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Talk about bad timing. Tijae heard her name mentioned just as she was getting distracted by something else, or rather two something elses. She'd turned away from Sunstrike and KB to look at a faint outlining of a magic circle that had been cast, around the outside edges of the Firebrand's property.

"What's this..." Her hand reaching down to investigate the odd, only to see a black paw spawn into existence. She looked up.

"Pho...Phan..." She seemed unsurprised to see the large black panther with a walking stick in it's mouth on the outside the circle. She stood up and smiled. "I suppose play time is over." It wasn't a question, but a statement. They'd left her alone for a while now, it had only been a matter of time till they came for her."

The animal just growled, seemingly unable to do more with the large walking stick that was stuck in his mouth, and Tijae sighed as she stepped over the circle of protection. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Sunstrike and KB, her cloak falling back to reveal her pale face with it's blue orbs so like Sunstrike's own orange ones.

"I've got to go, lovers. It was fun..." and as she touched the cat, the darkness swirled over them all, and she was gone. At least if I make it seem voluntary, HE won't worry., thinking of Sunstrike and his tendency to run off after every little problem.

KB started, but then simply sighed and hung his head in defeat. Women would never make things easy, and Sun was just too clueless to blame for it all. "Nevermind." KB replied, nodding to himself as he peeled away. It might've seemed a ploy to guilt-trip Sun into something, but KB's quirky grin kicked back even as the forlorn face had started to form. "Go find your girl, no worries. Just promise you'll come back in one piece?" He asked, as he turned to face Sun, backstepping towards the beach.

With that he'd give a small wave and a wink, a sort of 'Good luck!' if you will. His appreciation for the young man was pretty high up there despite their differences. It was both a goodbye and a dismissal, giving KB time to move closer to the source of his annoyance. Leaving clear footprints in the sands of the beach he scowled, his gaze turning to lock on the sky above.

Eventually he'd find a suitable rock to rest against, a spot where he could listen to the sound of the crashing waves and such. The sky above extended in every direction, seemingly endlessly. KB would of course keep some track of Sun and the others in the nearby building, but seeing as his chance to reunite the young man and the girl searching for him had been lost, there was really no point in confronting either of them. Once again he'd be forced to wait, lest he tempt the simmering blood of the many inside.

What he'd give to see Zoey again, if only her ghost.

Owle grinned back. Even knowing Kalis was only human, and nothing lesss, his bravado gave her more comfort than any other words could have. Cake. Strolling through the hells would be like a walk in the park, and the way Kalis said it, she believed him.

Owle blinked, the guffawed when Kalis asked his question. "You mean Rage? My brother?"

She calmed down, forcing herself not to laugh. "Sorry...it's just...I know I never introduced you, but I thought, somehow...sorry. Man, I'm going to need to introduce the two of you properly..."

What was Rage going to say when she told him that she'd fallen for another guy? (And what was Flare going to do when she met Kalis next, for that matter?) She remembered how protective he'd gotten when Vahn was flirting with her...and even though he'd ultimately supported any choice she'd made, she couldn't expect him not to give Kalis a bit of a hard time...at least at first.

The way Kalis said it, he believed him. Which was, by in large, the point. He wasn't that worried to begin with, but if worry wouldn't save their lives, he didn't see the point in doing any of it at all.

As far as he could tell, neither he nor Owle knew enough about what was up ahead that they could have planned if they'd tried.

"...err... your brother Rage...?" Suddenly a decision or two earlier didn't seem quite so wise. "Well... if he was the guy with the green hair... carried you in... him. Yeah." He shifted a little, awkwardly, and watched her sit there holding in laughter with a nuetral face. One so forcedly so, it might well have pushed her over that brink. Being laughed at didn't bother him so much for any reason, but he felt more than a little self concious that he didn't get the joke.

Kalis, of course, wasn't 100% clear on just who owned the bar he was sitting in.

A touch of confusion, not so much, and just slightly indignant at the reaction he hadn't understood. Otherwise, Kalis' voice would have been pretty level, like it usually was.

And as for the presence, it'd stick out. Maybe not on Gaia more than a little, considering, and that was probably in that whatever sort of aura leak that active magic created, or the residue of... he lacked. Like any normal guy off the street who wouldn't have a clue how to begin trying to "gather his ki" or mana, or anything else if you gave him an instruction manual. The likely less surprising fact was that someone with a sense like Owle or Rage could probably have spotted him a mile away. Packed down tight, there was a vast excess locked up too tight and too far down for any type of access, readily or at length, but it was likely giving the effect of looking into a halogen light where one was expecting a florescent.

Assuming anyone was spotting energy that way. If it counted on Owle's radar, she'd probably gotten used to it by now. And it shouldn't surprise Rage, or Sunstrike, or anyone with a sense for such things, considering he'd been like that for months now, so certainly earlier in the common room. Even if author neglect made this a touch difficult.

And now after that nice pause for notification purposes, we return to our normal programming...

In any case, Kalis turned his head around, still with his hands stuffed in his pockets and legs sprawled out lazily in front of him, leaned back in the chair. He opened his mouth a hair to speak. Instead, blinked. Then actually spoke. "Nope. Dun' think so, anyhow." He'd mistaken the figure for a part of a second. Thought she was some one else.

We pause here to allow the audience to laugh at our hero's ignorance once more.

"Need something, miss?" Yes, he was oblivious to the possibility. Less strange things had struck Kalis as bizarre.

Kalis' face went blank.

"Brother-sister? Sister-brother? What...?"

He was just plain confused right now. He looked at Owle, and back to Rage, who got a perplexed look mixed with vague recognition. He liked puzzles, but mostly just when they made sense.

"...how does that work?" sounding just a little abashed to ask.

Still mostly helluva confused.

Sunstrike hunkered down and inspected the little red salamander, before chuckling, and gently picking it up, depositing it on a shoulder.

"Well...at least one of you kids is following along by example..." And with that he walked back up to the tavern, most everything as sorted as it was going to be.

He walked in time to see the green haired female at the bottom of the stairs. Sun needed to tell Owle what had happened. Now he was really unsure of how things were going to go. Obviously he'd seen for himself that Tijae was doing fine...worse, was taking on a few of Sun's lesser qualities...and that obviously meant that she wouldn't have to venture out.

So he stood at the door and interjected himself into the general conversation, letting Siat's familiar slide down his arm and onto a red head.

"Who's the green-haired cutie...I thought I told you to introduce me to all your fine looking relatives, Owle..." He gave her a look.