Shiva gave her an inviting smile, "I was actually hunting those Hidden you just distracted for me," she was talking like they were at a Sunday barbecue, "but you two were in the way to I had two choices, either kill you both will killing them all at once, or come down here and find another way to dispatch them." She shrugged, "Blowing you up with a rail cannon just didn't feel right. Besides, that was way more fun!" She stepped up and caught the chain. It left a light pink mark that went away quickly. "Wanna fight some more?" She asked like she was inviting the girl to a teenage sleepover. Her face was lit up with hopeful joy as she awaited an answer.

[you guys are gonna love this girl. ]

((OOC: Don't worry, I've watched TG before, Kreos was just referencing the flesh inside Swordsman's body))

Kreos' eyebrow raised at the ruby red blade stemming from the back of the person in front of him. "I guess you're not the guy from next door." He said with a smirk, "You know, it's kind of a pain to sheath a weapon, just to pull it back out again ten seconds later. Lemme just finish my drink." he began, unsheathing his scythe, and pouring the rest of his nectar-infused lemonade into his mouth, wiping it once the last drop was gone, "However, if you wish to know my name, I shall grant it to you. I am Kreos Maki, son of Thanatos, the god of death." He spoke as if he didn't have a care in the world while he pulled down his steel mask. "And I know it sounds edgy, but I'm a nice guy. So I'll give you the count of six until my father comes by to say hello." With that, his face was hidden from sight, all except for his eyes, though he was grinning underneath the grim mask.

Kreos' blade pulsated a dark purple as he held it between his hands, the slightly curved black steel shaft of the scythe resting comfortably in his hands. His eye glowed a similar purple, faint, yet still a definite slight glow. He analyzed the blade-like appendage sprouting from the back of the man in front of him. It was fairly sturdy-looking, however the man seemed lopsided, obviously meaning that the weapon would hinder his speed. His grin grew a bit wider, knowing this would be a good fight.

The other people in the pub-like had already left in a panic, leaving just Kreos and the man in front of him in the room. He waited for the first strike, but he kept true to his promise, slowly beginning to counting out loud, "One..."

Amuné let the chain come to a stop. "Fight more?!" Jareth squeaked from behind her, looking at the strange woman like she was crazy. "Why would we want that?!" "I have no desire to fight you if you don't mean us harm," Amuné said, frowning at her friend as she lowered her knife and took a less aggressive stance. "However, you still didn't answer my first question. Who are you?" A touch would tell her more, but the seer considered that rather rude, and she didn't want to use her magic where an unknown quantity could pick up on it if she didn't have to.

Jareth, taking his cue from Amuné's change in posture, sat down on the bench with a sigh. "I wanna know what the heck those things were, and why they were after us. You called them Hidden, but what /are/ they?"

"Why wouldn't you want to fight demons?" She asked like he was the strange one, then she looked back at the girl, "My name is Shiva. I'm a lieutenant in the special immediate response team under Tsitukaiza himself." She replied, "Thing is, my boss has been having us keep an eye out for potential new members, and girl, you got the stuff. He doesn't really but I'm guessing you two are a package kind of deal." She added resting the butt of her gun on her hip like she just walked out of an anime or something. With an enthusiastic smile, she leaned down to eye level with him. She was ninety degrees at the hip, so Jareth would have a straight shot down her shirt. "But that's okay, he's a cutie!"

She stood up straight and pinged her mic again, "I need a car." She said, "preferably a pretty one." She added. "This is the last time I give you a car. You smashed the other ones." Victor replied. "Thanks, babe" she closed. It was a passive, almost teasing pet name she had given victor, which was another coping mechanism, just like her quirky, cartoony attitude. Deep down, she was a sad mess.

A nearby sports car unlocked and came to life with a rev of the engine. She walked over to the vehicle and opened the driver door, "And for the record, I can feel your chakras, seeress. And his too. Some one is going to have to teach him how to use that power sooner or later." She said, getting into the car and slipping on a pair of sunglasses.

[ yeah I'm going to have so much fun with her xD and I'm still waiting on ;) ]

"I'm an engineer, not a fighter!" Jareth exclaimed, watching Shiva warily. He blushed at her sudden close regard, averting his eyes from the incredible view though it took considerable willpower. "And I don't really have any magic, just danger sense and good luck."

The woman beside him frowned, handing him his chain and sheathing her knife. "I don't know. If she can tell what I am, my guess is her assessment of you is likewise accurate. Besides, she did rescue us from a pinch. I think we should trust her for now." The seer turned to Shiva. "I am Amuné. My friend is Jareth. I do not know of this Tsitukaiza, but I am willing to hear you out."

"Do I have to?" the young man asked, getting to his feet as the young lady made to follow Shiva. "No, you don't if you don't want to. But I would suggest at least finding out what the offer is before turning it down." "Fine, I'll come," Jareth sighed.

Shiva smiled, showing her straight, pearly teeth and patted the passenger seat, "You can sit by me, Cutie Pie." She flirted with a wink. Once they were in the car, she dropped clutch and took off down the street and onto the freeway. She was headed for the coast. "So, we're going to meet up with a few of my teammates in Sybil. My boss said the redevous point is a saloon called the 'Guilded Siren' or some such nonsense, so that's where we're headed." She informed them, "I'll warn you now, he likes to test people before he lets them on board, but hopefully fighting off nine class seven demons is enough to impress him." She turned to Jareth, "You'll be particularly interested in him." She deduced aloud, here eyes lingering on him for a second as she dodged cars on the freeway. She was doing about one hundred and ten miles per hour like it was a Sunday drive.

😝

Jareth considered, but decided he was more comfortable sitting in back with someone he knew than up front with a stranger, however pretty. "Sybil?" Amuné echoed, looking thoughtful. "That's not a nearby town, or I would have -- Hey! Slow down or you're going to get all of us killed!" Jareth was very grateful he'd put on his seatbelt, because the strange woman was breaking the speed limit enough to go to jail. "Jeez, lady, we're not in a rush, are we?!" he exclaimed, fingers digging into the fabric of the seat cover. He didn't even have a chance to think about her last and somewhat concerning comment.

"Hm?" She asked like she hadn't heard them at first, "oh, yeah we're kind of on a time limit, Sybil is on the bottom of what you call the 'Marianas Trench', and we need to get to the coast. So! Once we hit the interstate, we're going to gun it until we see trees and pick up the car I just requested. Victor is tracking us as we go so don't worry, we won't be arrested." She assured. Still, she slowed down to ninety. She could still make it to the swap out point at that rate, and she didn't want to give Jareth a heart attack until she had at least a date with him. She got in the fast lane and stayed there.

"Mariana's -- wait, /what/?! Pull over, right now!" Amuné demanded. It took a moment for the name to click, but when it did she became rather annoyed. "That's in the Pacific Ocean -- the deepest part!" This was why you didn't let strangers take you places.

"Huh?" Jareth looked at Amuné, then up front at Shiva. "No, nonono! I can't go on a roadtrip right now, I've got class in the morning!" "I admit, when you said someone wanted to speak with us, I thought you meant something a little more /local/," Amuné continued, her voice frigid. "Generally if you wish to take people on a long trip, you let them /know/ first. I am willing to listen to your proposal, but I'm not about to go cross-country before I know what we're agreeing to."

"It's not like we're going off world or anything." She said, refusing to pull over, "Look, if you don't want to go, don't go. If you wanna know what's going on..." She merged over and got off an exit to stop at a gas station. After parking in. Front of a pump she reached back and touched Amuné's forehead, right where a seer's chakra heart is. This was commonly known as the "third eye", but truly is just the location at which the individual's chakras were focused. In her mind, Shiva remembered all of the updates Tsitua had been giving her about the other water elemental, the ghoul, and the latest update that Thanatos' son had entered the picture. She remembered Tsitua's orders to track and collect worthy candidates and bring them to Sybil for evaluation to be accepted aboard their ship, the /Mother/ to train and eventually combat demons and be the force that keeps mankind from being wiped off the face of the earth. She couldn't keep thoughts of her love for Tristan, the ghoul's mentor, out of her mind. Nor could she keep from thinking about how he had cast her aside after he nearly died on a mission. She didn't understand it. And to cope with her pain, she kept a goofy attitude, and took joy in killing demons... It was all she had. It was the only way she could stay close to her love. Being on the SIRT was the only way to spend time with him. Even if it was as a professional. She pulled back her hand, but not before Amuné had relieved a full dose of Shiva's pain. "Sorry.." She said, "I didn't realize your sight was so strong." This was the first time she had acted serious with them. She was distant as she got out of the car and went into the gas station to pay the clerk.

((OOC: I think died ._.))

Amuné gasped as the information flooded into her mind, her eyes flickering with an opalescent sheen. "I-I..." The woman reeled at the onslaught, tearing up, and Jareth caught her shoulders as she slumped in her seat when the vision came to an abrupt end. "Amuné? Are you okay? ...What did you do to her, Shiva?!" He was angry now. The threat of the demons had him scared, but while seeing his friend uncharacteristically off-balance concerned him, he felt he needed to step up to protect her as best he could.

"No...no, I'm okay, I just...wasn't expecting that." Amuné waved the young man off, leaning back and putting a hand to her aching head. "She brought me up to speed, is all. Not a very elegant solution, but an effective one nonetheless. Jareth...this may be very dangerous. Are you sure you want to come?" She wiped her face and looked at him out of slitted eyes.

"If you're going, I want to come too," he responded immediately. "I promise I'll stay out of the way. ...Besides, I've never been hardly anywhere. You've travelled all over, and...well I'd kinda like to see more than just the town I grew up in, y'know?"

Amuné smiled. "I thought that might be your answer, but if it's too dangerous I'm sending you back to the campus. After all, you're not going to be a fighter, so you can't neglect your degree entirely." She turned to watch the retreating figure heading towards the small shop at the gas station. "And our new friend...she's not as carefree as she tries to appear...."

“Ohh.. I have a feeling I’m really not going to like what comes next after you put that on” Jack said watching him put on his mask. “You stay” She told Bruce as she quietly followed Orion, not fully closing the door. She started getting cold again, this time in a slight panic. Which didn’t help that she kept wondering if that certain little ‘perk’ of her powers would be a bad thing as it might give them away at any point.

By now Bruce was sitting near the tiny opening of the door looking out siting patiently and alert.

Jack could now hear the pair in the bar room. It wasn’t a good exchange. She grew nervous, more for the spontaneity of what was going to come from her fingers. A couple lightly frosted footprints starting following her, melting just as quickly as they were put down.

(( if I did it would have been from the virtual paper wad Mr. Spud threw at me... >.> I'm watching you sir lol)

[cracks fingers finally! Everyone hold on, this is gonna be a bumpy ride...]

Blankface peeked around the corner in time to see the Swordsman standing there with hunger in his eyes, but his opponent wasn't exactly a typical meal. Swordsman clearly wanted more power so he could be unstoppable, but Blankface wasn't about to let it happen. At the first chance, he was going to take his shot and kill the half-ghoul. "Wait for my signal." He told his partner.

Swordsman reached up slowly, and pulled the respirator off, dropping it on the ground, then instantly went into lightning fast action, jumping onto the scythe blade and clamping his jaws down on Kreos's shoulder. The meat was tough. Too tough. He couldn't bite into it.

"Bad move." Tsitua muttered from his seat in the far corner of the room. He sipped on an abandoned beer as he put his feet up on a table. He knew that it would take more than that to damage a demigod. They were offspring of gods, who were, in turn, offspring of celestials. No ghoul would stand a chance against Kreos without some serious skill honing. "Have your fun, Kreos, but don't kill it." The hybrid called out to the demigod, "I'm conducting a recruit test, so leave your father be. I'm sure he's getting ready for all the work I'm about to send his way." With that, he took another sip of amber liquid and watched. He figured that Kreos was the only person in he room who would at least give himself a decent fight, so he took no part in the coming bout.

Shiva walked back out of he store, having cooled off, and picked up some goodies. She gassed the car up and climbed back in, handing a water to Amuné, and a strawberry juice to Jareth, "Just because you're so handsome." She said, gulping down part of her own water bottle and tossing a bag of protein bars in the back seat. "Eat up, it's a long trip." She said.

[come at me. spud, spud,spud]

"Two, three, four, five..." Kreos counted aloud standing still while Swordsman lunged at him. As he readied himself to get rid of the Ghoul he was stopped by Tsitua. "Oh hey, it's... No wait, you're not the guy from next door either." He said carelessly while Swordsman attempted to gnaw on his shoulder. "Hey, stop that, believe it or not, that feels kinda weird." He said, flicking the man biting his shoulder. He lisitened patiently as the other man spoke. When he was finished speaking, Kreos looked at Tsitua, then to the man gnawing on his shoulder, then back to Tsitua. "Alright then." With that, he sprung into action.

Kreos spun his scythe, slipping it out from under Swordsman and piercing him through the back as the scythe came back down again. He continued to spin his weapon, the centrifugal force causing Swordsman to slip off the blade, launching into the air, smashing into the ceiling. As he came back down, Kreos delivered a powerful kick to Swordsman's side launching him into the far wall. Kreos sauntered over to the body of Swordsman, placing his foot on the man's head. "Do you yield?" Kreos asked the man. When there was no response, Kreos simply cut off the man's kagune. It was tough, yet when he put more force into it, it managed to slice through. It wasn't really a clean cut, but he still got it. He watched as it grew back, interested, "Fascinating." He stated, a smile forming under his mask. "Do you yield?" He asked again, once again cutting off the man's kagune as it tried to grow back.

(( who is the hybrid, Orion or Tsitua? Nice hair change, by the by.))

Jareth flushed as he caught the bottle, and looked away. He'd never really figured out how to handle flirting girls, and didn't have sufficient self-confidence to be comfortable with them. Beside him, Amuné opened her water bottle and took a swig. "Right. I'm in. But I want to know, what do you have in mind for Jareth? If he has magic he should be trained, yes, but he's not a fighter. I doubt you will be able to change that." "Hey, I..I'm willing to try...." Jareth didn't sound at all certain.

[Tsitua is a hybrid, Orion is a ghoul. And thank you ☺️]

Swordsman life's his head up, blood oozing from his mouth and dripping off of his chin to the floor, and looked behind him. The Blankface was there, across the room. He needed the extra boost to beat the Kreos. In a hungry rage, he wiggled his way out of Kreos's hold, flitting over toward the other ghoul. He didn't have a Kagune, so he reared back with his sword and swung. The act should have dug the blade deep into the other ghoul's torso, but somehow, Blankface was gone. The Swordsman looked around but he was not there. How could he move so fast? The rumors said he was the fastest ghoul alive, but he had assumed that was just a rumor. Suddenly three black and red Kagune extensions pierced through Swordsman's torso from behind.

Blankface wasted no effort. When the swordsman swung, he darted behind the half-ghoul and released his Kagune. With one motion, he impaled his opponent and lifted him off the ground. With a calm look in his eyes, he made eye contact with Jack. "Freeze him." He said simply. He had no emotion or fear or doubt, just a determination to do what was right for once in his forsaken life.

Tsitua couldn't help but chuckle at Kreos. The man had style, that much was for sure, but his attitude shifted once Orion had entered the picture along with the yin to the hybrid's yang: Jack. He took his feet off of the table and sat on the edge of the seat. Could she do it? Could she freeze the Swordsman without harming her partner or the rest of the room? This was her test. The ability to work with and learn from someone she barely knew, and ultimately triumph. He longed for company, so he hoped she would prove herself here. He motioned with his prosthetic arm for Kreos to have a seat as he waited for the turn of events to unfold.

Nodding softly, Jack took a soft deep breath trying to calm herself. She could feel the cold reaching her finger tips again. Knowing it wasn’t much time, but felt long enough, Jack tried to clear and straighten her mind. She focused in on Orion, waiting for his signal. The only time breaking out of her attempted focus was when she thought she heard the faint sound of a familiar voice. “No” She told herself softly, convincing herself it wasn’t him. Just hearing things again.

She had watched in amazement at the swift movements flying around. The sheer power of those around her, felt like she was wrong to be here. Her attention was again brought to Orion finally finding him in his flash movements, the word freeze rang through her head. Taking a deep breath glaring in focus at the dangling Swordsman, Jack threw out her hands again, the tips almost as blue as Orion’s hiding eyes. This time a couple ice pellets hit his torso. Getting frustrated and colder again, she had to think quick.

But, a new idea came to mind. Noticing the prints she had left behind, Jack tried stopping on the ground and flinging her hands out in front of her. A thin trail of ice started springing out from where her foot landed. Though it had gone a bit wide in the end, still not as controlled as she wanted. The ice was close enough to where the swordsman hung she decided to take a chance. With a running start she ran at her ice trail and slid down almost surfing, reaching for any part of the Swordsman. Feeling her hands hit as she glided by, the impact caused her to lose her balance and start to fall. Jack landed on her arm before crashing feet first into the wall. Her hands being cold enough, it would have had to flash freeze him in some manor. No time to look as she recoiled against the wall, covering her head to guard from the picture she knocked off the wall. Pushing it off her body, Jack’s eyes flashed up towards the heat of the situation. Flinging a hand out again this time finishing the freeze.

[don't worry, I didn't forget you.]

Orion held he half ghoul as he squirmed, trying to get off of the spike-like Kagune, but Jack acted in the nick of time. Although her attack was less than coordinated, it was effective. She had frozen the Swordsman solid, as well as part of his Kagune, but he wasn't dead yet. If he thawed out, he would be very upset. Orion wiped around and threw the frozen half-ghoul against the wall, shattering him into a thousand pieces. He retracted his Kagune to heal and went over toward Jack, but someone was already there.

Once it was over, Tsitua stepped into Jack's view. He knelt down and placed one hand on her cool head. With a smile and a thumbs up he said "Pass". Cheerfully.

"We have a ton of things he can do." Shiva replied to Amuné as she peeled out and got back on the freeway, "We have engineering positions and mechanical tech positions. He could even go with Lya and learn biomechanics and build bioflex prosthetics. It's all way beyond what you people have." She said. "In fact, since his chakras just scream terra, he'd probably be really good at working with metals." She looked at him in the rear view, "my best friend and future boyfriend working together! It's perfect, don't you think, Victor?" She said, including her helper over the mic. He transferred to the car speakers, speaking with his raspy baratone voice. "I think you need to get off at the next exit." He replied.

((hahhaha, oh gosh))

"F-future--?" Jareth's eyes widened, and he looked away, flushing. "Um, yeah...biomechanics sound fun, actually, though I'm more interested in them for robots than for people." Amuné smiled to herself at her friend's awkward reply. Ah well, he had to learn eventually. She glanced at the microphone, blinking as a man's voice came through the speakers. "Oh, hello Victor," she said politely. "I suppose we'll be meeting you soon." Her thoughts turned back to the purpose of the trip almost immediately. Thanatos...wasn't that a god of death? The idea of ghouls rather confused her, for they didn't resemble any of the myths she was familiar with. Interesting. "So, what about me? What sort of a test might I expect? What can you tell me about this boss of yours -- and why do you think he will be of interest to Jareth?"