when by now and tree by leaf

[hey_capn_jack]

04:00 - In the Kashtta Tower, soft music is floating from the piano room tucked back by the cursed hallway.

It's not terribly good music.

J picked his way through a primer someone had left on their piano, and is now demonstrating minimal proficiency at having memorized any of the songs. He can pretty reliably hit the first few bars of Ode to Joy

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[diatomic_life]

It's been a long time since Kat has had anything to eat. Ohhhh so long. She was just going to pop in and get a hamburger and fries, but then there are fries flying at her. She has not been aware enough of her surrounding in a long time to deal with this.

She frowns, leaning over and picking up the croquet mallet.

"Are you going to eat this?" she asks Malek, studying the decoration idly. She doesn't mean the mallet; logically she's referring to the french fries. It's kind of hard to tell though, considering her attention has been completely distracted by croquet mallet. "Because I mean, you're just going to bleed all over it and it's a perfectly good meal and I really don't have to wait on a waitress or anything to get food. I mean, sure, patience, whatever, I should have it and stuff, but I'm starving and if you're just going to go jump right back through that window it would be a sin to ignore the food."

She pauses, holding the croquet mallet forward, as if it were an offering of some sort. "Bash long and prosper?"

[homoraptor]

Wat? Wat? ...maybe the Rift made her a mallet-eating fiend? MALEK DOESN'T JUDGE. It takes him a moment to work out exactly what she's saying, which is probably some form of karmic retribution.

"...ja, whevver rocks t'boat, hhnh?" he says, and then accepts the mallet she apparently decided not to eat. After a moment he tilts his head at her, starting to grin "Sin t'ignore good fight, though; don't want in?"

[diatomic_life]

It's almost tempting. Kat's been full of lots of crazy lately. Well, she's still full of crazy; she's just been able to syphon some of it off since she finally got out of the den. Oh, oh, she'll be going back there but first she has hamburgers and things to conquer because bypassing the gastric system forever is a bad idea.

"But I don't exactly fight fair," Kat explains, shrugging. "I mean, I don't fight with my fists or a weapon. I more you know, am the kill everyone in the building type?" When she says it like that, it's easy to write off as a joke. "And that's no fun for anyone but me and you've got a wicked awesome mallet. So I've got a better idea. How about you beat the shit out of someone while I eat your french fries? That way, everyone gets to have fun and I get fed. I'm not so good at the actual brawl-type of fighting, so it's probably a good idea for me to take a step back or two or something. ...something."

[homoraptor]

"Aah." Malek's grin becomes a bit wider and more face-eaty. "Knew Rak or two like that. ...really, most Raks. Comes in coolbloods too?"

He spins the mallet, sizing her up. Who knows! Wholesale slaughter. Could be fun. He was always more the "trash the place" sort, but hey, so long as it doesn't get back to the boss-

And then there's some guy, less drunk than belligerent, throwing open the door and looking incensed. "What, you want me to come out here? You want me to show you what a fight looks like,fag?"

Malek looks at him. Looks at Kat again. Shrugs.

"Ja, bring't, pretty boy," he says, hefting the mallet. The mallet's gonna have a good time tonight.

[diatomic_life]

Scratching her head, Kat watches Malek for a long moment, trying to figure out what he just said. It takes a while to process it, and then by the time she's pretty sure she's figured it all out, there's a guy yelling things. She rolls her eyes at the failure of a taunt

[homoraptor]

The drunk man - who, to be fair, in this one instance probably was provoked by Malek thinking it was funny - does not appreciate being called a prettyboy, and charges. Malek winds up with the mallet and swings it for the guy's ass, which the guy is neither stupid enough not to try to block nor strong enough to actually block, and so ends up getting his legs knocked out from under him and winding up on his side on the pavement in time to hear Kat judging him.

That's gotta sting.

"Know some guys," Malek says, right over a string of profanities which may include comparisons of Kat to various canids and Malek to certain parts of the female anatomy. "Can't take t'compliment what fuck. Me, cute guy says I'm'is type? Cloud nine, ja? Him, 's all rar, fag, bitch." He shrugs. "Good for tussle, though."

Cue the man picking himself up and divng for Malek in an attempt to tackle him. That'll end well, guy. Keep telling yourself that.

[diatomic_life]

"Can't imagine he'd be pleasing in bed, neither to man nor woman," Kat muses. "I mean, he can't even keep his legs under him in a fight. It's amazing, how some people are just so full of themselves that -- oh, and there he goes again -- but I was going to say full of themselves that they actually see something attractive in the mirror. And I mean, he might not be so bad if he had something between his ears and some actual words to say that weren't profane. I mean, I know that some people might find that attractive, but he's definitely not applying it well. Or something

[homoraptor]

"Baww, danno. Got vigor, anyw-whooof!"

And lo, Malek is tackled. He lets out an undignified squawk when he actually hits the pavement and the guy starts trying to pummel him, but Malek is (a) a demon, and (b) used to playing scrum, so a little tumble and a few punches to the face don't seem to phase him too terribly much. He overpowers the guy and half-shoves him off, then grabs both arms and pins them to his sides for a moment.

"'ey now. Talking."

...the guy knees him in the stomach. Some people just have no respect for propriety.

Malek headbutts him, stunning him for a moment and shoving him off into a patch of windowglass, grinning at Kat in the few seconds it takes for the guy to get up and come at him again. "Got natural charm," he says, slightly winded.

The man, now turning a pleasant shade of fuming red, shoves a finger at Kat on his way to get trounced again. "You shut the fuck up or you're gonna be next."

[diatomic_life]

"Charm indeed," Kat says, grinning right back.

Oh, oh, but then the man is threatening her and that just won't do. Especially when he's looking a mess himself. The red suits him.

"Sweetie," she says, letting out a soft sigh. "This nice man here is probably going to beat you up pretty badly. Now, presuming that he doesn't beat you up too bad and you can theoretically come after me after he's done pummeling you... see, that's just a really bad idea. Because while he's perfectly happy just having a nice bar brawl with you, I'm really not the brawling type."

Things Kat shouldn't talk about: tonight at 7. It's hard for her to give a damn anymore, though.

"See, I prefer to take people out who deal with me. Not the knocking out type. I just tend to kill them because I'm not physically large or strong enough to beat them up. And I mean, you can take that chance if you want, but see, when I say I just kill them, with the compounds I currently have on me, it takes like a good two weeks to die and your eyeballs would melt within the first

[homoraptor]

The guy is now throwing punches at Malek, about 30% of which he actually tries to evade and the rest of which he just doesn't even bother about. He really is trying not to break the guy - he's just a mundane human, and while he might be a douche, there's still no fun to be had if there's not an actual fight.

But oh. Oh. If Malek liked girls, he might be pretty turned on right now. As it is, he might have to take this one out for pizza - he might not like sleeping with them, but he can always use more girlthings to hang out with.

"Awwt, not sure t'poor guy knows how t'come at all," he says, tilting his head Katward and getting knuckles in his teeth for his trouble. He takes a moment to grapple, knee the guy in the groin, and trip him up again, brushing off his hands like he won't be punching in thirty seconds again anyway. "Interestin' day job, t'en, or just t'hobby? Either way." He grins down at the man who's positively racking up insults and injuries. "Stick wit' Malek. I'll beat'em, you enjoy t'fries."

[diatomic_life]

This is pretty awesome, even if food kind of sucks. She munches away on the french fries, which may be the most awesome french fries in the world, but everything's tasting a little bland today.

"Hobby, hobby," she lies, waving a hand at him absently. It's a lie, but she can't really tell him it's anything but. "I mean, the melting your eyes out of your face part is the hobby. Got an interesting day job either way, just not in the same ways. Saving the world by day, destroying it by night. Keeps one busy or something. Someone has to make a mess for someone to clean it up. ...I would hate being a janitor."

[homoraptor]

To his credit, Homophobe Man is beginning to realize that he's getting trounced, here, and is taking a moment to recover and wonder how many of his buddies would come out to help him if he hollered. Malek pouts at him for a moment - it's really no fun f they don't at least try to fight back.

"Job for other people, ja?" he asks. Or possibly agrees. It's hard to tell. "Me? Stick wit t'jobs pay well. And're a good time. Sensible thing, pops'd say. Awwt, get up." He nudes the guy with his foot.