Aki grumbled, kicking a crab out of her way as she walked. Damn these crabs, stupid ocean things, why was she hired to deal with something that wasn't her problem? These brats in Sol City could deal with this on their own, weren't they meant to be the 'bEsT aNd tHe GrEaTeSt'? Whatever, she could deal with this and make some good money, they better pay her. 

    Anyway, she had a job to do and she would reluctantly get it done. even if she hated every minute of it, she did set herself up for this by being open to literally any job. She sighed, making her way to the docks where the largest part of the infestation was. As she walked, crabs were scurrying all over the streets. She better be payed well for this.

    As she finally made it there, she stopped on the longest wooden pathway she could find, staring out at the ocean. Stupid thing, giving them these stupid crabs. She'd curse this whole business until the very end if she had to, she was not pleased. Ugh, this was annoying. At least they said she would get some help for this, there was no way she'd do this totally alone. 

---

Quest Name: Catching Crabs

Participants: Two or more

Location: Sol City

Post Requirements: 3 post per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +1 Renown

Description: Over the last few weeks a strange occurrence has been plaguing the capitol. Some bizarre phenomenon has caused thousands of sea crabs to infest the city, covering the entire island and causing a terrible nuisance to the locals. Whatever the disturbance was has passed, but thousands of the sea creatures still remain, trapped in yards, homes, businesses and other places they have no reason to be. We need you to come to Sol City and help us remove the crabs! You can use any means necessary as long as the crabs are no longer here!

The seabreeze was marvelous as Vail stood at the bow of the ship, letting the warm water of the Luna Sea impact his face. The fellow passengers of the ship stared at the ash lander with confused glances, likely confused as to why someone so imposing was acting so carefree. He didn’t particularly care, commonfolk of such a civilized society often looked over such simple pleasures. The last boat he took to Sol City was much more uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. Nearly drowning in the frozen waters of Frost Gale tended to kill anyone’s mood.

As the ship pulls into the Gold Port, he immediately spots a desperate dock worker. Judging by the lack of moisture on his pant legs, as well the lack of sweat on his brow, Vail concluded that he must be some form of manager. He was carrying some manner of contract, eager to get anyone to sign it. Seeing the opportunity to milk this man and his business for all it’s worth, legally for once, he stepped forward into the man’s view.

The man looks to Vail with a scared expression, before cautiously holding up the contract to him.
“A-are you looking for work? We need these crabs o-off the docks, anyway possible.” he asked nervously.

Vail snatched the contract from the man, eagerly looking over the rather loose conditions.
“Triple the rate specified.” He replied sternly.

“But we have workers already handling it at this rate…” The man noted with a hint of confusion.

“Apparently not enough, or else you wouldn’t be asking me. I’m a professional, the job will get done without issue, take it or leave it.”

The man looks around for any other possible candidates, before sighing and conceding to Vail.
“Fine, just get it done today.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, put the name down as Vail.”

Vail smiles and walks down the pier, looking for his fellow workers in an effort to expedite this job.
Many of the workers were plain city folk, too boring to work with, if he was going to take such a mundane job his company should be at least somewhat entertaining. Suddenly a sigh catches his ears and notices a felinekin bemoaning her task as she stared out towards the ocean. He smirks as he looks at her handmade clothing and hood, clearly she wasn’t your normal law abiding citizen. Someone with a lack of moral compass was just what he was looking for. He approaches from behind her as she grumbles over her predicament.

“Speak up. Clearly you have an issue, so speak it. We might have a common goal… and mindset.” he says with a sly smirk.

    She spun around and grinned. "Hmm, if your goal happens to be ridding this stupid city of all these crabs, then I believe we do have a common goal." She laughed bitterly, still cursing out this situation in her head. She ignored the part about the similar mindset, she didn't really feel like questioning. If this guy was here, she could get him to help and all this would be way easier. Easier, but sadly not easy. 

    "Hope your here to help, cause I am not feeling like working alone. Sure there are others working, but they don't seem, well, capable to do much. Shame." She grinned, sticking her hand out for a shake. "Did that old man who looks like he would be better for pushing papers around than doing any sort of dock work hire you?" 

    She kept her hand out, awaiting a refusal to shake or an acceptance of it. She thought for a moment while waiting, realizing she didn't actually know how to get rid of crabs. She wasn't living anywhere near a sea, water was probably one of her biggest hates. Ironic she had just been hired to deal with things that live in the sea, actually. 

Vail met the felinekin's grin with a smirk of his own, but noted her avoidance of his latter statement. He wasn't surprised, in fact, it only furthered his suspicions. Any innocent person would simply question what he meant by mindset, to which he would reply with an expression of bemoaned exhaustion. This cat was hiding her true nature, likely out of fear of authority. No matter, any person in his line of work knows that the best treasures are always hidden away. The two of them are likely kindred spirits, he just needs to reassure her of his morally dubious nature.

He takes the felinekin's paw into his bandaged right and shakes, just in case she was more paranoid than he predicted. Sometimes having a numb limb can be quite beneficial when shaking hands.

"Easy job, right? That pencil pusher clearly never worked a day in his life. He was so desperate that I was able to get three times the rate out of him. I have a couple ideas on how to get rid of these crustaceans, but we may need to 'procure' some equipment for it."  

He gives his new companion a reassuring smile eager to hear her response before he suddenly remembers he didn't properly introduce himself.

"Oh, the name's Vail by the way. And you are?" He asks with a curious expression.

    Aki shook the hand heartily, a bit stronger than needed. "Three times the rate, you say? Golly, that idiot of a man must be desperate for this. Also, its Aki, pleasure to meet you." She paused to let go of Vail's hand. "And... 'procure' equipment you say? Well, I believe we could do that." She laughed, putting a hand on her hip. 

    Whatever plan this guy had must be good, she was liking the sound of it already. "I think we can get along just fine, Vail." She nodded sagely. Like the absolute fool she was, she wasn't even going to question a single thing that would happen. Because, with her mind, that wasn't nearly fun enough to do than to just go along with it all. 

    She kicked a crab that wandered near her and frowned. "How fast can this equipment your thinking of get rid of these stupid things? They're almost as annoying as that man who was hiring people." She hated these things with a burning passion, along with pretty much anything that came from the sea. She kicked it again, trying to make it move away. At least these things weren't too large, otherwise she'd have never taken this job. 

"A pleasure to meet you Aki." Vail calmly replied, relieved to see that felinekin was less paranoid than the kind of criminal you would find in Darkveil.

While her excitement was a good sign in regards to her level of trust, he needed to ensure the catfolk understood exactly what he was asking of her.

"Eager are we? Well we need to lay out some terms before we get to work. You can keep a secret, can't you? To be honest, you look like the kind of person who has quite a few secrets of their own. Nothing to be ashamed of, loose morals can often help you spot those who take advantage of others."

Seeing how annoyed Aki was the creatures, Vail decided to show a bit of solidarity.
He gave a light kick to one of the crabs scurrying by, sending it plummeting into the water below the dock. Simultaneously, a light tinge of numbness spread slightly from his right arm, causing him to give a minor grimace.

Really, for a crab of all things?

It seems even the slightest bit of needless cruelty would cause an adverse reaction today, they would need to go about this carefully. With a sigh, we turned back to the felinekin and began to lay out his plan.

"The equipment should help us clean these crustaceans rather quickly. After all, how do you think they clean those massive ballrooms and foyers in the upper district? They must use some massive brooms, they may even be wind-enchanted. We can't exactly walk up and ask to borrow them however, so I'm going to need to know your skillset and what you are capable of."

    She grinned and was about to do a bit of a dramatic display of her skillsets, before realizing all of them were just clawing people. Sighing, she looked at Vail. "Any chance being able to claw people a lot will be of any use?" She questioned, frowning. Doubt it. 

    Still looking at Vail, she sighed again. Staying quiet and turning her gaze to her paws while waiting for a response, she picked at one of her claws absent mindedly. While being an average length, they looked pretty sharp. Sharp enough to deal a bit of damage. Looking back at Vail, frowning, she spoke again. "Any chance you got something better than that?" 

    Hopefully Vail could produce something more useful than being able to scratch things. That didn't seem very useful to her, and she was the one that was always priding herself on her ability to scratch stuff. Kicking another crab into the waters below the docks the stood on, she squinted at the moving waves. And the crabs. Mostly the crabs. She was still cursing at the crabs in her head as angrily as physically possible, wishing to pick up the closest crab to her and just toss it into the ocean. If only her spite alone could force these crabs back to the sea. 

Vail looks down to the felinekin with a neutral expression that hides his disappointment. He wasn't expecting much but it was certainly more than mere scratches. Still, this could work. Running a gang meant finding uses for people who possess a rather limited set of talents. Growing up, he often found that some goons served as little more than extra pairs of fists to various families of Darkveil. He would need to get creative, but this wouldn't be an issue.

He stares towards the city's upper districts, debating how much trouble this could cause him, while simultaneously justifying his loose morals.

"My skill set is rather specialized; I am very good at getting what I desire. Society may not always approve of my methods, but it doesn't put food on my plate either. Sometimes you need to take what you need from those who sit on an abundance. Right now, we have a problem that is effecting all the good people of Sol City, and yet those in power do nothing, despite having the means to solve it."

He eyes Aki with a curious glance. "You can at least climb, right? It will probably be easier to enter these opulent buildings from above, seeing as the guards won't be expecting a break in during the day."

    Aki grinned. Could she climb? Hah, great question, with the answer of yes, of course she could. "You don't even wanna know how much I can climb!" She exclaimed, waving a hand to the air for dramatic effect. "I can climb almost anything! Trees to buildings, I've done almost all of it." She wasn't lying, but it was a bit more of an exaggeration than it was the truth. She could climb, though. 

    She turned to look at the buildings in the distance, squinting. They were rather tall, might be a bit risky to climb some of them. "What buildings are you planning to visit?" She asked, keeping her gaze at the buildings in the distance. It might end up being a bit too risky for her if it was one of the taller ones. "Some of them might be a tad too tall."
    
    Hopefully this could be a quick in and out thing, Sol City was honestly making her entire day painful. She didn't really feel like fighting anyone right now, especially over something that everyone hated. But eh, this Vail fellow seemed to have everything already under control from the start. Good person to be paired with, she guessed. 

The felinekin's enthusiasm was reassuring for the ash lander although her hesitation to climb the taller building of the city drew some concern. Luckily for the felinekin, there goal wasn't at the top of Sol City highest tower

"The good news is that we are looking for buildings with large surface areas rather than height. We shoulf be able to cover the entire dock with the equipment we find there." He turns to the nearest building, placing his wrapped right hand on the smooth brick face. "Let's put that confidence to the test." He adds, looking to Aki with a smirk.

He quickly ascends the building^[1], not looking back to see if his companion was following in tow. Reaching the building's rooftop, he takes a moment to take in the sea breeze before sitting down atop the roof's center piece. He begins scanning upwards, looking towards the upper class portions of the city, eventually cracking a smile as he lays eyes upon the perfect establishment for his desires; Sol City's ever so prestigious dancing hall.

He glances back, seeing the felinekin pulling herself over the ledge. Unaware of how worn out his companion may be, he points to their target as he continues laying out his plan.
"Getting in will be easy, getting out with the equipment will be the hard part. Our best bet would be finding uniforms for a cleaning crew, that way we slip out of there without much interference, assuming they don't look at us too carefully."
He ponders for a moment, wondering if Aki's sneaking skills are up to the task, perhaps there was a better way for her to make herself useful.
"Say Aki, how are your dancing skills?"

---

[1]Surface Scaling

    Aki scrambled up after Vail, slower than he had been. Whatever magic trick he had pulled was helping him out, but she had to climb the normal way with footholds. Hauling herself over the side of the building and listening to Vail talk, she wasn't totally sure the sneak in plan would work. Sneaking was something she could be alright at, but trying to fit in as a felinekin wasn't as easy as that. 

    "My... dancing skills?" She frowned, pausing. "I mean, I can certainly dance, I guess." Aki replied with a shrug. Yes, she could dance, but not very well or not using normal dances. She could try tap dancing though, that was always an option. While waiting for Vail to explain his question, she looked towards the sea of crabs below them for a brief moment, it turning and moving much like a normal ocean. 

    Then, directing her attention back to Vail as he talked again, she listened closely to the grand plan to rid this city of their crabs. This didn't sound very simple, but it'd get her out of her so she wouldn't complain. Just needed to execute this plan well and all would go totally fine. 

Despite Aki’s uncertainty, Vail simply smiles as he holds his hands together behind his waist. "That's perfectly fine, in fact it works to our advantage. Since it's a dancing hall we are infiltrating, you will be presenting your dancing skills to the guard staff on duty. Think of it as an audition, pretend you have an appointment with the hall's esteemed coordinator. When the guards inevitably turn you away, dazzle them with extraordinary skills. In the meantime, I will make my way inside and will secure the equipment we need. I just need a uniform, then I can stroll out as they are occupied with you."

He winks at the felinekin before turning and jumping to the next rooftop, not bothering to check if his companion is keeping up with him.

As the two of them make their way across the rooftops Vail notices the panic of the populace decrease as they ascend through the districts. The more affluent the district the less concerned they were with the crabs. No wonder nothing was getting done, clearly this was an issue of the lower class.

When they finally arrive at their destination, Vail spots two guards stationed in front of the hall doors; rather light security, but then again who would rob a dance hall of all things?

He looks back to Aki with a sly smile, partly wishing he could stick around to see the absurdity about to unfold. “You’re up kid, go put on a good show.”