"So," Yue sweeps his arm over the expanse of the shiny complex. "What do you think?"

Ting blinks. "Shiny...check. Colorful...check. Alcohol...okay, I'm good." She smiles a "sweet smile."

"Quite." Yue leads the way, of course. They'd appeared in what looks to be a parking lot for small shuttles, the personal conveyance types, and the walk to the front gate of the establishment is a short one. The gate itself is sizable, and flanked by a pair of scaly hulks with rifles in their massive hands.

"Ethan?" Yue calls, waving his gloved hand. "When did you get promoted to guard?"

One of the immense lizard things glances at them, and rubs its shiny eyes. "Yue? Is that you?"

"Oh, Ethan..." the fallen angel walks right up to him and lays her hand on his chest, which is at Yue's eye level. "Who else could make you this wistful, this fast?"

The other lizard man grumbles a bit at what is obviously a breach in security etiquette. "She could," he growls, pointing at Ting, "and neither get in with curves."

"Aww..." Ting rocks from side to side a bit on her fit. Her voice is working with its full, pretty dumen quality, as it usually does at clubs. "Then how do. we get in?"

"Gotta be on my list."

"Stuff it, Warren. Yue is an old friend of mine. And her friend would be a fox if she weren't a cat. Thing. Cute, though."

"You stuff it."

"I'll stuff this gun up your ass...!"

"boys, please, don't fight." Yue looks back to Ting. "Ting here, you see, is a singer. She might be doing a number tonight."

Ting nods enthusiastically. "Yep...I was so excited when I heard about it, too!" About three seconds ago. "I work really hard on my singing. I even have a special teacher! I love it when people hear me sing, don't you love it when people hear you sing?"

"I can't sing," Warren shrugs.

"Tell me about it."

"Up yours, Ethan. Well... prove it, lady. Sing us somethin'."

Yue smiles. Exactly. Ting IS a dumen female, afterall.

"Well...I don't know. Promise you won't laugh? I do try hard, I promise." Ting really has the "cute kitten" thing going on.

Yue smiles at them, too. Touches Ethan's clawed paw.

"If you laugh, I kick your ass," he assures his buddy, who scoffs."

"Well...I'll do my best." Ting smiles, her expression changing slowly. Smiles at Yue, it had been a good idea...lets out a slow breath, closes her eyes.

"May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home "

As she really falls into the song, Ting's hands and body begin to adopt the smooth, sensual movements of an experienced fan dancer.

"Mornie utúlië


Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornie utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now"


by the time it's over, Yue is weeping openly, head leaned against her saurian friend's huge forearm. Ethan is humming, and Warren... for the sake of his manhood, there is something in his eye.

"Alright, alright. You can go, just make sure you get a number and sing. Or else I'm comin' after you." The two beastly guards step to either side, both wide-eyed still.

Ting's quiet. She smiles...she's fading back to how she had been. Isn't quite there yet, but is still a cute kitty. "Inside, then, Yue?" She smiles at the incubus.

Yue nods, not really able to speak too well. He dries his eyes, and leads Ting that way.

Inside, the lights are low and soft. A house band is strumming some bluesy tune not far away, and there are people of all sorts tottering around. Drinking at the bar, playing card games, billiards, on the right, low couches, little clothing, and soft noises on the left. Yue points up to a statue that looks... rather like him, actually.

"Succubus relief," he says, still a little misty from Ting's voice. "It means there's a brothel in here. Want to get a drink?"

"Sure thing." She smiles, and wiggles back and forth, heading towards the bar. She yawns. "So where do I get a number dingy to sing like scaley told me to?"

"Karaoke bar, baby." Yue points off to the right, where a highly inebriated insect creature is singing an instrumental. "Are you bored? Yawning...?"

"Nu, just need oxygen I guess." Ting grins, and scrunches up her nose. "That song had some looong sustained sections." She blinks at the bug. "He...ah...does know that he's singing the wrong song, right?"

"I doubt it. But he's better entertainment than most real singers." About that time, the bug blasts a trumpeting note, and sneezes on the first row. "Classic. Ting, this," he smiles at the bartender, a mustached fairy with cute butterfly wings, "is Loland."

The fairy smiles at both of them. "Yue, you... wings? Oh... fuck, man, I'm sorry..." he looks to Ting, manages a smile when Yue just shakes his head. "Hi. What can I do for you, kitten?"

Ting smiles. "Do you have any house special drinks?"

"Sure. We've got a Mad Haberdasher today, made with real virgin oil."

Yue shakes his head, a small movement, but still urgent.

"Oh. How about a Good Deed Punisher? Berry malt liquor with a little salt, and ice cubes made of frozen berry cola?"

The fallen angel nods at that, a good choice. "Whatever Ting decides, I'll have a Punisher."

"I'll go with that, too," Ting notes. Smiles, and looks out over the place. "Kind of quiet."

Yue leans his elbows on the bar. "Yeah, for now. See all those couches? With the people, ah, bonding on them?" No one is actually doing anything too lewd in the darkened chamber, but dozens of folks are entwined in their partners' arms as if they want to be. "In a few minutes they'll open up the back room, and all of those people will go back there. Then the couches go down into the floor, and the dancing starts. What night is this, Loland?"

The bartender sets their drinks in front of them. "This is heaven dust night."

Yue smiles. "See those vents up there, on the ceiling, Ting?"

Ting glances up. "Uh-huh?"

"Midway through the first song, those vents will pump heaven dust into the dance floor. It's... like a skin stimulant. It makes the pain receptors in your body give way to the pleasure receptors, so even a casual touch on the arm or something could feel very nice. The odd effect is that more often than not, people will start fighting in it because someone brushes someone else and it is misconstrued into an advance. Beautiful." He looks to the other side, pointing towards another stage. "And that is the Burlesque stage. Plays and theatre done by people not afraid to share themselves with the world. Between the two of them, and the rave pit outside, there are enough combustible elements to start something fun."

Ting blinks, then giggles. "ooo! Sounds delightful, that!"

"So, miss... Ting, was it? Do you want a bag of that dust, too?" Loland is busy cleaning out glasses, and look a little bored. "It's on the house, the first time. Since you're with Yue, I'll treat you."

Ting grins. "Sure...I bet I can find some use for it. Thank you!"

Loland reaches behind the bar and tosses a bag onto the table, filled with the pink dust.

"Don't worry. It isn't some addictive drug or anything," Yue assures her. "Just a nice surprise for someone you like."

All of a sudden, a crashing wall of sound barrels over the soft, seductive notes of the previous song. A loud cheer goes up from the gathered crowd as the entire back wall slides open and the making-outers head back. The couches are sinking already, and Yue takes Ting's arm gently.

"Want to dance?"

Ting smiles brightly, the bag of dust vanishing somewhere or other, takes a sip of her drink, and stands up with Yue. "Well, only if you'll stop dragging your heels and head over there with me." She grins.

"Yue's always dragging," the bartender quips. "I know, I know," he puts up his hands when Yue glares at him. "You'll show me how to make a Monkeystomped Bartender."

Yue nods, and leads Ting out to the floor. Dozens of people are pouring into the sizable tile area, coming out of all sorts of near-hidden doors in droves. Most of them are humanoid, but there are a few lizards and bugs too.

The band starts out with a spirited sort of jig, which Yue's feet pick up immediately.

"Hee..." and Ting's quick to pick up right along with him, having fun in a hurry. "See...this is what nights should be like!" she chirps happily.

Yue nods. The glut of feelings in his heart is swirling more than he can really explain, but for now, he's too content to be bothered with the bad things. He twirls in his pretty new dress, earning the eyes of a few onlookers. Most people are just trying to get into the rhythm at first.

Until the vents open, that is. A lively cheer goes up as the pink dust descends on the dance floor, clinging to the hair and skin of the dancers.

Ting blinks, snuffles and coughs for just a moment, and the eeps when her arm brushes Yue's as they dance. Her eyes widen. "That's some awesome stuff!"

The angel's eyes are closed, his head back. "Isn't it?" He dances a circle around her, ignoring the people who are beginning to dance closer together. "Remind me. We'll get some of it for your parents, while we're here." He beams at her, that saucy, seductive smile of his. His wings twitch as though they wish to unfurl. "Take the lead, Ting."

"Hee..." And she does. Still, she's staying more or less conservative for the moment, and keeping to what Yue's already estalished, with flare of her own but no substantial changes. Actually, for a very specific reason.

"God, there are a lot of cute guys here," Ting observes at a point she and Yue are a bit closer to avoid large insectoids on either side. "I really wish Makyon would do something. He's kissed me twice now...but it's just like 'out of nowhere: kiss! Yay! Done! And then nothing else happens for like a month. He's sweet and everything but I hope he knows I can't just hang out and wait around for him go get brave and at least ask me out of something? Because seriously. Some of these fellows are hot."

Yue smiles a little at the confession. "There are. But you know, men... Makyon included... are terrified to advance, or arrogant. I am quite the authority here." He whirls around another pair of dancers, and comes back to Ting, smiling.  "Besides. It's obvious that he likes you. He could well be terrified of your mother." He points his chin a certain direction, towards where a pleasant-looking man stands, smiling at nothing in particular. He sports a five o' clock shadow and is well-dressed but not really foofy, looking more like an on-hiatus guitar player than anything else.

Ting glances, and then looks back to Yue, grinning. "Yus. Cute like that one."

"Why don't you go get him, then?" Yue looks to him, catches his his unbelievably blue eyes. "I think he likes the look of you, anyway." Yue 'accidentally' brushes Ting's arm, to put the point home for her.

"Meep!" Ting shivers at that, and smiles up at Yue. "Well...he is cute...I just don't know...oh, but he's cute. His eyes are kinda like Creepy's..."

Yue tilts his head over. Hm. "Well then. Let's make sure they stay on you." The angel pivots and turns, snatching Ting's arm and slipping his free hand around her waist. He leads her in a close, touchy dance that still fits with the endless jive, and makes a point to keep as close to her as he thinks she'll be okay with.

Several of the fellows Ting had been eyeing give the mutt and the angel their only slightly divided attention.

"Whoo..." She shivers again, in a good way, but smiles at Yue and picks it up with him. Gods that feels good. So this is why he likes this place!

"All you have to do," he whispers next to her ear, "is ask him. You are a gorgeous creature, Ting. Unique, literally. Him... the man in the corner. The fellows watching us dance. Makyon. Anyone you want you can have, if you have the courage to guide him." He's really, really falling into this Incubus thing well. "Right?"

Ting smiles a bit after a few long moments. Glances wistfully to teh fellow in the corner. "I guess...I should poke Creepy later...hee." Looks up at Yue. "See if he's up for a nightcap."

"That's the spirit, dear." He smiles at her again, looks to that guy. "You know, I..." 

His eyes go a little bit wide. He'd been bent a little to talk to Ting close, and something, he hopes it was an accidental tail, just ran across his legs. He looks that way, blinking, attention momentarily off Ting.

Ting blinks, and tries to look where Yue is looking, unsure of what's up.

He shakes his head, looking back at her. "Sometimes the men get too frisky here, too. That's when the fighting always starts." The angel beams. "Tempt them, Ting." It's not even close to a request, or doesn't sound it, anyway.

She blinks. "Say what?" It's not like it's something she's adversed to doing, it just seems strange in lieu of the preceding conversation.

"You can make your own fun, here. Either you end up with a toy for the night, or a fight starts, and you get to play that way." Yue resumes his dance with her, edging closer. "I used to do this all the time."

"Well...if you don't mind the desertion...I guess I can go pick on that cutie in the corner."

"I am fine with it." Yue gives her a gentle nudge. "Get 'im. Find out if he has a sister. Or brother. Something."

Ting grins at Yue, and stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Thanks, Yue." And she heads off in that fellow's general direction.

The angel blushes brightly, probably due to the dust, and turns to dance alone for the four seconds it will probably take to acquire a partner.

The man in the corner catches sight of Ting approaching, and a change in his demeanor is instant. He looks like he's waiting on a firing squad for a second, and then composes himself, just smiling his half-smile and looking over the floor.

"Aww..." Ting notes as she approaches. "I haven't seen a freak-out like that since...hm. Yesterday! My boots aren't that bad, are they?" Her ears twitch ones to emphasize the "cute, sweet kitty" thing she has going on big time right now.

"Was it that obvious?" the guys asks, casting a glance down at her boots. "Actually, those are pretty interesting. They were the second thing that caught my eye about you."

Ting grin-smiles, swaying a bit in place with the music. "Oh? What was the first?"

"That you were so unique out there, I was building up the courage to figure out how to ask you dance without a pickup line." He rubs his spiky black hair, face full of pink. "Though I guess that was a line, huh?"

Aww...and he's even sweet! Ting's cheeks have a touch of pink. "That's okay. We can overlook the transgression this time." She grins, and holds out her hand.

His hand's actually shaking a little bit as he reaches out to take it. That he's not been at this whole 'picking up girls' thing for long is painfully obvious. "I'm Ale. May I ask your name?"

She's going to pick on him more. Eh, he's darling, give him a minute to recover. Okay, maybe twelve seconds. "I'm Ting." She smiles a close-eyed smile. "I've never been here before."

"Really...? Who brought you?" Ale holds up his other hand. "Wait, wait. Not my business. It's just that usually you can't get in here without someone who knows about it. Ethan, at the door, can be pretty convincing that way." She's adorable. Like teddy-bear adorable. 

"Hee...no, it's okay. I came here with a family friend, the winged lady in black over there. It was actually Warren we had to talk into it. Ethan wanted to let me in just 'cause he liked Yue so much."

"Wait... that's not Alsanael Yue is it?" He looks that way. "My father needs to know that she's here. Would you like to come with me to meet him?" Ale smiles a deliciously poisonous sort of smile that is just adorable on his warm face. "He owns this place."

Ting blinks. "Umm...I think so." She goes back into oblivious-kitten mode, and smiles. "Sure, that'd be fun! So why's your dad want to talk to Yue?"

"They're old friends," Ale nods, looking out to Yue. "I haven't seen her since I was six, but he talks about her now and again." He chuckles quietly. "Awfully quick of me to ask you to meet my dad, I know, but there's a full bar back there and I could get you whatever you wanted. Or would you like to dance first?"

Out on the floor, Yue is switching partners ever half minute or so, without a word of warning to either the switched or the switchee.

Ting smiles. Well, hopefully it really is a friend of yue's! That would be nice. "Hee. Well...we could either go poke your dad, or have a dance." She smiles. "I'm up for either!"

Ale smiles right back. "I think I'd like to dance with you more than anything else right now. Dad can wait." He tugs gently on her hand, leading her back towards the floor.

Yue is dancing with a man several inches taller than she, with a broad, strong jaw and the look of a freighter jockey. The man seems intent on her, which is just as well, because no one else has asked to cut in between them.

Ting is feeling purry as she follows along after Ale. Yay! She got the cute one! Also, she gets to get back to her dear music and dancing...she's been getting a little jittery with the music going and holding still, all told. She's nothing if not a bundle of energy.

Ale is only too happy to oblige her. He picks up the music with a practiced step - someone's had dancing lessons - stepping around Ting with more grace than a man is typically capable of. On the dance floor his nervousness melts away, and he keeps his eyes on Ting's to keep from letting them drop to smack-zones.

Yue shoots a smile at Ting, and a wink, when he looks her way. Good catch, darling.

Ting returns a thrilled little grin his way, before looking back to Ale, having a tremendously good time. He can dance! It's way up there in the favorite things in the world. Taking the music she so adores and making it move. Lots of guys are good lays, and truth be told, she's many times happier when she gets one who can dance. She keeps trying to push into more complex stuff, only to be thrilled when he follows. "You dance so well!" She finally observes, laughing delightedly.

"My mother taught me, actually," he laughs. "She used to work over there on the burlesque stage. Very tasteful stuff, though, no naked gyrating or anything." Ale is absolutely captivated by Ting's movements. Usually he can dance circles around people, but Ting not only keeps up, but leads him! It is certainly a red letter day. "Besides. I feel inspired, looking at you. Oh, blast it, another line."

Ting grins at him. "But a good one! So another reprieve for you." She laughs, is quiet for a moment when she feels a complicated two person twirling maneuver on its way...and then just can't withhold a little squawk of joy when it goes well. She grins at Ale. "My mom doesn't dance, really. At all. And I have a feeling that it would be really funny to see her try."

Ale whoops unintentionally when that move goes so well, too. "Not the carefree spirit that you are, I take it?"

Yue finally gets a new partner, one who glares at the bigger man for what he feels is a breach of etiquette in hanging onto the angel too long.

"Oh, she's a hard ass." Ting grins. "But I love her anyway! I get my silly side from growing up around my aunt. She's a trip. She's the one who got me clubbing...um...awhile ago."

Ale chuckles at the hard ass comment. "It must be nice to have helpful family like that. I'll bet you're everyone's favorite, right?"

Sharp words are exchanged between the men, to Yue's delight.

"Hee..." Ting glances at the men, thinking a brawl just may be impending, but then looks back to Ale, and grins. "I'm the best for a night out! But I have a twin and he's awesome so yeah."

Ale is smiling rather dopily at Ting, wrapped up in her movements so much that, when the big man takes a swing, and the little man ducks, he isn't aware enough to dodge and ends up solidly cuffed on the side of the head. The blow is unexpected and sends him reeling to the floor with a squeak of pain and shock.

Ting just blinks wide-eyed for a moment. Hey! He's cute and she likes him and oh yeah it was a really good dance! As easily as she'd been swaying with Ale a moment before, a leap and a bare wastes no time in contacting with a big man's temple to thoroughly stun, and half a second later sees a low, sweeping kick to the back of the legs putting him onto the ground. Ting jumps up on the fellow's chest--which, actually, she could likely stand on four or five times over--and a foot on his throat just enough for a little discomfort. She raises a finger. "No. Bad. Sit."

The guy just looks up at her, blinking, and then smiles a dazed smile. "My bad, lady. Oh, watch out."

Another fellow leaps at Ting as if to tackle her, and runs directly into the back of Yue's hand. The angel is beaming, practically aglow. "This is what I was talking abaaak!" He had started to say that when someone else tackles him, and four or five other guys, all with dumbass grins on their faces, charge into the fray.

Will the owner of a green hovermark 4 please stop getting your ass kicked. Your lights are on.

Ting has to giggle. "Whee!" Still, her first focus is on ale, and she jumps over someone to get to him. "Hi! Are you okay and I think we're missing the fun." She offers a hand up and tilts her head, smiling.

Ale looks at her, half-grinning. "Oi. Was it something I said?" He hadn't seen the fist coming, after all. He lets her help him up, only bleedng a little bit.

Yue's wings unfurl with a parachute-ish pop, smacking an aggressor off of his back. The elongated, sectional supports give him quite a bit of reach, more so than he would have without them, and his laughter indicates that he's having a grand old time.

"Aww..." she pets the injury once, fingers brimming with a potent healing spell. "All better! This place is fun." She turns to grin at the brawl, also ducking back without moving her feet to avoid a flyng person.

Ale is quick to dodge this time. "Thanks," he smiles, hand set to his temple. "I knew there was more to you than what my eyes are drunk off of. So. Feel like fightin'?" He ducks again, narrowly missing being bopped by Yue's outstretched wing tip.

"Such a gentleman. I thought you'd never ask." Ting grins delightedly, wiggles once, and then literally pounces into the fray.

Ale stands back, watching with a half-cocked smile on his face and a faraway look in his eye as folks go flying every which way. Such an adorable can of ass-whoopin'!

Yue laughs out loud when Ting zings past him, and folds up his wings to keep from accidentally striking her. There's a mark on his face from the back of a hand, and his lip is bleeding, but he's having a great time.

A high-pitched whirr sounds from somewhere inside the fray.

"Gun! Everybody down!" Ale cannot see who said it, but does see who has it... one of the littler guys with wingprints on his cheek.

"Eep..." Ting sees it, too, after a second, yes-no guided. She holds out her hand. The intention is for a self-containing shield to wrap around it and to wrest it from the oner's hand and over to herself telekinetically.

The weapon rips out of his hand, just as Ting had hoped. The guy doesn't have time to complain as he's tackled by someone else about then.

"Ting, drop it! Before the guards..."

Irony, it seems, is not without a sense of itself. "Drop the weapon!" Warren's scaly voice roars over the din. "Everybody down!"

Ting shrugs, and drops it. Its shield reforms until it's finsihed clattering to the ground, just in case it discharges. "Okay!"

"Alright, singer, how'd you get the gun past the scanners?" He looks at the succubus statue. "If you have anymore, give 'em up."

"I didn't!" Ting chirps cheerfully. "But I'd kinda like to hear how the guy who did did."

"Uh huh. Right. And..."

"Warren. Take the gun and go back to your post, thanks." Ale steps forward, kicking the device over the feet of the massive lizard man. "We were fighting here before we were interrupted. Well, they were fighting. It's a plastic light gun, look."

Warren grumbles, but takes the gun and nods to Ethan, who is still at the door. "Alright then. Enjoy your fight."

Ale smiles at Ting, proud of himself.

Ting grins at him. Yeah...she's having a good ol' time. "So how did you know it was a plastic gun?" she calls as she trots over to mend Yue's ouches for the next round.

"That's the only way you could get a weapon past this security system. Oh, don't misunderstand. There are plastic laser weapons that could get through, but... well. I know a little about guns, is all." Ale hushes, knowing that's said too much. "Are you okay? No wounds?"

Yue smiles at Ting.

If he has said too much, Ting misses it, though she wonders a little at his discomfiture. She smiles back at Yue, fixes him up real quick, and grins. "Ready for round two! Hmm..." Gives herself a once-over. Holds her hand out towards Ale. There's a little cut on one finger that's bleeding a touch. "Hee. Yup!" That's the extent of it.

To Yue's surprise Ale wraps his hand around Ting's, a bit more forward than usual. The cut seals over, leaving the blue-eyed fellow smiling like a child who's just performed a trick. "There you go. All ready to fight."

Yue looks around, shrugging his narrow, poofily-clad shoulder. "I think everyone is done fighting..." the house band is playing again, and most people are off nursing their various wounds and drinking with one another. "... pity."

"Aww..." Ting blushes happily at that, although it only strikes her as very, very mildly unusual. "Thank you!" She smils at her new compatriot, and looks to Yue. "This is Ale! He says his dad's a friend of yours."

"Of course, I remember him. He was just a little boy last time I saw him." Yue takes Ale's hand for just a small moment, not wanting to seem too chummy with him for Ting's sake. "How have you been, dear? Still wanting to be a supervillain?"

Ale blushes brightly at that. "C'mon, Yue, you're embarassing me in front of Ting." He ruffles his own hair, acting very much like a thoughtful twenty-year old. Of course, based on his saying he'd met Yue when he was six, his age is almost certainly well into the hundreds by now. "Ting, want to find some more entertainment? We can awkwardly talk about ourselves as I struggle for a chance to put the moves on you?"

Felina's eldest laughs prettily. "Sounds good! You can tell me more about this 'supervillian' thing." She grins, although she'll leave off if she embarasses him too much.

"Alright then! I'll take you back to the rave parlor, then, and Yue can go see Father. They're right next door." Ale thinks better of offering his hand, being too forward here. After all, this is a girl he just met in a bar, and he's a bundle of nerves.

Yue trots right along, wings folded tightly. He's mostly just amused by all this, though in a way, he might be sabotaging his own plan to get Ting to come clean with Creepy.

"Oooo...raves are fun. But I guess you can probably tell I think so just by looking at me." She grins, thinking about her own boots, and trots that way when he does.

The rave parlor is like a while different world from the bar and dance floor. Thick with half-dressed people and strobe and laser lights all jumping to a bass-heavy, pulse-pounding sort of music, it has all the combustible elements Yue likes to see in a place like this.

"Is it too loud for you?" Ale asks, noting Ting's ears.

She wrinkles her nose. "Yes..." she closes her hand and opens it to a pair of silly-big concert earplugs, though. "But I always come prepared!" Slips those in, and grins at him. "Okay, I'm all good!"

"If you're sure... Yue. You remember where Father's offices are?" Ale looks to the Incubus, who is already headed that way. "Huh. Mkay. I wonder what's wrong with her?"

Ting blinks. "I'm not sure...she's had a really tough couple days, though. Week. It could just be stress."

"Ah well. C'mon, let's go sit by the ravers and have a drink." He leads her beside the crowd, to a barfront just like the first one only tended by a bug thing with five arms. "Ale! What'll ya like?"

Ale looks to Ting. "What's your pleasure? This bar's more stocked than Loland's. It keeps him creative on the mixes, though."

"Well...I only got a sip of that 'Punisher' thingie I tried earlier, and it was pretty good," Ting notes.

Ale grins. "I like those, too. Iggy?"

"Gotcha," answers the barbug in a buzzing tone of voice. A moment passes, and two drinks just like the ones outside are set on the table. "There you go, baby. Enjoy."

"So Ting," Ale says as he slides her drink to her, "at the risk of sounding ridiculous, what's your story?"

"Thank you!" Ting smiles at the bartender, then sips her drink and turns to Ale, smiles at him. "Well...my mom is...hm. I guess an reclusive behind-the-scenes superhero?" She laughs. "So, I learned to fight and cast from her. I work for a weird group called the Yeliuran Derrias, although I'm more or less a part-timer right now. Because they're boring, especially when I'm a really low man on the totem pole." She blinks. "Girl. Low girl." Snickers.

"Thank goodness," Ale chuckles. "I didn't think I had drunk enough to mistake a man for a woman." Irony, the sequel. "What do you do in your spare time? Any fun hobbies?"

"I dance, of course!" She smiles brightly at him. "And I sing. I go to clubs a lot. Either to dance or meet people or start a brawl. All fun!"

"You sing, too?" Ale's eyes light up at that. "So do I! Not too well, though..." he finishes his glass. "And really drunk audiences don't mind, anyway."

Ting giggles. "Once I went to a karaoke bar and the place's national anthem popped up on the screen. I sang a dirty bar song to its tune." She blinks. "Only about five of them noticed! Four thought it was funny as hell. One threw things at me. Then the rest of them figured out they'd been insulted and threw things at me. It was fun! I made funny faces at them until I thought they were going to pop. Because popping is messy."

Ale chuckles, amused beyond description. He's quickly deciding that Ting is the most fun he's had in weeks. "You have quite an imaginative way of describing things, Ting." Ale puts his glass down, looks out over the ravers. "They never stop. All day long, it's a cycle. Daytimers, nighters, morning crowd, it's such a smooth transition you'd hardly notice."

Amidst the thump of the music a sharp bang sounds from somewhere, almost totally inaudible. Ale doesn't notice.

Something about it seriously bothers Ting, though, on a psychic level. Her ears fold back, but the plugs don't help. She glances off in the general direction as suddenly. "What was that?"

"Hm?" Ale looks that way, too. "I didn't hear anything."

Yue's energy signature is pulsing brightly, though, unbeknownst to a slightly-inebriated Ale.

Ting slips off the stool in a hurry. "I want to check on Yue." And she starts off in that direction, her step quick, then jogging.

The closer Ting, and a quickly following Ale, gets to the solid door of the main office, the louder the ruckus inside gets. Another bang sounds, now obviously the sharp voice of a hand gun.

Ting's eyes widen a little. Her step widens to a sprint, and an intangibility spell sets over her to run straight through the wall.

Inside, what might have been a nice office once is now a wreck, with books and papers strewn everywhere. A still-hot pistol lies on the floor near a wall.

"Ting...?" Yue's voice growls against the strain he's under, lying across the office desk. Looming over him, trying with all his strength to push a wicked dagger into the Incubus's heart, in an honest-to-wonder angel who looks almost just like Ale. A slowly expanding circle of black spreads below Yue.

Ting's eyes widen, then narrow. Her hand snaps out, a shaft appears within it, and then her naginata is held war-ready, fangs visible. "If you don't let Yue up, you can't protect your back," she growls, ears flat back.

The sound of keys jangling against a door heralds Ale's imminent arrival from outside.

The real angel looks up to Ting. "You've never been hit by angel wings, I take it. Whoever you are, you can leave in the next four seconds and I will forget you were here."

Yue's arms are shaking now, the dagger lowering bit by bit.

Ting snarls, and in a rather un-Tinglike maneuver for its foresight, she presses the palms of her hands together and mutters something. It should increase Yue's power and strength by a very good measure for a few seconds. And if the angel gets thrown, she's ready to take advantage of a single moment's dropped guard and bodycheck him into the wall.

The spell works well, and the white-winged, black-suited man is pushed up just enough for Yue to pull a knee up. In the same instant his wings come around slap the incubus's ears and shoulders.

Ale bursts into the room, eyes wide. "Father, what the hell?!"

Wings down. Good enough. Ting flashes from existance, then back into it just above the angel, the weight end of her naginata slapping for his head to knock him off of her friend.

The angel takes Ting's hit and rolls, finding his feet almost just as quickly. Yue does not rise from the desk. A little blood flows down his chest now, as the dagger had reached his flesh a little before Ting's intervention.

"Is this yours," the angel demands of his apparent son, who is struck dumb by the awful sight in front of him, "did you bring this demon in here?"

Ale just stares.

Ting's ears are flat back...her eyes are a mix of one part rage, two parts despondent, and five parts concern for Yue. She avoids looking at the angel and Ale, setting her hands on Yue's chest and healing whatever damage has been done. "Yue?" She murmurs quietly... "are you okay?"

Yue nods a little, but Ting ought to know it's far from the truth. A pair of bloodstained holes in his dress should attest to that. "Don't touch," he gasps, "my blood, Ting. It burns you."

"If you want to keep it," the angel roars, "take it out of here. I will not have an Incubus fraternizing with my son or my clients."

"It's okay..." Ting notes quietly. "I have my hands shielded, since I know about it." She finishes knitting the bullet holes. "Can you stand...?" She moves to help him up, still avoiding the eyes of the two divine-bloodeds.

"Yes, I think I can." Ting is really a fantastic healer. Yue turns sorrowful, regretful eyes on Ale and his father. "I can't help what happened to me, Faldon."

"You're a demon, and a monster. A traitor, even, and I am showing too much mercy by not killing you and your friend where you stand. Out. Never come back."

Ting's ears are still back as she helps Yue to his feet. She's uncharacteristically quiet...no sarcasm, no return put-downs, nothing.

Ale bites his lip. He's torn, but only for a moment as he steps forward to help Ting steady the much taller Incubus. He looks at Ting, swearing to her that he had no idea this was going to happen.

The angel retrieves his weapon, a basic handgun of immense calibur that bears dozens of blessing marks.

Ting glances up to Ale for a moment. It's a touch hard to read her eyes, though. She's just...shocked, and feels positively awful for Yue. There's no burning hatred for Ale in the glance, just...sadness. She looks back to Yue, and helps him towards the door however quickly or slowly the angel...ex-angel...needs.

The rave is still going on outside. Ale makes a point of putting himself between Faldon and Yue as they lead her out, and the door slams behind them with a crash that travels no further than their ears in this noise.

"I'm sorry, Ting, Yue, I can't... I can't even wrap my mind around that. Yue are you gonna be alright?" Ale is talking a mile a second, visibly shaken from what had happened.

"Fine," she whispers, "I want to go home, now. Ting, you can stay if you like."

Ting shakes her head. "No...I'll worry. I'm not positive I counteracted those blessing marks well enough...usually those things are on my side and I don't really know how. We need to make sure Mom looks at everything, to be sure."

"Hey..." Ale looks to Ting. "Father's gun is... well. It's going to tear her up inside until the blessings are dispelled. It's just like a curse, if that helps, only cast with white magic. I..." he holds out his hand. "Here. I, um, live at this address not far from here. If you need anything, either of you..." he shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Yue."

Ting takes it numbly...nods. "Thanks, Ale." She smiles the littlest bit, a sad smile, finally looking up to him. "It's too bad... I really did like you." She takes Yue's weight more completely onto her own shoulders, and then they're both bound for Helantri Deru.

The young angeling's eyes lower. "Yeah. I liked you, too." He looks to his father's door, decides against starting a fight with him. He hopes against hope that he'll see Yue and Ting again as he heads back to see Loland and drink.