Author's Note: Well, since there's so little written in the Paragon fandom outside of the snippets of official lore posted by Epic, I decided to present a little story that flew into my thoughts and refused to leave. I've tried to follow the lore as closely as possible, but in a few instances I had to take some artistic license regarding characters. As such, future lore releases might contradict things in this story later on, but that's the way things go.
Enjoy this for what it is—a little love note to a game I enjoy playing and characters I've grow to adore because of how well Epic has built them.
I do not own the game Paragon or make any claims upon it or its characters. Similarly, I do not own Epic Games, its characters or any of its property. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.
Girls' Night
by Jo K.
Put on your best dress darlin'
Can't you see the time is right
There will never be another tonight
-Bryan Adams, "There'll Never Be Another Tonight"
—O—
—O—
It could have been any bar on Omeda, on any night. But it wasn't.
—O—
Eyes around the table flicked back and forth during the comfortable lull in conversation, a tiny island of silence amidst a vast ocean of voices, laughs, cheers and shouts dispersed throughout the large bar. But despite all the noise, motion and buzzing activity surrounding the large table and its inhabitants, most of those eyes of those present at the wooden table kept sliding back to one spot on the lacquered wood surface, where the bright pink gloss adorning Shinbi's nails slowly slid back and forth as her fingers and Phase's short-trimmed ones delicately, tantalizingly played with each other as soft, knowing smiles shifted across both Phase's dark red lips and Shinbi's glistening soft pink ones.
"So, uh, you two are... happy, right?" asked Dekker, hesitantly. It was the first she had heard of the effervescent pop star and the shy, introverted journalist being in a relationship. She had known the two were close friends, but it seemed their feelings toward each other ran much deeper than just friendship.
"Yeah," Phase said softly, her shy smile widening into a clear grin as her green eyes met Shinbi's warm brown gaze again.
"Gods, yes, we're happy!" Shinbi said, her voice's high pitch nearly sliding into a soft squeal with excitement. She quietened as she turned to look at Phase directly, brown and green once more joining in a shared stare. "I have never been so happy in my life as I am when I'm in her arms," Shinbi said tenderly. "I can feel her warmth, her strength, her love, all wrapped around me and holding me tight, protecting me from everything out there that wants to hurt me... That wants to hurt us."
"Well, you looked pretty happy at that last concert," teased Belica, working on her third Bloody Mallenk of the night. She was off-duty from her police work and had no upcoming mercenary work, so she was enjoying the freedom that came with a short break. "That might be tough to beat, the way you were working that crowd."
Shinbi gave her a playfully pouty look, complete with squinty eyes and a wrinkled nose. "It was a great crowd, but that wasn't even close," the singer said, lifting Phase's hand to her lips and kissing it in a bold show of affection, "to having my woman next to me."
Yin lowered her glass of redfruit wine, offering the vivacious singer and her punk-ish... partner, she supposed, a polite smile. "It's different than what I understand, from how I was brought up," spoke the First Guardian. "It's against all the religious teachings I received." She sighed wearily. "But... there's no doubting the two of you love each other. If the gods have accepted the two of you being together as a man and a woman would, and it's obvious they have, with you," nodding at Shinbi, "continuing to channel their power and serve them as a priestess, then how can I defy their actions?"
Shinbi released a tense breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Yin was a good friend to Kwang, the singer's brother, and while Shinbi had been fairly sure the First Guardian would approve of her relationship with Phase, she hadn't been entirely sure. Yin was always steadfast in her beliefs and convictions, and should she have felt that Shinbi and Phase shouldn't be together, she would have made her feelings quite clear on the matter, likely driving a wedge between the First Guardian and her old friend Kwang. And while that was something Shinbi never would have wanted, she wouldn't have sacrificed her relationship with Phase to preserve that friendship.
"Thank you," Shinbi said sincerely, leaning across Phase to grasp Yin's right hand. "That means a lot to us, Yin."
"Yeah, it really does," Phase added. There had been some sleepless nights for Shinbi recently after she and Phase had made the decision to tell their friends about their true feelings for each other, and one of the main concerns of the normally bubbly singer had been just how her brother's friend would react to the news. Having that removed as a worry would make Shinbi, and by extension Phase, much happier.
Omeda was rather unusual in terms of its skewed approach toward amorous tolerance, a holdover from the devoutly religious days that had given rise to wars and genocide for millennia. The occasional interspecies relationship was quietly tolerated, if not exactly approved, so long as it was kept out of sight, but homosexual relationships inside the same species had remained surprisingly taboo among most of the moon's inhabitants, largely due to centuries of religious-themed oppression and superstition that had proven harder to shift than the orbit of a planet.
Shinbi could change that, though Dekker, as she watched the pulsar-hot singer make heart eyes at the fashionably unkempt Phase, whose hair was currently a bright shade of crimson for both the long hair on the left side of her head that fell halfway down her back as well as the buzzed undercut on the right side of her scalp. Her and Phase both. As individuals, the hottest singer on the moon and the most-trusted journalist among the system's youth, they've already captured the hearts of their generation as well as those a step younger and older than them. As a couple, they could make the greatest statement for tolerance and acceptance Omeda's seen for centuries.
Or they could be the catalyst for another thousand years of religious wars, she thought bitterly as she took another sip of her Lethan whiskey.
"Ladies," came a gruff voice from behind Dekker, prompting her to look behind her as well as reflexively reach for the small stun stick holstered at her hip.
Seeing Murdock without his usual gladiatorial power armor was always a bit strange for Dekker. The two of them had never been particularly friendly, even outside of the "office" that was their battle arena. There wasn't any particular bad blood between them, it was just the two of them had never really circled in the same orbit, not like he and Belica did.
"Wanted to return this to you," the powerfully-built man rumbled as he held up a small multitool for the table to see, then he placed it on the table and slid it toward Belica. The small metal device skittered across the glossy tabletop, bouncing off the thick material of Belica's drink with a glassy ping. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."
"Any time," the taciturn woman replied, a small smirk gracing her face. Wearing a glimmering bronze sheath of a skirt and a matching bandeau top that revealed much more of her muscular upper body than it concealed, she looked entirely different than she did wearing her service armor. "Glad I could help prevent an emergency."
The powerfully built man continued to look at Belica, just long enough to make the moment uncomfortable. "You got a way home for later?" he asked.
"We get a big suite next door," Belica said, gesturing with the half-full glass in her right hand toward the bar's entrance. "When we do this..."
"Girls' night!" Shinbi chirped happily, lifting her glass and nearly spilling the paper umbrella haphazardly poking over the rim.
There was a prolonged pause as Murdock continued to look at Belica, her strong shoulders bare due to her sleeveless top. Beneath the thin band of bronze fabric that covered most of her breasts, Belica's toned abdomen was similarly bare, marked with a few scars ranging from tiny to prominent. She refused to be embarrassed or ashamed by them, instead always declaring that scars were reminders that someone had survived everything the universe had thrown at them so far. The edge of the table kept his gaze from continuing any lower, which was undoubtedly for the best.
"Alright, then," he finally said, awkwardly shifting his eyes away from his coworker before they darted back to her face once more. "Don't get too out of control. Don't want to have to arrest any of you tonight."
"You'd have to catch us first," Phase mumbled, burying her face in her glass of Sorvuuk brandy as Zinx giggled quietly two seats away. Even Yin smiled quietly, calmly taking another sip of her burgundy wine.
"What was that?" Murdock said, halfway turned around.
"Nothing," Shinbi said pleasantly. "Just Phasey being... well, herself." She punctuated her sentence with a glowing smile at her girlfriend that made it quite clear how much the singer adored the more standoffish woman.
"Have a good night," Murdock said with a nod. He then turned and walked away.
After he was fully outside the bar and moving down the street—the acoustic amplifiers in OPD power armor were fairly efficient—Phase finally looked up and glared at the door. "Ashur," she swore softly at where the older man had been standing. "Eyefuck you much, Bel?"
Belica grimaced slightly. "He's really a good partner in the field," she said slowly. "And he'd never do anything—or try anything—that I wouldn't be comfortable with. It's probably more that I always wear full-body armor while we're on the job, and he's never seen me trying to look good before. But he and his wife don't have the best relationship. And I refuse to get pulled into the middle of that mess, even indirectly."
"Good idea on your part," said Sparrow, right before she finished off her mug of the amber-colored ale she preferred. "Might be fun, though," she added as she set the empty glass on the table and slid the full one next to it closer to her. "He does have some redeeming... qualities."
"Please, Sparrow," Dekker groaned. "Keep your authority fetishes to yourself."
The table laughed briefly as Sparrow uncharacteristically refused to return the jab.
"Not worth it," Belica said firmly. "I don't get involved with coworkers." She opened her mouth to qualify that remark for a split second before raising her glass to cover her gaffe, hoping no one caught her momentary hesitation.
For a few nerve-wracking seconds, she thought she had gotten away with her blunder. Until Serath leaned forward and peered closely at the auburn-haired policewoman.
"Your aura's swirling, Bel," the blonde said cautiously.
Fuck, Belica swore softly to herself. She knew better than to drink with an empath present.
She glared at Serath, who immediately shrunk back slightly. It's not her fault, Belica swore to herself. She can't help what she is, and gods know it tortures her more than anyone around her.
"I'm sorry," Serath whispered softly, almost too soft to be intelligible. Shame was clearly etched across her face as the curly-haired blonde tried to hide her face in her cup of tea laced with mead. She nearly jumped when a strong hand closed over her own.
Serath looked up to see Belica leaning forward, covering Serath's left hand with her own.
"No, I'm sorry," Belica said, keeping her voice calm. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you being... you. You can't help your powers sometimes."
Serath nodded her head while never lifting her gaze from the center of her mug. She shivered involuntarily as she felt a darkness slide across her aura, right before she felt a tentative touch upon her right forearm. Her blue eyes darted over to see rough fingers with irregular nails grasping her arm with a surprising tenderness.
"We did not ask to become what we are," Morigesh said in her low, raspy voice. "But the only path that truly leads us forward is acceptance, not denial."
Serath lifted her head and turned to look into the frightening woman's eyes, irises nearly white in their paleness. As the demiangel peered into the other woman's aura, through the constant sorrow and grief that always threatened to drown Morigesh's other emotions, the rage and bitterness that were ever-present during their gladiatorial matches were currently nowhere to be found in the swirling stew of feelings deep inside the woman, replaced instead by compassion that bordered on... motherly.
It was such an unexpected sight in the dreadlocked woman's aura that Serath couldn't help but stare at her silently. On those times when the two had been close enough in the arena for Serath to see the sneer on Morigesh's face as she plunged her dagger into the magical doll bearing Serath's blonde curls, right before searing pain tore through Serath's heart, compassion had seemed antithetical to the dark woman's very being.
But there was no sign of deception here, either on Morigesh's bare, unmarked face or in the tempest of emotions that swirled inside her aura.
"Th-Thank you," Serath stammered, once she finally found her voice.
A soft smile was her only reply, exposing teeth honed to predatory points. But the usual menace in that expression was gone, at least for the time being. Then the dour woman slid back into her chair at the side of the table, where the shadows seemed to swallow her back up like the ocean does a drowning man.
Belica smiled at the unusual display from the savagely fierce woman that more than a few of them at the table were still scared of, at least to some degree. Belica hadn't known the mysterious woman before the tragedy that came to define her, but she often imagined that younger Morigesh to be very different than the one who had taken her place.
"What the hell," Belica swore softly as she grabbed her drink again. "It's girls' night." She downed the remaining liquor in a burning swallow, then she smacked the empty glass back down on the table. "Okay, what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this table, understand?" she said as she leaned in slightly.
A few looks of puzzlement appeared on the faces around the large table, but they were quickly replaced with grins of curiosity and amusement.
"Not a word, swear," Shinbi was quick to reply, pantomiming pulling a zipper across her lips.
"You're not the investigative journalist here," Belica said in a low voice, eyes sliding toward Phase.
With an aggrieved sigh that might have been exaggerated slightly, the younger woman tilted her head back dramatically. "Fine," she moaned. "I won't write, speak or otherwise communicate what you're about to tell us." She returned her head to normal position, meeting Belica's hard gaze. "That good enough?"
Belica nodded once. "It'll do. You won't go back on your word that you gave in front of your... girlfriend."
Phase looked surprised for a fleeting moment. "No, I wouldn't," she confessed. She glanced at Shinbi, whose face was practically aglow with happiness. "I respect what I have with her too much to ever belittle it."
Shinbi covered Phase's hands with her own. "And you know I feel the same," she said softly, her expressive eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears. "As a priestess of my faith, I can only ever take a single mate, and if I do, it must be for life." She smiled again, staring proudly into Phase's green eyes. "So I chose you. And I will always be happy with that decision."
Phase whispered something in a language Belica didn't recognize; a single tear escaped Shinbi's long lashes and slid down her fair cheek as she repeated the same word reverently, quietly reaffirming their commitment to each other. Yin understood the language, though, and she knew what that word symbolized.
Eternal. A word spoken with that solemn tone only between a husband and a wife, both as part of the holy vows during a marriage ceremony and then, afterward, as reassurance between mates, a reminder that their spirits were forever bound together and could never be separated, even through death.
Yin felt a slight shiver sweep over her body, and the convulsive swirling of wine in her glass briefly threatened to spill over the rim. It seemed that Shinbi and Phase were even more serious in their commitment to each other than they had revealed—and that the gods had apparently blessed that as well.
Yin closed her eyes; she could feel the heavy weight of the past straining against the force of the future screaming against it. Perhaps the young priestess was more than just the musical and fashion idol of millions. Could it be she was the future of religion on Omeda as well?
The table was quiet for a few seconds as the noise of the bar reverberated around them. Shinbi and Phase had bowed their heads, gently resting their foreheads together as they continued to clasp hands as if their lives depended on it.
They could have been praying, as far as Belica knew, or maybe they were just lost in the moment, swept away in the surprising depths of emotion that apparently bound them together. She didn't understand Shinbi's religion. But there was no denying the young woman wielded power far beyond the ephemeral influence of fame and popularity. She shuddered as she thought back to the last match where she and Shinbi had faced each other. The feeling of those spirit wolves tearing through her body and soul from all sides was... disturbing, to say the least.
She sighed and took another drink. At least they didn't stay dead in the arena.
"You two are starting to attract attention," whispered Dekker, taking in the stares and leers from different tables near them.
"Should I flare up so everyone's looking at me?" Serath asked, her eagerness to help others one of her most endearing traits, as far as Dekker was concerned.
"Not with all this alcohol on the table!" Sparrow quickly said, scooting her chair back slightly in case Serath's control slipped anyway.
"I can kill someone," Morigesh said breezily, momentarily halting all conversation.
Every face at the table moved to peer at her, even Shinbi and Phase, their eyes and cheeks newly red with heartfelt emotion.
Morigesh appeared nonplussed by the attention. "It would provide an effective distraction," she added with a shrug. "And no one would question me."
"Thanks, Mori," Shinbi said with a soft snuffle as she wiped her eyes. "But we're good now. Just needed a girl moment."
With a soft grunt, Morigesh went back to eating a cheese-stuffed hot pepper.
"Mori?" asked Belica, more than a bit amused by the diminutive.
Morigesh stopped eating; her eyes slowly drifted up to meet Belica's "Priest-girl and Narbash may call me that," she said slowly. "You may not."
Belica felt a cold chill slither down the small of her back. She swallowed involuntarily.
"So, can I just pull up a seat anywhere?" said someone from behind Belica, and the table all seemed to stiffen at the sound of the silky, seductive voice.
Belica slowly turned to look up at the slight woman in the sheer satin dress, the shiny fabric a deep crimson and the bottom of its skirt falling just to mid-thigh, standing just beside and behind her; as shivers ran up Belica's spine, she had to fight the urge to grab the pistol concealed in her small bag. "Countess," she said noncommittally.
"I don't recall inviting you," Phase said sharply. She quickly looked at the faces gathered around the table. "Did any of you invite her?" Getting only blank looks and an occasional look of surprise in return, Phase added, "No one?"
The scarlet-haired woman turned back to the vampire, this time turning her entire upper body to face the centuries-old creature. "I don't think anyone invited you. So why don't you go the fuck somewhere else?!" Phase swore at her.
"You're just mad that I tried to bite your play-pretty last week," Countess said, her voice as low and seductively sweet as ever, while a knowing smile crept across her ruby lips.
"Yeah, I am," Phase replied quickly. "And if you try it again, I'll shove—"
"If no one invited you, Countess, that means you're not welcome," Serath said, causing the raven-haired vampire's face to flash with a hint of some emotion that was gone before her head had turned to glare at the blonde woman.
"No one invites her!" Countess snarled, jabbing two fingers in Morigesh's direction.
Morigesh's dreadlocks swayed slightly as she lifted her head up to meet the Countess's angry gaze. "I am me," spoke the huntress, eyes coldly burning from where she sat in the shadows. "You are not."
The crisp glassy smack of a tumbler hitting the surface of the table made a few people at the table jump slightly. "Morigesh is welcome here," Dekker said firmly, "because she behaves herself. And she tells really funny, if incredibly filthy, jokes."
A toothy grin emerged from between Morigesh's lips.
Dekker refused to blink or look away from Countess's increasingly angry glare. "The same, however, can't be said about you, Countess."
"I am a creature of dark magic," Countess said slowly.
"So's Morigesh," Dekker countered, keeping her voice calm. "Shinbi's magic, too. Phase was tortured for years and has a short fuse. Zinx is more feline than human, and was tortured along with Phase. Sparrow's a thief. Yin's First Guardian and constantly busy with that position, plus she's snippy when she doesn't get enough sleep. I'm stubborn and bossy. And Belica's a bitch. But we all behave ourselves on Girls' Night."
"What about me?" asked Serath, confused at why her name hadn't been called.
"You're the living embodiment of two primally opposing forces," said Dekker, smiling pleasantly. "But you're a sweetheart."
Murmurs of agreement and nods appeared around the entire table, making Serath smile happily.
"So, Countess," Dekker said, her voice returning to its usual no-nonsense tone, "We're willing to give you another chance. But this isn't the arena. If you overstep your boundaries here, then you deserve what you get... and there's no rez pads out here."
The smile on Phase's dark red lips was luscious as she sat smugly, arms crossed over her chest, her gaze fixed on Countess. Countess glowered at her for several seconds before shifting her gaze to Dekker, whose face remained impressively calm despite the vampire's intense glare, eyes the red of a dying fire. "Fine," she finally snapped. "I'll behave myself."
A few grumbles could barely be heard through the noise of the bar as women shifted their chairs slightly, pretending to make room for another chair while not actually doing so.
"I can hear what you're saying, you know," Countess said sharply, looking around. "Enhanced senses."
"Which is why I'll just call you names to your face," said Belica calmly. She scooted her chair closer to Phase. "You can pull a chair in here next to me."
Countess looked at the opening that had been created at the table, between Belica... and Serath. "You want me to sit here?" she asked incredulously. "Next to HER?!" she added, gesturing weakly at Serath.
Dekker shrugged from across the large table. "You're the one that wanted to join us," she said, hints of a smirk at the corners of her mouth. Gods, Belica could totally be a bitch, but she was fucking brilliant at times. "Are you pulling up a seat or not?"
Countess was careful to present a look of disgust on her face that masked the terror pounding inside her stilled heart. The blonde woman carefully drinking her hot tea next to her, shyly keeping her eyes fixed on the table, consisted of two very different sides, but both were equally lethal to the vampire: holy light and hellfire. And the gangly brat, still growing into early adulthood, was barely stable emotionally at the best of times. But there wasn't much of a choice, and Countess refused to be intimidated by a table full of mortals whose ages all summed together were less than a third of her own.
Without a word, she grabbed a chair from a nearby table and roughly slammed it down onto the tiled floor between Belica and Serath. She scooted it slightly closer to the policewoman before she gracefully lowered herself onto the seat and primly crossed her pale legs, on full display thanks to the short skirt of her dress.
"I don't suppose they'll have my preferred vintage here," she sniffed, glancing at the nearest server, a scantily-clad girl with glowing blue hair and similarly luminescent tattoos on her neck, arms and legs.
"You might be surprised," said Sparrow. "Some of the girls here are pretty fearless. But you may have to pay a bit more for it."
Countess regarded the deceptively innocent face of the redheaded rogue. "I suppose there's no harm in asking, hmm?"
"If you've got the cred, go for it," Sparrow said before taking another drink from her large mug. "But if one of the server girls is willing to... donate for you, you'd better not kill her. I happen to like this place, as well as most of the staff. And I can put a wooden arrow through your heart from farther away then you can shadow step."
Countess smiled, revealing her prominent fangs among her gleaming white teeth.
"How do you keep your teeth so pretty and white, anyway?" asked Shinbi, leaning forward and across Phase, pressing her chest against her lover in the process of doing so. "I mean, with all the blood. It usually stains everything."
"Good oral hygiene, of course, my dear," Countess purred, slightly leaning into Shinbi's direction. "Oh, the places my mouth has been..."
"Okay, stop there," Phase said quickly, holding out a raised hand in the universal stop gesture. "Please don't put any images in my head."
Countess tipped her head back and laughed.
Beneath the table, Belica carefully eased her backup pistol back into her small bag, while Dekker did the same with the smaller version of her stun field generator. Sparrow likewise slid her slim stiletto back into the holster strapped to her leg. Not being one for subtlety, Morigesh simply dropped her curvy kris onto the wooden table with a clatter and went back to her herbal tea, brewed with a flower that was lethal to most recorded species.
"Hey, check out all the hotness!" said a boisterous male voice that far too many at the table recognized immediately.
Groans were heard and eyes rolled around the table as the gregarious Twinblast stepped up to the table, his pelvis a bit too close to Belica's face for her comfort.
"Keep your junk out of my line of sight, asshole," Belica said roughly as she leaned away from the man and his tight leather pants.
"Bel, baby! You wound me!"
"Gods, I wish," grumbled the policewoman, immediately picking up the previously untouched second glass of her spicy red drink; the sting of the liquor and juice as it rushed down her throat was a welcome sensation.
"We could have so much fun if you'd just take that enormous stick out of your sweet ass," the tall man said pleasantly. "I promise you I could replace it with—"
"Sorvuuk's tits," swore Sparrow. "Are you just always trying to fuck every woman you see? None of us are going to fall for that weak shit, you know."
The table grew quiet as several faces slowly turned to look at Serath, whose cheeks immediately began to turn red.
Sparrow's mouth fell open. "You didn't," she said to the blonde, already knowing the answer.
Serath looked up and grinned awkwardly. "It wasn't that bad," she admitted, eliciting giggles and laughter around the table. "I didn't stay the night or anything!"
"It w—" Twinblast began, only to be cut off by Belica.
"Would you do it again?" the auburn-haired woman asked Serath, now actually curious.
"Well, maybe," Serath said, not very convincingly.
"Hey, anytime y—"
"Was it weird, since you two, you know, fight each other?" asked Phase, who was the one to cut off Twinblast this time.
"Not particularly," replied Serath. "I mean, you and Shinbi seem to have figured out how to not let it affect your rel—"
Serath froze as she realized her mistake. "Oh shit," she swore softly, as her hair very briefly flared from soft blonde to literally flaming red, leaving a few bits of ash and cinder floating in the air as the blonde curls quickly reappeared.
Twinblast looked confused for a minute before his eyes went wide and his grin turned into an all-out leer. "Hey, I am totally cool with that!" he said loudly, slapping Phase on the back; he ignored the angry grimace on the face of the punk girl and her partner. "In fact, I'd be down to watch! Or even join in!"
To the surprise of everyone, it was Shinbi who shot to her feet, turning so fast that her chair was left rocking on its legs as the slight woman in the tight white-and-gold dress drew herself up to her tallest and pressed her chest against Twinblast. "Back. The. Fuck. Up," she swore at a near-whisper, her brown eyes boring holes into the taller man's.
"Hey, hey, I was just—" Twinblast stammered, taking quick steps backward but immediately followed by Shinbi, who continued to hover just millimeters away from the front of his body, forcing him to keep backpedaling.
"What you were 'just' doing was making asshole comments about the woman I love and me," Shinbi hissed, her voice low but still entirely audible to Twinblast. "And about things that are very special to us. Being together. Making love. Binding our hearts and our souls through physical intimacy of the deepest, most profound kind."
Shinbi's eyes began to glow a soft purple as she continued. "You were belittling something that I adore and hold sacred. Someone I adore and hold sacred. And right now it's taking all of my self-control to not channel every drop of my magic into tearing you into itty... bitty... tiny... pieces." The purple light in her eyes flared with the last word, as Twinblast backed into a support column, abruptly halting his retreat.
"O-Okay, okay, I'll apologize!" he said, trying to raise his cybernetic hands.
"Save it," the slight woman hissed upward at the taller man. "Because right now the best thing you could do is shut the fuck up and get out of this bar, before I kill you once and for all—and then rip your soul apart for good measure!"
"Y-You can do that?" Twinblast asked, his face paling.
Shinbi continued to glare upward at him, her mouth draw into a tight line of determination. "Turn around, walk out that door, and don't let me see you again tonight. Or you'll find out for yourself."
Twinblast's cybernetics launched him sideways so quickly that Shinbi's light brown hair, tips shaded with gold tonight, tried to follow in his wake, fluttering to the side before falling back down into its usual place. By the time the singer had turned to look at the door to the bar, Twinblast was nowhere to be seen.
Back at the table, everyone had turned to watch the confrontation, as had nearly the entire bar.
"Damn," swore Belica, impressed.
"I was not expecting that," added Dekker, her face nearly blank with surprise.
Yin grinned. "Go Shinbi," she said proudly.
"That was a most impressive threat display," Zinx said eagerly, her tufted ears erect and her bright green eyes wide with excitement. "My girl parts are all tingly now."
"That was hot," Serath agreed eagerly, grinning.
Phase just smiled and fanned herself with her right hand, trying to cool off her suddenly flushed face. "That's my woman," she said proudly.
Morigesh looked up from her tea and narrowed her eyes at she regarded the empty space where Twinblast had been seconds earlier. "Hmph. Should've killed him," she grumbled.
—O—
Most of the table seemed to be recovering from a round of laughter as Shinbi made her way back to her seat.
"Sorry for just walking away like that," she mumbled to Phase.
Phase took Shinbi's hand into her own and squeezed it firmly. Her gaze was locked onto Shinbi's deep, expressive brown eyes as she tenderly said, "You have nothing to apologize for, babe." She smiled and cupped Shinbi's right cheek with her free left hand. "I am so proud to be with you."
"One day," Shinbi said softly, not needing to finish the rest of the thought aloud. One day I can show everyone just how much I love you.
"One day," repeated Phase, still smiling. "You'll change the planet, Shinbi. You've already started doing it. You've started to bring love back, to restore it to its rightful place atop hate and envy and greed after centuries of war and brutality."
Shinbi's eyes glimmered as she drank in Phase's beauty. "It was because of you that I finally understood everything that love could be."
The table was quiet for a few seconds, as no one was eager to dampen the heartfelt emotion between the young women with the inevitable, inexorable grind of life and time.
We've been through hell, Belica thought as she looked around the table, her eyes lingering over Morigesh, who was staring intently at something across the bar. Some of us more than others.
"Okay, Bel."
Belica blinked out of her reverie to see Sparrow leaning inward, staring at her with that ridiculously charming smile of hers. "What?"
"What you were about to tell us. It was going to be something embarrassing, and I want to hear it."
"Oh, that," replied Belica. "Nah, it's not that interesting."
"Uh uh," countered Sparrow. "It's Girls' Night. 'No lies except to guys,' remember?"
Sneaky bitch. Well, she was right. Belica lifted her glass only to see it was now empty. "We need more booze," she said, only to be interrupted by a tray of drinks being set down on the table roughly enough to set the contents of the glasses and mugs swirling.
"Looks like I came at the right time, then," said Twyla, her silver lips already twitched into a sly smile. "I know better than to let this table run dry. You ladies start to get twitchy when your hands are empty."
The rainbow-haired server quickly handed out drinks to their respective patron, only stopping short when she looked down at the pale visage of Countess. "What do you want, hon?" Twyla asked cheerfully.
Countess leaned toward the server, who knelt down to let the raven-haired woman murmur in her ear. After a few seconds the server smiled and slowly stood.
"I know just the girl," she said, as if she responded to unusual requests all day. Which she most likely did. "You're not the only hemophage we've served here, you know."
The smile that spread across the ruby lips of Countess was an honest one, and it made her jaws ache to feel the muscles stretch they way they did. "Well," she managed to say. "Thank you, I suppose."
"I'll send Zana over as soon as I can get her attention. You can negotiate price with her then, although I don't think she'll play hard-to-get for you." Twyla grinned, then with a toss of her rainbow-hued hair, she was on her way back to the bar with the empty tray tucked under her arm.
Countess watched her go for a few seconds before saying, "That was altogether more pleasant than I had expected."
"This place has been open for over three hundred years, through a dozen wars," Dekker said. "There's not much they haven't seen."
Sparrow lifted her mug off the table but held it below her face. "Okay, Bel. Spill."
Belica sighed and took a swallow from her latest drink, this time a Lethan Sunrise, a sweeter drink she liked to chase the spicy, bitter Bloody Mallenks. "Gods and prophets," she swore lightly, savoring the rich, tart taste of the drink on her mouth after she swallowed. "I was a lot younger and a whole lot stupider. Got too close to one of my squadmates in Basic. Crossed the line between professional and personal. We talked about the future, about... stuff. Young, naïve, all that. Then on our first hot zone deployment, we fucked up because we were too worried about each other to spot an ambush."
"Oh, no," Shinbi said, hand politely coming up to cover her mouth.
Belica turned and gave her a look, which softened a bit when the older woman realized Shinbi was genuinely surprised and not being facetious. The singer hadn't lived long enough to become adequately experienced in how shitty life could be. "Yeah," she said, meeting Shinbi's concerned eyes. "We fucked up. We got shot. I lived. The other three in the group with me didn't, including..."
"Including..." said Serath, the tone of her voice asking the question rather than the words.
"Including," Belica said with finality, ignoring the unvoiced question as she gently set her drink down. "Yeah. So that was the first, last and only time I'll ever have a 'relationship' with one of my coworkers."
She looked over at Phase and Shinbi. "So be careful, you two, okay?" Belica asked, her face serious but tempered with concern. "Because you've got kind hearts, and you seem good for each other. And this moon and every other place in the galaxy is full of shitty people who like to tear down things that don't look, talk or act like them."
Shinbi smiled as she and Phase laced their fingers together once more, atop the table for all to see. "We'll be careful," the young singer said. "But sometimes we have to take a chance in life," she added, smiling boldly at Belica before her brown eyes slid to once more regard the unconventional punk woman she loved. "Oh! I almost forgot!"
With a bright grin on her face, Shinbi bent over and grabbed a canvas sack from between her feet, bringing it with her when she sat up once more. "I found this for you while I was on tour last week!"
Gingerly Phase took the beige bag from the singer. "Thanks," she said, blushing slightly as she spoke. "What, uh... What is it?"
"Open it and find out, silly!" Shinbi said gleefully. "When I saw it, I immediately thought of you!"
Phase grinned, cheeks still flushed behind her dark red lip stain, as she reached into the bag and pulled out a stuffed panda backpack. "Ohmigods, Shin, I love it!" she said excitedly as she hugged it to her face. "It's so soft!" She sniffed the plush black-and-white fur happily, then blinked a few times in surprise.
"It smells like you," Phase said, looking at the brunette singer and smiling slyly as her voice dropped to nearly a whisper. There were a few knowing glances dispersed around the large table, along with more than a few smirks, and a blush softly bloomed across Serath's face.
Now it was Shinbi's turn to blush slightly. "I, uh, might have slept with it a few nights," she said, keeping her voice low. For that very reason, she wanted to add, but she elected against voicing the words aloud. Phase could see right through her, anyway.
Phase's smile was so intense she felt like it might become permanently etched in place as she examined the plush black and white backpack closely. She lifted her eyes over the top of the panda's head to look at Shinbi again. "I love it," she said quickly, the emotion in her eyes conveying much more than the simple words she spoke. "I'm glad you're back."
Shinbi reached beneath the table and lightly grasped the top of Phase's right thigh, caressing the exposed skin between the bottom of Phase's short scarlet skirt and the top of her black stockings. "Me too," she said. "Now Sluggo has a friend, too."
"Is the panda a... special friend?" Phase asked, a teasing look on her face. "For Sluggo?"
"I think we can let them figure that one out on their own," Shinbi said as she pointedly took a drink from Phase's glass. "Let's not put any pressure on them."
Phase smiled back as she shifted the panda into her lap and covered Shinbi's hand with her own. "Sounds good to me. They can define their own relationship on their own."
The sound of chair legs suddenly scraping across the wooden floor occurred at the same time as a loud hiss erupted from Morigesh, who shot to her feet. The white eyes of the Fey woman who had just appeared at the table were firmly fixed in Morigesh's direction as her waifish body hovered just out of the chair she had dragged from a nearby table, but neither of the two nemeses made a direct attempt to attack or insult the other. After several charged seconds, Morigesh finally scowled and slowly sat back down in her chair. The petite faerie did the same as she continued to regard Morigesh with a smile that managed to be both dismissive and condescending at the same time.
"You'll never understand my thinking, I fear," said the Fey in a childlike voice evocative of leaves swirling in an evening breeze.
"I'd never want to," replied Morigesh sharply. "That would mean I had become as heartless and cruel as you and your kind."
"No fighting tonight," Dekker said, fixing first Morigesh and then the Fey with a reprimanding look. "Girls' Night," she said, her intonation solemn and serious.
The Fey looked at Dekker for a second before nodding politely; Morigesh huffed audibly but then settled back into her chair, spearing another hot pepper stuffed with cheese with the tip of her kris. She quickly took a large bite of it, relishing the sting of the hot cheese on the inside of her mouth; after all, if she was eating, she wouldn't be tempted to call the creature any foul names.
Their server had Fey's drink on the table immediately after the lithe creature had fully settled into her chair, which was a bit too big for her slight build. She perched on her knees, leaning slightly forward as she sniffed the liquid carefully, making sure it was the combination of spring water and nectar she enjoyed, before smiling and picking the glass up with both hands and lifting it to her lips.
Shinbi giggled slightly at the sight; it really did look like a child drinking from an adult glass, as Phase had whispered to her one night.
"I see the abomination isn't here," The Fey spoke calmly, right before she took a sip of her drink. "Good."
"That's really not nice for you to call her that," Shinbi said chastisingly, frowning at the rancor in Fey's words.
"Yeah, Kallari can't help what was done to her," Phase added, a bit of a sharp edge in her voice.
The Fey locked eyes with Phase, then slowly lowered her glass down to the table. "Why would her willingness, or lack thereof, toward becoming a monstrosity have anything to do with the fact that she is one?"
"I think you're more than a bit biased here, Fey," Belica said, an amused smile on her face. "But it's not up to you who gets to come and who doesn't."
"I invited her again," Shinbi said calmly. "I"m always going to invite her. It's her decision not to come to Girls' Night, but she's always welcome here."
"How does she even count as a 'girl' at this point?" asked Fey. "By any physical definition, she is sexless."
"Because she still thinks of herself as female," said Serath, leaning forward a bit. It was hard to get close enough in the arena to get a good shot at Fey with her mace, but it always made a satisfying crunch when she did make contact with the arrogant faerie's head. "That's how she sees herself, in spite of her body being taken away from her. And your shitty attitude is why Muriel no longer comes to Girls' Night, too."
"I miss her," Yin said quietly. "Her heart's pure, and her attitude's refreshing. She always lifts our spirits when she's here."
"We'd also have a better chance of getting Kallari to join us if we could get her sister to start coming again," added Dekker. "They feel isolated enough as it is. It'd be good for them to be welcomed here these nights."
"That's your opinion," sniffed the Fey as she took another drink.
"Excuse me," spoke a soft voice from just behind Countess and Serath.
The table turned to see a short, svelte purple-haired girl with a low-cut orange top and white shorts that were barely long enough to be called shorts. "I'm here for you," the girl said, smiling to Countess and playfully running the tip of her index finger down the vampire's thigh.
"The service in this place just keeps getting better and better," murmured Countess as she uncrossed her legs and patted her lap. Without hesitation, the purple-haired girl slid onto Countess's lap and curled up against the vampire's chest.
"I'm Zana," said the girl. "Twyla said you needed a slightly more... personal touch when it came to your refreshment of choice."
The grin on Countess's face was practically a leer. "I do enjoy my meals straight from the source," she agreed. "Things taste so much better when they're fresh."
Zana reached behind her and produced a handful of cloth napkins. "So you don't get anything on your dress," she said seductively. "Although I'd be fine with taking it off. Just in case." She smiled, matching Countess in audacity.
"Would you be willing to give me a little apertif here at the table?" the raven-haired woman asked the grinning girl in her lap. "I find that I'm enjoying the company more than I had expected."
"Gods, don't compliment us or anything," groaned Serath.
"In Countess's defense, I felt much the same way," Zinx said quickly, her grin exposing short but needle-like canine teeth. "At least the first time or two. Like I was out of place, right?" She looked around the table, getting friendly smiling and a few nods of agreement. "But I really like being here, with all of you. We're all women, we've all had hard times, and we're all in the same occupation now, when it comes to the arena. So even with all the ways we're different, we can still understand each other, to some degree. And that's what lets us remain friends, even though our little side job has us killing each other, as least temporarily, on a regular basis."
"Well said," said Dekker, lifting her shot glass to the feline-human hybrid.
"Cat-girl speaks well, and true," added Morigesh, lifting her own glass in salute.
Zinx frowned slightly. "I still don't like it when you call me that," she said quietly to the woman seated beside her.
Morigesh grinned. "I still know," she replied. Suddenly she reached out and stroked the golden fur behind Zinx's left ear, ending it with a prolonged scratch at the base of Zinx's flared ear that made the feline woman arch her back into the other woman's touch and purr loudly. "So soft," Morigesh said pleasantly. "So pretty."
Zinx shivered with delight at the touch, her whole body shaking briefly. "Mmmmm, keep that up, and I might just forgive you," she said, her voice a bit unsteady.
As quickly as she had started, Morigesh's hand was removed from Zinx's head. "Too dangerous," rumbled the forbidding woman, curling back in on herself. She met Zinx's inquisitive green eyes with her own near-white ones. "For you," she clarified, nodding her head once to the feline. "And for me," she added, more softly, almost to herself.
Zana tossed her long, straight violet hair as she turned to look into Countess's red eyes. "If you're thirsty, feel free to drink," she said slowly, lifting her left wrist to the vampire's face and smiling coquettishly. "Consider it a complimentary sample."
Countess's thin eyebrows, trimmed sharply enough to etch glass, raised at the girl's boldness. "We still need to discuss price, don't we?"
The confident smile never wavered on Zana's face. "Oh, we will. But I think giving you a taste is only going to improve my position for the negotiation."
Countess sniffed the skin of the girl's wrist and forearm, palm upturned to present the shortest route to her radial artery and vein. She smelled utterly scrumptious, and the soft singing of blood whirring through the vessels on the girl's hand and wrist so close to her lips made Countess tingle with anticipation. "Oh, I am going to eat you up, my sweet," she murmured, placing soft kisses on the girl's wrist.
"You have to leave me alive, of course," Zana said firmly, pulling her wrist back slightly to stop the vampire's actions. "And unmarked beyond the expected bruising at feeding sites. I'll also be checked on every two hours to verify my well-being once we're in a private room."
"Of course," Countess immediately answered, trying to focus on the girl's words when her radial artery was right there, thumping away just inches from her lips.
"I want us both to have a good time," the girl said, leaning forward and softening her voice. "And if you want me for the whole night, I expect you to take care of me as much as I take care of you."
Countess found herself sighing softly. Damnation, the girl was good. This could be fun as well as nourishing. "Agreed," she breathed out.
With a smile, Zana lifted her left wrist to Countess's lips again. The vampiress used her powers to subtly intensify the shadows around the large table and women gathered around it as she licked the girl's pale wrist slowly, then lightly sucked on it once, twice, before retracting her upper lip and gently sinking her upper fangs into the radial vein, choosing a slower, more delicate taste over the richer (and messier) artery.
Zana whimpered softly, a mixture of both pain and pleasure, as she used her right hand to carefully unfold a napkin and lay it over Countess's chest, preserving the woman's elegant dress from any errant drops of blood. She then closed her eyes and tilted her head forward, resting her forehead against the side of Countess's head while she breathed in the scent of the vampire's hair, hints of smoke and sandalwood mixed with a light fragrance from her shampoo, and let herself be swept away on the the wave of ecstasy that came with the feeding.
"Should we be watching this?" asked Shinbi, slightly uncomfortable at the macabre but erotic actions unfolding just across the table. The whimpers and sighs of pleasure the Zana girl was making were quite... stimulating.
"Maybe," Dekker said, uncertainly. She wasn't looking away, though.
"Absolutely," said Zinx, leaning in and watching with no small amount of fascination and arousal. "Human mating rituals are the best, and adding vampires only makes it hotter."
"I'm surprised you haven't, uh, partaken of more human mating ritualsyourself," Phase said. "If you get my meaning."
Zinx smiled. "Most of the offers I get definitely aren't my style," she said slyly. "I tend to attract a freaky crowd."
"That's because you're an unnatural freak yourself," Fey said, her high-pitched voice at odds with the scathing words.
"Water's natural," Zinx replied, her fur bristling slightly as she turned her upper body to glare at the faerie. "How about I drown you in it?"
The faerie rolled her white eyes. "As if you'd get that close to water. You and your precious fur, even though you cover it up with that ridiculous bodysuit."
"I like the way I look in my clothes—and out of them," Zinx said confidently. "And you've got zero room to talk about how anybody dresses, with just your palm fronds and lily pads between everybody's eyes and your—"
The clatter of a beat-up but fully functional blaster hitting the table with enough force to send drinks sloshing in their respective glasses broke the argument.
Belica's stern gaze flashed back and forth between Zinx and the Fey. "I have no problem with stunning the two of you," she said flatly. "So knock off the bitching and get into better moods." She looked at the Fey. "Everybody was getting along until you got here with your attitude, Eph. If you're in a mood tonight, the door's that way, because you're blitzing our collective feminine vibe." She gestured over Fey's shoulder toward the bar's main entrance, meeting the strange creature's intense gaze for several seconds.
"Zinx," Belica said, turning toward the unique creature, "I'm going to take the high road and not make any comments about being catty."
A few snickers and titters could be heard around the table, and even Zinx herself had to fight to keep from laughing at the bad pun.
"So let's put the claws back up—" now the giggles were evident on both sides of the table "—and act like grown women," Belica finished, picking up her glass and taking another drink.
Serath lifted her glass of warm cider. "We fight enough at work," she said confidently, looking around the table. "Let's not fight outside of it. Here's to Girls' Night!"
The other women at the table lifted their respective glasses and mugs; with one hand on the glowing tattoo inked onto the small of Zana's back and the other on the woman's rear, Countess lifted the purple-haired server into the air with her supernatural strength, causing Zana to briefly shriek and then laugh with delight from her new position above the others.
"TO GIRLS' NIGHT!" shouted the eclectic group gathered around the table. Around them, the bar brimmed with life and laughter; outside, the night was full of boisterous potential.
There was more to come in the night. Dancing at the club Murderworld. Games at the Grand Arcade. The fireworks and laser show at Temple Mountain. Then finally, back in the Imperial Suite at their hotel, tired but heartfelt laughter and weary but honest conversation until fatigue eventually claimed all of them, wrapping each in the exhausted but blissful slumber of those who have not just survived, but truly lived.
Some were young, some were middle-aged, some were incredibly ancient. Most were present, a handful were absent but not forgotten. Some of them had wealth and fame, some of them had nothing beyond bitter memories and what they carried on their bodies. Some were in love, some actively avoided the feeling and some would deal with heartbreaking loss for the rest of their days. But all of them were more than they seemed, and all of them endured because they chose to endure.
And that was enough for tonight.
—O—
Author's Afterword: I had started this before Terra was introduced, so that was why I didn't include her. If I do a follow-up to this, you'd better believe she'll be there. Hope you've enjoyed my take on things outside the arena. If you disagree with some of the plot here, that's okay; this is my interpretation of things, and everyone is entitled to their own view of the characters and how they interact with each other. Thank you for letting me share my version of things with you, and I hope you enjoyed this story!