A friendly game they said…  Low stakes they said…  It was only supposed to be a friendly game but looking back on it now, one might wonder if I should have politely said no thank you and excused myself from the bar…  My mother always said that the casinos were the devil’s playground…  But she always did enjoy a good dance with the devil.  Never once did she dream that her daughter would follow right in her footsteps!  But here I was…  I couldn’t say I was very good at Poker…  Honestly I had only played a handful of times but there I was, sitting at a table with a bunch of young men who thought it would be cute to teach the silly young lady Mafiosa the ways of the cards.  They might have been right, but there was one fatal flaw to their plan…

They didn’t know who my father was.

In any case, I found myself surrounded on all sides with cards in my hand and a well meaning young man looking over my shoulder to help me learn.  It was a beautiful way to pass the hours and before too many hands were up, he had joined the table with a hand of his own, stating that he was pretty sure I could handle myself.  Drinks were poured, and we all settled in for what because quite the heated game.  The stakes got higher, more money was thrown at the table and hand after hand I managed to draw just the right cards, bet just the right tantalizing bet, keep just the right face…  I was a quick study and none expected that I’d sweep the table as well as I had.  Before long there was a large, neatly organized stack of money in front of me and the piles around me were going lower and lower.  The longer we went the emptier mugs got and the more rowdy my company became.  At first it was amusing, fun even.  But they began to get more frustrated, more fidgety, more glasses drained…  Before Kat knew it, the dwindling piles were next to nothing and tempers were running high. 

“The little Sprite ‘as tricked us out of our money!  Jus’ lernin my arse!” 

“Easy there…  I’m sure the luck is just with her tonight perhaps it’ll be your night tomorrow.” 

Kat was just gathering up her winnings as she heard the shuffling and dissent brewing.  A couple of the men seemed to agree with the first and the others were beginning to grumble too. 

“Don’t you see?  She’s cheated!  I don’t know how but she’s cheated!” 

The angry murmurs began to grow and just then the one who had initiated it launched his empty glass against the wall just beside Kat sending shattering glass bouncing off.  She hissed in surprise as a couple of the shards buried themselves in her leg, but still she surged to her feet the money already gathered into her satchel.  One of the men snagged her by the dainty wrist and snarled.  “Cheated did yeh?  We don’t take terribly kindly to cheaters around here-.” 

Katherine glared defiantly at him, lifting her chin a tad as she moved to jerk her arm away from him.  “I didn’t cheat.”  She stated as firmly as she could manage with just the hint of waver in her voice.  Oh yes.  She was scared, but to let them know that would not be good. 

“I say we be makin’ her give it back.  All of it, plus some for the trouble.” 

The initial instigator shot her a daring glare and she fought to hold his gaze even as her own anger and fear bubbled up.  She jerked against the tight hold one man had on her again cursing inwardly.  Why wasn’t it working…  It had worked when she had been in trouble before.  Her arm had just phased through theirs like they weren’t even there!  But this time the man held her small wrist so hard it hurt and there was no phasing as she liked to call it.  Terror began to rise within her as the other men had risen from their seats and were murmuring their agreement with the first. 

Great job Kat…  Anger the crowds why don’t you…  How in the world are you getting out of this one?  Her dainty foot suddenly shot out to smack the one who held her wrist in the knee…  Hard.  He hissed in pain but it was enough to make him let go and off like a shot she moved.  Hampered a little by the glass in her leg, she moved away from the crowd of men but she made quite the miscalculation moving herself further into trouble as she moved away from people, she managed to move right into a corner and right there leaning against the wall was one of those that had been at the table.  And he wasn’t her friend.

“Goin’ somewhere lass?”

Raki

Raki had been setting a private table, watching the whole scene happen before him, he wanted to laugh, because they had taught her how to play cards. So it was the classic trap, when the woman became better then her just being taught she was cheating, and they couldn't handle a woman hitting them right where it hurt, well it wasn't her fault she could quickly adapt well. As he sat there, he had bottle of old brandy, it tasted sweet, from the iceburge. 

As he took a drink from the bottle that he had bought, he could see the woman was introuble, but he could also tell she could handle herself if she didn't panic so hard like she did just now, then suddenly as the men grew agitated with her, and started to harm her, he took a another sip, as he raised an eyebrow checking to see what she would do next. He could clearly see that she panicked, and she needed to calm down, to think of a way out, but she couldn't, plus she was like a fox, her back was touching the wall, and he let his head fall to the side. 

Then suddenly as he brought the bottle back to his lips to take a few gulps, the bottle was broken into, making a splash everywhere, he backed up, instantly, making sure not a drop hit is royal clothing, but he was kind of in a pissed off daze, he looked up t see the instigator was standing right there, hanving trying to reach for her, over his table, but broke his bottle. He stood up, His long, beaded, braided hair moved over his shoulder, hanging infront of him. He licked his lips, his aura changing comepletely from calm and bored, to being a train with steam probably coming out of his ears. 

As he stood up, his hair moved like waves of the ocian as it rolled out a little, wearing his usual attire, his hazel bolded eyes looked over at the woman, and shook his head as he looked at the male, then picked up the male by his neck, slamming him into the wall, as if the guy was a rag doll, Raki was tall and muscular, but he didn't look like he could do something of the sort, but he did look like he could handle himself well, and doing what he just did proved it. 

"First off...if she cheated...that means you taught her how... don't blame her for out playing your game....and taking all of your money...now if you want money...go back to work and reearn it...and come back and get better at it...dont be stupid and harming a woman...while in the process of messing up my 800$ bottle of liquor." He growled.

Seeing the bar tender, pointing his gun at the men who seemed to be bullying the woman, Raki nodded in respect to bartender, as he walked around, the table, seeing that another male wasn't listening he leaned forward as he elbowed him in the back, making the male slip forward, falling slightly with a loud oomf he shook his head. Then as he saw another coming at him, he fan fallin to his knees as he slide, and instead of pulling of his blades, he pulled his twin guns out, and shot them, both men, making them fall. 

He stood up, as he put his guns away, and then as he stood up, someone came up from behind, he leaned forward, as he turned around, and pulling his blade, still in the hilt, and pushed deep into his gut, and then spun again coming up, and smacked him upside the head, as the male fell to the floor. He then saw that they were starting to back off of the woman, as he put his fydora over his face, and nodded, he then used his sword to barely smack at the male. "Miss...you might want to come get every cent you earned...and my best bet would be for you to leave before you get caught in such a trap again.." He chuckled at the poor girl. 

"Sorry Raki...Joey normally comes with you that is why i didn't recognize you...." The bar keep said.

"Nah thats alright wouldn't do me any good if I stayed in his shadow all the time...anyway Miss pryde...would you like to go for some tea or something?...at least get out of here?" He said, as he saw something coming up behind him.

He then pulled his sword from its place, and put it at the mans throat, as if he would slice the man any time if he moved forward, he then nodded to the female, urging her to grab her money and her things, so he could get her out of there alive.

Katherine tried to move back the way she came, only to find another man at her back and a table in between her and the exit.  Sure it crossed her mind just to dive underneath, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure she'd make it out of there even if she tried that route.  She growled and continued to glare defiantly but her leg began to really smart.  She hadn't yet noticed the young man who had taken some attention of her plight.  If she had she may have sent a plea for help, and yet perhaps not.  Her own pride and determination would not allow for that.  So instead she just glared down her aggressors even as they closed in on her.  

But then something changed in the air.

She couldn't tell you what, or where, but as she turned to gauge if this was an even bigger threat, she saw him.  Blinking a couple times, she wasn't sure that what she thought she was seeing was what she was actually seeing...  But then again perhaps her mind wasn't tricking her after all...  Either way this young man here looked...  Peeved.  Meeting his eyes, she felt a chill run down her spine.  If his ire was focused upon her, she was absolutely done for.  Straightening her back, she met his gaze levelly.  If she was going down, she wasn't going down without a fight, and not an easy one either.  Her fear still ran fairly rampant within her, but heck if she was showing them that.  Reaching back just to tentatively push against the wall, she found it depressingly solid.  'Dang...  Come on!  Activate!  Go go Phasing Power!  Something!' She thought desperately to herself just as the man moved with frightening speed toward her, only to grab the man beside her and lift him right off the ground.  She stepped back in surprise as his head hit the wall fairly hard.  As she moved away from those two, she half expected to run right into the other man flanking her, but her foot found empty floor.  A quick glance back told her that he had taken a number of surprised steps back.  She listened intently to the unknown man's words, and she wasn't the only one.  It seemed the whole bar was listening at this point.

But it didn't take the other too long to realize the needed to go help his friend, or get their money or do something so he quickly closed the gap between himself and Katherine, and grabbed her wrist up in his again earning a hiss of pain and protest from the girl.  This time her hand leapt into her satchel to bring out, not money, but her own trusty piece.  But her hand shook...  It was clear that she was not incredibly well versed at using the weapon.  But a fairly firm jerk of her wrist was given as the man was elbowed in the back and pulled her before releasing her.  Unbalanced a little, she stumbled but caught herself against the wall again.  Her anger mounted within her.  The nerve they had!  She glanced quickly around the bar area and there was a small crowd of men.  Mostly those from the poker game, but also a few that were likely friends of theirs.  Kat glared defiantly at the lot of them pushing her small frame fully upright again.  She wasn't afraid danget!  

A yelp as gunshot rang out in the confined space and two of the aggressors falling where they stood.  Kat quickly looked down at her piece.  No, she hadn't done that...  A glance at her unknown defender told her exactly what she needed to know.  He was armed...  And he knew how to use them.  That and she could likely find an escape route at this point...  Then again there were men around even if they did start to give this man a healthy amount of space.  Kat hesitantly reached out just to test, and found that her hand phased right through the table.  She sighed gently as she carefully returned her hand to her side in what she hoped was a casual manner.  That was a relief...  But why couldn't she have done that earlier?

A voice jerked her from her musings and she had noticed another man drop from a blow to the head.  They really should learn when to quit...  But people weren't exactly smart when they were drunk.  But there!  Movement!  Just out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man with a gun trained on her newfound friend.  She was fairly certain that the man hadn't noticed him and Kat didn't even hesitate.  She didn't even think.  She raised her gun and fired before she could mess herself up and thanking her lucky stars, her bullet sailed true, dropping the man where he stood.  Rapidly looking to the man as he indicated that she should gather her winnings, she blinked in confusion.  Hadn't she already?  But there...  In front of him lay a healthy pile of money.  Kat moved over trying to mask her limp before carefully swiping the winnings into her satchel to add to the rest.  The majority of the group had already either dropped or flown the coop, but there was still a number of them there looking as if they were trying to either decide whether to run or plan their next move.  The barkeep also looked quite strained, but not entirely surprised.  Crazy things tended to happen in places such as this it seemed.  

But the daft girl took at least twice before she would get a move on.  The conversation between him and the barkeep snagged her attention.  Goodness it was almost friendly!  His second urging sent Kat to moving quickly.  Deftly moving toward the door, she came face to face with the side of a sword against a man's throat.  Not for the first time she found herself highly impressed with the man's abilities.  Her eyes widened a touch as she looked back to him, fighting back a tremor.  She was strong gosh danget!  Yea, she was doing a great job of proving that.  "I-I think that would be a wonderful idea."  She confided before sidling around the man who didn't move to detain her before moving with all the utmost haste that she could manage.  She paused only briefly, glancing back as she wondered if the man needed help as well, considering those in this bar wouldn't be too happy with him either, but it was highly clear that he had things well in hand and would likely be right after her anyway.  Now was the time to get the heck out of here.  Once she was sure that the man was following, Kat made a beeline for the door.  With the way cleared either by force or by fear, Kat reached the door without contest and couldn't even pause to open it.  Right through she phased not finding that she cared who saw her right then, she just needed out, and that opportunity had arisen.  Although she wasn't keen to leave an ally behind and she would pause poised to jump right back in if he hadn't emerged in seconds or if she heard anything hostile within.  But she felt strongly that he wouldn't get safe before she moved her tail.