Sanath was utterly terrified that the Astartes had slaughtered Raoul, and then addressed him. His mind began to run through every possible punishment he could have inflicted upon him for being found in such a place with such a book. [i]They'll have me hanged or boiled alive or whipped and flayed or burned alive![/i] He was very visibly panicked, and knew for a fact the Astartes could see it, and likely everyone else in the area was well. Instinctively, he went to reach into his bag for the chems stored within, but stopped himself. Slowly grasping into the will to speak, and quickly downing the drink purchased for him, Sanath managed to breathe out his name, loud enough to be heard. "S-Sanath Marko M-My uhm...Lord."

[color=007236]The Fallen does not laugh, for he is not the sort of person inclined to do so, but he is nevertheless somewhat amused at the distress caused by what he has done. It comes as a mild surprise, then, to find himself being called "Lord" by the mister Sanath Marko, though it is pleasing to him to hear that- and he reminds himself to reign back his arrogance once again, that he is no more in the eyes of the Gods than the hunchback he just executed. In contrast to the chem-user's rapid chugging of his brew, Lucius sips at the beverage purchased for himself, enjoying the flavour more than the intoxication that his Preomnor will ensure never comes. This is, in part, why he purchased the drinks in the first place - he would remain sober, whilst the man practically prostrating himself before him should quickly succumb to the excess of alcohol in his system.

'You must be quite knowledgable, to have awareness of me and mine. Tell me, Sanath Marko,' Lucius continues calmly, taking another sip between words, 'precisely how much do you know about the Astartes? And, for that matter, what brought you here today in the first instance?'[/color]

Sanath felt the warmth of the drink wash over him, relaxing him slightly, though he was still very much worried about the events unfolding. His physical features becoming more lax and eased, his face regaining some of the color lost in his fright, he opens his mouth and begins to offer his explanation. "W-Well, sir...My uncle was in the Guard long before I was born, and would regale us with stories about his time fighting. His favorite was about how a group of Space Marines called the 'Dark Angels' had arrived to help them fight off some xenos on a world called Xarcus III. He had told us about their massive size, great strength, and honour. He told me that he knew of other such groups with different names, and that they travel the galaxy helping the Guard when they most need it..." With this he swallowed yet another massive quantity of the drink, forcing it down, and regaining yet more strength to speak. "As for why I'm here...I found this book the other day. The symbol was familiar, so I brought it to a friend who collects unique objects. He guided me to here, so I could learn more." Sanath intentionally left out the details of his dreams and the voices, for fear of being slaughtered there on the spot. He downed yet more still of the drink, and looked up at the Astartes.

[color=007236]Of course it was the Dark Angels the addict had been told tales of. Lucius wants nothing to do with them. He lacks the exact knowledge of how they treat those who have fallen to Chaos, but he surmises that, given his Legion's attitude prior to his dislocation in time, they are not particularly fond of traitors in the first place. Then again, he has wondered and now wonders again, are they the descendants of those who served under Luther, or the Lion? Either way, the damned Astartes cannot return to them, tainted as he is. 'Your uncle wasn't wrong,' Lucius concedes, 'though he was a fool. We both have our reasons for being here, and the fact that we [i]are[/i] here, calmly drinking in a bar surrounded by perversion and bloodshed, suggests that neither of us are likely to return to the Imperium's chill embrace.' He deliberately excludes the qualifier of "...because we rejected it and its dead Emperor," since he knows not of Sanath's circumstances, and is all too aware of his own. 'Now, regarding the book, do you happen to have it with you still?' he asks. 'I wish to examine it.'[/color]

Sanath was chilled to the bone from the words spoke to him by the Astartes, and even the intoxicating drink did little to ease this torrent of cold washing over him. When the Astartes asked to see the book, Sanath shivered and nodded, slowly reaching into his bag, shifting his hand around the various chems and drugs to grasp the leather-bound tome. As he did so the voices began to whisper once again, telling him to worry not about the Astartes, that he was under their command. With some hesitance, he placed the book on the counter, and shifted it to be presented to the Astartes. "H-Here you are...The start of it makes sense, but further in it got far too confusing for me to understand."

[color=007236]It seems, from how readily his request is obeyed, that the man called Sanath is now utterly under Lucius' spell of power, through no deliberate design of the Astartes. Not strictly uncommon within his web of contacts, but he expected somebody with enough influence to get into this place would have a stronger will than that... though the late Raoul proved that this was not at all necessary, he supposes. He'll establish how true Sanath's indenture is later on, he decides, and whether or not he'll make use of it; for now, he draws the book over to himself across the table, examining the cover and the eight-pointed star upon its surface, then opens the book's cover, prepared to slam it shut should it attempt to enthrall his mind in some way. It does not seem to do so immediately, and so Lucius begins to read through the first few pages of it.

The first several paragraphs cover the falsity of the so-called "Corpse-God", and the willingness of the Chaos Gods to support their followers should they please them, albeit in a far more benevolent tone than what Lucius' experience with them has indicated. Continuing to imbibe his drink whilst skimming through the rest of the tome, his suspicions are further confirmed by the few undestroyed paragraphs of information, in particular a dedication to Slaanesh involving the violent, simultaneous sexual assault of six untainted virgins with a multi-pronged weapon of some sort, whilst imbibing copious quantities of a drug simply called "Heartbeat". The name is new to him, as have been a fair few extra-terrestrial terms he'd picked up over time, but for some reason, he's quite sure it'd induce horrifically painful heart attacks in the user. Other than this, he gleans little to no proper information from the book that he was not already party to, or that he could later utilise for his own ends. He decides it is useless to him in that state, and promptly closes it and slides it back over to Sanath. 'A copy of that could be extraordinarily valuable to the right people, if it were more complete,' the Angel informs the addict, little inflection in his voice. 'Do you have plans to acquire such a copy, or are you perhaps content with what is presented to you there?'[/color]

Sanath took the book from the Astartes' hand and stowed it back into his bag, still facing the massive hulk of a man. When the Space Marine presented to him the question of whether he would look for a book with more intact information, he shrugged and said "Well, I only took this book because I had seen the symbol before, and wanted to know more about it. That search led me here..." Just as Sanath finished speaking, a bookish man had approached them, and introduced himself as Ersus Tulfon. This man was rather energetic for someone in such a dark and brooding place, and it put Sanath on a slight edge. He looked to the man and said "I'm Sanath Marko.", glancing to the Space Marine to see how he handled the sudden introductions.