Fantasy &nbsp; The Dying World Beneath (IC)

Rustic · Jul 23, 2017

Just when Chase felt he was just about to reach the end of his metaphorical rope, he heard the sound of two footsteps tromping in from a distance. He was not a skeptical person usually, but it did cross his mind for a moment, unable to see the figures of his saviors from where he hung, that the sounds might have been illusory - one last effort by the fae to make him hopeful right before they closed their jaws in on him - but he doesn't have to wonder about it for long. With one resoundingly triumphant joke, he heard Gabriel open fire on the spider that had been closing in on him. The whole situation was, predictably, enough to leave Chase just howling with laughter; it had been a close call, but the man of the hour came in with a witticism and the finishing blow. It sounded ridiculously contrived divorced from context, but to see it happening for himself, it just delighted him to the point of almost hysteria. Not to mention the delicious sounds of the heinous creature giving it's death rattle before finally succumbing to it's glorious end. Oh, he'd enjoyed such a thing before, but never had it been so sweet. Just so he could get a better view of it, he swung himself back to the top of the spider he was on and enjoyed the absolutely divine view of the fresh corpse, still just overtaken with glee.

It was probably fortunate that he'd made his switch, to, as an unexpected line of burst shots followed suit. Instead of sweating the shots, he just held on tight to the knife he'd left up top and watched bemusedly as the spider he was on was felled in kind. The same sort of childish fit of joy was still very much upon him, but as he could feel the spider jerk from it's former trajectory and try to move around for someone else, he absolutely was not having it. Even as he was holding on tight, trying to make sure he wasn't just thrown off of this monster all together too, he quickly stabbed another one in, trying to be of more help. A gurgling of blood began to arise from the entry point, but it didn't quite seem to be enough to stop the beast any. Thankfully, before anything more lamentable happened, Fifer got the situation under control. With one last burst of shots, Chase could feel the beast finally halt, and he knew that things had worked out. In light of that, he just took his now free moment to finally just revel, pulling out the other knife he'd left in the top of his mount entranced as watched liquid seeped out from the wound.

He found himself distracted, then, until Fifer called up to him from the ground below. He immediately jerked his head away from his little experiment to give her his rapt attention, and when he was finished, his focused look returned again to overwhelmed amusement. "I saw, I saw!" he exclaimed excitedly, taking the quiet moment they'd been given to jump down off finally jump off the spider. When he landed beside her, he continued, holding his hands up and his palms to each side to try and further convey the point. "That was amazing!" While he's was still rather excited, he had mixed the sentiment with a strange amount of warmth, clearly wanting to impress upon the two of them how proud he had been to see it. He wanted to gush a little further about it, but before he could continue, he saw Fifer close her eyes to apparently concentrate. He didn't really understand why, but he immediately piped down to watch her curiously. It's not long before she abruptly broke concentration and whipped over to demand at something he didn't see.

He had to refrain a bit, for a moment, from laughing at the momentary lack of response, but he knew it was a good thing he had when things around them started to change a little bit. He put his fingers curiously to his lips at the ominous change, but he quickly threw it down when he saw a fire spark to life amidst the three of them. He immediately jolted his nearest leg up and away from the flames and started to stumble back from it. It wasn't like, a monster or anything; it was just a force of nature. He probably wasn't as worried as she should've been, but he did clench his teeth in unease and apprehension as it neared. He thought he was just about hear a command to get the hell out of Dodge when he instead heard a confident reminder. At the same time, his eyes widened and he started to bristle at a feeling of it started to close in on his feet. Deep breaths. They weren't something he need to do very often at all - at least, not anymore - but he took a moment to do so, shaking his hands back and forth to try and focus on something else. Sure enough, he closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them, the fire was gone. As if the moment had never happened.

Just in time for Fifer to point him in the direction of some eligible prey. All traces of any of the doubt he had before evaporated into a large, predatory grin, and without a moment of hesitation, he leapt forward. He knew he wasn't going to get as many without as gun, but that didn't stop him from jumping to catch the ones he could. And with his special savage flair, once he hit the ground with his catches, he launched into himself into maiming them as best he could - the ones he'd caught with his hands with deft stabs of a knife, and the rest with just the force of his limbs coming down upon them. Once he'd finished his dark business, he looked deeply satisfied with himself, getting up and dusting himself off with a peaceful smirk. All over, his usually white clothes were spattered with all sort of stain; blood mostly, but also some dirt, and most exotically, a purple, glitter-ish residue remnant of the pixies. Proof of a hard days work, if he did say so himself. He listened intently, though, somewhat antsily to her debriefing, before giving a relieved sigh once it was over. Not because he was tired of her talking, but out of a deep satisfaction they were finally finished.

"Wooo!" he shouted loud, shoving his arms out freely to his sides. Struck by an impulse to just do something spontaneous, he did a small twirl on the spot. "Again: most fun I've had in awhile! You guys are really something." He looked between the two of them quickly and happily, before something seemed to occur to him.

"Oh, manners...!" he mumbled. He crossed his a bit before he dug a hand down into his pocket and pulled out a phone. It looked both very expensive and oddly cute; it had a brightly colored case and a long star charm hanging off the top of it. He opened it up and started pressing furiously onto it, talking all the while. "I know sometimes confirmation is a pain with missions taking a buncha wildly different times to review, but," He paused, blinking uncomprehendingly at the screen for a moment before looking up. "You should get it shortly...?" he trailed cautiously.

Suddenly, someone's phone dinged, and his face lit up. "Ah, that's it, right? Payment?" He looked down to his own phone again and nodded, seeming pleased with himself. "Cool!" Sure enough, the payment for outstanding bounties concerning the investigation of the area came up positive, along with an apparent bonus. The app was not secretive in how it paid out it's participants, so when the review screen came up, it was easy to see why. The group's payment had been split only two ways - between Fifer and Gabriel. That whole business done, he gave one last affirmative nod to the two of them before looking down at his violet streaked hands.

"Black rice sushi? ...Purple sweet potato buns?" It was hard to know if he was asking the two of them or just asking himself. Either way, he continued to stare down as his hands quizzically as he made his way back to the truck, looking almost as if he had forgotten what he had just been doing.

PanOtterPus · Jul 23, 2017

Gabe, his target downed, simply watched as the other two took care of the remaining arachnid - Fifer firing damn good shots and Chase, well, being Chase and stabbing the damned thing. He seemed to be revelling in the on goings of the fight, to the point it was almost crazy. However, Gabriel believed "to each their own" and chuckled at the young man's enjoyment.

Smiling at Chase's enthusiastic approval of the pair's last minute gunning help, Gabriel noticed Fifer's sudden change. Why was she closing her eyes? Curious. Caught of guard and still full of adrenaline, he then jumped at her sudden exclamation into the woods - apparently challenging the fae themselves. Next thing he new they were surrounded by flames. Gabriel's hand twitched over his gun, even though he knew it stood no chance against pure nature. He knew it must be one of their tricks, but for some reason he didn't really believe it until Fifer assured them, and the flames started to lose all power.

Blinking at the purple, hazy creatures, Gabe automatically pulled his gun once more and started firing. The little beasts were quick, some too quick even for his aim, but he shot nonetheless. It was almost as natural to him to fire a gun as breathing, and he loved it. Every pulled trigger, every fired bullet and every spray of oddly coloured blood as he hit his tiny targets was like some kind of high for him. He should have been more worried about this unusual "addiction" of his, but hey, it got the job done, right?

When all was said and done, Chase seemed even more thrilled, if such a thing was possible. "Ain't so bad yourself, Chase. Unusual tactics, sure. But effective." Gabriel allowed himself a visible smile, not something he gave away very often. Usually people would see a small smirk as he hit a target, but that was it. He liked this team.

When his phone chimed, he pulled it out and opened the alert. "I heard that you usually just did this kinda thing for fun, but... Chase, I can't take this knowing you deserve it too. You're part of a team. We all should get an equal share." He frowned a little. Gabriel had heard the rumours surrounding Chase, some true, some not, but he didn't feel completely right about taking his money. Sure, he'd take it, but he'd put up a fight first.

Not that it seemed to matter, Chase was now in some kind of trance, staring at his hands and almost mechanically moving back to the truck at Fifer's orders. She was right. It was time to go. Though, Gabriel remained concerned and looked over to Fifer who was once again driving. Pointing a thumb back towards Chase, he asked, "He ok? Kinda out of it back there."

Verdas · Jul 23, 2017

For Visuria, the gala looked like something straight out of a horror movie (not that she'd ever seen one). The cut up of bodies of her fellow plants, no doubt prepared to be eaten by some horrifying herbivore. She shuddered at the thought. That thought was quickly replaced by another; an idea had struck her. She would found an organisation by the name of Plants and fungi Eating Tasty Animals (or P.E.T.A. for short), which would advocate plant and fungi rights and promote the consumption of animals. But she would plant the seeds of her idea later. For now, she would try to find a suitable partner.

Not that that would be easy. At all. She was practically rooted in place due to how nervous she was. She had never seen so many people in one place, and had barely registered Yseri's little speech. She was one of the few that were all bite and no bark, both literally and figuratively, and if things went on like this, she would made little to no progress.

Thus, after much deliberation, she finally mustered up some courage and approached someone, Yseri. She felt strangely drawn to her, though she was also apprehensive after seeing her lower half. Most herbivores had bodies like that, and it took a significant effort to keep herself in check. "Uh... Um... E-excuse me." She mumbled, giving the faun a little sharp toothed smile, whilst twiddling her thorny vines. "W-would you be i-interested in..." She then paused, tilting her head quizzically. "M-mingling? with me?"

DergTheDergon · Jul 23, 2017

Flitting about the crowd, who were mostly mingling with whoever they fancied at this point in trme, Yseri scanned for currently company-less individuals, and began to panic, just slightly, within her mind, as she realized that everyone she’d seen so far seemed to be speaking with someone, after just the very short amount of time it had taken her to walk from the podium and into the diverse throng of metaphorical fish testing new waters. Almost as if sensing her growing unease, a small voice straight in front of her drew the Faun’s attention to a female Plant being in front of her. Yseri’s eyes widened as she got a close look. She was fascinating, and Yseri was naturally fond of other creatures tied to nature as deeply of Fauns were themselves. A playful smile spontaneously graced her lips, her eyes full of fascination. Her chest tightened a little as she heard the Plantoid continue with her very nervous greeting. Yseri almost felt an anger at herself for not noticing her before she so bravely came up to greet the director of the Program, and one of a species of known herbivores at that. However, a counterthought to that came up near-instantly: the poor girl had almost no presence at all, it was a wonder her words were heard!

Even if Yseri wasn’t interested in getting to know this intriguing plant woman, which was clearly not the case to everyone who might have seen her face at this moment, Yseri would likely have taken it upon herself to make her feel as welcome as she possibly could, in order to increase the Plantoid’s chances of finding a mate here. Yet… does she even reproduce… that way? A blush just slightly adorned her ivory cheeks for a moment at that question within her mind, before refocusing her attention on the moment, thankfully causing the flush to disappear from her visage. That would be something to ask if and when her and this Plantoid had become very, very close indeed, not appropriate subject matter for the Gala by a longshot.

Meeting the exotically attractive Viridian female’s eyes with her own similarly green, shimmering orbs, Yseri spoke in a soft, hopefully calming manner. “Why, of course I would, ” she said sweetly, before continuing, “I am Yseri, if you didn’t quite catch it. What, pray tell, are you known by?” She paused to hear her name, which, when it was uttered, she smiled and nodded at in acknowledgement, mentally noting it. Visuria… an exquisite name. Yseri had a very good feeling about her.

“What would you like to do? Sit down and gab for a bit? Or, mayhaps, grab some grub? I’ve heard that the veal is delicious. And you simply must try the turkey! Our poultry chef is quite masterful at what he does.” Yseri knew her plants, and so, knowing she was speaking with a carnivorous sort, figured that tantalizing her with talk of meat may calm her right down. It also alluded to her omnivorous nature, which was rare among Faun. She decided to cautiously avoid putting any sort of plant matter on her plate should Visuria indeed decide to eat first and gab later. The last thing Yseri wanted was to make that kind of first impression.

Verdas

DergTheDergon · Jul 23, 2017

As she listened boredly, one scale-speckled hand holding up her chin as her tail thumped slowly behind her, Xaira began to question why she came here. ‘This goat lady better shut up and let me talk to some hotties already,’ she thought seethingly, listening only to every few words she said. Xaira did grasp the concept of easing people into an event like this, however, Xaira proudly called herself a “doer” and lived that word to the very core of her being, in every moment. Put bluntly, she’d much, much rather do something before hearing a long, cheerful introduction rather than afterwards in this sort of setting, or any setting to be frank. Thankfully, her mind wandering quite deeply into her frustrations was a very effective distraction, and she suddenly snap;ped to upon seeing the faun scurry off the stage. Eagerly rising to her feet, Xaira made a mental note to avoid Yseri at all costs seeing as the faun was NOT her type by ANY stretch of the ‘ol imagination, the dragoness could tell that much right away. She was cute, sure, but besides the horns and furry goat legs, Yseri’s whole demeanor in this situation branded her a boring prude in Xaira’s book. She could tell that Yseri wasn’t just acting that way to be official, either; it was definitely genuine and the thought of talking to someone like that rubbed the dragoness the wrong way.

Xaira chuckled when, while scanning the room for metaphorical prey, she saw some sort of plant-creature approach Yseri. Lucky for them; they were probably the only sort of creatures here who’d be interested in each other. There was still the issue of the dragoness’ own future romantic conquest, however; or, at least, that’s how she approached this situation; with the same determination and aptly fiery passion she did everything else.

Tapping her clawed lower talons upon the floor, she spun in circles, looking for someone interesting to talk to. Unfortunately, every one of the individuals she had an immediate interest in upon seeing them were approached by someone else just when she herself was going to trod right up to ‘em. Grunting quietly in frustration, the dragon-woman kept frantically searching for someone that looked particularly enticing to her. She wanted an exotic one, wouldn’t settle for a common race; and of course, they had to absolutely knock her socks off with her looks. She wouldn’t settle for anyone less than a stunner. She wandered about, hoping she’d meet eyes with someone who really caught her fiery red orbs while they searched tirelessly for the perfect mate.

DergTheDergon · Jul 24, 2017

With that intense fiasco over, Fifer finally felt like she could breathe again. Despite the intense situation they’d all gone through (not to mention the redhead’s rather uptight tendencies), Chase’s exhilarated “Woo!” caused Fifer to crack up, giggling a little. She might’ve snorted a little, if her nose wasn’t visibly burnt off. “Well,” she continued, still a bit of an amused grin on her face, “I wouldn’t call it fun, really, but Ilike your attitude, kid. And your skills, mind you. Most wouldn’t live through the stunts you pulled there.” While slightly grating at times, his enthusiasm only felt uplifting at this moment of victory. Fifer looked to Gage, grinned and nodded in agreement at the observation he added. God, she loved his concise, blunt and generally cool way of speaking. ‘Keep your head on straight, Fifey’ She mentally chastised herself as she suddenly tore her gaze away from Gabe in embarrassment, a slight flush to her left cheek, which could still show any color other than ash-black unlike her right one.

Raising an eyebrow at Chase’s next musings, her eyes then widened when her phone chimed along with Gabe's. Her eyes widened after she whipped the device out and took a look at the screen; Chase's name wasn’t on there. In truth, she didn’t mind the extra pay; hell, she needed it, she was in two-month-old gambling debt right now and it wouldn’t be long before collectors were kicking down her door. However, just as she was about to just say “thanks” and put her phone away, Gabe piped up. She leveled her gaze at him, then at Chase, her eyes softening a bit. Oh yeah, sympathy. She’d forgotten to feel it a while ago, in all honesty. She’d been burned too many times, both literally and figuratively. “Yeah, what he said,” Fifer ended up blurting out, feeling a bit dumb about it afterwards. Thankfully, no one seemed to pay it much mind, and she simply walked them to the truck. Fifer looked over at whatever Chase was doing and shrugged, shaking her head a little and deciding not to pry. The guy was a madman, but he got the job done. God, this was a good team. Herself, an energeitc, nimble and skilled fighter who wasn’t afraid to do whatever it took to get things done, and a sharpshooter with a steady aim, fast thinking, laser focus and a devilish good looks to boot. Yep. They’d be working together more, if Fifer had anything to say about it. And she always made sure she said whatever was on her mind, for the most part anyway. If there was a fourth, or even fifth hunter, that could fill in any gaps they might have, she didn’t doubt that there would be nothing that could stop ‘em.

Fifer got behind the wheel and took off the same as always. It took a good amount of focus, not to mention head movement, to drive while blind in one eye, but it was possible. Opting to drive whenever she could was one way Fifer proved to herself and everyone around her, day after day, that she could do anything she put her mind to.

Listening intently when Gabe starting speaking, but not daring to take her eye off the road due to her lack of peripheral vision, she shrugged. “Not sure, but honestly, he does that kinda stuff all the time from what I’ve seen.It sure as hell doesn’t seem to affect him when it counts though. The way I see it, his mind’s always elsewhere unless something exciting's going on, then he doesn’t seem to think of anything but the moment. Might be why he’s so damn good at this job, actually. Sure, he’s got a few screws loose, but it probably isn’t fixable or really affecting him in any hugely negative way. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Fifer was pretty sure Chase didn’t hear a word of that, but she was honestly glad. The guy scared her a little, honestly, not that she’d ever admit it.

It wasn’t long before they made it back to the guild. ‘Aaah, home sweet home. Anyone wanna grab some drinks inside to celebrate?” She looked back and forth between Chase and Gabe, looking a little longer at Gabe subconsciously as she really was hoping he’d say yes at least. In fact, she’d rather not be stuck with just chase, because of a reason prior stated. Plus, she wasn’t really keen on learning what alcohol did to him. She just didn’t feel right leaving him out of the equation after the guy nearly got himself killed on her mission.

Rustic · Jul 24, 2017

As the wolf left, Naomi took a moment to breathe, and nodded shyly at Orthrus' reassurance. She wasn't sure if it had managed to console her any; there were simply too many questions left unanswered, too many things about the scene that hadn't seemed to add up, but once he put an affirming hand to her skin, she decided it was okay to let it go. Ultimately, today was too important to let be bogged down by a random creepy encounter. She tried her best to smile as the two of them took off to finish the rest of their route, doing the absolute best she could to focus on literally anything else she could think of. Once they had arrived, Naomi gave a small, demure 'thank you' for his time, and let him go once they reached the entrance and needed to part ways. As he went and she faced the Cyclops' currently guarding the side entrance, she found herself strangely reminded of his assurance of earlier of the unlikelihood of conflict tonight, and in thinking of it, she could only hope he was right.

Once she had made it inside, she could feel her stomach almost flip from nervousness. The event truly felt upscale; she had maybe expected that a government-sponsored program would have some sort of telltale signs of underfunding, but as she looked around at the beautiful, intricately detailed room, that was clearly not the case. This truly looked to be an event in the truest sense of the word, and as Naomi stepped forward into it, she immediately felt the pressure. It was not a feeling of being out of place, like it sometimes was for her; actually, she found herself invited to more 'nice' events than casual ones. No, the creeping uneasiness she was feeling was more so for the realization of her situation. She was really here. This was it. She had thought, maybe, if this had seemed less put together, that she could try to laugh off her fear of failure here as it came along - in some way, discount the event in her mind as unofficial to brush off it's importance. But no, this was really something. A real chance for her to... well, she was still not sure what it was she was hoping for, specifically, really. Still, she swallowed hard. No matter what else, she just knew that she was here to succeed in someway. So she moved in and continued to observe.

As she did, the first thing that caught her eye were all the people chatting among themselves; already getting things started, it seemed. It was not just homogeneous, either; all sorts of people from all sorts of races getting together. She had known not to expect anything less, but even still, she was still surprised at the remarkable diversity of the pairing she saw. It appeared the people here were all so different from herself, but she imagined with just how many there were, there must've been a few who were sharing in the apprehension she felt at the moment. It was all a lot to take in; as much as she wanted to, she could only watch the going-on and dance around the room. It also shamefully occurred to her that there must be others, like herself, that were nervously putting off the business they had come here to accomplish. Her eyes lidded a little embarrassed at her own realization of her thought process, but she still couldn't help but to watch, to notice patterns. Shaking cups in unsteady hands, nervous glances over to the empty stage, and the occasional frantic movements of those wanting to look busy as they searched for someone they could be seen with, to maybe not look so desperate to be noticed. The sights were comforting, to her, in a strange way. She had arrived a little later than most due to her encounter from earlier, so it's wasn't long of this sort of foreplay before the director of the program, Yseri, came to speak.

The speech, while rather typical in it's content for any formal event, left Naomi sure of what she needed to do. She had only wasted maybe ten minutes or so in warming up, but she couldn't let the rest of the event go to waste. If she kept just shuffling around, she was sure she would go unnoticed the rest of the night, and that felt unacceptable. It made her remember her sisters' words for her. That confidence was more believable when the person in question let themself concentrate on giving it their all, rather than the possibility of failure. So, Naomi channeled the confidence she had had this morning, that had been somewhat shaken from her by her previous encounter, she realized, and took a long, deep breath. With new eyes, she took another look around the room, and, keenly tuned in on a ideal subject. The draconic woman she had seen earlier this morning was looking to have no trouble with her own self-doubt, but still seemed to be having trouble finding someone among the crowd. A pretty big gamble for Naomi to focus in on, she figured, but that was made her think that she would be a good first choice. Facing her rejection wouldn't be too hard a pill to swallow; she seemed to already know what she wanted, and if that wasn't Naomi, than that would be that. The easiest turn down to handle, and a good way to potentially prepare for the rest of the evening. And if it actually went well... well, even better. Looking around for only a moment longer, she knew she was satisfied with her pick, so she moved discreetly in closer.

"Hello," she offered, approaching with as much confidence and poise as she could muster. "I'm Naomi." She had never been so close to this woman before, being even unaware of her name or what her voice sounded like, but it was a rather pleasant surprise to see her unique features up close. Lilin didn't put quite as much stock in physical features as humans did, ironically, but it made her breath catch quietly in her throat. She really didn't stand a chance, did she? Still...

"Feel free to stop me if I'm wasting your time, but your attention certainly seemed to be worth trying for. I'd love to get your name, Miss..." she trailed off, fishing for it. Not that was a bad thing. It seemed like they were all fishing, when it came down to it. Except, this was potentially the most beautifully scaled fish in this ocean full of people. Worth trying for indeed.

Persephones Grief · Jul 24, 2017

Both fortunately and unfortunately for the Heroes Returned, they were not the first ones to consider drinking at the guild.

The fortunately part came in the form of Yakob. When he was not out wheedling secrets out from the darkest depths of the earth, he was known to enjoy moonlighting as a bartender. As he had proven to numerous guild members and beyond, he was very good with his hands. Really, he made a mean cocktail, and was never afraid to experiment with flavors. Neither was he scared to sample his creations himself.

For that night, the drink of the day came in the form of the Electric Daisy - a martini turned blue through the use of Bombay Sapphire gin, and with a rim crusted in a devilish mixture of rock salt and Acemlla Oleracea; A flowering herb also known as the Electric Daisy, known for it's ability to induce a strong tingling and numbing sensation, causing excessive salivation. It had people buying them by the minute to try and wash away whatever was happening to their mouths, and left Yakob cackling at their slurred words.

Despite his somewhat devious manipulation of alcohol, Yakob was rarely considered a bad addition to a night of Guild Brotherly/Sisterly drinking. He knew well how to ply people with alcohol to both spill their darkest secrets and descend into fits of inebriated giggling, and was an expert in... occupying them afterwards. Rarely did people stay awake as long or get as offensively wasted as when Yakob was on the bar.

The unfortunate twist of fate was that his accidental shadow was lurking at the bar too. And, given the late hour, they were pretty much the only ones left standing.

For some reason that no one - including Yakob and his shadow - could place, the Con man always seemed to find himself in the same place as a certain possible-psychopath when on the Guild Campus. Most people assumed they were related - 'that's racist' would be both of their automatic responses - or that they were dating - 'that's disgusting' would again be the reply from both of them - but regardless of what the true answer was, when one appeared, it could normally be safely presumed that the other would soon follow.

Var was not sampling Electric Daisies or cackling at Yakob's story about how he once slept with a ghoul because he got too drunk and got his target confused with some other hunter's mission. "Problem with our fucking apps, man," he said, snickering as he decanted the blue liquid into the martini glass. "You accidentally click the wrong mission, set GPS, and whoops. Wake up with ghoul cooties."
"You could do worse," Var said, not looking up from the phone she was constantly refreshing.

"Did you just make a joke?" Yakob demanded in disbelief, staring over at her, not even looking down as he slicked the glass's rim with salt.
"Ghouls merely crave human contact. Jikiniki or Wendigos or Vorux's devour human flesh. We should stop messing around with the dregs and focus on slaughtering the hunters."
"...You want to kill us?" Yakob asked, still not sure how after all this time, he still couldn't understand her.
"The supernatural predators." Her thumb was jabbing her phone so furiously it was shaking in her palm. Rather quickly, she slammed it against the bar top in anger. "Why must this foolish sham of an institute insist on mockeries such as apps and cooking and drinking when there is work to be done? Why do you, a seeker of information, stand here drinking poison." She gave him a good glower. "It is because of people like you that I am forced to sit here and be kept from my destiny, while the world suffers for it! While people die. While those bastards are allowed to live!"

"Drinking poison..." Yakob repeated, staring down at the blue liquid beneath him. "...That gives me an amazing idea for a Mojito."

Actually shrieking in distress, Var stood up, kicked over her stool, and stormed into the bathroom. Through the slammed door, Yakob could hear both himself and the rest of the Guild being condemned to the deepest, darkest depths of hell. Used to it, he dove over the bar to pick up the stool, slid back, and went about rearranging his gins and other spirits, mixers, and bitters, in cocktail-combo order.
Mol felt more self-conscious than usual, and that was saying something. What was normally a low-to-mid level buzz of 'Oh heavens they all think I'm disgusting' had risen to a fever pitch of 'I'm a mess, they all know what I really look like, they can all smell that boy on me and I want to go home please let me go home please'.

Meg, the old ghoul she lived with, who picked the viscera and bone fragments out of her teeth for her when she came back from a meal, had told her she had 'anxiety'. She said it was all irrational. But when someone tells you it is crazy to think people will hate you when they are, simultaneously, extracting bits of dead loved ones from your gaping maw, it's kind of hard to agree with them.

Especially when in the pit of her stomach, she is still hungry.

She is not even remotely satisfied.

Every inch of her skin crawls with self-disgust, and yet she craved the very thing that drags her down deeper into that dark pit of thinking. And hating it makes everything worse, because she is thinking about it. Because she wants it all the more because it is something she cannot have.

Will not have. Will not have. Will not have.

She repeats this mantra in her head as she holds her skirts bundled in her hands, thumbing over the knots as she chants silently. But there are so many people here and gluttonous butterflies are devouring her stomach and all she can think about is how hungry she is. How lonely she is. How she wishes she could be kissed tonight.

About how every fantasy of a stranger's soft, curious lips, devolves into a play-by-play film of her gorging herself on their thick, hot, sweet, sticky flesh. She swallows, and can almost feel herself eating them. The girl with the knife-point ears. The man who smells like dog. The succubus, whom everyone thinks of as being more demon than herself.

All these different scents, different flavours.

Like a buffet.

Like the buffet she stands at, handing out pastries and baked goods to people, both sweet and savory. Though she does not work for the MPA, she insisted on catering for the Gala; baking is her one true safe place. For the treats she bakes, she experiences not a drop of hunger. More a revulsion, if anything. But she sees how happy it makes people.

Sees how they bask in satisfying their hunger. Sees how they indulge in it. Enjoy it. Like it comes naturally. Like it's all perfectly fine.

And she loves being able to give them that, envy them as she does.

Half-hidden behind the table of edible offerings, she flushed as she handed out a iced bun and realized her arms are caked in flour. The cream dress she'd been saving especially for the night was sprinkled in constellations of white dusting. Her lips were chapped from smiling and calling out offerings.

What was she doing there? She felt so out of place, she would hide under the table if it wouldn't only draw more attention. And so instead she kept the sweet, doe-eyed smile fixed in place and continued to hand out the goodies, like the staff, not a guest.

Rustic PanOtterPus DergTheDergon

PanOtterPus · Jul 24, 2017

Aeryn sat listening to Yseri's speech, somewhat in awe of the casualness of her ability to stand there and talk in front of all these strangers. And then it came - the dreaded moment where she'd be expected to actually get up and talk to said strangers herself. Alone. Well, with Corvus but the birdbrain didn't exactly count. "Oh god," She thought to herself as she stood and scanned the room. So many faces of so many creatures she'd never seen before, and they'd probably never seen her kind either, save for a small few.

The elf wandered over to a nearby buffet table, discreetly eyeing up passers by. An insanely tall, red-headed male with the evilest friendly smile she had ever seen; Yseri talking to a plant-like woman, well that's new; a female that looked like the descriptions fitting a succubi; and men. So many men. All the men. Umm. Corvus nipped her ear painfully, a sign she needed to stop staring and start talking. Ugh. She wandered away from the table, a small sausage roll in her hand that she nibbled distractedly, and continued to judge.

How do you pick something you didn't know you wanted? When you don't know what you're looking for? She felt like screaming, but realised half the guests here would be judging her nine ways to Sunday without the added bonus of her looking crazy too. Instead, inner Aeryn crawled into a dark corner while real Aeryn wished she could follow...

-----

Orthrus didn't want to push the matter further and simply accepted Naomi's farewell with a small goodbye of his own. He was worried that his promise of the unlikelihood of something happening may be broken, and he really didn't want to break any promises. Gods only knew why. He never cared before - he owed nothing to nobody. Except today he owed his services, and so he entered the gala, waving a greeting to the doorman.

Once inside, Orthrus immediately focused on his job, scanning the guests and vaguely gauging their emotions, looking for anything out of place. He really just picked up a whole bunch of nerves and hormones. He returned the hellos he received from those who knew him, some even from those who just knew his face, all the while he kept his eyes open. He didn't want these wolves showing up unannounced and uninvited.

The place looked amazing though, he'd give them that much. And he wasn't one to turn down free food. As such he made his way to the buffet, smiling at a young elf woman, another packed full of nerves. A dark elf? How odd. Though, given his history, he'd seen odder. Everyone looked just as amazing as the gala itself - everyone was pulling out all the stops. This brought a small smile to the hound's face. It pleased Orthrus to see that folk were really taking this seriously - even made him give a small wish he'd thought to sign up himself. He knew damn fine how rare Hounds of Hell were. With this thought in mind, he chuckled and continued to observe.

---------

Gabe nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. He's a good guy and he does his job. All i'd ever ask." They drove in silence for the rest of the trip home - a comfortable silence. Once there, Fifer made her offer to go get drinks, something Gabriel didn't normally do. On this occasion, however, he found himself happy to accept - maybe to keep their fun going, or to get to know his new favourite team better, he wasn't sure. "Sure thing. Lead the way ma'am," he gestured for Fifer to go first and followed her to the bar.

Apparently they arrived just in time for some kind of commotion, and he believed he knew the pair responsible. He hadn't had the opportunity to work with the two yet, but he'd seen them around, usually joint at the hip, and every member came with their own stories and rumours. As the atmosphere began to settle down again, Gabe walked to the bar and announced, "Drinks on me, guys, what ya having?"

Persephones Grief · Jul 24, 2017

Hunters

Upon hearing a door swing open, Yakob did not look up, assuming it to be Fury Herself. To his surprise, however, a decidedly male voice piped up.

Without flinching, or the slightest betrayal of interest, Yakob's gaze flickered up to inspect them.

There are certain perks to being 'the smart one' rather than 'the one with the big guns'. Those perks included, but were not limited to, knowing most of the guild member's dossiers better than the information contained within them did. Or, maybe that had nothing whatsoever to do with a capacity to absorb read information like a sponge, and everything to do with his chronic habit of sleeping with everyone who was everyone.Especially those in charge of knowing his colleague's deep, dark secrets.

Which was why it took less than a brief look to put names to faces. Leading the way was the tragic Fifer, once so generically fairy-tale princess, now more beast than beauty. Personally, he'd bedded more than enough pretty girls to be bored with them, and found a woman such as her much more fascinating. His mind started to wander, tip-toeing along tangents such as debating whether she was crier, a screamer, or- no, he pulled his focus back to the important matters at hand. Such as who was accompanying her to a place commonly considered a 'date spot'.

Her little entourage was quite the mixed back. Chase was... well, Chase. Possibly missing a few marbles, but with a pedigree such as his, what could you expect? Probably mountains of inbreeding and all kinds of scandalous things. Either way, Yakob couldn't claim to be scandalous-dream free of that certain ball of crazy. That much flexibility could be put to such better use.

And last but not least was his personal favorite: Gabe. Straight boy extraordinaire. Known for his skilled handling of long, hard phallic objects. Nice Guy.

Exactly the type of poor bastard that Yakob felt morally obligated to turn his flirting up to 500% with.

"Oh Gabe, darling," Yakob sighed, effecting a particularly camp lilt and lisp just for him. "It's adorable that you think any of you have a choice." In a Blue Peter 'Here's some I prepared earlier' style, he slid three Electric Daisies onto the bar top. He smirked over at the gunman in a fashion he had practiced for hours in front of the mirror before trying it out in the real world. And when he had?

Certain garments had dropped.

"I thought you knew me better than that, after everything." He pouted, monitoring Fifer's reactions out of the corner of his eye because he wasn't stupid, he could read body language.

If they were going to get all flirty, they could do it somewhere not in his bar, thank you very much. And yes, it was his bar. He'd claimed that flirting 'spot' first, so to speak. Like a dog pissing on streetlamps, he was very territorial.

"It's on the house," he added coolly, leaning over on the bar top getting all up in Gabe's personal space. "Literally. Instructions from the Guild. The forums won't shut up about your marvelous adventures. Although Chase," his eyes slid over to regard the third member of their little party, "I don't remember seeing your name mentioned in the prize money. These two cheat you out of your winnings. Naughty."

Just as he used his pre-licked little finger to fish some salt and daisy off of Gabe's glass, ready to do create utterly horrifying visuals with his tongue, the bathroom door slammed open. Again.

"You didn't find any demons to slay in there, then?" Yakob sighed, straightening and huffing because she'd really ruined a beautiful moment. He'd been sure he'd been about to start a fight, which, for him, was a bar tending shift well spent.

"What? No," Var snapped at him, trudging back over to the stools and taking a seat right in the way of the three drinks for the others, and in such a way that they could not sit down without someone having to be alone on one side of her. "Someone was passed out on the toilet. I thought it might have been an Aka-Manto. But it was just one of your drunks."

Pretending he hadn't just heard all of that, Yakob looked back to his 'customers'. "Well," he said simply. "Drink up."

Monsters

It did not help anything that Mol was also surrounded by some of the most beautiful creatures she'd ever witnessed in her entire life. It was clear that attractiveness had been a deciding factor in who got chosen for this spectacle, going by the collected subjects.

Pacing over her way and studying the crowd rather intently, there was a gentleman with flame red hair and the body of a hardened whip, his face that of an angel, his expression that of the devil himself. A woman with sharp ears also gazed around, her face so exquisite Mol thought she might burst into tears. Another girl was wrapped in plants, beautiful in her own strange, enchanting way.

Less concerned with the appearance of the attendees was Hel.

Hel just loathed everything. The excess. The farce. The superficial smiles and awkwardness and the play pretend of being nice. Like this wasn't all just an excuse for lonely people to fuck.

Clearing her throat in distaste, she swanned about to try and keep an eye out for... well. To stay alert. She had gotten herself into this, and so she supposed she ought to put effort in. Especially to blend in, act like every other member of this brainwashed herd. So she smiled and nodded and made small talk; the very lowest she could sink to. Counting the minutes. The seconds. All until this nightmare could end.

Verdas · Jul 24, 2017

The faun's sweet tone laid rest to her previous fears of being eaten alive. As a matter of fact, the faun had responded just in time to prevent the seeds of panic from taking root. The sudden reddening of the faun's face caught her by surprise, though this wasn't the first time she saw people doing this. When or why they did it remained a mystery to her, so she decided to ask her about it later. She was completely oblivious to the faun's not-so-clean thoughts about hotdogs with mayonnaise and ketchup.

While she was still uneasy, her eyes noticeably brightened at the mention of food or, more specifically, meat. She would definitely take Yseri up on that offer. The thoughts of sinking her teeth into soft, juicy flesh distracted her from the sight of the mutilated plants around her. But perhaps the faun's plan was a bit too effective, as she started to salivate, this fact made more apparent by the trickle of drool going down her chin.

After wiping said drool away, she nodded vigorously. "Y-yesh please. I-I w-want to try... E-everything." It was common beleaf that Vorux had endless pits for stomachs, and while that may be an exaggeration, it wasn't entirely wrong either. She wanted to fill her stomach up with big, juicy meat a-sap, and would follow the faun's lead with a spring in her step. Hopefully, there would be nothing to cause Yseri to transform into a tomato a second time.

Rustic · Jul 24, 2017

In the end, Chase had just completely moved on and wondered back into the car. He had honestly zoned out, but, not completely thoughtlessly. The two of them had gone with him, had been nice when they didn't have to be, and saved his life when he was acutely aware that certain others wouldn't have. That was all worth repaying to him. Other than that... nothing else was terribly relevant, he felt. Really, he was happy that had nice things to say about him, since few people really seemed to, but why they were saying it frankly didn't concern him. Had they just said what they did to placate him? Did they honestly think he'd done a good thing today? It wasn't his business. He had dinner to think about. He ended up spurled out into what probably looked like an excruciatingly uncomfortable pose into the back seat and browsed through his phone absentmindedly as the two discussed whatever business they had up in the front. After that, they had apparently decided to spend the rest of the ride in silence, but it was still probably one of the most enjoyable rides home from a mission he'd had. Nobody yelled at him, nobody prodded him with questions, and nobody had refused to sit next to him, so, it felt like a resounding success. Not that he was thinking about any of it too hard. The more important question to him he thought of while thumbing through Pinterest: did they even keep yams back at the Guild?

He's no closer to the answer by the time the three of them finally reached the Guild, but, as he bounded through the door after Fifer and Gabriel, it didn't really matter to him. Life was full of choice mysteries. For example: Fifer's invitation. Sometimes people let him come on missions later, a few deigned to ask him to some, but this was officially the first time anyone had ever invited him to something that wasn't work. Somehow, this was almost as exciting to him as going on a mission. He clasped his hands together in support of the plan, especially so when Gabriel had agreed to it, too. It was another kind gesture from the two of them, so, without really having to think about it, he uttered out a resilient 'yes!', complete with a trailing multitude of 's', before he followed the two of them out to the bar.

Which reminded him. Another one of life's mysteries was, definitely, the bar. At Gabriel's question for both himself and Fifer, Chase could only smile and stare blankly ahead. Did people request drinks at bars? The few times he'd ever gone to the bar, it had been the Guild bar, and he'd never really ordered anything. He that was some of the appeal, actually. Why play a game of Russian Roulette if you got to knew if and where there was a bullet in the chamber? Seemed counterintuitive to having a good time. He doesn't not have to consider the question, however, as Yakob just as well had something prepared. Thankfully. He got himself in and watched as the scene unfolded unconcerned about the commotion he'd heard only a smidge of before, and, when Yakob unexpectedly turned toward him.

"They couldn't if they wanted to! Someone trying to cheat is why confirmation takes time in the first place," he offered. There had been a time before where only solo missions required verification, where groups were just asked to report in once they were done and missions were self-verified on an honor system by all of the participants. That was, until one guy had gone around threatening people to get more money for less work. He had full intentions on reminiscing about the outcome of that particular event, but, he found himself interrupted by the re-entrance of another frequenter. A familiar face. A serious face. Chase had at least found himself excited at Yakob's question to her asking if she had found any demons, but it fell again on her answer. Chase just wasn't sure to feel about the woman, and that made him feel awkward. Which was weird. Which made him immediately claim the seat two down from her's. He usually waited, but nope. He had no time to be chastised today.

Then, seat quickly claimed and the commotion solved, he was more than happy to continue his thought from before. "That guy really thought I was going to cut his hands off!" he exclaimed, slapping his hand down lightly onto the bar in amusement. Then his eyes shifted off for a moment, and looked surprisingly thoughtful as one of his hands subconsciously reached down to rub one of his scarred wrists.

"Maybe I should've," he offered quietly. Still amused, but noticeably less manic looking. "Would've been fairer to everyone else, huh?" He smiled modestly and let his voice adopt the tone of a joke, but how much of it he hadn't really meant probably wasn't clear to much of the room. In reality, he sometimes entertained the idea, but he wasn't exactly the type to go committing much violence against people. At least, not anymore. Anyway, there was a drink in front of him and it was special for him, so once he looked down at the bar and remembered it was there, he reached for it promptly and followed suit in drinking it like he'd seen Yakob show off doing. If the Yakob had had it his way with Gabriel, Chase's mimicking would've been complete with obscene tongue gesturing and all, but as is was, he simply did it as intended.

It took a moment, one which he used to start downing his drink... oh god why was his mouth tingling. His mouth was tingling and everything tasted, like, so much? "Hahaha, what's even going on with this?" he inquired innocently, struggling to pronounce correctly through the sudden influx of saliva. The feeling was weird, but he liked it. He continued to make good pace on it as gazed at it's surface with starry eyes. "I love it!"

Persephones Grief

DergTheDergon · Jul 25, 2017

The night wears on at the Gala...

As Xaira’s emerald-green gaze wandered this way and that among the crowd, she found her head naturally turning towards a succubus. An exotic and beautiful sort for certain, just the type she was looking for. She found herself simply standing there, admiring the girl from afar for a moment. Her dumbstruck scanning of the woman’s exquisitely perfect body and very unique features, such as her oddly attractive head wings (something that admittedly, non-draconic types likely wouldn’t find quite so striking) were so intense that it took her a few seconds to realize that the woman was moving closer, only realizing this as a side effect of realizing that she could suddenly make out more details of the flawless woman than before. In the few moments it took for Xaira to take all of her in, the succubus had nearly reached the close distance needed for speaking with her.

Xaira smirked as she realized this, her tail beginning to gently wiggle behind her in anticipation as she met the woman’s eyes. “Well met,” Xaira said, her tone chipper with a slight flirty undertone that she wasn’t exactly planning to throw in there, betraying just how much she liked what she saw in the woman who’d approached her. When Naomi uttered her name, the Dragoness’ smile grew, a flirty edge to her eyes. She very much liked everything from her mesmerizing magma-colored eyes, to her violet hair, to the delicate and perfectly molded features of her face, to even the name she goes by. This dragon had found her prey, she could sense it. She even found herself subtly licking her lips as Naomi went on.

The Lilin’s overtly polite and cautious greeting caught her off guard a little, a bit of a rarity for her kind, yet it only caused Xaira’s grin to widen further, showing off her sharp and meticulously-cared-for pearly whites. Had she really stumbled upon a bashful Lilin? Oh, this was going to be fun indeed…

“Xaira. Very Charmed indeed.” She closed and opened one emerald eye in a well-practiced wink, the patch of scales just below that eye, a matching green, shimmering in the room’s magically conjured light for a moment “It’s funny, I’d been deliberating whether or not I was worth your attenton, or if I’d be wasting your time before you approached.’ She giggled, then shrugged. “I’ll try to relax if you do the same. We’re all equals here, like that goat broad said.”

It would be clear by now that being dressed for the occasion was the extent of Xaira’s preparedness for a formal event of this sort, her language crude and uncouth to much of the rabble here. But she didn’t care. If this Naomi was offended by the way she talked, she wasn’t worth the effort despite how stunning she was. Xaira had a hunch (and a burning hope) however, that the Lilin found her too attractive to pass up even if she did find her manner of speech unattractive.Travelling all over the Beneath and slaying everything that was causing trouble didn’t make for the sort of lifestyle one learned eloquent speech to perform, and besides, her parents weren’t around to teach her manners after she hit adolescence either. Dragon parents never were, it was tradition to let hatchlings leave the nest at an age most species were appalled by. However, Draconian minds matured faster than those of most species so it was simply natural for them to live life a slightly faster pace; until they began to get on in years, that is.

“Anyway, care to sit down with me? You can ask me anything, no question’s ever caught me off guard.” She smiled with an equal amount of kindness and clear excitement to top off her inviting statement. In an effort to ensure that Naomi was as comfortable as she could possibly be in a situation so clearly stressful for her, Xaira opted to save her venerable smorgasbord of questions until after Naomi had a turn to ask a few of her own. Still, Xaira found it hard to resist to make some sort of move right off the bat. Everyone here was here to date, after alll.

Boldly yet carefully taking the woman’s hand, she watched carefully for her reaction, asking “Ah, is this alright? I admit I’m a bit eager.”

PanOtterPus · Jul 25, 2017

While things got underway at the gala and awkward couples began to form, creating their first meetings of the evening, it was evident that not everyone there was extremely enthusiastic about having attended. If you were to look in a dark corner of the function you would find a rather bemused looking, white haired vampire. Danto was his name, and social functions were not his game. Why was a member of a thriving race taking part in this gala, with it's particular purpose? Well... to put it simply: "To teach him a lesson about social skills." Apparently it wasn't deemed socially acceptable to pay a greedy race of Dark Elves a large sum of money to help him escape to feed off of a human on the surface, causing a three month coma in the process. Knowing that this would be the most painful punishment besides simple death (and one which would possibly teach him some manners in the process), it had been agreed that Danto would be required to attend such social functions for the foreseeable future. The gall.

The man watched the crowd with a face of disgust. Why would he want to converse with people he didn't even know if he wasn't going to drain them? Love? He grunted at the thought. Danto had had his share of relationships during his long life, and each one ended the same way - they grew old while he stayed stuck in the same place as always, permanently with the appearance of a 27 year old man. He was a pure blooded vampire, born into the world when his kind - among others - ruled the world above. One day, he stopped growing up and he started to detest the human race - among others.... One might say this disgust grew from jealousy of their mortality, Danto on the other hand, would ask that you mind your own business. And it wouldn't be quite so polite.

Danto no longer cared for falling in love. He no longer cared about anything much other than himself. And therefore, he spent a good deal of the beginning of the evening glaring with almost glowing green eyes at anyone who had the nerve to even try to approach him, scaring off passers by. Those who were immune to the glare received a hiss. Until that damned brute Orthrus grew tired of his behaviour and forced him to leave his seat, leaving him no option other than to go and actually... ugh... mingle. The travesty of it all!

Now he found himself wandering slowly through the crowd, making little eye contact and being sure not to touch anything. Instead of conversation, he found himself imagining the beautiful deaths he could bestow to many of the guests here, and the dreamlike taste of blood of some of the rarer creatures. He also found himself wondering - not for the first time - what would happen if he were to attempt to Turn one of these souls. Interesting. Helped pass the dreadful time. Or so he thought. He gave an audible groan upon realising he'd only been waking for a few measly minutes. "Satan save me," he thought to himself.

DergTheDergon · Jul 25, 2017

Yseri smiled warmly once she saw how quickly, how easily, the subject of meat seemed to flip some sort of nervousness switch inside of the petite Vorux in front of her. In fact, it seemed to flip the switch all the way to the other side of the mood spectrum, the curious plant-girl beginning to voraciously salivate like she was about to eat the last sirloin steak on the entire planet, or something similar. With such a voracious appetite, Yseri figured Vorux had one heck of a metabolism, as the girl’s form was slim, shapely and altogether nearly perfect in Yseri’s eyes.

“Oh, my,” she said quietly, giggling at the display she saw in front of her. No doubt many would think Vesuria’s current behavior terrifying, but Yseri simply found it adorable that just a few specific syllables spoken to her caused such a reaction. Ther moment Visura pleaded to go throug hte buffet as if she hadn’t eaten for days, Yseri smiled, gently took her hand and said, “let’s go then.” In ord er to test the waters, she studied Visuria’s reaction to the hand-holding closely. If she seemed to be uncomfortable, Yseri would let go and gently apologize before leading her. This whole dating thing was very new to her, so yseri sort of felt like a baby bird learning to fly, or a giraffe calf trying to stand for the first time; clumsy, awkward, and generally unsure just what it was that she was doing.

That’s when she realized, there was a problem. Namely, the seemingly mile-long line for the buffet. Normally, Yseri would courteously wait, but poor Visuria looked like she was going to burst with hunger at any second. “Hmm…” Yseri hummed in thought, drumming her left forefinger upon her pursed lips as her right hand either still held Visuria’s hand or rested at her side, depending on Visuria’s earlier response to her. “I think I can skip us ahead a little.” She ushered Visuria past the line, a few heads turning in the pair’s direction for various reasons ranging from confusion, to outright disgust, to checking her out, to marvelling at Visura’s uniqueness, to wondering where they were going, to simply wondering what the director herself was doing, both with Visuria and in general.

Reaching the front of the line, the minotaur bouncer that was letting one person through at a time so as to keep the species with voracious appetites from making the act of getting food descend into messy chaos looked up at her. “Can I help you, Miss Director?” “Yes butch,” she siad, “Can my companion and I pass through? She’s absolutely famished.” The minotaur looked over at Visuria for a moment ,not betraying any emotion, before shrugging. “Yeah sure, go ahead miss.” Being the boss had its perks, Yseri couldn’t deny.

Passing trhrough, she handed Visuria a plate and stepped aside, letting her grab as much delicious meat as her heart (or stomach, one could say) desired. Once Visura was done, Yseri quickly fileld her plate up with a vvariety of things, but of course no veggies and fruits. It felt a little strange to do so, but it wasn’t like Yseri had to be watching her diet right now. She’d deal with any diet concerns later if her and Visuria hit it off well, but for now, not offending opr outright scaring her was the priority.

Leading Visuria back to an empty pair of place settings sitting aross from each other, she let Visuria dig in and patiently waited for her to slow down, eating herself at a steady, but likely slower pace than the Vorux across from her. Once it seemed that Visuria was no longer enamored with her dinner, Yseri spoke up. “I’ve never met a Vorux in person before… tell me about your people. Any traditions? How large are groups or settlements of your kind, usually?” If there was any topic that absolutely fascinated Yseri, it was culture. She loved to learn about how things are done among different species.

Verdas

---
Meanwhile, above the surface…

In response to Gabe’s thoughtful agreement regarding the third hunter who was now, Fifer saw through the rear view mirror, one hundred percent occupied with his phone, Fifer smirked, still keeping her eyes on the road, and simply nodded. No further words seemed necessary, and indeed the trio spent a nice, quiet drive home. Fifer quite enjoyed it, both because she didn’t expect this group, or at least Chase, to be so quiet; and that a peaceful, entirely uneventful trip back ‘home’ (Fifer unsure if ‘home’ was the right word for the guild even though she had lived there for years now) was a godsend after such a tense mission. The thought of such dangerous creatures so close to home also worried her: the site was only about 45 minutes from the guild. If she knew what lay just beneath her home city, hell, if anyone in the guild knew, it’d change everything. However, that wouldn’t come for some time.

As he accepted, Fifer grinned, for a moment forgetting to be cautious of how freakish her grins looked due to her facial burns. “Gladly,” she said, hopping out of the driver’s seat with a renewed vigor. ‘Just keep your cool, Fifey. If you’ve got any chance in hell with him you’ll ruin it if you act too hastily. Just tease him a bit, little touches here and there maybe… he’lll get it.’ She thought, giving herself a needed pep talk after years of not feeling even marginally attracted to every other man she ended up working with. She had no idea that she might’ve misjudged Gabe’s character a little with that last statement. She chuckled a bit at Chase’s yes, strangely feeling glad that he’d snapped back to being chipper after making like a mute the whole drive back. “Great, come on then boys.” Turning her back towards her new partners and sauntering towards the door, she was the first to enter the building and make her way over to the bar.

Who she saw and what she heard when she stepped in the bar caused her to sigh and roll her eyes. Ah yes, yakob and Var, continuing their seemingly endless lovers’ spat. Fifer wondered when the hell they were going to just hate fuck already. If they really didn’t want anything to do with each other, they wouldn’t always be in the same place at once, arguing like an old married couple.

Wordlessly, Fifer stood around with Gabe and Chase, ignoring the ridiculous heatedness of those two’s bickering. Fifer rubbed her temples for a moment when she saw Var storm off. That woman worried her, not gonna lie. Fifer’d lost everything to monsters, sure, but unlike Var apparently did, killing them wasn’t all Fifer thought about. Fifer held her tongue in order to not spill her comment regarding the app and how it streamlined things far better than the old method the guild used. There was no use arguing with Var, which is something Fifer wished Yakob would realize. Once Var had left the room, Fifer felt like the air was about 70 times lighter. That woman was a little too intense, even for her.

When Gabe approached the bar, Fifer followed, standing a bit closer to him than she realized while her eyes shot to Yakob just for a moment, wary of what dirty thoughts he might be thinking about literally everyone here. She grinned when he asked what she and Chase were having, and gladly accepted his offer to buy without a word of protest, but she saw the look on Yakob’s face. Instead of telling him what she wanted, she waited for him to pipe up inevitably- which was a mistake. The third word out of his mouth, “darling”, leveled at Gabe, caused the content smirk she’d been donning a second ago drop for a glare and a frown for a moment, before she caught herself and reverted her facial expression to one of pure neutrality. The smirk Yakob followed it with caused Fifer’s eyes to narrow of their own volition though. ‘Hands-off, manwhore,’ Fifer thought condescendingly. Still, she wordlessly accepted the booze by taking a sip, and feeling the tingle. As much as Fifer really did not like this man, with the added anger factor of his clear sexual intent towards Gabe, he knew his drinks, she’d give him that.

His next words directed at Gabe wiped any less-than angry thoughts about Yakob right out of Fifer’s mind. She leaned simultaneously forward on the bar and sideways closer to Gabe, trying not to stare daggers into his soul or betray any other sign that would give things away. She was almost about to say something before Yakob continued, getting far too close for comfort. Fifer found herself having to take a deep breath to prevent herself from saying anything too rash. To her frustrations, before she could tell him, in no uncertain terms, to back the fuck off, his eyes turned towards Chase and he expertly changed the subject. From the way he was clearly watching her, Fifer knew that he knew; he was famous for his ability to read people. At a moment when it seemed that no one else in the room was looking, Fifer narrowed her eyes at Yakob and mouthed the words “he’s mine”, her expression seeming to mar her face further, if that was even possible. Fifer doubted that Gabe swung that way, but Yakob was seriously getting in the way of her plans for tonight with the first man she’d liked in a very long time and she was not going to tolerate it.

Once Chase had, to Fifer’s relief, defended Gabe and herself from Yakob’s sudden accusations, Fifer turned to him and nodded in subtle gratitude. Then, started to look for a way out. Not just for her, either. A way to draw Gabe away from Yakob peacefully. Chase seemed to be enjoying himself here; and as much as she enjoyed Yakob’s Electric Daisies, she didn’t come here to drink frankly; she came here for Gabe, and Yakob seemed to realize that all too well and still press his incessant advances. This was all Fifer could think about in this moment.

She was actually thankful when Var arrived, breaking the flow of Yakob’s game. This was her chance. She wordlessly took a sip, savored it, let it take the edge off a bit, and thought for a few moments about what she was going to do before she came up with a plan and swiftly put it into action. She leaned over towards Gabe, who by now had to understand, even if he couldn’t discern exactly why, that Fifer was uncomfortable. “Hey, Gabe..” she said quietly. “Wanna blow this joint and go play some pool or something? I don’t really feel comfortable here, but I’m not tired enough to hit the sack yet.” Her eyebrow raised, her good eye gazed questioningly at him, a hint of hope in there as well unbeknownst to her. She made a point of turning so that she couldn’t even see Yakob at all, her blind eye on the side of the bar as she was turned directly towards Gabe. She wondered if she was being too forward, if he was getting privy to what was going on… but would that really be a bad thing? God, she didn’t know. The short moment it took for him to answer her felt like an eternity.

@PersephonesGrief

PanOtterPus · Jul 25, 2017

In truth, Gabe hadn't paid any attention to who was behind the bar until he heard the voice - Yakob. Oh gods, why him? He liked the guy well enough, never worked with him but had been served by him a good few times in the past, each and every occasion involving another attempt at flirtation. He was used to it by now, but he wasn't prepared this time, blinking several times as he took in the flirt's rather forward greeting. As the notorious man-whore gave him a grin that screamed all kinds of "Danger, Engage At Your Own Risk", Gabe found his cool and rolled his eyes. "Still not a batter for that team Yakob, as flattering as it always is to receive your unique welcomes. Though knowing you, I'm sure you'll keep trying." Gabe winked at the man, accepting the drink and taking a sip. 'Oh shit,' he thought. 'This is it. This is how I die - killed by an Electric Daisy.'

Gabe swiftly put the drink back down, grimacing on the inside at how powerful one little drink could be. "Nice. I see your drinks are as lethal as ever, Yakob." As if saved by the bell, Var returned just as Yakob was about to make some sort of crude tongue gesture that would bring Gabe to new levels of uncomfortable, and his quirky teammate, Chase, heroically changed the subject back to guild business. Gabe gave an inward sigh of relief. It seemed the world was out to make his day a difficult one to survive.

The man was thankful when Fifer suggested they leave the bar, as if she knew he needed rescuing - completely oblivious that this suggestion was to benefit herself, even at her suggestion of being uncomfortable herself. "Sure, I think there's a table in the corner." He didn't want to leave the bar altogether so he was happy enough to play some pool. It would give him a chance to get to know his new teammate better at least.

Once there he began setting up the table, popping in a small coin to release the balls and began piling them onto the table. "So, you were great today. All three of us really. Kinda hoping we get to work together again." Gabe gave a small smile up at her, apparently the best smile he was willing to give.

Persephones Grief

DergTheDergon · Jul 26, 2017

Fifer found her face flushing a bit as she heard Gabe's calm rejection to Yakob's advances. So cool, delivered smoothly, and with a wink at the end too. Fifer found something about that response extremely hot, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Once again, she mentally chastised herself for slipping into such fantasies again. 'Remember Fifey, this guy ain't the center of the world.... you've been burned too many times thinking that way..." Fifer found herself using the word burn to try and etch concepts into her mind and have them stay there. It worked, to a certain degree: every time she even thought about the word burn, she felt remnants of the excruciating pain her whole face was in after the fateful fight with a Dragon that left her blind in one eye, cooped up in a hospital for months, feeling like the ugliest goddamn thing on earth, and overall more bitter and resentful than she already had been before.

Fifer's heart sped up just a little after she asked her question, feeling quite relieved indeed as he agreed, to her slight bewilderment. She played it cool, nodding, her face neutral, as she followed him over to the pool table. As he laid the balls out on the table, she dusted off a pair of cues, handing one to Gabe. Fifer found herself smiling slightly as he spoke up, her mind traveling back in time to all the most exhilarating moments of that missions. Those kinds of experiences were part of what she did this job for, besides her anti-monster moral ideologies and money, of course. She nodded at his statement, meeting his eyes with her good one with an intensity he probably wasn't expecting. "Oh, you don't have to hope. I've been looking for great partners like you and Chase for so damn long, you bet your ass I'll drag you two into my next mission if I have to." She was one hundred percent serious, at least about dragging Gabe in. It was clear by the look in her eyes. Chase wouldn't be a bad guy to have around either, and it was clear Gabe liked him, so giving him equal praise just seemed like common sense. Plus, the kid deserved it, Fifer admitted.

Once the table was set to play, Fifer smirked. "I'm breaking." It was clear that she liked taking control of situations with other people as often as she could, something that others she'd worked with had gripes about but both Chase and Gabe seemed content to let her lead. Another reason that she liked having them around. Lining up the cue with the cueball, Fifer took a deep breath and focused. "Pool is kinda like fighting for me," Fifer mused as she carefully considered the angles. "You need to zero in on it, let your mind go blank... then, you take the shot." With that, she poked the cue forward in a practiced motion, sending the cueball into the triangle of other balls, scattering them nicely. Then, she smirked, satisfied with herself. "Your turn, sharpshooter. Show me what you've got." She smirked challengingly at him. She was already having fun. She felt comfortable around Gabe already, in a way she hadn't in a long, long time.

Persephones Grief · Jul 26, 2017

Hunters

"Still limiting yourself to one team," Yakob quipped back coolly, tutting with a smirk. Of course, whilst his face was all charm and allure, his insides were less pleasant. Especially since Fifer was clearly riveted by the pretty white boy, only glance in the direction of yours truly to dare make threats and claims. Well. Yakob was never one to back down from a challenge. His mouth tasted metallic. Bitter. Seemed he'd bitten the inside of his cheek through, again. "When you get bored of experimenting with," he gave Fifer a brief glance over, whatever hunger had once been in his eyes turned to ice, "whatever team you'd like to call that, let me know."

Giving them a sweet smile goodbye as they left, he set about ignoring them as he cleaned out the glasses. Chase could have been a fun route to pursue but... Well.

He was already booked that night.

Smirking as he thought about that particular upcoming arrangement, Yakob was quite content just to amuse himself by sucking on daises, but Var was giving him a look. He sighed. "If you're going to tell me off for being rude, you can-"
"You know things," she said, interrupting his thread. Edging forward on her stool, she narrowed her eyes and peered at him.
"I like to think I know some things, yes."
"No, your job is knowing things. How does that work?"

Laughing, Yakob shook his head and set the glasses down to dry. "Oh sweet Var, you're far too young for such knowledge. It involves drinks. The removal of clothes. More drinks."
"Yes, but when does what you learn become a 'mission'?"
"When I decide I have useful, accurate information that even blockheads like rock-face and white boy can follow."

Nodding slowly, Var narrowed her eyes further. Processing that information took sometime, if that was even what she was doing; Yakob wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Thinking of joining up?"
"Heavens, no." Var snorted at even the idea of such a thing. "No this guild has enough slackers as it is. But that means you have some information that hasn't been 'posted' yet, right? Some things that might be true."

Staring her dead in the eyes, Yakob said in deadpan, "The answer is no."
"I asked nothing."
"You were going to ask me to violate my contract."
"From what I've heard, violating is your specialty."

Gasping in mock offence, Yakob did a double take. "I do not believe those words just came out of that mouth."
"I spoke only the truth. And if you don't help me, I'll inform the Guild forums of where you'll be spending the night tonight." The double take turned into a long, long stare.
"What do you-"
"I mean being cursed to constantly run into you has made it incredibly easy to piece the obvious together."

Yakob may have - though he would never admit it - paled. Drumming his fingers upon the bar top, he stared the other down. She stared back with her usual dead-serious cultist-esque vibe. "I really fucking wish there'd been a toilet demon in there for you to go play with," he growled, swearing under his breath and looking around, glancing at the three playing pool to make sure they weren't being overheard.
"So do I," Var agreed with a heavy sigh. "Spending the night with you is something akin to a nightmare. But," she reached over and fetched her phone out of the cocktail mixer Yakob had kindly discarded it into, and nodded at the pool table, "I can't allow those three to get any more credit than they already have done. There's a promotion going, and I need Higher Ups to start taking me seriously."

As she slipped from her bar stool and dusted herself down, Yakob muttered under his breath, "Maybe if you didn't literally go hunting for toilet-demons, they would do." Locking up the spirits and wine, he wiped the bar down and stacked the rest of the glasses. "You guys can show yourselves out," He yelled over to the other three, making a big show of plopping the bar keys into the cocktail shaker. "Lock up after, would you? Cheers." Not waiting for a reply, he sidled over to the door where Var waited, still refreshing her phone.

"We'd better be back before dawn for my appointment. And you do realise you're going to have to come with me as I go plumb my... source for information, right?" He hissed, leaning over her phone to try and get her attention. She did not look up.
"I've watched you worm your way into people's pants before," she said, slamming refresh. "I'm sure it'll be as utterly vulgar as ever. We're taking your car by the way."

Mimicking her in a childish voice, not caring that he was acting twelve, Yakob grunted and body-slammed through the door. Fuck this. He was supposed to be the one in charge of exploiting people, not the other way around. With Var trailing him, mobile in hand, he trudged round to the parking out outside the bar and looking around at the offerings. Slipping out his usual 'toolkit', he jimmied his way into a lovely soft-top jaguar convertible, did a little slicing here and there, and hot-wired it into ignition. In answer to Var's death glare, he just smiled. "My car's at the garage getting cleaned. Seats were getting a bit sticky." It was worth it for how deeply offended she looked, shoving past him and clambering into the passenger's seat.

Rustic · Jul 26, 2017

Naomi couldn't help but warm a little under the other woman's gaze. Xaira, then. A beautiful example of a draconic name. It shouldn't have surprised Naomi just how bold she would be just from watching her across the room, but as Xaira gave a a relaxed wink, it still managed to catch her a little off-guard. Not that she was complaining. Her every word dripped with easy allure. Not the product of platitudinous, overly broad adulation that succubi employed in their seduction of the more credulous; rather, more of her unique, obviously swaggering approach to conversation. Usually she found that sort of demeanor to be, in the end, just disingenuous grandstanding, but it was already clear to her that she had no need. And, if she was honest, where she would have found her offer to be somewhat patronizing in a male partner, the confident request was rather reassuring, coming from another woman. When she said saw the two of them as equals, she honestly believed it. She gave an enchanted smile to her request and let herself relax a little. She was not the most elegant speaker, but then again, neither was Naomi. But she was refreshingly candid. That was new.

"You're right. I'll do my best," Naomi assured. Her voice conveyed her slight amusement but overall sincerity to the cause, and her face did much the same. She was open to new things. It sort of came with the territory.

To her request to come and sit, she let her response be decisive and unambiguous. "Certainly." Once she had settled in, she was sure she would have plenty of things to ask her, but for now, she happily followed behind to the closest free seats the two of them could find, just pleased to be cozying up in such a way. She felt was a nice indicator of an actual, rather than an idle or pitiying, show of interest. She worried that was going to be about the best she could hope for early on, but in a rather bold display, she feels a light touch start to grip her hand. It's, again, a bit surprising for her, but not in a bad way.

"It certainly wouldn't be the worst touch anyone's led off a date with me off with," she admitted sheepishly, having to touch her free hand to her face to suppress a light blush at her own improper joke. But she quickly relaxed again, and squeezed her date's hand softly in reassurance. "Absolutely. I'm... happy to hear you are, too." She tried not to let it show in her demeanor, but on the inside, her heart was beating a little faster at Xaira's admission. It was admirably chaste, and though it couldn't be treated as indicative of her overall intentions, it did manage to leave Naomi hopeful about them. She wasn't really sure what she wanted out of this, or the dating program as a whole, and if the night ended in a more passionate way, she was sure she wouldn't necessarily regret that, but... she wasn't sure. She could only hope her new friend had a better idea of what she wanted.

In fact, instead of waiting, she figured that, among the pool of things she wanted to know, this probably ranked the highest importance. So she went for it. "So... is it too obvious if I ask what you're looking for, so to speak?" She had left it unclear whether she meant from a potential partner or the dating program as a whole, but either would do, really. The answer probably would not impact her interest any, but it would help to shape her impression of her acquaintance. Before she left the floor open for a response, though, she ended up deciding to clarify.

"It's a little forward, I realize, but I think knowing would more appropriately...set the tone?" She managed to keep her face even and confident, but with significantly less practice in controlling her wings, they inadvertently twitched with unease. The way she said it almost made her want to bury her head in the metaphorical sand. It probably sounded like what she always had to ask humans, didn't it? Except, this time, she wasn't necessarily looking for the quicker and dirtier answer. She hoped that her partner could discern as much.

DergTheDergon

Chase looked around the bar. Some of what was going on right now he couldn't understand even if he wanted to, like the specifics of why people were shooting him and each other looks, but overall, he didn't realy care about most of it it, anyway. He'd never been especially keen on interpersonal conflict - not his own, and especially not other people's. He'd always been rather pacifistic in that way; most of the time when people had an issue of this type, he just sort of smiled and agreed to whatever he felt he needed to. It was really no different now, either. He just sipped on the rest his martini and watched as things played out themselves out. It would've felt a sort of boring or uncomfortable thing to do normally, depending on how the tone progressed, but the drink he was clasping in his hand was especially flavorful, and admittedly, it was kind of nice to be around all of these people who had expressed an interest in him being here, sincere or not. That made watching people, learning a little more about them, and just being in their company not seem, for once, that dull of a task. And that was compelling enough for him to even sit through something as petty as all of this.

Once everything was said and done, the three remaining - himself, Fifer, and Gabriel - seemed to be left with the task of closing up shop. It felt like kind of an odd occurrence to him, as most people usually saw fit to make it clear that they had no interest in giving him responsibility for absolutely anything, but he wasn't about to question the decision. If he had to guess, it was probably understood by both the others that the duty had been meant for them, anyway. Still, he couldn't help but get up onto his seat to examine the contents of the shaker, just intrigued by how and why things had ended up in such a goofy way. It isn't overly concerning to him, though, and with a gentle tip of the shaker to the side, Chase retrieved the keys in an easy fashion. Partly so that nobody would forget them when they were needed, and partly because... well, he still needed the shaker. Picking the bottle back up and twisting the lid back onto it, he nonchalantly started to shake the contents all up. He had no real idea what was still in there, or how much, but he'd come around to drink something mysterious. This seemed like a good idea to go about it, right? For good measure, he took out a bottle of something that looked strong and a bottle of something that looked kind of fruity and put a haphazard amount of each in there. Oh yeah. Fun stuff.

Toxic swill ready for testing, he took a moment to rub off the dripping keys he'd left on the counter and the counter beneath it before stealing the straw from his martini glass and making his way over toward the pool table. He didn't come right up on it; instead, he opted to get a view of the game's happenings from the table beside, climbing up onto it and taking a seat. He didn't actually know how to play or why the board looked like it did, but he did like watching things quickly dart around a field. Maybe it spoke to the natural hunter in him. Regardless, he crossed his legs properly and put his new cup, the shaker, in the middle, and stared at the table.

"So..." he started somewhat reluctantly, a confused frown on his face. "Is this like, flat golf?" From the sounds he had heard, it seemed like a satisfyingly more violent game, but if the mechanics of getting the balls in the hole were the same, he worried it would be similarly monotonous. Though, on second thought, he was did find himself a bit more hopeful at the comparatively smaller size of the field of play. If they didn't mind his presence, maybe this could still be a fun time, after all.

PanOtterPus · Jul 26, 2017

Gabe found himself chuckling at Fifer's enthusiasm regarding working as a trio again. "I'm glad to hear it. But believe me, no dragging would be required." The man smiled softly as he stood back to let her break. He was beginning to like her no-nonsense attitude. This woman knew what she wanted and she was going to take it. Something he knew all too well himself.

She took her shot, and a damned good one at that, now it was his turn. "And a nice shot it was. Hope you're ready, Fifer. I won't go easy on ya." He smirked, knowing she'd expect nothing less. Lining up a shot, Gabe managed to sink the ball into the corner pocket. As he lined for another, Chase - unfortunate timing as always - arrived and started speaking just as Gabe struck, causing him to miss and almost laugh at the other man. "You could say it was something like that yes. What you got there Chase?" Gabe eyed up Chase's cup, unsure of the contents.

The other in the bar had begun to dwindled, leaving a few night owls to enjoy the quiet bar. Gabe hadn't even noticed them leaving in all honesty, and he was one to notice everything. How odd. Maybe he was having more fun than he had thought. Fun. He hadn't had that in a long time. He usually just picked up his assignments, took out his target and went home to his lonely guild provided apartment. Another new experience for him today.

Verdas · Jul 26, 2017

Visuria flinched a little at first when Yseri held her hand, but was otherwise completely fine with it. Plants held eachother's stems with their vines for support all the time, and good ol' Woody was always willing to lend his big trunk to the young ones. Thus, she assumed this was the animals' version of it. She was happily expecting an all-you-can-eat buffet of meat until she saw the line, at which point, she despaired. She was literally on the verge of crying when Yseri skipped it entirely, bringing them straight to the food. A few 'tears' did, however, drip down her face in the form of sap.

The voracious Vorux did not regret speaking to the faun in the slightest, as she was rewarded with the best meal she'd ever had in her life. Not only did it meat all expectations, but it had actually exseeded them. As a matter of fact, she was about to get seconds when Yseri asked her questions regarding Vorux culture. "Erm... W-well, uh. W-we don't really l-live in... groups. A-after the p-parent t-teaches their saplings... Important stuff, they l-leave." She said, and tried to remember the useful, but at times vague, lessons of her mother.

That's when she recalled a few things about pollination, trees, fruit and seeds, among other things. "A-ah! W-while we usually live alone, we do form a b-big group sometimes. Uh, I t-think it was... M-marching season? N-no, t-taming season?" She then remembered, and shamelessly exclaimed "mating!" as though it were the most normal thing in the world. If she planted any weird ideas into the faun's head with that sudden outburst, then it was certainly not intentional. "M-mother said something a-about the father using h-his tree to pollinate... But I-I think that's a l-lie because t-trees are really b-big, and I n-never saw any t-trees on the f-fathers." She firmly stated.

The plant girl then seemed to shrink as she tried to make herself appear as tiny as possible, as though her stature of 4'2 (the answer to life, the universe, and everything) could get any shorter. Then, whilst fidgeting, she finally asked the faun, "I-if it's not a... Not a bother... C-could you t-tell me about y-your people t-too?"

DergTheDergon · Jul 27, 2017

It was clear to Xaira that her exotic and exquisite conversation partner was quite impressed indeed by her words and body language so far. Xaira hadn’t had it in her mind to date for years until she heard about the Gala, so it was nice to know she’s still got it. She definitely would’ve resented not going to this Gala if she had seen just one glimpse of Naomi on someone else’s arm after having learned the demon had gone to it. She had a feeling that she’d have less regrets about attending this Gala than she would if she hadn’t have.

Xaira smirked as Naomi told her she’d do her best, nodding. It was certainly time for the Dragoness to put out her best, then. It helped that Naomi was so damned attractive and that she seemed very interested in Xaira. Very interested indeed. The slight amusement in her tone and in the expression those mesmerizing orange-red eyes showed only served to further heighten Xaira’s enjoyment of this confrontation. Just where would this lead, she wondered? Xaira felt her mind drifting both to naughty visions of the throes of passion, as well as daydreams of purely innocent contact: kisses, embraces, heartfelt words… but Xaira knew she had to work, at least for a long future with this woman. So, she brought her mind back to the present moment and got started.

At Naomi’s chipper response of “certainly”, Xaira wasted no time in gently guiding her over to the first two empty spots she saw at the nearest table. Sitting her down, she turned towards Naomi and met her eyes.

The nerves she felt as she gauged Naomi’s reaction to her sudden handholding melted away with both relief and amusement with the Lilin’s suggestive joke. She chuckled a bit at that. “I can imagine… men, am I right?” She squeezed her newfound date’s hand a little as she noticed her bashful reaction to her own quip. “Hey, no need to be ashamed. I laughed ‘cause it was hilarious, not at you. Crack more jokes like that, I love it.”

Xaira also felt her heart beating a little faster at Naomi’s reply to her question and subsequent confession of eagerness, a smile spreading across her face. She couldn’t come up with a quip to respond to that with; it was just too unexpected, and heightened the mood too much, so she found herself simply responding to it with a wide smile and a reciprocating squeeze of the hand.

Seemingly milliseconds before Xaira had settled into the moment and opened her mouth to ask any of the questions that were buzzing about her mind, Naomi spoke up with her own. The Dragoness’s eyes widened at first, surprised that this seemingly timid girl was not only the first to ask a question, but it was a rather risky one as well; the sort of question that would raise suspicions among many, mayhaps offend them, make them think that they gave the impression of a philanderer. Xaira, however, was flattered by the question, as it gave her an opportunity to clear things up. She was looking for something that would, in the end, require a lot of commitment from the both of them and this was a way to gauge if naomi was as willing as her to go through with it by her answer.

As Xaira’s surprise faded, she then assumed a thoughtful facial expression and listened intently, shrugging afterwards. “Well, it is quite forward, and obvious as well in truth, but I like the directness of it.’Sides, you’ve the right to know and I think it would set the tone.” Xaira took a moment to think about how to phrase her question, squeezing Naomi’s hand again for some likely much-needed comfort. “I suppose you could say I’m in this for the long haul, as it were. I… want someone I can look forward to and count on coming home to for the foreseeable future. For the rest of my life, if I’m damn lucky. I’ve… done a lot of fooling around in the past, to be honest. It’s fun, yeah, but you feel empty inside when the other person leaves, ya know? I was… kinda afraid of being tied down until recently. Hell, I still am in all honesty, but I think I can deal with that if I sacrifice a little bit of personal freedom for someone I can really be comfortable around; someone I can open up to, who’ll be there for all my ups and downs. Aaand have a bit of fun with between the sheets with every once in a while.” She winked. “Though, as I said, that’s not my main goal by any means.”

Smiling warmly, Xaira then continued. “That’s the long and short of it. I had other questions, but… I’m really curious now what you think about that.” She waited with a patient, yet deeply curious, and slightly anxious, look in her eyes. She was afraid that she’d scared Naomi off, to be frank.

Rustic

---
Fifer rolled her eyes. Much as she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, tell him that she’d been working with anyone and everyone fro a long time and finally, she’d found Hunters she felt like she could actually get along with, she knew he wouldn’t listen. In all honesty, it seemed best to ignore Yakob for now, as much as she felt a jolt of anger shoot through her as he insulted her newfound team. It was easy enough to ignore him once the game of pool got started, though. She overheard him and Var talking increasingly heatedly about something in the background, but that was their normal behavior around each other so she found herself reducing it to background noise, not listening to a word of it.

Fifer grinned back at gabe in response to his reassurance that he liked worked with her and Chase. She felt a bit of relief at the sheer sincerity of his words. Little did he know, however, Fifer wanted more out of him than he perhaps realized, and was going to slowly but surely try to take it. It seemed like he wasn’t aware just yet that she liked him, but she preferred it that way, for now.

Her soft smile morphed quickly into a cocksure smirk as he said he wouldn’t go easy on her. “Good. I wouldn’t want you too.” She had to stop herself from saying something like ‘no need to be gentle with me.’ That seemed.. A little too forward. She didn’t want to get across to him the false notion that she was looking for little more than a purely physical relationship.

These almost adolescent thoughts were, partly to Fifer’s relief, unterrupted by Yakob yelling, causing Fifer to turn towards him with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Alright… excuse us if we stay here for a while anyway. Smell you later,” she said, turning sharply back towards the pool table. She had no idea what the hell had gotten into Yakob, or why he and var were apparently going somewhere together it seemed, but it was really none of her business, and besides, she honestly couldn’t care less. Turning her attention back to Gabe, Fifer watched curiously for Gabe’s next shot, eyes laser-focused on the green playing field on the pool table. Gabe seemed focused, too; in fact, he seemed entirely unaware of Var and Yakob’s departure. Good, Fifer thought; they didn’t spoil the moment for everyone. In fact, Gabe made a perfect shot, which Fifer clapped for. “Nice,” said simply, starting to line up another shot

A certain someone with an uncanny, unknowing knack for ruining moments showed up that very moment. Fifer wasn’t upset when Chase went over to them though; in all honesty, she liked having the kid around. He tended to lighten the mood. She made a note to herself to find some excuse for her and Gabe to be truly alone when she next saw an opportunity, however. It might make her intentions a little obvious, but, there was still a chance that Gabe wouldn’t be privy to it. That’d be a boon at first, but Fifer was prepared to spell it out for him if it came to that. However, there was no use thinking too much about that right now.

Looking over at Chase’s cup, her raised eyebrow echoed Gabe’s question after he kindly answered Chase’s fair inquiry. She’d been surprised that he hadn't played or apparently even heard much or anything about pool before, but that wasn’t near as concerning as what she saw in Chase’s glass. “Yeah, what’s in that thing? Looks like it’ll knock you right out; I’d be careful.” She knew Chase wasn’t one for caution, but she had a bad feeling about what might happen should he drink much of his strange concoction. It looked like a mix of some pretty strong stuff indeed. “If y ou’re interested in pool, jus’ keep watchin’. If you wanna play with ussometime I don’t mind. You don’t either, do ya Gabe?”

With that, the game continued. They both were on thier a-game, and in the end, it came down to the final ball. “Aight, whoever sinks this one wins,’ Fifer announce,d more for Chase than anyone else.Fifer lined up a shot; and then she hesitated. Gabe had the sharpshooter reputation here. She knew she could sink this one, but she could tell that Gabe hadn’t played as much as her. Right now, the satisfaction of watching his reaction to winning felt a bit more rewarding than winning herself; so, she found herself purposely, trying to make it look as accidental as possible, just missing the corner pocket. “Damn,” she said. “Your turn.” It wouldn’t be hard for Gabe to get this one, and she felt like he deserved this after busting his ass today.

Once the game concluded, Fifer looked over the both of them. “Well, I suggest we all get some rest. If I have my way, the both of you are coming with me on another mission tomorrow. And hey, Gabe…. That was a lot of fun.” She met eyes with him and smiled a more genuine, wide smile than him or any of the guild members had ever seen before. “Feel like another game sometime?”

After, the three of them cleaned the place up, locked up and parted ways for the night. She had no idea what Chase was doing, but she had a feeling that Gabe would want to head to bed, just like her. Fifer’s and Gabe’s rooms were on opposite floors, Gabe’s above hers, as there were separate men’s and women’s floors in the dorms area of the massive headquarters building Fifer headed straight up to her room after saying her goodbyes to her newfound team, sighing once she got inside. “Well… that was one hell of a day,” she found herself musing aloud as she freed herself of her clothing, showered, combed her hair and brushed her teeth, slipping into her red night robe afterward and climbing in bed. Staring up at the ceiling, she thought of everything from that intense mission, to the antics at the bar that evening, to, of course, Gabe. it felt weird having feels like this towards someone. No one had come into her life for a long time that had sparked such feelings in her. Pondering this, she drifted off to sleep.