Run for Ever

[Houndy Poochykins 544]

The heels that most would click like marbles on marbles were silent as the well trained assassin moved. She used her parkour and natural feline agility to scale the side of the building, using anything she could or needed to ascend. Her suit blended well despite being quite conspicuous once you got an eye full. She could hear much of the conversation on her way up. Finally reaching the top with the others. She waited for a chance to interject. "is the a means to leave the task site?" she asked. Would they need the gliders? or was there some other method. It mattered not, she'd gotten out of some incredibly stick situations before. "Lethal force not authorized?" she added to her question. Her mask split own the center and raised like some fancy hyper sports car. Revealing the only part of her skin they'd be seeing. A fair skinned cat woman, her pink hair and fur matched the metallic ruby red suit well in her opinion. Not that she was entirely fond of it. 

"I am here for the task one put out" she said quietly. On her hips sat a pair of daggers. But she was more than capable without them. "If we are to enter through the roof, it means we have no means of immediate escape" she added. She was naturally, not bossy though. She'd go with whatever plan they wanted.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Houndy Poochykins

[Voldemort 723]

Arthur was sitting near the teams’ gear when the first group of hirelings reached the roof. The mage’s wolf-like eyes shined orange in the dark as he turned to study Lorial and Willow, watching curiously while the pair argued. The first woman, Lorial, seemed ready and prepared, much like the mutant had expected from those who would take the job. The second, however, looked like a fish out of water. He could hear the fear in the woman’s voice as she clung to the door jamb; the other woman coaxing his assistant with promises of safety. When they finally approached, the mage chuckled under his breath, watching as Willow found someone else to cling to.

“I’m Arthur,” the mutant replied with a curt nod and a gesture for those two to come closer. He unfolded a large map of Chesterfield’s Glass Road area and laid it out on a tarp so it was in full view of the others. “Despite my appearance, I’m human too,” the mage added with a chuckle, making sure that Willow didn’t feel any more left out than she already did. 

Suddenly, a third hireling came out of the woodworks. Another woman, though more along Lorial’s side of the spectrum than Willow’s. Which was just as well, they needed talent on their team if they sought to succeed. Arthur gestured for the woman to come closer to where the rest of them were gathered, though it didn’t stop the cat woman from asking a myriad of questions.

“Definitely don’t use lethal force if you can help it,” the mutant responded, kneeling in front of the map so that the others would gather around more closely, “We’ll be using these to get to the target, and for our escape as well. Our target is a building over three hundred yards away to the north. As we use the gliders, they’ll naturally begin to descend, so this building had to be taller than the target. Similarly, the building that we’re escaping to is shorter than the target building for the same reason. I have an automated wagon waiting for us there. We’ll drive it back to our starting point here.”

Arthur pointed towards the map as he spoke, indicating the building they were standing on, the target building, and the other construction site that they were escaping to. The list that Wige had provided the mage was coming in handy. 

@Mickey Flash @Houndy Poochykins

[Mickey Flash 5895]

When Arthur had addressed them and claimed that he was human too, Willow had stared into his orange eyes with disbelief.  He was right to think she would not believe him human, since she had never met a man with eyes of this color.  It distracted her enough to loosen the death grip she had on Lorial’s jacket sleeve.

When the woman had entered the scene from the side of the building instead of the stairs, Willow paid no attention to her, because she was in the direction of the drop off that Willow was trying to pretend did not exist.  It was not until she had allowed the helmet mask to open and show her face that she paid her any attention.  Willow had never seen a cat person.  She was not very well travelled, having stayed close to the village where she was raised.  She had seen plenty of cats, but none of them were pink.  And she had never seen a pink cat person to be sure.  She forgot all about the heights as she stared in wonder at the feline.  Her grip on Lorial’s arm even slackened a bit more.

Lorial did not give the feline female a second glance, except to frown in her direction.  She had noticed her climbing over the edge of the building.  And she had noticed that she had basically ignored them, instead shooting questions left and right, expecting answers.

Arthur had been happy to answer the questions for her, seeming to be rather easy going.  He would be the group leader, making compromises for them all to get along.  Lorial sensed this straight away.  She sniffed the air and tried to get a read on his human smell, but he did not smell exactly human to her.  It was thoughtful of him to try to make Willow feel at ease though, and Lorial noticed this with only a mild bit of suspicion.  Either he was trying to get between the sheets with Willow, or he was kind-hearted.  Both reasonings were weaknesses in their own way, and Lorial filed the information away just in case it was needed. 

After Arthur finished talking with the pink cat, Lorial turned toward her and said in a low voice.  “Never mind about getting away with the gliders.  If you can climb up a building, you can climb down one.  I suspect the only one here who will have an issue with escape would be my servant.”

Willow looked over at her sharply and interrupted quietly, “I’m not your servant.  I’m your assistant.”

Lorial paused and continued with, “As I was saying, if my servant,” she looked over to Willow in challenge, and Willow frustratedly said nothing, “has an issue with being able to escape I will take care of that.  She is my responsibility.”  Lorial’s reasoning was that Willow had just started work today, and she was not going to call her an ‘assistant’ until the human could prove herself useful. 

Her eyes cut back over to the feline in red.  “But I did introduce myself.  I introduced my servant,” she gestured to Willow, who rolled her eyes.  “And Arthur introduced himself, as a human no less though that remains to be seen,” she said suspiciously, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.  Her eyes cut back over to the cat woman, “You on the other hand have failed to introduce yourself.  I like to know who I am working with.” She did not actually need to know real names and did not actually expect them.  What she did need was a name to call out when they were on the move, or if she found a window that they could all jump through.  Whatever situation popped up, she needed a way to get the cat’s attention if needed.  Otherwise, she would have to find other means to get her attention, like throwing something at her.  Lorial preferred that this be civilized without having to resort to such childish antics. 

@Voldemort @Houndy Poochykins

[Houndy Poochykins 544]

The cat would look at the distance momentarily. And then back to Arthur. "I suggest, in order to maximize the time it will take for personnel to determine our launch point origin, we land in different directions." She said. "Mildly trained personnel can tell which direction something came from, and this will only mildly mitigate that... I also suggest we don't reconvene here..." She added. She would also produce a sealed envelope. "My skillset has bee optimized from youth for such types of work" She added, basing that she wasn't just talking out of her ass, or trying to boss him around. The letter though. It was a short passage, from her master, relinquishing control of her for the period of the job, giving Arthur rights to use her skillset as needed. Though as the other woman spoke, her ears would lift and turn. Her eyes shifted briefly to the woman speaking. "If you knew the first thing about cats, you'd know we tend to climb higher than we're comfortable climbing down, and that we climb up much better than down." She explained. 

"My name is Ruby" she added, turning back to Arthur. "And if lethal force is forbidden-" she said, dropping all her tools of lethality. Her pair of sharp blades, her poison capsules and darts, fiber wire, and such. Leaving her with minimal tools, many of which still wouldn't be super useful. She did have something she'd been developing, which would be annoying but ultimately harmless. All said banned tools, were neatly placed in a corner. Since she knew her words probably carried no weight, and they'd be returning here anyway. She would, in part to help provide assistance and also to test the actual functionality, offer each of them, a golf ball sized capsule. She had come up with the idea, when someone had burned themselves during a mission once. "it is a harmless tool of distraction..." She said. "It will make a loud crackling explosion, like a small bomb..." She added. "And light much of its surrounding, in artificial fire." She said. "The flames will die in minutes, but will not spread." She explained. "Don't waste it, they're expensive and tedious to make, please" she said. Simplified, it did fire, like a videogame grenade. The fire was harmless, and wouldn't spread. It likely wouldn't even burn or cause much in the way of damage. Depending on the currency, one could make about 3 standard fragmentation grenades for the price alone. These spheres also had a total of about 24 hours of manual labor. 

 

[500bees 197]

OOC: I saw that there was still room for me to squeeze in my character, so here I am 🙂

---

Spoiler

 

There was a small "pat pat pat" sound, like the scuttling of a rat. The man shivering on a cardboard bed shifted in his sleep, ignorant of tiny fingers checking his pockets. The creature poked and pulled and prodded, but found not even a bottle cap on his person. 

The man shifted again, muttering. The tiny creature backed away, made a sharp turn and with a swish of its silver tail sprinted into the darkness of the alley. 

Then it returned. It poked the sleeping man's nose, and as he raised a hand to scratch it, pulled off the ring on his pointer finger with trained speed and intent. The man didn't even finish scratching and the little thing was already gone, running away on all fours around the corner and up a fire escape.

It stopped only once, to swallow the ring in its mouth, and make a "bleh" sound. 

Not her preferred method of storing plunder, but it'd have to do for now. She had to hurry; there was a job that wouldn't wait for her.

---

Vivia scaled the building by finding creases and corners for her to use as handholds and hoofholds. She snuck by windows, peeking through them on occasion to look all glimmer-eyed at the shiny things she'd occasionally spot on a desk or around a wrist. But no, she reprimanded herself, there was a job she had to do. Stealing small shinies would come after. Now, she had to use her skills, sharpened by millennia of thievery, to earn big shinies. She just had to take this seriously. That was the deal.

Eventually, she reached the roof. She spotted the quartet already there and approached with caution, hiding behind equipment left behind by construction workers. When a bit of eavesdropping revealed them to be her teammates for the mission, she got up on her hind legs and let the clack of her hooves give her away as she approached. The clacking grew louder as the she-devil enlarged herself, reaching a metre and seventy/five foot seven. That would hopefully put her at eye-level with the other four, which was useful when you wanted others to see you as an equal (even if you still saw them as walking providers of things to steal). 

She stopped before the four.

"H-hiiiii", she said, in a voice as pleasant as nails on chalkboard. "I have a letter here. It's a re-com-end-ation letter."

The she-devil produced a piece enveloped paper from the fanny pack she wore. She wasn't very used to wearing things - she lacked genitals and her six nipples were quite inoffensive - but she recently got her hands on a couple useful things which contributed to the whole "being seen as an equal" thing. She wore a kind of cropped black shirt with long sleeves which was tied in the front (and did nothing to cover the before-mentioned inoffensive nipples). Her legs and groin were covered in hair so she had little use for pants, put she still wore dark blue wool thigh and calf coverings. Most importantly, she had a fanny pack she wore across her chest, (but which was a poor substitute for her Bag of Potential Infinity which she had to leave behind, as to not risk losing her centuries worth of accumulated treasure) in which jangled a couple tools she thought would be useful for the mission, letter of recommendation included.

"It's from the man-thing called Widge. He says I can join. Because I have experience and skill. That's what he said."

Vivia couldn't help but feel a bit proud.

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by 500bees

[Voldemort 723]

The mutant watched Ruby closely, listening to the cat girl thief’s suggestions as he read the letter from her master. Frankly, he didn’t agree with Ruby, but he would be polite enough to listen. Arthur’s eyes scanned over his map while the woman spoke, nodding in comprehension before waving away the offered device. He was a mage after all. He didn’t need any trinkets. The black mage’s gaze returned to Ruby and shook his head lightly. “If we split up in the air, there’s higher chances we’ll be seen from the ground. We’ll use the roofs I mentioned as cover. Run across the roof and glide to the next before running again. But no fear, there’s no way they can tell where our starting point is just from our direction. I’ve traveled over a hundred miles on a glider before. For all anyone knows, we’ve come from outside the city’s limits.”

Arthur returned his gaze to his equipment, knowing that there was another problem to solve before they set out. It didn’t seem like Willow had any experience or desire to operate a hang gliders, which certainly would prove problematic if they forced her onto one of the contraptions. “You don’t have to come back with us, Ruby, but who’ll clean up all the equipment you’re leaving behind if you don’t.”

Turning to Lorial and her ‘servant,’ the mutant chuckled as they continued to argue among themselves and with Ruby. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cause any problems for all of their sakes. Arthur brushed off Lorial’s comment that his humanity remained to be seen with a chuckle, indicating the two women with a gesture of the fingers of his right hand. “Willow doesn’t seem to want anything to do with the gliders, so you’ll have to go with her or she’ll just have to stay here.”

Arthur kneeled over one of the hang gliders, grasping its grip bar as he focused his will. An explosion of arcane formulae flashed in front of his vision, his eyes lighting up from within as a hum of power and electricity emitted from the mage. Recalling the proper Name, the mutant cast his spell of polymorphia; the transmutation forcing a sudden growth and expansion from the hang glider. Suddenly, its sail and frame grew to twice its original size, becoming quite apt for two riders. The mage’s eyes returned to normal and his arcane power subsided as he looked over his shoulder at Lorial and Willow, “There we are! You should both be fine with this.”

A fourth hireling arrived while the mutant spoke with the others. His heightened senses picking up the she-devil as she scaled the rim of the temporary roof. He doubted they’d be ambushed so the mage grinned at the newcomer, listening with a nod as Vivia explained herself. He reached out and took the offered letter, reading through it before nodding his confirmation. “Great. We could use the help. Like I was saying before, we’re going to hop roofs using these gliders. Once we get to the target,” the mage pointed his finger onto the target building on the map. Their building of origin was already marked for convenience’s sake. Arthur then gestured towards the various coiled lengths of rope, which clearly amounted to several hundred feet of the stuff. “We’ll attach some protection and fix our ropes. We’re gonna rappel down to the seventeenth floor using a single-rope technique. I have a distraction set up for when we break a window, and Wige is going to temporarily shutdown the building’s power so we can get inside undetected. I don’t know the layout inside since I got the job on short notice, but I think we can succeed with our current numbers...

“So, are you guys in or out?”
 

@Mickey Flash @Houndy Poochykins @500bees @supernal

[500bees 197]

As soon as the recommendation letter was out her hands, the she-devil skittered away on all fours toward the gliders. She inspected them with both her eyes and nose, trying to figure out what exactly they were and what their purpose was. So engrossed in her investigation of the strange contraptions, Vivi missed Arthur's explanation of the plan, thus she was startled when her teammates came over and began strapping themselves into the gliders.

There was just enough gliders for each person, Vivia included, but hers was left alone as she was mistrustful of its functionality (and her ability to use it). Instead, she shrunk herself to half her height and asked one of her fellow thieves to ride on their back while they flew. It took a few screeched out "pleases" but eventually she found someone willing to offer their backside, and so the five of them departed into the night, their black gliders blending with the black sky.

The target building was reached with no debilitating complications for the mission. Vivia hopped off of her colleagues's back, landing at a much larger size. She shook herself like a dog, the wind's chill having refreshed her.

The devil was always a hyperactive thing, tireless and quick, but now there was a tingly feeling in her tailbones that made her more excitable than usual. She was actually clueless as to what they were stealing, but what mattered to her was that she was stealing. Taking. Purloining. Looting. Pilfering. Thieving. There were many different words to describe the activity that made the elder devil feel more alive than anything else. Her tail swished left and right like a cat's. Tonight, she felt like she could pluck the silver line of the Moon out of the night sky.

Tonight was going to be fun.

@Mickey Flash  @Houndy Poochykins @Voldemort

Edited January 29, 2021 by 500bees

[500bees 197]

OOC: Sorry for posting twice, I just felt my post was too dry and wanted to set up an interaction.

---

She sized up her theftmates. A man-thing, two woman-things. and a... cat-thing? It seemed so. 

The man-thing was of broad shoulders and slim waist, long-armed and orange-eyed. He was tallest among them and looked fittingly threatening.

The women-things were a pair, both long-haired and pale-skinned. One looked significantly less confident than the other, and the other one, again, seemed slightly intimidating.

The cat-thing was very uncatlike, standing on two legs in high heels, wearing a ruby red skinsuit and a helmet that hid her face. She definitely seemed like someone approachable, by the elder devil's standards.

"So" Vivia began, having approached the cat-woman (on hind legs and at the same height as she) "Has you thieved much? Stolen often? Does you know what we will be taking? I don't. I didn't listen."

@Houndy Poochykins

Edited January 29, 2021 by 500bees

[Mickey Flash 5895]

Lorial sniffed as the cat girl introduced herself with a condescending “You don’t know a thing about cats,” comment.  She happened to love cats, and other cute animals, although this was her secret weakness.  She did not see Ruby as a cat though.  She was a cat person, which made her not a pet or pet material.  She also could do things a cat could not do, like talk.  So, to say that Lorial should know all about Ruby by knowing about cats would have been to grossly misjudge both species.  She did not plan to point this out, as it was irrelevant and useless.  The female could not climb down is all Lorial needed to know. 

When Ruby handed her the little hand grenade Lorial took it.  She did not need it, but she liked to throw things.  Then she looked over at Willow, who also took the grenade gingerly as if afraid of it.  Lorial took it from her hand, and the one that was given to her, and stuffed both into Willow's bag.  “You’ll probably need that more than I do,” she said.  She was not going soft.  She was just protecting her servant, since she basically belonged to Lorial, and Lorial took care of all her belongings. 

Another creature approached them, and Lorial cocked her head to the side curiously.  “Well.  Who do we have here?” she asked aloud to no one in particular.  For her, this was an interesting creature, a type she had never seen before.  She looked at her hooved feet and her fur, up to her face without a nose.  She was a unique being. 

Willow had a different reaction all together.  She had thought Ruby to be cute, with her pink ears and cat-like air.  Arthur had been more intimidating, because he had those orange eyes and he just looked like someone not to mess with.  But he still looked mainly human.  This creature was strange.  Almost too strange for her to comprehend.  And she withdrew in silent terror.  Hooves, fur, nipples exposed, and long thin neck with strange head and no nose…. She was too weird.  She stepped back behind Lorial again, thinking Lorial was crazy for addressing the newcomer.  Willow did not want to think of herself as prejudice against non-humans, but she could not help but feel afraid of this new person who failed to introduce herself.  Lorial did not ask her to either and Willow wondered why not.  Then she noticed that Lorial was checking out the new glider that Arthur had made for them.  A glider?  Did that mean….?  “No!” she said forcefully.  “I… am… not… getting… on… that… thing.” She said every word clearly and concisely to allow it to be known how strongly she meant every word.  Her face was now flushed with her conviction.  “I don’t care if you fire me.   A job is not worth my life.  I can’t do it.  It’s not possible.”  She was speaking more quickly now, trying to make sure her words were heard and listened to.

Lorial thought Willow was sounding manic and on the edge of crazy.  All she needed to do to complete the picture was to start ramming her head into the wall.  Lorial knew how to handle this kind of over-reaction.  She did not plan to give in to it, that was for sure.  She stood behind Willow.  “You’re just scared,” she said with a shrug.  Her hands pointed palm down at the building.  Somewhere in the building someone must have had a plant because the vines started to punch through the floor around Lorial's feet.  “Once we are in the air you won’t be scared anymore,” she said reassuringly.  The vine began to weave its way around Lorial and Willow.  Willow was truly terrified now, unable to pull off the vines surrounding her and not knowing what was going on.  Lorial starting walking toward the glider built especially for them, and Willow started screeching.  “Hush,” Lorial said sternly, as if speaking to a child that was throwing a temper tantrum in a public place.  It held the force of someone who meant business, as well as the small trace of embarrassment at being humiliated by their child in front of other people.  “We’ll be there before you know it.”  The vines were twined around the both of them, effectively harnessing Willow to Lorial.

Willow continued to struggle, her movements useless against the strong vines and even stronger Lorial.  She was placed before the glider and Lorial was holding the bars underneath.  Willow held on to the bars too, instinctually.  She was still struggling though.  She had stopped screeching as she realized that to do so would only bring attention to the group and she would be killed, either by the group or the law as they were discovered.  “You can’t do this,” she said out of breath as she struggled against her bindings. 

“Too late,” Lorial whispered as she shoved the glider off the edge of the roof.  Willow’s eyes widened in absolute terror as she looked at the ground so far below them.  Then her body went limp as she passed out.  Lorial saw her hanging head and shrugged as she smoothly maneuvered them toward the other building.  At this moment it was good that Willow was unconscious.  Lorial was starting to really doubt Willow’s ability to help her as an assistant now.

[Houndy Poochykins 544]

Ruby would look to the person speaking to her. The visor lighting up as she adjusted it slightly. "I've done many missions of this nature for many clients of the same ilk." She explained. "I am unsure of what their use is... but some documents... and we're to leave no trace of our work..." she added. The cat then took hold of a hang glider, and got a running start, and leapt. She had no fear of heights, she could dive off this tower into a small hoop with precision accuracy if the idea struck her she'd lower the altitude slightly, and land via gliding up until the momentum was lost and drop only a few feet, a loud click clack as she did so, from her heels. She'd look around, making certain there were no personnel present. All clear it seemed. Immediately she'd set to work on the access door; picking the lock was easy, she had no difficulty really. Once it was open she'd actually turn and open a vent. She had a few method on how to do this. There was certainly the option of distracting the building security, but that would have to be a last resort. The defining factor in a stealth mission was the stealth. She didn't want to proceed without the others, so she waited for them to arrive. 

[Voldemort 723]

Arthur listened to his new companions as they interacted with each other, keeping himself busy as they prepared to begin by collecting all of the bundled ropes and arranging them in the large rucksack. Storing the rest of his climbing gear, the mutant turned his head to watch the interaction between Lorial and Willow. He wanted to intercede, preventing the inexperienced woman from joining them. He couldn’t risk an argument and discord among his rag-tag group. Perhaps Lorial would even leave if the mutant decided to put his foot down. The black mage would just have to hope that they wouldn’t regret the decision. 

Arthur slung his rucksack onto his back and grabbed his own glider as the others began to depart towards the target. He offered his back to Vivia, waiting for the diminutive being to latch on before he sprinted off the edge off the roof and leaped into open air. The glider’s sails caught the wind, causing the mutant and his passenger to glide across the expanse. The mutant used the contraption to leap frog from roof to roof, skidding to a halt upon the roof before the target. Quickly, the mage worked his will, leaving a multitude of runes cast upon the floor of the roof. Delayed fireballs and other such magical pyrotechnics. 

Once he was done, the black mage was running and leaping into the air once more, using the winds to sail to the rooftop where the others awaited. Arthur landed near the others at a run, leaning his body backwards to slow his momentum. Arthur returned to the edge of the roof after coming to a halt, dropping his glider and waiting for Vivia to climb off before discarding his rucksack as well. 

“Wake her up,” Arthur told Lorial, indicating Willow as he began to empty the rucksack onto the rooftop. Casting another spell, the mage caused a piece of protection to adhere to the roof, providing a loop to tie their rope too. Quickly, the mutant tied the various ropes together, rigging a single rope technique with the hundreds of feet they would need to make their rappel. He cast the rope over the edge, watching it plummet down below before speaking, “Who wants to go first? Whoever volunteers, wait for the signal before breaking the window on the 17th floor.” 
 

@Mickey Flash @500bees @Houndy Poochykins @supernal

[Mickey Flash 5895]

The vines that were holding Lorial and Willow together fell as if by magic.  It was not magic.  It was Lorial’s powers that had held them together.  Arthur’s order for Lorial to wake Willow did not need to be given.  Lorial planned to wake up the other woman.  She was disappointed in Willow’s performance so far, as she seemed to be weak and frightened of quite a bit.  Lorial had not expected much, but she had not expected an inconvenience as well.  She wanted someone who could at least pull their own weight.

She lightly tapped Willow’s cheeks, “Wake up,” she said softly.  She did not plan to be making a lot of noise, for she did not know who was in the area, or if they had hearing like her own. 

“Huh?  Wha?” Willow looked around groggily, her hand coming to her head as if to nurse a very bad headache.  When her eyes came to rest on Lorial’s face, that happened to be very close, she almost shrieked.  “Don’t ever do that to me again,” she said in a low, fierce voice.  “You hired me to assist, not to be tortured.”

“Oh, quit whining.  I didn’t hurt you.  And look, we are here.  You made it.”  Lorial said as she stood and stretched.

Willow looked around to see she was on another roof, which was ok because this roof had edges around it to keep people from dropping off and she was in the middle instead of close to an edge.  She sighed in relief.  “Let’s just hurry and get this done and over with.  I have a feeling that I won’t be getting the job permanently anyway.” 

Lorial said nothing as she stretched her arms.  She waited for someone to volunteer to repel down the side of the building but there were not any volunteers.  “I’ll do it,” she said casually raising her hand.  She walked over to the side of the building and her eyes met Willow’s horrified one.  There was a challenge there, as if to say this was Willow’s last chance.  Then she disappeared over the side with a noiseless hop.

“No, I can’t do this,” Willow said in a panic.  There was a door to her left that was in the middle of the roof.  She rushed over to it and tried the handle.  It was locked from the other side.  She slid down the door in despair.  She pulled her knees up toward her chest and buried her face against them with a groan. 

[500bees 197]

On 1/30/2021 at 8:52 AM, Mickey Flash said:

“Well.  Who do we have here?”

Vivia's head turned so fast, her neck audibly snapped. She rotated the rest of her body and fully faced the woman-thing which addressed her.

"Is Vivia Venerine Vitameda Scuttletip Emberhag Houston, at your service." She did a little bow. "That's who I is. Remember that. Is a good name."

-

On 1/30/2021 at 3:47 PM, Houndy Poochykins said:

"I've done many missions of this nature for many clients of the same ilk." She explained.

Vivia nodded enthusiastically. She had nothing against those who stole by commission. Thieving was thieving, no matter if you stole for others or yourself. The thrill of taking something not yours with wits and stealth was all the same. Without it, Vivia probably wouldn't have picked this line of work. Nothing else fulfilled her like it did, not that she experimented much with other hobbies since her early days in Hell.

On 1/30/2021 at 3:47 PM, Houndy Poochykins said:

"I am unsure of what their use is... but some documents... and we're to leave no trace of our work..." she added.

Her little lips parted in small shock. They're stealing papers? Papers? Not money papers, not magic scroll papers, just regular businessperson papers? Her least favourite type of item. She understood the value of coins, jewels, weapons, even food and items of sentimental value, but not the worth of documents which made vague promises of this of that. But, to be fair, she could've attained this information from Widge had she not rushed into this heist to scratch that kleptomaniac itch.

Still, she had a goal now and it would be in her best interest to fulfil it. Five months in Chesterfield and she had yet to make a name for herself.

-

After getting off of the man-thing's back she grew back to a bigger size, filling out the little outfit she wore. She stretchered, testing the flexibility of her body and found it adequate. She didn't answer when the man-thing asked for volunteers, her interests taken by the vent. She approached the man-thing and tugged at its clothes.

"I can go by vent, if you'll let me. I can fit, yes, yes, I can be small and unseeable. I can look ahead before you go in."

She approached the door, where a woman-thing was curled in a little ball of despair. 

"Or by door. I said it, I'll repeat it; I can go so none can see me even if they look at me."

She looked down at the woman-thing curled right by her.

"And I can take it with me." she pointed at the woman-thing.

[Voldemort 723]

The mutant watched as Lorial disappeared over the lip of the roof, offering a comradely nod before the woman departed entirely. He had some reliable companions, it seemed, but not all of them. Arthur’s mutant gaze turned on Willow, staring with a deadpan look as the woman crumbled at the foot of the roof access door. However, despite the obvious setback, he couldn’t blame the young woman either. It had been clear from the start, and yet the mage hadn’t denied Willow. The black mage erred and the whole job was on the verge of collapse. 

Arthur walked towards Willow when he felt the tug on his black pants. The mutant looked down at Vivia and crouched low to listen to his diminutive companion, nodding a few times as she spoke in understanding before finally shaking his head. 

“No, I can’t let my advanced scout take on Willow as their burden,” Arthur replied, giving the woman permission to descend via the ventilation system. “Go ahead and proceed through the vents, but head straight to the 17th floor. Don’t stop elsewhere and don’t engage any security you witness. No action unless absolutely necessary, if they know they’re being infiltrated they’ll activate their security golems.”

Saluting to Vivia, he would wait until his diminutive comrade was gone before walking the rest of the way to Willow. Crouching low, he unhooked his climbing sling from his harness and fixed the karabiner to Willow’s own harness (or any piece of clothing that would serve as an anchor). 

“You shouldn’t have come but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” the mage spoke honestly, “I can’t leave you here because you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself, so if you want to survive you have to come with me. Shut your eyes and climb on my back, and you’ll see tomorrow. There is no other option.” 

Arthur’s hands snaked their way under Willow’s arms and stood to his full height, pulling the woman to her feet as if she weighed nothing with his inhuman strength. Turning away from Willow, the mage would wait for the woman to comply before walking towards the edge where the ropes awaited.

The mage looked over the edge, observing Lorial’s descent when Wige came through on his end of the bargain. Suddenly, the lights of the building went pitch black, and Arthur gestured with his right hand as he activated the delayed spells he had placed on the adjacent rooftop.

The sky above that rooftop erupted in a series of colorful conflagrations; the sounds of the explosions echoing across the expanse and muffling the activities occurring below on the 17th floor. Lorial’s window for breaking in had just been opened. 

@Mickey Flash @500bees

[Mickey Flash 5895]

Willow barely registered when the creature called her an “it” and offered to take her with her.  She was in adventure overload and was trying her best to just stop the panic and breathe.  She looked up in confusion as Arthur crouched down in front of her. 

On 3/1/2021 at 6:30 PM, Voldemort said:

“You shouldn’t have come but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” the mage spoke honestly, “I can’t leave you here because you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself, so if you want to survive you have to come with me. Shut your eyes and climb on my back, and you’ll see tomorrow. There is no other option.” 

His words were not harsh, and even sounded kind to the girl who had been through more than she wanted to in such a little amount of time.  It was the heights.  If she did not have to deal with the heights, she would have been impressive in her new job, she was sure of it.  He had turned around for her and she realized that she had a choice; go with him or stay here and die.  It was not much of a choice really, and she was glad that he offered his back, otherwise she would have had to climb down on her own and she would have gotten dizzy and fallen to her death. 

She climbed up on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms went under his arms like she was his own personal backpack.  She clutched at his shoulders and laid her forehead in between his shoulder blades.  She closed her eyes as hard as she could, trying to ignore the personal position she was in, the warmth of his torso, or the fact that if she let go of him, she would drop to her death.  The last thing she wanted was to be let go, so of course it was the thought foremost in her mind.

---

Lorial was swinging lazily on the end of the rope, her feet planted firmly against the side of the building as she waited for the sign for her to break in.  She was drawing shapes on the glass window in front of her with her claws, the drawings looking like a picture a child would draw.  The fireworks went off, and she stopped drawing shapes.  She made a perfect circle in the glass and the sharpness of her claws cut through the thick glass.  She pushed the circle in, and there was a thud and the sound of breaking glass that no one actually heard over the fireworks.  She slid in through the circle and pulled on the rope to show that she was in.  She wondered if Willow would have the courage to go down the rope.  She bit her bottom lip with her sharp teeth as she wondered if maybe she had gone too far with the other girl.  Humans could only take so much.  You had to be gentle with them.  They were so breakable.  She could see that having an assistant that was human was going to teach her as much as it would Willow.