Re: Thread A - The Rusty Dog

[Author]

"I. LOVED. THAT. DRESS!" Marcy's voice rips out from the office, and suddenly the door splinters as a man in a dark coat and black-red armor flies through it and onto his back.

"Things just keep getting more exciting, don't they?"

[Luc Weiyn]

A moment later, Luc's head pops out of the kitchen door, who looks at the assassin with a curious expression.
"Oh. Huh."
His head disappears for a moment, then he emerges holding a butcher knife in his hand.
"Steak should be fine without me for a few minutes... Hey Marcy! Want some help?"

[Marceline Mori]

One arm coated in a whipping tendril of blood, dress half torn in the middle from two knife wounds exposing her upper stomach, Marceline storms out the managers office seething red.
"Excuse me everyone, I'm just really really thirsty and this kind gentlemen offered to get me a drink. Isn't that right?"
Marceline is grinning again, but instead of grinning in delight it's a predatory gaze full of anger and hunger. The type of grin that really displays a frightening pair of large, white fangs.
"Don't worry though, I heard he brought friends. So there should be enough for us all to share."

[Luc Weiyn]

Luc winces slightly as he sees the damage on Marceline.
"Ooh... that poor dress. I really liked that dress, it looked good on you. Do you need to be so melodramatic about it, though? I mean, I see why you're upset, but really..."

[Aurora the Dragon]

Aurora is shocked when the assassin flies through the door, but as she watches the scene before her unfold, she becomes steadily more excited. "Oh my gosh! It's a real bar brawl! This is so awesome!"

[Author]

The assassin quickly stands up, then turns to a black mist and flies through Marcy. He stabs his blade backwards as he re-materializes. Marcy moves to the side, but the blade still cuts into her shoulder

[Marceline Mori]

Taking the blow to her shoulder, Marceline spins around and tosses her blood whip behind her. She steps to the side, as her tendril sends the assassin flying back into the bar. Turning back around, she brings a heavy blow onto the top of the assassin covering him in sticky blood.

Afterwords, she runs towards Luc and says "Hey Luc, think you could patch a girl up? I just happen to be bleeding... everywhere... Like always..."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Wow! Real shadow magic! Isn't this awesome Cedric?"

[Author]

"No..." Cedric says gravely, "It most certainly is not."

[Author]

Luc runs into the room controlling a barrel of water, using it to heal Marcy's wounds. Kai runs over and kicks the assassin in the chest, then holds out his arm towards the door. "When I told you to get me something fancy," Kai says to Marcy with a smile, "This isn't quite what I had in mind."

"You know you can do something about this," Cedric says.
"Oh yeah!" Aurora responds, then proceeds to flip open her book, form the spell described upon it a send a torrent of withering frost down upon the Assassin.

"GET IN HERE!" the assassin yells, and six more assassins break in through various windows. The head assassin points at Aurora, and the three assassins closest to her leap over, though their attacks bounce pitifully off her scales. The other three assassins swarm Marcy, but Luke's water shunts their attacks, One is completely blocked, while the other two merely skim her side and shoulder. The head assassin slices Kai in the chest, then shadow-forms over to Marcy. Marcy stabs the head assassin, then whips the one behind her, forcing him to her and swapping places. Most of the bar patrons run, but three assault the assassins - one of whom is run through.

Suddenly, a great battle axe bursts through the window and flies into Kai's hands. It sparks to life with electricity, and Kai leaps over the bar and the group of assassins. He cleaves deep into the head assassin's back. Aurora throws a blast of fire into the cluster of assassins, and the head drops to his knees. Smoke pours out from his armor.

Axe:

Marcy runs off and Kai cleanly cuts apart two assassins, but the 4 other shadowform to flank her. Before they can strike, however, Luc creates a shroud of alcoholic mist around Marcy. The assassins manage to do little but shred her dress, as she process to slam three with her whip and swap places with another, shoving it into the center of its comrades.

Kai leaps onto the bar and swings his axe. The head comes off and spins like an electric razor-boomerang, cutting deep into the far Assassins back just ass Aurora's lightning bolt strikes the center assassin, shocking another two to death. The final assassin, clearly outmatched, leaps out the window.

"So, a cook who can heal and a bartender who can kick ass, I'll take it." Kai hops off the bar and sticking his axe into the ground. "And who has a fine ass, I might add," he says, taking in Marcy's largely exposed form.

[Luc Weiyn]

"She really does."
Luc steps down from the counter as well, directing his hand towards another barrel of ale. Whipping his hand towards himself, its contents force its way out of its spigot and snakes its way around Marceline. Mixing in with the blood layered on her body, the ale makes its way over her wounds, gradually mending them closed.
"Shame about you dress, though. Tell you what, if I let you borrow my shirt, promise not to get it ripped up too? Or bloody? I mean, I guess it's already, red, but..."

[Author]

The two remaining bar patrons mention something about "da police" and clear out.

"And of course, Aurora, I would expect nothing less from Aristotle's daughter. Well done. Very flashy, I respect that, fan of lightning myself."

"Would someone please tell me why highly trained assassins with shadow magic want you dead, miss?" Cedric asks, crawling out from under the table.

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy seems to dance beneath the swirling alcohol, though Luc has been with her long enough to know that this is just her way of trying to help the healing magic along.
"Thanks boys. I'd apologize about my indecency..."
Marcy  graciously accepts the shirt from Luc. She puts it on and buttons it up, just so that its enough to cover her chest but still leaves her lacking any actual pants.
"But it seems me and my ass have some fans."
Kneeling over, she fishes through the tattered remains of her old silken dress and retrieves the diamond from before, pocketing it in the breast pocket of Luc's shirt.
"I can't promise about your shirt though Luc. It seems that everybody wants me. Now, hopefully you boys don't mind but a girl needs her drinks"
She then walks over to the dead bar patron and bends over reaching towards his neck.

[Aurora the Dragon]

"That was amazing! Can we do that again some time?" Aurora asks, a sparkle in her eyes. She's taking notes in her journal and seems to be in a a state of complete happiness and excitement.

[Luc Weiyn]

"Hey, that's my favorite shirt we're talking about, you better take good care of it."
Luc furrows his brow at Marceline, then rolls his eyes with a chuckle. Thoug his back is bare without his shirt, he still has the cooking apron covering his chest. With Marcy taken care of, he begins walking back towards the kitchen.
"And uh, maybe it's just me, but I'm okay with avoiding assassin attacks for a few days. Holler if more of them show up, will you? I have a steak to cook."

[Author]

"Well, there was the one that got awa-"

Suddenly the cloak and armor of the escaped assassin flies back through the window he exited from. Hit armor falls  apart upon impact, revealing naught but ash underneath.

A moment later, a grappling hook flies through the window and hooks onto the rafters. Not so much a normal grappling hook, though, as a thick sickle on a long chain. A moment after that, a spotted, brown-furred panther woman with long, bead filled dread-locks, shorts and a brown leather tube-top follows the chain - the chain dissapearing into a handle as if reeling into a disproportionally large holding space. She lands gracefully, even a little show-y.

"Ever heard of front doors, Kalia?"

"You like to make a dramatic entrance," she says with a thick, eastern-European-like accent. "I do the same." Another grappling hook hangs from a belt around her waist.

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy doesn't even blink as the last assassins body flies through the window. She simply starts to unbutton the top of Luc's shirt until its clear from her throat, and then just a couple buttons lower for good measure.
He did say not to get it bloody

Marceline leans down further and opens her mouth wide. Her fangs extend out and she sinks into the neck of the dead patron. His lifeblood flows through the wounds opened in his neck and down her white fangs. Though the man is dead, his life still clings to his body for a few moments more. Long enough for Marcy to take several long drinks of his blood. Life, power and pleasure flow through Marceline. Muted, lacking the punch of still living blood, but still the essence of life itself. The essence of another life however, and in order to cling to her life, she must take from another. The moral quandary has never bothered her much before, and it still doesn't, but she'd be lying if she said that in the moments of gentle embrace she isn't aware of consequences of what she was doing. Or that some part of her own, still living body attempts to rebel against the taint of foreign blood coursing through her. Every feeding is an experience equal parts ecstasy and suffering, leaving her momentarily intoxicated afterwords.  

Marceline takes three long draws from the man, before his life slips away entirely and all that's left is the blood of the dead. She tries to stand up, but is weary from the fight and drunk off of another's life. She slips, and lands on one knee.
"SHIT!"
She rests on her ankles raises a hand to her forehead in order to rest for a moment. Looking down at herself, her upper jaw, throat and chest are soaked in the dead mans blood. A faint smile plays across her lips as she silently laughs.
Well look at me. Half naked and covered in blood, just like a typical tuesday.

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Oooh, I've never seen vampirism in action before. How absolutely disturbing, and yet very interesting. I'll have to take notes on this," Aurora says, still writing in her journal. "Hmmm, the way you are does not seem to suggest fully fledged vampirism. You're in the dhampir stage, are you not? Can't say I've read of many dhampir or vampire heroes in literature, but they crop up occasionally. Staying at the dhampir stage suggests that you may not want it to progress further. Perhaps it was not your choice? Oh! That's great for narrative. I love the stories where heroes are forced to accept something dark against their own will. Or maybe it was a choice, made in desperation for the power you needed. Not as cool as the first option but still interesting nonetheless. So where will your arc take you? Only time will tell. This is so exciting!"

[Author]

Kalia surveys the room with a raised eyebrow of curiosity, then tenses up as Marcy begins devouring the dead man. She gently places her left hand on her other weapon, but relaxes slightly as she glances at Kai, who has taken to amusedly watching the now improved view of Marcy's ass. Marcy gets up and turns around, and Kalia flinches at the sudden movement when Marcy drops onto her knee, but then she quickly relaxes and drops the hand off her weapon. Kai, on the other hand, rushes over and kneels by Marcy, putting his hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Hey, you alright?"

[Luc Weiyn]

"Everything okay out there?"
Shortly after Marcy yelps, Luc's head pops out of the doorway to the kitchen. After scanning the room, his eyes land on Kalia.
"Oh, hello there, welcome to the Rusty Dog. Sorry about the mess, we had some unruly patrons drop in."

[Author]

[Event order altered]

"Das how I describe him too," Kalia responds, giving Kai a playful smirk he doesn't see. She then stares blankly at Aurora as she rambles on. "I see the stories hold true," she muses, "Weird shit happens in Alex-" Before she can finish speaking, Charles walks in from the cellar carrying a bottle of wine with his tail. Silence, once again, falls upon the bar as everyone watches the black cat carry about twice its body weight in glass and alcohol.

[Marceline Mori]

As Aurora rambles on about her, all Marcy can think is Fuck girl, I'm not some wildlife experiment.
When Kai places her hand on his shoulder, Marcy just waves him away and mutters "I'm alright, just a little woozy." before getting up and walking over to the side of the bar. She presses her back against it and slides to the floor.
Seven... seven men... if it wasn't for the help of two random strangers and Luc I'd be dead.
When Charles walks into the room with the wine, Marcy lets out a visible sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god, they didn't get to my wine. My dress being torn up is sad, but if the wine was destroyed then, well, that would have been a real tragedy. Come here Charles, mama needs her booze."
As Charles nears her, she plucks the bottle from his tail with one hand while petting her kitty with the other. She uses her fangs to pop off the cork, then happily chugs some of the wine down. When the bottle leaves her mouth with a loud wet 'popping' sound she has another smile across her face, and says out happily "Hey Luc... we kinda fucked up this bar. Not that I usually play good girl, but we might want to help out the manager with fixing this. He was good to us, and I'd hate to leave him with this mess. Even if its just helping to pay for it."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"I've got you covered!" Aurora says with a smile on her face. She walks into the manager's office and hands him the smallest diamond she has. "Here sir. This might not help with the mental trauma, but it should certainly help ease the financial burden of fixing this place up and then some."

[Author]

After a long moment of stunned silence, Joshua bows to Aurora. "Your kindness is appreciated, miss."

Meanwhile, Kai, Kalia and Cedric are still staring at Charles.

"Why, how, can, I mean, I know I talk but..." Cedric stammers, "cat tails can't do that!"

[Marceline Mori]

"Bwaaaa, look at him! He is so adorable!" Marceline says in between swigs of wine. She places the bottle on the ground beside her and then starts to use both hands to pick up Charles. She points him towards the gathered audience as he hangs limply in her hands."Charles, meet Kai. He is going to be our new captain!" Marceline points out at Kai with Charles paws, just to get the idea across to him. "Hes the cute one with the poncy hair. He promised us some positions on his boat and everything! We will get to go adventuring again!" She quickly flips onto his back and starts to furiously rub away at his belly. "Whose the best little kitty in the world? You are! With your talented tail and everything."

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