Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
10
Renown
Human
Sasspirant
71 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by cashmere on Feb 4, 2023 20:45:51 GMT -5
Sol City, Gold Port, Beacher's Storage Depot. Two hours until daybreak.
The night spares little illumination. The warehouse is like a beacon, firelight spilling out of every pane of every grid-latticed window. The loading door is wide open, but hardly inviting; armed guards stand just outside, awaiting one last delivery before they can close shop and be home in time for Winter's Crown. But there's no time to wait for that - not for the agents. For them, Winter's Crown isn't the warm festivity that everyone else waits eagerly for. It's a deadline.
The night's cold. The shadows make it colder, but they also hide the deadly truth. The adjacent rooftop provides an advantage in vantage, and in concealability. There, an agent can have an easy view of the target zone while remaining undetected. There, they can plan their approach.
An agent peers down with a single, luminous eye. In all his years, he's never undertaken a mission this daunting or with this high stakes. No, this will be his greatest challenge in all the ten years that he's been on this planet. He's ready.
They're behind schedule. They were supposed to have the payload half an hour ago, but there were... complications - complications with fur and whiskers, that just wouldn't get off of the agent's lap no matter how much he petted. They're strapped for time, strapped for resources, debilitatingly underprepared and wildly underqualified. There's no 'but' to that statement; they're just generally objectively true statements. No competent person would've dared to undertake this mission in such conditions, which arguably explains why they did.
Adjusting a witch-hat that's several sizes too large for him, he grabs its star-shaped bobble and puts it to his ear, speaking into it with hushed, conspiratorial tones.
"Rugbug, this is Lil' Bean! I'm in petition! What's your status? Over."
The second agent, 'Rugbug,' is approximately three feet to his right.
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
0
Renown
Female
N/A
217 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by Cypress Springleap on Apr 19, 2023 17:21:28 GMT -5
“Huh?” Approximately three feet to Cashmere’s right, comes both the confused hum of a young girl, and the tiny purring of said distraction who has followed them to their outpost... and Cypress certainly couldn't resist it's company, either. Tumbling around Cypress’ hooves sits the culprit of their tardiness; a little white and grey kitten, its eyes squinted shut contently while she scratches it behind the ear, because…
Look at it. Is she not going to give it pets? She looks to Cashmere, her smile lopsided in bemusement when she sees him using the star-shaped bobble on his hat to communicate. In response, she picks up the little vibrating kitten near her feet and holds it up to her ear; it elongates with gravity, completely pliable, and still purring happily. “This is Rug Bug and Copy Cat, we’re in position!” She whispers into the cat’s back paw, ignoring the way it starts chomping at loose strands of her hair without missing a beat of its purring. “We have eyes on the payload!” She keeps her voice hushed and low, tail wiggling mischievously as she peeps over Cashmere’s shoulder.
“But I’m not seeing a good entrance! Those guys up front are lookin' real mean! Do you— pfffft, ow, kitty! Your claws are sharp...” Cypress covers her mouth with one hand to suppress giggles while tiny claws burrow into her hair, and the kitten starts scrambling to get onto her head. “—do you see any way in, Lil’ Bean?”
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
10
Renown
Human
Sasspirant
71 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by cashmere on Apr 19, 2023 17:43:41 GMT -5
"Hmm..." The little, arcane agent rubs his chin contemplatively, a look of dire seriousness in his eye as he pets Agent Copy Cat with his other hand. "It's sealed tighter than a-... than a, um... than a sealed box. We're gonna need a really good plan."
But then he stands, rising to his full and unimpressive height.
"Luckily, I think I have just the thing. Lil Bean, out."
He swings the star-shaped bobble back behind his head, turning to face Agent Rugbug who is just beside him.
"Alright, here's tha plan:"
Clip, clop, clip, clop, clip clop... It's an eerie sound for the guards to hear, echoing out of the darkness of the night. The clip-clop of hooves, but to sparse to be those of a horse. And all else is quiet; the unloading has concluded, and they were just getting prepared to close the loading bay doors and be done. But then there was this sound, ominously echoing from the dark...
And it's getting closer.
A shape becomes visible in the shadows: tall, gaunt and featureless, like some fairytale monster. But as it emerges into the light, the finer details can be made out. What stands before the befuddled guardsmen is a nine-foot-tall, yet unholy-thin behemoth of a man, donning a trench coat that conceals him head-to-toe. He walks on a pair of hooves, and he bears the disproportionately minuscule face of a cat. The sleeves of his coat flap miserably at either side.
And then... silence. The guards don't speak, and nor does the creature.
...
...
"Psst!" Cashmere quietly hisses from atop Cypress' shoulders, trying desperately to maintain his balance with a kitten atop his head. "Rugbug, say something!"
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
0
Renown
Female
N/A
217 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by Cypress Springleap on Apr 19, 2023 18:38:41 GMT -5
“ Ow! Watch your feet, Ca— I mean, Rugbug!!” Comes a tiny, hissed whisper back from the bottom of the unholy totem pole; Cypress does her best to hold him steady, hands clasped around the boy’s legs. She’s not particularly strong, but Cash isn’t particularly heavy, either; still, she can feel her ankles trembling while she holds him up, because she has the strength of one collective fifteen-year-old. This idea seemed a lot better in theory! She can just barely see out of an unbuttoned slat just above her eye-level, making it particularly daunting to look at the face of the guards, lit at such an angle that the whites of their eyes stand out in the shadows. “Uh…” Stagefright suddenly clutches her soul when she thinks she makes eye contact with one of them, who’s looking the gangly creature from head to toe skeptically. “Hi!” Oops, that’s her actual voice; she clears her throat, doing her best to keep Cashmere from toppling over with the movement. “Greetings, fellow gentlemen!” She lowers her voice, putting a little edge of snooty noble in for good measure. She’s used to hearing the tones of those men around Sol City. “I am…”
Oh no, what’s the name? Cypress looks around frantically through her little button peep hole; their head is the cat, right!? “ …Cat….purrnicus. Catpurrnicus... Furrdinand.... Uh, Clawford…” That’s totally convincing. Cypress clears her throat again, causing a small jiggle to the totem above. “ I have been sent to check on the deliveries that have come in for Winter’s Crown, would you be so kind as to let me by?”
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
10
Renown
Human
Sasspirant
71 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by cashmere on Apr 19, 2023 19:14:02 GMT -5
The two guards look as confused as cotton candy in an oven. It was far from the most convincing of lies, but sometimes a Rogue just has to make something up on the fly and wear a straight face, hoping that it all pans out in their favour. After all, they're close; if they can just get inside, they'll be that much closer to their prize.
But they have one problem. Because, many seconds after the lie has passed Rugbug's tongue... Lil Bean doesn't get the joke.
'Catpurrnicus...? F-... Furrdinand? That's such a weird name, but-... Ooooh!' A reverberation travels down from the boy atop Rugbug's shoulders, shaking the whole of the totem-disguise as Lil Bean begins to giggle. He tries to stop it, with all his constitution, but it's just such a masterfully constructed pun that he's having difficulty holding it together! He desperately holds it, his face turning pink and blue.
All the while, the guards look on at the towering, warbling, trench coat-wearing figure before them, looking at one-another with confusion as they hear what sounds like... chuckling? Coming from this Catpurrnicus' chest? They've heard of belly laughing before, but this seems slightly absurd. Something isn't right here...
...But then it stops. Lil Bean, through force of will, manages to get a grip on his humerus. Though his face is turning a shade of violet as he holds in a powerful guffaw, he pushes through.
"Uh..." one of the guards utters. "Well, right this way."
All according to plan.
As one tipping, teetering tower of tots, the trio tumbles toward two trolleys towed by a twosome of terrific thoroughbreds. Escorted through a high-roofed storage house where armed guards monitor in patches, it takes all the party's coordination to not trip and timber over any of the scattered crates. Eventually, they stand just behind one of the wagons, with a guard awkwardly gesturing at the contents.
"Yup, this... This's the stuff. It's, uh. It's here."
Exactly what they wanted to hear, sort of. Vaguely along those lines, anyways. It's definitely sufficient if you look at it from a certain perspective.
"E-Excellent!" Lil Bean pipes, trying to match the relatively low octave that Rugbug set before. "We're just going to take a closer look, and make sure everything's in order!"
More than a little bit suspicious, but just far too apathetic to do anything about this charade, the guard awkwardly shuffles about as the towering figure practically folds in half in order to enter the wagon's trough. Before long, the three are sat in the back of the wagon, surrounded by pay dirt.
"I'm in." Lil Bean whispers in a low, rough voice. "Quick, let's gather as much as we can!"
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
0
Renown
Female
N/A
217 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by Cypress Springleap on Apr 25, 2023 18:41:42 GMT -5
Wait, who’s laughing— Cashmere’s shaking on her shoulders!
She looks up at Lil Bean’s little giggling frame, then back through the little peephole in their trench coat with a mild expression of panic. “Lil Bean, you’re not supposed to laugh!” She whispers up at him; it’s hard to sound scolding when she’s trying to keep hushed; but either the guards don’t hear her, or they don’t care all too much about the nine foot, string bean of a feline folk lingering at their storage doors. “Shhhhh!”
Yet, somehow— by some sheer miracle of the gods— the guards just sort of share a look, and offers to lead them through. “W-wonderful!” Cypress chirps, heart leaping into her chest as she steps forwards. The totem wobbles and warbles with each step careful step she takes; a tiny peephole through a button really her only guide as she clicks through the stone floor of the storehouse. “Thank you, fine… oof, fine gentlemen.”
Cypress adjusts Lil Bean’s foot on one of her shoulders, wincing slightly at the heel digging into her bone. She’s careful as she steps over cracks in the stone and places where the stone rises a little too far above the ground. The totem pole of tots tips and toddles as she navigates them through a labyrinth of crates and boxes; and as the guard slows to stand behind one of the wagons, the totem pole bends unnaturally upon her stop.
She sways, trying to keep everyone adjusted; but she’s glad that Lil Bean is paying attention, because before she fully acknowledges the guard’s words, his voice chimes above her. She takes a few steps forwards towards the wagon, and more than awkwardly scrabbles her way into the back of the wagon as the last building block in the tower.
“Oof!” Tangled in the trench coat, Cypress plops into the back of the wagon, hooves nearly kicked over her head, and she thrashes about until she can pop her head out from the peephole in the trenchcoat she’d had before to see through. “Woooooah, look at all this stuff, Lil Bean!” Her fire & ice eyes glitter at the sight of the pay dirt, and she giggles softly. “I can’t believe that worked! Oh—! Wait, where’s Copy Cat?”
She looks around for a familiar kitten, and finally spots him a little farther into the wagon; Copy Cat is playing with a ribbon, tugging on it with his tiny white teeth with the anger of a thousand suns. It turns out the anger of a thousand suns isn't nearly enough, because after a moment of pulling, Copy Cat's teeth slip, and the kitten lands on his bum with a tiny mewl. “I think he found something good! Let’s start over there, Lil’ Bean!”
|
|
Adventurer
IS OFFLINE
10
Renown
Human
Sasspirant
71 POSTS & 0 LIKES
|
Post by cashmere on Jun 10, 2023 19:23:44 GMT -5
At first, Li'l Bean is panicked; if Copy Cat's been compromised, it could punch a whole in this hole operation. But he's quick to relief, and let out a puffed sigh when he spots the miniature operative doing nothing less than its duty, as it's already located what appears to be precious cargo.
He slides over to where the ribbon holds a forest-green box closed, though not before flashing a thumbs-up and whispering "Good job, Copy Cat!" Then, in an effort to stay as silent as possible, he undoes the ribbon (with help from Agent Rugbug) and lifts the lid to reveal...
Tissue paper.
But casting the tissue paper aside, all three agents look into the box with bewildered eyes to see two separate items contained within. The first of these items is a bottle, suspended in the tissue paper like a fly in amber, containing some sort of pink liquid... or, at least, what appears to be liquid, but its unmoving consistency as Li'l Bean picks it up hints at a more gelatinous or perhaps putty-like nature. Li'l Bean eyes it with both perplexity and amusement at its anomalous state.
"Hey sis- I mean, Agent Rugbug, look at this!"
But Agent Rugbug's attention has already been drawn to the box's other contents. The second is something small and soft; big button eyes look up from a plush face, its smile etched into a tiny beak. Upon first glance, it's gaudy and uncoordinated; its bird-half is a purple striped fabric, and its weasel-half is a purple spotted; its bird-legs are a sea-green with turquoise stripes; and its beak is a lifeless grey in comparison with the rest. It almost seems like a it doesn't belong in the pile of perfectly constructed gifts around it.
Yet, Cypress picks it up like it is something precious— utterly enamoured by its many mistakes.
Li'l Bean looks at the plushie, over Rugbug's shoulder. He can't wrap his head around all its eccentricities; as he focuses on one colour, he loses sight of all the others, and the more garish ones are especially eye-drawing. And yet Agent Rugbug seems to earnestly appreciate it; and, if Li'l Bean were being honest, he'd say that he isn't altogether sure why...
But he keeps that to himself. After all, it'd distract from the mission; and, more importantly, it'd hurt her feelings.
"Alright, we've secured the package! Now we've just gotta figure out how to get it out of here!"
...
...
In fact, how are they going to get the cargo out of here...? If Agent Li'l Bean were being honest, he'd say that he hadn't really thought this far ahead.
|
|