Madness? this is pirate politics! (Open)

[Anonymous]

Amelia pushed herself away from the bar. Her head was swimming, violently almost. Weaving through the...history? Pirate history? She brought her hand to her head and turned around in her seat. The patrons weren't there anymore, it was swirling green, yellow and blue. She swallowed once. She looked down at herself seeing the light illuminating her in a new and different way.

She pushed herself up off her seat, her fingers gently pushing it out from under her as she rose to her feet. She ignored Flinty as he spoke completely uninterested. Her mind was rushing forward, faster and faster into the nebula. Swinging around into planets and out then into stations. She wondered if she would get sick. She felt sure footed however. She felt her hands tingling more her body craving this ride.

Her foot took a step forward as she landed on a planet. One she didn't recognize. She swallowed again. It was dark sort of ominous. Then she was moving fast again. The world blurring around her. She tightened her hands into fists trying to hold onto it as it rushed past. Then...oh then...

"My God." She whispered, barely above the sound of a breath.

Shiny. Lots...of shiny.

She took another step forward and knelt down her hand reaching out. It slid into what felt like cold slippery coins. An amazingly bright gold. She sucked in a breath and tightened her hand around it. She smiled feeling like she'd won the world. Now how to get back she wasn't sure.

Then the floor felt like it was quaking. She breathed harder as it flew under her feet while she stood still. The bar was starting to appear out of the corners of her eyes. The bright colors of space against the dark fading into nothing but sweaty, drunk, and mostly ugly bar patrons. She growled her pupils going wide as she looked over her shoulder at Flinty.

She stopped suddenly as she realized she had run into someone.

Oh lovely. Maybe I'll get to knock someone...

She lifted her eyes to look at the other man. She realized how close she was and took a step back.

"Pardons sir. I was...shall we say very inebriated. Damn drink." She flicked her tail at Flinty with annoyance. What a dirty trick to play.

[Anonymous]

John had spent no more then a half a minute before something odd did indeed happen to him. Well, it was not as much odd as it was somewhat surprising. Someone had bumped into him. Unexpectedly, as he turned and expected to see a large, imposing and very drunk angry bar patron wanting to start a fight, he saw something very different:

An average height female feline humanoid, perhaps no more then five-six, with brown hair (with red streaks) had bumped into him. At first, she looked extremely drunk, almost to the point where John considered getting ready to catch her if she fell over. However, it was fortunate that she did not. However, she did get very, very close to him, probably no more then a foot away.

She was kinda pretty to Valmont, in a somewhat exotic way. He was not aware of it, but the look on his face would probably give it away pretty quickly, since he was not accustomed to dealing with women standing so close to him. Such was the nature of being a virgin like he.

"Pardons sir. I was...shall we say very inebriated. Damn drink."

"I-its fine, don't sweat it....uh....You sure your okay?" he said, looking over at the lizard-like man she indicated with a flick of her tail. "that guy looks like the kinda guy who spiked it with something". John had no idea what exactly the woman had drank, nor the circumstances of what had happened between the two. He had made a somewhat daring assumption about the lizard man that might have gotten him into trouble.

"Could I get a cup of coffee?" he asked the bartender, who promptly followed the request. Several chuckles came from a rather overweight man sitting next to him, who promptly stood up and walked away when John shot him a look that could have awoken the dead.

When the coffee finally came, he offered it to the feline woman.

"Here, try this. should make ya feel a little better." he said, looking into the woman's green eyes with his own eyes, which were, oddly enough, two opposite colors upon closer inspection: Johns right eye was green, but his left was red. An unusual and rare trait.

He also kept a close watch on the lizard man with his peripheral vision, not knowing what he might do next. John hoped that the guy would not be upset by his actions, because that might cause a problem, like a fight. And John did not feel like wasting what little nullstate he had recovering from a fight, not until he got more of the drug. Nullstate did, after all, keep him sane. Which meant running out would be a very bad thing.

((OOC: that okay? or do you need me to change anything?))

[Anonymous]

"Aye the drink is spiked but the lass knew." Cursing his luck, the lass had turned away at just the wrong moment, his hand residing where she had been seconds ago still lingering there with these burning emotion's that intensified in magnitude thanks to the alcoholic shot.

No thrill without a chase, already sacrificed a decent gall for her there was no intention left within his body to let her go, letting his mechanical arm drop back onto the bar counter while eyeing this new intruder onto their conversation.

It would seem as the drink he had just downed did not affect commodore Flint, four eyes lighting up the grey dinosaur's face.

A stranger by all accounts and of unknown Powers, especially the eyes made one wary. Flint had fought naturally born mages before, they always had weird trait's like that. "All the stimulant in the world won't werk, yer jest is futile lad." As Billy25 served the oddball his coffee, now was the time all Amelia had to do was drink.

Then the Moon as complex as it was, would escalate things further. Grinning expectantly the captain simply waited. She would return to his fold by her own doing. Aided by a stranger who knew nothing.

[Anonymous]

Elsewhere, about fifteen minutes prior to these events, the docking of a passenger Carrier brings another organized herd of citizens, all arrived at the station for needs and reasons known only to themselves. Amid this traversing mass, a single man makes no attempt to be bogged down by the herd; instead, he beat a solid path forwards through them. When they departed from the crowd, and were intermingled with the general populace, Halo went to basics.

[center:8gbyebo4]<...Gotta meet up with Hack..>[/center:8gbyebo4]

Hand was quickly relocated to the inside pocket of his black trench. It returned with a cigarette, placed promptly into hi mouth, and lit not very long afterwards. The smoke trail behind him in a semi-tangible cloud, as he turn the corner.

It only took six or so minutes to find Moe and get his things. This guy was an A-1 smuggler. Halo had no idea how he did it, but, was glad he had his number. The meeting dissolved in seconds; no reason to hang around for people to remember him. He wasn't gonna be that well liked around here; he was the closest thing to a cop, around here. But worse. A bounty hunter.

Departing from Moe's 'office' with the twins, and Macbeth snuggly and expertly concealed, he now heads directly for the information cache men like him took to heart. Otherwise known as a Bar. Entering sometime before the misunstanding occurred, he made no contact with any of the involved party, and actually was not near them, until only a few moments ago; to blend in, he would usually buy a drink or two. Yet, on this night, his side trip to the bar gave him an over-the-shoulder view of the preceedings.

Brow furrowed in confusion as the other man came to the woman's side. Hm. Where was the popcorn? The show was about to start... "...Hm."

[Anonymous]

Amelia couldn't help but smile as the stranger helped her. He must have been one of those guys that viewed a lady always as a damsel in distress. She still felt wobbly though. Her legs felt like they were somewhere else and she was floating. When he held out the cup of coffee to her she took it gratefully. It was felt warm in her hand, which only caused the tingles to move further up her fingers.

"Thanks..." His eyes were...interesting. She tilted her head at him, one of her cat ears turning slightly, till Flinty spoke. She turned around shaking her head at him.

"I didn't know what the fuck that was when I drank it. I thought it was all part of your damn story." She shook her head though laughing towards the end. She couldn't be a bad sport. It had been interesting after all, an adventure which was really all she could ask for out of a night.

"Don't worry though, I'm alright now...mostly." The coffee felt good in her hands but she wasn't sure she could stomach it right after that. The only effect would probably be to keep her up longer while she was this drunk. The room still felt weird. She kept thinking she was seeing things out of the corner of her eye, but nothing seemed to be there when she actually looked that direction.

She turned back to the new guy and smiled nicely, leaning close to him.

"I'm Amelia. You're quite the white knight. What's your name?" She saw Flinty out of the corner of her eye. She almost felt like putting a show on for him, making him jealous since he was paying her so much attention. She cast a look over her shoulder to him for a moment.

"And we should find a table."

[Anonymous]

"Alright now."  Flint copied kittens word's, angrily getting back up on his seat. Pretending to give up on his treasure. Simply content with eyeing her from the side's. " Didn'T get ta finish mah damn story even, " Hissing with dinosaur agony, up for anyone ta fight right then and there but it would calm. With age came experience, these damsel in distress kinda guys never performed well in the long run.

He was already past his age, but not past his prime. It was the drink that made kitten misbehave, yes. Not quite ready for the full effect of The Moon but the coffee ought ta set 'er right. Already imagining how the caffeine would jump start the side effects, increasing her neural activities and make her ponder upon the existence of life, her values and in the face of universe itself face a viritual datastream of Captain Bones.

Giggling at that thought, Flinty still eyeing his presumed treasure, he did not understand why she'd cling to some random bloke. Discharging his weapons here would mean no pirate meeting, breaking out a fight would mean risking what should not be risked. Finally able to look away, as if he had lost interest in her.

Any other day Flint would have knocked this greenhorn out cold, today was special.

[Anonymous]

"Thanks..." the feline woman said, gazing into his eyes with a rather apparent curiosity, her head tilting and one or her ears turning slightly. While some people may have taken such an action with a grain of salt, as if the person was somehow looking at them like a freak, John was one of the few people that simply did not care.

That, and for some odd reason, he found the slight head tilt and the way the woman looked at him to be incredibly...cute. Something about that look just made him grin somewhat on the outside, and smile deep down on the inside. John then watched the exchange between his friend and

"Don't worry though, I'm alright now...mostly."

the young woman turned back to John, and seemed to lean closer to him. The young man felt his heart beat a little faster, as he once again had a woman in rather close proximity to him. Not that it was a bad thing, he simply was not used to it.

"I'm Amelia. You're quite the white knight. What's your name?" she asked. John waited a moment before responding, as he noticed her attention was focused slightly on the lizard man at the corner of her eye. "And we should find a table."

"Amelia." John said, repeating the name to himself, mostly as a reminder and as a courtesy to the lady that stood before him. "Pretty name for a pretty lady. Call me John, an average name for an odd guy." John stated the first part of the statement (about her) in a rather sincere tone, and the second part in a jovial, lighthearted tone. Both parts were said with a smile.

He was in luck that there was a square table rather close to them that was open: a large table, meant for four or more, but It would suit their purposes rather well. He indicated the table to Ameila, then proceeded to stand up (the sword on the back of his belt becoming rather visible in the process) and move to it. He picked two seats, across from each other, and courteously pulled the closer chair out for Amelia before moving around the table to the opposite side, and sitting down.

For being an inexperienced man in the ways of women, he was taking a rather thoughtful approach (in his opinion) to the situation. He did not want to force Amelia to sit next to him, lest he make her uncomfortable. He would let her gauge what distance she would be comfortable with, and simply give her the option of being as close or as far as she wanted.

That, and having her so close to him was giving John a rather...male physical reaction to the situation, which made him a bit more nervous then he would have liked.

[Anonymous]

Amelia grinned as John complimented her.

"Why, thank you John. That's surprising you certainly don't seem a John." She smiled at him as he pulled a chair out for her and walked around. She let the corner of her mouth turn up. How sweet. After a while she may get a cavity. Then she saw the sword on his back, her eyes went wide then narrowed quickly. How interesting, that was the opposite of what she would expect him to have on his belt. Maybe he wasn't so sweet after all. Which just made him all the more intriguing.

She looked back at Flinty before sitting down. He looked so put out. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she looked at John then waved Flinty over, as she leaned across the table to talk to John.

"It was a pretty good story." She smiled holding her coffee still feeling drunk. She wasn't sure she should even drink it. The hot and cold, the coffee and fruit juice in her stomach. it might have a very unwelcome result. "He's not all bad, just met him tonight too. I'm meeting all sorts of interesting people." She looked at John as she spoke behind her hand towards him. She looked him over when she said sorts an evil little smile on her face.

[Anonymous]

This woman was playing a dangerous game, in addition to take off with the first and probably finest choice of man. Just the clothes and average motion suggested that this greenhorn was just as inexperienced with women as a space slug. It was sickening and Flint would have nothing of it but on the other hand.

Having time to spare, perhaps he could flank the greenhorn in matters of love and space. Recruit both and make out with his price before the meeting started. Either pursue the treasure instantly, no that would be bad. Make him seem desperate and he wasn't about to seem desperate.

A minute past the thought he moved in for the flanking, The side effects of Moon made him move more fluently now that every muscle in his body were pulsating with a relaxed attitude. He had drunk it far too often to get affected by most of the illusionary perks it held. Sitting down next to Valmont so they would not feel intruded upon, very often he’d make the mistake of sitting down next to the girl and end up doing something and then a fight would break out.
But that was a very long time ago. “’Tis peculiar situation reminds me of something.” Flint said, breaking a steadily growing silence as a rather recognisable waitress came down with 3 pint’s.

His right hand stretched out to greet this strapping young man, all eyes fixated upon the act and man in question. Before moving forward with his plan it was important to establish ground rules. “Me name be Flint, Captain of The Something. You’ve probably seen it. The grey hulking thing within the public dock that looks like it has been trough hell and back.”

A trick he had learned from his earlier days, if you simply said your name he would say his and leave anything outside that up in the greys. But if you say more than simply the name, He would feel inclined to offer up more information.

[Anonymous]

And, suddenly, it got interesting. Watching from the perfect hideout known as peripheral vision, Halo watched this woman, skating on ice in roller blades, attempt via fortune, or misfortune, to balance both men, all while dangling herself 'tween them. The wolf sipped, and let his ears roam...

...He must be old. The dinosaur-like being. He stunk of it. Life. And all its dog-piled sins and funks. One's like him, that reeked of an impure, and possibly, unhygienic life, a long one, were the worst. Bad enough to make him wish he didn't have that ability. Tilting the glass about, a small typhoon formed in the liquid. This was boring. But, it was important to keep a low-profile, until Hack got here... He knew this, but... that one.. 'Dino'... as Halo had renamed him... gave him an uneasy feeling.

He kept his ear open for that one... And, who was this kid with them?

[Anonymous]

"He's not all bad, just met him tonight too. I'm meeting all sorts of interesting people." Amelia said as she waved over the lizard man. John felt an unusual shiver down his spine as she seemed to get a sly smile on his face.

Had he fallen for a trap of some sort? he was beginning to wonder. He had never had particularly good luck with pretty girls, as they always seemed to just want him to do some kind of dirty fighting work or something. Yeah, he liked fighting, but he just wished for once that being a nice guy would get him a happy ending for a night with a nice girl. More and more it was looking like he was about to have a bad night, though how that would be the case he did not know.

“’Tis peculiar situation reminds me of something.” the lizard man said, sitting down next to John. as he did, a rather attractive waitress came up and set down three pints. John was honestly more distracted with the waitress then the drink or the man: being the awkward, young man he was, he seemed to be eying her with a stare often seen by easily smitten young men. Yet John snapped back to attention when the time was right, as the man introduced himself.

“Me name be Flint, Captain of The Something. You’ve probably seen it. The grey hulking thing within the public dock that looks like it has been trough hell and back.”

John reached out his hand and shook Flint's. So this guy was Flint...John had heard rumors about a very famous prate captain by that name. Crazy, but skilled and strong like no other normal being, and quite an able ship captain as well. He assumed that this tall, rather strong-looking figure was that man. Well, the man had gone out of his way to Introduce himself in detail, so John figured he might as well follow suit to be polite.

"I'm John. John Valmont. Drifter/Swordsman/Mercenary for hire. I don't quite have such a reputation as you, but I think my name tends to get around a bit more then most" John responded, a rather arrogant smile crossing his face.

"Yeah, but your also a wuss who cant hold his liquor." another patron at a table behind him said. The man was rather unremarkable, with the exception of the fact that he was wearing an eyepatch. A mechanical eye sat on the table in front of the rather foul-mouthed patron, suggesting that was one of his.

Which gave John a nasty little idea to relieve some stress.

A second later, John stepped back twoard the table behind, and a blur of motion was all that could be seen of John's right arm as he quickly snatched up the mechanical eye on the table. holding It up for his "friends" at the table to see. a number of the patrons watched as John enclosed the mechanical eye in his fist...

And their eyes widened as a dark aura surrounded John's hand, the sound of crushing and melting metal muffled by his tightened fist. When John opened his hand, a few molten drops metal were all that remained of the once extremely durable mechanical eye. John's gloved hand, despite having held the molten and sharp metal fragments, remained completely unharmed. "Ill do your other eye next, if you like." John hissed to the patron, who looked rather shocked and even a bit afraid. Several of the other onlookers mimicked the man as well, turning away and going back to minding their business.

"Sorry, I needed to get that out of my system." He said, turning back to Ameila and Flint. "I have to deal with guys like him sometimes, which makes my...abilities rather handy." he said, referring to the rather mysterious dark-type ability he had just used. However, the details of his ability he would keep to himself. He hoped the demonstration would be enough to impress his newfound "friends", to compensate for the fact that the little stunt might have used up some of the nullstate in his system...

If they were indeed friends, and not foes in disguise.

[Anonymous]

Amelia grinned as the boy introduced themselves, showing off in front of her. It was interesting to watch how the right combination of men and atmosphere always changed when a female was added to the mix. It always made for rather explosive...reactio ns. Men constantly had the need to measure each other and compare in front of a woman, always bringing the other man down.

She heard one of the drunk men at the bar talk quietly about John, who must have heard it as well. She was about to get up to stop the fight when John grabbed the man's mechanical eye. She stood up watching in case John needed someone else to help in. Her jaw dropped when the dark aura surrounded his hand. That was....different. She swallowed hard and started to get nervous.

Whenever magic got involved in any risky situation it only got more dangerous. She sat back down and was rubbing her temples looking for Flinty's reaction out of the corner of her eye. When John turned around she resumed her smile.

"I hate hecklers. They are so useless." She smiled leaning across the table patting his shoulder. Her other hand was back around her cup.

[Anonymous]

«Sortened version of Jonathan, Maybe Jonsey eh?» Rubbing his cheek with the free mechanical arm, gently caressing the cheek's and moving down towards a more wizened yet sharp chin. Flint's four eyes always looking and observing yet not betraying the intent of good sport he had by giggling childishly like an old man stubbornly refusing to conform to new humor. Their hands clasped in a firm handshake like mutual friends perhaps, not too squeezing as rivals often would have resorted too. His being the lighter one and setting the mood for further conversation.  «Your not much of a fan for nicknames like that Aai recon but that's how yer name gets round ta me.»

There was arrogance within the boy, aye and a temper too. Probably part Flinty's fault for changing the atmosphere and introducing himself like that. Flint had taken a backseat to the whole display. Observing carefully and noting the darkness of this man's ability. Like a master craftsman observing his child play with a set of older yet just as good tools as his new high tech set. And he was not too pleased.

«Surely, there must have existed better ways than violence to solve a situation like that? A way that was not so violent?» Arching what seemed to be eyebrows, his mechanical arm scratching the sharp end of the chin while the other rested itself around the familiar grasp of beer.

«For example.» The old captains voice grew harsher, gathering the cold abyss of truth's and experiences within his tart, taking the clump of metal left and then almost magically holding up a new one to the bystander. «Ya never know when someone might take advantage of yer aggression, butter up yer adversaries with new tech and then send everythin ta settle their score's with ye?»

Then the eye he held up was revealed to be but a hologram surrounding the metal cube. Gently projected by his metal hand. His look mirroring the man he had presented the eye to  like a newborn kitten his large eyes portraying a rather soppy amount of sadness and begging at the same time.

 «Unfortunately ai can't preduce eyes out ther the thin air, youd have ta do with a drink and live for the good of the experience, savvy?» Then he laughed again, a fickle and deep rumble before settling down with a pint. «aaaand toast fer that"

[Anonymous]

And, now a blatant display of a power that didn't need to be so blatantly displayed. This kid would suck at poker; showing his hand before the game was over. Halo sighed; the four-eyed guy reaked of his intentions. No, Halo couldn't smell thoughts. Rather, to anyone with experience, which the younger man had yet to collect, it was obvious the saurain was feeling him out; trying to see what he could garnish about the lad before making his move. And, what was his motivation?

She was sitting right besides him.

Halo wasn't on a bounty; it was just a smart move not to draw too much attention to himself, seeing as it was more than likely he hauled a few of the patrons homies off to face justice... or something like it. Still, with Hack taking his sweet time in getting here, his conscience was kicking him. Someone had to let the boy know he was showing his ass, and the Dino-dude was more than willing to be the boot.

In a little while, a young woman made her way to their table, as was her job, and set a drink down on it. Not a whole bottle; just one single drink. It as for 'Valmont'. Per the instructions she was given, she'd inform Val it was from the man at the bar, who hadn't bothered to turn on his stool; a glance his way would show his back was to him. However, there was another part of his instructions.

She leaned in, placing a gentle kiss to his cheek; no, this wasn't because she liked him. It was to enable her to gain proximity to him, where in she would whisper a set of words from Halo to him. 'the man at the bar would like a moment of your time...' Of course, he could refuse...

Shortly after, she smiled and left them, getting back to her rounds.

[Anonymous]

"Unfortunately ai can't preduce eyes out ther the thin air, youd have ta do with a drink and live for the good of the experience, savvy?"

Valmont was about to respond when a young, blonde waitress came and set a drink down in front of him. her natrual beauty distracting him, causing him to lose his train of thought. Then she pecked him on on the cheek rather casually, grabbing his attention to the message she was going to whisper in his ear.

'the man at the bar would like a moment of your time...' she stated. Valmont looked over, and saw the indicated individual...he looked pretty tough. John wondered if he was some kind of bounty hunter of some sort. Certainly, his reputation had not warranted a bounty placed on his head by someone yet?

"Excuse me..." he said, smiling at his two companions "I gotta go take care of something, guess someone has something to say to me." Valmont stated, a slightly sly tone in his voice. John quietly turned and made his way to the bar, next to the individual who apparently wanted a moment of his time. Sitting down, his chair spun so his back was leaning against the bar. he looked out of the corner of his eye at the man, wearing a rather smug grin.

"So...guess I got some negative attention. Any particular reason you wanted to get my attention so bad?"

((OOC sorry it took me so long to post, I acctually forgot for awhile XD if you want me to edit, lemme know and I can fix this post. thanks for your patience))

[Anonymous]

Amelia watched the Flinty with interest as he handed the eye back to the other man. She didn't really get it. Pirates weren't normally the giving sort. Perhaps it was just to point out he felt that John had handled it badly. So showy, both of them were. She grinned despite herself. She liked when a situation had tension and danger, made the whole thing much more interestin'.

She was leaning to talk to John when a waitress came over to him kissing his cheek and handing him a drink. Amelia arched a brow, not wanting to look jealous really, just wanting to say it was rude. John was standing up however and hand an odd tone to his voice. Amelia smirked, he was easily distracted. She'd have to remember that.

Her eyes went over following him and looking towards who was supposed to be waiting for him. Interesting...the man had a tough look to him, like he shouldn't be fooled with. Amelia's eyes narrowed. What had John done to really point himself out to the man? Was he law...in as much as it existed on Cancer. Or was he something else? She turned to Flinty.

"Looks like we're by our lonesome again." She smirked at him. "That guys looks a bit rough and tumble don't ya think?"

[Anonymous]

Flint's eyes shimmered with a slight hint of fury, like a firecracker with an extra long and patient fuse. Rubbing his chin rather annoyed with all these constant distractions although life itself were to him a series of distractions. Here he was trying to do a bit of flirting to the sides getting interrupted left and right but the problem, had vanished before he had gotten the chance to take care of it himself.

He did not like strangers nabbing prey he had started stalking right in front of his nose as little as he liked loosing in any game or competitive treasure hunt. He took a big whiff of the scent pervading the room, searching out the man that had called Valmont out.

Probing the edges of his senses, bolstered with the side effects of his shot o'moon it was easy to distinguish hound from man and cheap booze. Using his experience and vast analytical knowledge that he often employed to evaluate people it was not long before he delved into things had even his mind fooled.

" 'tis most unfortunate fer your darling knight in shiny armor. On top of being overly curious like a newborn kitten, he is way too blunt and unrefined fer his own good. Ta man who called him over spells truble with giant letters and even some exclamation marks at the sides." Sighing at the thought of some worst chase scenario but that was highly unlikely unless Valmont did something stupid.

Not many bounty hunters or assassins called out their prey so maybe they were lucky and could slide under this man's radar.
 
"Most likely a bounty hunter or some kind of highly trained merc, even assassin comes to mind. As fumbled as my mind can be and counting my experience with this kind of people, hard to be certain "

[Anonymous]

Hm, despite his attempt at inconspicousness, Halo managed to arise attention from the few more discerning beings about. Which could be a good thing. It may actually deter a fight or two, him being there. To referee. He kept his back even as he heard and smelled the approach of the younger kid, this....dark-power tossing kat. Dude needed to learn some finesse. For now, Halo wasn't too be his teacher. Just wanted to ask him something.

"....You got it cuz ya went after it..." Came the rebuttal to John's inital statement about the quality of the attention he had on him so far. "Show off in a room full of cutthroats and thieves. Prolly tossed yer advantage right outta the window..." That last portion uttered mostly to himself, than to Val. The Lycan half-reflected on his own follies of the past; thankfully, he always was a quick-healer. Something that made up for bad decisions. Did this kid have such a trait?

But, any way, Halo didn't drag him over to the bar to scold him. Still, to do this, he had to get a tiny bit personal with a stranger. "Hey, this ain't gonna sound easy, but... was just wondering about that display back there... You a Mage, or somethin'? Now, I ain't got no thing with Mages; but, these days, pays to keep stuff like that to ones-own, capice? Now, about that gal yer with...and Dino; do ya know them? Cuz, he seems too like her...and she seems too like that you seem to like her... and, I'm sayin', back in my day, we called that a Cock-fight..."

He sipped his drink, eyes cut away from Valmont for a moment to eye the door, and the table he was at in passing. He noticed their attentions on him, as he returned to John. "Anyway, what's yer name, Kid?"

[Anonymous]

"....You got it cuz ya went after it...Show off in a room full of cutthroats nd thieves. Prolly tossed yer advantage right outta the window...Hey, this ain't gonna sound easy, but... was just wondering about that display back there... You a Mage, or somethin'? Now, I ain't got no thing with Mages; but, these days, pays to keep stuff like that to ones-own, capice? Now, about that gal yer with...and Dino; do ya know them? Cuz, he seems too like her...and she seems too like that you seem to like her... and, I'm sayin', back in my day, we called that a Cock-fight...Anyway, what's yer name, Kid?"

Valmont simply waited for him to finish before responding.

"I gave up nothing. compared to almost every other occupant in this entire station, I have power beyond what they possibly could understand. Also, I'm not a mage. I'm a warrior. Living hiding my power would be a waste." Valmont boasted.

He paused, and his somewhat arrogant tone switched to a more serious, business-like one.

"As for that "gal", her name is Amelia, and who and what she chooses to do with her time is her choice: I dislike treating women like objects with limited free will..." Valmont said, making a bit of an assumption about his new acquaintance and his treatment of women.

Valmont turned, and looked at the mercenary through the corner of his red eye.

"As for may name, call me Valmont."

[Anonymous]

Amelia scoffed loudly at Flinty when he said the part about a knight in shining armor. Amelia wasn't one of those girls who needed, or even wanted a man who'd save her. She was damn sure she didn't need some man with huge morals to save her. She liked more interesting men, with a dark side. It was her curse.

"I'm not too interested in men in armor, too difficult to take off." She eyed the man next to Valmont while they spoke. "And it's always too heavy with random baggage." The coffee wasn't warming her hands anymore so she stopped and took a deep sip of the bitter liquid. She shivered slightly as it snaked its warm way down her throat.