I am CT, Kaz. I can't be Coppertop right now (it doesn't recognize that I've logged in) so I'm Nightshade for a little while. Maybe forever. Oh well ... and Shade won't be updating Slate anymore, she thinks it was, ah, "childish" and "stupid" I think she said? Maybe she meant she's older and wiser now, I don't know ...

More updates, I'll be killing off a few ppl soon. *sniffs* Very sad, I love you all, but ...

"Okay, Greeneyes, what have you got?" Copper glanced at Claw, who like always preferred the shadows.
"Mmm ... 'kay. Lord Beren Deathwreaker, Deathless One leader, Conquerer of a Million Worlds, Lord of a Thousand Suns, Unchallenged of a Hundred Kings, Monarch of Two Hundred Emperors, Sovreign of Two Galaxies, Mage of the Second Order of Sorcery, Master of the First, Traveller of the Triplanes, and Ruler of the Lesser Beings is his full title, though most people just call him Lord Beren Deathwreaker, or 'milord'. I do not know how much of his title is true, or simply boasting, but it is impressive enough, and long enough, to cow anyone into submission."
"'Mage of the Second Order of Sorcery, Master of the First', you said," Coppertop mused.
"Yes. That is supposed to be very very good. Kroys was Mage of the Third Order."
"Wild Angel's better. She's Sorceress of the Second, Adept of the First. That's two entire ranks above Beren," Claw muttered. Saturn looked up sharply.
"You have a mage here? That would be very helpful. She could neutralize Beren while we take him out."
"She beat Kroys how many times?" said Ducky proudly from the airlock. Saturn merely spared her a passing glance, but Zazz stared with astonishment.
Oh, he'd heard of her, and her odd appearance, but hearing and seeing are two different things. He found himself almost hypnotized by the way the blue bolts of electricity leapt their random way over Ducky's body, accenting her aqua eyes. Her features were plain and she wasn't glamorous (nobody there was except for Saturn, who would have been if she hadn't cut her hair), but the sheer, exotic difference masked that from uncaring eyes. She grinned jauntily at him, and flopped down into a chair carelessly.
"I thought you were at the nav while I was talking to Greeneyes here, Ducky," Copper accused. Ducky flashed a smile.
"I was, until I got sore. Kaz and Grath started fighting over it, so I told Kovu he could have a turn. The Terrible Two are sulking right now, and making life miserable, too."
"Thanks. See if Angel needs any help ... seeing as Shinyso's piloting and you were playing navigator."
"Playing? Fine, seeya later." She got to her feet with a grimace and trotted down the very short corridor to Wild Angel's bunk. Zazz wondered if all of Coppertop's friends were as strange ... Claw and Shinyso certainly were oddballs, not to mention Copper herself. Saturn, if not a friend, then an aquaintance, was very different from his perceptions of normality. And she'd said they even had a mage with them ...
What next? he wondered. And how had he gotten himself into this?
"... well, that's about it, Greeneyes. Claw, can you go get Shade? Darkfist's of the same breed as she is ... sort of." She grinned at him.
"Bounty hunter?" Zazz asked alertly.
"No, assassin. Same sort of thing, killing people. Or catching them."
"If you say so," he said dubiously.
"Yes I do," said Copper. "Thanks, Claw." Claw slid back in and glanced at Zazz.
"She'll be here shortly. She is ... was ... cutting her dagger out of the target when I saw her."
"She's that good?" asked Zazz, astonished. Cutting it out instead of pulling it ... it would have to be very deep for that.
"She's that good," Copper said proudly. She glanced up as the doorway hissed open. "Thanks, Shade. Zazz, this is Nightshade ... Shade, Zazz Darkfist. C'mon, Greeneyes, Claw." She rose and left, Claw mumbling something about females and Saturn trailing behind. Zazz grinned at her before turning his attention to Nightshade.
His first impression of her was black. Her deep blue eyes watched him warily, as he watched her, and her grey paws were never far from her daggers. Her jet fur repelled the light without a betraying gleam, and even as he looked at her she sank half into the shadows. He noted with some skepticism her green satin shirt and black tights, before seeing (with that feeling vanishing) her small pouches of poison at her belt. Definitely an assassin. Finally she spoke.
"Killer to killer, what is thy name? Meet thou here in hatred, or in peace?" Zazz blinked as she intoned the ancient greeting between assassins, mercenaries and bounty hunters.
"Killer to killer, I am the Darkfist. I meet thee in peace. Call me Zazz if thou will. What is thy name? Meet thou here in hatred, or peace?" The response leapt from his tongue.
"Killer to killer, I am the Assassin. I meet thee in truce. Call me Nightshade if thou will. Greetings, brethren."
"Greetings to thee also, brethren. Thy trade?"
"I am the assassin, shadow among shadows. What is thy trade?"
"I am the bounty hunter, feared by the hunted. Well met."
"Well met." There was a long pause. Then he said awkwardly, "uh, have a seat."
"Thanks." She sank down onto the chair and mock-wiped her brow. "Whew. I hate formalities. Call me Shade."
"Thanks yourself. I'm Zazz ... and it was your idea."
"Yeah, well, you looked so ... cold. I thought I'd better break the ice."
"It helped." Another awkward silence. Then he burst out, "isn't anybody normal in this place?" Nightshade laughed darkly.
"Better get used to it. You've yet to meet the wisecracking Kaz, the sarcastic Grath, the infernally friendly Kovu, the heroine Phoebe, and the irrepressible Blacksheep. If I'm not mistaken, the only normal guy around here is poor old KRSplat. He has to put up with us all ... and we've yet to find him. He's a pretty good spy - he doesn't stick in anybody's mind. Speaking of which," and she looked alarmed, "I'd better remind Copper. I'd hate to see him killed." She got up. "Care to come along?"

Hi Duckster, where's Kovey?