Paint the Town (IC)

[Blue Rose]

When Sam gets to the bouncer, she presents her hand right where it needs to be before presenting her ID. When he tries to grab at her wrist, she offers a glare, and gets the point, drawing the X without any undue manhandling, then moving on to the next guest. She's understandably picky when it comes to how random strangers grab her.

She surveys the club, nodding, not even noticing it's in time with the music. This'll do. She looks to the drinks, feeling a bit thirsty, but she can take care of that any time. Instead, she darts past the other girls who she let creep ahead of her, taking Tona by the wrist. "Let's dance," she decrees rather than requests, dragging her towards the dance floor, as much to get a rise out of her as to actually dance.

[Raveled]

Tona felt a momentary panic when Sam pulled her away from the group and onto the dance floor, but she quelled it and forced herself to relax. This is what she had come out here for, after all, no use worrying about how odd the surroundings were -- time to throw herself into it!

So that's exactly what she did. Tona didn't really know how to dance -- archery and survival skills were considered much important in the Terminus -- but she was young and athletic, and the music had a heavy bass line that wasn't hard to follow. Before long she was swinging and wriggling in tune to the beat, letting the music fill her up. Her piercings caught the light and twinkled light stars around her head, as she let herself be carried off by the rhythm.

[Blue Rose]

Now there's a surprise. Tona reacting almost like a normal human. No need for dance lessons, even. That brings a smile to Sam's face. And a spring to her step, as she joins in, letting rhythm and instinct decide how she moves.

Her dancing revolves around her footwork, which those with martial training may recognize for its place on the job. Her moves are light, fast, and silent, some the kind for dodging a punch and others the kind for gliding between shadows. Her moves are as slippery as an eel as Tona finds her friend drifting behind her, or weaving through the crowd. She probably should be worried when the job starts leaking into her off time like this, but she's having fun, and she's spent most of her life in a job she loves anyways.

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst they took to the dance floor Blodeuwedd took the more prosaic route. After getting everyone there requested drinks she found a table with the best view of the entrances and exits. She then took a seat to watch her friends dance.

Despite her quiet demeanor she was enjoying herself. Her general idea of fun was quiet contemplation or a good book. But she was happy to just sit there and watch her friends having fun, someone needed to be the sensible one and keep an eye out for trouble. And she was more than happy to take on the task.

[Thunder King]

Mali walked behind the girls and, noticing Cerys with the drinks, made her way towards her and sat down. She leaned back a bit in her seat and turned towards the other girl.

"If Tona's not careful, she might end up having fun." She said with a grin as she watched them. She was also keeping an eye out for any trouble, watching the crowd carefully. If anyone got grabby, she assumed Tona could handle it, but she wanted to be there to help in case something started.

Trouble was unlikely, but Mali was no fool. She was also a bit worried that someone might approach Tona in the wrong way, or Tona might need to be pulled out of the crowd, or any number of things.

She wasn't really worried about all of that, of course. So she smiled and nodded her head to the music as she sipped her drink. Just because she was having fun didn't mean she shouldn't do her best to be alert.

[Raveled]

Tona was having fun, rocking and writhing, lost in her own world of rhythm and motion. She started moving away from Sam on the dance floor, space opening up between them and quickly being filled in by other warm bodies. The music wound down abruptly and group of twenty-somethings climbed onto the stage, taking up the instruments leaning up there. The dancers on the floor applauded the group as they warmed up, but Tona was lost for a moment as the music died and different noise took its place. She froze and looked around, fear and adrenaline making her heart beat. At moments like this, being so much shorter than everyone else was a real hazard.

She caught a glimpse of Mali and Cerys sitting around a table, but it was obscured when a broad-shouldered man in a too-big suit stepped in front of her. "Hey there baby," he said. "How about we have a dance?" Tona looked around, but a pair of rat-faced men in matching suits a a truly huge individual in a muscle shirt were blocking her exits. She tried to dart past Suit and the Twins, but he was moving almost before she was. He caught her with a straight arm and pushed her back into the big guy; she stumbled and almost fell. "What, can't even say hello?"

Tona pressed her lips together, resisting the urge to break the guy's arm. "I don't want to dance with you," she said. "I want to get back to my friends." She tried to get out of the big man's grip, but his huge hands were like vices and she could barely move them.

"Well that's too bad," Suit said. "'Cause I want to party. What do you say to that?"

Tona fixed him with her best glare. "I think you're about to make the biggest mistake of your night."

[Thunder King]

Mali couldn't hear what was going on, but she could clearly see that these guys were trouble. She glanced at Cerys and pointed at the large men surrounding their friend. She slammed the remainder of her drink and set the glass down on the table.

She balled up her fists and walked towards the men, her eyes like thunderstorms. Whether from anger or excitement, her face had an edge to it. She was spoiling for a fight.

"I believe..." She said, stepping up to the large men. "That my friend said no." Despite their size, she gave no indication that she was afraid of them. Indeed, for a moment, she seemed larger than her five and a half foot tall frame suggested.

[Tiffany Korta]

On the lookout for trouble Blodeuwedd was only a step or two behind Mali as they reacted to the idiots harassing Tona. Quickly assessing the situation she decided on subtler methods rather than a straight up fight. It wasn't that she thought they could lose, quite the opposite, it was because she didn't want them to get thrown out of the club.

As they moved she subtle changed her clothing so that her dress was now black and she was now wearing a pair of boots. She'd wished they had the time to alter her makeup, but unfortunately they'd have to make do with what they had.

Arriving at the group she stepped right in front of the apparent leader.

"My friend said no. Now I suggest you leave or I'm going to..."

She then leant in a whispered into his ear exactly what she was going to do to him, in eye watering anatomically correct detail.

[Blue Rose]

Kit stops dancing when Ug, Tweedle Dee, and Tweedle Dum swing around. On the one hand, it would really do Tona some good to find some nice stranger to dance with. On the other, these thugs ain't nice. She's about to disarm the situation peacefully when Mali and Cerys come in, turning it into a scene. Ug getting grabby had already made people stop and look, and now the backup and Cerys looking like she's about to shiv the goon?

Well, if this can't be subtle, it can be humiliating. Her plan to make Ug feel bad and go about his business is scrapped, so it's time to make him wet his pants instead. She starts digging into his head and pushing down every barrier she can find that would keep him from finding Cerys to be the most horrifying thing he has ever encountered in his entire life. Which she may just be anyways.

[Raveled]

Suit turned and sneered at Mali. "Me and my friends are just having a bit of fun, Amazon. Why don't you go back to American Gladiators and stop bothering us?" The twins in the slick suits sniggered while the big man merely grinned, tightening his grip on Tona's arms. At least, until Sam started burrowing into his mind and tripped all those lovely little fear receptors. Suddenly his face went white as a sheet and he barreled through the twins, running for an emergency exit near the back -- towing Tona along with him!

"Casse-toi, idiot," she screamed at him, fighting to keep her footing between his long strides. "Lache-moi la grappe!"

[Raveled]

GM

The knot of young toughs lost no time in picking their own quarrels, now that Tona was being carried off. The twins grinned, and then blurred, covering the distance between themselves and their intended targets impossibly fast. One popped up in front of Cerys and gave her the full benefit of his yellowed grin. "Why don't you take a seat, babe," he said. "We'll get to you in a second." He swung at her, his fists moving faster than the eye could follow; his fists were mere blurs as he pummeled the ninja.

The other greasy speedster stopped in front of Sam. "Wrong way to do it, bro," he called over to his twin. "You gotta be smooth with the ladies, like this." He reached out and grabbed Sam's arms, pulling her in close. "Wanna dance, baby?" The pair sniggered together, clearly expecting an easy victory to kick off the night.

The leader of the group, meanwhile, sauntered up close to Mali. "You know, you'd be kind of cute." He smirked at her and then disappeared himself. Her battle-hardened senses warned her a moment before his fist came from behind and buried itself in her kidney. "If you weren't trying to look like Xena or whatever."

[Blue Rose]

The guy is fast, but Sam's dealt with fast. Her footwork's almost perfect as she steps out of the guy's way, only to have his way move even faster than she'd expected. And unfortunately, unlike her friends, she's not exactly equipped to rip the man's arm off with her bare hands. She looks to either side; her friends are better off than her at the moment, but Cerys' dance partner is just as fast as her own. No running there.

"Mali, go after Tona! We'll handle things here!"

And with that, she starts working on her escape, relaxing muscles and joints to slide free, contorting herself any way she can to get leverage, but that's mostly futile gesturing to make it more innocuous when she makes eye contact and starts burrowing into Tweedle Dum's skull. No need to make him cry; this time, she's out to turn his head off altogether.

And then he stops, like the power was just cut. Well, that was faster than I thought. She slips out of his limp grasp and hits the ground running. "Scratch that," she shouts back, "I got her!"

[Thunder King]

Mali grimaced. That hurt...well, a bit...kinda. Then she grinned.

"If you think I'm Xena...you should know what's coming."

She backed up for a second and jumped up a bit, extending her knee. She hoped that he would move to block her knee and leave herself open, but, alas, that wasn't to be. So she kneed him anyway, bringing her right knee against his chest. She knew it had to hurt, she felt the wind leave him. Still, he took the hit a lot better than he should have. She jumped back and looked at her foe. He was hurt, but wasn't anywhere near out of the fight.

She grinned. This might actually be a challenge.

[Raveled]

Tona continued swearing and pounding uselessly at the big bruiser's back as he fled towards the fire exit, carrying the diminutive archer with him. She struggled and twisted in his grip, trying to break free, but the only success she had came when he threw her back into the room as he barreled into the door bar, disappearing from sight. Tona screamed during her short flight, crashing into the drum set on stage; she lay across the instruments, breathing shallowly, her head lolling loosely.

The dance floor was clearing out, patrons and employes getting far away from the fight (but not so far away that they couldn't record it on camera phones). The second ferret in the greasy suit had no trouble racing away from the reeling Cerys to the woman in the scarf who had floored his brother. "Hey," he snorted, "all he wanted was a dance! You b----!" He slapped her full across the face, the force of his hundred-and-fifty pounds augmented greatly by the speed he was traveling at.

The man in the dapper suit, however, was having more fun toying with Mali. He recoiled from the blow, his form flickering slightly as he rubbed his chin. "Yowch! You got a mean right hook on you. Did you last boyfriend teach you that?" His grin widened. "Or is that why you don't have a boyfriend?" Before she could respond he was suddenly on her left side, kicking out at her ankle.

[Blue Rose]

This time, Sam sees the blow coming just fine. She's not about to dodge it, that's for sure, but she can roll with it. In fact, she can roll with it clear off the floor, leaping several feet away, and diving into the crowd of onlookers, where she vanishes from sight, falling straight through their collective shadows and emerging backstage, nursing a Hell of a mark across her cheek, but she can deal with that later.

"Tona?" she calls out to the drums, staggering a bit as she stands up. "You okay, Tona?" she asks, beckoning her to come closer, gaze shifting to their table, their bags. Tona's gear. Gotta get her over there.

Kit lets out a sigh, wishing she weren't back on the clock. She undoes the loose knot on her scarf, letting it fall to the floor and exposing the black brand on her back. With that last burst of power, she could already start to smell the thing from that accursed mark heating up. Any longer and it could have gotten embarrassing.

[Thunder King]

Mali concentrated, trying to focus on the right target, to make sure she hit the right guy. She swung hard, finally deciding on exactly who she was hitting. Unfortunately, she was so focused on hitting him that she didn't make sure she'd hit him where it hurt.

Watching him casually ignore her strike was a bit disheartening, but the fight was far from over.

[Tiffany Korta]

Despite everything Blodeuwedd couldn’t help but give a little smile, it might be a serious situation but she couldn’t help but enjoy herself. She rapidly considered her options. The problem with speedster, artificial or otherwise, was working out where they would be at any time. Luckily the user was either inexperienced or tended to stick to same attack style. She just had to pick her time.

“That the problem with some men all speed and no style. What a girl is looking so is someone with a little more substance.â€

At the just the right moment she stuck out her hand at neck level, which he ran into at full speed.

[Raveled]

GM

The speed freak in the greasy suit slammed into the Welsh ninja's hand at full speed and fell back, choking and grasping at his throat. The leader of the group, though, continued to spar with Crimson Tiger, each throwing and blocking punches and other blows. She swung and he turned almost before she committed to the attack, so instead of the force going into his vitals it was wasted on muscle and bone. In turn he circled around Crimson Tiger's left -- except that the image of him wavered after a moment and disappeared, as he kicked at her knee from her right side!

[Blue Rose]

Kit's gaze darts from the fight to Tona and back. Tona is definitely breathing, at least. A little longer and Cerys and Mali might not be. In the back of her head, she's already guessing what that patch she saw on the big guy was. If she's right, the rest of them have it, too. If so, they may not be skilled enough to hold back.

She sets her sights on the blurry guy fighting Mali. She may see a flurry of bodies, but he still has only one mind. So, she digs in there, going deep, trying to reduce him to a wallowing mess. Memories of his mother and what she'd think are a prime target, about him going up to some woman just trying to have a fun night out on the town and thrashing her, ruining a nice new dress, freaking out a building full of people, and generally being a jerk. Not a dignified way for a guy to go down, but certainly less messy than her friends' methods.

[Thunder King]

Mali grimaced from the blow and backed off a bit before watching him. Every fighter had tells, all of them, even the best ones.. Whatever he was doing was getting annoying, and she was getting tired of it. She lunged forward, as if to take a wild swing at her foe. She watched him carefully...there! He flinched into a block. As soon as he did so, she balled up her fist and brought her other hand up, from nowhere, to deliver a solid uppercut to the stomach. That had to hurt.

"What's the matter, don't like getting beat down by a girl?!" She growled.

[Raveled]

Tona rolled over and pushed herself up, shaking her head and shredding bits of plastic as she crawled out of the wreckage of the drumset. She took a quick look around the dance floor and noted the missing bruiser and the gently slumbering man in the greasy suit. The man with the multiple bodies earned a stare, but she collected herself and prioritized. She wasn't sure she could handle him, but the twitchy guy? That was more her speed.

Tona leapt down and charged, yelling out a battle cry as she closed the distance. She turned at the last moment and launched herself into a shoulder-check -- which he side-stepped in a blur of speed. She managed to land on her feet and turned, raising her hands in a defensive posture. "Tricheur," she spat and closed to a better range.

[Tiffany Korta]

There were time when one should show grace and composure, when an attack could be considered a work of art in itself. This was not one of those moments.

Blodeuwedd main concern was to take down this drug addled idiot quickly. Partially to act before he could use his speedster abilities to his advantage, but mostly so she could turn her attentions to helping her friends.

With this in mind she settled for a simple elbow to the stomach, she did as a flourish twist around before planting the blow. It was just a shame she couldn’t deploy her cap right now, the effect of the turn would have set her cloak twirling in a suitably dramatic way.

[Raveled]

GM

The man in the greasy suit rolled gracefully out of the way of Tona's attempt at a shoulder tackle, but the Welsh ninja hit right on the money. He staggered back, clutching his stomach, eyes watering in pain. "You b----," he spat. "All of you, b----s!" He blurred and was suddenly everywhere, raining blows down on Tona and Cerys without hesitation or pity. Tona tried to block or parry the blows, but they were too much, too fast and she ended up half-curling into a ball, sheltering her head and crying out at particularly well-placed fist to her kidney or floating ribs.

[Blue Rose]

Sam reaches out to Tona when she just charges into the fray, but it's pointless. Looks like she's not getting her bow this fight. Instead, she readies herself for another trip into these jerks' heads, when Tona goes down in a blur of motion.

That's it.

She flexes her hand, summoning up a wispy blue ball of light. Her 'fox fire.' No one has ever figured out quite what the stuff is- at least, no one she'd care to meet- but it's certainly not flame. What she does know is that it hurts, well beyond what little damage it actually does. Not a trick she likes to use. Too direct. Too likely to end with a fist in her gut.

While she'd like to just chuck the ball at speedy and hit him in the face, she still has the presence of mind to know better. Instead, she splays her fingers, ripping the ball into five smaller chunks, flicking them towards speedy one at a time, the balls curving and shifting around him, fading in and out of sight, difficult to avoid. The first one that gets anywhere near him explodes near his legs in a burst of ghostly sparks. Harmless, but not something he'll want to run into again while the other four work on corralling him towards Cerys' fist.

[Thunder King]

Mali was getting sick and tired of this sexist, egotistical, illusion-using jerk. She suddenly jumped up past him as he slowly went to block her. Way too little, way too late. As soon as she arrived on the other side of him, she pivoted on the ball of her left foot, faster than he could possibly react.

Her foot shot up and slammed into the back of his head like a crack of thunder. Right between the skull and the spinal column, a place she knew would knock him right out if he was physically a normal human.

Turned out, she was right.

"Goodnight you sexist pig. Hope you wake up with a heck of a headache." She wasn't sure if he could hear her, but that didn't matter. She said that more for her own benefit.