After the 'excitement' of the third task, it was almost a relief to be able to do nothing at Safi's place. And it was not quite as boring as it had been before. Lang was always upstairs, in case Cin Lin showed up again. The red panda insisted that she would, but Saras had some doubts about that. She had been beaten back twice, and most assassins gave up after that. He didn't know much about the Order of the Owl, but he doubted they were any different. If she kept failing then eventually someone would hear about it, and reputation was everything in the Underworld.
But Lang was not the only one who had come over to 'protect' him. Despite being taken out of the running, Li I and Kunjingle (and he supposed Li II) were all staying to see who would proceed forwards. Han Guan was growing his teeth back and brought his pack of Battai everywhere with him, so most of their days were spent in the crazy cat's diner, wiling away the hours with round after round of the game.
Now that he was playing regularly, Kunjingle had found himself reigning champion and Saras had long since lost hope of ever winning another round. Every round brought the same outcome, with Li I or Han Guan eliminating the other, then eliminating Saras himself, despite trying to beat Kunjingle, then finally loosing to the bear, who would then reshuffle and act like victory was no big thing.
Back at the Bat Cave there had been very little fun and games... of course there was sparring and the like, but usually it was just him and Shan Qu going on a mission. As crazy as some of his missions ended up being, he could hardly call them fun. He would do the majority of the work and Shan Qu would help and fun was rarely considered. He frowned. When he got back he would bring the game with him. It would take all of two seconds for the fruit bat to get hooked. He opened his mouth to ask where he could get a good set of cards when he noticed something lying on the corner of the bar. The strange lizard-skull shaped necklace he had thrown away a task ago. He glared at it.
"Shifty, your move."
"Oh right, sorry." He pried his eyes away from the necklace and without pausing for thought, placed a card on the table. No doubt Safi or one of her friends had picked it up.
Han Guan raised an eyebrow while Li I snickered. "Why would you put the Elephant of Clubs? Everyone knows the Mouse beats the Elephant."
"Oh, er-sorry. I got-" The necklace was no longer in the corner, but rather a foot away from it. "...Distracted."
Kunjingle put down the Skunk of Diamonds. Li I protested that it wasn't fair, Han Guan frowned and the bear took all the cards.
"You! What are you doing!?" Safi yelled all of a sudden, emerging from the stage. They had a 'big' performance coming up and spent most of their days and nights rehearsing.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Was Saras' immediate response. He scowled, trust Safi to ruin a game.
"He's entertaining your customers." Came Dianbo's voice, and everyone jumped, for no one had seen him come in. The jackal was holding a single flower, which he held out to Safi. "I am looking forwards to your performance. May I add that you look very good today."
Safi took the flower and tossed it over her shoulder nonchalantly. "You don't get a front row seat unless you pay for it honey. Try better next time." And with that she turned and walked away.
Dianbo sighed despairingly and took a seat at the table, that was when he noticed all the looks he was getting.
"What?" He asked awkwardly.
"What is wrong with you?" Li I asked.
"What do you mean what's wrong with me?"
Kunjingle drummed his stomach and smacked his ear.
"I don't care if it's mean! Dude she don't deserve a man like you."
Dianbo blinked. Saras found himself hypnotized by the endlessly-twitching eye. "Oh, that's what you mean..."
Li I put a paw on his shoulder. "Somewhere out in the world there's a nice jackal er-or cat, whatever you're into, waiting for Dianbo to give them a flower. Somewhere nearby there's a venomous snake waiting for Li I to throw a pile of dung at her."
"She's not venomous," Dianbo objected.
Li I frowned, but it was Han Guan who gave the answer. "Well... she did kind of force Shifty into working for her... then she kind of insulted me and said that I should take my dirty fur to the other side of China before she called the Imperial Army on me for Illegal Immigration." His ears drooped in contemplation. "I can't tell whether or not she was being serious about the last part."
Kunjingle added to the horrors with a long list of whistles and pops and clicks. When he was done Li I was staring expectantly at Dianbo.
"Like I said. She doesn't deserve someone like you."
Saras' eyes drifted back to the counter, where no necklace at all lay this time. The object lay on the floor, grinning up at him. It had definitely moved...
Getting up cautiously, Saras crept over. Subconsciously his muscles were tensing, preparing to strike.
"Guess my cover's blown now isn't it?" Saras jumped into the air, landing in a battle stance on a nearby table, his fur standing on end.
"Who said that?" Asked Li I, turning around in time to see the necklace grin.
"Me of course." The rabbit screamed, and divebombed under the table. Han Guan flipped over the table and took cover behind it, Kunjingle picked up a chair and prepared to throw it at the strange object, while Dianbo scowled at the dark magic clearly at play here.
Safi walked back in and took them all in. "Um... what are you doing?"
"That creepy necklace just talked!" Han Guan explained, his eyes peering over the rim of the table at the object, as if worried it was going to start shooting lasers at him.
Safi felt her brow rising as she scanned the motley group.
"Safi get away." Dianbo warned, freeing his whip. "It is clearly some kind of dark magic. Move to the side. We've got this."
The cat's eyes rolled. "I don't care how good at acting you think you are, you do not have permission to use the stage."
Dianbo balked at her. As soon as she was out of earshot the creepy necklace thing started laughing.
"Oh boy, you guys suck! Getting your tails handed to you by a girl! Hahahaha!"
"She did not hand us our tails." Saras snapped.
"And there's nothing wrong with loosing to a girl." Li I defended, remembering numerous encounters.
"What are you?" Dianbo asked, ready to bring down his whip.
"Oh me? My name is Mr Singh. Host of the Five Tasks of the House of Tamod."
They all shared a look.
"You must be the competitors! I take it we're still at Task One?"
"Four." Dianbo corrected icily.
"Then I take it you're all disqualified?"
Kunjingle gently flexed a muscle.
"Hmmm, maybe not all of you."
"How are you a necklace?" Li I asked, still wary. "Wait... did we all get drunk and are having the same weird vision?"
"Oh the necklace part. Meh two people who don't like each other go into an arena and your job is to pick a winner. One of them may have turned me into a necklace because you know... weird stuff. But it's got it's perks. I'm more or less immortal, I can possess people, I can read minds. Hell I can even see other dimensions! This thing is so cool!"
"I must be drunk." Li I muttered, shaking his head. "But I never get drunk!"
"Aw come on! You're not all scared of me are you? I only want to have a little-"
A large chest fell from the floor above, encasing Mr Singh inside it's thick wooden walls. Lang hopped down and snapped it shut. The red panda took a seat on top of the chest and glared enough to make them all flinch and avoid his gaze.
"Are you all dasted idiots? Don't you people know a demon when you see one?" He crossed his paws over his chest and began muttering darkly.
"Demon? You mean like with horns?"
"Like the things that possess people! You all see a talking necklace and think it's normal? What kind of sicko world do you live in?"
"I am a shapeshifter." Saras pointed out. Talking necklaces... how did that automatically make it a demon?
"And I thought I was drunk."
"You're all idiots." Lang hopped off the chest and kicked it into the corner. "If I have to save any of your tails one more time I swear-" The rest of his rant was cut short by the loud stomps of his feet travelling up the stairs.
"I reckon he's just sore Cin Lin hasn't tried to kill you yet." The rabbit said matter-of factedly.
Saras sat down while Han Guan fixed the table. "Well I'm sorry I don't make a better target."
Duyao's fist collided heavily with the dummy's face, sending showers of wooden splinters in all directions. If only that could have been Badr's face...
"You called?" Finally! The assassin had come. Cin Lin stood at the doorway, Duyao was unsure whether or not the lynx had seen her last feat. If she had she showed no signs of being impressed.
"Cin Lin." The frog spoke calmly, trying to suppress the monster of hatred that wouldn't stop growing inside her. Badr, it was all Badr. She had come so close to ending him... and the assassin had failed to get rid of her foe's precious fox. "You still haven't dealt with your target?"
"Like I said, he put up a fight and I did not want my cover blown. I never betray the confidentiality of my buyers, but my men are new to this." In other words Lang saved his tail... twice. Lucky kit.
The grog waved away the excuse. "You have a new target anyways. Safi Tamod. The girl is putting up a show two days from now. Ba will show you the location."
"Why a new target?" The lynx asked.
"Just do as you're told." Because it will hurt Badr more. "Don't let her suffer." She added. It's nothing personal sweet child.
Cin Lin didn't let her frown show. "And what of the fox?"
"Kill him if he gets in the way, or if you find an opportunity." Duyao was only slightly surprised by how quickly the order had come out of her. Badr... Badr... Badr... she was going to make him suffer.
The lynx bowed and left.
Duyao got back to work on obliterating the dummy.
Wugu couldn't quite fathom where the feeling of dread was coming from. His Mistress had killed before, many, but they had deserved it. They had been the worst of the worst. Murderers and monsters, killers and scum. But as far as he knew Shifty was not a murderer, monster, killer or scum, nor was poor Safi. He blinked. His Mistress was loosing herself. With every kill a part of her hardened, a part of her darkened. With every kill she became more and more of a monster.
The fish shook his head. Badr deserved to die, yes, he knew that. He was a monster and a murderer and scum... but if his Mistress went ahead with her plans then she was no better. He paused in the unknowing. On one fin, he did not want to upset his Mistress, she loved him very much, and he loved her and Ba very much, they were a family after all. But on the other fin he could not let her become the monsters she was always killing.
Footnote: I hope you guys are excited for the next arc. The Musical Chairs. Last time there was a similar thing, but I squeezed it into one or two chapters. Here I have expanded Safi's role, and by extent, it. It's probably going to be one of the funniest things I've ever written.
As an aside, even though I have expanded Safi's role, I feel like this fic has got a lot less Wugu and Babirasu than last time. Babirasu I decided to keep in the background for several reasons, Wugu however just seems to be overshadowed... so ahem, yes, time to fix that.
Enjoy.