Talk Shit, Get Hit.

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx nods to Atticus. He didn't look old enough to be done fighting, but that was his call.

An eyebrow arches at the unidentified man's assessment. "I found this place by chance, and wanted to test the standard. Don't worry. I won't beat up all your fighters. But I'm not going to feel bad about putting some lecherous sexist douche on the floor. And if someone wants to fight me..." A half-shrug. "People don't just come to places like this to win. It's an escape. A place to feel alive."

She nods to Blackbird in agreement, her eyes keen and a smile on her lips. "It can be elegant and beautiful. Even in defeat."

The Awakened turns back to the bouncer. "I'm open to a challenge. Although customarily one introduces themselves before challenging a stranger."

[Fawkes]

The Elemental's eyes blink slowly as his words are bounced between the two women until his observation was twisted into a challenge. What is happening?

He was out of his depth; conversation was never the goal, just assessing whether Alice was a police officer. The pretty little thing was cold but lively, enjoying the dance. The Lost couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off as her responses are measured, reflected off of Alice like something trying to mask an unspoken distance.

Predator. But that was the clientele.

As the pair tried to apply a philosophy to their interests, he is even more bemused, "People gather here soak in a violent, primal urge." He would know, his entire Court was dedicated to it; literally fed off of it, "It isn't poetry in motion. It's sadism. A satisfaction that it's beneath you as you live vicariously," his mechanical gaze flicks from the captivating lady in black, to the intensity of the fighter, "or that your dedication meant something, that you can assert over your detractors."

Alice wanted a name, and he takes a moment to reflect on his words like processing a calculation. "Fawkes," he offers a cold, white hand, "I wasn't calling you an idiot. We can fight if you want, but I'm not going to provide much of a test of skill. I just break things: there isn't anything technical about that."

He could use the money. Was she angry? The men of the crowd jeered, their emotions filling the pit with a toxic soup of impotent rage; how the woman made them feel inadequate, weak, emasculated.

The Changeling was hungry for Wrath.

[Blackbird]

Blackbird smiles at 'Alice's' agreement. However, Fawkes quickly gains her attention.

"Some might argue that primal urge is just the animal trying to get out," she offers, "Whether that defines someone as a sadist depends on the individual I'd say. Although I find it interesting you consider me a voyeur to sadism based on our limited interaction. You assume much, don't you?"

There was no malice in Blackbird's voice. If anything there was amusement.

"You're a curious case, Fawkes," she offers as the man introduces himself, "It's interesting to find someone in the employ of a venue when they disagree so heavily with its mission."

It seemed a polite enough way to call the man a hypocrite. She'd say nothing on Fawkes' agreement to fight, that ball was in Alice's court. Surely if the man couldn't offer a test of skill he'd offer a test in fortitude. Undisciplined fighters tended to be unpredictable. A good test in adaptability if nothing else.

Then the ever-laconic Atticus spoke again, returning Blackbird's teasing right back at her.

"Oh?" she said, her expression morphing into a more playful visage, "Interesting choice of words..."

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx arches an eyebrow at the bouncer. "Isn't there beauty in something so pure, so honest, as primal emotion?" she says with that hint of a smile. She takes the offered hand - her touch is light but grip is firm. "I didn't think you were either," [OOC: calling her an idiot] she says, puzzled. "If you don't want to I'm not going to make you. Especially if you have already decided it isn't worth either of our time. You have to want to fight in places like this. That's the whole point."

The Awakened looks between Atticus and Beth. She may not be the best at social cues but she was still human, and recognised back-and-forths of attraction and lust. You could cut the sexual tension between them. Phoenyx's features twist into a smirk. "You two wanna go find a quiet room to fuck in? Get that over with?" She quips.

[Matt Joule]

Matt listens to Circe, smiling at first, then frowning in the beginning of confusion, was she still laughing with him or was she laughing at him?

"Uh." Matt says, stepping back just enough to have room to act if she really did try to "cold cock" him, or draw a gun.

"...who's there?"

[Circe]

"Dishes." With a massive grin on her face. Once Matt asks the required question Circe responds with, "Dishes a shit joke." Then takes the moment Matt seems to freeze at all from the joke to take a quick lunge towards him and, "Boop!" gently tap him on the nose with her free index finger. "If ya'd been closer I might've used lips instead. Eh, not really yer too tall."

[Fawkes]

"I'm rarely called interesting," Fawkes responds to Lisbeth, almost robotic. "What mission? Money? I have a specific set of skills that gets me consistent employment." He turns to the fighter,

"Yes, I understand the motivation of anger. Give me a minute."

The stiff man walks back towards the board as the two women banter. He says something to the other gang members with one motioning towards the pit eagerly. The man leans in,

For the supernatural beings with heightened senses,

“I'll rack up a pool. Throw it. Make it good. Get more bodies wanting to take her down.”

Fawkes blinks at Alice before tilting his head towards the ring.

“Lose the turtle neck! You look like Mr. Fucking Roger's,” the pit boss snaps. The Elemental pauses before removing the shirt and neatly folding on the table while the man starts shouting for bets. A few of the men laugh, clasping the bouncer's shoulders, shouting for blood while he walks back towards the woman eager to go down the rabbit hole.

The mannequin rolls his wrists, clicking his neck with a loud pop as he clears the ring of the audience. The Mask shows a man alarmingly muscular for the leanness of his build. Nothing stands out in terms of tattoos or scarring: he almost looks plastic in how symmetrical everything is. To the Lost, the Elemental looks carved from porcelain. Not like a statue, but harsh edges like the creature was chiseled, intricate ball joints connecting sections of the carapace together.

His face doesn't so much as twitch as a few of the drunks boo, one throwing a drink that sprayed hops and frothed gold over his back. As the heckler laughs, leaning in and demanding the drink be paid for, Fawkes’ fist is a blur. A fountain of blood sprays from the man's nose with a thick pop of crushed cartilage. His friends catch him and pull back as the rest of security moves. The atmosphere thickens with the smell of iron as the Harvest starts,

“The bouncer? Seriously?”

Fawkes watches Alice with rapt attention, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet as he bends at the knee.

A few of the attendees rush the table, many picking the more obvious choice of the larger figure with an infamous reputation. Others jeer and crow as they crowd behind ‘Alice’, declaring a few bets on her obvious skill as the numbers racked up. One lush even has the gall to manage a slurred marriage proposal.

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx watches curiously as Fawkes seems to... be suggesting they fight? He doesn't say so much, which makes it hard for the Mage to interpret anyway, and it seem totally different to what he just said about not giving a challeng fifteen seconds ago.

Cocking her head she follows slowly as the crowd begins to road and the bouncer slugs a drunk in the face with a hammer-blow. His own estimations of his skill already look like he's underselling himself. She puts her palm flat against the face of the proposing drunk and pushes him back into the crowd without even an answer.

Stepping into the circle, she brings her fists up in a careful defense watching the bouncer intently, a spark of fire in her eyes.

Okay, how do you want to do this? Narration or dice?

I was going to assume no Mage shields on, since I don't know how they manifest IC, but she's employing her snazzy Kung Fu powers. That would make things interesting, as Phoenyx relies on her Life Shield for her good combat stats.