Between Gods and Monsters Archive Chapter #2

[Tinker]

A raucous baying that would have been more at home coming from a barn yard donkey punctuated with the odd snort wailed from Halo's open mouth as she jubilantly slapped her thighs. Fat tears streamed down her face as she gasped for air between each barked laugh, taking days old mascara and eyeliner down with them. A bout of hiccuping soon followed the laughter and between the spasms of her diaphragm Halo held up a solitary finger and said, "Fuck . .one second."

The palm of her outstretched hand was instantly fitted with a tall glass of water provided by the insectoid barman, she nodded her thanks and slowly sipped the water as the hiccuping waned. Her electric gaze was directed back to Artemis, "You're one of them, aren't you?  Fan-fucking-tastic, just what I need in my life an other angel. So tell me, Sunshine, why are you Earthbound? You been sent on a mission by the big guy upstairs? He need some groceries or made for you to do a little soul collecting or are you another one of the fallen."

She stared him straight in the eye, noses almost touching and very slowly cocked her head as if she were a curious puppy, "Oh shit. You're a fallen. Which means you're looking for any reason to get back into the old man's good books so you can ascend. . .which is why you're here to help."

Halo withdrew and found a third glass of her good friend, The Captain, waiting for her on the bar. She snatched it up and took a long drink, her eye contact with Artemis never breaking, "Scratch has nothing to do with this. This is something from before even he fell. You know, he gets such a bad deal all the time and he gave us all kinds of wonderful thing like rock and roll music, porn, air conditioning and pop tarts. I keep telling him he needs to hire a new PR exec but he never listens...anyway."

The glass was slammed on the bar, demanding a refill, "You really want to help, huh? Well sell it to me, Sunshine, why should we let you in on the big hunt when I have an Archangel at my disposal. As they always like to ask in interviews for minimum wage jobs, what can you bring to the table?"

She eyed the now apparent glowing corona above Atemis' head and pointed, "Oh and just a quick FYI, we hairless monkeys can't tell heavenly bodies from our own lowly forms unless you turn on the sparkle and neon of your holy glory. So remember that next time and switch it on before you neglect to introduce yourself."

[CrowsEye]

The scoff that exited the angel's lungs sounded more like a cough than anything else, but more because he hardly even found her snippiness insulting.

"Hon, the only reason I'm Earthbound is because of the fact that I like it here. I like a good drink now and then, and I like the atmosphere. It's an enlightening contrast to the gold streets and glowing abundance of the Big Guy in all his glory, all right? Just like you need to pump your liver full of this shit  until your liver decides to kill itself to avoid the abuse, I like to get shitfaced, too. Gimme a Jack and coke, if you don't mind, bartender." He turned back to the girl. "So, who doesn't screw up every now and again? Nobody's perfect. I've fucked up before too... At least I didn't trigger the start of a fucking apocalypse, though." He shook his head, focusing himself. "Anyway, all I'm saying is that we've all got problems, myself included, so why not take the opportunity to get myself some brownie points, right?"

"As for the real question, what can I offer over an Archangel, here's what, sister: I've got authority over my own actions. Yeah, granted, I still work FOR him, but I'm essentially one of the managers of my division. Archangels have to answer to God's whim; I don't. So, when you go to your buddy and ask him by batting your eyes and shoving your ass in his face, and he says no, well, then you've got me to go to. But skip the batting eyes bit. I'd rather not remember your face when I fuck you."

He rolled his eyes then, "And please, spare me, I got your attention enough just by commenting on what you were discussing, let alone what shoes you might have been wearing, Fleshy. I try not to keep the neon sign going when I'm not talking business." Lifting his drink to his lips, he said quietly while blatantly trying not to be discreet, "And I already had introduced myself by that point..."

[Tinker]

Halo was wearing her full battle grin and was enjoying the banter that she was sharing with this particular celestial body just a little too much to let it quite come to an end. There was no way this particular ex-pat of heaven had the first clue as to who or what she was and for the time being she was more than happy to leave it that way, "So you wanna play with the cool kids, huh, Sunshine? Despite the fact that this particular high school dance has absolutely nothing to do with you Father or his grand scheme for his creations?"

The rum was slowly brought to her lips and this time was almost sipped with a ladylike demeanor, "If you're doing this just for the brownie points, you might be shit out of luck, but on the other hand, if you're doing it because you genuinely give a fuck about this world and us naked apes, we might just have a spot on our all-star super team for another feathered freak."

She pointed at his chest as she sank the last of the umber liquid and never dropped her gaze from his, "But this is not a personal crusade for you, Sunshine. I'm doing this off the clock, because I kind of take it personal that I was the one that ushered in the little fucker that's causing all this shit. I mean I've had a few one night stands in my time, but never have they resulted in something that threatened my very existence and by golly, that sure did burn my ass. And also, how the fuck am I supposed to claim child support when the dude didn't even have the common courtesy to give me a name, I tell you, I could make a fortune on the day time talk show circuit with this, but no, I'm just going to bitch heartily about it as I clean it up."

[CrowsEye]

Artemis looked incredulously at the spunky girl. "Cool kids? Doll, you're the gothy teenager that has nothing better to do than sit in the corner pining over some guy that wouldn't even look at her twice while you think about how exactly you're going to whine about it - on your blog, diary, and poetry forum you frequent - when you get home. And for His plans and such, I know that there's nothing to do with Him...It does for me though. I mean...there aren't many good parties in Heaven, save for when Jesus is around, so I'd like to be able to attend a couple more keggers by the time the REAL end of the world happens."

Well, at least she's committed, the angel thought to himself smugly. I won't have to worry about her slacking off or getting lazy because she's too fucking stubborn to give up. I can use that.

It was now the angel's turn to lean in and almost press his nose to Halo's, his now fully white eyes locked with hers, smiling. "I know it's not a personal crusade for me, cutie, because if it were, I'd be the one recruiting folks for this, not you. I'm sorry your choice of men isn't all that great, but we can't all choose a winner now, can we?" Pulling away, the angel spoke into his liquor before chugging the rest of it. "Besides. I saw this coming. Not exactly knowing that you were the cause of it, necessarily, but just the fact that this was going to happen sooner or later." Artemis gave Halo a knowing look, and only tapped his glass on the bar twice for a refill.

[Tinker]

"Oh well, thank you for the forecast, oh great and powerful warrior of The Lord. Of course you saw this coming, I mean its not as if there is some asshole every other week trying to wipe out the whole fucking planet. . .oh wait", Halo's eyes became wide in a mockery of her proverbial light bulb of realization stuttering into full glare, "There is some fucking asshole every other goddamned week trying to cause the end of times! Hence why I have a particularly extravagant and costly penthouse apartment that overlooks Central Park. This is what I do, Sunshine, I save the entire planet and usually get the girl in nice bite sized installments on a weekly basis. So, if you knew that this was going to happen, then why in fuck's name has it taken you this long to join in the parade?"

With a wide grin that bordered fatally on the side of being genuine she slapped a hand hard down on to the angel's knee and gave it a good squeeze, "And for your information, Sunshine, I was a cheerleader and the homecoming queen in High School, isn't that just a pisser?"

Halo signaled Al with one hand and called out, "Yes please, Al and one for both of my fine male companions whilst you're at it."

She turned back to Artemis her eyes blazing with mischievous mirth, "As much fun as I am having with you in this pissing contest, Sunshine. We do really need to get down to business, so I need to know a few things about you so we can figure out exactly how you are going to fit into our band of Merry Miscreants."

The glasses appeared on the bar and were quickly replaced with a handful of bills, "Its super fantastic that you are an angel and all, but I need to know what kind. You've already made it clear you're not an Archangel and if you were I would have heard of you. So what exactly are you and what's your skill set, your finishing move? Fatality, animality, babality or hey, do you have one of those friendship moves?"

 

[CrowsEye]

"Oh! Ohhhhh!, I see what this is!" Artemis laughed sardonically, and pointed at her knowingly. "Blame my knowing that this was going to happen on ME!" The angel laughed again. "All right, fine, I'll humour you. You know WHY the big guy never really bothered having anyone mention it to you guys, despite how we knew what was going on?" An uncharicteristically evil smile slithered across Artemis' face, and he said sternly: "It's because He knew that YOU were here cleaning up something that wasn't HIS problem!" He left a little pause to give it time to sink in.

"In any case, the reason that we're getting involved now is because I'm a bit of a free agent, and knowing that He doesn't give a flying damn, I'm deciding to do something about it. Besides, I've never done a black chick before, and if the world ends, well, that's just not gonna happen, is it?" He looked surprised quickly. "Oh, a cheerleader,  huh? You know what, that actually makes sense, I've heard they're total cunts, too. Is it just a high school thing?" As the drinks arrived, he immediately picked it up and drank his thanks with a nod.

"As for what I am, you ever heard of the Principalities? In case you didn't know, and I'm not trying to be a smartass here, but I'm essentially handed the reins of guys under me, and I've got free jurisdiction about any divine acts I feel are necessary. You remember the whole David and Goliath thing? That was one of our guys, got a fatty promotion that day." The angel looked a little proud of himself. "I can also kick a fair amount of ass too, if it comes down to it, and my super is down to forward, down to forward, light, medium, and heavy punches."

[Tinker]

"Pfffffffft. . Some of my best friends are angels", Halo rolled her eyes in an over dramatic rendition of Maurice Sendak's Wild Things rolling their terrible eyes and gnashing their terrible teeth as the angel's proclamation came to a close, "Do I know anything about the ranks of angels? Sunshine, I know more about you pretty orbs of light than the Vatican does.  I mean you say you have more freedom but I know how far down the angel cake food chain you are, you rank what, seventh in the holy order? So what, New York is your jurisdiction? Well, I have to say, bang up job you've been doing. I mean, I am only making a small fortune dealing with events that clearly come under your area of expertise and hey you get to take all the credit for it too..now that's not very Christian of you, is it?"

Halo Thompson's cool, cyan eyes glittered magnificently in her maliciousness, "But, like you said, its all His great plan, right? And it's so totally not that you did something to piss him off and he kicked your sorry ass from your golden perch at all, right? Of course not, you're just like God's gun for hire and hey, you can go adventuring and get XP points and who knows even level up as you're just kicking back and enjoying all the finery that Earth has to offer. That's cool, I can totally get behind that, I'm all about enjoying said finery myself and a little ass kicking on the side for fun and profit never hurt nobody, right...well except those that are getting the ass kicking, but we don't have to worry about that, since we are the ass kickers and not the ass kickees."

She swiftly clinked glasses with him before the last of his Jack and coke was swilled away and downed the rum in one solid gulp, "And I heard your order has some pretty fancy under garments, don't suppose you could lend a gal your golden girdle for a night or two, I bet that looks smoking hot with a pair of marabou slippers and red lipstick."

[Maxx]

OOC:  Will post more when I get the chance but FYI Sebastian's 'second best smile' is NOT a fake smile.  There is actual significance to the fact that it is his second best......

[Maxx]

Sebastian eyed the angel.  "Tell me, at exactly what point did you start bending the truth?  Little white lie here?  Slight exaggeration there?  How long does it take for a principality to start lying?  You'll have to forgive the amusement.  You see, your claim to being celestial is subject to doubt.  I'm far from it but I can duplicate that halo without even straining a metaphysical muscle."

A bright silver halo appeared over Sebastian's head.  It remained silver for a few seconds before cycling through a full rainbow of metallic colours.  It paused briefly at a colour the resembled lead before melting away.  "I can do the same thing with horns too," he said.  "But those tend to tip my hand too early.  Are you going to help or are you going to blame the infernal free angels yet again for something we had no hand in and something God seems content to allow to roam free?"  He turned to look at Halo.  "Do we really need him?  As something other than cannon fodder, I mean."

[Grimoire]

"That's a nifty trick. Is it useful for wardrobe change as well?" The disembodied voice would have been slightly jarring to most. The assembled were most definitely not most, after a short pause the voice continued, as though just now noticing Sebastian's disfigured attire. "No, I suppose not." And with this second quip also appeared a girl on the stool beside Sebastian. Not so much that she appeared with a pop, or that she materialized there but it was just such that she seemed to have come to be there while one was blinking or happened to be glancing in the other direction...At least that's what it felt like. The young lady who intruded their conversation was of small build and in a word...White. Her skin had past pale and transcended into luminous. Her hair which in long tresses hung down her back and cascaded over her shoulder was a corn silk normally only seen on small children and the only thing that tipped one off she wasn't an albino were the large ice chip blue eyes that took in the group as if she had been in the conversation all along. Her lithe and athletic frame was wrapped in a pair of jeans faded and worn out in the knees in such a way it was clear she'd worn them to hell and back not just bought them like that. The white t-shirt that stretched over her upper half bore no labels but on her dainty men�s size 5 feet were a pair of white converse that looked like they'd just been taken out of the box with the stars up as she hovered, cross-legged, an inch off the bar stool. Not the most unique of traits but she made it look casual, like anyone could do it, like Jesus walking on water or Superman flying. This was Andellion, or for people who prefer to keep it to a couple syllables Andi, and she was quick to say so.
"My names Andi," she came to the realization long ago that telling anyone her full name was just asking for a few good bastardizations.
"And this, is Kaleb" She said motioning to a raven that was most definitely albino and had previously gone unnoticed against the shield of her hair. She took a drink of her pint with all the grace and demur of a trucker, downed a near three-quarters, wiped the head from her upper lip and continued.
"I'm a Valkyrie and we're here to help." She waited a moment.
"Do I have to wait for the razzing like an initiation or can I skip straight to defending my candy-ass for you professionals?" There was a slight, not-so-placeable accent to her speech.
"Cause I can brace for impact if that's the way it's done around here." She let a smile crack the corner of her mouth

[Tinker]

The source of the world's newest threat was about to answer the question that was posed by the incubus, but the revealing of the fourth party member deleted the words that sat on her tongue. A haphazard smirk sat on her full lips as her polar opposite dished a new portion of sass into the already brimming pot, "And cavalry has arrived."

Al had given up on refilling Halo's glass and left the bottle in place of the drained tumbler. A small hand reached out and tenderly grasped the neck of the bottle as if it were attached to a lover. The liquid warmth was swigged and cyan eyes remained trained on the newest arrival to the motley group, "You've already gone through your baptism of fire, Andi. I think you've taken enough backtalk from me to last at least seven life times, your hazing was over after you stopped my head from being caved in by a titan's club. That kinda thing will win you brownie points every single time."


The thick base of the bottle clinked dully with the pint that was in the hand of the luminescent woman that now hovered opposite her. Halo's head cocked towards each of the men that sat in her close proximity, giving introductions as she went, "This is Sebastian, incubus, repossession agent and scum of the earth, also known as a practitioner of the law", she grinned up at Sebastian, "And you know I mean that in the most loving way possible. He's been tracking my baby boy for me, but the kid has it's Mama's smarts and keeps eluding him."

Her ethereal eyes flitted to the angelic presence, "This here is Artemis, I don't know him from jackshit, hence the ritual verbal assault. He seems to be able to hold up his side pretty well, despite the handicap of being a Warrior of the Lord and also seems to really want in on the whole saving the world deal, so he's either way he seems like he might be an asset, whether it is as a team player or pretty winged cannon fodder. . we'll see."


The smirk grew in size until it was almost lewd, "And you know me, which surprises me that you came all the way out here to help me clean up this whole mess or did that old cycloptic fuck, Odin, demand you come out here and deal with me, again?"

[Grimoire]

Andi easily polished off the rest of her pint tapping her glass gently for a refill while she swallowed, chuckling lightly at her old comrades words.
"Well it's always good when they can take it as well as they give it," The valkyrie said with a wink.
"It's a pleasure to meet you boys. I hope you both can keep up." She said with a good natured grin. She then let her expression turn back to business.
"It was indeed Odin who sent me. Seems your little boy is makin quite the name for himself. I'm supposed to come help out with the retroactive abortion and also you know, make the gods look good. But I heard it was you and I was here as quick as I could be. Though I am supposed to waggle my finger at you-" She said holding out one long slender finger and waving it at Halo in a disapproving manner. "Bad Halo, bad girl getting knocked up by the forces of evil. Don't do it again. Now that that's over with, was that a killer birth or what? I hear the regular fleshies are hard to push out..."

[Maxx]

"Add to that the fact that she got laid what, four days ago?  I'm starting to loose track."  Sebastian shook his head.  "Chooser of the slain, eh?  Plucking worthy souls off the battlefield?  I usually wander amongst the wounded, granting last requests, so to speak.  Well, it's good to have some talent in the cavalry.  Especially since it's air cav."

Normally he'd make a pass at the young looking woman but she was a Valkyrie and was likely nearly as old as he was.  A little professional courtesy had to be extended, from one soul collector to another.  "Can I offer you a refill?"

[Grimoire]

Andi smiled with all the glory of Valhalla and sat up proper on her inch of air above the stool. Her previously ordered refill barely kissed the bar before she'd downed it, leaving it once more empty and available to be refilled. "Why yes I believe you can now sir, but only if I can offer you one in return." she gave a glance over to Halo, then back. "And this is generally where I'd ask you how goes buisness for you in the only recession proof industry there is cousin, but as I've come to learn, time is of the essense for fleshie types. No offense present fleshie type." 

[Maxx]

"Delighted," Sebastian replied.  "In honour of present company-" he nodded to the angel, "- I'll have a Virgin Mary."  He chuckled.  "I asked for that when Moses asked me if I wanted anything during a meeting with him, Clarence Darrow and the late JC.  You should have seen the look on his face.  It was a foolish idea, in retrospect.  I fully expected to get zorched."

[Tinker]

"You know, if I had actually gotten a good night of debauchery out of the deal of being the Mother of the Apocalypse, maybe I wouldn't be so hellbent on catching the little fucker and being it's end of the world. The truth is", she threw a glance laced with enough venom to poison an entire village in Sebastian's way, "I didn't get laid in order to produce this bundle of joy and you know that just fine and dandy, you were there at the conception, you fuckwad."

A long a guzzling pull on the rum washed some of the bitterness from Halo's tones as she shifted her focus from the incubus to the Valkyrie, "What actually happened is I got bitten, not even in the lady parts. This thing smashed through here and caused merry hell with Al's fine establishment, in the chaos, his raging serpentine erection and I mean it was literally a bastarding snake, bit me right on the fucking hip. I think that was when I was given the gift of the thing that is decorating our streets with the entrails of its citizens."

Her fine nostrils flared and a second drag on the bottle was siphoned down her waiting gullet, " Either then or when he got all hentacle on me and encased me in fucking black wormy things. . .let's just say, it wasn't the kind of first date where you think its going to lead on to bigger and better things, like introductions to your parents."

[CrowsEye]

"Oh, haw, a Mary joke." the angel sneered at Sebastian. "I never get tired of those, I tell you what," he continued, sarcastically. After finishing off the rest of his beer, Artemis sighed and grumbled, "She was a bitch, anyway. The Catholics are so about her when really all she did was have all the terrors of childbirth without any of the benefits..." His eyebrows raised and his eyes slid over to Halo, hoping he hadn't offended her unintentionally. "Anyway, just because He's God doesn't mean He's not got a sense of humour, either, Sebastian, so don't worry, you'll be exempt from zorching for that." He turned to the bubbly Valkyrie and nodded at the drink that she just arrived. "Next one's on me, pleasure to have you aboard. I'm getting the next round for you guys, too," he nodded at Halo and Sebastian, "so don't worry about it."

He looked back to Andi and smiled. "I'm Artemis, like the little one said. And I make for good cannon-fodder, don't you worry about that, Halo. That's the handy thing about being a good old-fashioned bible thumper; The Big Guy favors the meek and all that jazz."

[Tinker]

Halo felt her right eye twitch and her top lip curl slightly up on the left side as the fallen referred to her as the little one she was several nanoseconds shy of getting away with the tick, betraying her usually cool exterior and revealing the comment had hit a nerve. She couldn't quite place her finger on the ability that ever angel she had ever come in contact with, that managed instantly root out the direct line to the zone where all her annoyances lay, but sure as shit, it seemed each and every winged servant of the Lord, no matter how far removed they were from Him, so long as they still sited Him as their master, they managed to find every single nerve and play it like their goddamn harps.

She poped and cracked every knuckle in her hand, trying desperately not to rise to the bait that the heaven cast had thrown directly under her nose and the satisfying crunch of each applied pressure was so far managing to keep that tempting smell from wafting teasingly up her nostrils, "You know, Sunshine, I thought the whole meek thing was more a matter of patience, humility and a certain degree submissiveness? I wasn't aware that being a cocky fucker was something The Big Guy viewed as rewarded behaviour? Maybe the rules have changed since you were last up there, though, huh?"

Halo grinned feeling somewhat vindicated for the height reference then slapped and hand on to the angel's knee, "But booze, in my general direction is a sure fire way of lessening my contempt for your existence and getting it on to the road of just plain old apathy,add to the fact that you're willing to throw yourself in the line of fire, well gash darn it, Sunshine, I might even start to learn to be civil towards you."
 

[Maxx]

Sebastian snorted.  "Of course God has a sense of humour.  He created Man, didn't he?  Biggest joke this side of offering Kali a tampon."

"Get him," he said to Halo.  "Welcoming her aboard as if he's been in on this thing from the ground floor and has some degree of authority.  Let me give you another clue, since you've been sitting the first few rounds out.  This isn't going to be a fight where the holy choir of cheerleaders are sitting on the sidelines crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy' every time you get a first down.  You're going to get your wings dirty and I mean bloody messy dirty, not just a little smudged.  If you know anything about me and my kind, you'll know we aren't stand up fighters.  The fact that I'm in this up to the elbows should tell you everything you need to know.  You're not going to get any brownie points for jumping in at the eleventh hour because nobody is getting brownie points period.  There are your choices.  Literal bloodbath or go blow Gabriel's horn."

He turned his head to look at Halo.  "I just realized. Put into the vernacular, if this thing out their is the Anti-Christ, that makes you the Anti-Virgin."  He tried to keep the smirk off his face but it just wouldn't co-operate.

[Grimoire]

Andi laughed, a hearty and good natured sound. She slapped the bar to emphasize her amusment. "Oh y'all are too precious. You should have used your loins as a hell gate sooner m'dear." The Valkyrie joked with a playfull wink in the vertically challenged mage's direction.

"I'd bust your balls aswell but they seem to have it covered so I'll just say it's nice to make your aquaintance, as a bitch to the old gods it's always amusing to run into someone who's a bitch to the new. And since you so kindly are getting the next round, I'll get yours." Andi offered, and then raised her glass. "And to you all, ves heill."

[Maxx]

"Blood in your eye,"  Sebastian replied.  "And everywhere else you look.  Okay, so we know he's building an army.  Of what, Frankenstein?  Or more correctly, Frankenstein's monsters, since the monster didn't actually have a name.  There isn't a whole lot left for him to be raising zombies from his kills so my only guess is that, given that Halo seems to think he's building an army, he's taking the best pieces he can find to build his own perfect warrior." 

The incubus looked at the angel.  "Even handle one of the holy lances?  I had the unique pleasure of seeing Michael use one on one of my kind.  Left a scorch mark on the hardwood that nothing would get out.  That was all that was left when he was done.  A scorch mark.  Do you think you might be able to get your mitts on one?  Just make sure they have their own retrieval plan, since if you get taken out I sure as Hell won't be able to pick it up and return it. They made damned sure my visitors pass didn't cover the armoury."

[CrowsEye]

Artemis nodded at Sebastian in a sort of 'I-know-what-I'm-getting-myself-into' way as he spoke, grinning widely at his Kali joke, then raising an eyebrow. "I'm just introducing myself to the cute miss here, and I mean 'aboard' at least for the time being, while at the same time giving the Little One more reasons to actually keep me around on this thing. Besides, I don't think she's out and out said that I'm needed. But I'd still like to help. And you know what? I don't care if I don't have some angelic cheerleaders on the side singing 'holy', because if the end of the world happens, that's all ANYONE is going to be doing up in heaven, and I'd much rather not have to deal with that right at this moment, especially if it isn't supposed to happen right now. Besides, you can't get brownies without doing a little baking..."

Realizing his explanation didn't really make much sense when he said it out loud, he shook his head then moved on.

"Anyway, I'm not afraid of a beating. Just because of my...demotion doesn't mean I can't take a beating and come back from it. Hell, Little One here could probably throw me into a wood-chipper, Fargo-style, and I could come out of it all right...Granted I'd have to take a nap or eight, but I could still weather a good amount of bleeding. As for the Lances, there's actually a bit of a broken failsafe on those things. They can't actually be used against other angels..." he looked ashamedly into his drink and finished quietly. "Fallen or not." He took a large draught of his drink before continuing. "Anyway, I can't say I'm surprised about what you saw with the lance, seeing as how you're a demon and all. And don't get me wrong, I don't have anything personally against demons. You seem like a cool enough guy from what I know of you. Just stating a fact."

Artemis then grinned wide and laughed out loud. "Hah! So if she's the Anti-Virgin, then that means I might have a chance, right?"

[Maxx]

"Up to her,"  Sebastian said.  "But be prepared to stand in line of the the chance just to step up.  Out of curiosity, what is with the Greek god theme lately?  We had Orion and now Artemis.  Not the original one, mind you.  She had much better legs and quite likely a much better right cross."  He rubbed his jaw for a moment, then chuckled.

[CrowsEye]

Artemis looked baffled for a moment, then raised his drink to his lips before saying around it, "I'm a lefty."

[Maxx]

"She used a bow in her left hand,"  Sebastian said.  "Used it to put an arrow in the head of the real Orion when he was swimming.  Speaking of whom, have you seen your midwife?  I'd like to ask him if he's willing the show the scar.  You know, put up or shut up.  Knowing him, shut up wasn't likely to be an option.  Damn that boy could go on.  If you wanted an opinion, he'd give you one since he usually had two or three to spare."