not to visually confuse her. "I don't believe we've really met yet. I'm Kaela Silverstone. And you are Miss...?"

[Tipod]

Bart cocked up one eyebrow before quaffing the tequila, taking a bite out of the pomegranate as he finished up. Only after chewing and swallowing did he remember that the flesh wasn't the part you were supposed to eat. "...hair on my chest, huh?" Something told him Andrace wasn't keeping in the alcohol as solidly as he was. "How can you tell when you're already--" He stopped, realizing that it really didn't need any kind of explanation as he dumped the two small glasses of stiff applejack into his pomegranate. ...man, if I didn't know any better, I'd say this bartender's tryin' to say somethin' with these damn fruit cups.

Though as he locked eyes on the bottle of 307... he couldn't help but shudder in disgust. The agave was nice, and scumble went down smoothly enough (albeit with a slight rasping cough afterwards). The mystifying bottle of gut-rotting spirits, on the other hand, was just a little too much to deal with a second time around. "Okay, I'm out," he muttered and pushed the bottle aside gently. "Gotta keep a semi-clear head for a fight, or I prolly would slip and break my neck. Not 'cause my head's, like... big." Real smooth response. 'Sides, Spike's not tippin' at all. All these Goddamn drinks, and is he even buzzed yet? He mulled quietly, giving a casual glance to the iron-livered Witt.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Paladin put a hand out as the first heavy drops of rain fell from the clouds. "Oh I'm sorry did the little nightlight hurt you, you bastard? That's right go slink off and hide your kind always does!!"  He called into the gathering darkness.

Calling the sun spell back into himself, the Armored Wolf Incubus recalled his axe back into his hand. Bracing it against the shoulder Paladin walked into the ruined city.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt sniggered at Andrace' suggestion about "hair on her chest", and downed the tequila in one quick shot, followed by a careful drink of the first scumble shot, making sure to avoid getting any on his teeth.

He shuddered, closed his eyes, and cracked his neck.

"Ahh, that's just sweet. Good year, there." He nodded to the barthing, and threw back the second shot, before shuddering happily. "Mmmmmmm."

Eyes still shut, dreamy smile pasted across his muzzle, one paw swung out and captured the odd bottle, cradling it to his chest.

He shook himself, then, and opened his eyes, looking around at Bart. "You're out, then." He raised an eyebrow up at Andrace. "So, me girl, are you still in, or are you folding as well?" He took a drink of the ale, and waited for a response.

[Angel]

(OOC: Ah, my first post in God knows how long. Thank God for the occasional lurk.)

Sylvie waited for her drink, her mind a-whirl and giving her a slight headache. She hated alcohol, but elven wine being as mild as it was, it might help calm her nerves just enough.

Then she felt a familiar presence in the room. She looked up to see Stygian, acting ... very, very strange. He was grinning psychotically and almost drunkenly, giggling in a way befitting a true madman. The Green's eyes were wide with tension and confusion, and she looked almost as if she might leave the bar purely to avoid being anywhere near the man while he was in this state. She'd never seen him act like this before, and wouldn't have expected it of him at all. What's wrong with him?

Shortly after Stygian's re-entry, Piix walked in, and Sylvie's muscles tensed. Something was definitely wrong with the little alien as well. She was missing more than a few articles of clothing, stumbling almost like she was lost, but most distressing was the blank, vaguely distraught look on her face, like someone who has just witnessed a terrible accident. Sylvie's demeanor was now more conflicted; she wanted to find out what had happened to the other girl, but didn't want to leave her seat for fear of going near Stygian.

The final notable thing occurred when Piix brushed against the winged wolf she'd fought earlier. Pal had looked happy when he'd come back downstairs, but the moment Piix touched him, his expression changed. He looked upset, then shocked, then purposeful and furious. And all that fury was directed at Stygian, the latter only looking confused for a second before going into hysterics again.
Sylvie received her drink, but didn't care at all. She watched the scene unfold before her, the Boogeyman and Pal each giving Stygian a look that could have made a demon curl up and cry, and Boogey going to tend to Piix. Then Pal menaced Stygian and challenged him, but all the human did was laugh and zip out to the Circles.

The elf sat there, stunned and uncomprehending, unable to understand what had happened. Stygian must have done something terrible to Piix, but not having seen the little alien with Paladin earlier, she didn't understand the wolf's reaction. When they at last went out to fight, she watched the feed nearest her for a little while, and looked away when it got too horrible for her to watch. She drank her wine in three prolonged swallows, just barely noticing when several new people walked in. For a long time, she just sat there, glancing up at the fight occasionally, only to look away again and refocus her eyes on a groove in the table.

After a while, though, she couldn't stand the combination of normality in the bar and thoughts fluttering around her head. Her mind felt like a file cabinet someone had upended and opened, scattering papers everywhere, and the dissonance caused by the feeling outside her own mind was frustrating. She got up, not bothering to even stretch her legs after sitting for so long, and headed for the infirmary.

She didn't look at Andrea, knowing that any look would be misconstrued, and that she wouldn't be able to control it after what she'd learned about the psychic's history with Stygian. Instead, she turned to Dani's bed – and found the woman to be wide-awake, smiling strangely as usual. Unbeknownst to many, she had woken up right about the time when the drinking contest started. (No, there was no connection.)

Sylvie blinked, shook her head, and approached her friend. She was about to speak when Dani raised a hand and gave her a knowing look.

"Don't tell me. Things went batshit-insane for a while, and confused the hell out of you. But even though everything else is normal now, you're not. You're confused, scared, and upset, and feel out-of-place. So you need someone around to help you cope and maybe calm down a bit."

At first, Sylvie said nothing. Then, her expression changed to one of familiar bewilderment, as when a sibling beats you utterly at a video game for the fiftieth time in a row.

"...How do you DO that?" the elf asked incredulously.

Dani grinned toothily. "No offense, honey, but your emotions might as well be a neon sign on your forehead." She rubbed her legs briefly, and finding them nearly painless now, stood up. Of course, Sylvie still helped her get her balance, but she could walk with little difficulty.

"Before we go, though..." Dani spoke up suddenly, picking up her glaive. "...There's something I think I should do." The only warning she gave was to turn towards Giles. Then, fast as lightning, she swung her glaive's blade at the unconscious blackguard, hitting his armor with a loud and vehement clang! Just as quickly, her arms dropped to her sides and she shouted "HEY! WAKE UP!"

[SpottedKitty]

When Kaela introduced herself, Andrace smiled warmly, took the old wolf's hand in a firm grip, and gave a good hard shake. "Good t' meet y', Kaela, I'm Andrace Kithara." She glanced over her shoulder at Bart, grinned mischievously and winked. "Think we c'n take 'im without leavin' too much mess t' mop up? I'd say "hand him his tail", but th' poor dear seems t' be just a leeeetle bit... under-endowed that way." Her tone of voice might have been innocent — or at least, "not proven" — but the gleam in her eyes gave away her true mood.

The lioness made a satisfied little "hmph" noise and nodded in an "about time too" way when Bart threw in the towel. "Oh well," she said offhandedly, "if y' think y' need t' be sober t' fight a couple o' sweet little girls like Kaela an' me, go right ahead." She fluttered her eyelashes, smiled vacuously and struck a pose, in a valiant but hopelessly doomed effort to appear demure and innocent.

"Me? Fold? Hah, not by a long shot!" Andrace growled cheerfully in reply to Witt, "I'm still good t' go." She was definitely beginning to show the effects of her binge, though: she swayed very slightly on her stool, and her tail, which had swished about eloquently when she first sat down, now hung limp with only an occasional random twitch or flick. On the side of her muzzle, one whisker — the one that the drop of scumble had run along — slowly curled into a tight spiral.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt chortled cheerfully. "Ha! By the gods, a woman who can drink!" He slapped the bar, and waved the half-empty bottle in her direction. "So... Now that we've weeded out the lightweights, what say you and I get down and do some serious drinking? Pick another round."

He grinned viciously, yet cheerfully, up at Andrace, and downed the rest of the bottle, before placing it with the rest of the extremely large crowd of empties in front of him. Sadly for his accounting, as soon as he turned his back, the bar started clearing itself, the empty glasses cleaning and returning to their storage places.

[Yugo]

Kaela returned the sentiment, squeezing Andrace's hand tightly in greeting. The old woman grinned, her lips pulling back to reveal rows of gleaming white teeth, although there was no malice in the gesture. "The feeling is mutual, Andrace Kithara." She turned slightly, eyeing their bald and burly human companion. "I'm sure we'll do fine just as long as he isn't chunky salsa when we're through with him." A smirk plastered itself on Kaela face at Andrace's seemingly innocent comment. "Maybe he could help himself and us by letting his ego go to his tail instead of his head," she chuckled, her eyes twinkling knowingly.

Releasing Andrace's hand, Kaela took a seat back at her chair, letting the lioness and her prickly companion get back to their drinking competition. Her claws tapped an idle rhythm on the bar as she cast amber eyes over the short, stout hedgehog. There was most certainly something supernatural about him; Few people could drink so much alcohol and remain relatively unaffected. Briefly, she toyed with the idea that the man might be cheating, but the thought didn't seem to fit with his personality. He was too boisterous and lively, and his tolerance level went above and beyond mere alcoholism, although Kaela certainly didn't dismiss that as a factor. Whatever the case seemed to be, the wolf was content to sit and observe.

[techmaster-glitch]

Mechangel

   The half-machine Angel looked down at the injured [Marya] one last time as [Richard] spoke to him. If what he was saying about this apparently shy Doctor was true, then the Mechangel was no use here. The beam had partially cauterized [Marya's] flesh, but she needed emergency care if was going to recover.
   Shaking his head, he hurried out the door back to the Circles just after [Richard] left the room. The Mechangel scooped up his discarded cloak, and draped it around himself again, though this time he left the hood down. He returned to the Honor Circle bar, where he noticed several new patrons, all whom seemed to be involved in a drinking contest and planning a brawl in the Circles. Old habits die hard, so the Mechangel sat down and started observing these new individuals. However, he still felt a pang of guilt over what happaned to [Marya].
   After a few moments, he also noticed that the Insectis he had seen earlier was now, for some odd reason, walking in a small circle, and looked as if he had been doing so for some time...


Karazkt

   The Insectis in question was, in fact, a total confused wreck. He had gone to take care of the task given to him by the Xenoqueen, and for apparently no reason at all, had simply gotten up and left. Which left the Insectis in the aforementioned state. He couldn't figure out why she had just left like that. Was it something he did? Or didn't do? But that wasn't even the biggest problem. He was now without a Queen, and mostly without the ability to function otherwise as he had not properly detached from the Xenoqueen.
   The poor bug couldn't do much else than wander in a circle for almost an hour, completely oblivious to all the drama that had been occurring in the Honor Circle.

[Stygian]

From somewhere within the shadows emerged a sound that could only liberally be interpreted as words, hard and foul and dripping with rage. The alarming crackling in the sky was growing more intense, but it was not the only sound. Seething and grounding sounds were emerging from the shadows amid the ruined buildings, their outlines sharpened to razor edges by the bright, burning light. Agitated, they hissed and rolled, the blackness only giving so far to the light as it thickened.
   Suddenly, a tremor ran through the ground, and for a second Stygian's figure was visible as he rushed forward out of cover, his form hazy and thin, some sickly green light burning as he focused his effort. He was only in the light for a scant few moments, before the ground seemed to rise up with a shriek, monstrous forms emerging from the dark. Maws, talons, glaring eyes, teeth, stretching arms, barbed and wiry tentacles and skeletal forms rushed forward in a tidal wave, burning as they entered the light yet pressing on still through sheer fury and force. The light intensified the closer to its source, of course, and the advance seemed to slow fast enough that it would not reach all the way.
   Then, over the shrieking and roaring voices of the hideous figures, Paladin heard a ripping, rocky sound. And then, advancing fast from his front, Stygian's hateful voice.
   'SHUTTHEFUCKUPYOUCOWARD!'
   A fraction of a second passed as the burning shades parted, and that was all the warning the Cubi had before he saw another slab of concrete heading right at him like the front of a freight train.

- -

Andrea witnessed Sylvie's return to the infirmary with only a casual glance, paying more attention to her thoughts. There wasn't anything off or too much different or more significant than what she'd picked up earlier. The interaction between the elf and the newly awakened Dani was worth a little interest and approval, but other than that...
   The surprise came when Dani suddenly and noisily tried to rouse the blackguard laying beside them, and Andrea blinked, looking back and forth between her and the man. When he did not respond immediately, she muttered.
   'I am not sure he's going to wake up that easily...' she said.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace returned Witt's grin with a somewhat toothier one of her own. "Thought y'd never ask, Spike," she said, "now... lessee whasson offer..." The lioness turned her by now noticeably unsteady gaze towards the row of bottles on display behind the bar. The huge amount of drink she'd already put away was still working its way into her system, though, forcing her to make her movements slower and more deliberate. Her speech was affected too, but not to the point that her words came out in one long vowel movement. Not yet.

Finally Andrace grunted in satisfaction and pointed to an oddly-shaped bottle that looked as if it belonged in an old-fashioned chemist's shop. "That 'n... 's green."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt nodded. "Right you are. Two bottles of the green one, and two more of the one, oh, six to the left of it," he selected randomly.

The eight bottles - four each - arrived in short order; two of the green, chemist's nightmare bottles and two more made of obsidian. Although, on closer inspection, they made normal obsidian look dark grey. Short and square - a little like the hedgehog themselves - they squatted ominously on the bar, smoking gently.

"Down the hatch, then!" Witt chimed in, in cheery abandon, before upending the first green bottle over his gaping maw. It gurgled and glooped for quite a remarkably long time, as the bubbles and liquid exchanged places in the convoluted depths of the pipework. Eventually, the last drops sighed out, and Witt put the bottle back on the bar. "Aaah, that went down nicely, at last." He reached over to grab one of the obsidian bottles. His paw even closed on the bottle in question, before sliding off as if the bottle itself was greased. "What the-"

He tried again, with just as little success. "Oh." He let go - although that implies some sort of actual valid contact with the item in question - and shook his paw, hard, spreading the claws out. He then tried again. The claws made just enough contact to whine as they slid free. He blinked, tapped the bottle with one claw. It made a perfect chime, vibrating gently and moving about just a little. "That's a very nice bottle, there." He grasped the bottle around the neck, under the rim, and, carefully gripping the bottle, moved it over in front of him, took a drink, and put it down again. All very, very, carefully.

"Now that, there, is one slippery little bottle." he opined. "Almost as slippery as the drink in it, in fact..."

[SpottedKitty]

"Two?" Andrace muttered very quietly to herself. "Each?" The lioness sighed, shrugged and started to down the first green bottle. Not bad stuff, really, she decided after a few mouthfuls. She eyed the black bottles dubiously as she worked through the green ones. She had no idea what this one was: the bottles were unlabelled, and the black glass... or was it a black liquid inside... had an odd sheen to it. She paused to watch in rapt fascination, though, as Witt solved the problem of picking the things up. Hmm...

Finally Andrace gulped down the last of the "green stuff". She was slowing down now, but as she'd said earlier, not quite finished yet. She reached out with one hand, fingers spread, claws extended, grasped the neck of the bottle, and... with an almost audible <plop> the bottle slipped out of her hand and shot straight up in the air. The lioness swore, lunged, grabbed... and it slipped away again, skittering and spinning along the bar like the one skittle in the bowling alley that just won't fall over. She chased after the wayward bottle, with a muttered "come back here, dammit!" — but with no more success.

She pounced, leaped, lunged and grabbed several more times before at last she held the bottle firmly in both hands, and clamped tightly between her knees. By this time, calling Andrace "dishevelled" was an insult to anyone who'd ever been dragged through a hedge backwards. She lay sprawled on her back half on the bar, one paw almost in someone's drink, her hair flying in all directions, her clothes as rumpled as a scarecrow's. Without shifting her grip, she rolled over a little and shifted her head just far enough to catch the mystery drink in her mouth as it poured out of the bottle.

"AAARGKH!!! ACK!" The lioness coughed and spluttered, all her fur standing on end, rolling off the bar and grabbing it for support, barely managing to keep her feet. The bottle skittered off along the bar again, somehow never quite falling over. Her coughing fit gave way to loud gasps and gurgles, her chest heaving, her eyes wide and streaming with tears. Finally Andrace got her breathing back under control.

"Ugh. That. Is. Vile." she said in a voice of utter disgust, her face screwed up and her tongue hanging out as if it wanted to be as far as possible from her mouth. "I'll drink a lot o' things, but that tastes like someone already did!" She turned to face Witt, staggered unsteadily towards him, and loomed over the hedgehog. She smiled. "Awrigh' y' spiny beggar, y' win!" Just in time, she stopped herself from kneeling down, throwing her arms round Witt and giving him a hug. Slapping him on the back was just as bad an idea: instead she slapped his shoulder. "Tha' was friggin' magnificent!" she growled cheerfully, "never seen a performance like that in m' life!"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt grinned up at the towering lioness, the thumping paw on his shoulder barely shaking him. "Heh. And here I thought we were about to get serious." He tipped some more of the black bottle in his grip into his muzzle, and swallowed. He glanced down at the bottle, then back up into the shiny teeth. "It's not all that bad, is it? I kinda like it..."

Still gazing upwards, he reached one paw out, and slammed it, sideways, on the bar, without looking. The loose bottle skittering along the bar slapped into his paw and stopped dead. "Now, miss. Wouldn't want yer wasting a good drink, now, would we?" He glanced at the bottle, and considered. "Or even a poor drink, for that matter." He shrugged. "Yer not such a bad drinker yourself. Come back when you've planted Baldy, and we'll drink to your success."

He grinned, toothily, at Bart, and swigged yet more of the bottle. "When yer recover, come back, and I'll beat some more sense into ya." The grin turned vicious. "If the girls don't, first, that is." Witt emptied the bottle, and swapped it for the second of the green bottles. He propped himself against the bar, resting on his elbows, and showing every sign of being prepared to watch the fun and games with the big cat, the bald half demon, and the wolf.

A thought occurred to him, and he glanced at all three of them. "So... is it one person losing, or two? I can't see the ladies being interested in pounding on each other once you're toasted, Baldy. And it's not like you'll be around to watch..."

[Angel]

"...How could he not wake up after that?" Dani groused, addressing both Andrea and a slightly surprised Sylvie. The Red glared at the blackguard for a while, pouting in frustration and almost looking like she might try hitting his armor again. Finally, she set her weapon down on her bed and put her arms up in a yielding gesture with an angry sigh. "Even I never sleep that long. Syl, not a word," she added, when the Green opened her mouth to respond. Sylvie let out a sigh of her own, turning away briefly to look at the Mechangel and Marya, the former of whom left the infirmary along with Richard a few minutes later. The mongoose looked to be in bad shape... Sylvie tried not to let herself worry about it too much. She had enough on her mind right now anyway. With that, she turned back to Dani.

"...So, are you gonna stand here and wait until he wakes up, or what? Because that might take a while," she pointed out. Dani folded her arms and drummed her fingers a little, apparently actually giving the rhetorical question some thought. Once she'd reached a mental compromise, she turned to face her friend.

"Nah. I'm willing to take a break for a quick drink, I guess. But still, if he doesn't get up soon, I'm gonna start stabbing him." The guard looked tempted to do just that right now, but she resisted. Sylvie got a bit of a look at Dani's hesitation, but nodded once she succumbed, and headed for the door with the Red in tow. But as the elf left the infirmary and went to the bar, Dani stopped. Something was still tugging on the corners of her mind. Slowly, quietly, she turned to Andrea, one foot still on the threshold so Syl would know she hadn't lied about intending to leave.

"Hey... you're a mind-reader or something, right?" the Red asked carefully. She remembered what she had witnessed before, but she had only seen so much, and was unsure of the woman's exact powers. Even so, she had a feeling Andrea was the best person to ask about this. She glanced meaningfully at Giles, then back to her. "He's not dead or in a coma or anything, is he?"

[Tipod]

Needless to say, Bart's expression throughout Andrace's little bottlewrangling affair hovered somewhere in the realm of "slightly amused" and "abject leeriness." This clown's my opponent? This'll be a cinch an' a half, easy. "Welp, if nothin' else, I can say man triumphed over one furry little animal today," he declared, referring back to Keaton's less-than-stellar withdrawal. "Now that that's out of the way, we can get down to brass tacks."

"And," he said, giving a particularly stiff glance in Witt's direction, "I wanna know what makes you think I'll get planted by these ladies." Aside from the obvious facts that they were taller, older, meaner, and had all the traits of predatory animals. "Seriously, just what do they got that I don't got? More hair? An extra appendage? Big... teeth?" That last line delivered after a quick once-over of Andrace.

"I'm not sayin' I'm the strongest lug here, but if you think I'm gonna get creamed by some Amazon and an old-ass doglady, you're nuts."

[Paladin Sheppard]

Paladin stopped walking an simply laughed at the shadows as they halted. "Is this really all ye have? Shadows and flying masonry? I guess I shouldn't expect any better...."


Hands on hips he was almost caught looking the wrong way when the flying wall appeared. This time instead of diving to the side Pal sprang up and over in a lazy looking movement. Landing, he sucked a tiny bit of his light spell for another, this one a thin beam but powerful, which he pointed along the line of shadows.

"Hide if ye want I can keep this up all day."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt sniggered, and uttered one derogatory word. "Brains." He then raised the bottle again, saluting Andrace and Kaela, with a grin, before downing another mouthful.

He lowered the bottle again, before continuing "After all, you challenged them, didn't you?", with a particularly evil grin in Bart's direction. "And you're avoiding the question."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace snickered at the byplay between Witt and Bart, walked slightly unsteadily up beside Kaela and leaned back against the bar. She blew some hair away from her muzzle and ran her claws through the disarranged mop the rest of her hair had turned into. It didn't help much. "Spike's got a point, Kaela," she said to the old wolf. "Once we've tent-pegged Shiny there —" she hooked a thumb over her shoulder in Bart's direction "— is that it, or do we keep at it?" The lioness had a totally neutral expression, her face giving no hints whether or not she wanted to carry on the fight.

[Tipod]

"Well damn..." he gave a quick glance to Witt's left knuckles, "...son, I figure they want a free-for-all. That's usually what happens when you get three people in one cage." Not that he counted on either Andrace or Kaela to keep going if he got KO'd. They'd probably have a draw and split Bart's ante down the middle.

Witt did raise a point, though. "Hey, Andrace," Bart turned towards her and Kaela. "What's the terms of our little fight? No guns, no knives, no plastic explosives, what?"

[Stygian]

The smooth, precise movement that carried Paladin over the edge of that piece of wall wasn't enough to clear the beam of metal coming flying along behind it, hidden behind the concrete slab. Moving around mid-air without anything of enough weight to give some momentum to move against wasn't the best way to maneuver. And he was still in the thing's flight path as he noticed something approaching from above. Another jagged metal beam, this one with a roaring, foaming Stygian attached to it.
  'News for you, asshole; so can I!'

- -

Andrea raised her eyebrows and cast Dani a skeptic look, before sighing and returning to a deadpan manner, looking at the blackguard and hesitating to speak for a couple of seconds before she found an adequate way to express what she wanted to say.
   'Coma sounds about right. Except not, really,' she said, gaze unwavering. 'I've seen one or two cases of people knocked out before, and worse. There's always stuff going on inside, or things being picked up by the senses even though the mind isn't really keen on processing anything. This guy though seems all empty for the moment.' She cast both Sylvie and Dani a look, then shrugged. 'It's not the best way to put it, and I think that I must be wrong, because he can't just not be there. But it's as if he's just an open seat for the moment. There's nothing there.' She frowned - scowled actually, once she turned her eyes back to Giles. 'Either that, or something's holding back what's going on in his head.'

[Yugo]

"We have a lot on you. Six inches of height, age, experience, temperament, and the good sense to feel threatened by people who do this kind of thing for a profession." Kaela leaned back up against the bar, giving her bald companion a sideways glance. "'Afraid the size of my 'teeth' stopped doing me any good fifteen or twenty years ago though, although judging by the way you keep looking at Andrace, not sure I can say the same for her." She gave him a warm smile, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

Her jibing finished, she turned her attention to the huge woman eyeing her questioningly, planting her feet on the floor, elbow on her leg and her head in her hand. "Unless one of us goes down first, which I don't think will happen unless he has some surprises in for us," she smirked, thumbing over her shoulder at Shiny, "we fight afterwards. It's not very often, and I mean this as a compliment, that I really get a good challenge anymore." Placing one hand on Andrace's shoulder, she drew her long bladed war knife emphatically. "No guns, no explosives. Just blades, claws, teeth, and our wits."

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace nodded to Kaela. "Acceptable," she said, with the beginnings of a fierce grin on her face. She looked over her shoulder at Bart. "That okay with you too? Or... y' don't look t' have a knife on y' — unarmed, then, while it's the three o' us?"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt sniggered, and chipped in with "Challenge him to a battle of wits, he'd be unarmed there, too."

[Tipod]

Ignoring Witt's wit remark, Bart fished around in his jacket pocket. "Naw, I got somethin'."

With a quick little *shwing* and *whoosh*, he pulled out and twirled a black Model 42 butterfly knife, exposing its shiny, four-inch blade after a few little flips and toss-ups. A pitifully small weapon compared to either of his opponents', but a lot more fun to play with.

"You best hope I don't get close enough to slice your mugs," Bart warned with a chiding snort, "'cause when I do, it's gonna hurt."