Pax RP

((Sure, I don't mind carrying it on))

Tala waited as patiently as was possible whilst they talked this idea over with themselves, eventually the reptilian even reluctantly agreeing to a new, different game. The werewolf gathered the cards together, noting with some displeasure that though fur and claws were fine for crude sweeping actions, they would not be suitable for more the more delicate actions of shuffling. So there was really only one thing she could do to deal with that-Tala switched back to human right in the middle of the bar. "Excuse me for a minute" Tala said to the three "I think to do this right I need to change".
Her eyes began to switch from yellow with a silver tint, to brown with a yellow tint. Her fur too underwent a similar change, from silver with brown highlights to brown with silver highlights, all the while getting shorter. Ears located on the top of the head migrated down each side, losing their points and becoming more rounded. Her snout receded whilst fangs shrank and blunted, and the wet black nose changed shape completely to become more human. The hands seemed to shrink as claws receded to become nails, her tail shrank out of existence, and the bouncer lost most of her height when her legs, the ankles in particular became compressed to form hunan feet. Meanwhile, internally bones broke, only to morph and reheal sending out rather loud and disturbing cracking sounds as they did. When this process was over after only a few minutes, Tala looked like nothing more than an ordinary female human wearing a skin hugging silver suit. Well, unless you looked closely into her eyes, or had sharp enough senses to note that her scent was the same as before. Tala Lupe would always be a werewolf.

Tala carefully removed six of the now eleven Consort cards so the deck was as it should be, as far as she knew, carefully laying them aside. Then she did as asked-shuffled, cut, shuffled, shuffled, cut again, one last shuffle and that was done enough for her liking. Then she picked three cards from the top and dealt them to reptile, amphibian and human alike, taking particular note that the humans and reptiles held the scent of the previously spilled aromatic beverage, whilst the amphibians did not. It may well turn out taking note of such things was pointless, but then again, they might not be. "You can flip your cards over on the table"

"That's an interesting party trick." The amphibian mused as Tala shifted forms. "I'll say." Added the human, now quite a lot more comfortable with the bouncer's presence. "Why don't you just stay like a human all the time?" "Those suffering from lycanthropy are not so lucky as to have a choice in the matter." The reptile explained, giving the human a withering look for his ignorance. The human seemed confused, until the amphibian added "That means she's a werewolf, friend." "I knew that!" The human snapped back, even though he didn't.

"What it means is that you should keep on her good side," The reptile continued, cautiously watching Tala. "While it is a tragic affliction lycanthropy is also a highly infectious and easily transferable disease; a single bite is all it takes, and there is no known cure. Quite frankly I'm amazed that somebody with her... condition could be-" "Such a vision of loveliness, whether covered in hair or completely hairless." The amphibian interrupted, giving Tala another wink and a smile. The human seemed a little less repulsed by the amphibian's interest in Tala now that she appeared human, but the reptile grunted in disgust once more. "You'd be better off sticking with your own species, frog." "Life is a buffet my friend, who could be satisfied with the same dish over and over? Now, shall we continue our game?"

The atmosphere became tense once more, and the trio flipped their cards over at the same time. Their reactions were instantaneous; the frog's amusement, the lizard's silent contempt and the human's vocal rage. "What the hell is this?! Just how many damn consorts have been slipped into the deck?" Both the reptile and the human had been dealt consorts, with the amphibian having the only different card. Neither of his companions could accuse him of cheating however, for aside from the fact that an independent party had dealt the cards, his card was weaker, and thus he was the loser of this draw. Oddly enough however, he did not seem upset by this at all.

"Deal another two cards for myself and the human, werewolf." The reptile ordered, his patience rapidly thinning. "We'll keep these two consorts out this time, to reduce the chance of being dealt more." "Yeah, uh, what he said." The human added rather pointlessly, wanting to make sure that no decision was made without his consent. The amphibian had nothing to add, but was smiling quite widely now, as though enjoying a joke that only he understood.

"Yeah..." Tala replied, mildly put off by the humans exclamation "party trick...". The reptile added his say, thoroughly confusing the guy before the amphibian explained in more common terms, and then the reptile added more information about her condition, before making some reference to something about her that surprised him-before the amphibian started the flirting off again. "... completely hairless?" she muttered, absently reaching a hand up to check that her shoulder length brown hair still existed and the shift hadn't done something unexpected. It was still there, so Tala breathed a silent sigh of relief. She probably shouldn't but she felt there were some points she should address from their conversation "I don't stay like this all the time for a lot of reasons. Would you have been quite so willing to let me confiscate your firearm if I'd confronted you in this form? I doubt it, it's useful for preventing fights. That, and I like walking around in that form sometimes. It gives you a different view of things, especially when compared to humans. It also means I heal much faster, run quicker, am stronger and am very hard to kill" this was directed at the human, the next one was directed at the reptile-although after their combined explosion at their cards. She talked as she added the two consorts to the small pile of consorts, then picked two more cards for the tied reptilian and human. "If you're wondering how I can have such control over my other forms the answer is pretty simple-I was born like this to two werewolf parents who had both caught it through a bite. Both myself and my elder brother have the ability to change forms at will, they did not They believed it was a curse. Lucky and unlucky for all of us a full dark moon only happens once every four months here. It's due tomorrow night"

"Your parents had no concerns propagating your disease, then?" The lizard retorted, now having an even worse impression of Tala than he had before. Clearly he did not have a very high view of werewolves. "Where I come from, if a disease cannot be cured, the diseased is killed and their body burned, to prevent it from ever spreading."

"You are surely testing the limits of our lovely host's patience, friend." The amphibian objected, though unlike the previous insult he could do little to take the sting off this one, which clearly had him feeling a little vexed. "Man, that's a sick way to treat sick people." The human replied, not really caring too much about what the amphibian had to say, or how Tala might have felt about the reptile speaking. "The few are sacrificed for the good of the many. From what I understand humans often talk of this but usually struggle when the time comes for action." He placed a scaled hand over his card, his deliberate emphasis on the last word calling for the human to do the same. "Some of us can take the heat a little better than others." The human replied, grinning with false confidence as he flipped his card over.

The lizard had a card with a king, the human a card with a warlord. Even those who did not recognize the game understood what the cards were worth from the reactions of the two players; the reptile's satisfied huff and the human's disappointed groan told all that needed to be told. "Looks like it's your choice then... try to make it something that we all know." The human grumbled. "I had already decided upon a simple human game." The lizard replied, to the surprise of all present. "'The King's Assasin'; do you know it?" "A popular children's game, if I recall..." The frog mused, rubbing a webbed hand on his slimy chin. "Complexity disguised as simplicity, yet notoriously difficult to cheat." The reptile replied, now in a much better mood. "Not to mention the fact that the odds are heavily stacked against the rest of us." The human complained.

"Let us go over the rules for our... dealer." The reptile elaborated, ignoring the human's complaint. "The king has been assassinated," he began, turning the card on to it's side. "The murderer is hidden in a crowd," he pointed towards the deck as he said this, "and I am the only witness." He directed attention back to the dealer. "The head of the guard directs the suspects, in groups of three, towards the judiciaries, who must decide if they are innocent or guilty. Those you deem innocent are free to go, and may not be brought back into play, while those determined guilty are brought to me. If they are of the same suit as the murderer, or the same occupation as the murderer, you may have one more turn, however I will not tell you which it is. If they have no relation to the murderer, you lose. If you bring me the murderer, you win. The game goes on until the crowd is empty, the judiciaries are both disqualified or the murderer is found - whichever happens first."

"It's a little more complicated than I remember..." The human murmured, scratching his head. "Our friend is a little lost in the drama of the game, it seems." The amphibian laughed, clapping his hands - clearly he too enjoyed a good game. "Here, I will explain to our dealer and you can pick up what you need to know as I go." He took the deck from Tala and pulled all of the cards out, laying them out carefully as he explained. "In this deck, we have five suits to represent the five essences of life; Elements, Ether, Vegetation, Beast and Man ('Man' in this sense applies to any dominant sentient, my dear, not just humans). Then there are the twelve occupations; King, Queen, Warlord, Consul, Soldier, Artisan, Merchant, Farmer, Mother, Consort, Slave and the Dreamer. I do not know if you are aware of the special rules concerning the Dreamer card, but they do not apply in this game so if you don't know, don't worry about it."

"Obviously the murdered king must stay on the table, so in this case we are looking to find out which card is the 'murderer' of the... King of Man. Our reptilian friend is the only witness, which means that he decides which is the murderer card. Let us say that it is the Warlord of Ether." He held up a card to show it to Tala and the human. "He will tell you what this card is, for the sake of fairness, and then we must guess it. You deal us three cards each per round, and we decide if we would like to accuse any of our 'suspects'." At this point the amphibian placed three cards in front of himself and the human. "So if I chose to accuse the Merchant of Ether," the human said, showing Tala the card, "yes, you would be told that he is related to the murderer, but nothing else, and entitled to play in the next round." "Isn't there a rule about showing the suspect?" "With stakes like these you'd be wiser to keep the knowledge of the suspect to yourself, but the choice is yours." The reptile answered. "Indeed! We may work together or you may keep it from me, this is perhaps the most devious and ingenious element of the game!" The amphibian concurred, clearly getting more and more excited about the game. "If I were to pick the Warlord of Vegetation, I would be told that he is related to the murderer, but nothing else, and entitled to play in the next round. If we were to share this knowledge with each other, we would easily gain the knowledge of which card is the murderer, but then of course, the first person to be dealt that card would immediately win the game." "We show our accusations at the same time, face up is to share an investigation and face down is to keep it secret." The human explained, recalling the finer points of the game as the lesson went on.

"Exactly! Though as soon as you accuse an innocent and unrelated person," the amphibian continued, holding up the Queen of Man as if he were choosing this card, "you lose." "And if you set the murderer free, you both lose, and I win. You can work together and risk losing the prize to your opponent, or keep secrets and risk losing the prize to me." The reptile finished the explanation, placing taking the card depicting the murderer for himself. "It comes from an old tale, wherein the only witness and the murderer are actually in league with each other. The murderer is a violent criminal and the only witness is a crafty criminal; if the murderer's identity remains a secret both get away, but if his identity comes to light the witness sees to it that he is killed for his crime, thus ensuring that he can never be implicated." The reptile seemed to take great pleasure in the game's grim origins, and he clearly relished sharing it with others. "His goal was to remain the 'only' witness, in every sense of the word, no matter what the cost, and that is how the game goes."

"Now, werewolf, the rules have been explained and the cards need to be dealt. I have written the murderer's name on this piece of paper, keep it away from prying eyes until the end of the game." With this, he handed Tala the piece of paper, smiling wryly.

((Check your PM inbox for the piece of paper Swix ))

Tala glared at the reptile, he was really starting to irk her "Hmph. No they had no concerns about propagating this 'disease'-as you call it, because they were under the impression that it was only transferred through a bite. Someone on my world has done such a brilliant job of covering up our existence that noone even knows how we first started, or where we came from" her emphasis on 'our' was a strong and proud one, not only did she have no problem with what she was, she was happy just being. She wouldn't give it up for the world, no matter other sapient beings understandable if irritating fears. If lycanthropy existed on his world, Tala doubted if they'd even bothered to have a look in their own history about it. Besides, how do you wipe out something that's non-existent until a full moon, especially when any conflict would end up in more of that which you're fighting? Talas thoughts grew ever darker along this path, ultimately stopping at the one thing she'd often considered but never admitted to. A survivor of a werewolf attack must be smart, strong, fast or lucky already to do so, possibly all four. So by it's very nature lycanthropy was picking out the best specimens of a species to pass this gift, curse, disease-whatever you wanted to call it, onto. The reptilians argument did not make all that much sense to her.

Even the most wild wolf packs didn't treat their sick that way...
And that thought was enough to jerk her out of her reverie before they strayed too far into feral beast territory, just in time to hear the new game being picked and explained.

The werewolf listened attentively to the amphibian as he explained the deck as well, laying down the cards to help with the explanation as he did. The other two interjected as needed, letting her know all she needed to know Tala nodded at this, absorbing as mubh as she could. "I see" she confirmed her understanding "simple to set up, more complicated to play. Interesting game"

The origin of the game she also found interesting if unsavoury. At least a werewolf under the influence had no control over who and what she maimed or killed. "What a lovely person to know" she added at the end of it, almost absently.

The werewolf then took the paper that the reptile had written the name of the murderer on-and did her best not to react to it. Apparently the cold blooded creature was trying to rub her the wrong way as much as he possibly could.
Tala wasn't going to rise to anymore jibes though, much as her wild, boiling blood wanted her to.

Instead she concentrated first on making sure the right number and suits of the Consorts were in the deck this time, performing more shuffling and then dealing three cards each to the amphibian and human.

((Sorry that I've left this be for so long! Even though I have a decent idea of how the game will play out, I'm still not entirely sure how to RP it in a decent way! I figure I'd best just try it out and see how I go before I forget how it's meant to end, so please forgive me if it's a little laborious to get through Swix ))

The human picked up the cards and looked at them carefully, his brow furrowing as he did he best to try and discern which, if any, of the cards would be the best to submit. The amphibian, however, focused his attention entirely on the others, and did not even pick up his cards at first. He had watched the reptile carefully as he'd handed the paper to Tala, and then at Tala herself to observe her reaction to the knowledge of which would be the winning card. Unfortunately for him, Tala did an expert job of masking any reaction, and he did not find the clues that he'd expected to find in her expression. He frowned, then looked over his own cards.

"Before we proceed, my friend, it would be best to share our suspicions." The amphibian said, his eyes lifting from his cards to focus on the human. "I don't know if I trust you enough for that, frog. We never did find out who cheated that last game... What if you convince me to deliberately lay down the wrong card?" The amphibian was a little surprised by the sudden change in the human's demeanour - before he was overly emotional, jittery and easy to rile up. Now he was quite a bit calmer and more focused. Well, with stakes like these that was hardly surprising.

"Fair point, friend." He conceded, the procured a card from his jacket. This was not a playing card however, but a business card. "We were never formally introduced, and I believe that trust starts with knowing a fellow's name. Saliomedes Bufonelio Frools Jr., merchant extraordinaire." "Huh." The human was a little interested in this, and glanced over the fanciful business card. "Well, uh, good to meet you and all Sal Jr, but just because you give me your name doesn't mean I'll give you mine."

"Then perhaps you'll play a card instead?" The reptile interjected, obviously eager to see cards played before any alliances could be forged. "Now now, no need to be so impatient." Sal quickly replied, not wanting to rush things. Winning this game would be far more difficult if he could not win this human over first. "In fact, why don't I go first?" He flipped a card over and moved it towards the centre of the table. "I know a little more about the good doctor than you, friend human, and I suspect that even if he were not the one to cheat in our previous game he could not resist capitalizing off of our new-found suspicion for lovely consorts." He revealed his card for all to see - the Consort of Elements. Sal's eyes focused entirely on the human, beckoning him to show the same courtesy and reveal whatever card he would choose. This was an important sacrifice to make, but the human could easily take advantage of it and keep his card a secret.

The reptile observed the card with a sense of mild amusement, though he was careful not to show this on his face. "Human, if you have an accusation to make you must do so now." The human was hesitant - the unresolved issue of the cheater made him feel uneasy about trusting the frog, but he felt cornered in this game. He looked at his cards again, a small amount of sweat now beading on his forehead. The stakes were so high, and the pressure felt immense. The card choice seemed too obvious, it had to be a trick, but Sal seemed so certain...

There was only one safe way to be sure. "I've got no accusations to make this round." He replied, handing all three of his cards over to the reptile. "Very well. The frog's accused is not the murderer, but is related to the murderer." The reptile coolly explained, collecting Sal's cards. "Though gambling on a 20% chance doesn't mean that you know me any better than the human does."

The first round left the table with a tense atmosphere. The reptile appeared to be maintaining control for now, and with his final comment, he had undercut the amphibian's attempt to win over the human.

((That's perfectly alright 3kul ^_^))

Tala sniffed when the amphibian introduced himself to the human as Sal, partially because she had a tickle on the inside of her nose but mostly because she wanted to get a good sense of the scent that had been left on the card.
So, the reptilian was a doctor whom Sal had met before the human, and the human and frog were so new to each other that they hadn't even given each other their names. That was... Interesting.

"So" the werewolf said, dealing out the next round of cards "how did you three come to start playing card games together since some of you seem to be strangers to each other?"

Maybe she was blathering since she had a strong dislike for the tension the last round had left, she mused. Still, couldn't hurt to ask.

Tala would not that the card played by Sal smelled strongly of the spiced liquor that had been spilled prior to her arrival. With this knowledge, she could confirm that this was one of the consorts from the previous game that she had shuffled into the deck... or an extra consort that had also been soaked in the aromatic beverage before being slipped in to the game, which would suggest that Sal was the cheater. Given the low number of cards, however, and the fact that only two at the table were actually doing anything with these cards, with two others watching the game, this would be more likely to indicate a supernatural level of foul play. It seems downright impossible for anything suspicious to transpire without either Tala or the reptilian doctor taking notice of it, making it equally impossible for any reasonable person to accuse anybody in the game of cheating without sounding like they were desperately grasping at straws.

In any case, the game was not going as planned for any of the three participants. For the reptile, one of the two crucial aspects of his card had already been identified in the first round, greatly increasing his chances of losing. Sal's chances of forming an alliance with the human seemed unlikely, and the human had thrown away three cards, one of which could very well be the card that they needed. Tala's attempt at conversation was a welcome distraction for some, and an unwelcome break in the flow of the game to others.

"Medicine is one of the many things that are difficult to come by here," the reptile explained curtly. "Even if he does not seem like it, the frog's reputation as a trader does precede him in some social circles, so I arranged through a colleague to meet him here to discuss his wares, but - regrettably - he does not have what I am looking for." "A true tragedy my friend, but once again I assure you; if I do not sell it, nobody does!" Sal interjected a little too quickly, obviously concerned about the damage that this may cause to his reputation. "Our discussion got a little... shall we say heated? I proposed a game to relax and calm ourselves." "Interesting how that worked out..." The reptile muttered, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I joined the game a few rounds in." The human added, pulling a strange face as he mused over his cards. "The stakes seemed good, and I knew the game well enough. Seemed like a good way to kill time."

The reptile and the amphibian both reacted to this comment from the human - the amphibian looking down and away from the table, as if trying to recall something, and the reptile raising a scaly eyebrow. "You played very poorly for somebody who claims to know the game, and bet far too high for somebody interested in the stakes." This seemed to strike a nerve with the human, and he quickly shoved a card in front of the reptile - face down.

Sal sighed and placed all three of his cards face up - he had a Dreamer of Vegetation, an Artisan of Ether and a Merchant of Man. "Given that none of my cards bear any relation to my previous suspect I declare them all innocent." "Common enough in a deck of 60 cards." The reptile commented, a little relieved that Sal did not have anything to play for the round given the great luck he'd had in the previous round. "As for the human's suspect..." He picked up the card carefully, taking great care not to show it to anybody. The moment he saw it a condescending sneer crept across his face. "Frog, your strategy is wasted on this one!" He laughed, placing the card back down on the table face down. "Human, you have accused an innocent party and have thus lost the game." "NO! You're wrong, you didn't even look at my card properly-" The human reached for his card again, but the reptile was quicker, slamming his clawed hand down on it with more force than necessary. "Once you have placed a card face down you cannot reveal it to the rest of the table." The reptile snapped.

"Indeed," Sal concurred, nodding solemnly, but with a hint of a smile on his lips. "We were fairly clear with the rules, and you had no objections or questions when we reminded you of them. A card played in haste makes waste, my friend!" The human stared incredulously at Sal, baffled by his calm, almost cheerful reaction. "Then he cheated! He changed the card he picked, I'm sure of it! At the very least my card should be related!"

"How dare you accuse me of foul play when the only thing to blame here is your own idiocy, filthy ape!" The reptile snarled, sliding the card over to Tala. "The dealer will confirm your loss, without revealing any details of what the card is, as you elected to place your card face down."

The human remained standing, his eyes desperately locked on to Tala. It seemed that he would not believe the outcome of the game until it came from her, which was perfectly understandable in a game played with an unknown cheater, but in this instance it seemed unlikely that there was any foul play.

((Tala will find that the card is the Slave of Elements, and that it does not bear the smell of the strong alcohol that the Consort of Elements card did.))

Tala listened to their explanations of how they'd met with ears pricked forwards in rapt attention-or at least they would have been if she were still in her anthropomorphic wolf form, a little thing she often missed when human. So, either the reptilian or Sal had premeditated this game-more likely Sal since he'd proposed the game, or the human was an opportunistic card shark that had spotted the game and thought that a gun would help save him if he was caught out., deliberately playing poorly to make the pot bigger. The latter seemed slightly more unlikely as two of the parties working together but stranger things had happened. Tala made a mental note to shake down any of the three that decided to bolt early-werewolf style.

The lycanthrope watched as the two made their play, with the human and reptilian once more in a quarrel going nowhere until the doctor passed the card to her over the table, stopping the human from snatching it back or turning it over.

Tala took the card without a flourish and looked at it. The Slave of Elements card looked back, and Tala frowned before placing it back facedown on the table. "This card is innocent" Tala confirmed, keeping her hand on top of it so noone was tempted to snatch or sneakily look at it. "Sorry" she looked towards the human this time "you're out of this game, and you seem to be having a run of bad luck, maybe you should just go home and relax?" she slid the card back across the table to the reptile as she said this, then dealt the next round to the amphibian. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you two get in contact with each other? Messenger, magic, perhaps another method?" she directed the question towards the doctor and the merchant, then turned to the human as another thought occurred to her "Why did you need to kill time anyway?"

The human seemed on the verge of bursting into another fit of outrage at his loss when Tala confirmed it, but then he went oddly quiet when she suggested he leave. "Yeah... yeah, guess I've just got to cut my losses and call it quits." He got up from the table, nodding curtly to all present. "I'd say it was fun but... well, it kinda did my head in." He made his way out the door fairly quickly, either not hearing or straight up ignoring Tala's final question for him. Sal and the reptile both viewed this sudden change of heart as incredibly odd, but neither of them really knew the human all that well, so they couldn't be sure that this wasn't just due to the presence of the werewolf bouncer.

For the reptile, at least, the human's immediate departure was most welcoming, as it greatly boosted his confidence in winning the game - no alliance between the human and the amphibian meant that his chances of victory were much greater, and most importantly, it meant that Sal had no way of gleaning the card that the human had just played and lost on. "I first heard of the frog's reputation through a patient of mine, and after asking a few others, I found that he often frequents this settlement. When I arrived the opening of this establishment was the talk of the town, so meeting him was simply a matter of coming here."

"I thought of setting up a trading caravan, but my business is not yet big enough to justify the various expenses associated with that." Sal explained, his eyes still on his own cards. "Meeting and dealing with customers here is safe, sociable and entertaining. What more could I ask for?" He hummed thoughtfully at this, then placed his card face up. "It's probably not this one, but I'm certain that the Consort of Vegetation is related to our killer." "... Indeed, it is as you say it is." The reptile begrudgingly admitted, his confidence in winning this game rapidly eroding. Had he been too obvious in how he'd played? "Tell me frog, have you figured out the card already?" "Perhaps... At the very least I can conclude that you are exceptionally confident that nobody could possibly cheat at this game." The reptile's eyes narrowed at this hint of accusation, but unlike with the human, who was easily riled up, there was no strategic benefit to getting into an argument with the jovial amphibian. "Next hand please dealer."

((EDIT: Changed to avoid time paradoxes! :O ))

"Hmmmm" Tala mused, watching the human leave hurriedly-with her hands on the deck. "Hey, Syllak!" she yelled to the other bouncer, the silver scaled draconian standing outside, who turned her lizard like head to show she was listening. "See that guy that pushed past everyone?" Syllak nodded "Keep an eye on him" the draconian nodded again, and concentrated on her own job.

"I see" Tala said after the doctor and the merchants explanations, dealing the next three cards to the amphibian. "So you both came to the settlement here in hopes of meeting each other" she didn't say anymore, because she was running out of things to say quite rapidly. Although there was one thing eating away at her curiousity since they mentioned it. "What was it you were after buying off Sal, if you don't mind me asking?"

Syllak would not have too much trouble finding the human for he had not gone very far. He was pacing up and down the street, keeping an anxious eye on the door. Clearly he was not done with the game, even though he'd been told to leave and had seemingly done so without protest. For now he did not appear to notice Syllak, for she was neither of the two beings that he was keeping an eye out for, but he was looking pretty panicky, so if she approached him carelessly or made it obvious that she was watching him it seemed pretty likely that he'd bolt.

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"It didn't take him that long to find me, really." Sal replied. "A merchant doesn't do much business if he makes himself hard to find after all&#33;" He chuckled as he gathered up his next hand, scanning them carefully to find the card that he sought.

"It is a private matter," the reptile replied coldly to Tala's query, obviously not thrilled that she was prying into his affairs. "I would prefer it kept secret, even if I never happen to chance upon that which I require." "It is better not to ask 'what', but 'why'." Sal interjected, setting his hand down on the table and focusing his bulging eyes on the lizard. His expression was now one of deep concern, the first time he'd shown such an emotion during the game. "I doubt that there are laws against such things here yet, but what you ask me for is typically only found on black markets in other worlds." "Again, frog, it is a private matter." The lizard snarled, his clawed hands digging into the table. "I mean nothing sinister by asking. I can only hope that the same was true for you."

He pushed his cards towards the discard pile as he said this, indicating that he had nothing to declare for this hand. "All innocent, I'm afraid&#33; Next hand please, dealer." He seemed to have switched back to his more sociable persona, a wide grin spread across his face. The reptile remained as disgruntled as ever, and hoped to see the game end quickly.

((Sorry 3kul, my phone ate my original post so this one probably won't be as detailed as it should be as I feel I've kept you waiting too long and I'm annoyed right now))

Syllak ultimately decided to leave Tala to it, as she was sure the werewolf could handle herself, and follow after the guy. However, when she saw the state he was in it was obvious he would bolt if he saw her watching him, so she decided to use a seldom used ability. The draconian stood still next to a nearby stand of trees, and soon looked to the rest of the world like just another tree.

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"Mmm" Tala mumbled to herself as she dealt the next three cards to the amphibian, one of which had the strong smell from before.
Her curiousity wasn't satisfied, but she definitely had the impression the doctor didn't want to talk about it anymore. She thought the reptilian wouldn't be happy about her continuing questions, she thought that he deserved it after all of his stings from earlier, and she thought she'd regret thinking the second thought after the full moon.
Still... "Alright" the werewolf said to Sal "I'll bite and ask why." Inwardly she smiled at the unintentional pun "Why would anyone want whatever it is you're talking about? Why is it considered sinister and not so? And why is it banned on other worlds?"

((That's okay Swix, sorry for keeping you waiting for an even longer period of time&#33;))

The human could see that, even though he was not the only one to leave the Horn and Halo, nobody had followed him yet and remained as he was; nervous, wary and constantly watching the door. He was clearly waiting for somebody in particular.

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The reptile was clearly not pleased that the conversation had turned to this particular topic, and with the game as close as it was he was quite eager to see it end as quickly as possible. "Perhaps you did not hear me clearly the first time; regardless of what the frog says, this is a private matter. Private, as in, something that I do not wish to discuss with others."

"When looking for rarities I find that being sociable is quite helpful," Sal interjected, collecting his cards and perusing them casually. "Being aggressive, secretive, unfriendly... These are all traits that give people cause for suspicion, don't you agree?" "As opposed to being nosy, overly talkative and wasting time?" The reptile snarled back, tapping his claws on the table impatiently. "I'm not some hatchling looking to make friends, I just need some damn lun-" The reptile snapped his mouth shut, narrowing his eyes at both Tala and Sal. He was sick of playing these games, sick of the frog dancing around his own problems like they were nothing at all. If they wanted to know so badly, then let them know. "Lungs." He whispered lowly, to avoid being overheard. "Not enough information for you, frog? What I need are a very specific set of lungs, and the reason why is for a patient who has discovered that the atmosphere here on Pax is vastly different to that of their homeworld, and that prolonged exposure is causing their lungs to slowly deteriorate. Before long they will be unable to breathe, and their eventual suffocation will be slow and painful."

The mood at the table was now tense and awkward, moreso than before. "... All innocent." Sal declared, placing his cards in the discard pile and looking towards Tala. It seems that, talkative as he was, even he could be left a bit speechless at times.

Tala dealt the next hand to Sal, thinking. She didn't say anything, because there wasn't all that much to say. Plus there was the little matter of whether she gave in to the impulse of laughter that was trying to break free from her. Bad Tala, very, very bad werewolf. She knew of a few ways and people this reptilian doctor might be able to help his client. On the other, they weren't anything that she would ever condone... Not unless there was a dire need for it.
But then, if this patient would suffocate for certain. So was it worth her mentioning it at all? Maybe, maybe not.

"Well" she said eventually "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you find what you're looking for for your patients sake. Although that disadvantage doesn't come as much of a surprise to me. As it probably wouldn't to most here. I used to know a human who was brilliant with nanomachines. Pity she isn't here now, she might have helped. Being aggressively secretive like that, would make one think you were doing or considering doing something... less than savoury. Unfortunately I know of a few people who, well-" she paused, uncertain of whether she should keep going, thinking her conscience would crush her either way, and was mercifully interrupted by the arrival of a humanoid woman wearing a green helmet being deposited by the celestial winds in the centre of the inn. Where she promptly jumped up onto the bar with a hand resting on the hilt of a long thin sword and a half crazed, half terrified look on her face. The owner stared at Tala, rolled his eyes, and turned to try to deal with the new arrival. "But noone would be interested in either of them..."