[IC] Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

[shylarah]

"Atoms aren't held together by chakra, they're held together by the strong nuclear force. That is what creates energy in nuclear fission and fusion," Jareth grumbled. "The standard model doesn't cover everything, but claiming that people can fission atoms at will is rather bogus. If we could, we wouldn't need power plants." He gave one of the wheels a gentle spin. "Alternating charges...so like the accelerators at CERN and Fermi, but for a wheel..." he mumbled, thinking. "Y'know, Amuné and I got into a discussion of how magic works. She says it's an extra layer on things. I think it's just another type of energy, carried by bosons that stardard physics isn't able to detect yet. And that would mean that, based on what you said, atoms can carry a charge in addition to the strong force -- and it's /that/ you're using. Maybe even converting it, somehow, if you're really effecting fission, though I do wonder what you're doing with the waste products. Say, couldn't you set up some sort of shielding? Then you'd only have to worry about metals underneath -- though there's pipes and girders and stuff in a lot of roads and bridges. Mmm...if you had a way of containing and directing it, maybe. I dunno if that's something you guys have figured out how to do." He tapped the magholds in the seat, watching the way they moved. "Of course, if the parts aren't actually attached, you're going to have a problem if anything exerts a stronger force than the magholds do...."

---

The Seer refrained from commenting on how much she believed anyone wouldn't harm her. She'd said she'd try to trust, and she'd meant it. Tsitua told her to focus only on them, so she drew her senses inward until they centered on the man before her. But she didn't look too closely, for if she did she'd risk opening the door to visions, and that wasn't the idea for the moment. Especially the way she kept trying to catch hold of things, with so little around. The ship was too quiet. It felt sparse, and beyond there was nothing as far as a thought might fly. "'Us'...two distinct entities?" she asked, considering the odd nature that had puzzled her since she'd first seen it. "How does that even work?"

---

"I know -- I work here, don't I? But being wrong doesn't make what you've pulled off any less awesome. Besides, the CCG, they're worse." Bart look shocked when Orion introduced himself. "Orion, huh? It's...it really is an honor. I'm Bart. I'd heard you dropped off the grid after you split from that one group, but I knew they'd not gotten the best of you." The man smiled, rubbing his dark hair and messing it up in the process. "Cera said something about tracking, but she was skimpy on the details. So why'd you come by? Anything I can do?" The thought of being of use to someone he admired made Bart's eyes shine.

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

"Well, that's the thing, you don't have to induce fission to use chakra. That's just one of the implications. And I think I misspoke, chakra doesn't really hold atoms together so much as... how can I say... I guess the best bad way to explain it is that they provide the force that subsequently fuels the 'strong nuclear force' as you call it. Chakra is the energy behind all things. We believe chakra to be what lit the fuse of what humans call The Big Bang. Interesting stuff though." She responded. The second part of what he said was, well, brilliant. "That's good, if I can contain and direct the magnetic forces, that'll do the trick..." she went off into an area where her pile of junk was and began to sift through it for parts. Her mind was on her work now, as if nothing else was going on around her.

Lya smiled, happy that it was over, but also excited to become relevant to Jareth's attention again. She stepped up to him and gave him a light, playful nudge. "She's a grease monkey compared to her brother." She said, "Let me take you to Victor to see a real genius at work. Maybe he can teach you a thing or two." She flashed a smile that only someone with the beauty of born royalty could have and started toward the next hallway.

****

Tsitua didn't bother to answer her question, it was easier just to show her. He took a moment to focus, giving Coodaudu any leeway still made him nervous, but at least he wasn't letting the demon out. To Amune's eyes, a blue flame would ignite over the hybrid's body. From that flame, a figure would rise as if standing from the sitting position the leader was in. It took a humanoid form, but it was clearly far from human. It was a man made of that blue fire; a metaphysical embodiment of heat, Coodaudu. "Our bond," the demon explained, "is symbiotic. I attach to his Tsitukaiza's soul, and evade destruction. He feeds from my power to add to his own when necessary."

It knelt down, phasing through obstacles with its metaphysical form and leaned closer. He seemed to be made of energy, but he had a dental arrangement and structure similar to Ziika, and his eyes were blacker than the inky fabric of empty space. "A piece of him is broken and missing, so I shall fill the gap until he finds it." Coodaudu's voice was like a cross between the growl of a beast and the roar of a blazing inferno. He was obviously powerful beyond anything Amune could have experienced to date, and yet he was chained by the resolve of Tsitua's mental and metaphysical strength.

****

Orion nodded, hiding the worry in his heart, "Yes, I need you to get ahold of her right away, and find out where she is and what she's doing. Tell her I want to meet up and talk about what to do about the Royals." He considered, for a moment, if it was wise to get Bart involved in all of this. What if something happened to him? He concluded that, as a ghoul, this would be something that could effect him in the future anyway. He decided he wouldn't let Bart get too close to this, but for the time, he was a good resource.

****

Deep in the heart of the city, a man in a pinstriped suit moved against a crowd on their way to various jobs and appoinments and the like. The man smiled, flashing several sets of fangs that no one seemed to notice. He ran a hand over his slicked, black hair as he chuckled out of no where, "Your move, mister 'Vassel of Death'." he said.

Below him, the coven of magic users who had transported the group before all hung upside down from their own entrails that where nailed to the ceiling by bones surgically removed from their limbs. Their hearts hung from carefully opened chest cavities... still beating.

Kabuto chuckled again and looked up to the sky, "Come out to play, little soul-harbor..."

@shylarah

[shylarah]

"Ah, well...that makes more sense, I guess." Jareth made to follow Valkyrie, interested in watching what she was going to do, but a nudge at his side made him jump. "Ah! Oh, hey Lya." He'd totally forgotten she was there! Ashamed, his cheeks turned red. "And what's wrong with being a grease monkey, eh? It's not like being a circuit monkey is any harder." Still, he was more than happy to follow her just about anywhere. "See you later, um...." He realized to his chagrin that he didn't know the mechanic's name. And she was immersed in her work anyhow. He hurried to catch up to Lya. "Hey, what was her name? I don't think she said."

---

The blue flames that clung to Tsitua flared brighter, and she realized that they were actually visible now, instead of only in her mind's eye. Power poured off of him, enough that she winced before adjusting. She'd never encountered anything like him before -- well, save that one time, but it had been a reality that might have been, or the lingering effects of insanity twisting her perception. As the man of fire leaned closer, she thought she could feel the heat spreading from him. "So you stay with him and just...what, watch?" Her brows drew together. That sounded awful. Able to see, yet bound to another's wishes. The demon didn't seem upset by it, but she couldn't hide her shiver, nor the shift in her magic as she automatically started to defend herself simply because she'd thought of it. A moment later and it was gone, smoothed away. "How...how did he end up broken? What happens to you when he is once again whole?" Another thought sprang to her mind, something she'd not really noticed at the time. "Oh...and what does it mean, that you serve death?"

---

"She's off today, but I can totally text her for you. Just a tic." Bart pulled out a cell phone and turned it on, quickly sending off a message. "Royals...ugh, you don't mean that group with the nutcase, do you? I heard he'd as soon rip you to shreds as look at you." A ping announced Cera's reply. "She'll be here in two shakes, and if you two are gonna talk business, I should scoot. ...May have skipped out on the clock, I was pretty stoked to meet you properly." The ghoul smiled, ducking his head. "It was nice talking, Orion. Thanks so much for the mask. Come by again, yeah?" With that, Bart put his phone away. His kagune snaked out from under his shirt and shot up to wrap around the balcony railing, and he used it to pull himself upward and back over, and moments later he'd vanished inside again.

Cera was more than merely two shakes, but twenty minutes later she rounded the corner of the building. "Hey, cutie, heard you were looking for me~" The vampire favored him with a wide grin. She had her shades on, and possibly some minor magic to hide her nature, for her fangs didn't seem as sharp as usual. "So the prey bit back, and now you want to talk teaming up, huh? I'm game, but not here. Got somewhere better? If not, the road is as good as anywhere else, and you could see some of the area while you're at it."

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

"That was Valkyrie, and I never said grease monkeys were below anyone." she said, wrapping her arms around one of his once he caught up to her. "I'm just saying, if you think that bike was amazing, wait until you see what Victor has cooking in his lab."

They came to the lab, which was a huge, yet cluttered room filled with tech and machinery. At the center was a huge, three dimensional hologram table that served as a 3D monitor to an apparant supercomputer. At it sat Victor, a heavily muscled man with a bioflex prosthetic right eye and choppy blonde hair parted and brushed to one side. As Lya and Jareth entered, he threw a basketball sized piece of machinery at the wall hard enough to obliterate it on impact. He shouted a curse and started piecing together a new one.

****

Coodaudu tilted his head and scoffed. "Sharing a body is not like the visual entertainment of Earth portrays it. We are symbiotic. I said that already. Do try to pay attention, human." he replied, annoyed. Tsitua cautioned him in demonic before he regained his manner and continued. "When he acts, we both act, we are as one person with like minds. However, if he became complete, I would be cast out and left to find another, as I have done many times since the creation of your dimension. I would find another."

Amune's next question seemed to intrigue the demon. He knew of Amune's opinion of angels and demons and things from which the human race had based most of its religion. "You mean why they call us the Vassal of Death?" he asked rhetorically. He let out a skull-shaking laugh, "And what could the likes of you possibly gain from this knowledge, non-believer? Can your feeble, opinionated mind even accept the truth? You are not ready!" he laughed again, but it was an angry laugh, an insulted laugh. Coodaudu had obviously heard Amune's statement about her views, and was offended by the fact that she refused to believe that what was right in front of her even exsisted. At least, that was how he saw it.

Tsitua drew the demon back in. It took alot of effort, but he retracted the demon and relaxed his posture, "Apologies, he's still butt-hurt over you saying that angels and demons and God weren't a thing. To answer your question, they say we serve death because that is precisely what we do. Vatchious, the Angel of Death, is our... I guess, Commanding Officer is the best comparison."

****

Orion was hardly even a blur at the speed he moved to get within intimate distance of Cera, only to grab a fistful of her shirt and slam her against a building. The act cracked some bricks, but it was little more than a firm plant against a wall to a vampire. "What the hell are you doing, going out like that with Wolf on the loose in the city?" he asked in a hushed, yet intense tone, "Do you realize how dangerous that was? Your scent was on me when they attacked. If they had come across you out there they might have-- nevermind." He set her down, calmed by the fact that she was evidently okay. He breathed a sigh and hugged her quickly. He didn't have many friends, and of those few, he wanted them all to stay alive. "Listen, we need to talk, but here isn't the place. take me to your residence." he suggested.

****

Cain looked over the bodies, his NI recording everything he did and saw. This was the MO of a demon, not a ghoul. There was no evidence of biting or chewing, and no parts were missing. They were still alive too. They had been mutilated with such finesse that they were still alive. If Cain had possessed the sense for it, he might have appreciated the art of it. However, he knew how his leader would react to him leaving humans in such a state. He killed them all with sharp blades to each person's cerebral cortex. There was no pain to the ending of their lives b his hand. There was no need for them to suffer any more than they had. He continued on his mission, the image of the girl from before a splinter in his thoughts. @shylarah

[shylarah]

Jareth felt his face heat as the gorgeous woman slid her arm around his. It was impossible to catch his breath with her so close, and his heart felt like it might burst right out of his chest. Gods, but he was hopelessly lost. It took a massive wrench to pull his attention away from Lya, and it was with a belated protest that he saw the mass of machinery hit the wall. The young man wanted to go to it, see if any of the components might be recovered, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away. It was a few moments more before he managed to notice Victor with his artificial eye, and the holoscreen. Questions bubbled up inside him, but he was unable to turn them into words. Curse it, he was probably gawping like a fish. Another flush, this one ashamed, reddened his face. Why did a crush have to render him so totally useless?!

---

Amuné listened to the explanation of symbiosis, but shook her head. "The idea of my thoughts and wishes being identical to another's, even if they shared a part of myself is...not one that sits well with me," she admitted slowly. "The thought of not wishing them to be is even worse. If you are truly of one mind and of one body, I do not understand how you are still separate people. If you are separate people, then even if both influence the outcome, there should be a difference." She paused, considering. "I seem to sense a difference of some sort, but...I don't know. Perhaps this is simply something I have yet to comprehend."

His laughter was surprising, and his words stirred anger in her heart. The woman's eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched. Serving an angel of death...interesting, yes. But that was a separate issue. "Perhaps saying they do not exist is inaccurate," the Seer allowed. "They are merely concepts, words to describe a thing. But I would argue that the concept is inaccurate, compared to what is being described. Divinity, an absolute right and wrong, unchanged and unwavering: these are the things I question. The Christian concept I reject completely. The beliefs of religions with pantheons, perhaps those I might accept, but I will not worship, nor give unquestioning obedience. 'God' is merely a statement of power." Amuné focused again on the demon, no longer so evident, and addressed him. "Power beyond comprehension no more makes someone right than it does at the level of humans. I don't think it possible to be right beyond question; if someone was, it would take self-determination from others, and I feel that would itself be wrong. A different level of ability, a different kind of morality perhaps. Even the concept of death, the afterlife, and heaven: if I still have awareness, why would I call that death? If I do not, how could I consider that life? And if no one suffers, either they have lost the ability, or others are restricted; I could not accept that as a utopia. Not caring that there is no choice is worse than having no choice." One hand curled into a fist on her knee. "Any existing god is flawed and imperfect; angels and demons are no more absolute good and absolute evil than anyone else. Predisposed, perhaps, but that is true of all things. Truth is merely perception, and reality itself is mutable and flawed. My criteria for holiness most likely cannot be met, and so I say gods are not real. I will use the word to be understood, but nothing further."

---

Cera was not expecting an attack, but while Orion was beyond swift, she was not precisely slow by normal standards. Nails dug into his hand and wrist as he shoved her up against the wall, snarling. She'd liked him -- she'd thought he was pretty okay. Where had this come from?

Concern for her, apparently. The hug so soon after the grab startled her, but the vampire returned it, squeezing him tightly before letting her grip loosen. "Sure, I can do that," she said, trying not to get too hopeful. Then again, she'd never seen a problem with mixing business and pleasure. "But you know, Orion, I'm not going to stop having a life just because someone nasty came through." She used his name to make sure he realized she was serious. "There's no point in being around if I have to stay holed up all the time. C'mon, my truck's across the street."

Her duplex was pretty nice, a comfortable size for a single woman who might throw a party now and then, but she'd had years to make it her own. The furniture was the eclectic mix of someone who'd lived a long time, and the pictures on the walls showed an interesting aesthetic sense, with classic reproductions and modern abstract art mixing with Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and a couple framed copies of Norman Rockwell's work. "Have yourself a seat, cutie," she said, waving at the couch as she went to put her purse in another room. When she came back she settled next to him. "So okay, the Royals, that'd be Queenie's top dogs. Wolf, and whoever else. I haven't turned up anything new, but I'm keeping an ear out."

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarahLya giggled at him. Like a kid in a candy shop who wouldn't go to try some. She dropped one arm, keeping the other around his and her body within an intimate distance. Any closer and she would be leaning on him.

"Having issues, big guy?" She called out to the bulky man.

He snorted in response, shaking his head as he began desoldering a piece of circuitry. "The damn thing won't process my algorithms any faster than eight terabytes per one-hundred nanoseconds. Any slower and I might as well be processing through tar." He said with obvious frustration. "I need to get this processor figured out so I can minimize it and start putting it into the new bioflex, or some of us are going to have to keep using this out dated skür, princess." The man liked to curse in celestial, but his pronunciation was poor.

"Well, maybe my new friend can help you." She suggested, winking at the he who's arm she clung to. She gave his upper arm a gentle squeeze and addressed him with emerald eyes that sparkled in the light of Victor's equipment.

"I doubt it. Valkyrie couldn't help me, so how will he?" He retorted.

Lya shot him a look but he was focused. Turning her eyes warmly back to Jareth, she assured him, "He's just mad because light only moves at one speed. Go on, I'll come get you later." She stepped around in front of him, gripped his shirt, and kissed him on the cheek before taking her leave. She walked purposefully slow, allowing her hips to swing a little as she went.

Victor pointed across the room, "If you're going to be here, make yourself useful. I need that hydrogen engine cleaned down to the bolts. Feel free to take it apart as long as you can reassemble it."

****

"I have to say," Tsitua began, having placed Coodaudu back in his place, "you're not entirely far from the truth, but it isn't the power that makes angels good and demons bad. It's the use of such power. Sometimes we have to do evil things like kill people to achieve peace, but he angels will not. Angels and demons both share the ability to inhabit the bodies of physical beings, yet an angel will not possess, only augment unless the body has been neglected by its own soul." He leaned in slightly, eyeing her chakras as they had come to a calm that matched that of still water, "It is in the intent, but no one apart from that which is almighty is truly perfect. Even the almighty, I'm not always sure of."

He liked how she saw things. She was skewed in his opinion, but she took things as they were. If only she had a little faith in something out of her control, she might have been potentially the most powerful Seer to date.

He leaned back and crossed his arms, "Enough mind games, in satisfied for the day with them. Can you fight?" He asked.

****

The abode was almost too typical of a nosferatu. They always like to make it almost annoyingly obvious that they were immortal. It was a cozey home, though.

He took a seat and waited, all the while wondering if she had nothing but bags and bags of blood in her fridge. He might not have been able to contain his laughter if she did.

"Wolf is one of two minds in the same person. He is also the Blue Demon, but you wouldn't have heard of him. Blue Demon kills quietly, and cleanly. To most, including the CCG, he's just a myth. I have seen him with my own eyes." Orion popped a finger. "If Wolf is her right hand, I was once her left. She only ever let two see her, so she has to have another lieutenant. We need to find out who it is before anything else." He explained briefly, unsure of how comfortable he was with how close she was. He never wore his ring in the field..

[shylarah]

Princess? ...That was just a nickname or something, right? Jareth couldn't believe Lya was a princess -- sure, she might be beautiful enough, but she didn't act like royalty or anything. And if she was, she wouldn't be having anything to do with him. And she was very much having things to do with him.

Another mental wrench, and he sifted through what Victor had said, though he was sidetracked by a sudden kiss that left him stunned and staring as she sauntered off. One hand lifted to almost touch his cheek, where he could still feel the pressure of her lips. Oh gods...why did he have to go back home on Monday?

Right, engine thing. Wait no, processor? "...Maybe it doesn't need to be faster," Jareth said slowly, his gears gradually gaining traction and kicking up to speed. "What was it my one friend keeps gushing about? Quantum processors? I mean, you probably already have them, but if you give me a look at some of the theories, it might be possible to layer them better." The idea of computers that could do multiple calculations at literally the same time instead of in very rapid progression had a lot of people excited, and if this lot were indeed more advanced, as they seemed to be, they doubtless already had them. Actual quantum processors -- ones that worked, that were standard and cutting edge and dear gods he wanted to see them. His fingers tingled with the familiar itch, a yearning that had started with tinkering, but now spread to concepts as well as physical work.

---

"It's always in how it's used. Good and evil are as subjective as truth. More so, in fact. If it's a matter of morals, and the same power, then they might as well be the same thing," Amuné replied. "And in my biased view, failure to act can indeed be wicked." She fell silent. She still doubted anything had absolute power, unless you assumed reality itself had some sort of consciousness, but that issue was toying with ideas that strained comprehension, and she wasn't in the mood. The Seer subsided into complete stillness, though her focus sharpened at the final question. "I can," she said. "Nothing fancy, but enough. Unarmed martial arts, primarily a knife or short staff for CQC, and firearms. My Sight aids me only in supplementing tactics and sensing attacks. I have no other magic."

---

"Two minds? Split personality or something, like that comicbook villain? Ha, that's a laugh." Cera shook her head. "Sometime you'll have to tell me how you ended up her lieutenant, cutie -- and what made you decide to leave," she added, putting her feet up on an ottoman. "If only two ever see her, then she must have an excellent hiding spot, and she must not do a lot of travelling. But a second lieutenant...hm." The vampire twisted a lock of dark hair around a finger, thinking. "It'd be someone new here, and I'm not sure how much of a friendly reception new folk'd get. It's a delicate balance this town has, and even those that are loud elsewhere have found a quiet place useful. I don't know how they'd take to someone messing that up. Which means--" and here she leaned forward, her grin stretching wide, "--all we really need to do is wait for someone to see them and start fussing. This isn't exactly a small town, but the monster community isn't that big, all things considered."

((His ring? ...Orion's married?! *flailing*))

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarah"Of course..." Victor muttered, suddenly lifting his head up as he halted what he was doing. He tossed the circuit aside and began furiously tapping code onto his holoscreen. The equations and code began to form a three-dimensional model of a quantum processor. It was an sphere spiderwebbed with neurofilaments and tiny little components that Victor simply called "brains".

If I take the processors I already made and make them small enough to put into a quantum core, I can link them all together with neurofilaments and let the quantum core run them all simultaneously!" He exclaimed, pressing an activation key that brought his printer to life. The printer was a three dimensional printing device the size of a moving truck that could synthesize any element or molecule on the database and construct an item created in Victor's ultracomputer. It roared with moving parts and the rearranging of atoms into molecules and so on. After a few minutes, a conveyer belt brought out the finished product. The sphere was about the size of a grape and glowed with a soft, blue-white light.

Victor carefully plucked it from the conveyer and held it up. "Maybe you're smarter than I thought, kid." He said, turning back toward his station.

****

Tsitua held back, but the word 'magic' was still amusing to him. It gave the idea of their abilities a mystical air. The science of it was measurable though, Magic was an inaccurate term. He let her use it though. Ket had made fun of his word once, and he didn't want to be that guy. "We'll see about that." He said, standing and offering her a hand up.

He led her to the room across the passageway, peeling his shirt off and tossing it aside. This room was obviously a fighting gym. It had everything needed to train in hand-to-hand combat, as well as melee weapons.

He took some gloves from a tub-full and strapped them on. As he did, Mae stepped out of a dressing room in training clothes one would see on earth. She was obviously Lya's identical twin sister, but her hair was naturally scarlet red. She had a horizontal scar that crossed the bridge of her nose and tapered off at her left cheek bone. She had the name 'Eric' tattooed on the left side of her neck, and a character from the demonic language on her left shoulder. The character was not unlike the Japanese character meaning 'fire', but it was crossed like a capitol T and only had one of the two lines in the Japanese one. The biggest difference between her and her sister, however, was that her left arm was a bioflex prosthetic. The bioflex was designed to match the user's anatomy, using insanely durable, yet flexible metal for the skeleton, and a rubber-like material for the muscular structure. Hers was plated with a skin-toned shell that matched her complexion.

Mae handed Amuné a set of clothes for exercise and nodded, "Go ahead and get dressed. We'll have a little fun." She said with a smirk.

****
Orion's brow furrowed and he gave Cera an appalled look. "That's not an option. If we wait for something to happen, more people could die. I saw Queen. She was not herself. She was power-drunk. And something was off about Wolf too. Like he knew all of my attacks were coming. I hit nothing but air, even though I'm ten times faster." He said, standing and going to the window. He was checking to make sure there wasn't smoke in the air from something they may have potentially destroyed. He wouldn't put it past them at that point.

****

Wolf stepped into the Upstairs with a purposeful stride. He was cloaked, but it was evident that he was heavily muscled benead that blood-stained garment. His ghoul eyes peered over top a stainless steel half-mask shaped like a wolf's muzzle bearing teeth. Choppy white hair rested on his head in a short cut just above his eyes and off his ears and neck. His skin was pale, even for a ghoul, but that was likely due to the fact that he had never been seen in the day time. It was always between Dusk and early morning.

"Tell me.." he said, his voice more like a growl than a human tone as he closed distance between himself and Bart, "where is Blankface?" His eyes were casual, but the looming threat was clear to everyone in the room. His very presence was an expression of danger.

As he waited for an answer, a rinkaku began to poke out from under his cloak. The smooth, almost fluid organ was a rich, bright red with a secondarily reflected shade of royal blue. It seemed to change color as it moved, much like two toned car paint. He manipulated it into a three-fingered claw beneath his cloak. When he got his answer, he would cut off the loose ends. This city would belong to queen.

[shylarah]

((Amune, like many of my magic users, believes magic is in fact simply a form of science, with measurable and quantifiable results. In her opinion, the word originated with those who had such abilities and then superstition and fear twisted the meaning into something fictional. Magic describes the fictitious concept, but also a branch of science. She'll probably say something to that effect if it's ever brought up.

I'm going to assume that, even though Cera and Orion and the others are a day ahead of Amune and Tsitua and that lot, given what we've done so far, that they're still on the same day right now.

I actually don't have anyone in mind for the information broker. Just that as Cera said, there are a ton of stories and rumors, people who claim they know people who know people who had something happen, that sort of thing. And they probably charge through the nose. =P

Zane is the one with golden eyes.))))

Jareth walked up behind the man at the screen, watching the blueprints take form. He could understand only a little of it, since he was more of a robotics guy than a circuitry one, but he knew enough to be confidently conversant with his computer engineer buddies. This, however, was a completely different ballgame. The noise from the printer attracted the young man's attention, but the device roughly resembled the 3d printer on campus, so he went back to looking at the screen. Victor's compliment made him flush. "I try," he mumbled. "Gotta know a little about circuitry for robotics, and that's what I'm into most. This, though...." He waved a hand at the screen, the printer, the tiny ball of circuits, even the entire ship. "/Way/ beyond what I get to play with. I mean...." He trailed off, at a loss for words.

---

The hesitation before she took his hand was barely noticeable, and Amuné came smoothly to her feet and followed Tsitua across the hall. The new woman had to be related to Lya, and her hair was equally vibrant. The demonic tattoo drew Amuné's attention for a brief moment, before she was told to go change. A wistful expression crossed the Seer's face at the other woman's words. Perhaps if she had never needed to use any of the skills she'd learned, she might consider it fun. Certainly the exertion was pleasant, and she liked the confidence that came from knowing precisely what she was capable of, and the strain of pushing herself further. She enjoyed such training. But she would never call it fun. "Fighting isn't fun," she murmured, turning to go. "Merely necessary."

When she returned she wore the simple clothes she'd been given. A simple necklace, just a flat metal disk, and her shoes were the only other things she wore. Her knife and its sheath were in her hand, and she tossed it gently against one of the walls. Even though she knew it would do her little good, Amuné was unwilling to leave it too far from her person. She was average height, with a solid build, but her frame and motion gave a sense of leashed power. "So what's the plan?" she asked, looking from Mae to Tsitua and back again.

---

"New powers or something? Maybe they leveled up." Her words were flippant, but Cera was concerned. As she'd said, a shift in the balance could make everything fall apart. She watched him at the window, thinking hard. "Well," she said at last, drawing the word out, "every place has its information brokers. This town's no different. I'll warn you, though. This is a last resort sort of deal. I can't say any of it's been proven, but stories often have a grain of truth, and there's enough stories that I'm betting that's the case here. People going missing, ending up dead -- there's even some that say they get cursed. Not everyone, but it's seen as a poor choice of profession, and a risky sort of association." Red eyes watched Orion solemnly. "If you're sure that's what you want, I'll take you, but be sure it will cost you dear. Information doesn't come cheap."

---

Bart was wiping down a table. There were more people around, now that the sun had set. Cliche though it might be, nighttime was when the non-humans liked to come out, it seemed. The coffee-shop area had been converted into a dance floor, with the furniture moved aside and music pumping over the speakers. Not deafening, but not quiet either. Wolf's approach had triggered an alarm, and Upstairs staff were quietly preparing to fight, additional people finding a reason to be somewhere nearby. A dark-haired man with bronzed skin and golden eyes pushed his wire-frame glasses up his nose as he went to speak with a young lady sporting a cascade of hair in brilliant oranges, reds, and blues. Another girl, thin to the point of waifishness, hummed tunelessly under her breath as she stocked the bar. Curly was the host, but Wolf had passed him by, and now the broad-shouldered man was checking a list on his stand. Nor were these the only ones.

Bart was trying to stay cool, but the sight of someone looking for a fight and heading for him had the ghoul off-balance. Still, it was easy enough to fall into a lie made of nothing but the truth. "Blankface?" he repeated, eyes widening before an uneasy grin stretched across his face. "Man, I'm a huge fan of that guy! Don't gotta make a fuss, dude, if I knew where he was I'd be there in an instant! But I've not seen a ghoul with that mask anywhere around. Nor news of anyone answering to that name. ...You really think he's in town?" Even his nervousness couldn't completely dampen the fanboy's enthusiasm, and the shift to excitement was genuine. "Geez, meeting him...that'd be amazing!"

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarahVictor raised an eye brow at the kid. "What's the problem? Stay here, I'll teach you things that no one on your planet can. I could use your innovation." He clapped Jareth on the shoulder as he went across his lab to a section that resembled a machining shop. There were enough parts and scrap metal for a hundred bioflex prosthetics. "You said robotics eh?"

He picked up a metal, left arm skeleton and shook it in the air, "Let's make some shit." He said with an excited grin.

****

"No plan, just sparring." Tsitua answered, making sure the cushions on his gloves were good by lazily punching his fists together. He stepped over onto the mat and began stretching.

Mae gave Amuné a nudge, "Wanna fight him first, or watch us first?" She asked, her tone hinting at the fact that she was itching to fight. She too was putting on gloves with a little fire in her eyes. To Amuné, Mae wouldn't look all that special in chakra, not compared to the others. She'd never had a specific focus or ability. She was fast, strong, and worked very hard. What would stand out to a perceptive chakra user was that despite the lack of an arm, chakras were still flowing through the prosthetic.

****

Orion crossed his arms in frustration. His first solo mission, and he was totally lost for what to do first. He went back over to the couch, "I don't want to cause your people trouble, but I might have to stir the pot. If we don't find them, they're going to cause trouble...

****

Wolf took a moment to smell the young ghoul. The sound of a long inspiration of air resonated in his mask as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Bart was caught. Blankface's scent was all over him. Wolf blades his stance and looked away, calmly annoyed. With a sigh he spoke to the other ghoul like he wasn't even a person.

"You're lying." Was all he said, letting the long breath he had taken out. His voice was deep and rugged. There was a swish of air and a meaty sound. His kagune was like a blur. By the time it was done, his cloak had already fluttered back down. Bart's head hit the floor before his body did. It rolled, but wolf stopped it under his military quality, black leather boot.

The killer turned a bored expression to a man with gold eyes. In doing so, he popped his neck and allowed his kagune to creep out a few inches from under his cloak. "I suggest you don't waste more of my time. Where. Is. Blankface?"

[shylarah]

"I wish I could," Jareth sighed, though he beamed at the praise. "But I've got a lab Tuesday, not to mention the rest of my classes. And it's a rather long commute." He nodded eagerly in response to the query of robotics. "Alright~ Hey, Valkyrie mentioned something about AIs. What's the deal with that? And why doesn't anyone else have this tech yet? Or are the governments just keeping it under wraps like the tinfoil hat guys say?" He grabbed for the arm, running his fingers along the bones and gently flexing the thumb. "Man, that's /amazing/...."

---

Amuné grabbed herself a pair of gloves and slipped them on, flexing her fingers and wrists to make sure she still had adequate mobility. She glanced at Tsitua, then gave Mae a considering look, her eyes lingering on the prosthetic limb. "I think I'll let you two--" Quite abruptly she stopped speaking, brows drawing together and pain flickering across her face. And just as suddenly she forced herself to relax where she'd tensed up. For a moment her magic had flared, and the still pond had gone choppy with distress. The surface still trembled, vibrations dancing across and back, but she clung to her discipline.

It had been a brief, lancing pain, followed by a whirl of images. Zoe, Bart, Curly -- a flash of the Upstairs crumbling down into the shops below, a quick glimpse of burning buildings. Curly trying to get between Bart and a man with a wolf's mask. The dead laid out in rows of lumpy shrouds. A funeral pyre leaping skyward. Bart beheaded and Seline with her lips spotted with blood, trying to breath around the kagune impaling her lungs. Zane, the light fading from his beautiful golden eyes. Her breath had caught in her throat, her heart lurching in her chest, but she had to act like it was nothing because if she made a fuss, if she told them right away then it would be even worse. All the futures matched in that regard. Tsitua would find out when he did, but not from her.

"--Actually no. I'll go." Her expression had hardened, and the Seer seemed tense The exertion, the need to focus on defense and offense and what was coming at her would let her push the vision to the back of her thoughts. She would mourn her loss later. For the moment, she would let Tsitua test her.

---

"Wouldn't cause me trouble...probably. And it wouldn't involve anyone else unless we brought them in. The information brokers...well, it's their decision to take that risk. Any pot stirring will most likely be her exalted majesty." The vampire gave an eloquent shrug. "I think it'd be worth a shot. I still know folks from my wilder days...someone will know someone, I'm sure." She pulled out her cell and started flicking through the contacts list. "Of course, only a scrore of them even /have/ phones, much less cell phones," she grumbled under her breath. "Honestly, you'd think they'd try a little harder to keep up with the times. It's not the 1930s anymore...."

---

Had Cera not told him about Orion, who the ghoul truly was, Bart would have been telling the complete truth. But it was not enough for Wolf. The cheery, enthusiastic, and very unfortunate ghoul was beheaded before he even had a chance to realize he was under attack. Wide blue eyes dulled and breath stilled. Even as his head rolled to a stop, the wards of the restaurant flared, seeking to boost the staff and actively hinder the one who came with an intent to harm.

Curly, who had already been moving toward Wolf, now growled softly and suddenly he seemed bigger, thicker, shaggy fur sprouting along his arms and nails turning into claws. The willowy girl retreated to a corner, pressing herself up against the wall in fear. The waitress with the blazing hair stepped forward, and a cook with a short spear emerged from the kitchen and vaulted the counter to join her. The man with the golden eyes stepped back and split into five, though only four of them smelled right. They spread out around the room, removing their glasses and glaring at Wolf. The weight of the golden gaze was heavy, numbing the mind by degrees.

"The only Blankface I know is a ghoul, and I thought he was in Japan." The woman with the vibrant hair lifted her hands and blades appeared in them, a longsword with a negative magical aura and a katana whose energy signature matched her own. "But you have broken the pact here and are no longer welcome. Get out."

She was a distraction. Curly, now in his combat form, swept in from behind with a heavy, clawed paw. He was a tank, able to tolerate a great deal of injury with the Upstairs' power behind him, and inflict serious harm. If Wolf turned to combat the bear therian, Sini and her second sprang forward to attack his back. If Wolf fended Curly off with his kagune, Lucius went for it with his spear, which he would also do should Wolf try to use it on either the demon or the spirit.

Meanwhile, other diners were clearing to the walls, some frightened, some interested, and a couple even eager. A violation meant Wolf was now a priority kill, and there would be plenty who wished to cash in.

[TheMinorFall]

[I’m going to ditch Jareth and Victor for a bit. Things are heating up!]



Mae crossed her arms, politely annoyed at not getting the first turn, but Tsitua gave her a look that straightened her posture and features. His authority and stature was clear.



The hybrid was loosening up when a surge of chakra lit up his senses. Amune’s chakra was like a puddle after a stone is thrown into it; disrupted, but she wanted to fight. He knew she had seen something, but he knew how Seer’s were. Usually, they would tell you what was seen, only if it was to transpire that way. Whatever it was, Orion and Cain were both on the ground, so his mind was at ease. With all of that in mind, he went on with the sparring.

“I have to pull my punches and speed or you won’t stand even a shadow of a chance, even with your Sight.” He said, squaring his body off to the girl, “However, I insist you come at me full force. Hold nothing back, or you won’t be able to settle that chakra fluctuation you just had.”



He wanted her to know he could tell something had happened with her, but that he was okay with her deciding what and when to share. This was a demonstration of trust as well as an effort to help her fix her chakra flow. At the same time, he would work in some fighting lessons.



****



Orion nodded. She was right, info brokers were taking a calculated risk simply in doing what they did. If that was the only way to safely get information, that was exactly what he would do.

“Alright, let’s do it, but we need to let the Upstairs know what’s going on. My organization can compensate for your absence if needed.” He held out his hand to help her up from the couch.



He was interested by the fact that she was so old. She might have been below him in power, but she had some years. Orion was older than her, however he could only remember the last ten years or so. Time on the ship was hard to keep track of at times.





It was impossible, but he did it. As if he knew exactly what would transpire, Wolf ducked in a spinning motion with a dog-like snarl as he swept his leg in his wake. The movement dodged Curly’s attack, while his outstretched leg was meant to trip the swordswoman. His kagune lashed out simultaneously, hacking the third man’s spear in half as Wolf completed his turning motion and began to rise. It was flawless, even with a sudden, magical weight bearing down on him. Curly’s strike caught only his cloak, shredding it from the ghoul’s body while he turned. With his cover gone, he wore a skin-tight tank top that allowed every crease and line of his physique to be seen. His lower half was a simple pair of black, military grade cargo pants, bloused at the top of his boots. The practicality of his clothes was mobility. Suddenly his eyes were wide with near euphoria of battle, but as he came to the end of his move, he felt something strange. He had known there was a ward on the place, but he was strong enough no to be hindered to inefficiency by it. No, this was something else. He wasn’t as fast as he could be, and he was beginning to experience malaise, as if he were sick. As he came to a split second stop, his ghoul eyes darted around the room. The one with golden eyes seemed to be the only one in the room not mobilizing against Wolf. It had to be him that was casting whatever accursed spell was draining his strength.



Almost an entire second had passed. Wolf sprung upward, digging his fingers into to wood and plaster of the ceiling, only to leap from that position toward one of the copies of the golden-eyed man. His jaws were parted to accept flesh. If he was going to keep his strength while the man was trying to drain him, he would have to strategically eat as he went. He would shred every person in the Upstairs until he had Blankface in his clutches.



@shylarah

[shylarah]

((Fine by me))

The Seer nodded brusquely. If she'd encountered Tsitua in actual combat, she would have fled, and used her dirtiest tactics to let herself do so. But if he said to go all out, then she would. She fell easily into a ready stance, feet balanced, knees slightly bent, hands in a natural position a bit in front of her chest, though Amuné gave him a sharp look at his commentary about her magic. The suspicion in her eyes cleared after a moment, and she shook her head. "You are far more perceptive than most," she told him with a rueful smile. In general she had found that many nonhumans had a general awareness of if there was a supernatural signature of some kind, but no more. The sensitivity Tsitua displayed was uncomfortably precise, and seemed to be second nature.

As she waited for the cue to start, she extended her senses, letting the delicate threads flow outwards from her in a rushing wave. The young woman let the edges of the room serve was a boundary for the moment, seeing no need to go farther. Her technical control was superb, and the web she spun had no gaps. With a neat mental flip, Amuné dove into the ever-shifting landscape of her Sight. As the layered futures spread and combined before her, the constant holding pattern in her magic shifted. Where before it had been a limit, drawing loose pieces back into itself, now it blossomed like a flower, allowing them to spin outwards, still carefully controlled.

The moment the signal to begin was given she started moving. In towards Tsitua, though her first attack was a bluff, and she used a forearm to push the countering blow to one side as she moved in the other. The contact was accompanied by a surge of power as Amuné assessed her opponent, seeking details on strengths, flaws, and vulnerable points. In particular she was looking for places where focused strikes might disable even a portion of his abilities. It was a skill she had yet to master, but if he needed to hold back so she merely had a chance, then her best course was to find a way to bring him closer to her level.

The theory behind the skill was simple, though execution was anything but. The relationship between body, mind, and magic was complex but there were anchoring points where they came together. A precise jab could disrupt the connection, and even impair the flow of energy. However it was necessary to focus some of one's own energy into the attack, and Amuné had not perfected that ability yet.

---

Cera looked up long enough to give her head a quick shake. "Better not," she said. "The neutrality pact is strictly enforced. Unless someone has taken direct action against the Upstairs and its staff, they can't get involved...at least not in any official capacity." Her eyes glittered with amusement. "Unofficially, employees are allowed to do as they see fit, and we can and have taken action, even as a group effort. But the protections we get by working Upstairs don't apply for those situations."

After a couple minutes of rapid button pushing and impatient scowls, Cera sighed and lifted the phone to her ear. "Hey Trill, where you at? Look, I know you don't like -- what? What happened?! ...Right, you take care. I'll be in touch."

The vampire got to her feet, expression solemn as she looked at her guest. "Your Wolf just showed Upstairs. And Bart's dead." Her voice had gone flat. "I'm heading over. At the least, there's folks who will need support. At worst...well."

---

Curly's sweeping paw missed its mark, catching the ghoul's cloak, and his momentum kept him moving past. The swordswoman leaped back to avoid being tripped up, and her katana swept forward to prevent her opponent from coming too close even as she brought her longsword down at his kagune, trying to cut it off. The antimagic on the double-edged blade was useful against more than merely spells and enchantments: it was also more effective against most nonhumans, and wounds it inflicted burned painfully. The demon blocked with his spear but fell back when the haft was severed. "Sini!" he cried, tossing the bottom of his broken weapon aside. "On it," she replied, circling around to flank Wolf even as a new weapon, a double glaive with a metal staff, dropped into Lucius's empty hand. "I keep telling you to stop using those wooden spears. You should listen." Electricity danced down her katana and leaped towards Wolf as she attacked with both blades. She was an excellent fighter, considerably better than any of the other staff present, and presented Wolf with few openings. Her lightning missed as Wolf jumped to the ceiling, but Sini was quick to follow, a floating leap that wouldn't look out of place in an older martial arts movie bringing her level to press the attack. She couldn't cover distance as quickly midair, and when the ghoul leaped for the first of the Zane copies he put distance between them.

The golden-eyed man rippled as Wolf dove through him, his jaws closing on empty air. It was a mere illusion, and vanished now that it had been struck. The remaining copies split again, and they kept moving, some of them merging with others until there were again five. Lucius came up behind Wolf and tried to skewer him with the glaive. "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" he asked, dry amusement in his voice.

((Dunno if Amuné's skill would work, but that's her predicted plan pending knowledge of exploitable weaknesses.

Ghouls can live to be a hundred or more? I thought their rate of aging roughly mirrored humans'.

Guessing you want Orion and Cera to find out about the attack on the Upstairs. Got a way to make sure it happens~

Oh, and if you hit Seline -- the real one, and she's not 100% invisible, there is a bit of a shimmer where she really is -- then the illusions covering Zane will flicker. Might be a worthwhile strategy. ^.^))

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarahTsitua smiled at her observation. The irony of a Seer calling him perceptive was a rarity. Nunque had always referred to him as someone who “sees nothing” in the past. He locked eyes on her that transformed from monochromic hazel and blue to soft red with no pupils. Instead of the black void of pupils, there was a gentle, white glow of illumination. “I have had many years to hone my senses. These eyes help me to see things others cannot.” He said, bringing his hands up and waving at her to begin.

--He saw through her initial deception, and decided to use it as his own. She swept his counter aside as he knew she would, but then he felt foreign energy permeate his entire body. She wasn’t attacking, she was looking for his weaknesses. “Lesson one.” He said as she was about to discover that the body she was testing for weakness was an ash clone with a much more convincing chakra signature than the previous one. He shrugged out of the shell that clone had provided as it fell into a pile of slate colored dust and landed a single, solid punch into her rib cage. The strike was only enough to disrupt her Sight web with a burst of his own chakra and knock some wind out of her; the technique she was trying to use unbeknownst to him. “Know your enemy, and ready yourself accordingly. Find a way to get around their strengths using your own.” He readied for the next attack.--

Tsitua came to. In the brief moment of the energy surge he felt upon contact with Amune’s arm, his chakra that had been dumped into his clone connected to hers. In that split second, he saw what was shown to her through the connection, and was powerless to stop what happened. She was ready for him, and managed amazingly to land a reciprocated strike to the one he had planned to use in the vision. He recoiled and stepped back with a gasp as his ash clone shell crumbled, and the second, hidden ash clone on the ceiling also fell to dust with the disruption of his chakra. She wasn’t strong enough to cancel his massive amount energy, but disrupting it was impressive enough.

He looked to Mae, whose jaw was practically on the floor, and laughed. Shaking his head as he rebalanced his chakra, the hybrid popped his elbows and admitted, “Maybe I underestimated you.”

[I hope this is okay. I assumed that if she was looking for such an opening that she would go ahead and take it.]

****

Orion’s heart pounded against his chest. Bart? He had just talked to the guy. Now he was gone because of him. Red veins spread from his eyes as he scowled at nothing. The next thing was sure to confuse and amaze Cera. She had no idea what he was. His usual Ukaku burst out of his upper back, followed by a koukaku from the next step down. The koukaku wrapped around his arms to form obsidian-black gauntlets as a third kagune emerged from his lower back. The rinkaku went up and intertwined with his ukaku, forming massive, bat-like wing shaped kagune. Finally, a bikaku exploded fromhis tailbone area in the form of a semi-flat tail that had in inverted angle shape at the end, much like that of the tongue of a reptile. With his renowned speed, he darted to the window, threw it open and jumped out. His enormous, black and red wings caught an updraft and he was flying toward the Upstairs.

****

Wolf accepted the glaive, allowing the weapon to run him through all the way to the bar. He wrapped his kagune around it and the man’s arms, immobilizing them as he gripped his victim powerfully by the head and arm. “Too easy.” He admitted. The ghoul clamped his jaws on the demon’s shoulder like a vice that tightened exponentially the longer it stayed. His own jaws bit off a chunk of his victim’s shoulder while the steel wolf mask tore the surrounding flesh to shreds with the upward wrenching motion he used to rip the mouthful of muscle tissue off. Demon flesh would give him more strength than that of a human meal, and it did. He did a full 360, feeling the curse on him growing the more hostile he became, and threw the injured meal at one of the copies of the golden-eyed man. It yielded the same result as his first attempt, but there was an anomaly. The demon’s injured body soared through the air and impacted something he had not noticed before. It was another potential meal, and as the impact occurred, all of the golden-eyed copies flickered but one. Wolf tore off a portion of his kagune that he had hardened into a blade and hurled it directly at the man’s face. The kagune spike nailed the accursed man to the wall behind him with the demon flesh-fueled energy that Wolf now had.

Before anything else happened, another person smashed through the window and then one of Wolf’s arms was on the floor, separate from his body.

****

Cain summersaulted through his momentum, coming to his feet in a casual stance in front of Seline. His armored figure was bladed off to the attacking ghoul, an obsidian steel blade in his right hand. His left hand was in a chakra focusing handsign as he prepared himself for an impending attack.

[shylarah]

@TheMinorFall

He was using a clone of dust again, but it didn't matter. It was his, and it held a strong association. It would have been enough, had his next attack not disrupted her Sight. However she managed to connect to the energy he used in the process, and that told her what she needed to know. Amuné knew where there would be an opening, and she knew where to hit. She even managed to focus her power into a quick, surgical strike. Dust crumbled from his skin, and Tsitua fell back.

The young woman followed. Mae was in shock, but that was merely a distraction. He'd told her not to hold back, and so she would not. She continued her offensive, not giving her opponent a reprieve and taking advantage of his lapsed attention. He was centering himself again and that left him more open; precisely the time to attack. She lunged, moving in low for a judo-style throw. Her Sight was already stabilizing; with that her greatest advantage and a constant part of of her life, she'd honed it even more sharply than her fighting skill. And with it came the split-second warning of attacks and counters: if he should find a position to turn the throw to his advantage, she could switch to an uppercut at any point during the approach.

---

Cera had seen ghouls in the past, but she'd never seen one like Orion revealed himself to be. Her awe quickly turned into annoyance as he went out the window. "Hey, don't you dare -- UGH!" He'd left her behind. Jerk. It wasn't like Bart was a stranger. The ghoul was -- had been -- a close friend. Cursing under her breath she sped out the door and to her truck. Tires squealed against the pavement as she pulled out of the drive, swung around, and headed after Orion. He might make it to the Upstairs before she did, but the vampire would not be left behind.

---

Lucius tried to run Wolf through, but the ghoul used his kagune to fend off the attack and send the attacker flying. Curly came next, aiming to simply grab him and slam him into the nearest wall. Instead of avoiding the therian, this time Wolf accepted the attack and grabbed Curly right back, sinking teeth into a bulky shoulder and ripping a chunk free. The shifter hollered in pain and tried to punch and pull his way free, but he was securely caught. And then he too was flung across the room, landing atop the concealed Seline and disrupting her illusions.

That proved fatal for Zane. With his true location revealed, a flung spike penetrated his skull and brought a quick death. Without the golden gaze fixed on Wolf, the ghoul would find his energy returning at the rate it had left. The illusionist shrieked, trying to flail her way out from underneath the bulky Curly. It took him a couple moments to get up and pull her to her feet after, giving her a shove toward the kitchen door. "Stay clear, Seline," he murmured, voice tight with pain. She was not much of a fighter.

A window shattered, strewing glass across the floor, and a new combatant entered the field of battle. The wards on the Upstairs immediately dragged at what was perceived as another attacker. A non-employee, and killing intent, triggered them. However when he planted himself between Seline and Wolf, the smothering magic relented. He was a defender. He would not receive a boost, for he was not tied to the restaurant as the employees were, but he would not be hindered either.

[TheMinorFall]

Tsitua hit the mat with a laugh. He had sensed Amune's sight re-balance, and could've countered the throw with ease. But he knew she would See all of it coming. "How do you fight someone who knows what you'll do?" He wondered aloud as she put him in whatever hold she decided on.

"You do nothing." Mae answered him.

Tsitua lowered his chakra to little more than a smolder, something that very few people do on that level. It wasn't masked or hidden, merely controlled to the point that any vision she might receive of what he would do would be unclear, like he was out of focus. "See, I'm aware that visions don't require chakra, but it does rely on chakras of others to predict certain patterns. Without chakra, an individual is erased. If you train yourself to early erase it, it becomes difficult to See what happens next." He reversed her hold into a modified, facedown arm bar, using his shoulder to anchor her wrist with his superior muscle strength. Both of his hands were free as all he had to do was stay in a sitting position.

He gave her an endearing look. She was so like Zeela.

****

Cain spoke through his helmet, his voice sounding metallic and artificial, "Target identified, ghoul: Royal, designation: Wolf." His head turned sharply toward the enemy, "Eliminate."

Wolf snarled in return and lunged forward. Cain met him in the middle and continued toward the other wall. Stopping a meter before impact, he whipped his blade, removing the blood. Wolf stumbled and fell. Both of his Achilles' tendons, his hip flexors, and the ligaments holding his knee caps were all severed, and his healing factor would take too long to repair those for him to rise before another attack. He looked to the kami, speaking a single, stone cold word, "Engage." He commanded.

[shylarah]

Amuné didn't try to hold him. Even in positions where she would have an advantage against most stronger opponents, she was not certain she'd be able to hold Tsitua, and until she was, she didn't want to risk it. But before she could let go and fall back, he'd turned the hold against her, even as her ability to foresee his actions blurred. She gasped in surprise -- that was not something she'd ever had anyone do to her. Her power was a major reason why she was as good a fighter as she was. While she'd trained without it, and was not bad at all, she was not nearly as skilled unaided. The Seer tried to slip free but he had her outmatched. "Yield," she said into the mat, recognizing when she'd lost. "'Replace the beams with rotten timbers', huh?" She sounded mildly amused. "...Is there any way I can counter that, or is fighting Sightless my only recourse?" The line she mentioned was one of the Thirty-Six Strategems. Amuné had not trained merely in fighting but also a bit in strategy and tactics, though that had been her own idea. She'd felt a need to have some idea of the bigger picture, when it came to a fight, and how to handle people coming for her in general.

---

Seline and Curly had untangled themselves, and the faint shimmer that marked the illusionist's location went to stand by the door to the kitchen. Curly had fallen back for the moment, but demon and kami were both ready to keep fighting, though they let the two ghouls exchange attacks first. Sini was in motion before Cain even addressed her, raising her katana to strike the downed ghoul with sustained lightning. If she could fry him, she would. Lucius used the chance to reposition himself, going to flank their opponent just in case he wasn't down for good.

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarahTsitua released her and helped her up. Tossing her a sweat towel as he dabbed himself dry, he took her question seriously, "There are many things we can help you do. We can help you train your Sight so that you can See more. We can train your body so that you can fight without it. But these are simple things, I'm sure you're aware hat seeing the future isn't the only thing a Seer can do." He peeled his gloves off and approached her again.

"When I found out that my core ability was that of fire-" he held one palm up and created a ball of flame in it, "-I thought my ability was limited to just that; fire." Using the little blaze, he burned the skin on the back of his other hand, leaving as scorched, blistering wound. He held the wound up to Amune's level so that she could watch the wound heal itself as quickly as it had formed. "We always learn our core. What's exciting is learning what it can do."

****

Cain watched as Wolf when stiff, then began to spasm as the lightning fried him on the floor of the Upstairs. Eventually the screams of pain stopped, and nothing remained of him but a flopping carcass.

Cain attached his blade to the maghold on his back and exited the Upstairs without a word.

[sorry this isn't my best at all.]

[shylarah]

The young lady let Tsitua pull her to her feet. She caught the towel he threw her, and wiped her forehead. "I have trained in both those areas, though there is always room for improvement," she commented, shaking the wrist he'd pressed to the mat. "Sight is far, far more than just the future -- and even then, it's not always accurate. What was, what might have been. What is happening now in other places. I can gain insight into others, as I did just now." Amuné used her fingers to comb her hair back from her face. "Other aspects have been harder for me. I was working on using echoes from objects, and doing so at will." She paused, considering. "I know one or two Seers that have other powers in addition to Sight, but...I've never had any luck with anything else. Maybe I'm not approaching it right. They've tried to show me, but...I can't have them in my head. I just can't." The girl's voice dropped, and her shoulders tensed. She tried so hard to act like she was in one piece, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

She watched his demonstration thoughtfully, and nodded. "I would like to learn, if someone is willing to teach me. However, none of that answers my question. You used a specific technique. I asked about countering it."

---

Sini kept the electricity flowing until Wolf was nothing but a charred corpse. The other staff watched, alert for mishaps, save for one. With a shimmer, the illusionist appeared next to Cain. "Your assistance was appreciated," she told him, her voice light, almost dreamy. "What's your name?"

The kami was ensuring that Wolf would stay dead. When she finished, she cut his heart from his chest and used her blades to flip it neatly over to Lucius. A silent understanding passed between the two, and the demon left the room. Sini vanished her weapons, and retrieved the mask to examine it. "A worthwhile opponent, if not one worthy of respect," she mused, before vanishing the mask as well. She too acknowledged Cain, giving him a nod. "You have our thanks." Then she, along with the other staff of the Upstairs, set to the solemn task of cleaning up after the fight. Two lives had been lost that night, both young. They would be missed.

@TheMinorFall

[TheMinorFall]

@shylarahTsitua grinned, she was eager to learn, and he liked that. He placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded, "All in good time, Punkin."

His grin disappeared as he realized what he had just said. It was replaced by astonished regret. Retracting his hand he turned with a furrowed brow and left the room.

**

Mae had a hand over her mouth as he went by her. She relaxed when he was out, moving to a heavy bag. With a check of the fit of her gloves, she explained, "That was what he called her. His daughter I mean."

****

The armored man stopped abruptly before the door. He didn't turn to face those who had addressed him. His mask let out built up, pressurized steam from the suit's cooling system.

"Your gratitude is irrelevant." He said robotically.

"Cain." Orion introduced, "his name is Cain." The ghoul was standing over Bart's body, gazing regretfully he knelt down and pulled a fallen tablecloth over it. Popping all of his fingers one by one, he addressed the group. "I'm sorry this happened to all of you." He wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't come, so he said the only thing he could.

"I am part of the Circle of Death. We're an organization that exists to stop things like this, and we will put a stop to this." He snapped his fingers, and Cain turned to face him. They passed an NI message between them and he exited the store. Orion stayed to wait for Cera.