Hunting the Stymphalian Bird (Success!)

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght followed along with everybody else, moving quietly as they wall walked and talked about what it was they where going to do next. She threw a disgusted glance at Marcus as he attempted to show off, floating and levitating over piles of acidic fecal material left behind by the massive metal avians. She wondered if it was possible to gather some of the material, storing it inside some special contain for study and a possible use later. She could think of several ideas off the top of her head that the material could be used for. Everything from a weapon to possible building applications passed through her mind as she eyed one pile of material. She sighed, knowing that it wasn't possible to gather any samples or experiment with the material at all because she did not have anything to do such experiments with that would resist the acidic properties of the thick material. She did pause for a single moment, kneeling down and leaning close to one pile of the stinking piles of defecation and examining it visually. Not seeing anything of immediate value based upon an cursory visual examination, she stood back up and continued to followed the rest of the group.

When everybody stopped, Nyght finally caught up the little bit she had fallen behind and watched as they spoke again, and began to get ready for the up coming fight. The smart girl, the one named Stilia, pulled out a whip. This intrigued Nyght, because she would think that the whip would do very limited damage to another being, especially one crafted and created from metal but that made her think that perhaps that the whip was special, just like the sword the female was also carrying. She could think of plenty of uses for the whip, though not very many of them would inflict a significant amount of damage. Marcus eventually pulled out his own weapon, a blood red katana which made absolutely no sense to herself. A katana was not going to do anything against these creatures, except may piss them off or endanger his own life. Getting close enough to use the weapon was going to be tricky enough, but then again the weapon would not even cut through the metal feathers covering the bird's body. It would dull the blade instantly, and if hit with enough force (which Marcus was always bragging about having) it would probably break the blade somewhere along length of it. However if the male wanted to endanger his own life in some sort of silly attempt at being macho...well that was his prerogative.

Having no weapons other then her own brain and powers, Nyght did not need to draw anything and ready a melee weapon. She had no guns to clean, reload, or hassle with in anyway. Sometimes this had been a good gift for herself, never having to worry about dealing with such things, but it also left her totally reliant upon her powers and if she was to hastey with them they could quickly leave her drained and tired. She had often wondered if perhaps she should find somebody to train her in one of those weapons. A gun or sword perhaps, to enhance her understanding of them and suppliment her powers. However that was neither here nor now, and she had other things to worry about. Such as a massive, metallic bird that was extremely pissed off at them for disturbing it's territory and now nesting site. As the massive creature reappeared, attacking the group and Jack took off upon Paquito, Nyght stood her ground. She watched the bird fling metallic feathers towards Jack, who was already safely behind a tree. Stretching forth her hand, she wrench one of the massive feather from the wood it had embedded with in, pulling the feather that was almost as long as she was tall towards herself. She turned it in mid-air, aiming the feather back at the bird and with cupping her hands together, she thrust them forward towards the back of the feather sending the metallic missile hurtling back towards the beast.

From above the creature, Aurora suddenly appeared above the tree tops. Flying along like some monstrous rendition of Santa Claus' reindeer (who amusingly enough would all be female as well since male reindeer lost all their antlers before the season), the flying Akhult aimed straight for the bird from behind. With all her weight, the Prime Akhult slammed in to the back of the creature's body between it's shoulder blades with a massive body slam trying to send the beast stumbling and possibly trying to collapse it in to one of it's own piles of acidic defecation which would chew away and penetrate the metallic feather's cover it's body like armor. Then the Prime leap away, sailing towards the ground and running towards Nyght. Nyght grinned and leap on to her stead's back, gripping Aurora with her knees as the with a great leaping jump the creature leap back in to the air. Airborne upon her mount and friend, Nyght turned and looked at the fight below, seeking a way to lure the beast airborne so they could possible get a killing blow upon the weak spot on it's chest. If she couldn't see an opening, she suppose they would have to do this the long, hard, messy way.

[Stilia Medusa]

The floors were filled with pools of acid, meaning it would be much more convenient to fly. The Gorgon took off her shirt with a sigh, so that she was only covered by a bra. She then shifted her form into that of an angel, with large wings growing from her back. She shuddered, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling to change forms, especially something so drastic. She just knew her back would ache for weeks.

Unlike a true angel, she could not levitate, and using her wings would be more tiresome then it would for one truly born with them. But she could fly with wings, and had lots of practice. She usually preferred birds, as they were less conspicuous, but a bird couldn’t hold a whip and use it effectively.

The Stymphalian Bird screeched, and Stilia quickly followed Jackson to the left. The trees provided cover, and Stilia would quickly open her wings for a quick flap over the pools of acid, staying low to avoid feathers.

The creature dove to where she was standing, and flapped it’s wings furiously. Her own wings had not completely closed, and it slammed her into a tree. She grimaced and folded her wings properly, assuring that she was far enough from a pool of acid that she wouldn’t be blown in. Stilia whipped out her sword and shoved it deep into the base of a tree, planning to grab it if the Stymph fluttered it’s wings too harshly again.

Jackson was shooting at the bird with a shotgun, Aurora and Nyghtingale using their own assets. Stilia took careful aim and slashed at the bird with her whip. The Gryphon Tail easily sliced through the smaller feathers, causing the Stymph to shriek. However, any time it hit the larger, thicker feathers, it would just scratch and bounce off. Stilia tried to keep her training in mind, and began aiming for the creature’s face, hoping to take out an eye.

[Marcus Drago]

And so it began. The monster let out it's cute screech from afar. Thanks to fletcher's head gear, the over grown bird's roar barely affected Marcus. The daemon simply smiled at the creature as it made it's descent. His smiling ended, however, when the beast began sending metal feathers at the group. 

Fletcher and Stilia fled, leaving Nyght and Marcus to stand their ground. The daemon wasn't running anywhere yet, as the feathers were easily dodge-able for him. Although, Marcus didn't feel like timing his phases and losing his clothing. Instead of dodging, the daemon raised his hands to the deadly metal feathers flying his way. He controlled some of the airborne quills, causing them to quake where they were and clash against the other feathers. The bird's plumes landed before his feet, leaving him unscathed from the beasts first attack. 

The daemon calmly placed his katana back in its sheath when the stymph bird made its landing. Its feathers opened to create a powerful gust, and Marcus was nearly knocked over. The daemons wings and ability to fly kept him from falling into acid, but they wouldn't be able to protect him from the monster's shit forever. He needed to get away from the battle ground and away from the bird for his owns after. So, as Nyghtingale attacked the creature with her flying penguin, Marcus leaped into the woods towards the right of him. 

There was nothing that Marcus wanted to do right now. The creature was being withered away by Stilia, Nyght, and Fletcher, meaning that he would only waste his energy by stepping it. So, Marcus stayed back, on top of a tree, and watched the events unfold with keen eyes.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Sensing the fight was reaching its inevitable conclusion, Jack urged Paquito forward, resisting the urge to give out a loud whoop as the Akhlut charged. The young man's heart thundered in his chest as he took aim, firing off several shots while using his abilities to jerk its beak toward him and gather up some of the feathers it had fired. Most of his shots missed, as expected, but he succeeded in getting the Stymphalian bird's attention. It swung toward him and the young man barely managed to duck low enough to avoid being decapitated by the wing Paquito passed under as they dashed past the bird.

    "We'll keep it distracted! Attack the weak spot above the creature's heart!" Jack cried out to whoever was listening. Too close to use his shotgun safely, the young man discarded it in favor of grabbing handfuls of fur as the Akhult dashed about, desperately clinging to his friend as Paquito dodged a particularly close call in the form of a peck from the chicken's vicious bronze beak. While the Ak darted about the Stymph's legs, Jack moved the feathers he'd taken, collecting any new ones the creature attempted to fire, and made them wrap about the chicken's head, blocking its eyes and blinding it.

    Jack nudged Paquito away from the blinded Stymph, letting the Ak give himself some much needed breathing room. The young man brought his gun back into his grasp and began firing at the ground underneath and around the chicken's feet. His weapon might not be able to deliver the killing blow from his present angle but it would manage to keep the Stymphalian bird off balance and distracted while one of his companions delivered a fatal blow to its weak spot from the air.

    All the magical and mental exertion required to manage everything he was attempting was beginning to take a substantial toll on Jack. The young man was suddenly very grateful that he had Paquito to carry him and keep him out of harm's way, knowing that he would have collapsed by now if he'd had to attempt his magicks AND continue to dodge blows from the Stymph.

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght just was not seeing an opening to get to the weak spot upon the bird’s chest. It was moving too much, dodging and attacking everybody else. She circled several times above the fight, taking a second to catch her breath and gather her bearings. She was Jack attacking the bird, firing off blast from his shotgun that seemed to be doing some damage, but not enough to stop the bird besides slightly crippling one of the creature’s feet. She watched as Stilia attacked it with her whip, and seemed to do significant damage upon the bird with her first attack, but the second simply seemed (from this angle) to glance off anything larger. Nyght was disturbed by this, seeming as nothing they had seemed to be working against this metallic beast. The armored created by the over lapping metal feathers was simply too thick to get through and damage the bird. Marcus seemed to take off, and she hoped he had thought of a way to make himself useful, but she was not worrying about that all that much for right now. Her brain was churning to find a solution.

A solution that came to her in an instant. Aurora had taken Nyght’s acidic blast ability when they had become a team (as well as her ability to fly). Acids reacted strongly with metals, and so she could weaken the armor of the bird and significantly enlarge the weak spot upon it. With this plan in mind, she grabbed two handfuls of Aurora’s fur and leaned against her back. Using the fur, she guided Aurora in to a steep dive, pulling up just before the ground where the Stymph had launched some feathers and they were stuck. She didn’t care if they were from this attack, or perhaps one from another upon previous people. She used her ability to summon forth one of feathers, selecting one as they moved past swiftly that she would be able to hold on to but was large enough to cause significant damage. Then Aurora swept past that spot and circled around in front of the bird.


     “Give it to her, Aurora!” Nyght shouted to her companion, and Aurora let loose with an incredible roar and a blast of corrosive acid that sprayed all over the Stymphalian bird’s chest. Aurora swooped away from the assuredly pissed off metal chicken’s retaliatory strike as the air began to fill with hissing as the chemical reaction between the acid and the metal began to break apart the bonds, barely managing to get away but her flank was sliced slightly by a passing feather. She snarled in anger, but kept flying because at least that wasn’t going to put weight upon the injury. Aurora swept around, again, this time coming up and over the Stymphalian bird’s left shoulder, and releasing another blast of acid. This blast struck over the creature’s shoulder and chest, with some striking the right wing as well. The air was filled with the hissing interactions of the acid and the metal, and Nyght had a feeling it was time to act. Nyght wanted one more pass, to really weaken the metals and so Aurora swept up and away, this time coming in from the right side to ensure that the bird’s right wing received a blast of the acid as well. As the air filled with the hissing of the interaction of the chemical reactions between metal and acid, Nyght decided now was the time to act and try and finish this once and for all before somebody got seriously hurt.


     She held the metal feather in her right hand by the shaft like she would a sword hilt, and gripping Aurora’s fur with her left. Aurora continued her circular motion around the bird until they were directly in front of it, at the level of its face. Nyght raised right hand, drawing the sword back and over her shoulder and hurled it at the bird’s chest towards the weak spot. Using her ability to control metal, she helped direct it as she released Aurora’s fur and raised her left hand. She muttered her spell for electricity, and gathering an enormous amount of it in her hand, she blasted it directly after the feather charging it with electricity to do additional damage against the bird that was doing so much destruction.



     What Nyght did not know, that was when acid reacts with metal, it results in two things. It transforms the metal it touches in to a salt (which was what she was intending to do because it would no longer be strong enough to deflect their blows, thus ‘weakening’ the metal), and it releases hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is an extremely flammable substance, and with all the acid reacting with the metal a substantial amount had built up around the Stymphalian bird, and when the electrified feather entered the cloud building up around the bird, the gas reacted in the usual way. The hydrogen and the oxygen in the air around, with the catalyst of the electrically charged feather plowing in to the Stymphalian bird’s chest, ignited and exploded violently.


     Nyght was blown backwards, and with no hands upon Aurora she was flung her companion’s back and landed hard upon the ground. Stars burst in her eyes for a moment, before her vision swirled and went black. She had been knocked clean out from either the explosion or the hard landing. Aurora was blasted away as well, but being able to fly, the akhult managed to let herself be blasted in to the air and then fly back to land beside Nyght, nudging her unconscious friend with her nose and licking her face trying to wake her up. Nyght would eventually, after about a minute wake up with a loud groan and look up in to Aurora’s eyes and blink.

“Well now…wasn’t that just a blast…” She muttered to herself and anybody else around who might hear it before slowly sitting up and wincing. Her arm had been caught behind herself, and there was searing pain inside it. She swore softly to herself, having a feeling that she might have broken the bones inside the appendage. She was however, extremely lucky to have done just that and not something worse…like land in the pile of steaming acid shit a foot and half to her left.


     She slowly looked around, wondering exactly what had happened, and what was happening. Was she in danger, or had the other managed to finish the bird off after she had weakened it? What in the blazes was going on now?

[Stilia Medusa]

Stilia no longer had any need to aim for the eyes, which were now covered by metal, and so she focused on hurting the Stymph in other ways, slicing feathers, distracting the birds. Jackson yelled about getting above the heart, and Stilia wondered if her wings would be strong enough to fly up there, while maneuvering past feathers, and with the gusts of wind. Aurora seemed to have more confidence in her flying abilities, and her and Nyght soared up to kill the beast. Stilia did what she could to distract the bird’s attention.

When she saw the explosion, she quickly grabbed onto her sword. It held strong, preventing Stilia from being blasted into a pool of acid, but with the enormous blast, her whip twisted around, slicing into her leg. Stilia let out a small shriek, dropping to her knees. The bird was thoroughly dead, so she focused her energy on healing the wound.

As she kneeled there, leg repairing itself, she cleaned her blood from the whip, and placed her weapons away. She hadn’t even noticed Marcus hadn’t helped, but her attention was caught by a furious clapping.

“Bravo!” Yelled the stranger. Stilia put her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw again. She slowly got up, forgetting to clean the blood from her leg as she flapped over the pool of acid and shifted back into her human form.

The woman was taller then Stilia’s form, and only a few inches shorter then Jackson. However, she had very high, spiked black heels, easily putting her over six feet in height. Her hair was jet black, and she wore a short black dress that cut off and flared out about midway down her thigh. A black, dangerous looking crown sat on her head, and for some odd reason, she had a large metal gauntlet on one hand, and was hauling around a sword as big as she was as if it weighed nothing. Her outfit was entirely impractical for the area they were in. The woman clapped, making a strange metallic noise as flesh collided with metal.
“Bravo!” She repeated, expertly walking up to the bird, avoiding the acidic poop. The woman quickly climbed up the metal carcass with ease, despite the several inches high heels.

“I really liked the explosion. It was a nice touch. Really blew me away.” The woman began rummaging through the carcass, pulling at the metal and bending it with ease. She pulled out a strange metal contraption, and looked at it carefully. “Although you are really fucking lucky this heart is intact…. Here, Jackson, catch!”

She threw the ‘heart’ at Jackson, before turning to the others, letting Stilia see that her eyes were a pure golden colour. “You three. Feel free to take one feather for your hard work. I’ll take care of the carcass for you. Erlang will want his toy back.”

Stilia hesitantly approached, surveying the carcass. She already had a sword, and a whip, so she decided to take a piece large enough to be used as protection, as it had resisted even her Gryphon tail. She would add material later, to make it easier to carry, as the edges were razor sharp. Stilia handled it carefully as to not cut herself.

After the three took their pieces, the strange lady jumped down, landing perfectly. Stilia had no idea how anyone could even accomplish this feat, although at the mention of Erlang, Stilia was beginning to wonder if this woman was a servant, or perhaps even a divinity.

The woman suddenly took out her sword, causing Stilia to tense up. Suddenly, the woman seemed immensely powerful, and had a certain aura about her. Not one of fear, like she had felt Daemons magically produce, but one where she could kill them all with her little finger. It was much more terrifying.

“Marcus Drago.” The woman said, her voice suddenly laced with anger. “You have disappointed me, and are absolutely pathetic. Abandoning a fight to your companions. Avoiding a fight. One of a lifetime no less, an epic battle. Absolutely disgusting. I have decided to be generous, and allow you to keep the feather, and another souvenir…”

With impossible speed, the woman appeared before Marcus, grabbing him by the throat with a single hand and flying into the air with him, for all to see. Although Stilia could not see from her spot, on Marcus’ hand, a tattoo began to form… One of a crushed skull. “Now all will know you are the accursed of Ares Kaalratri.”

Her words echoed off the trees, they were so loud and furious. She let Marcus fall to the ground, and vanished, along with the body of the Stymph.

[Marcus Drago]

As soon as the fight began, it ended. Jackson blinded the creature and Nyghtingale completely destroyed it. A sound of explosion was the last sound to come from that monster. Although, Marcus did not get to see it completely blow up, as he hid behind a tree to avoid any shrapnel that would come from the bird. When it was all finally over, Marcus came from the tree that he was in.

The girl was on the ground when the daemon saw her. She groaned a little and made some stupid comment that Marcus barely paid attention to. Stilia was nursing some wound that she had managed to get, even though she was far away from the bird to receive it (If he didn't admire her intelligence, he would call her stupendously and stupidly accident prone). Fletcher was doing something else, but Marcus stopped giving a damn after his attention ran towards the bird. 

"Impressive," was all he could let out before he was interrupted by clapping noises. The daemon turned his head to see who it was that made those claps, only to be surprised at the site of a fairly short S&M dressed female. Her eyes were very golden, and she carried a sword with her, as well as a gauntlet. This made Marcus wary, and he moved his fingers towards his sword's hilt, questioning if she was going to cause him any harm.

She seemed pretty nice at the moment.

The new female walked towards the stymph bird. She spoke loudly and clearly, stating how impressed she was at what just transpired. She threw to Fletcher the heart of the Stymph bird, then she said that the other three, including Marcus, could choose a feather. Among her sentence was the word Erlang, and Marcus raised a brow towards her. He had never heard of an Erlang, but the woman spoke of that name as though it was important. Maybe if he knew who Erlang was, he would have a clue as to who this woman was. Unfortunately, he was only stuck with more questions to ask than answer.

Stilia took a feather form the bird first, and Marcus followed right after her. He made sure to find the longest and most sharpest feather, as he would mold that into a sword later. His katana was very wonderful, but a Stymph's feather could have so much more uses for Marcus.

When everyone had managed to pick their prizes for this trip, Marcus decided that it was time for him to leave. He didn't know this new woman, he hardly knew the people he traveled with on this quest, and he didn't want to get to know this woman. Marcus was done with this entire adventure.

However, this woman was not done with Marcus.

The daemon heard the light clinks of a metal being drawn. He turned his head towards the new female, and a sudden pressure of power began radiating from her as she stared knives into him. Just her appearance alone told Marcus that there was nothing he could do against her. She was too deadly to face, and probably too fast to run away from. Calling himself a deer caught in headlights wouldn't suffice for this moment. Marcus was less than a deer, and this woman was more than headlights. She was purely a hunter, and Marcus was the little bunny rabbit caught in her bear trap.

“Marcus Drago,” the woman said with a booming voice. At the instant she said that, Marcus' sixth sense began to activate. Inside Marcus' head, he was thinking, 'God. Fucking. Dammit.'

The woman then made a little speech about how pathetic and disappointing Marcus was. The daemon, however, didn't care much for her words. He didn't want to fight, these were not his companions, and if he had the choice then he would leave these people to die within an instant. He wasn't here to play party member to some group of adventuring travelers, he was here to see a bird destroyed. The bird was destroyed, and he didn't need to use a single finger. This seemed like the easiest mission Marcus had ever done in years.

This extremely powerful bitch, however, didn't see it from his point of view, and she came upon him like thunder to a tree. "Pest-" was all he could let out before the female grabbed him by the throat and brought him into the air. She didn't even use her second hand! The only thing that Marcus wondered in that moment was, since when were women this strong?

Marcus' right palm began to burn with extreme heat. It was a burn he knew well, unfortunately. It was painful and the daemon couldn't help but screech at the pain. The daemon hated this feeling, hated this situation, and thought to himself over and over: "GOD. FUCKING. DAMMIT!"

The woman's words echoed throughout the trees. “Now all will know you are the accursed of Ares Kaalratri.” The daemon was surprised at all of this, but at the moment she said accursed, he began feeling something different.

Marcus tried to let out a laugh, but all that came from him was a stifled cough. "You know," the Daemon responded, wasting the little amount of breath this woman gave him. "I'm starting to get the feeling that you Gods don't like me." Before he could say anymore to possibly ruin his life, the woman released him and Marcus fell to the ground. Within the instant Marcus' body touched the hard grass, the woman vanished.

There was silence from Marcus for a moment before he slowly stood up. As his knees rose first, and his chest soon followed, the daemon released his artificial fear on the area. He was very angry, and when he was angry his powers were activated. He also released, along with that artificial aura, a small chuckle, as though all of this was just a funny joke that Marcus found riveting. With that small chuckle, the daemon began to walk away. Not towards Fletcher's truck, the instrument that brought them here, but towards the trees, and away from everything. 

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Boom! To shield his eyes against the explosion, Jack buried his face in Paquito's thick fur. Once the debris had settled, he looked back up and, after a second of consideration, climbed down from the Akhlut's back. The young man approached the Stymphalian bird's lifeless body. It was dead. From the moment he'd decided to hunt the creature, Jack had known how it would end. But now that the deed was done, he could only stare at what was left of it and feel somewhat disappointed. In himself and in the bird.

    Without even stopping, he continued past, heading toward where Nyght had been blown away by the blast. She seemed unconscious to his untrained eyes but Jack knelt next to her and felt her neck for a pulse, just to make sure his friend still lived. Relieved, he chose a spot some feet away and sat down to wait for her to wake up. It didn't take long and, from her initial words, she didn't seem too worse for wear.

    "Show off. Why does it seem like every time we hang out something ends up going boom?" Jack asked her jokingly. "It's over, finally. You killed it with that blast." Her wince caused him to narrow his brow slightly with concern. If it was broken, perhaps Stilia could fix it.

    Jack turned towards the sound of clapping to be greeted with the sight of a strange woman. He caught the heart she tossed him and looked it over. The fabled heart of gears. At this particular point in time, Jack didn't have much use for it. He'd tuck it away somewhere safe with his other valuables. The young man was accumulating quite the collection.

    Then things got interesting. So Marcus was now an accursed of the goddess of war. Jack had never been so close to the divine before. He felt a lot of things. The young man quickly pushed it down. Ares was soon gone and he promptly forgot her. Marcus seemed upset and began walking away. Jack wasn't going to chase after him. He could feel the aura bleeding off of the man and worried he might have to kill him if his efforts were met with aggression. Instead, the young man stood and approached the spot where the Stymph's body had been.

    "Well. Wasn't this day exciting. A creature of legend and a goddess." Jack looked around at everyone who was left. They seemed a little worse for wear, but were more or less ok. He was grateful for the help. "Is everyone alright? Those were a rough last couple of moments."

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght groan, trying to get over the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head. The explosion had rocked her something fierce and she was really lucky. Jack had apparently checked upon her while she was still loosey goosey in the head, and for he was nearby instead of well away from here where she remembered him being. Unless she had been blown towards him...but she didn't think so. She slowly put her good arm around Aurora's neck and stood up with her akhult's help, getting unsteadily to her feet while her knees seemed to be shaking under her. A soft noise caught her attention, and she looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from. She finally found the source of the noise, a woman clapping. A woman who had not been there before and now was, and was not somebody had ever seen before in her life. She frowned, not liking that. New people in her life quite often caused chaos and havoc around her.

Nyght watched and struggled to listen, the ringing in her ears slowly dying away to a leave her with a numbing ache in her ears and head. The lady congratulated them for killing the metal chicken, and gave Jack something from inside the bird. If Nyght was not entirely off her rocker....was that a metal heart? At least what the heart would be inside this thing...she thought it was. Then the other's all went and claimed feathers from the bird, and Nyght (with Aurora's help) limped forward finding her left leg aching slightly from some sort of sprain, and grabbed a feather as well. It was long, about forty one inches so and she struggled to pick it up with her one good hand with out cutting herself upon it. Finally she managed to, and sighed as she leaned on it and watched the unfolding of events between Marcus and the new female.

Watching as things happened, and Marcus was punished for being a lazy git, Nyght found it amusing as well as interesting. She snickered slightly, finding Marcus humiliation and pain amusing but also not liking how that female treated him even if it was for a the punishment. She frowned, narrowing her eyes and sighing deeply. So this was a goddess? Nothing but a big bully who cast judgement about herself with out even seeking far compensation in reasoning? Nyght did not find that very fair, even though she herself hated Marcus and enjoyed his suffering at the same time. Nyght however was not about to argue the point, with either a goddess or Marcus who threw up his ability to cast fear in his rage and stormed off. She shrugged off the fear, knowing it was irrational and cause only by Marcus himself in his anger and not controlling his ability she knew him to have after a demonstration by him in their previous encounters.

Nyght groaned again, leaning heavily against Aurora. She was ready to go, to get her arm fixed and rest up so her body could mend itself from her recklessness. She hadn't meant to cause the explosion...but never the less she had caused it. However, she would file away that information and look it up at a later time. She needed some rest and healing.

[Stilia Medusa]

Stilia watched the interaction between the Goddess and Marcus with fascination. Her attention was utterly captured by the divine being. Although she’d met several by this point, each one was different, but all were powerful.

When Marcus threw up his aura of fear, Stilia’s stomach turned. She’d been subjugated to it before, and a Daemon’s Aura of Fear was a powerful thing. However, Marcus was not there long, and flew off in a huff, so the effects quickly faded.

Only after all the commotion did she approach Jackson and Nyght. As she neared, she noticed Nyght leaning on Aurora. The gorgon rushed her last few steps. “Nyght, please, let me heal that.”

If Nyght accepted, Stilia would kneel down and motion for the elemental to get down, and place her hands on the ankle, fixing the sprain. Stilia would sway a bit as she stood up, as healing took energy, and the adrenaline from the fight was fading. Although the gorgon was strong, she didn’t have very much endurance, and these things took a toll on her.

“You both did well. And I think you may be of interest to the Council. If my talk of them interested you, I would be glad to bring you to them. A new Elemental is needed, to uphold balance in the world and be an assistant to Varos Talantos, the Goddess of Balance. Although only one can carry the full position.”

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack's question was ignored but he didn't mind over much. The young man was suddenly grateful for his tanned complexion, flushing slightly from embarrassment. Perhaps the way he'd said it was wrong? Maybe they felt it was too stupid a question to be worth answering? Or maybe they simply hadn't heard him. He dismissed the idea of repeating himself before the notion had even fully formed in his mind. If they'd simply ignored it, he'd look silly. If they hadn't then, well, it wasn't really worth repeating anyways.

    When Stilia invited them to meet the Council and possibly join, Jack hesitated. The young man didn't say anything just yet. He turned and looked at Nyght questioningly, wondering how she would respond. From the conversation in the van, Jack had gotten the impression that the young woman wasn't too particularly fond of the gods or the Council. But perhaps the young man didn't know here as well as he thought he did.

    Certainly, Jack wouldn't say that he knew her particularly well. They were somewhat familiar, he supposed, but the young man wasn't confident enough to definitively state what their relationship was with one another. The young man didn't feel like they were particularly close, but that was probably just a personal hang up of his. He often had difficulty identifying who his friends were, but agreeing to hunt a monster with him didn't seem like something a mere associate would do. But the lure of adventure was fairly strong and he'd certainly felt it himself. Besides. Jack didn't even know Stilia or Marcus and the both of them had agreed to accompany him, though the latter had proven himself rather useless once it came to the actual fight.

    The young man turned his attention back toward the matter at hand. Stilia had propositioned him. No, not like that. Anyways, he was still waiting to hear what Nyght had to say.

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght frowned, but let Stilia help her with her injured ankle. She doubted there was much that could be done with her arm right now, and she was probably going to have to go to some doctor or another. That was slightly disappointing, she didn't have very much money to pay for her arm to be reset. When Stilia was done healing her ankle, Nyght sighed.

"I will be alright Jack, thank you for asking. Stilia helped my ankle, but my arm is broken somewhere. I don't think her healing skills will be enough to help with that. So I will need to go to a hospital and get it set."

Nyght then turned to Stilia, a frown upon her face as she looked at the other female she had grown to respect upon this trip, but couldn't take Stilia up upon the offer she was providing.

"I am sorry Stilia, I just can not accept that offer. I do not think I respect the gods enough to do their bidding. Besides, I would not want to do their bidding anyways, especially if they are anything like I have seen so far. This encounter has only solidified it in my mind how petty and self absorbed these gods and goddesses seem to be in themselves. I could never bring myself to serve somebody like that, who just does not care enough about individual people."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Nyght expressed having no interest in being a part of the Council. After a few minutes of consideration, Jack had his own thoughts on the matter. Regardless of what they might be, he would accept. The organization seemed to have weight and being led by Varos gave them a bit more credit in the young man's eyes. He couldn't say that he trusted them just yet but their message seemed to be on point. Enough so that he was willing to have a closer look.

    Jack glanced at Nyght, briefly, before looking back at Stilia. She'd made her feelings clear on the matter but the young man had thoughts of his own. He only hoped that his decision wouldn't serve as a wedge to drive them apart.

    "The Council sounds interesting, Stilia. I would be willing to hold the Elemental's position on the Council, if they will have me." Many of Jack's thoughts were left unspoken but his words were truthful enough. He still held the Stymphalian bird's metal heart in his hand and, while he gripped it, the metal seemed to pulse as if the heart was beating. Jack knew that the heartbeat was in his head, that he was simply imagining it, but the young man couldn't help but feel that this was a pivotal decision in his life.