[Smoke + Mirrors]

Shaking his head as he glanced at her and then where her friends had been standing, Itsy wondered why they had left so quickly. It was suspicious for them to have shown up so suddenly only to flee after only a few moments. Still against the wall, he slowly edged to his feet and waited for her to suddenly turn to strike him down. When that didn't happen, Itsy breathed a quiet sigh of relief. This really was a mess that he got himself into today. The last time he had dealt with this much excitement was when the two girls had run him over in the forest.

That had been a rather horrible day, though, and he didn't want a repeat.

"I'm not entirely surprised that it didn't attack us since we had a large number, but now it's just the two of us again," Itsy murmured as he glanced around cautiously. His instincts had failed him earlier so he didn't listen to them now. Since he wasn't plastered to the wall anymore, his hair was unraveling faster and soon it would be a tangled mess that would take hours to sort out.

Those two had gone through a door into a business establishment and the purple-haired demon wondered why they couldn't just follow along and wait in safety. Surely, the creature would go for some other prey if they took a long time in the building.

Glancing at the blond out of the corner of his eye, Itsy cringed mentally and knew that such a tactic might work, but there were some that had preferences and could wait very patiently for just that type to come along.

He hoped that he didn't fit any such criteria.

[S-O-Y]

He was unsure what to do next. There he was in the middle of the bar looking at the dirty wooden door Alone...

"Yu-Yugure...??"

His voice was barely a whisper. He felt his heart break a little. At least that was what it felt like as a piece of it fell into the pits of his stomach. His eyes remained on the closed closet door. The sound of a chair's legs being pushed back rushed to the air suddenly causing Smitigo to twitch and cringe towards the end of the fit, his shoulders rising like a cat's would in a hissy fit. Eyes squinted in what looked like pain, blood began to leak from his lips splashing onto his scarf quickly, instantly staining the soft material.

Nails digging into his palms with clenched fists, Smitigo let out a soft groan of pain as he lifted his fangs from the wounds in his lips. Luckily they dug into the the inside walls of his lips thus resulting in the wounds behing hidden from view. Only the blood showed the harm. It was a dark blue. Body stuck in the twitch-cringe state, Smitigo tried to open his eyes only to allow a tear to stream on the outside of his face. That had really hurt.

"Ow...", he said under his breath as his body started to relax from the voicing of sound forced from his lungs.

Licking his lips quickly, he pulled in his lower lip and began to suck on it licking at the punctured wounds during the process. He slowly turned around, his shoulders still hunched, and scanned the area to see who or what it was that produced that sound. Seeing a man walk off with a stumble, he sighed slowly and attempted to straight up his spine. Looking over his shoulder at the door, he shook his head and decided it was not worth the twist of the door knob. He didn't want to be in this bar anymore than Yugure wanted to. Looking down at his scarf, he shook his head once more and began to walk towards the door leading outside the pub once more.

[blackcat]

Madeline was considering her options. There were two: they could either follow Smigito and Yugure into the house they had come out of, or take their chances with that creature that was lurking around. Obviously, this was not a very hard decision to make. Just as she wanted to suggest to the boy that they had better follow their examples, she perceived a sound which reminded her of the flapping of wings. Something was coming at them at a very high speed. In a reflex Madeline grabbed the boys arm and ran towards the house. She slammed open the door whilst looking behind her in an attempt to distinguish what was following them... As she was not looking where she was going, she suddenly felt herself walking into something, or rather, someone.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

It all happened so fast and Itsy was both surprised and not at her quick reactions. When she ran into the blue-haired boy, he took the initiative to slam the door behind them. No need to reach safety only to leave their asses uncovered. He had no intention of getting dragged off by some bat creature if he could help it.

The thing that kept bothering him, though, was the fact that he hadn't known it was there until it got a hold of his hair. If something could do that, then what had stopped it from carrying him off into the sky that time? Itsy despised being played with and resolved to figure out how that thing had managed sneaking up on him.

Then, he would catch it and squeeze the life out of it since it didn't seem like something he wanted to consume.

However, first Itsy had to deal with the blond and blue-haired dingbats in this nasty bar. The smell of alcohol made his eyes water slightly but he just blinked the moisture away and turned to observe. She was still scary.

[S-O-Y]

With a rush of movement Smitigo was slammed to the floor with an abrupt collision with Madeline. Coughing from the hard thud his body made upon impact, Smitigo shook his head and forced himself up with his hands and knees. Continuing the motion, he stood up and dusted the grim off of his blue pants and smoothed the wrinkles in his white and blue jacket. Looking at the cause, he frowned playfully at Madeline.

"Oh. Its just you. I was afraid it was a child or monster...", he said softly at the blonde.

Winking slowly, he switched his focus to the boy behind his friend and relaxed his brow to a more serious note. Tilting his head curiously, Smitigo noticed something new on the boy. It seemed his hair had grown a little. But maybe it was just a trick his eyes were playing on him. He could have sworn that the boy had slightly shorter hair earlier. He released the thought though with a sigh and looked back to Madeline. Her eyes were their normal blue. He smiled.

"I"m glad to see you friend..."

[blackcat]

Madeline had quite some trouble not to fall to the ground herself, but eventually managed to keep herself standing. 'Smite! I am so sorry!' she exclaimed with a worried look as she recognized the person she had walked into. As she saw that he was quite alright her worried look made place for a rather radiant smile. She was actually very relieved that he had not yet left, as she had been quite dissapointed that she had not been able to talk to him previously. She looked past him to see if Yugure was also there, but she could only see a bunch of drunken men staring at them. Somehow this managed to make her feel quite uncomfortable. 'Did Yugure leave you behind?' she asked whilst letting her gaze rest on Smite once more.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

Scowling, Itsy listened with an idle ear to their chatter as he watched the bar patrons for any funny business. As long as they only looked interested in their affairs but not afraid, then they should be fine. He still didn't like having his back to the door, however, so he moved away from it. Finding a booth of some sort would be better, especially if those two wanted to chitchat like schoolgirls.

The purple-haired demon spared a glance at the blond and felt his stomach clench rather painfully. Wrenching himself away from the sight, he searched through the somewhat covered booths at the back. They seemed much more geared towards private conversations than the doorway even if they were rather dusty.

Shrugging, he grabbed a napkin that was just tossed on one of the tables, wrinkling his nose at the smell. At least it was dry and not stiff, so he used it to dust the seats and table. This place was deplorable.

[S-O-Y]

Smitigo sighed and looked over his shoulder.

"That is what it looks like...", he said with a shrug as he brought his blue eyes back to Madeline's.

There was a glisten of care in the female's eyes suddenly which made a soft smile appear on Smitigo's cold lips. His eyes quickly darted to the little violet boy in the darkness as he moved around the booths and chairs within the stench-filled bar.

"I figure I was left behind for a reason, so maybe you and I have some work to do? Eh?"

Smitigo lifted an eyebrow towards Madeline. It was more of a notion to explore the city than a threat of danger.

"What do you say we take this little guy with us since yal both dont know what or who yal are? He could prove useful in the future possibly...", he said lastly as he narrowed his eyes at the little guy in the booth who was now cleaning of all things, "I think you missed a spot friend!"

Smitigo smiled playfully in hopes that Madeline did too. He was only trying to lighten the mood that was oddly darkening as the minutes passed by. Something was up with Yugure, and he would need to find out soon. Debating to call Oraku into the picture, he looked over at the two that were now in his company. He would let time give the answer on that idea...

[blackcat]

Madeline had mixed feelings about this idea that Smite just voiced. She did look forward to setting out on an adventure with him, but she was not so sure if she would like the boy to be a permanent companion. 'Well perhaps there is work to be done, but' she now lowered her voice into a whisper 'I do not really trust him just yet. I mean, he was following me around'.

She could not really laugh at Smite's remark about the boy having missed a spot though. She walked over to the boy and gently took the napkin whilst casting him an apologetic smile. She herself then set about cleaning the spot that the boy had forgotten. 'It would probably be best to sit here for a while. I do not know what was chasing us, but whatever it was, it was not very nice. Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about what you saw?' she asked the boy with a warm smile hoping that this might urge him to share what he knew with them.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

While they were still huddled over by the door and talking about him as if he couldn't hear every whispered word, Itsy continued cleaning but because of his focus on their conversation he might have... neglected an area that the blue airhead so cheerfully pointed out and then the scary blond came over and took the napkin from him as if he couldn't find the area he hadn't cleaned yet. Were they really so fooled by his short stature?

No, it must be because she didn't trust him as she had just confided to her boyfriend or whatever. He very badly wished to voice his displeasure and then storm out, but with the sorts of looks the blond girl was giving him he didn't think that he would get very far before becoming spider-ka-bob.

Instead, he sat on one side of the booth, despising its round shape, and resolved not to get squished in between them. There was no reason to invite claustrophobia, after all.

"It had a wide mouth," Itsy started, measuring almost three times the size of his own head, "with seemingly razor sharp teeth and small, black eyes up on its face but no discernible nose. The other thing that I had no choice but to notice were the huge, sharp claws when it got a hold of the end of my braid." With a scowl, he pulled his messy, long hair over his shoulder to show how loose it was and that the ends had been cut. "From what I could see, it had rather large, leathery wings and as it managed to surprise me I can only assume that it can fly with amazing stealth."

Whether they believed him or not, it was true and quite lucky that he had noticed at all. Itsy really didn't think that it was the type to play with its food, but then he had only gotten that quick look at it.

[S-O-Y]

The smell of the bar was beginning to get to him. There was too much smoke in the air.

"Goodness...How long do you guys want to stay here?", he asked softly as he came up behind Madeline and looked over her shoulder to see the little boy from earlier explaining what had been chasing them earlier, "Sounds like you have a tricky monster on your hands. Sorry to hear about your hair...", Smitigo finished with a soft frown.

It had only been a few days since his last encounter with a so-called "monster", but today seemed to be more of an adventure then torture in a chamber. Smitigo looked around the bar and sighed. Well maybe the chamber was existent.

"So what do you plan on doing about this? I mean are we going to stay cooped up in this horrid bar till the monster comes and finds us, or are we going to make our next move and go search for it. Either way, I would like to leave this stench filled residence as quickly as I have come to find it. I'm not sure how much more I can take of this smell."

Smitigo plugged his nose and sat down opposite from the boy and looked at him for a few seconds before moving his gaze to Madeline who was still standing at the front of the table. It was strange to him that Yugure had left him alone with the two in tow now, but what was even more odd was the fact that he left without an order. THAT...never happened. Diving into his own thoughts, Smitigo tried to voice out to his brother telepathically, his eyes were now closed and his head was bowed.

[blackcat]

Madeline sat herself down in between the two as she pondered what they ought to do. As she rested her gaze on boy's loosened hair, she slipped her hand inside the little purse which hung on her hip and took out a rubber band. 'Do you wish to be to braid that for you? I can imagine that it would be quite a hassle to do that yourself'.

She then turned to Smitigo: 'Well, initially I thought it would be best to avoid a fight with that... thing. But I suppose that now we are with the tree of us we could manage to get rid it'. She once again turned her attention to the boy: 'Do you have any fighting skills that might come in handy?'

[Smoke + Mirrors]

Looking over at her, Itsy debated on whether he wanted to accept her offer because while he would much rather have his hair braided and thus tangle-free he didn't necessarily want her to do the braiding for him. He held out his hand with his most carefully innocent look, wide eyes and all.

"If you don't mind I would appreciate being able to re-braid my hair but I would prefer to do it myself," he said lightly, hoping desperately that she wouldn't get offended. If he could use his thread, then he would have already fixed his hair, but his thread would not stick to him at all, not even the dead cells of his nails or hair. In response to her question, he glanced around the bar first, noticing that most of the patrons had gone back to their drinks now that the group of newcomers were mostly hidden, before replying.

"I don't do well with direct confrontations if you hadn't noticed. I really won't do much good in a fight with it," he admitted and it was true. If he wanted to kill it, then he would have to set up a trap.

[S-O-Y]

His mortal hearing was muted now, his mind racing with thoughts. Locking onto a red vibe, he began to search the vast spaces for the one he avoided the most.

I may need your assistance...

Smitigo's eyes opened as he allowed his thoughts to walk back into the conversation. The little boy across the table was talking about how he was not the greatest offensive sidekick.

"It seems obvious already dontcha think", Smitigo stated with a grin as he pointed to the choppy locks of hair with his eyes.

Looking over to Madeline, he sighed before he decided to interrupt her from continuing.

"If we plan on killing this monster with the mere two of us and this little one that will hide in the background, you have another thing coming. I'm not putting myself in danger over something I have no clue as to kill it. So...that brings me to PLAN B. Why don't we ask Oraku to join us and the four of us can tackle this problem together? As much as I hate asking him for a favor, he might have the right skills in capturing this predator that seems to be after choppy locks over here...", Smitigo suggested as he jabbed a thumb in the violet boy's direction.

[blackcat]

Madeline was a little chocked at Smitigo's behaviour. Somehow he had been acting differently. And frankly, she did not care much for this new attitude... After having handed the hairband to the boy she turned to Smite and gave a look that was rather cold, but still betrayed that she was hurt by the way he had spoken to her.

'Well excuse me for asking such a terribly dumb question, but he was on top of a four story building when he was following me and I am guessing that he did not get up there through a window. Therefore, I would like to know just what I am dealing with. And might I remind you that it was you who so desperately wanted to get out of here? But very well, it might be best thing to ask your brother, though I am not very fond of the idea either'.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

While the blond was tearing into him, Itsy took that time to accept the hairband and quickly braid his hair, fingers flying through the motions that they knew so well. Once that was taken care of, he took a moment to consider whether he wanted to sit around while the blue-haired male talked down to both of them or if he wished to take another path.

The answer was obvious.

"Well, if you two are going to bicker about what we should do and who we should call, then I'm going to leave you to it," Itsy scoffed as he stood and headed towards the door. If he could predict them correctly, then they'd follow and the answer to whether it was waiting out there would be found. He was just incredibly tired of the taller male bitching and the girl trying to keep the peace.

There was no peace to be kept.

[OZ]

Shifting the two shots to one hand, the blond man kept his strides smooth as he swung down with his free arm and snatched up the purple-haired boy, knowing that he would not be happy. Anybody in the bar would be able to guess that. Regardless, he did and carried him back over to the table where his companions were. The boy's, that is. His was one table over and peeking over the barrier.

Silly Scarecrow.

"I believe you are having monster troubles? Is there anything I or my companion can do to assist?" Carefully putting the boy down, the blond man smiled disarmingly. Hopefully, the boy could forgive him if he offered some food. All he had on him, however, was alcohol and somehow he didn't thing that the purple-haired male would go for that.

His companion stood, long limbs unfolding from the cramped booth, and took the top shot glass from him. The Lion saluted the black-haired male with his own glass and took the shot with a cheerful grimace before setting it on the table.

Scarecrow turned away to take his shot.

[S-O-Y]

He was unsure how to react at this point. It seemed he had pressed a few buttons around the table that didn't need to be pressed. Madeline's face was put to a confused state suddenly as he stated his opinion roughly before her and the smaller male in front of them. As the blonde turned around to speak her peace, Smitigo felt a cloud of suspense build above him, or so it felt. His eyes widened as he locked eyes with Madeline.

"I-I...wh-what do you mean? I did not accuse you of being dumb Madeline, I would never. I just simply wanted to state the fact that we still have no idea what we are up against. Thats why I insist on calling Oraku...", as the name crossed his lips he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the purple haired male was leaving, "I dont want Oraku to join our group either honestly but I dont see any other-"

He stopped speaking as he eyes followed a blonde haired man dragging the smaller male back to the table. Unsure of what to say, he blinked a few times and looked back to Madeline in hopes of maybe her knowing who this stranger was. Suddenly the man was talking now causing the hair on his neck to lift a little. It was a new voice. Attention perked now, Smitigo raised an eyebrow at the newcomer and smiled as politely as he could. It seemed the man had something to offer. Smitigo's blue eyes followed a dark man who was rising from the table next to them now. The blonde had a friend, or what he had called a companion.

"At the moment the monster troubles are outside of this building", he said with a glance to the door of the bar and back up at the man, "I believe we are trying our best to handle the situation, but outside help would be amazing", he said with a smile.

"What did you have in mind by chance?"

Things were starting to lighten up it seemed, and looking over to Madeline, Smitigo tried to show the remorse he felt towards her in his eyes.

[blackcat]

Madeline was happy to see that Smitigo had instantly dropped the attitude and gone back to the way he was before. She liked him much better that way. From the corner of her eyes she had seen the boy stand up and make his way to the door. Just when she was about to stand in order to stop him, the blonde haired stranger hand intersected him and brought the boy back to their table.

She observed the stranger as he offered them the help of both himself and his companion. The blonde haired man seemed kind and quite reliable. But for some unknown reason she could not help but feel a little frightened in the presence of the black haired man. Perhaps it was because of the mask like construction in front of his face... However, because it was never polite to judge someone for his looks she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Madeline turned her head towards Smitigo as she was debating on whether or not to respond to their offer. As she saw the remorseful look he cast in her direction she replied by giving him a forgiving and warm smile. Subsequently, she directed her attention to the blonde stranger again. 'How kind of you to offer to help us and thank you for retrieving the boy for us. We would be ever so grateful if you could help us, but it of course all depends on what you are asking for in return'.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

Being picked up made him want to bite the blond man and he had almost escaped, too! Now he was back at the table with the stupid guy and the scary lady. The tall blond man was blocking his escape route along with the tall black-haired male. They both were and it was irritating, along with their ridiculous heights.

"To be perfectly honest with these two you don't need me, then, do you?" Looking around the group, Itsy was irritated (and relieved) to find that they were no paying attention to him - again. Why bring him back unless that was just a way to seem like they weren't just eavesdropping fools that decided to stick their noses in where they didn't belong?

The both of them were giving him the creeps while the other two just made him even more irritated. Why clump together like this? What if the monstrous thing wasn't even out there anymore? This posturing would all be for naught and he was stuck in the middle of it.

[OZ]

The Lion blinked as he watched the two communicate with their eyes and the smaller male, who was clearly unhappy to be there, suggested that he was unnecessary. This was looking rather interesting, actually, as long as they could keep the purple-haired one around long enough. Scarecrow turned back around, mask in place and shot glass empty. A couple of the bar patrons looked scarred for life as they returned to their drinks.

"Help, Mr. Blue, is what we offer and what more would we want than the assurance of the little lady's safety, my dear?" Taking a step back, he bowed low to the still-seated girl, braid snaking its way over the edge of his shoulder as he did. "No real man could simply sit back and allow a girl of any type to face such dangers alone."

Beside him, Scarecrow shook his head slowly and, while some may mistake that gesture for disagreement, the Lion knew that he, too, could not just sit back and let these three (two, if one had any say in it) fight any sort of monster on their own. The blue-haired male didn't really look like much of a fighter, anyhow, so much that the girl seemed much more adept at such things just by how she strode through the room earlier.

"Every set of eyes helps," the Lion told the smallest at the booth. "If you'll stick around long enough, we would appreciate the assistance." Keeping his tone level, he met yellow eyes with tawny as he talked to the boy who seemed much older than he looked. From some of the expressions the blond caught, this was not simply a child who happened to end up in a bad situation.

[S-O-Y]

Smitigo understood now. The man before him was not simply a man, but an aiding spirit all in all. That was his job. That was what he lived for. At least that's how he saw it. He smiled once more at the man with blonde hair before glancing over at the dark one who had turned around and back face-forward again, more like mask-forward hence the structure that laid over his face. His eyes bounced between the two men before him, the smaller male and Madeline as she brought up a very valuable point.

"I agree with Madeline", Smitigo said as he looked over to his counterpart, "Her safety is indeed important to me so I can't take acceptance so easily. See, we don't even know you, and the fact that you have so generously offered your help is somewhat suspicious to me."

It was peculiar to him that a stranger wanted to help them honestly. Out of the blue these two appear and prevent the small male from escaping, not that he cared whether he left or not, and now they were asking to come along on this adventure that was before Madeline and himself. Feeling a tinge of jealousy, Smitigo sat back a little further in the booth so that he could rest his hands comfortably in his jacket's pockets. Finding purchase on a candy wrapper, he began to feel around in hopes of finding a candy inside a wrapper still. His hands crawled around in both pockets only to find nothing but crunchy, empty cellophane. A frown took over his lips as he stared at a dirty spot on the table. His mind was trying to find a solution to a negligible emergency. His teeth were beginning to ache for attention.

"Can we please leave this bar soon...", Smitigo asked Madeline in a hushed tone by leaning to the side slightly.

Eyes glancing over to the two men standing still, he quickly realized how much taller they were from the rest of them. It was like they were giants and they were the children being held hostage, or so he felt ironically. He wasn't sure if it was just the seating arrangement he had sat into, or if it was just the bar itself that made him uncomfortable. All he knew was that he needed a change soon...

[blackcat]

This entire situation was starting to get on Madeline's nerves. The boy and her friend seemed to be constantly forgetting why they had fled the alleyway in the first place. A soft green glow came over her eyes as she realized that the only way to solve this situation would be to take matters into her own hand.

With a rather forced smile she turned to the boy who had spoken his displeasure about not being needed. 'Oh my, well if you are so intend on getting yourself killed then by all means go. Perhaps whatever is out there will be content after just killing one person and will be so kind as to leave the rest of us alone'.

She then turned her attention upon the blonde haired male as he bowed before her and returned his courteousness with a smile. Although she did not trust this man at all, he and his friend were her only ticket out of this mess. It would probably be best to accept quickly so as to prevent possible arguments. That last comment of Smitigo really had managed to get her on edge. If it had been that easy to leave the bar did he really think she would not have done so already?!

She got out of her seat and placed herself opposite the male with the blonde hair. Whilst extending her hand to him she said with a businesslike demeanor: 'Very well. It seems like we have no choice but to accept your offer'. She would have to deal with whatever rewards they wished to receive in return later on.

[Smoke + Mirrors]

Itsy frowned at the blond man but acknowledged that at least he had a somewhat decent reason for pulling him back even if he was not pleased in the slightest. They would need every set of eyes possible to deal with that creature. However, he was becoming more and more irritated with the blue man to the point that, if he got the chance, he would seriously considering putting the man out of his misery. The fool was acting far too childish for Itsy to tolerate him and that was only part of why he had wanted to escape the bar and face the monster outside on his own - if it was still there.

There was no telling what was waiting there outside for them.

The girl's cruel dismissal of him made him want to sneer, but he resisted - just barely - because of his rather pointy teeth. While he spoke, Itsy was very good about keeping his teeth hidden, but such an expression as a sneer would reveal them all to any who looked.

Perhaps if he left and there was nothing outside, he could set a trap for the blue one, but that would only work if he separated from the girl. It seemed like a bad situation all around for him.

"I have no interest in dying, but I also have no interest in being talked down to by a group of strangers," Itsy drawled but did not move just yet. He would extend his patience for just a little longer.

[OZ]

It was odd to watch the blue-haired man go from an obviously awed expression to one slightly more cautious. His concerns were valid but they did not really apply to the Lion or Scarecrow. Unfortunately, they had no way to explain this in terms that the others could understand and accept.

It seemed, however, that the girl did not need such reassurances and he gladly took her hand, firm but not painfully so. Releasing the delicate but surprisingly strong hand when she

The boy (and the Lion was reluctant to refer to him as such because he did not seem like a young person despite his appearance) was understandably disgruntled as they could tell from his expression and body language. Scarecrow was rather fascinated by him and turned to his companion for assistance.

The blond saw him sign for names and he nodded, agreeing and supporting his companion in his need for information and communication. Looking back to the group, the Lion smiled and hoped that the others would be cooperative.

"Ah, my companion reminded me that we don't know your names yet even though we have already agreed to go monster-hunting with you," the Lion pointed out, smiling sheepishly. "You may call me Liam and this is Crow." His companion waved to the group, eyes crinkled in a smile (not that anyone but the Lion probably realized that).