The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog slurped his drink. "You are probably in the wrong place to be making arrests, anyway. Generally, there isn't to be any...conflict, outside of the circles outside." Cog said to the strange woman, spinning on his chair. He leaned into the bar. "But of course, I assume you know where you are."
He pushed his glasses up over his eyes. "Speaking of, I was..."

Cog was cut short by the sound of something very large tumbling over, the wolf glancing sharply to his side at the interior of the bar. Leaning on that massive, ever-burning spear for support, Giles seemed to have emerged from the infirmary - and it also seemed that the big lug felt a little light on his feet. He picked up the chair he'd knocked down, and somehow gently sat down into it.
He looked unharmed, except for the massive bandage wrapped around his head and on his nose - and while one might have expected the blackguard to look furious, he looked only pensive instead.

"'Ey. 'Bere is 'dat...'de sumall one." he managed to say, looking up at the rest of the room.

[Stygian]

Stygian had been almost about to speak, in order to correct the redhead about her assumption that he had actually ever been imprisoned, but was quickly interrupted by Cogidubnus. It was probably for the better, he guessed, as he shut his mouth with a near snap and watched the others speak. And then, as quickly as Stygian had been cut off, Cog was too by a clumsy sound to their left.
   Had it been someone else, Stygian might have taken that thoughtful look seriously. As it was, and from what he had seen of Giles, he treated the man's question with great suspicion.
   'Wouldn't know. She came in here, then walked out,' he stated, very shortly but without any apparent agitation or hostility, even though he felt a slight aversion toward the man.

[Cogidubnus]

 Giles looked at Stygian boorishly, his nonplussed expression mixed with his rather prominent bandage making him look comical rather than put-off. He leaned forward.
"She 'balked ob, uh?" he said, shifting on his chair. "Dunt 'Ull-shit be." he gave the man a glare. "She bus barely 'alkin'"

He glared around the room for a moment, then returned to looking pensive. Cog took a sip of his drink again, looking nowhere in particular.

[Stygian]

'I swear, I'm not pulling your leg here,' Stygian said, sounding quite earnest. 'I didn't pay much attention,' he continued, lying though it was impossible to tell, 'and she's... well, small. Why would you be looking for her anyway? She'd probably have her hands full with healing those burns.'

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton observed Sahlena and Stygian's exchange rather humorlessly, being more puzzled than amused regarding their interaction. It was only after they turned away, on cue, and re-addressed their conversational partners that Keaton started to chuckle. Seemed that the android wasn't afraid to badmouth her creator, she wryly noted with a smirk. That or the whole thing was utterly staged. Fiddling with one of the many empty mugs littering her table, Keaton scraped together the numerous mugs into relative organization so that way she could provide Sahlena with some space.

"Ignoring," Keaton stated casually, finally completing her little clean-up. "So then. You drink anything?" It was probably a stupid question, but Keaton was unfamiliar with the inner workings of mechanical creatures.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

The vibrations stopped and Siolen paused, momentarily...
Probably one moment too long. The ground gave way, and the claws reached up. The foe had the drop on him, and he had no time to get airborne. The gargoyle shouted in surprise and alarm...
And then he had another idea.
Rather than run for it the gargoyle spat a gob of tar at the nearest arm's joints, hoping to further foul the works, and dropped down past the grasping limbs, and onto the closed cockpit of the device. He brought one fist down hard on the shield around Karazkt and raised the other one for another blow, arms working like pistons to use this unexpected opportunity.

--

Boog simply winked at Risky and got on with his drink serving duties, listening to the general murmur of conversation in the pub. He smiled minutely at Stygian and Dani. An old game; thrust, parry, riposte, truth and counter-truth. People could really be just so fascinating. Eventually he returned to Mel with a free drink and a business proposal.
"I've thought a bit about your idea, and I must say it's a good one." He began, setting out the drink (a little something made from a type of organic, crystaline substance that made most things that weren't dragons or creatures of equivalent metabolisms woozy just looking at for too long, with a ruby in it that the thought-entity had somehow managed to put a toothpick through), "And it's a good one. Better yet, it's one I need you for. I've no magic at my disposal, but the sort of scrying spell you have in mind would probably be well within your power." He smiled cynically, "Which means you're not likely to do it for free. So tell me, what can I do for our dear Mel, of the Icewing clan?"

[Cogidubnus]

 The blackguard looked at Stygian with smoky eyes. "Nun yer 'bam business." he said, muttering to himself. He tried to raise an eyebrow, although the residual effects of the Orin's toxins made that somewhat difficult. He settled for simply scowling.
"'But? Yew 'ink Imb gonna binish de job?" he spat a bit of bloody mucus to the side. "But de 'ell byu bake me bor?"

Cog took another swig of his drink, looking at Stygian from the corner of his eye. "It's true. I don't think he wants to hurt her, in fact..."

[Stygian]

'And I think that we should allow her the small courtesy of letting her recuperate. But then again, I can't speak for you', Stygian cut Cog off with a quick but not unpleasantly toned, more explanatory reply. At the same time, he passed the Boogeyman a slightly narrow-eyed glance. Whether if this was some sort of warning or just a marking that he was aware of whatever wicked ideas the 'man' might have was not clear. It was there, anyway. The risk that Boog would try and do something stupid was minimal, but it wasn't too much of a bother remarking anyway...

- -

The machine inclined her head a bit to the side, and went silent for a second or two, as if studying Keaton. At least, the Cubi felt rather scrutinized by the metallic woman. It felt as if the android were measuring every inch and gram of her until she knew the jackal in and out, and the fact that the metallic woman probably did wasn't any more comfortable.
   ':i take most liquids. whether if they taste good is another thing', Sahlena replied. ':if you're offering to /buy me a drink, i would suggest a [Vodka]. but you don't have to.'

[Cogidubnus]

Cog looked at the man. "Ah, well. Probably true..." he said, gulping down the rest of his drink. "Giles isn't the type to strangle someone in their sleep, is all I mean. Although he's not usually sullen, no..."
Cog gave the blackguard a look. Giles returned it, a little nastiness creeping into his gaze before he slumped into his chair and muttered.

The jackal facing the tavern gave a mean smile, eyes still passing over the occupants of the room. He absently fingered the dark wood of his scythe.

[techmaster-glitch]

Karazkt

   As the mech shot out of the hole, the digging claws reached up, reaching to catch Siolen--
   --Who ducked down underneath them, spitting another glob of tar at the same elbow of the mech as earlier, and landed on the cockpit cover as the mech came to rest on open ground. Then Siolen started furiously hammering away at the cover.
   The one-and-a-half-inch thick solid metal cover, made from the same ores that comprised the rest of the brown-and-black mech. The only thing that made the cover different from the reast is that it was specially forged to be transparent to Insectis heat and infravision, but under normal light, the metal was the same as any other.
   Tough as though the material was, Siolen did manage to start putting some noticable dents in it. Given enough time, he could probably bash through. But that would take more time than Karazkt was willing to entertain him with.
   The two tar globs in the left elbow of the mech had completely gummed it up; the forearm no longer responded to controls, as the levers doing so were jammed tight. The right arm, however, was still operating.
   Karazkt hit a lever, and the claws on the hand retracted, leaving it round and blunt. Then, with a small burst of fire magic into the intake, Karazkt made the right arm move up, then swing sideways in an attempt to punch Siolen off.

[Angel]

Dani nodded amicably to the grey wolf, thanking him for telling her the unknown rule. When the blackguard entered the room, the Red's pupils dilated a bit and her cheeks lost some color, but other than that, she kept herself composed.

"Sorry, what were you saying earlier?" Dani asked the grey wolf, picking up her mug of Bailey's coffee.
---
It was a good thing Sylvie had been sitting down when the blackguard came back. She hadn't seen the other fights, so she'd had no idea anyone had been injured that badly. She took a gulp of her water and stayed silent for the time being, focusing on Dani.

Oh crud, it occurred to her. What if she falls asleep in the middle of a fight? No-one here would take advantage of that, would they? She started praying that if Dani was challenged, she'd remember to accommodate that in the rules. For a prison guard, she could be pretty reckless...

[Stygian]

Having been broken off in the conversation with Sylvie, and now being reminded of the question of the little alien - how was the furry little thing actually? She had seemed pretty curious - Stygian moved back and slid up again onto one of the tall seats before the bar, returning to his warm and spicy drink. He ignored both the Boogeyman, the smirking jackal and Cog's and Dani's conversation, thoughtfully looking out the windows for a while, before his eyes fixed themselves on the darkest corner in the room, and nowhere in particular. His expression slowly dimmed and dulled, from pensive to solemn. When he was done with his drink, he didn't order another one.

[Angel]

Sylvie sat by herself for a minute more, watching the patrons mill around. Then, finally, she started to get bored. She got up and headed over to Stygian. The human looked a little unresponsive, but it was still worth asking him - he was the one she'd been planning on fighting for a while.

"You know," she started, "it'd be kinda pointless for me to have warmed up without having a fight afterwards. So, you up for it?" She was a little nervous in being the challenger, but she didn't want to just sit around and watch fights all day. Besides, the sun was going down, and if she wanted a fight, she'd have to have it soon.

[Stygian]

The human really did seem a bit out of it, because for a couple of seconds he just sat there and looked, before with a long exhalation he turned against Sylvie, and raised his brow inquisitively. It didn't seem quite as if he were saying that he must have misheard and dared her to repeat her question, but rather that he had somehow thought that they were having a pleasant enough time without fighting. Still, he did make a cheeky smirk next, something that could be interpreted in just as many ways.
   'Are you sure you want to? I can promise to put the guns away, but I'm fairly sure I'm not as easy to deal with as the rat even then', he said, matter-of-factly. He thought it was a much better and more modest way of saying 'I'm a bloody tough nut, so watch out'. And being himself, he preferred not to sound so boisterous.
   'I will accept, of course', he added, when he saw Sylvie's look. He interpreted it as being unamused and impatient. 'But it would be rude not to warn you. Take it into account.'

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked from the drink to the thought entity and back with a grin. He was always hustling with some sort of plan. Rather than answer directly she pulled a silver fountain pen from her pocket and began making notes on what she would need for the spells for each ring on the corner of the napkin under the drink. When she finished she sat staring at her notes for a long moment, tapping the pen lightly against the bar as she thought it over. Finally she looked up, "How do you feel about the fights being recorded?"

[Angel]

Sylvie wasn't quite sure how to read Stygian's face when he responded. She was pretty sure he had been interested in fighting her; true, he was clearly interested in other ways too, but you couldn't be here and not want to fight people. He warned her about his strength, and without really realizing it, her slight exasperation showed through. It was a fair warning, but the fight with Ian had been practice, and the human knew she'd gone easy on him.

When he finished with an implied apology, she gave a soft smile. "As much as I appreciate the warning, I'm stronger than I look. If you're really that concerned, we could always wait till morning. But I should warn you that I'd be much tougher in the daytime." She was a little surprised that the human hadn't wondered how she'd recovered from her previous injuries so quickly. It's not like Ian never hit me, after all.

[Boog]

Siolen was swept from the construct's brow in a moment, twisting in midair to land on his hooves. The thing was just too blasted LARGE, and agile to boot. He kept trying to limit that, but the machine kept recovering from his tar.
The gargoyle's eyes settled on the device's still tar-stained joint momentarily, at the exposed pistons and gears that had initially attracted his gaze to the point.
Black tongue ran over stone lips once. This would take some amount of luck or a far greater amount of skill. He decided to hedge his bets and pray for both as he rushed the machine's left leg again.

--

The Boogeyman grinned broadly, the concept of concealing his oversized teeth having never been introduced to him. The grin faded ever so minutely as he read the list of components; they were obtainable, but not all pleasantly so. Her request surprised him for a second, but it stood to reason. After all, consider what the Icewings did. "How I feel about it? Mildly amused, and I can always use a laugh. Feel free. Just, ah..." He swept his gaze around the room at a few individuals who probably wouldn't appreciate their images being sold. Not Styggy; hell, if he objected that was all the more reason to do it, the man struck him as somebody who just flat out wasn't insulted often enough. But others... "Do try to be discrete about it, ah?"

[Stygian]

Swiveling on his seat, the man adopted a patient and understanding look, listening attentively to Sylvie's explanation. Her last words though, made that expression slip for a bit, and she caught a spark of something in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He smiled, and rose to his feet before her with a sigh.
   'Well, I think it would be quite... cheap, to choose a battleground that too strongly favors one fighter upon the very first fight', he said, looking her over. Sunlight. Of course. He thought he'd seen the signs of a real beating on her before. Now... So she wasn't so ill off anyway. Still, that didn't mean that she could get out of it if... Or could she? Cutting a limb off her would definitely be rude, but it would be fun to see whether if it would grow back either way.
   'If you wish, I think I can come up with some environment that will treat us both quite equally', he said, beginning to slowly walk toward the other end of the bar while looking over his shoulder, his posture suggesting that he were expecting her to let him lead her to the door.

[techmaster-glitch]

Karazkt

   After Karazkt managed to scare Siolen off, Siolen started back, seemingly headed for his legs. Karazkt had a simple solution. His earth magic could be channeled through any part of the mech, even the legs, so one stomp and Siolen would be at the mercy of whatever Karazkt decided to do to the ground. Unless, of course, Siolen jumped--in which case, Karazkt now wanted.
   Because it was only the right arm that now worked, Karazkt lifted up the left leg for balance. With a spurt of earth magic, the leg came down with a mighty stomp. A cone of ground, originating from the foot, shot up in broken columns toward Siolen. If he held his ground, he would be very painfully blasted back by the ruptured ground. If he jumped, he would have to jump towards the mech. At the time of the stomp, Karazkt had surreptitiously hidden the right arm behind the mech's back. A few lever-pulls, and the plates over the tip if the forearm started shifting, and something began to emerge, form, and spin.
   This would be why Karazkt put in that last special rule to the match. There was a very good chance it was about to end in a few more moments.

[Angel]

If Sylvie now regretted telling Stygian one of her biggest advantages, she didn't show it. Dani, however, didn't bother to hide her exasperation at her friend's warning.

"You are too damn nice, y'know that?" she shouted over her shoulder to the elf, who shrugged in reply. It just wouldn't have been fair in Sylvie's eyes to offer a postponement and then use it to cheat. She was a firm believer in the "fair fight" doctrine. That gleam in Stygian's eyes had gotten her worried for a second, though. Somehow, it had brought back memories of when she and Kellie were the captives of pirates; that gleam had appeared in the captain's eyes whenever he held a lit match near her. But Stygian would never do anything like that...right?

She watched as he headed for the door, motioning for her to follow. She walked slowly, allowing him to lead her out of the building.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton frowned slightly as Sahlena scrutinized her, her fingers rhythmically drumming an impatient, curt tattoo against the tabletop. Up until the machine-woman completed her inspection, she felt quite exposed, which she supposed was a rather simplistic emotion when one was being observed by a metallic... something. Satisfied with Sahlena's response, Keaton nodded, arranging her fingers like a steeple, and peered at her over her hands. "Nice to know, but I actually have something else in mind."

She grinned slightly, exposing her razored cuspids. "I was thinking it was such an awful shame that everyone's fighting so often lately, and I've only gotten to fight once..." Keaton gestured in small circles with her hand. "You know what I'm driving at? You up for it? I'll buy you a drink if you win."

---

...Piix:

Awakening came as a surprisingly arduous challenge for Piix, especially for someone with accelerated healing factors. From where she had collapsed against the comfortable surface of the hospital bed, Piix stirred erratically, her quills and fur bristling like pinpricked needles along her body. For a moment, the quills on her back flickered into erectness, then flattened back against her body as she felt her muscles instinctively tense and the venom in her veins swirl. When Piix's eyes opened, she found herself sprawled on top of the sheets in a sterile, whitewashed environment, Orpiment nestled in the crook of her arm like a beloved toy and the orb which contained Discus and the three units of Triad in her opposite hand. Piix blinked confusedly, cocked her head to the side, and wearily peered at the identical cot separate from hers. For someone who had just been roused from unconsciousness, she felt strangely alert. Maybe her healing factor wasn't entirely obsolete, after all.

Her first assessment was that the other cots were empty. That meant Giles was gone. That came as some relief to Piix, not only because she didn't want to be responsible for his death, but because he would be quite incensed when he woke up. Or at least so she imagined. Good God, she bit into his nose after all. She'd taste him for weeks.

Speaking of which, it seemed the blood and ash had been miraculously cleaned from her in addition to her restoration. Testing her strength, Piix leveled herself off the bed, and gingerly set her foot against the floor. Surprisingly, she was met with minimal interference as she climbed off entirely and started taking her first few steps. Twisting Discus's sphere in her hand, an ichorous black web of unknown substance shot out and raveled itself around her shoulders, quickly weaving itself into a tangible form - particularly a black and hood cape identical to her last one, complete with a clasp which she could safely hang Discus's orb from. Piix kept Orpiment in her hand as she trudged out of the infirmary, staring around awkwardly. Much to her dismay, she noticed Giles seated with his former companions before, and hissed a profanity in her native language at a volume which was much, much higher than what she would have preferred - certainly enough to grab his attention.

Piix smiled sheepishly, unconsciously revealing row after row of sharp teeth. As comical as Giles looked with his heavily bandaged face, she was still quite intimidated, and knew he was still quite capable of killing her simply by sitting on her. "Uh... hi." She waved nervously.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Well out in the street, Stygian looked up at the mottled gray sky and hummed. Something along those lines. Not a city, but would a forest favor her more? A forest at night, perhaps? No, if it was photosynthesis that she lived off, something strange because he thought that a being so complex as her must have had a need for at least a few rarer substances that were hard to come by in just air and water. Or was the water where she came from supplemented with some other form of substances or organisms? There were a myriad questions one could come up with, and quite a few that he thought she would be able to answer. Directly, that was.
   He led her over to the closest free Circle, not quite appearing as if he were escorting her, but not far from it either. When at the edge of it, he smiled, and stood aside.
   'Well then. Ladies first', he said, making a hint of a bow and directing toward the circle with his hand. Of course, when Sylvie stepped into the Circle, nothing happened. However, the man had already made up his mind. He moved after her, and as soon as his first foot touched the ground, the world swirled.

- -

The machine tilted her head at Keaton's comment. The red lens in the center of her face blinked like a camera blinder, and then, she began to laugh, an unnerving sound when coming from such a creature. She leaned back a bit, her amusement finally petering out into a metallic chuckle and a whirring hum. Then, she instead moved and leaned forward, placing her hands on the tabletop and her 'chin' in her palm. If she'd had a regular mouth, she would have grinned cheekily.
   ':i can /fix myself a drink well enough, thank you, girl. if i win, i'll want something more substantial. but we can /discuss that afterward', she said. ':i accept, if you do.'

- -

The wind was chilly as it blew over the cliff, the air so clear and the few thin, feather-like clouds so close that one could see the rays of rosy light spreading sideways over both their figures fanning out as if through a giant prism. In the radiant early dusk, the light gray rocks took on burning colors, and cast scattered, crackling shadows on the ground. The bleak vegetation around them consisted of mosses, short grass and harsh, wind-bitten trees, dark blotches on the background where sharp-tipped mountains and crags raked the sky, and the land folded and crinkled in dark green and orange and red, clouds and mist rolling over and through the tops so that they almost melded. It was so harshly beautiful that it almost hurt the eye.
   'Mount Yari', Stygian's cold voice rang out from behind Sylvie, and the slight gravel under his feet crunched lightly as he slowly strode closer. 'And Autumn in Japan. One of the last few beautiful and untouched places in the world I know.'

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog looked at the officer amiably, answering her question. "Oh, I didn't mean anything at all truly. I just mean to say, this is the Honor Circle. Fighting outside the circle, whatever form that might be, is frowned upon the the management, I think."
He kept mostly quiet as the grass elf and the man headed outside, raising his eyebrows at the sudden mountainside that bloomed in their circle. He passed another silver coin onto the bartop, next to his empty glass. Distracted as he was, he didn't even see Giles give the sudden alien a sharp look, and shuffle off his chair to stand at his full height.

Towering over the short alien, the blackguard gave her a long, silent look, completely unmoving, even unto the hand that wrapped around his spear. He seemed to suck in a breath, and shudderingly exhaled before walking up the rest of the way to the little alien. He stared down at her.
"Ah...ah could pick yew ub wibh wun hand." he said, his nose still constricted. "Andh ye brought me bow. Ah...yew're the fiercest bittle...thing, Ah've eber run mah eyes across." he said, his eyes seeming to tear. "Andh...bell, Ah'm...ahm proud to know bou." he seemed to nod. "Yew need...anybing, and Ah'll come burn be bastard into bust, yah?" he grinned fiercely. He held out a single, iron-clad hand.

[Angel]

Sylvie followed Stygian to the nearest empty Circle, wringing her staff with her hands. What time of day would the human choose? Certainly not nighttime, although that wouldn't be too much of a problem; she could function for a few hours at night, but any longer and she'd become weak. And what attacks would he use on her? She hadn't watched him that much when he'd fought, but it was obvious he was powerful, otherwise he wouldn't have looked so serious when warning her.

They reached the Circle and Stygian stood back to let her go in first. Well, what better way to get my questions answered than by finding out firsthand? She stepped into the Circle; the moment Stygian entered, the world swirled and changed...

Sylvie found herself standing in the most beautiful place she'd ever seen, besides her forest. The sun was setting off to one direction, highlighting the clouds in that pink-and-gold shade that has no name. The few trees and plants there were didn't have the same lush, flourishing strength as those where she came from, and the area seemed much more rocky, but that only added to the harsh beauty of the landscape. For a few moments, she was struck dumb in amazement.

She gave a little start when Stygian spoke up behind her. She twisted round to face him, twisting her hands on her staff again as she looked around. Always wanted to see Japan. "It's amazing," she answered him, not really knowing what else to say.

---

Dani listened to the wolf explain. He seemed friendly enough, and he clearly was a skilled fighter. She took a seat and sipped her coffee, waiting and watching in surprise as a mountain rose in Sylvie's circle. Her worry and excitement for her friend overpowered her curiosity when the blackguard stood and spoke with the weird little furry thing, although their conversation didn't go unnoticed.

"You think she'll be alright? I mean, she's tougher than she looks, but..." The Red trailed off, leaving her thought hanging. Why did the human bother to warn her? 

[Stygian]

Stygian observed the plant girl for a little while, watching her stumped reaction not without a degree of satisfaction and then merely observing her green-tinted skin take on more human hues in the tinted light. When she looked at him, he gazed solidly into her eyes for a few seconds, before speaking again.
   'The mountain has earned its name from that sharp-tipped peak there', he said, and looked to and nodded toward a jagged cliff somewhere a good distance behind them, the sharpest and highest tip around, perhaps four or five hundred yards further into the sky. It gleamed like a spear in the sun. He didn't move an inch, not even when she turned her back. For someone as her, he would offer a clean fight. Tricks were always implied, of course, but no dirty tricks thus.
   'I take it that the scenery is to your liking', he continued, not even trying to keep himself from smirking. Chuckling a little, he took a few slow steps toward her, watching the soil and vegetation under his feet, feeling the grip of the rough soles on his shoes. It felt pleasant. It was the sort of gritty, hard, mundane feeling that he appreciated most, the kind that most people just overlooked because they were either too soft to ever put themselves through it, or too caught up and dull to ever bother to feel. 'It was the first thing that sprang to my mind, so I just ceased it.' Very gently, he undid the clasps that held his guns in their holsters, and then slid the long pieces out with smooth movements. His steps were fluid, his movements and pose graceful. It was as if he were making the slow steps into some restrained, artistic dance.
   At first, he had almost thought to only offer that she tell when to start the fight, but watching the gleaming lengths of deep dark silver in his hands, he thought better. 'Should I lose these?' he asked. But then he thought that might sound a bit condescending. 'Any man can wield a gun anyway', he added. 'Or I could restrict myself to only the bullets I have in them. Should be fourteen of them, unless my count is off.'

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Initially, Keaton had no idea what Sahlena was doing. Analyzing her body language was nigh-on impossible when there was no face to interpret, other than that spherical lens centered within her mechanical visage. Even that, limited as it was in its movements and actions, provided very little evidence regarding her expressions. Only when Sahlena started to elicit her humming, lilting equivalent of a "laugh" did Keaton understand that she had interested the robot.

Keaton smirked in a satisfied way to herself, her fingers idly closing around the rim of one of the shot glasses pushed to the side. "Ooh, I'm shaking in absolute fright," Keaton said with a toothy smirk at Sahlena's first comment, her pierced eyebrow arching in a practiced motion. Letting out a laugh of her own, she lolled her head to the side, scratching behind an ear. "But fine, sounds fair to me. I accept."

---

...Piix:

The diminutive Orin gulped subaudibly as Giles suddenly stood up from his chair and advanced on her, yet did not move from her current spot aside from the involuntary jerk her muscles elicited. Fear seemed to have frozen her in place. Over and over again, a barbaric deluge of possibilities flowed through her head, most of which involved brutal caricatures of mutilation, torment, and other fire-related deaths which should best go undescribed. It was at times like that Piix sincerely cursed the fact she possessed an overactive imagination.

Much to her surprise, however, Giles didn't seem interested in pulverizing her. Instead, his demeanor was shockingly... humbled. Reverent. Of course, Piix couldn't understand most of what he was saying due to how muffled and garbled his voice was, but she assumed it was something quite flattering due to how he said it. Or how she assumed he said it. Confusion wasn't enough to keep the abject shock from Piix's features as she realized that the blackguard had no intention of beating her - and was even praising her fighting performance.

She reached that conclusion when he proffered his gauntlet-clad hand. The digits of her own hands twitching subconsciously, Piix eyed his hand nervously, at first inquisitively, until she stretched out her own and wrapped her clawed fingers around his armored hand, shaking it. "Y-Yeah," was all Piix could say, incapable of driving the awe from her voice. For once, the Orin was quite taken aback, even to the point her normally bountiful (but not necessarily untarnished) vocabulary couldn't rescue her. "Alright. T-Thanks."

Piix glanced up at Giles's nose, stifling a sigh. "Um - how's the nose, by the way...?" she asked, pointing to her own. "Everything alright?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

"Well have to see." The wolf said, sipping his newly-brought drink. His eyes gleamed as he watched beneath dark-shaded glasses.

* * *

Giles gave a mountainous grin as the Orin shook his hand, only pausing a moment to cock his head at the little alien's question. His eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Bwhuts wrong wibh mah bose?" he said, pausing as he stared at Piix.

[Angel]

Sylvie couldn't help the squirming feeling that went through her when Stygian's gray eyes looked into her pale green ones. It wasn't out of anger or disgust, it was just... surprise. Only a select few people had ever looked at her as if they were looking past her skin, and this was excluding her family and neighbors. The rest of the feeling... okay, so she was a little excited. No-one had ever complimented her looks and meant it (besides one person, but he was, simply put, a notorious trickster). And he was extremely attractive, even by elf standards.

She turned her back to Stygian once, to examine what he was nodding at. The pointed mountain glittered so brightly she almost had to squint, even in the fading light.

She heard the gentle crunching sound of footsteps on plants and stone, and turned slowly away from the mountain to face her soon-to-be opponent again. She considered the guns in his hands for a moment. It wasn't like she wouldn't heal, but... she'd never been shot before. The idea scared her a little.

"Restricting yourself to the bullets in there'll be fine, I think," she said, covering her anxiety as well as she could. She almost thanked him, but something told her that would be a bit much. She tightened her grip on her staff and tensed her legs, anticipating the start of the fight.

[Stygian]

The machine cocked her head to the side in a twist, and then made another little laugh. Then, she pushed her chair back and stood, straightening her jacket. ':shall we?' was all she said to the jackal, and then she turned and strolled with heavy but mutedly silent steps over to the door out into the street, pushing it open.

- -

For a few seconds, there was no activity on that mountainside beside the wind blowing, rustling the hair and clothes of both the figures standing on the slope. Though both were lightly dressed, neither seemed to respond at all to the cold that the wind brought with it. They just looked at each other. It was as if they did not want to start the fight. Had one known, one would have understood that it was Stygian who was a bit hesitant, expecting Sylvie to want to start and to close the distance to even the playing field between them. But when he realized that wasn't going to happen, he acted.
   'Rules? I suppose we fight until someone gives up or can't go on, so...' he began. The next second he brought his right gun up, lifting it almost deliberately slowly and with great focus. He thought past the gun. He thought past the wind, which would tug on his arm but wouldn't matter to the bullet for the velocity and the closeness of the shot. Thought past the gravelly ground beneath him and his palm against the contoured grip. He imagined the bullet slipping out and spinning lazily through the air, tearing through the girl's knee, and aimed the shot after that feeling. He didn't care that it was a small target and that the wind and uneven ground and his lazy grip might ruin his shot. She would get a good fight.
   The firing of the gun roared more than cracked, an extended, hissing sound brought on by its construction, and rocks jumped and spattered behind Sylvie. He might have missed, he might have not. The bullet would most likely go clean through. And as the sharp sound rebounded back to him from every corner of the mountain valley, Stygian sprang forward and to the side, closing with the elf at an angle to strafe her.
   'Feel free to detail if you have any objections!' he shouted at her with a smirk on his face.

[Boog]

Siolen snarled as he charged the mech, noticing the arm it was keeping behind its back. What could you be up to..? He dropped to all fours, building more momentum, and zigzagged as he approached for one last assault. He, too, was under the impression that this would be over soon. He finally feinted to the right, then veered sharply to the left and dived, attempting to clamber around to the back of the Mech's knee.