Eternal Rains (IC) [M] - Closed

[Aisha deCabre]

Listening to the wolf and jackal try to give their explanation to the interested and incredulous crowd now gathering around them, Aisha was somewhat skeptical herself.  They were pretty much buttonholed into giving away their motives, but it was all the best way to get an idea of an adventure.  The kinds of risks involved and the kinds of people to meet, it was all a significant point.  At least the panthress herself liked to hear details.  She wouldn't have to drag it out of anyone later.

But then, she heard the jackal utter the name of the family they were dealing with, and her eyebrows shot up.  Sabanethei.  Creatures whose names were akin to curses in some areas, and who had probably more attempts against their lives than even her own family...as well as, it was rumored, quite a few attempts to -take- lives.  All pretty much for the sake of power.  Aisha didn't know as many details as she was sure the others did, judging by their reactions, but it was certain to be a very lofty goal.  And appearances certainly were deceiving...they were looking not just at any person, but one who had worked for them.

Vast rewards indeed, but for what price?  Was anyone foolhardy enough to really go after this individual, Kytharion?  It sounded like a challenge.  One that Aisha asked herself if she was really that willing to get involved.

"Pleasure," the dark huntress echoed in a slight mutter, and then laughed.  "Well damn, it sounds intriguing enough to me, ser claro."  With a smirk, she reached back into her quiver and drew one of the arrows.  A jet-black thing that was barbed enough at the sharp tip to stick indefinitely into the flesh it hit.  "And fun."

One would call her crazy to accept such a mission.  But the truth was, Aisha had nothing else to live for.  Crazy was often the way to live life.

[Tapewolf]

In a typically 'Cubi-like lapse of attention, Cross turned to the young rabbit.  The wings alone were strange enough to warrant a second look.  If he was an Angel, he would make a good hostage if the plan went wrong.  If he was really an immature incubus, he needed to be removed for his own safety.  If the Dragons saw him...

Cross stared down at him, trying to pull an ID and homeplace from his mind.  To his astonishment, what he found was a full-blown incubus mental shield.  No mere teenager could do such a thing...

"How old are you really, kid?" he asked the rabbit, crouching down to match his height.  Johan's true age was not something he would readily admit in a public place, but the rabbit could easily whisper in his ear.

[Cogidubnus]

 Addiction isn't simply a matter of pain. Desire is also very much part of the equation - pain and agony are part of withdrawl, but more than those things is the simple and unrestrained desire. The pull that the sweet nectar had on him wasn't merely a leash of pain. That, Cog might be able to beat. But the lust for another, just one more, just enough to satiate the craving he could feel in his bones and the sweet relief to the red-hot spikes behind his eyeballs...
Self-denial is a very hard thing. Too hard, perhaps, for Cogidubnus Mithlome.

Cogidubnus tried his hardest, he truly did. But Keaton  underestimated just how sneaky Cog could be when he needed to.
Just a little bit later... Cog thought, and ignored the pain in his side, and the tightness of the tape around his thigh.

Cog ran a shaking hand through his hair again, and placed his hat back on. It wasn't the heat that was making him sweat anyway. And in any case, the black panthress seemed to be genuinely interested in their mission, as well as the grey wolf in front of them. And the strange, too-friendly canine. Cog nodded to the panthress, and then glanced at the two canines.
"I'm glad to hear that you'll be joining us, then." Cog said in a practiced cadence. "I am Cogidubnus Mithlome, and this is Note...Keaton."
Cog glanced worriedly at the assassin. "Could it be possible to get your names, then, if you will be joining us?"

He took a moment to quickly look around the bar. The reptile from before was playing a game of pool with a newcomer, a girl canine of some sort. The little bastard in the yellow raincoat was still unmoving, although at least he'd stopped sniggering. The very large...dinosaur, Cog supposed, seemed to be mostly minding his own business. The little spiny fellow seemed to be interested in them too. And the wolf seemed to be interested in the kid that was bothering Keaton from before. He hoped the little guy would be able to get away before Keaton really took notice of him.

Cog sweated, and grabbed his wrist with his other hand to stop the shakes.

[bill]

Chapman Navarro, still smiling, but looking slightly uncomfortable, glanced at the wolf.

"Chapman Navarro. Friends call me C.C.. But, uh..."

Navarro glanced around the room, more uncomfortably than before.

"I'm just having one problem about this whole business. Because revenge is really the worst possible reason to try to pull off one of these... operations. And, with no offense to the folks here, the fact that you're hiring people in a bar, of all places, to take down one of the most powerful folks anywhere doesn't really fill me with confidence.".

Navarro paused, and spoke to the jackal.

"Good news, though, you're an assassin. For Kytharion, no less. Guess that means you're competent enough, right?"

Navarro thought for a second. Warning signs about the operation were screaming in his head, but on the other hand... He felt the yellow folder in his coat pocket.

"Yeah", said Navarro, "I can probably get behind this mission.

[Sunblink]

In response to the almost satisfied purr the trench coat-wearing wolf had emitted, Keaton apprehensively eyeballed him, at first uncertain about why he seemed so pleased, but then abandoning her tension. She assumed that whatever agenda the fellow canine held against the Sabanethei Family, indicated by the fact he apparently did enough research to be informed about the assassination attempt, was perhaps to her benefit. After all, her intent was simplistic enough - as she stated before, for pleasure.

Keaton had expected some sort of outcry to befall the bar after she stated her agenda, or at least some form of stunned silence. Surprisingly, she had garnered support from numerous individuals, including the melanistic feline bystander, and one who ostensibly looked to be a Being who approached her. Keaton felt a small twinge of distaste that the majority of her recruits seemed to be Beings, but she attributed this more to long-suppressed prejudice than anything else. Regardless, they were making progress, and finding people crazy enough to dedicate themselves to a possibly ludicrous cause.

Then as Cogidubnus introduced themselves, Keaton gave an irregular twitch, her pupils pinpricking, as she glowered animalistically at him for his near slip-up. What did he nearly call her? What? Fortunately, he avoided inciting her wrath by managing to cover up his mistake with her current sobriquet. Keaton felt her momentary rage bubble down, and she sighed, withdrawing, not bothering to hide her discontent translated through her smoldering gaze.

"Right. Keaton. That's my name," she said numbly. When Navarro stated his own name, she felt her anger peter out in favor of slight indignation when he asked her about her abilities. That was a decent distraction.

"Damn right I'm competent," Keaton retorted. As though to reinforce her statement, she reached off to the side and hefted what appeared to be a very large, tall morningstar-mace from where it was leaning against the wall and gripped it into a slanted position. Smirking, Keaton drew a finger with obsessive slowness along Catastrophe's atramentous handle, admiring the sleek, lusterless obsidian surface. Having Catastrophe in her hands made her feel better. "I made it for four hundred years without him having me killed. That should say shitloads."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The stumpy hedgehog waited for Chapman to finish, then chipped in "Call me Witt." Before he could get much further, he glanced over his shoulder at the big lizard across the room, and frowned. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, someone is askin' me to kick their teeth in."

He shook his shoulders out, balled his fists, and turned to go "speak" to the tall sauroid.

[Tapewolf]

"Indeed it does," Cross said, glancing back at Keaton.  "The age alone certainly marks you as a Creature.  But what kind, I wonder?  Are you one of the Family?  An Angel rebelling against her kin, perhaps?"

Then he turned back to Cog.  "Call me Pettersohn."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cogidubnus was about to nod to Witt, when the spiny fellow suddenly turned and calmly informed them that he was about to kick the large dinosaur's teeth in. Cogidubnus twitched.
The sound of Witt walking was painful to the hypersensitive wolf. The sound of the people talking around him were burning coals to his mind, and his headache was only getting worse. His eyes focused in that unholy gleam that only the severely angry could muster, and hurting himself further by slamming his hand on the table glared at the retreating hedgehog. His teeth were bared in a pain-wracked snarl.

The sound of a barfight would send the wolf into paroxysms of agony. He fixed the hedgehog with the most intense stare he could, which under the circumstances, was intense indeed. His eyes were bloodshot, and filled with pain and genuine, malicious irritation.
Cog snapped. The pain was really starting to get to him.

"Godsdammit! We're in a tavern, you oversensitive pinprick! Have some decency you pointy sunuvabitch! Dammit! At least haul your drunk ass outside, you over-testosteroned spiny bastard!"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt stopped dead at the sound of the wolf's paw hitting the table, and spun around, eyes blazing. He stalked back to Cog, and leaned over, resting both paws gently in front of him, and gazed, silently, into the wolf's bloodshot eyes, his own eyes somewhat narrowed.

He paused, watching the wolf wince, and grinned. It wasn't a pleasant grin. At the same time, the spines on his back rose. He breathed out, gently, then in, then shouted, right in Cog's face "YOU HORRIBLE GODS-FORSAKEN HOPPED-UP LITTLE JUNKIE! I DON'T GIVE A TINKER'S CUSS WHAT YOU THINK, SITTING THERE SHAKING LIKE A LEAF! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ME DRUNK YET! IF IT WASN'T FOR THE PROSPECT OF PAY, I'D BREAK YOU IN HALF JUST FOR PRACTICE!"

[Cogidubnus]

 It wasn't so much the words Witt used, as much as the surprise and the sheer volume of them. At first, Cog didn't seem to react, sitting silently and still as the porcupine yelled at him, his hands flat on the table. Looking closely, however, one could see his eyes unfocus, and his his hands begin to shake again, rather subtly.

The porcupine stopped, and Cog slowly closed his eyes, wincing with an expression of sheer, excruciating agony, and slowly set his head in his hands, ignoring the spiny fellow completely. He'd suddenly found himself otherwise occupied -  the porcupine had basically stuck a few screwdrivers in his skull and twisted them around a bit.
If one listened, very carefully, they would have heard a very, very soft whimper of pain.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt grinned, evilly, and pushed himself off the table, ready to go back to the big green-skinned fellow on the other side of the bar.

[Snuggles]

A little bit fizzled at what she had said to him he kind of moved toward the back of the crowd around the sign where cross was thinking a lot to himself and a little put down. He didn't notice Cross in the slightest until something kind of itched him. He had felt this kind of itch before but he had a hard time putting a thumb on it. He looked around but didn't have to go far when cross said 'How old are you really, kid'. He was slow to answer so his attention was drawn elsewhere so he grabed on Crosses overcoat, or any kind of cloth to grab his attention. When he bent down to hear him again, he replays "Who's asking?"

[Tapewolf]

Cross smiled.  Not the twisted one which he was infamous for, but something more kindly.
"Teenagers don't have mind-shields," he replied quietly.  "I think you're one of Us."

[Snuggles]

He smiled back at him. "Oh, well i will ask any questions you have to the best of my ability if you get me on this adventure." He thought about it a little bit and decided against threating the guy.

[Aisha deCabre]

It was easy to observe how the wolf looked rather uneasy, and she could just guess at the problem.  But regardless, it wasn't Aisha's concern.  At least there was a good start.  She was about to answer the wolf's question, adding her name to the nonexistent list of recruits for the adventure, when suddenly there was a disturbance.  A diminutive hedgehog, whom she now just noticed it seemed, was to pick a fight with a rather large saurian...to which the wolf proceeded to add to.

Her ears swept back to her skull, the noise of the yelling rather discomforting to the keen ears of the disguised Demon, and her fist clenched around the arrow she was holding...as if she were thinking of using it.

No...no picking fights for me, not unless someone picks one WITH me first.  Not the best first impressions from this bunch though.

So instead of answering Cogidubnus directly, she turned back to the gold and black jackal Keaton, who seemed the more level-headed of the two (but wasn't going to go as far as assuming), and hesitantly replaced the arrow into the quiver as the shouting kept.  "Aisha Risen.  Call me...well, anything you want."

She grinned slightly, as if daring anyone who heard her name to call her anything but.  "And I'd be quite glad to lend my skills to your mission."

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Why Thank you." Paige extended her hand to the reptile. "I'm Paige."

She was a little disappointed that he did want to play for money but didn't let it show.

[Lushin]

Zilla extended his hand to shake with Paige but stopped short and closed his fist. A rather loud growl could be heard coming from his throat. It sounded like something a dinosaur would make. If Paige looked at his face she would see his eyes are narrowed but he wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be looking out the large window by the door. His growl grew louder as he stared out the window. Anyone who looked out the window would see several beings walking, talking and laughing with each other and looked to be coming to the tavern. Anyone who looked at Zilla would see his teeth where fully displayed. He didn't move towards the door or move at all really. The group had gotten to the door as one of the beings looked in through a window and saw Zilla standing in the back by the pool table glareing at them. The one who saw him stopped at the door turned around, spoke with the others, pointed out Zilla and they all quickly move on to another tavern or atleast away from that tavern. Zilla didn't stop growling until the group was out if sight. He was no longer smileing as he looked back at Paige and shook her hand. It was clear he seemed angery but had a surprisingly gentle handshake. He shook his head and finally spoke.
"My name is Sheabus. My friends call me Zilla"

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq continued to listen in on the various discussions and arguments in the group around the wolf and jackal. Yes, this might be amusing, as well as... taking care of old business, he thought to himself. A drug-addled idiot and a silly little mad girl, leading a ragtag group of adventurers on a fool's errand. I wonder who else they can drag into their escapade? The jaguar looks competent, as does that canine, but the others? Hah, rabble, mostly.

The only thing the mole still had to decide was whether to feign joining the group now, or follow them. Killing the wolf and jackal, and taking over the group, could be done at his leisure.

[Paladin Sheppard]

'Nice to meet you Sheabus...Was the a problem just then? You didn't sound too happy..." Paige asked as she selected a pool cue her size and chalked it up.

Bending over the table slowly she aimed through the white ball at the rest. Punting the white she smiled as the tightly packed group broke up nicely sinking two of the 'bigs'. Moving around the table to her next shot she fired off a dazzling smile at Zilla.

Bending over to shoot again, Paige wiggled her backside just so. This time her shot was off and the ball she had been aiming at missed the pocket. "Your turn." She said warmly.

[e_voyager]

The group was growing. There was a winged rabbit with them and a few others. The mention of the words creature and the name of the target caught his attention even more. While assassinations were not generally his thing he decided that he could make and acceptation if they let him in on the mission. He might not actually have to kill the target as it seems the jackal was intent on making the kill herself. No what interested him was that fact that this target was a very powerful member of a crime family and was reported to be not only wealthy and powerful but a collector of many thing. Maybe alone the course of their mission he could find a cure. If not he would likely find death but as things stood either would be better then this state of half living. Epyon shook his head. "I must be crazy" he said as he got up. One of Epyon's forehead wrinkles seemed to movie on its one nearly separating to revile and eye but Epyon suppress the urge. There were some things that he just wasn't ready to know or have know about himself

The winged fox stood and paid the bartender before approaching the group he would listen a little more bore tossing his name into the hat as it were. Events like this tended to be all or nothing for those with the dedication to try. He could see that the jackal would go at this with all she had, everything she could muster and even the she'd likely have a few tricks to use when the chances of survival drop to less then 50/50.  The only true question was 'would this part turn on itself like so many mixed parties tended to?' Either way he had little to loss and as willing to gamble what he had. "of there rewards..." he said speaking to them for the first time. " would any be say magical?" 

[Tapewolf]

"It's not me you have to convince," Cross said.  "If you insist on that form, you'll have to accept that few people will take you seriously.  At least, not without proof.  But I can understand your reluctance."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better take care of the wolf."

So saying, he strode up to Cog, and stared down at him in concentration.  In the depths of his mind there was a faint urge to do murder - just to spite his annoying "all-life-is-sacred" father - but it quickly passed.  After all, they were both wolves...
He began to suck away at Cog's pain, not out of kindness but from the more practical concern that they wouldn't be able to get anything done while he was out-to-lunch.

[Lushin]

Sheabus didn't answer Paige's question and just watched her shoot. His mind didn't seem to be in the game as he stared blankly at the table when Paige made her first shot. He seemed to be paying a bit more attention during her second shot but not by much. He almost seemed surprised when she said it was his turn. He shook his head again trying to clear it. He walked around the table trying to think of a good shot. He finally find one he like and leaned in for his shot. He seemed to hit the cue at an odd angle, it bounce off three balls that didn't sink. The cue ball seemed to be spinning sideways as it makes contact with a fourth ball, then bounced off to a fifth and sixth ball. The last three sank without much trouble as the cue slowly comes to a stop near a end of the table. He couldn't setup a shot so he simple sent the ball bounceing around the table, coming to rest right in front of a hole. Sheabus simplely looked around the table then at Paige.
"Your shot"

[Snuggles]

Anton kind of waved to him as he left. He is right i need to go and convince these two that they need me. He takes a few steps closer to the jackel and the wolf again but was confronted with two large beings, one a Horse and the other a Ox both holding out hand to stop him. By the look of them they were drunks and were friends.
"You look to be lost little boy." "Yeah, heh heh. Lost" One right after another.
"And you too look to be poor. Heh Heh. Now if you excuse me" Mocking the second guy a little bit then trying to push his way through But the Ox pushed him to the ground in anger and was about to throw a punch before the horse stopped him and whispered something in his ear. Anton got back up.
"What was that for?"
"What was that for? Um... because we don't like you." The horse retorted back at him. "You want to do something about it?" Pushing him to the ground again.
Anton smiled this time. "Yeah." He then proceeded to ram his staff into the guys shin then ran through people dodging in and out through legs and finally getting outside where he waited a little bit to see if they were pursuing. The horse howled in pain as the staff connected and he fell a little bit. The Ox on the other hand surprised a little bit but then proceeded to run after the kid pushing people out of the way to get to him. The horse follow soon after.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Not bad." Paige commented as she moved up to the table. Seeing that one of her balls was blocked by one of Sheabus' Paige decided to chip the white over the top and hopefully knock the target ball into the middle pocket. The ball popped up perfectly and she had a second ball put away. Standing up she turned to Zilla "I don't sapose you know of any decent paying jobs around, I just got of a gig escorting a merchant from the mainland."

While she talked she moved position for her next shot. Seeing one to her liking she fired it off but the ball stubbornly wouldn't go in the pocket but blocked it instead. "Aww nuts."

[Sunblink]

Keaton was at first unaware of her own slip-up, only to be rather unceremoniously informed of it by Cross's suggestion of her being an Angel. More indignantly outraged at that accusation than embarrassed by the exposure of her Creature heritage, Keaton snarled vehemently, "I'm not a fucking piece of shit Angel!"

To emphasize her point, she clenched her fist atop the table's surface, her muscles trembling. "They can all fucking burn for all I care. And for your information, I'm" - only when Cogidubnus slammed his hand down to the table did she become aware of his irritation. Red-hot pain flickered in Keaton's temple from this sudden jumpstart to the noise which brutalized her eardrums prior, her free hand leaping up to grasp her offended ear, which was flickering rapidly. Narrowing her eyes, she focused her glare on Cogidubnus, who seemed... irritated for some reason. Fucking druggies didn't make any sense. "What the hell's your problem?"

She never got to hear the answer to his question - well, a precise one, at least, because in the next moment Cog was directing his ire towards the hedgehog-fellow. Trying to be intimidating. Such an effort would have amused Keaton if it wasn't for the fact she was pummeling his shin with her boot earlier, and that he was contributing to the agitating... motherfucking... noise!

The hedgehog didn't take that verbal abuse lying down. Oh hell no. He returned it tenfold, shrieking in Cog's face, immediately disarming whatever retort the wolf had brewing in that drug-intoxicated mind of his and reducing him to the little heap of shuddering, shivering fur Keaton was familiar with.

Most inopportune moment for people to start to take interest in her offer. Perhaps the increase in noise had attracted more unusual characters. An odd, winged fox was gesturing to Keaton and asking her questions, but Keaton wasn't prepared to answer them. No, she had to take care of the spindly little headache tormenting one of her best chances to rip Kytharion's throat open. Meanwhile, she overheard Cross talking to the persistent lapine boy who hadn't left before, but couldn't quite make out what the specifics of their conversation. No matter.

Irritation fueled Keaton's efforts. Just as the hedgehog-something was about to turn his attention back to the Mythos he was trying to confront, Keaton released a loud, infuriated snarl and lunged.

The first thing Witt had felt was something very large and clawed close around the fabric of his shirt. Second was the feeling of him being elevated off of the floor by a good few inches, just enough for his toes to leave the ground and dangle uselessly beneath him. Third, he was spun around by whatever disproportionate appendage was keeping him aloft, so that way he was facing Keaton's leering visage, her muzzle split by the forced grin she had shunted onto her features.

"Are we all gonna behave now?" Keaton asked brusquely, just managing to keep herself from enunciating that question with profanity.

She would have cared that she basically exposed her Creature heritage for all to see if she was in her right mind; at the moment she was too distracted with keeping Witt restrained and listening to that damn buzzing dying down. Too distracted to notice the people staring, slack-jawed and eyes wide, at the suddenly-hostile Succubus. Too distracted to realize she had probably compromised her identity by freeing a triad of tentacles through the split fabric in the back of her shirt and using them to ensnare Witt. In front of Witt's face, one of the tentacles leaned in towards his muzzle, its end crowned with a black-striped canid head - akin to the Anubis of Egyptian mythology. Inquisitively, it watched its captive victim with three eerily blank brown eyes, then flashed a wry, toothy grin.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

 Johan saw Cog stir somewhat as he probed his mind, and to the grey wolf's other surprise, it felt somewhat odd in the lupine's head. There was the wracking pain, of course, but there was also a tightness there, a feeling of constraint and great fear. Areas of his mind that should not be active instead raced, and as he concentrated on the drug-addled wolf in front of him, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was right behind him. There is no sound in another's mind, of course, not literally, but everything in the Were's mind seemed set to a backdrop of heavy, wet breath.
Probably something that could be dismissed as prolonged drug use.

Cog's head stirred, and he looked up , his eyes seeming to focus again. He blinked, an action that involved not a slight grimace, and then looked straight at the wolf incubus. His eyes widened.
"No! Thanks, but don-"

Cog stopped short, looking at the scene literally straight in front of him, and seemed to pause a moment as he took it in. His face stock-still, he adjusted his hat, and then extended a hand towards Johan. He seemed to have forgotten what he was about to say before.
"Pettersohn, was it? Welcome to the team." he then looked at the panthress, and the other canine in turn. "Ms. Risen, Mr. Navarro. Great to have you aboard."

He kept staring at the hedgehog suspended in air by Keaton's tentacles, and glancing at the rest of the bar's patrons with a slightly worried expression. Still, he didn't panic, which was to his credit. He seemed to be used to this.

* * *

A figure strummed the strings of his guitar, to the backdrop of the sound of waves and pattering rain. The fingers worked nimbly from one string to another, the figure picking at each note rather than strumming, giving the music an almost hispanic feel. He seemed to be lost in thought, or lost in the music, and from his guitar poured not only sound, but seemingly texture - a music that one could almost feel in one's bones.
The figure seemed to glow in the dim light of the ship's hold, glowing lines of tattoos running up and down sable-colored arms, and a single stylized, glowing eye on the jaguar's forehead.

A ship's whistle blew above them, signaling their arrival. He opened his milk-white eyes.

[Tapewolf]

Eating Cog's pain evoked some very strange feelings to Cross, but right now he had more to worry about than some freak junkie Being.  Keaton had exposed herself as a succubus.  That had confirmed his suspicions, but he had not wanted the whole bloody tavern to know about it.  There was now a real risk that the succubus could be slaughtered by dozens of angry Beings and unless he crammed her soul into a jam-jar or something his only link to the Family would be lost.  The mission Daryil had entrusted him with would be lost.  He was on the verge of panic.

"What in the gods' names did you go and do that for?"  he yelled at her, his voice filled with fury and command, the voice of one who was used to being obeyed without question.  "STOP!  Think about what you are doing!"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt flared up as soon as he realised someone had grabbed his shirt. His spines rose, his eyes lit up, and he grinned, evilly.

"Sure. Badly." he riposted  - and his left hand flashed out to grab the tentacle, and yank it across the corner of the table. His right hand grabbed his pint, and went to bring it down on the tentacle - and stopped.

He looked over his shoulder at Pettersohn and snarled "What? What do you want?"

[Tapewolf]

"Her not to be torn apart, dickhead," Cross retorted, and hastily scanned the bar.  They should have one here somewhere...

[Sunblink]

As that insidious glow flared in the pits of Witt's pupils, Keaton felt something akin to dread start to boil within her stomach, chewing away at her belly like thousands of lava-laced fangs. Emotions as simple as that were always exacerbated with her. Realizing that an impending attack was imminent, Keaton prepared to defend herself the best she could, or at the very least endure whatever Witt had planned. He pulled back his hand with the pint glass clenched in it, the jackal-head on her tentacle released a chittering growl and shrank back in horror as it immediately registered what fate Witt had planned for it, and then -

- and then Cross shouted something which suddenly seized Keaton's mind from the ichorous, hell-hot lava it had been plunged into and flung it onto dry land, where she could gape and stare with renewed vision at the scene she had created. Keaton blinked, and her head snapped in Cross's direction, her expression reflecting nothing short of thunderstruck shock, as though she had been trapped in a nightmare and someone had slapped her in order to relinquish its grip. Over the stillborn silence that seemed to conclude Witt's statement, Keaton glanced to the bartender. The once infinitely-patient reptile was reaching and rummaging around under the counter.

THUMP.

The reptile set what appeared to be a large, impressive-looking double-rifle on the counter, and thumbed it, as though challenging Keaton to step out of line. Through that unspoken language, Keaton, with what little sensibility her mind sustained, decided to defuse the situation. Panicked, she glanced to Witt, and tried to talk in a way which would appeal to him. If violence and intimidation tactics wouldn't work, perhaps something more universal would.

"You," Keaton forced out from her mouth. Withdrawing the jackal-headed tentacle back into her body, she started to lower Witt to the ground, but didn't set him down just yet. Not until he shrugged off the pretense of being a threat. "You have a lot of fucking spunk. Stronger than" - she tried to avoid the no-doubt sensitive topic of his height - "most, too...

"Look," Keaton tried to keep herself from panicking. Felt like something was rolling around in her stomach. "If I let you down, and if you shut up for a moment, I'll show you so much money that you can crawl into a bottle and never come out again."

Click-click.

The reptile was slipping in a pair of bullets into the barrels of his rifle with an odd sense of dignity to his wiry frame. He glowered at Keaton, counting off the remaining seconds she had to negotiate her behavior with an extended hand. Keaton watched the reptile's thumb tuck itself into the reptile's palm, and quickly glanced back to Witt before the reptile could get started on those remaining digits.

"Do we have a deal?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal