YoshiSkittlez

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

*stumbles in still looking like a corpse*

I'm still here. I don't have anything tomorrow. I'm sorry Yoshi. I can even think.

@Avanhelsing

-Notices pronoun mistake-

I see... you weren't kidding lol
Get better soon Avan!

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

Hey guys, I'm sorry to say that Wicked Sweet has pulled from the roleplay due to unforeseen real life issues, and as we all know (or should know) real life comes before roleplaying. Another spot has opened up. That being said, I will be changing over this roleplay from 'casual' to 'advanced'. This means nothing for you guys, carry on as you were, it's just come to my attention recently from a few people that this probably belongs in the advanced section anyway.

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

Yeah I have no idea... why is everyone being so quiet? If your interest has dropped, please let me know.

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

@YoshiSkittlez

I'm pretty sick right now. I can do small Ooc posts but not much more... Gonna make myself better and tonight no matter what I am getting that post done!

@Avanhelsing

Indeed Avan, get plenty of rest

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

inuyashachick13 has dropped from the roleplay, therefore there is one official spot open again for any new-comers or if any of you would like to make a second character. However, at this time I will only be accepting a male to fill in that spot.

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

Alright guys, a few things.

One. We are now completely full-up and the wait-listing shall commence should we get any more interested users... HOWEVER... upon my realization that we are starved for males, I would be willing to open up one more spot should those of you who do not already have two characters to come up with a male. If not, then I will keep this open and hope that someone will join in as a male (I will not fill that spot with another female if one is presented to me. That female will immediately go on the wait list).

Two. The introduction is now completely finished and we can now start with character introductions, meaning that free-posting is now open, though as you all know, character introductions will be starting with a flashback on how it is they heard about the school (a collaboration between said character and either Charles, Erik or Logan) and then an added bit on what your character is doing now, whether it be waking up to head to the school or walking in to the school or chasing cars and licking their private areas... that part I will leave up to you.

I know some of you have started on your collaboration flashback posts. Great! Once they are done you are free to post them but please wait to post again until everyone has their first post up or unless I say otherwise.

Got any questions? Post here or PM me, I'm almost always on. If I'm not, Ghost Shadow, your lovely co-GM will more than likely be online in the times I am not.

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

New York Beach, October 26th, 1946 3:41 A.M.

There was something thick in the air that early October morning that had nothing to do with New York's early-fall humidity. Amber lights illuminated the darkened morning sky, reflecting back off of the heavy overcast of clouds that would have otherwise gone unnoticed save for the lack of moonlight and twinkling stars and yet, the coverage seemed fitting, given the situation. The siren had been cut off nearly an hour ago after the area had been taped off to the general public, three cop cars fueling the flashing lights parked horizontally on the sandy beach to keep some sort of barrier to keep the general public unaware, but that didn't keep the late-night/early-morning onlookers from trying to find out what it was that had happened.

There was one onlooker, however, that was different from all the rest. Even being kept a fair distance away from the scene of the crime, Logan Howlette could see, hear, and even smell everything that was going on amidst the huddled group of officers who didn't seem to know what it was that they were supposed to do.

"I've got 911, an ambulance is on it's way!"

"Ambulance? You better hope they have a body bag in there, there ain't no way she's comin out of that."

"Hey, show a bit of respect here!"

"Will you three cut it out and give me a hand before forensics gets here?"

Shaking his head at their expense, Logan withdrew a cigar from the inside pocket of his brown leather jacket and perched it between his lips while his opposite hand fished for a lighter in his faded jean pants pocket. His eyes never stopped watching, however, as he brought the light to the cigar and lit it, putting the lighter back into his pocket with his other hand removing the cigar as he exhaled a thick plume of smoke.

"Little bastards got no clue what they're doing." Logan grumbled to himself, resting his shoulder against the trunk of a tree and crossed his thick arms over his chest. The smell of the salty sea air hid nothing from Logan's enhanced senses, able to pick up the putrid stench of a slowly decomposing body that lay twenty or so feet away from him and blood. Lots and lots of blood.

From his observations over the last twenty minutes, Logan had been able to surmise that the victim was a woman. A woman with blonde hair and an average build; blue eyes that stared up lifelessly at the sky and a pale complexion that had turned white. She must have been coming from or going to quite the party as she was wearing an elegant red cocktail dress with plenty of jewelry to flatter her features, and yet, the jewelry had gone untouched. This was no simple mugging-gone-wrong. No. Logan knew exactly what this was and unfortunately he had seen and smelt it before.

The body had a wide cut up her left side starting from her hip, over her ribs and stopping at her armpit, Logan didn't even need his enhanced ability of sight to be able to spot that. Perhaps where his abilities proved to be most useful was from the time or two the police moved her body for closer examination, hearing the quiet outbursts of the officers as they had discovered two crossing cuts etched across her back, deep enough that her spine had been severed where the two cuts met. This was the fourth body Logan had come into contact with in the past month that had shown up like this; washed up on the shore of the beach already dead and with the same exact cuts. One victim a week, it seemed.

Someone out there had an M.O. Someone out there was targeting people, taking no possessions of their victims, no connection between their lives when they had been living save for one thing... and the New York Police Department would never figure it out.

Someone out there was targeting mutants.

The quiet chatter amongst the police and spectators was subtly drowned out by the sound of the blaring ambulance that had finally arrived. Logan had seen enough, however. He pushed himself off of the tree, sticking the cigar back in his mouth and shoved his hands into his pockets, taking the short walk to the street where he had left his bike. The smell of blood, decomposition and the ever prominent X-gene were slowly fading as he put distance between himself and the crime scene, but it was a smell Logan knew he would never be able to forget.

Charles would want to hear about this.

New York, Bunker, October 26th, 1946 4:26 A.M.

Sheathing his claws back into his fist, Logan opened up the recently picked-unlocked front door to the old bar he had spent only a handful of time in over the last few months and shut it behind him. His boots echoed though the empty room, going by pure instinct to see where it was that he was going in the otherwise pitch-black area as even the windows had been drawn shut and boarded up to keep the outside appearance looking abandoned.

"Charles?" Logan called out, letting his low voice carry out naturally through the empty room and up the flight of stairs where Charles and Erik had been staying ever since they took over the bar for their cause. His eyes had adjusted to the dark quickly, feet still carrying him as he reached the small flight of wobbly stairs and headed up. Coming up on the landing, Logan continued forward, reaching one of the two doors of the upstairs and raised his hand to wrap on the wooden surface of the door, but his knuckles never got a chance to make contact.

"Come in, Logan!" The voice of Charles beckoned from the other side of the door, the crackly sound of Oldies music playing from the inside. From outside, Logan could hear the sound of Charles standing, followed by the trademark heavy tapping of his cane, proceeded by the phonograph coming to a somewhat groaning halt.

Shaking his head a bit, unsure why Charles had caught him off guard for a moment, Logan opened up the door and stepped inside, shutting it behind him in case Erik was still sleeping... and then there was that red-head that was sleeping downstairs... somewhere... there was no sense in allowing unwanted ears in on what Logan had to say.

"There was another one this morning." Logan stated simply, jumping right to the point. By habit, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his back against the door, still not feeling particularly comfortable in invading Charles' personal space despite the bedroom looking more like an office with a lounge chair tucked into the corner for convenience sake. He had only been in Charles' office once before and under eerily similar terms. Perhaps it was just the subject matter then that had the hairs raising on the back of his neck; association.

"I see." Charles responded gravely, moving back towards his desk chair and sitting down. "A part of me hoped your visit would have been on more pleasant circumstances...but I cannot say I'm surprised. Was there anything different with this one?" He asked, a solemn look in his eyes.

Logan stared down Charles, meeting his eyes with a rather placid expression on his face, as though the question insulted him slightly.

"You know there wasn't." He replied, almost bitterly and adjusted his arms on his chest a bit, eyes narrowing a fraction looking slightly accusatory.

"I apologize, I did not intend to come across as patronizing. I much prefer speaking to you face-to-face as opposed to scanning your thoughts." Charles responded sincerely.

"Same here, bub." Logan was quick to reply, though his expression went unchanged.

"I fear if these murders are becoming more and more prevalent that it will not be long before the students become potential victims. Even your appearance slightly caught me off guard. I did not expect you to arrive until ten-o'-clock with the students." Charles added on, raising his eyebrow slightly.

"Are we even sure this is a good idea anymore?" Logan asked, dropping the defensive stance as he pushed himself from leaning against the door and took a few steps into the room, resting the palms of his hands on the back of a leather chair that faced Charles' desk, keeping his eyes on the man. "You and Erik... the two of you started with this..." Logan lifted up one hand to gesture around the room with it. "...this idea a long time ago and it probably didn't seem so stupid then, but now..." Logan brought his hand back to rest on the chair's back again. "...now I just feel like we're gathering sheep for the wolves. What if this is what they- or he- whoever's doing this... what if this is what they want?"

Charles merely smiled in reply for a few moments before finally speaking, "Logan, Erik and I established this School as a safe haven for mutants, both young and old. My use of the word 'safety' does not simply denote protection from verbal or physical abuse from society, but also protection from any other, more serious threats about. That's why I was so intent on finding you, Logan. This School needs a protector like you: stoic, clear-headed, and most of all...loyal."

"No. You got a killer." Logan butted in, taking on his usual assertive tone but the sadness and regret he felt for the meaning behind his words wasn't exactly hidden either. The traits in which Charles had chosen to describe him... well... there would be a long line of people that would be willing to say otherwise, and Logan himself would be towards the front of that line. Perhaps Charles didn't know him as well as he had thought.

Charles let out a small sigh at the words before giving Logan an empathetic look, "I can't say I've known you for a long period of time, nor would I consider us very close people...but if there's one thing I know about you, Logan, it's that you're not a killer." Charles ignored Logan's scoff and continued. "Have you killed before? Most certainly; a veteran of your caliber would have had to. But that doesn't mean you garnered any sort of enjoyment or pleasure from it. This is a vile and cruel world, rife with butchers and animals, both human and mutant. I've read the thoughts of people that were violent enough to freeze the blood in my veins, and yet you, Logan....all I could ever read...was regret. You're not an animal, no matter how hard people have tried to convince you otherwise." Charles took a few moments to let the words sink in, watching as Logan could no longer meet his gaze, before moving back to the matter at hand.

"On the subject of animals...Victor Creed. Do you think he may have something to do with these killings?" Charles asked, clasping both hands together on his desk. He knew the subject of Logan and Sabretooth was a rather sensitive one, but it was not far-fetched to think that Logan's half-brother would be responsible for such killings. Brutal, animalistic...hungry.

Coming out of his sombre reverie from Charles' previous thoughts, Logan lifted his head to once more meet Charles' eyes, his own eyebrows furrowing but his eyes opening up a fraction more in an expression that read nothing more than hurt.

"If Victor was in New York..." Logan said slowly, hardly noticing the increase in his breathing at the mere mention of his brother. "I would know." He finished, holding his steely gaze on Charles, once more holding accusations on the notion that Charles might be trying to put the blame on him somehow. "And if he ever did... I would never allow him to do this!" He finished, his nostrils flaring as his voice picked up in volume a bit, on the brink of shouting.

"Logan, please." Charles said quietly, holding his hand out to try and calm the Wolverine down, though, in his experience it usually led to Logan stomping out the door and disappearing for a few weeks.

"I know you wouldn't allow him to commit such atrocities. But you know his scent better than anyone. I simply wished to make sure there was no possible way he was involved." Charles explained calmly before trying to switch topics and hopefully calm Logan down.

"I have a task I'd like you to do for me, two, in fact. There's a morgue not far from here, I'm more than certain you're aware of its location. One of the recent victims is currently being kept there until a proper burial can be organized. If you could manage to find a way in and see if you can't get a closer look at the body, I would be greatly appreciated. It may bring us one step closer to who could possibly be organizing these murders. Then, there's something else...I've picked up another mutant. Though her presence is currently weak, I can feel it slowly growing stronger. She'll be in New York shortly, should my perception be applicable." Charles explained before moving to rise once again, keeping a firm grip on his cane.

"You'll most likely be able to find her at Grand Central Station here within the next couple of hours. She can join the others when they finally arrive at the School." Charles elaborated further, slowly closing the distance between himself and Logan. "Will you do this for me?" He asked with a small smile, knowing inwardly there was almost no chance the larger man would decline but still feeling obligated to give the courtesy.

Charles idea of changing the subject had worked, as Logan had calmed his breathing back to a normal level by the time he was done speaking, all thoughts of Victor for the most part gone from his mind as new thoughts of breaking into a morgue first thing in the morning and then spending perhaps the early parts of his afternoon hanging around Grand Central Station came across. Well... he had had stranger mornings. Standing himself up straight as Charles neared, Logan crossed his arms over his chest again, standing at his full 6'2" height and looking down on Charles, quirking a bushy eyebrow.

"Another one? Jesus, Charles how many is that now?" Logan asked, now raising the other eyebrow. "You shoulda took over a farm instead... could raise 'em like pups and set 'em free." Lowering his head a bit, Logan sighed dejectedly, growing a bit more serious in nature. "How many do you think you can take on?"

Letting out a small laugh, Charles looked Logan directly in the eyes before replying, "As many as I can manage...and then a few more." With that, he once again moved towards the phonograph, affixing the needle back onto the record as Frank Sinatra's voice, somewhat tinny from the player's effects began to play again.

"Now then, you best be off. It won't be terribly long before everyone else arrives and I doubt it would be as exciting without you there to scare them a little bit." Charles added with a humorous smile. "Good luck, Logan! And stay safe." He put in lastly, nodding sharply.

Nodding slightly, shrugging his broad shoulders a bit as he relaxed his arms back down to his sides. Turning his back to Charles, Logan headed back the couple of steps back towards the door and without even so much as looking back at Charles, exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

Pending

X-Men Noire: A Nation Reborn

@inuyashachick13 thanks, Rosaleigh looks good and has been accepted! (And I am just now realizing that the scale of male to female ratio has been tipped. Whoops!) I shall get her over to the Character Page to make it official. Welcome aboard! I shall be in contact with you shortly about that flashback post that will be everyone's character introduction.

[ROLEPLAY CLOSED] - Once Upon A Time (Restart)

Jafar Sholeh, Zarina Alteri, Ribbit and Armand Facilier - Present Day - The Bayou - Dr. Facilier's Emporium

Stepping out of the flames that seemed to appear out of no where, Jafar turned his head to the left first, and then the right, taking in his surroundings. He knew he had transported himself to the right place immediately given the very drastic change in humidity in the air around him; he could already start to feel beads of sweat forming at his hairline underneath his turban. Secondly, his dark eyes spotted the small, modest sign bolted to an even more modest looking brick building, tucked into the way recesses of the streets of The Bayou as though it were trying to remain hidden there.

Scoffing somewhat to himself as the flames dissipated from behind him, paying them no heed, Jafar took his cobra-headed staff and using it much like a walking stick, headed towards the front entrance of Dr. Facilier's Emporium. Why the Shadow Man had decided to keep his establishment so well hidden even after taking control of the entire area was beyond Jafar, he simply didn't understand why a man wouldn't rise to the occasion and build himself a quaint little castle that could oversee the entire area to know just what each and every person in The Bayou was doing. But then again, Jafar supposed, not everyone was like him.

Waving the head of his staff with a light flick of his wrist, the front door to the emporium swung open by magic, granting the sorcerer entrance. Stepping over the threshold, Jafar kept his eyes ahead of him, staring into the unnaturally dark room. As soon as he cleared the entryway, the door creaked closed behind him by a force that was not his own, a resounding sound of a latch being fastened after the door had shut echoing through the now total darkness. Jafar continued to walk forward until he reached what he knew by repetition to be the middle of the room and stopped, the sound of the end of his staff thumping on the wooden floor drowning out the residual sound of the front door being latched. Inclining his head a small fraction, feeling a cold shiver pulling down the center of his back, his dark eyes darted about the room, trying to catch a glimpse of what he knew was coming despite the blanket of darkness around him and although he was feeling uneasy by the ambiance of the room, he stood his ground firmly.

Suddenly, there was a slight tickle of magic pulling at the back of his mind, moving the sorcerer into action. With only a fraction of a second to act, Jafar moved his grip on the shaft of his staff closer to the cobra head and took hold of the middle with his opposite hand, swinging the staff horizontally as he twisted at his waist in an attempt to catch his attacker off guard. A bout of flame erupted from the head of the staff, lighting up the room around them long enough for Jafar to catch sight of a pair of hands taking hold of the shaft of the staff between his own two hands in a tight grip, stopping Jafar's movements. The attacker used the momentum of Jafar's swing to their advantage and veered the staff off course, pulling it closer to Jafar's body and downwards instead of connecting with their side in which was intended, forcing Jafar to adjust his feet to keep from being pulled down or at the very least lose his balance.

In an effort to regain his position of power, Jafar, keeping his hands tight on his staff, spun himself around, forcing his attacker's wrists to turn most uncomfortably until they were forced to let go. Coming out of his spin, Jafar raised the staff (still held horizontally) up to his head level, extending it out as far as his arms-reach would allow and then pulled it down, trapping his attacker between his body and staff. He then pulled his staff back towards him, finding the throat of his attacker and forced their body back, becoming flush with his with enough force that made his own feet stagger a few slight steps backwards. He kept his grip on his staff firmly, however, keeping his attacker there and unable to move from the close confinement of both his body and staff crushing at their windpipe. A startled gasp came from his attacker, and in the darkness of the room he felt their arms raise up to put their hands on the outside of each of his hand, trying to push the staff away but his strong arms kept it there.

"We really need to stop meeting like this..." Jafar said, bending his head forward a bit to speak into where he knew his attacker's ear was. Reaching out with his mind by magic, one by one the candles in the emporium lit up the room, showing Jafar just exactly who he was dealing with. "...Zarina."

Having been able to push the staff away from her throat just enough to be able to at least breathe comfortably again, Zarina blew out a stream of air, catching a strand of her crimson hair and blew it out of her eyes. Instead of being frightened, given her vulnerable position, Zarina instead relaxed herself back into Jafar, melting her back onto his chest and resting her head back on his shoulder, removing one hand from the golden staff to gently run her fingers along the side of Jafar's face and down the strong line of his jaw, her fingernails then playing with the coarse hairs of his goatee once she reached his chin in a sort of scratching gesture.

"And here I thought you enjoyed our little game of cat and mouse." Zarina purred, brushing her lips against his throat but keeping them from actually kissing him. Her smile widened dramatically as she felt the staff being pushed back into her throat tightly in what she knew was supposed to be a warning, but it had her exhaling a breathy, slightly strangled laugh instead. "Hmmm... not exactly... what I had in mind..." Zarina commented in between labored breaths, feeling his staff pressing tighter and tighter into her throat. "But... thats... the beauty of... our little... meetings. Plenty of... room for... exploration!"

While she had been talking, the pirate had managed to position her feet around his strategically. The tip of her boot pressed into an area on Jafar's ankle and the very second she felt his body wince from his exploited pressure point, her knee bent into the back of his knee, forcing his leg to buckle. Simultaneously, Zarina used her experience to place her other leg around the back of the calf on his opposite leg and twisted her body around and down, slipping out from her entrapment and with one final push from her forearm on his chest, the sorcerer found himself suddenly on his back in the middle of the room of the emporium. Zarina was quick to follow, straddling his sides and sitting up on his chest with both hands back on his golden staff, now pushing the shaft into his throat while he tried to push up but even in her small stature, Zarina was both tough and had gravity on her side.

"Let's be honest, Jafar. You never really thought you were the cat, now did you?" Zarina asked, adjusting her hips on his chest a bit if a bit playfully. The front and back flaps of her white top opened up more, leaving only a small strip of black fabric of what Zarina called 'shorts' while others would argue as 'undergarments' between herself and Jafar's Kurta, but it wasn't enough to keep her heat from slipping through his clothes and feeling her on his chest. The only thing even keeping her top together were a series of tied knots that ran down both sides, as though the top had been split in two halves, a front half and back half, and then tied back together.

Jafar's turban had fallen at some point while Zarina had pushed him to the floor, his wild mess of black curls spilling out underneath him as he looked up at her with a look nothing short of detestation, illiciting a laugh from Zarina as she simply looked back down at him. "You, my little mouse, have been caught but don't fret. I'll allow you to choose how I devour you." Keeping her hands on the staff to keep Jafar restrained, Zarina instead began to drag her knee and inner-thigh up his side , keeping her center planted on his chest firmly.

"Except..." Jafar spoke up, keeping his eyes dark and trained on her, somehow finding the willpower to not be affected by the fairy's alluring act he had become annoyingly familiar with over the span of the last four years. "You've forgotten that it is the snake that devours the cat who has devoured the mouse."

Zarina's eyes flicked down from Jafar's to the staff she held in his hands. The shaft began to glow, the gold starting to shimmer and the once rigid metal began to wriggle around in her hands. Surprised, Zarina dropped the staff and watched as it continued to take the form of a real snake, keeping on growing in size until it rivaled that of an anaconda, the sudden flaring of it's hood as it opened up it's massive jaws to bare its fangs at Zarina giving way, however, that it was indeed still a cobra.

Scrambling off of Jafar, Zarina moved to stand, however the tail of the massive snake had coiled around both of her ankles in her moment of surprise, tripping her up and sending her back to the floor and on her side in a harsh fall, forcing the wind out of her lungs unexpectedly. Eyes flicking from the snake's tail around her feet to Jafar who was now pushing himself back onto his feet without a single regard for the deadly serpent hissing at his feet, Zarina just shook her head, almost ashamedly at him.

"You've always... played dirty... Jafar." Zarina breathed out with what air she had managed to suck back into her chest though the pirate still managed a coy smile. The snake continued to coil itself around the pirate fairy, reaching all the way up to her knees in a tight bind before simply moving up her midsection to secure her hands, restricting them tightly to her body and forcing Zarina into a sort of sitting position. "But a bit of bondage never hurt anyone..." She finished, keeping her eyes on the snake that kept her bound, useless and vulnerable, but fear was far from her eyes as she looked back to the sorcerer with a smile. "What has our dear Overlord Queen been teaching you, hmmm?"

"Have you finished it?" Jafar asked, ignoring Zarina's words and getting straight to the point of his sudden visit, using his hands to brush off the bits of collected dust from the emporium floor from his kurta. A sound of something slowly cracking filled the air as the cobra once more tightened it's grip over Zarina's frame, though whether it was from her bones or the small leather gauntlets she wore on her arms he wasn't certain, nor did he particularly care.

A small, strangled gasp came from Zarina as she felt the strength of the over-sized cobra tighten it's hold on her further, cracking the leather gauntlets she had adorned for her protection. A whole lot of good that did against snakes. She'd have to tinker around with that new bit of information. Pushing past the pain, Zarina let out a drawn out, over-exaggerated sigh.

"Still the killjoy of the century. What do you do for fun, Jafar? Or does The Queen suck out a bit of your soul each time she has your throwing her legs back behind her head?"

Jafar's eyes flared from their dark brown color to a light copper, his pupils dilating and taking on the shape of a serpent. In response, the cobra that had Zarina bound coiled the rest of it's body tightly around her torso and squeezed. A piercing scream filled the emporium covering up the sound of shattering bones, the sound enough to shake the dust from the overhead rafters making the already musty air even thicker with debris. As soon as Zarina's cry was reduced to pained whimpers, Jafar took a few steps forward and looked down at her, extending out his hand as though he were trying to grab something. The snake, in turn, began to unravel around Zarina, shrinking back down to size and stretched itself into a straight line as Jafar picked it up, going rigid in his hand and turning back into his golden staff.

Zarina collapsed down onto the floorboards, gripping tightly onto her right side where blood was beginning to slide through her fingertips. Sucking in her pain in light of crying out, Zarina pulled her hand from her side long enough to see two shattered end pieces of her ribs that had pierced through her flesh and between the ties of the side of her top and covered it up again in an effort to stop the bleeding.

"You will show more respect to your Queen." Jafar hissed, sounding eerily like a snake himself in his anger as he brought about the head of his staff, connecting it with Zarina's face in a powerful blow. Crying out, Zarina was forced onto her back feeling the raw sting of the blow on her cheek where she was pretty sure the bone had shattered and tasting the bitter bite of copper as blood began to pool into her mouth from a busted lip. His eyes returning to their natural shape and color, Jafar raised his foot and smashed it down on her sternum, watching the tears slide down The Pirate Fairy's face as she struggled with not only trying to remain tough, but keep her consciousness. Her hand abandoned her side in light of trying to remove his boot from her chest, but to no avail, even with both hands on him.

"She really has you... whipped... Jafar. I p-pity you. No g-good can come from a... a love like that." Zarina croaked out, looking up at Jafar over her heavily lidded eyes holding a sense of experience behind her words.
Jafar stooped down to rest on his haunches, holding the bottom portion of his staff to keep his balance as he removed his boot from her chest.

"When I hired you four years ago to find Crenshinibon for me, I didn't buy you're advice along with it." Jafar told her coldly, reaching out with his free hand and patted her on the side of the face like a father would their child, but perhaps a bit more forcefully as he watched Zarina wince each time he did over her shattered cheek bone. "Now. Is it done?" Jafar asked, retreating his hand.

Groaning as Zarina took stock of her limbs, as if determining what still worked and what didn't, with an extreme amount of effort she pushed herself upright, bloodied hand returning to her side to cover up the open wound caused by her shattered rib.

"Yes. It's done. But I believe your snake has squeezed the memory as to it's location from my mind." Zarina replied, somehow managing a bit of snark in her response despite her circumstances, as if her memory was the worst of her injuries here.

Holding fast to his frown, Jafar extended out his palm to her, running it over her body a few inches from touching her, back and forth. Slowly but surely, Zarina felt the bones starting to knit back together as well as her skin on both her side and lip. Even her shattered cheek bone was starting to mend itself until finally her body was restored to what it once was, but Zarina noticed the pain remained.

"Cheeky bastard." Zarina laughed out through a pained hiss. He knew exactly what he was doing. Sitting herself upright, Zarina extended her leg out, resting the bottom of her boot on Jafar's bent thigh as he was still hunched over. Though as provocative as it might have seemed, Zarina had other intentions as she straightened out her leg and slipped her fingers underneath her knee-high boots, finding a hidden clasp on her thigh and procured a small object. Once free from her boot, Zarina tossed the small satchel to Jafar who caught it without even so much as blinking. He stood abruptly, forcing Zarina's foot off his thigh as he opened up the draw strings and peered inside.

"You keep it with you?" He asked with an air of annoyance as he checked the contents inside.

"Hey, at least if it's stolen, I'd at least have an idea as to when it was and who it was." Zarina pointed out, watching Jafar's shoulders shrug with disinterest despite the amount of reason behind her words. "Now, you got what you came for. Our four-year business is done then?" She asked, finally managing to push herself to her feet and dusted off her top though it was beyond salvaging now given the blood stains on the side.

Deeming the contents that lay within the satchel worthy, Jafar closed up the drawstring and opened up the flap of his kurta just enough so that he may slip the satchel on the inside pocket and patted it a few times for good measure.
"My business with you is done, yes..." Jafar said, though his latter words letting on that there was more. "Where does he keep him, the Prince?"

Raising a red eyebrow in confusion, Zarina shrugged her narrow shoulders.

"I don't know what you-"

"Don't insult me Pixie. I know he is here. Armand let that bit slip when he came to see Maleficent."

"Always the one to put that big nose where it doesn't belong." Zarina sighed, shaking her head and then jerked her thumb back over her shoulder. "In the back room. Armand has had me looking after him while he was gone on business. But whatever it is you're set on doing, I think I'm done trying to play with you for today. So as far as I'm concerned, I went to go see if I could find someone to that plays fair on the playground." Walking past Jafar, running her hand up and over his chest as she walked by, she headed to the far recess of the room and took a seat in what was usually Armand's main chair, but with The Shadow Man still in transit back to the Bayou, Zarina had more or less made it hers in his absence.

Needing no further instruction, Jafar headed in the direction Zarina pointed him in and walked through the swinging doors that separated the two rooms.

If it were at all possible, the back room of Armand's Emporium was even more cluttered with Jafar's opinion of useless junk than the main room was, the organized chaos causing Jafar to falter his steps a few times to maneuver between furniture and sweep aside dusted cobwebs just to reach the other side of the room where a figure was bolted to the wall with an assortment of chains, cuffed at both his ankles and wrists so that his body was in an awkward looking 'X' shape but this was no ordinary figure. As Jafar neared closer, the shadows keeping him from view lessened revealing not a man, but a frog. It was hard to tell from his restricted position splayed across the wall, but Jafar would be willing to bet that the frog was just as tall as him, perhaps taller.

Stopping his steps just a few feet away from the frog, Jafar paused, looking the creature up and down with a curled sneer over his lip, as though disgusted, but he wasn't sure exactly where that smell was coming from, being the dried out frog or potential mold growing in the corners of the room where the rats seemed to scurry to and from. Pushing the smell as far from his mind as he could, Jafar turned his sneer into a smile, giving the life-size frog his full attention.
"Hanging out, are we?" Jafar mused, sounding somewhat proud with how he made himself known.

The frog, who's head had been dropped to look down at the floor beneath him from the lack of energy, attempted to raise his head, catching only a glimpse of Jafar's face before his neck lost strength and was forced back down again. Tisking, Jafar gathered up his staff in his hand, holding it upside down so that he was gripping it towards the head of the staff and used the opposite end to press the rod underneath the frog's chin and forced it back up to look at him.

"My, my, Naveen. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're looking rather green! Best hop on over to the nearest apothecary to get that treated..."

A restrained, wheezing sound came from Naveen that Jafar could only assume was an attempt at a chuckle. The frog's eyes met with Jafar's only by the sake of the end of the staff, the already upturned muscles and strange lines of the frog's jaw keeping Jafar in the dark as to whether or not Naveen was actually smiling at him.

"Get me some... water... and... we can sing about it together, yes?" Naveen managed to get out followed by an involuntary croak.

Jafar's amused expression faltered as he jerked the end of his staff away, forcing Naveen's head to hang back down uselessly on his chest. Returning the staff upright, Jafar waved it in a slight, vertical arc against Naveen's body, the shackles and chains that had him bound for who knew how long disappearing and sent Naveen falling down the wall into the semi-circle pool of water that was no more than a few inches deep. The small amount of water seemed to be enough, however, as Naveen pushed the pain to the side and basked in all it's wet glory, using his over-sized hands to scoop up the water and into his mouth; a thirst worthy of someone being lost within the Agrabah sands for days at a time.

"No singing." Jafar stated firmly, resting his staff back by his side once more as it was intended. "I hear enough croaking from your people at the Moors keeping me awake to know that is not something I want." Sighing a bit outwardly, as it seemed the water-obsessed frog hadn't even heard a word he said, Jafar realized he would have to get straight to the point. "I will, however, give you your freedom. What you do with it is of little consequence to me-"

"Why do it then? Doesn't make much sense to me..." Naveen interrupted between monstrous gulps of water.

A muscle in Jafar's cheek twitched as he attempted to regain his composure. Had this frog been anyone else he would most certainly have become crocodile chow, but a point had to be made here.

"Because I serve to please my Queen. You are a pawn, Naveen. Your freedom only illicits a point in which Maleficent is wishing to make to The Shadow Man, nothing more. May he spend the next two years of his life trying to hunt you down again. Or perhaps, you'll be smarter about it this time, hmm?"

Looking up from his crouched position in the tiny pool, Naveen watched as Jafar raised both hands, staff held within one and before he even knew what was happening, a cloud of crimson smoke began to envelop him until he was out of sight completely. There was a sudden draft within the small room and with the blow of the wind, the smoke cleared and Naveen was gone.

Jafar lowered his arms and headed back to the main room of the emporium, his dark eyes glancing over at Zarina who hadn't moved from her spot on Armand's chair. He paid her no more mind, however, as he made his way back to the front door to let himself out. His business here was done. Freya would still be at the Pride Lands, no doubt, so that bought him a little time to prepare for tonight.

"Well I would say it's been a real pleasure..." Zarina started as she pushed herself up from her chair and walked to the center of the room, following after Jafar but he was already out the door and slammed it shut behind him on her words. "Dick..." Zarina let out an audible sigh, though not even past her lips she felt a pair of familiar hands being placed on her sides. One hand remained there firmly while the other snaked around and pressed the palm flat on her sternum, pushing her back into the solid form of a man's chest. A quiet exhale came from the pirate fairy, the little sting of pain from her encounter with Jafar's boot being pushed away by the raw desire that flooded her veins. A pair of lips pressed down onto her neck, forcing Zarina to crane her neck even further wanting more of the contact, quiet whimpers of protest coming from the Pirate Fairy when the lips were withdrawn instead.

"You got it?"

Sighing, knowing that this wasn't going to be going anywhere until he got what he wanted, Zarina pulled herself from Armand's embrace and reached into her boot, pulling out a second satchel that looked very much like the one she had given Jafar.

"The fool was too blinded by what he wanted to even ask if anything remained of it." Zarina stated, sounding much more business-like than she had at all that day.

Catching the satchel, Armand opened up the draw string and pulled out what looked like a stone, but a very strange shade of blue in color and glowing, pulsing even as though it were alive. It was small, perhaps the size of a beetle, but the white smile that split Armand's dark features gave way that he was pleased.

"What about Naveen?" Zarina asked as Armand slipped the glowing rock back into the satchel.

Without even so much as looking at Zarina, Armand walked to the wall where the light was the strongest and peered at where the face would be on his shadow. He reached out, handing the satchel to the shadow which in turn extended it's own hand, coming out of the wall as though it were it's own person and took the satchel from Armand.

"You know what to do." Armand told his shadow with a nod. The shadow made a sound similar to that of nails on a chalk-board before it darted away, out of sight from the emporium entirely. "Oh, I suppose I can give the little Frog Prince a day or two head start. I'm in a rather pleasant mood today Zarina, don't ruin it for me." Armand replied sounding more like a man who was trying to preach than anything else. Moving from his position from the wall, he walked a few steps before sitting himself down in his chair, legs open wide and back sinking into the lavishment of it, closing his eyes with a content sigh.

"You would think by now that the Serpent King would have realized you have other means of travel than just a horse and carriage." Zarina snarkily stated, walking towards Armand with a gentle sway of her hips and as she reached him, climbed up onto his lap, one leg at a time until she was straddling him completely. She kept her back straight, pushing out her chest just a bit as she removed his top hat from his head and carded her nails over his scalp with both hands through the short, coarse curls of his hair.

Armand didn't even so much as open an eye to see what it was that his technical slave was doing, as though it were a common occurrence. He simply allowed her to do what she pleased, even breathing out a sigh of contentment as she ran her nails over his scalp, massaging away the last few days' stress.

"I suppose you think you deserve something for the stone, don't you?" He asked, sounding somewhat bored. "If it is your wings you are after, I stand by what I said in having my friends rip your shadow from you the next time you so much as even bring it up."

"No, I-" Zarina started, a twinge of panic on the edge of her voice but Armand's eyes opened quickly, one hand reaching out to press his finger against her lips to keep her from speaking, and she obediently complied and as a reward for her behavior, he lifted his finger from her lips and trailed it down the strong line of her jaw, down her neck and over her collarbone, the act sending shivers down Zarina's spine.

"Take off your top."