Jeane nodded and grabbed her jacket. "See you later," she said to the other three before she left, following Cal out the door.

She shoved her hands in her pockets, trying to figure out how to ask without totally startling him.

Robin looked over at the picture again, raising one eyebrow at the colors, but he didn't say anything. Yes, she had a bottle, so it was weird for her to do something like this. He shrugged and decided it was probably best not to puzzle over it too much at the moment.

Khalid waved to Jeane absently as she studied the sketch. After a moment, she carefully rolled it up and vanished it. She would think about it some more before making a final decision.

Cal glanced at Jeane as they walked. He could see the expression on her face that he'd come to associate with her information-hoarding episodes, and he sighed.

"Just ask already," he said.

"Khalid told me some things about the Auphe," Jeane said carefully. "But I'm still curious."

She glanced over at him carefully.

Robin looked at her again. "Not planning on moving now are you?" he joked. She'd been in a sort of odd mood for a while.

"Hm?" Khalid asked. She shook her head. "No. I have my bottle, and I'm rather fond of it." She didn't add that each djinn only ever got one bottle. That would be giving away a little more information than she wanted, at the moment.

"What did she tell you?" Cal asked in return. Not that it really mattered; the Auphe were every evil, nightmarish thing that ever had the opportunity to roam the earth. Everyone who knew about them knew that much.

"Good." Robin grinned briefly. "I don't really want to move right now." He pulled her stool closer to his. "What are you thinking so hard about, and do I have to distract you?"

"Just that the Auphe are the scariest thing I can imagine times about a thousand." Jeane shrugged. "Not much else, not really."

Khalid leaned against him a bit when he pulled her closer.

"It's not important right now," she replied. She grinned a bit at him. "I don't think it would be fair for you to distract me right now, anyways. Ish is still working."

"They invented and perfected every form of murder, torture, and mayhem before any other creature dared to evolve enough to grow a brain," Cal replied. His voice wasn't quite flat, but it was close. "They reveled in it. They killed because they could, because they were bored, because living things can die. Long story short, they're the nightmares that scare the monsters."

Robin pouted for a minute. "I could still get Cal back here," he said after a moment. "He can't have gone far." He grinned suggestively.

"So that's why the others at the bar don't like you," Jeane said quietly, looking at him. "Because you have that potential?" It wasn't a nice thought, but it was one she had to follow through. She needed to know.

"No, leave them alone," Khalid replied. "He won't be in any mood to work. Jeane's asking him about a... touchy subject."

Cal bit back a retort that it was only a matter of time.

"I like to think I don't scare them quite as shitless as I used to," he said instead.

Robin's eyes narrowed just a little. "She's asking for trouble," he muttered, but he didn't say anything else. And of course Cal was going to be sulky for the next few days.

Jeane nodded. "Okay. So everything is automatically wary around you." That made sense, in a way. Didn't mean she liked it, though. "Anything else?"

"You mean that's not enough?" Cal asked in return. He stopped and looked at her. "The fact that there's a real possibility that I may turn into a nearly-unstoppable killing machine isn't enough?"

"If anyone can get him to talk about it, I'd bet on her," Khalid replied. She looked at him. "Besides... it's your fault. You mentioned it a few days ago and piqued her curiosity."

Jeane looked at him, briefly startled. "Cal. You won't. I know, I can't say for certain, things could happen, blah blah blah. But..." She shrugged. "I haven't known you for long, but you haven't yet. You've never even done anything very Auphe-worthy for as long as I've known you. I don't think you'll go darkside."

Robin shrugged. "I forgot she didn't know. Besides, this is revenge for the Panic." He trailed off into grumblings at that.

"You brought most of that upon yourself," Khalid reminded him. "You didn't have to offer to host."

"It could happen," Cal muttered, looking away from her. There were more than a couple of times that he went darkside, as she called it. He just hadn't met her yet when they happened. So he knew very well that it could happen again.

"I was volunteered!" Robin protested. "They all ganged up on me!"

Ishiah snorted and went back to cleaning a glass.

"Could," Jeane pointed out gently. "Could happen. Anything could happen. Just because it could happen doesn't mean it will."

"And you're older than all of them," Khalid replied. Everyone had heard about what happened to the only one older than Robin. "Act like it."

"It has a pretty high chance of happening," Cal retorted. An uncomfortably high chance, but he didn't say that aloud.

Robin grumped at her but didn't say anything more. Clearly she'd never dealt with being harangued into something by multiple pucks.

Jeane shook her head. "I don't care. There's a high chance I could die or get killed," she argued. "It doesn't change anything."

With a bit of a sigh, Khalid reached up and ran her fingers through his hair a little. She knew he liked that, sometimes.

"Just relax now," she said. "Have some more scotch, if you have to."

Cal sighed in frustration. She didn't seem to get it, and he couldn't put it into any plainer terms. Inwardly, though, he was glad she hadn't been scared away yet. He didn't want her to leave.

Robin's grumblings trailed into nothing and he relaxed there with a little sigh. He didn't have any more scotch though.

Jeane huffed and grabbed his wrist. "Good. I see you've realized the futility of arguing," she said, keeping her voice light. "So are you coming back with me or not?"

"Better," Khalid said, still running her fingers through his hair. She didn't even bother touching the bottle of scotch; she wasn't going to have anything like that for a while, anyways.

"You sure I can't convince you?" Cal asked, even as he shifted her hand from around his wrist into his own hand.

Robin smiled, just a little, and relaxed where he sat. The only way this would be better would be if they were back at his apartment. But he was content to wait for Ish to close up the bar first.

"Yes. I'm very stubborn." Jeane kept walking, not quite towing him along behind her. "My place or yours?"

Cal blinked in confusion.

"What?" he asked. Her question seemed a little random, given the conversation.

Khalid ran her fingers through Robin's hair for a little while longer and then gradually stopped. She kept wanting to work on the sketch, but she still didn't know what was missing, so she didn't take it out again. Maybe later, when she wasn't trying to keep an eye on anyone else.

"Back to my place or yours?" Jeane looked at him. "Or would you prefer to go home after dropping me off?"

Robin stayed there, just relaxing, and didn't keep trying to get into mischief. He even stopped bugging Ish.

"Whichever," Cal replied. "Pick one." To be honest, he was just glad she still wanted to be around him. He thought she would have run by now.

Jeane huffed and towed him off aain towards her apartment. "I hope you've realized by now that you're not running me off. You're stuck with me now."

"And you have no idea how surprised I am," Cal replied as he followed her. She really didn't have to drag him, he was going willingly. "Not that I'm ungrateful," he added quickly.

Jeane snorted. "Damn straight," she muttered, moving up the stairs and then unlocking the door to her apartment.