[Nexus] The Black Dragon's Den XIV

[Deathkeeper]

You can practically see Anri's protocols re-engage when Violet says the P word. Once again she feels that awful amazing feeling of serving a customer and seeing their happy look.
"If there's a party of course I'm there. Of course though, I can't simply leave the one here. There's still people to be served, and I can't just go without consulting the host!" Anri looks up at the bartender, who promptly tells her to get lost. Anri sighs in relief.
"Gods get me out of here." she practically begs Violet.

[billtodamax]

Violet will happily lead Anri out of the BDD, laughing uproariously all the while. You better get used to the den, spiderrump. People party there all the time. If you're lucky they'll let you in on the knife fights. If Anri sticks with Violet she'll take her to Mallside to find a store that sells ice cream cake. Otherwise she'll pretend that she doesn't care that her new friend doesn't want to spend time with her.

[Deathkeeper]

The moment Anri exits the Den she finds every last one of her rules lifted and she can breathe.
"Sorry friend, but I don't think I want to go anywhere near the heart of Inside where there could be more p-those things I do. I need to go home. Like right now." she says, choosing to word things carefully while she's still within pushing-in distance of the front door, and immediately tries to scuttle away.

[Recaiden]

Jack tips away from the bottle, barely avoiding the hit. He follows this up by grabbing a stool and feinting to the side before swinging it down. Though, as per usual, Jack's face shows no emotion, one gets the feeling that he's enjoying this bar fight.

The guy lurches almost out of the way of the upended barstool, but it clips him and knocks the bottle from his hand.
It's almost certain to fly into some bystander and get them involved.
Then, with a growl, he tries to tackles Jack, arms wide so the scarecrow can't just tilt out of the way like he's been doing.

[billtodamax]

Oh, yeah, sure no. Don't wanna hang with me, whatever. Violet says. Why is she so upset? Who cares about this spiderrump bay that cursed her anyway? Hey well I'll probably see you around the bars huh? Can't stay away from a party for long. Even when she's trying to make overtures she can't help but be petty. She's gonna have to learn to fix that if she wants to make more friends, which is apparently important to her now.

[CosmicHobbit]

The guy lurches almost out of the way of the upended barstool, but it clips him and knocks the bottle from his hand.
It's almost certain to fly into some bystander and get them involved.
Then, with a growl, he tries to tackles Jack, arms wide so the scarecrow can't just tilt out of the way like he's been doing.

"****!" Jack gets tackled easily. His style of fighting is useful in a lot of situations, but being tackled isn't one of them. The second he stops moving he tries to headbutt the man, and his pumpkin head certainly isn't squishy.

[Recaiden]

"Do you suppose you're going to need my help, Jack?" Telue asks quietly.

The thug's head snaps back, nose bloodied. What the hell? Pumpkins are supposed to be squishy!
He flails at Jack's head with his fists, trying to shove him back down.

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack's head hits the ground multiple times in rapid succession, battered down by the fists, and a bit of pumpkin juice leaks out. His grin downturns, the first time his face has moved at all. "I got it!"

Now speaking to the man, he says, "Let's step it up then." He jerks up with the strength of a body builder, and if this frees either of his arms he follows this up with a quick blow to the side of the head. The guy may feel a tingling sensation in his body.

[Recaiden]

Can't he at least bleed like a normal person if he's not going to be pumpkin-squishy?

Jack knocks one arm away, and then smacks the guy off him, to the side, where he attempts to get back on his feet and kick the pumpkin-guy while he's down!

Telue takes Jack at his word and turns to talk to the barkeep.

[CosmicHobbit]

The enchantments on Jack may have prevented him from being squishy, but they didn't do much else other than that.

Jack gets kicked in the side, but it appears to have little effect on him. The downturned grin flips back up, and he maliciously says, "This'll hurt." Suddenly, unless the man lacks a soul, the tingling almost seems to snap, and if the man has any less than near superhuman constitution he will be paralyzed and in great pain.

[Recaiden]

The man seizes up and starts to fall, wondering what Jack did to him.
He's tough, but just the normal kind of tough.

I'm sure he'd cry out if he weren't so paralyzed.

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack gets to his feet, and cracks his neck(?). Walking over to the man, he says, "Just remember, you brought this on yourself by giving my friend trouble." He follows this up by rapid kicking at the mans rib cage. Not honorable at all, and more than a little cruel.

[Recaiden]

Scarecrows are known for their stiff necks, aren't they?

With no way to resist, the thug just lies on the ground and gets battered. A rib cracks.
Somebody at another table cheers for Jack.

[CosmicHobbit]

After this battering, Jack crouches down next to the man. "Now, if you're going to be nice and not give me or my buddy trouble, then blink twice, this fight'll be done, and I'll give you some money to cover your injuries. Deal?"

[Recaiden]

The guy takes a moment of just lying there.
's this some kind of trick?
But then he blinks two extra times right in a row.

[CosmicHobbit]

Reaching into a bag at his side, Jack fishes out 20 or so golden coins and throws them next to the guy. "Thanks for keepin' me on my toes after so much time not using my skills." Then, he snaps his fingers, and the pain and paralysis instantly disappears. He extends a hand to help the guy up.

[Recaiden]

Freaked out by Jack, the guy doesn't take his hand, just scrambles to his hands-and-knees, scrapes up the coins, and stumbles out of the bar.

"I hope he doesn't lead to more trouble in the future. But you were quite impressive there."

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack snorts. "If he causes trouble after that, then he's dumber than he looks. Thanks for the compliment." He sits back down at the bar, and twists to the side a little bit. "I completely underestimated how much that would take. I really did get rusty in retirement."

[Recaiden]

"Maybe so, but he'll have friends."
Telue doesn't say anything about her own skills, being rusty, or getting left out of the fight. Fighting is bad and it's good that she was able to avoid it.
"Have you been retired long then?"

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack lets out a sigh of air, thinking. "Maybe..." he starts. "Sixty years? My money from my job let me stick around that long, but even that much money runs out."

[Recaiden]

Telue is a little surprised by that, but only barely shows it.
"Quite a bit then. I congratulate you. People, often, have trouble with retirement."
"Faster than that, anyway. Do I unerstand that now you're in need of a job once again?"

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack nods. "Yeah. As it would turn out, one problem with living forever is that you can never get an amount of money that will provide for you all your life." He almost seems to arch an eyebrow, though of course he doesn't have eyebrows. "Why, did you want to know what my services were?"

[Recaiden]

He could have eyebrows cut into his pumpkin face. Maybe he should add some himself. It would certainly help with expressiveness.
"Only if one has no opportunity to make even modest investments, I should say."
Telue shakes her head.
"If that was your sort of service, hopefully I shall have no need for it. It's merely a topic of conversation."

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack's considered that once or twice. He always got hung up on whether it was even a good idea to have more expressiveness. His current set-up certainly helps with matters where he needs a poker face.

"I do all sorts of things. That, of course, but also body guarding, escorts, that kind of thing."

[Recaiden]

Well, he's got a face already. May as well go all the way?

Telue smiles slightly.
"Sadly for your finances, I am not the sort of person that would know what to do with a bodyguard."

[CosmicHobbit]

True. Jack may begin considering this.

Jack swears under his breath. "Would you happen to know anyone who would?"

[Recaiden]

"I am only a temporary visitor in these lands, but I might suggest you look to the local mercenary companies and lawless frontiers. Surely Skyside's upper crust are in need of quality bodyguards."
Telue almost shrugs. She's just guessing at who might be in need of such services.

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack sneers. Apparently he's dropped his constantly grinning face. Who knows why he had it in the first place. "Never wanted to be part of an organization, though I guess they could help...you said you're only a visitor?"

[Recaiden]

"That's right. I'm here to visit my great-grandchildren."
Telue smiles in a sort of apologetic way.
"It's proving a little difficult. I could swear the maps of this place change when I'm not looking at them."

[CosmicHobbit]

Jack laughs. "Yeah, the Nexus in general tends to shift randomly. You can usually get to where you want to go by simply not thinking too hard. Worst comes to worst, you might have to buy a magic map."