The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[TheGreyRonin]

 Glaring at Boogeyman for a second, Risky took a quick slug of her drink, and sucked air for a second as it kicked in. "'Null-dimensional' time," she said, inhaling deeply from her cigarette, then holding it.

She exhaled another colored cloud, then shook her head. "If the universes are soap bubbles, all touching, there's still gaps here and there. We're in a gap, held stable by some unholy law of physics I've never heard of."

Risky grinned wryly. "If you walk out the front door and keep walking, you may be home. Time may or may not have passed, and you may or may not be able to get back here again."

"And I can tell you this," she said, tossing a small flat black device on the bar. "It plays merry hell with time travel."

Glancing outside, she noted the red bolts in the jackal's hand. "Bug zapper. Should be good."

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton snarled animalistically as the machine-woman came screaming right at her, her body instinctively shifting into a defensive stance. Her fingers tensed their stone-cold embrace around Catastrophe's shaft  and her feet quickly stepped and slid into position, grating the rubbery undersides of her boots along the floor, and she immediately reacted on impulse; without her brain's or her body's permission. Twisting her body around, Keaton sharply swung Catastrophe in a sweeping arc, reminiscent of a baseball player aiming for an incoming ball. Since Keaton couldn't outrun or outmaneuver Sahlena, she assumed this would be the most prudent option. It was best she get this fight off on the right foot, she reasoned, otherwise she'd have to struggle her way back to the top in the future.

---

...Piix:

Piix blinked and her ears pricked upright as Stygian regarded her, and then craned her head around so she could fully face him. She recognized the man's voice from earlier, but knew perfectly well that, in her delirium after her battle with Giles, she didn't get a very good look at his visage. Come to think of it, she hadn't really identified anyone when she was in that state. Either way, when Piix saw Stygian, her attitude seemed to improve quite ostensibly after a momentary lapse of surprise.

Holy shit this guy is cute for a furless, Piix thought, fidgeting with the unusually-shaped glass in her paws. Easy girl, easy. Just lay on the charm. Don't make yourself out to be a moron.

Now bearing a smirk which was almost characteristic to her actively thieving, plundering race, Piix reached up with her free hand and smoothed back her windswept, aerodynamic bangs, at first going with the expectation that her bangs would somehow obediently plaster themselves against her head, as she had wished, or stylize themselves into an appropriately attractive arrangement, but becoming rather disappointed when her bangs simply bounced back to their disarrayed state. Hopefully, if she was successful enough, Stygian wouldn't notice how painfully inexperienced Piix was regarding the courtship habits of humans, or, as she and her species commonly referred to them, furless bipedals.

"Oh, y'r interested? Well, this drink ain't f'r furless folks, but I c'n think o' a number o' drinks ye'd enjoy," Piix answered with a deep, seductive murmur, one which was undoubtedly impressive, but in a way that a catastrophically explosive car crash would be awe-inspiring. "If y'r up t' it, why don't ya sit y'rself down for a drink sometime with me? I'll pay."

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Dekuyaketh belted out a startled curse as the priest unleashed the incoming lance of lightning, quickly attempting to thrust himself in the air in another, rapid evasive response. Flaring the membranous widths of his wings, Dekuyaketh flapped them quickly, fortunately enough to throw him further away from the bolt. Swinging himself to the side would be too time and energy-consuming, he surmised, although it would be more effective. Right now Dekuyaketh didn't want to concern himself with ostentatious demonstrations. Heat flashed and tore through the air around the writhing arch of electricity, briefly illuminating the air beneath Dekuyaketh's body and safely passing underneath him, inches away from his tail.

Enough of the return fire, Dekuyaketh decided. Throwing lightning back and forth wasn't working, so it was time for a more direct, physical tactic, perhaps one which would end the fight sooner. After seeing Laertes throw his scythe, he came to the realization that the jackal was, essentially, unarmed. Certainly he had an arsenal of spells or magical defenses at his command, but hopefully this entailed that Dekuyaketh could fly in and try something which, he hoped, did not apply to his ability to convert energy into harmless matter...

With an enormous flap of his wings Dekuyaketh maneuvered himself down, then angled his wings at a position which smoothed and accelerated his descent, plummeting in a diagonal path toward Laertes. Amidst his plunge Dekuyaketh swung his leg out in a quicksilver motion, utilizing the speed in his glide to empower the force of his low-angled kick.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Tilting his head a bit, Stygian looked a little closer at Piix for a second. It was always curious, how, and why, these people, these creatures, communicated as they did. Not to mention that they all seemed to be speaking English... Regardless of that though, why was the furball suddenly acting all tense? She had lowered her voice, and was... Was she challenging him? What did she think she was doing?
   Narrowing his eyes, Stygian leaned a bit to the side on the bartop, and then snapped his fingers at the Boogeyman. 'Give me one of what she's having', he said, voice a stronger version of his usual sinuous hum. His eyes, steadily set on Piix, glimmered of something darkly green within their steel-gray depths.

- -

The swing took, but just barely. The machine was fast. But she was already on her way, and that decided it. She attempted to turn in the air, yet the strike hit her in the shoulder. Unfortunately, the jackal didn't seem to have accounted for the sheer weight she'd face in the swing, and as the metallic figure spun they crashed into each other shortly, before she flew past. Sahlena hit the floor at an off angle, but with computerized speed and mechanical precision she twisted and flew up again, spinning on a hand and flipping over backwards once before landing on her feet, gliding back a bit. She crouched together, lowering her head and making a rattling, grating noise that was very easy to take for a snarl. The spikes of Keaton's mace had left clear damage to her left shoulder, but whatever she was made of seemed to have held up very well against the damage.
   ':you don't hesitate at least. that means you can fight', she commented. Slowly, her hand stretched out backwards, placing itself on one of the machine panels, her fingers extending and splitting and moving in wholly unnatural ways. A quick flick of her hand, and that thrumming in the background was accompanied by a crackling, and then a metallic slam. And next, all the machines started up, one by one, in quick sequence, and the whole hall was filled with their noise and movements. ':let's see you fighting  then.'
   The machine straightened, the joints in her arms shifting and the mechanics in her forearms snapping and moving. A blade shot out from right behind her hand, locking into her wrist joint. The next one whistled as it spun around, rotating as she made a flourishing move, slipping into a stance. Two clear tones from the vibrations through the blades rang out, as they stopped instantly.
   ': if  you can keep up, that is.'
   Keaton could have sworn the machine was smiling at her, but she had little more time to think. In a heartbeat the machine had leaped for her and made her way under a moving arm, almost flying in an upward strike against the jackal.

[Angel]

Sylvie smiled and quietly thanked the two men as they left. Pocketing the key, she moved over to the window and watched the fights below. The metal-woman from earlier, Sahlena, was doing pretty well against Keaton. But Sylvie had watched the jackal fight Rip earlier, so she knew at the very least that she had a fighting chance against the android.

Dani groaned softly on the bed, twitching again. The Green sighed and decided not to wake up her friend; she had enough trouble sleeping, so the respite might help her. She took a seat on the bed, facing the window, waiting patiently for her friend to wake up so they could return to the bar.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

The swing grazed by Sahlena's shoulder in a spectacular shred of metal, forcing Keaton to twist to the side as the machine rocketed past her. Her eyes and body followed the android's path, obsessively observing her movements for any signs that would betray any aggressive intentions. The lady was fast; she'd need more than luck and reflexes to dodge and return all of her blows. Keaton was well aware of this. Tracing the body language of a generally emotionless concoction was difficult, but it wasn't impossible. Not when she could still find indications of her sinewy, strong movements, those little telltale twitches. There was no time for Keaton to savor the scratched and slightly mangled metal her mace had left on Sahlena's shoulder, because now she was experiencing some sort of mechanical metamorphosis, gradually altering the joints in her forearms until a blade sprung from her hand and locked into place. Another one followed shortly, then Sahlena entered some sort of stance.

If Keaton was waiting for an indication of Sahlena's intentions, this was more than enough. But she wasn't moving yet.

Until she spoke. Then she was gone from that spot and launching herself at Keaton, her blade poised to strike and slash. Keaton let out a shrill cry, startled by this mercurial change of events. All her predicting had not anticipated the speed and dexterity this machine could consistently move. It disrupted her concentration; unraveled her composed manner of watching Sahlena's movements and changes in visage. Again, Keaton attempted to bring Catastrophe up in a blow which would keep Sahlena from bypassing her comfortable range and overwhelming her. Catastrophe was not a defensive weapon without magical augmentation or assistance, so she had to remain on the offensive.

---

...Piix:

Piix's overconfident countenance faltered when she realized her attempts at seduction had failed. However, traditional among the persistent flirtatious sort, she didn't allow it to permanently damage her resolve, instead smoothing back her hair again in a compulsive, habitual manner. She seemed to be under the impression it made her appear more suave. Any composure she contained dissolved when she noticed Stygian had ordered the same drink she had been guzzling before, which automatically reverted her back to her normal state, albeit very flustered. Oh great, Giles had already nearly faced esophagus-eating, acidic doom a while ago. Now she had to prevent this guy from making the same decision. Humans, as far as she knew, were extremely intolerant to the acidic, even though there were favored beverages which measured rather high on the pH scale and caused no extensive physical harm distributed around their planet.

"Hey, waitaminute. Didn't ya see th' drink on th' counter?" Piix pointed to the ugly spot on the formerly untarnished wooden surface of the table, where the spilled drink had devoured the material. "Y'r a furle--er, human, right? Dunno. That'd be y'r throat if y'drink this." She was a little more direct than she was with Giles, having seen that she did little to dissuade the blackguard earlier.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Again, as she exclaimed her warning, the man turned and looked over at Piix, one of his eyebrows shooting upward the slightest bit. Then he shook his head.
   'Let's just say I'm willing to risk it', he said, and before Piix had the chance to stop him, he kicked back the drink in two long gulps. His eyes closed, his throat pulsed with the motions as the noxious liquid flowed down back through it. Then, when all there was left of the drink was some blue residue on the inside of the glass, he grimaced, and smacked it down on the bar top. He coughed, throat rasping, once, and then he made yet another grimace and some uncomfortable sound.
   'Bloody Hell! That tastes awful!' he said, looking at the glass. He scowled, then snorted, and looked back up at the Boogeyman. 'Give me another one.'

- -

If Keaton had thought that her next strike would push back the machine, she was mistaken. While the other 'woman' could go in up very close and personal, the length of Keaton's mace and the force behind her strikes meant she was far more vulnerable to attack from their current position. Sahlena slid inside her range, gripping her arm and diverting her blow. She felt a quick, searing pain over her forearm, and next the flex back, her wind taken out of her by a hard blow from the machine's other arm. The mechanical figure spun from that bracing pose back into a ready one, one blade along her arm out before her and the other drawn back to stab or swipe, precise as clockwork. A moving robotic arm came in the way of her sight for a moment, a piece of some sort of machinery hanging from its gripping unit, but she didn't move a millimetre. She simply watched the jackal.
   ':what would you be doing with such a large, clumsy weapon?' she said, at last, sweeping one arm down and letting the blade follow, and advancing slowly on Keaton.

[Cogidubnus]

 The blackguard barked a laugh as the strange man downed what appeared to him to be straight-up acid, and simply took another drink of his whiskey. Across the bar, still somewhat soused but quite alert, a quieter wolf watched the man drink from the corner of his eye.

"I hate time travel anyway." the blackguard responded to Risky, coughing just a bit. "What's done is done. S'how I feel, anyway."

* * *

The priest's eyes changed quickly, from a arrogant smirk to a scowl. As long as he avoided the direct light pouring through the windows, and didn't alight upon the ground, the demon had quite a bit of free room to maneuver with - and a lot more speed, too, while his thunderbolts confined Laertes to the ground. If he tried a short glide backwards, it would likely be with a mouthful of lightning to contend with. And he couldn't redirect a foot.
Of course, simply ducking or rolling was beneath him.

The ice still chill as the deepest night, the priest extended a hand, the fingers twisted into beckoning claws - deep in the stonework, his scythe shuddered, pieces of gravel and dust falling beneath the stones it was buried in. The priest's other hand flew in front of his face, protectively, while his song changed just subtly.
The flames surged for a moment, and then raced for Laertes, the pool of fire around him suddenly engulfing the jackal in a bonfire of heavenly flame. The golden energy dripped dry from his wings as flames covered his body and more, a pillar of white fire.

Kick me and you'll burn brighter than the sun, hellspawn. the priest thought, his scythe breaking free from the wall.

[Angel]

The slug-beast roared its call of death as panicking citizens fled the doomed town. Mothers clutched their screaming babies, men grabbed guns or cried farewells to their loved ones, and children either wailed or stood stock-still, paralyzed in terror.

As everyone else ran away, one person slowly approached the monster. Clad in steel armor and wielding only a firehose, Dani Sanders stood before the beast. "Alright, Slugron," she called up to her foe, "You've terrorized these people long enough! Now, your reign of terror meets its end!"
Slugron turned and roared his disapproval. Dani, unfazed, simply switched on the firehose, covering the beast with a deadly spray of salt water. Slugron roared in agony, the people cheered, and Dani waited. Just because she seemed to have the upper hand didn't mean she really did. She had to stay here until the monster was completely dead...

Using the last of his power, Slugron spewed forth a viscous glob onto the motionless warrior. The townspeople gasped and prayed, as Dani tried to fight her way free of the goo, but it was hardening rapidly. Soon, she, the only one brave enough to save these people, would become no more than a statue...
---
Back in the room, Dani awoke with a piercing shriek. The first thing she felt was thankfully not goo, but the touch of Sylvie's hands on her shoulder and hair. "Shhh, Dani, it's okay, you're safe, you're here," the elf comforted her.

"Wh-what happened? Where's the slug-thing? The people?" Dani responded, whipping her head around and her eyes scanning every inch of the room.

"Honey, there's no slug," Sylvie said gently. "You fell asleep in the bar. The undead and I brought you right up here."

"But there was a town, it was - " Dani stopped. Her expression slowly changed from one of fearful surprise to dull frustration. "I fell asleep again?" she asked Sylvie, her voice now flat with annoyance. The Green just nodded, prompting Dani to pull her knees to her chest and plant her face in her hand, laughing quietly. "Dammit... someday, I'll go somewhere and not need to be carried up the stairs at any point." She smiled and faced Sylvie again. "So the zombie helped you? And when'd I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, the zombie helped. I don't know if you want to know when you fell asleep, though..." Dani gave her friend a look and waited. Sylvie sighed. "Okay, fine. You fell asleep right when you were threatening Stygian."

At this, the Red actually blushed a little bit. "Oh. ..." For a few moments, all was quiet. Then Sylvie spoke up again. "So, um...will you kill me if I'm, well, friends with him?"

Dani looked at Sylvie more calmly. "There's not much I can do about it, and what you do is your business, not mine. So go ahead."

With that, Sylvie breathed a sigh of relief and stood. "You feel like coming back downstairs?"

"Not just yet," Dani replied. She didn't say it, but she really didn't want to deal with stares and questions just yet. For now, she'd rest and get over her slight embarrassment. Sylvie nodded understandingly, as if Dani had really said all that, and headed out of the room, leaving the key on the bed with the crimson-haired girl.

Sylvie descended the stairs and walked back into the bar, seating herself on the stool where she'd left her cloak and bag. She noticed a rather odd look on Stygian's face, as well as the furry little creature's. "Did I miss anything?" she asked, looking a little bemused.

[Stygian]

'Yeah. One hell of a drink', Stygian said, looking back over at the elf, a dark shimmer in his eyes. He licked his lips quickly, then pushed the glass away and turned on his seat, placing his elbow on the counter and leaning as he looked at her and Piix in turn. Frowning, seemingly thinking hard for a few seconds, he then shook his head and sighed, looking down.
   'Never mind', he said, finally, and then looked back up with an uncaring expression. 'Just fooling around. You know, you don't have to feel obligated to come here and talk to me if you don't want to.' He looked at her as if she were going to sigh with relief and move out of sight after that.

[Angel]

Sylvie watched Stygian curiously. Apparently, Dani's words had discouraged him a bit, or he assumed that she was still rattled from the fight. She tried to think of another motive, but couldn't. In any case... she kept her face neutral as she responded.

"I think you might be misjudging me. I didn't come down here because I felt like that. She needs a little rest, and I actually wanted to answer your question from earlier. Not because I felt obligated - because it's a little confusing and I figure it's worth explaining." She watched him and Piix, hoping that she wasn't interrupting anything between the two, and waited.

[Stygian]

A slowly deepening frown revealed Stygian's confusion at this response, and he folded his hands together, looking somewhat critically at the elf, almost as if he wanted to reprimand her for responding so politely. Instead, he merely studied her, eyes slightly shadowed.
   'What question?' he asked, blankly.

[Angel]

Sylvie blinked once. Wonder how he forgot that quickly? "After Dani fell asleep, you asked why she was so protective of me." She hesitated, not sure if she wanted to answer that now. This particular little bit of her past was something she tried to avoid. Still, no sense in starting what you couldn't finish.

"You're really not gonna like the answer, but like I said, it's worth explaining," she told Stygian, not changing her gaze.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

The blistering pain rocketed up Keaton's forearm quickly, albeit effectively enough to momentarily distract her and jostle her intense concentration. Another blow came before Keaton could resort to any further efforts to protect herself, pummeling at her abdomen and deflating her gut like a gastric balloon. Part of the jackal was compelled to collapse and start seething and moaning from the force of the blow, but the domineering influence over her actions, the one which had been trained as a warrior, persevered enough to keep her in motion. Heaving, Keaton staggered back, swaying and pivoting on her heels and keeping Catastrophe close.

Sahlena started to approach her. Keaton narrowed her eyes, nervously, her pupils squared on that insidiously sharp blade. At this point Keaton couldn't be expected to fight at close combat when she specialized in mid-range and long-range. Not when Sahlena was armed like that and could move so quickly. Fortunately she was beginning to regain her breath, so she could prepare herself for her next maneuver. A quick gout of electricity sparked from Catastrophe's spikes in one, unified flow, leaping to the tips of each individual spike, at first laced in a bold, vivid red, but quickly corrupting into a pitch black and fading away like mist.

"Good question," Keaton answered somewhat sharply, then smirked playfully. "Why don't you try to beat me, first... and then if you do, I can tell you."

Catastrophe was whirled around in a sharp movement, swept at a horizontal stroke. Keaton twisted it almost like a sword, brandishing it with one hand, and watched the energy clustering inside Catastrophe become unleashed, streaming in a dark-colored arch of energy toward Sahlena.

---

...Piix:

The look on Piix's face as Stygian almost immediately downed his highly-acidic beverage could have been quite priceless if it wasn't so sincere. Although she looked nearly comical in her exaggerated horror, she felt a distinct sense of terror swell up inside of her as a grotesque montage of possibilities replayed in her mind, revolving, mostly, around the mostly-unrealistic and graphic depictions of Stygian suffering some cruel demise at the hands of that drink. Quite to her shock, however, the gruesome reaction she expected to see was censored to no more than a few disgusting sounds and a verbose snarl.

Apparently, Stygian's throat was quite intact.

All Piix could do was stare, quite openly, jaw agape, at the blond man as he recuperated from the astringent taste, until she somehow managed to overcome her speech impediment moments later. "How did y' DO that?" Piix exclaimed.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

As Laertes gestured suddenly, the tone of his song warping, causing the fire to wreathe violently in a protective ring around him, Dekuyaketh jerked in mid-air and flared his wings again, attempting to decelerate his descent. With a mighty flap he ceased his momentum, then he wasted no time in spinning away from Laertes and twisting his body around. Another flap propelled him back, although he seemed to relinquish the air under his membranous wings in mid-jump so his body was falling on its own, then he folded his wings against his back and, with another bizarrely acrobatic twist of his body, whirled and redirected himself and landed with a thud on his feet.

Simultaneous to that moment, he plunged his mechanical arm's fist down, the knuckles streaming with red electricity, and impacted it against the earth, sending a triad of electrical gouts lancing in Laertes's direction. He could not hope to penetrate the barrier of fire with fists and fangs alone, so he had to resort to his former tactics and hope that it would make a difference.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The man took Piix's surprise with self-assured unconcern, making an aversive gesture with his hand. 'That stuff is mild compared to me. I just endure', he stated, almost nonchalantly, before frowning up at the elf. She had shifted her stance, but not her gaze. Her body language overall was restrained, as was her expression, meaning she was thinking something but putting an effort into not saying or showing it, and he couldn't think of any reason for this except that he had been right about her discomfort.
   'I didn't really intend that as a question', he said, carefully, putting his hands together and frowning a little at the elf. 'At least, not one that needed an answer. To tell you the truth, if it would sit better with you and your friend, I'd rather you didn't.' He looked at her seriously, somewhat in a jaded manner that almost spelled out; I know what you're doing and I'm not falling for it.

- -

Keaton's attack was quite powerful, and impressive in its forward range. To anyone limited to being capable of jumping their own height or less, it would have been basically impossible to avoid, and would have had to be countered by some other means. Sahlena, however, had both a blistering reaction time, and strength to do far more than that. Sweeping her blades out for leverage, she spun forward and then straightened like an overpowered piston, shooting off the ground and sailing into the air in a high arc, flipping upside down just over Keaton. She would land right behind the jackal in just a second, and she had already planned on striking from there, then continuing the movement and making a series of handflips back from there to move out of that mace's striking range.

[Angel]

Dani watched the fights upstairs for a moment, thinking about what had happened before she fell asleep. Then she decided it was time to head back down. She was starting to feel a little bad about yelling at Stygian. Though she didn't reveal it to anyone, she was a little superstitious, and falling asleep right before she could finish seemed to her like an omen. It had certainly pissed off both him and Sylvie that she'd decided to rant like that, even though the elf hadn't shown it when she woke up.

As she descended the stairs, she heard a few bits of the conversation between Sylvie and Stygian – and felt a pang of guilt when she heard herself mentioned. You screwed things up, Sanders – care to make it right? She paused before re-entering the room, thinking of how best to try and fix this.

"Too bad," she said at last, walking back in with an almost placid look. "You're missing out on a hell of a story." She shot a slightly mischievous glance to a bewildered Sylvie. "Even though I still think it sounds better when I tell it."
---
Sylvie had been trying not to show her mild hurt at how quickly she was being brushed off by Stygian. She'd hoped to send the right signals, despite her uncertainty at telling him what had happened between her and Dan. But Stygian was giving her a look like a parent did to a lying child...he still thought Dani was pissed. True, she probably was, but that didn't mean the elf was too...

At that moment, the Red herself walked back in showing not a speck of ill will. To say that Sylvie was astonished was an understatement. Any nervousness she'd had was replaced with confusion. I know she changes her mind quickly, but...

[Cogidubnus]

The wolf snorted when the bat spoke, a lopsided grin appearing on his face just after his comments on Piix's drink of choice. His eyes were hidden by his glasses, but the tilt of his head suggested he was looking at the bat when he spoke.
"I'll say." he said, sipping on his Full Moon and making a face, "It'd have to be a damn foul drink." he grinned, leaning back against his stool and onto the wooden bar.

* * *

Laertes would have cursed, were his mouth not forming the words to holy chants long forgotten and long unsung. What he was seeing should have been impossible - he was sending bolts of lightning through the ground, and instead of being absorbed into the stones, it was arcing and spitting towards him madly. The crackling bolts sped like snakes towards the Priest's feet.
His arm rose high, and with one hand he snatched the spinning scythe from out of the air.

He couldn't redirect something like that into his scythe or into the ground, so he did the only thing he could. Jumping and flapping his wings once, he jumped, somehow farther than he should have been able to - and then seeming to almost pause at the apex of his leap, he brought the scythe up around his head. His golden eyes smoked, and droplets of gold fizzled on the electrical gouts passing below him. Falling from his jump, he arced towards the straightening Dekuyaketh, his scythe making a sound like a razor on silk as it sliced through the air.

[Stygian]

Cog's comment was met with something far different from the knowing chuckle that Stygian would normally have given at that sort of thing. Instead, the man's eyes opened fully and fixed hard on the wolf in a piercing, warning gaze, gleaming of something green and hard as stone. The sort of look that even men like the wolf wouldn't be able to simply shrug off. He only held it for a second though, enough to guarantee that Cog had gotten the warning, and then let up and looked back to Sylvie and Dani, looking between them. The corner of his mouth quirking up in a not-really-a-smile that left his eyes untouched, he hummed knowingly.
   'Let me guess... She was your prisoner?' he chanced. 'Formally or... in some other way?' His ire slipped a little, though his expression remained as cold as he looked to Dani. 'Either way, I didn't ask you to speak to me, so don't let me keep you. Unless you want to.' The separation of those two sentences was clear, as was the intonation on the latter.

[Angel]

Despite the quasi-polite wording Stygian used, Dani felt like she'd been slapped. She was used to people being blunt with her, and as a result, she hated having to interpret comments like those. That last sentence could have been either a hang-up or bait; he probably wanted her to shut the hell up, but he could have also been trying to upset her and force her to shut up by getting her to fall asleep. Ordinarily, she'd have challenged him back, but right now, Dani just wanted to smooth things over. If he didn't want to deal with her or Sylvie, fine; Dani just wanted to soothe her guilt.

Her eyes widened just a fragment as he spoke, but just as fast, they narrowed and she returned the mirthless smile Stygian offered. "Right. Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. The same for earlier, too," she added, sounding more honest on the last part. The first few words contained just a hint of bite, the message clear: I'm trying to be nice. Please don't throw it in my face.

Over on her stool, Sylvie's face had gone the color of milk with a bit of green food coloring in it. Why did he have to guess it right so quickly? At least Dani was showing contrition about earlier (rather reluctantly, but sincerely). But the elf was starting to feel powerless. She didn't want to interfere; something told her that that would just make things worse. But sitting it out made her look weak...

Unable to think of anything else, she turned halfway to watch the fights outside. She really needed a distraction.

[Stygian]

Stygian sighed, barely audibly. Feeling rather like doing something horribly frightening to Dani or depositing her somewhere out of sight than talking to her right then, and seeing that in face of this conflict between him and her friend, Sylvie had predictably backed out, probably being unable to choose a standpoint as she didn't know what she could say that wouldn't put off either of them, he pretty much concluded the conversation a failure by that point. He cared little whether if the woman was trying to be nice or why; she was not making a good job of it, and she was not his interest. In fact, being apparently a regular human woman, she wasn't very interesting at all. Certainly not in the presence of all these other creatures.
   The others, yes... Casting a sideways glance, Stygian looked at Piix, and thought some more. Alien as it were, the thought that Sylvie had felt offended or pushed aside after he had been talking to that one at least fell into the range of possibilities. And to alleviate that, he would simply have to distance himself. Considering the direction things were taking, that didn't seem too bad an idea. Not to mention that it gave him the option of showing his discontent and seeming the victim of the circumstances. Something that he felt entirely entitled to.
   'Well, I'll have to accept your apology then', he said, sounding a bit reluctant as well, and stood up. Leaving the two... no, three of them to argue among themselves seemed like a good choice. 'If that is what it is. Sorry to have disturbed.' Having said what he wanted, he straightened his coat, and walked off toward the door. Sal had left the luggage outside, and this was as good an opportunity as any to check it...

[Angel]

Dani watched, not having any expression at all as Stygian left. She glanced over at the bar and noticed Sylvie looking as pale as one could get with her skin, and a little ashamed - probably because of the unwanted negative spin Stygian had put on how they'd met, but mostly because of the conflict in general. Dani still felt a little bad, but for a different reason now; it was empathy for her friend.

She walked up to Sylvie. "Sorry if I helped him guess..."

"Dani," the elf responded, not quite facing her friend. "Could we talk about this later?" She sounded a little apologetic, but the undertone made it clear she was still upset and felt as if she'd attracted too much attention already. Dani obliged and took a seat at the table behind Sylvie.

[Sunblink]

..Keaton:

Again, Keaton tried to follow Sahlena's movements when the robot soared over the arc of condensed, dark-oriented energy. Once she watched the robot evade the blast, she quickly executed a sharply-snapped command within her head, making the arc disintegrate into a tightly-packed shudder of rushing, blackened particles which flowed quickly back into her mace. Keaton craned her head around as she tried to observe Sal, tracing the trajectory of her fall until the moment she landed gracefully on the ground and sprinted away. Keaton snarled, the wicked smirk on her face juxtaposing with the viciousness of her growl, and spun Catastrophe around again, a swirling trail of particles spiraling behind the mace like popping, crackling spherical sparks. Another flick swung Catastrophe forward, and then the particles rushed again, and with an immense crack one more lance of black electricity fired in Sal's direction.

---

...Piix:

Matters were getting far too complicated for Piix's enjoyment. Emotional predicaments were issues she never particularly enjoyed... they were often over the most petty of situations and created too much unnecessary tension. Throughout the confrontation, Piix remained rather silent after her outburst, keeping her ears cocked and a rather guilt-stricken expression plastered on her furry face. Just because she didn't find situations like this entertaining didn't mean she couldn't feel guilty when she felt she was somehow at fault. Particularly, she felt she had somehow provoked this argument... or whatever was going on. Nobody was bringing her to attention so she surmised nobody shared her sentiments, or they were too busy bickering amongst themselves to bother with her.

Ultimately, Piix let out a sigh of resignation and turned away from the two elfin women and the human man. Her bioluminescent eyes stared down into the pit of her cup, still cradled in her hand. The impenetrable mug, specially-designed for safely containing the highly-acidic drink, was mostly empty, save for some residual dewdrops of luminescent cerulean churning at the bottom. Looking somewhat listless, Piix stared up at Giles, raising her eyebrows.

---

...Dekuyaketh:

Dekuyaketh's golden-amber eyes snapped open and narrowed at the priest as he managed to dodge Dekuyaketh's blasts, levitating into the air and soaring in his direction, armed with the scythe which had obediently returned. The acrid shine of the opalescent, red stone centered in the hieroglyphic rings carved into Dekuyaketh's mechanical eye was momentarily blinding as the eye swerved independently toward Laertes, locking onto the incoming blade as it was drawn back, then swept forward, all with the intention of cleaving Dekuyaketh to pieces. Such was the speed and the precision of the blow that Dekuyaketh knew he couldn't evade it - not on such short notice - yet he couldn't simply sustain it. As powerful as he was, Dekuyaketh's weaknesses, when targeted, were almost debilitating in their intensity. He couldn't risk that scythe having the fortune of slicing through his wings, or his arm, or an equally agonizing place.

So instead, he attempted to defend himself. Another surge of electricity flared through Dekuyaketh's mechanical arm, illuminating the hieroglyphics anew and spreading, through every contour and engraving intricately ornamenting the arm, to its clever fingertips. The gemstones resting on the joints of the great, bladed fingers crackled with electricity, which spiked and leaped from the mechanical arm in sparkling gouts, and with a roar Dekuyaketh flung his arm forward, clenching his claw into a fist. The lightning writhed and wreathed in the instantaneous seconds before the impact, and then, with a sound akin to a blade drawing down a chalkboard, a flat, round electrified barrier materialized in front of Dekuyaketh's body.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

As soon as Stygian left the bar, and stepped out into the rain-slicked street, his face shifted from one of bitterness to concern and anticipation. He had more than just Sal's new head and sensors in that package. Stepping over to the items in question, he began going through the number of items that the pack contained, most of which were heavy metallic things intended for either obscure or obviously destructive purposes. What he was looking for was the one thing that stood out from the hi-tech guns and equipment. And it was clear to see why, as he pulled it out.
   Locked in an ornate sheath, its matte black surface decorated with dark silvery metal wrought into sinuous, sharp shapes at the bottom and top, the sword was of a curious sort, curved and one-edged like certain oriental swords, yet even though slightly broader at the base, its blade was slender and its angled tip was even slimmer than that of a katana or a nodachi. It was not heavily curved either, nor overly long. And though its hilt was decorated, it was clean and slimmed down, made so that it could be concealed under a coat without difficulty. Perhaps most remarkable though, were the angular serrations at the base of the blade, visible as the man drew the blade halfway out and checked it. They made its black-steeled form look almost like a wing.
   Sitting there, holding the blade in his hand, a shadow seemed to fall on Stygian, and he smiled, an expression of joy made wicked by the circumstances. He had it back. And not a moment too soon...
   Fastening the sheath to his side, the man felt the long hilt for a second, before taking a package about the size of a football out of the packing, together with a small metal box that clinked slightly, and then standing up again. Straightening his coat, he turned on his heel and then walked back into the bar, seating himself at a table not far from the three women from earlier, but with his back to them, and started to unwrap the package.

- -

If Keaton had thought that the next shockwave would have hit the machine any better, she had been fooling herself. The energy blast grazed the tips of the machine's spinning blades when she somersaulted backwards over the incoming danger. And she continued that movement, flipping over on her hands, then her feet, and her hands again, curving and rotating in perfectly coordinated movements. She was upon the jackal again in no time, slashing and sweeping in a deliberate, almost lazy fashion, that singular red eye fixed straight at Keaton while her limbs worked around her perfectly still and balanced head. She kept going until she had deflected a few of the jackal's retaliatory blows herself, then struck a foot out, kicking against her. She had been driving her back, pushing her closer in between the active machines. It was as if she wanted to get closer to the moving mechanical arms and sweeping cutters and welders, where there were more moving things and dangers to keep check of.

[Boog]

Boog set out Risky's drink with a grin, "Always been my assessment that physics plays merry hell with time travel more than anything else, but hey." He kept an ear out for the patrons conversations, but didn't do anything to interfere. Depressed people bought more alcohol, and the usual owner had been promised a tidy sum in takings upon his return. Knew it would be profitable, making sure that yell reached Styggy...

Richard nursed his drink some more, glancing up at Dani's discomfort briefly as her conversation took a turn for the worse. He felt a little bad for giving her a hard time earlier. He had the same reaction to the short fuzzy thing other than Marya at the bar, his expression was just harder to read.
Didn't feel bad enough to do anything about it though. He finished off another bottle and reached for the next.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Snarling defensively, Keaton watched with clear dismay as the lance of lightning passed beneath Sahlena's feet and rocketed in a perfectly vertical path until the moment she, like she did with its brethren bolt, made it vanish and siphoned the remains back into her mace. Before she could conjure up another offensive maneuver, the android was sprinting at her at nearly mind-boggling speeds, sweeping her blades around in swift, dangerous movements. One good swipe caught Keaton off-guard before she could collect her composure, although its mark was imperfect - in her panic, Keaton withdrew, making a stillborn attempt to evade the attack. The blade cleaved past Keaton's abdomen, lacerating a perfect crimson line along her muscles. Ignoring the sharp stab of pain which followed this slash, Keaton snarled and tried to retaliate by reciprocating the blow with a few of her own, only for them to be countered by the next maneuver Sahlena executed.

Keaton saw Sahlena's foot coming, but before she could pull out of the way, it slammed neatly into her stomach, below the shallow gash Sahlena had created. She did not, however, anticipate the fact Sahlena was driving her back, toward the precariously churning machinery, until the moment she staggered back, just barely keeping herself planted to the ground with the effort of two wing-tentacles. Keaton gasped sharply as the roar of one of the machines echoed eerily within her ears, her chocolaty pupils locking onto the offending mechanical monstrosity, quickly realizing Sahlena's intention. Gripping Catastrophe a bit tighter, she attempted to move to the side, swinging Catastrophe in a powerful arc simultaneously at the android woman. There was no way she could simply drive Sahlena back while remaining in the same place, so she had to try to improvise.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 To Laertes's surprise, something as generally insubstantial as electricity somehow made an effective barrier - of course, normal lightning didn't glow with the color of flames either. His arms jarred as the end of the scythe's blade scraped across the barrier with a sound like a glass razor across a diamond. A moment later, he landed next to the fiend, the scythe spiraling in the air above them. One of Laertes's hands looked...wrong, somehow, his thumb bent much to far backwards.

Suddenly, the Priest stopped chanting, and all sound within the chapel died - almost instantly. Even the sound of the holy fire, built into a spiral in the floor, ceased to crackle, and the scythe spun without noise above them. In his other hand, the priest drew back, and the gold energy sloughed off.
He was holding something - it looked like no more than a distortion in the air, but it seemed somehow solid. No more than a few steps away from the creature, he threw it.

The priest's arm seemed to slow at the apex of his throw, as though struggling against a great force - the air itself seemed to congeal around his hand for just a moment, and just on the edge of hearing, one could almost again hear the sound of old and holy chants being sung. And very suddenly, the priest seemed to snap.
His arm blurred its way through the rest of the swing, and a cacophony of noise emerged - the windows and icicles around them shattered, raining down glass and light, as before the priest extended an oblong orb of sound. A stone scythe, caught in the distortion of air, crumbled into dust as it tore it's way towards the winged manticore.

* * *

Giles shrugged at the little alien, rolling his eyes somewhat at the strange man and the girls, and took another swing of his whiskey. Cogidubnus, by contrast, gave the man a strange look as he walked back inside, and scratched the back of his neck.

[Angel]

Dani opted to space out for a moment or two rather than watch Stygian or try to talk with Sylvie. She wasn't dwelling on what had happened only minutes ago, but she knew better than to just forget it; that would just make her feel worse later. Asking for a fight didn't seem like a bad idea right now, but right when she'd worked up the nerve to ask, Stygian walked back in with a largish package and a sword on his waist. She glanced once at him before returning to her mind and considering potential opponents. Well, he's ruled out; I'm nowhere near that stupid. The zombie, maybe, or the dark-haired one at the bar... She twirled her weapon and remained uncharacteristically quiet, watching the fights outside with slightly detached interest.

Sylvie, having nothing better to do and feeling that she'd moped long enough, ordered a glass of water with a packet of real sugar and looked over her shoulder at Stygian. She didn't plan on trying to talk to him again so soon, but the package was worth her curiosity.

[Paladin Sheppard]

As the flatbed truck rolled to a stop the armored wolf riding on the back dumped a duffel back over the side and then jumped the short distance after it. Walking up to the cab he waved to the driver from the passengers side window

"Thanks for the ride Dalton."  The wolf said to the feline driver.

"No problem Mr Mesta, thanks for seeing off those bandits who were after my load. I owe you for that." Was the reply.

Paladin, or Jon Mesta as he was known at the moment watched the truck move back into the traffic of the port city of Bravia. Picking up and shouldering his bag, Pal joined the throng of pedestrians and went in search of a decent bar/inn. He stopped at a few of the first  few he found but they were full, as it appeared that the local navy had ships in port and the sailors had quickly taken all the rooms they could find.

As the sky darkened Pal found himself in front of the only likely prospect, a Smallish building with the interesting name of 'The Honor Circle'. It looked like a typical inn but very few people seemed to be near it as if something, possibly magical, was pushing them away. Shrugging he was about to enter when a pop of displaced air and the appearance of a small floating creature that was black except for a blue aura around it and a long paper thin tail, stopped him. "Hey Rex, get the bike to the garage ok?" Pal asked in the way of greetings. 'Easy boss, Greg wasn't even surprised this time, he only moaned about what damage you had inflicted on a classical piece of machinery' The warp-aci replied. 'So staying local again instead of going home?' "Yea it raises less questions and ye know I hate to answer those..." 'Okies boss, want to to stick around? "Why not I'm sure this place wont mind ye." So saying Pal walked up to the door and opened it. Stepping through Pal was swept by strange sensation one he'd felt before. Both looked at each other and said at the same time "Dimensional door..." Looking around at the inside of the tavern Pal was not surprised to spot many species  he had no clue on what they were. "I don't think were in Kansas no more  Toto." Pal whispered to Rex.

[Stygian]

The sweep didn't take, but as Keaton had steadied herself and she didn't seem to be able to end the jackal just like that, Sahlena leaped up, timing her motion in with the swing of one of the huge assembly arms and landing on it, and proceeding from there out on one of the catwalks. Swinging her blades back along her arms into a resting position, she strolled along it, observing Keaton from above. Was this all that the jackal had to give? No. Probably not. Most likely, she was just holding back because she didn't want to reveal her capabilities. Well, if she were, she would pay for it. Sal herself could keep this up practically indefinitely. And what was worse for the succubus, was that she could do a lot more...

- -

Removing an oval, black ball of metal from the package, Stygian studied the obviously advanced mechanical contraption. It looked like a human skull, almost, but with the back of the head removed and a tangle of armored wires and parts coming out of the inside of the domed cranium. He placed it on the table, and then let it sit, while he opened the little box he'd brought with him. It was filled with a number of equally advanced tools, evidently for assembling that piece of equipment.
   Stygian, being who he was, noted Sylvie's look. The lid of the silver box of tools was reflective. But he didn't make notion of having seen anything for a while. Instead he laid out the contents of the package on the table, looked them over, adjusted and attached a few things and then put his hands down.
   'Do I have to defeat you a second time?' he asked, at last, head still turned slightly away but his voice clear.

[Angel]

There were countless possible answers to Stygian's question, snarky, ashamed or otherwise, none of which passed Sylvie's lips for a beat or two. A few minutes ago, she might have turned away quickly and apologized, but right now, another emotion overpowered that. The girl's eyes widened, not in fear of the man or embarrassment of being caught staring, but with an odd half-sense of bafflement. Was that a threat or a submission?

The man's emotions were of only partial question. Anger at Dani, or possibly even the elf; exasperation with Sylvie's continued attention on him when he'd made his disinterest quite clear; annoyance at receiving any attention at all; the tone of his response was expected. It was the question he'd asked that confused her. True, he was upset with her and her friend, but even with that in mind she'd never guessed he'd say something that was, quite bluntly, a more elegant version of the threat so often made by abusive husbands and schoolyard bullies. Oddly enough, the thought that this could all be an act never crossed her mind, or if it did, she quickly put it away.

"No," she responded at last, with neither the hesitation of defeat or resentment nor the rapidity of shame or fear. Her tone was one of courtesy lightly peppered with confusion.
---
At the table, Dani listened almost casually to what was going on without ever looking like she was listening. She had an odd conflicting feeling between pride in Sylvie and partial confusion at Stygian's question. She hadn't heard him complimenting Sylvie when he'd first walked in, but she'd seen the way he'd looked at her before the elf challenged him. She'd also picked up on his mostly polite way of speaking. So while his asking that seemed plausible in the guard's mind, it still surprised her. But for now, she used a lifetime of practice to look completely disinterested in the conversation, and turned her attention to the new guy and his unusual-looking pet. "My God, but this place is popular," she muttered, smirking. The brown wolf looked more than a little lost, and for a moment, in Dani's mind, the Honor Circle gained a kinship with Neverland. She smiled genially at the newcomer and nodded a greeting.

[Boog]

Richard glanced up as Dani's gaze passed over him, but soon turned back to his drink. If she wanted to fight him then she would have to make the first move, he wasn't about to challenge anyone until he was a lot drunker. Marya, however, noticed the woman's Slightly-Too-Interested look and had no problem with letting her own gaze bore into the human woman like a drill. Thinking of going after Rich', are we...?
They really were so protective of one another.

--

"No," said someone to Paladin, "You aren't." A grin leaned out from behind the door to The Honor Circle, immediately followed by the rest of Boog, "Nice reference, although I also would have accepted something from Alice In Wonderland or, if you're big on classics, A Midsummer Night's Dream." He stepped out further and bowed low, grin as fixed as ever, "Welcome, dear Sir and Associate of Indeterminate Gender, to The Honor Circle; where the barfights aren't only frequent, but encouraged. A place of purely civilized behavior and, judging by your attire, you know exactly which civilizations I mean. Do have a seat, order yourself something mind-numbing, and enjoy the theatrics."