Lion Head Mesa (ap) I wish you nothing but the gentle kiss of yellow piss.

This is a challenge to @Ramesses — but first, if any of the mazoi are around and want to intercept him for a round or two, that'd be fine! There is a dice roll thread here for actions.

The red-coated fool could be seen lingering too close to the mighty archway leading in to the mesa's heart. He did not step within the palace but he did pace within view of the mazoi should there be any patrolling outside of the party.

Fresh from his conversation with the dark-coated stranger (which by now had transmuted in his drunken mind to something imagined, half forgotten) Reyes was feeling himself; bristling all over and calling out to whoever might hear him.

AYE! YA CAN'T BE RID O'ME THAT EASY, PISS-MAN!

He imagined himself pirouetting and striking a pose, the likes of which would intimidate the proverbial pants off of the pompous ass that had stolen Teya away. Of course, he didn't really move with any finesse. It was a wonder he hadn't fallen down yet or tripped over his own feet.

M'offer still stands! A toast! Or are ye too lily-livered to face me, thief?! He wheezed a moment and then spent some time grumbling to himself, thinking he was being ignored. In truth the party was continuing on without him and nobody was aware he'd found his way back — except maybe the palace guard.

You COME OUT 'ERE, an' gimme back my TEYA!

oh no. not the drunken guy. shoko heard his hollering over the general chatter and made a beeline to him; already the crowd was pulling away from the fringes of disruption, making reyes easy to spot. 

shoko strode towards reyes with quiet assurance. when reyes was done roaring, shoko used his body as a physical barricade against the guests. uh, uh, huh — that’s not the magic password. not that shoko had any plans to let this keg of TNT into the after party any time soon.

tags for ref/to join!

pharaoh had not yet left @Ruenna's presence when the red man began bellowing again. he looked toward @Satsu and then rose slowly, reeling somewhat with drink.
summoning @Arsenio and @Sabah, he motioned to where shoko was moving to block the interloper.
teya was nowhere to be seen, and this pleased the man. he felt sayf must have her kept below. "i was very kind before, my queen," pharaoh purred. 
"bring him here," ramesses ordered in a loud and cutting voice that carried directly through the festivities. 
he stood tall and blazing.

The crimson beast was back. He had grown in volume to a belligerent bellow. It was clear that he demanded the attention of all who would lend it.

Arsenio moved, hackles bristling, to stand in the path between the drunken stranger and the gold-touched Pharaoh of Akashingo. Shoko was there, emboldening the Greek with his sturdy presence. The blue-eyed wolf was pleased that he had managed to bring the loner into their fold, pleased that he had another there that he did not feel so strange around. In that moment, Arsenio was pleased that he had the brawn of another warrior beside him.

The redstone figure drew his head up. His lip curled up, revealing his fangs to the drunkard.

You’ll stop your shouting now. You want to keep your throat, hm?

Arsenio felt sorry for the fool.

Come to the Pharaoh now, come on. Quietly.

Oh great, now there was to be a royal fistfight.

Sabah followed at Arseno’s shoulder, blue eyes blazing, yet body language bored. The good Jodai had never been a people person, and there was entirely too many of them here. She would have retreated back to her seclusion with some berries hours ago if she wasn’t required.

I kideía tou. She spoke to Arseno, indicating the red man with her head. Bad idea, she considered a second later, head reeling. She kept her feet only through virtue of being close to the ground enough to not lose her balance, and cast her gaze to the skies.

If someone died tonight, she was going to be upset.

Reyes's drunken shouting filled the air once more, commanding the attention of all present. Oh, stars. Clearly Reyes wasn't as reformed as Ruenna had hoped to imagine. 

Ramesses readily accepted the challenge, inspiring a sinking feeling in the pit of Ruenna's stomach. Ramesses was clearly a man who enjoyed a spectacle, which was fine and dandy for a celebration... but for a punishment? Yeah, Ruenna was worried. 

Bring him here, Ramesses commanded, and Ruenna wished she could just quietly evaporate. Did this have to go down right in front of her? Stars above, where was Teya?? What had she been thinking, bringing Reyes here? Ruenna knew that Towhee didn't play well with others, and so what had she done? She had left Towhee at home. 

Ruenna is skippable and may be gently powerplayed.

First one, then another, until Reyes was facing a line of guards. They materialized out of the crowd of party-goers and formed a wall between himself and the groom.

The first of the red-coats quipped something that made Reyes want to laugh, except he also didn't understand the joke in the moment, and besides all of that — Ramesses himself was demanding he move closer.

Aye see! Naw I knew you were just havin' a jolly time. He began to ramble as he walked. Confidence rolled off of him in great waves. Reyes presumed this change in Ramesses meant all was forgiven and he failed to heed the rage simmering beneath the surface of the wronged king.

Kickin' me out fer a laugh — aye, I'll take the piss on that'un. Time fer a swig! Lets toast! Except when he looked for one of those blasted coyotes to grab a drink, none were there to offer them. Reyes gawked back at the crowd and then let out a deep laugh; he was still some ways apart from the Pharaoh and was suddenly less inclined to move.

Wha're ye playin' at? Ain't this a party? Bring me rum! The man huffed and as he back-stepped, glared at the gathering of mazoi. You lot call y'selves entertainers - blimey! Where be the entertainin'?

shoko hoped to lead reyes out before too much commotion, but reyes was already the center of public spectacle. a crowd of wolves now formed around the man, with ramesses’ cold will made known. 

shoko looked to arsenio, then the pharaoh. he’d been around enough kings and halfwits to know when blood was about to be spilled. 

with a step towards reyes that suggested  he better get to stepping, shoko kept his head low and teeth ready.

ramesses stood steadfast and ready. the man was led to him, but pharaoh watched instead the strength of his guards thronging the bogwater serf. he was shouting again in that saltcrust voice, voice thickened and drunk.
the lazuli eyes were cold as a closed tomb.
ramesses did not feel ruenna's growing emotion over the scene and he would not have cared. the man did not glance even toward his queen.
he only watched the man, allowing silence to gather. a sinister delight began to collect and move like an asp over the smooth alabaster countenance.
and then pharaoh flicked his gaze toward the mazoi.
"beat him."

germ is skippable!

germanicus had seen the man reyes escorted away.

he had figured that to be its end. there was much drink available. it would not have been a wedding without one wolf who drank too much for himself. the imperator would have slid away now to visit crowfeather. but the angry drunken voice rose again. 

germanicus approached as the guards brought reyes before pharaoh. but his step had not yet reached the grouping when ramesses gave his last command.

the eagle thought only for ruenna then. redirecting his attention from the dawning scene, he went to her side at once. he said nothing, only sought to draw her away from pharaoh and the queen. he would not force her to go. her spirit held a good deal of righteousness. 

but neither did he wish ruenna to intervene.

"ramesses is easily humiliated," he said warningly into her ear.

the queen can be skipped! just wanted this in her thread log

red-faced and surrounded by adolation from all sides, satsu did not immediately take note of ramesses' departure from alongside her. she looked dreamily to him upon return to his throne, and cast her eye upon the ne'er-do-well that had returned to the party.
he, too, was watched for a sleepy moment. ramesses gave his decree and satsu did not stop him.
what a fool, she thought. yet every court could use a jester.
let him be punished; let them all see the power of pharaoh.

Want to get Sakai in here, you can skip over him

The gentleman had taken leave from the party at probably the worst time, but with a quick recap from Tamar, Sakai had joined the gathering of mazoi who took stand before the Pharaoh. His face was as cold and unmoving as ice, but his large body was warmed up and ready to move at a moment's notice. The drunken man before him demanded entertainment but it was decreed that Ramesses would be the one entertained tonight.

At his leader's demand, Kai steadily looked to the mazoi who had been here first and were more experienced than him as warriors. The stupid guest should have stayed gone, violence against someone who was not fit to fight made his stomach churn.

Everything was at a standstill while Reyes waited for someone to answer him. The crowd had stopped to gape; more mazoi appeared and none of the coyotes could be seen now, having vacated with their offerings of berries and meats.

It was the groom who spoke to break the silence. What he said brought confusion to Reyes, briefly, and a laugh; not as jovial now compared to a moment ago.

Aye, that ain't funny, oblivious to the serious nature of his insult, his very presence, or the tense feeling throughout the room.

He began to look around at the other guests to gauge reactions - most were mortified. The wall of mazoi looked impervious.

Arsenio blinked at the command spoken by the Pharaoh.

The Greek looked toward the crimson drunkard and grimaced. There would be no pleasure in beating a dullard who was out of his mind on spirits provided by the very man he had so grievously insulted. The words that had been whispered by the Greek woman drew a single russet ear toward her. The man huffed a breath through his nose – exasperated understanding. They had been given an order, and he was not smart enough to question such things.

Hackles bristled as the redstone wolf prowled in a low circle around the drunk. It appeared he might have been sobering quickly. Much of the merriment had been drained from his features. He no longer believed they were having a good time.

Arsenio lunged for Reyes and aimed a snap of his teeth for the man’s snout.

Damn your foolishness! Why didn’t you just leave?

There would be an example set for the Mazoi. The others had seemed only waiting for the first move.

the thing about doing things for money was, well, you got used to doing terrible things. shoko had no such reservations about the sport (or lack thereof) of beating a drunk man. 

he’d been around enough to know the tension in the room only ended one way. he was poised on ramesses’ word, and the moment the pharaoh spoke shoko followed after arsenio. 

the joviality of his drunken brethren was fading. shoko caught just enough of a glimpse to feel a faint prickle of sympathy. not enough to stay his teeth, which were already aiming at reyes’ haunch to hamstring him while the mazoi closed in.

Her Mazoi closed in.

Pharoah’s comand buzzed through her skull. It was not so long ago Germanicus had told her she was her own woman. That she served no more beneath tyrants. Pharoah looked at her, the former serf, and handed her the whip.

Some part of her screamed. Another roiled in the pleasure of it, that sickening rush of holding power over someone else. Pharoah held the heart, but Sabah held the rest, it was Sabah who's orders the Mazoi would follow when Pharoah’s gaze was cast away from them back to pretty things and ruling. She was their mercy, the altar on which this man could have fallen. Maybe it would have helped. She was favored by Satsu, Germanicus said it himself.

But. Oh there was that but. But but but, such a funny word, but. But Sabah held no mercy tonight. All that was there was the screams of the serf-girl who once was, and the rush of power to the commander who is. Sabah watched as Arsenio and Shoko lunged, and she moved around them, testing the waters, a shark drunk on blood water.

She was smart enough to recognize a power play when she saw it. She just hoped there was to be no gravedigger for the ills brought to them.

The mazoi launched their attack and Sakai was no exception. Bare eyes fully glazed over as he prepared for what he was about to witness, what command he was going to help make a reality. He could push it down. He didn’t know this man, he could push it almost all the way down only to have the images rise again as he slept… and that was fine with him.

This pack gave him another chance to prove loyalty, to take what and who he wanted and to serve nobly. What else did he need and why should he let some drunk fool ruin that? Kai felt his previous feelings of anxiety ball into anger within his chest, as if this stranger’s mere existence directly threatened his place in this kingdom. He would do this. 

The red wolf was flanked, leaving only an opening near his side to exposed. The ghost moved quickly and silently, bristled with ears forced back but teeth pulling forward to hopefully latch onto the skin that pulled tight over the man’s ribs. He would be bloodstained for days.

last for ramesses & germ is still skippable, hes just standing back & watching

the smile upon pharaoh's handsome features grew more and more malevolent.
he would allow the sound of mazoi upon fools to continue, to go on and on and on.
and then he stood, and with a cut of his tail, commanded an end to the beating.
ramesses let his gaze rove over the results of this one's challenge to the god-blessed himself. and then his lapis eyes cut to sabah. "watch over the fool. banish him when you see fit."
ramesses was standing now. he motioned to satsu. "the strength of the mesa is apparent in our mazoi. my trust was well placed."
he sought each face of theirs in turn.
pharaoh did not linger. he drew the queen grandly away, to seek diversion elsewhere.

"Beat him."

Ruenna's eyes fluttered closed, and she wished that she could just shut it all out. 

Germanicus's scent enveloped her, and his voice murmured in her ear. Her eyes opened. 

He expected her to interfere? 

There was little love lost between her and Reyes, certainly, and on top of that, Ruenna was here as an ambassador first. While she might have stuck her own neck out to justifiably shield another from harm, she would not risk the Caldera to preserve Reyes's drunken hide. 

"Ramesses is easily humiliated," Germanicus had warned.

"And Reyes will pay the price for that, tonight," Ruenna answered Germanicus, matter-of-fact. The sickness she felt in her heart would not touch her expression, however her manner had gone uncharacteristically cold. 

She turned from the scene, overcome by he urge to bury her face in Germanicus's ruff. Of course, she did no such thing-- Germanicus had never once indicated that he would welcome such an intimate gesture. No.. theirs was a formal friendship and not to mention, it hadn't even been an hour's time since they had found themselves in a rather stiff, conversational truce.

And so Ruenna would stand alone, growing colder.

The two redcoats approached first, barely a hesitation between the order and the action. One went for Reyes' face while the other, his haunch. His reaction time was dulled by the drink - even if he had begun to sober up to the serious nature of his offense by now, there was no hope for him.

Teeth scored his face; he recoiled from that, backing in to the teeth of Shoko. All at once there were attacks coming from all angles: a silver-streaked man at his ribs, a soot-marked woman waiting her turn, which came rapidly as each mazoi withdrew or side-stepped for an opening.

Reyes snapped back where he could, catching air primarily, wheeling his body around, stumbling to each blow, trying to retaliate - always too slow, always met with another punch or grab or shove; until he crumpled to the floor beneath the onslaught.

Reyes can be PP'd from here if anyone wants to drag him outside.

bloodsport always came to a close - sometimes, sweetly so. shoko tasted the blood on his lips, the high adrenaline that pounded in his ears. a divine high, this.

reyes was under onslaught from every angle. if shoko had been bitten, he scarcely noticed - his gaze trailing the high pharaoh as he made his exit.

briefly shoko's gaze found arsenio's, then fell to the other mazoi.

whenever they were ready to take out the trash, shoko would lend a hand.

This will be my last post in this one. <3

Arsenio did the work without thinking of it. It was the only way he could push through it without feeling sick at himself. Gods did not behave so pathetically. The beating on the red wolf had been nothing more than a display of power. Life had a cruel way of displaying how unfair it could be, he knew that well enough for himself.

The redstone guard dragged the crimson visitor from the mesa with the other Mazoi. They deposited him where he would not be a bother, or so he hoped. Arsenio did not want to have to deal with Reyes again. If the Pharaoh saw the man in their territory, if he made more noise and acted as a buffoon, there would be no saving him.

Once he had finished the work, Arsenio returned to the bustle of visitors and partygoers. He found a place in the corner of the room where he bobbed his head and smiled. Anger bubbled inside of him.

Last post from Sabah <3

Bloodsport was over in no time at all, the man collapsing like a house of cards someone breathed too heavily on. Sabah tried not to let the bile in her throat rise too high as the adrenaline and power rush made her body tremble in its absence. 

The Mazoi dragged the man away. Sabah followed, ensured he would not rise and re enter the party, and turned.

She would not stop walking until she reached the wellsprings, where she would spend the rest of her night staring at herself in the waters, wondering who she was becoming.

With the red-coat dealt with, the party could resume.

Satsu was bored in watching it; she did not have the same blood-lust as Ramesses, who had been scorned, and was ignorant to the brash insults the man had shared in her name. She wanted to eat and to drink and to celebrate, for this was her wedding day.

Husband, she murmured in to his ear, watching his entire self be focused on the display of mazoi beating the helpless man, and finding no fault in it. Look, he is dispatched. Our guard superior.

She withdrew from his side then, moving among the party-goers while things went back to normal; she did not wait for Ramesses, who would come in his own time, or perhaps he would seek out the red-coat and deal a final insult; but she did not linger.

It wasn't until the boorish man had been tossed out of the party that Sakai thought about what had just happened. What sort of example had been set by Akashingo, by the mazoi. It was a relentless show of force that had cruelly outnumbered an inebriated man. His insides shriveled but Sakai held a firm stature, looking down upon the heap of a once boastful brute with a vacant expression. He would simply have more berries, the thought begrudgingly dragged his paws back to the party.