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Post by The Sidhe on Aug 11, 2014 18:35:16 GMT -5
Ruby loved Marissa, she really did. She would trust nobody else with the title of best friend other than Marissa. They were childhood friends, high school cheer team buddies, former sorority sisters. She would trust Marissa with anything, and Marissa would trust Ruby with anything.
Ruby wished she would have listed Hades as an exception to that.
The cat was hell on wheels and hated exactly everyone but Marissa. Ruby paused as she left the door, the shift from air conditioning to the hot Nevada sun startling. She pulled a face, green eyes squinting at the glare before turning around and carefully closing the door. If the team wanted inside she would let them, but they were unfortunately shit out of luck in that area since Hades was outside and still just as terrible.
She pulled wild curls of flaming red hair over one shoulder, gathering it in a scrunchy and letting it hang in front. She may have bothered to put it up higher given the heat, but for now she couldn’t be bothered with it. She was bruised, scratched, and exhausted. Two days of trying to chase her friend’s demon cat all over the premises had run her ragged. The sole silver lining was that Hades apparently preferred to stay close to home, just not close enough to be inside the house where he belonged.
Full lips painted deep red pulled into a frown, putting sour look on her face despite her softer looking features. Ruby had hoped that winged eyeliner would act as a sort of semi-shield if coupled with mascara in blocking the sun, but she really should have brought along sunglasses anyway. At least she’d put on sunscreen to protect pale and freckled skin before leaving her friend’s residence, as she was quite literally watching not only Hades but the entire house while Marissa was away visiting her parents. What I wouldn’t give to be in London with her right now.
Ruby crossed the small porch to sit on the meager amount of stairs leading up to the little house, a humble two story structure with pale yellow siding and a white roof. The skirt of the grey sun dress she wore fell just over her knees, her feet bare having left her shoes inside since she likely wouldn’t be outside for long. She was beyond done trying to find Hades. If it weren’t for her love for Marissa, she wouldn’t have bothered in the first place.
Keeping an eye out for the students, Ruby squinted down the street until a familiar growl reached her ears. She moved to slow and wild hissing followed by several scratches to the back of her ankles made her yelp. She stood, stumbled off the steps and glared at the tail she saw disappear back under the house. Tense with frustration, she ignored the sting and the certain knowledge that she was bleeding and marched up to the stairs kneeling and crossing her arms. “You know what? I’ve had it with you, mister! When they catch you, I’m gonna skin you, gut you, and turn you into dog food for the next door neighbor’s Doberman, do you hear me? Dog food!” Ruby stood only to cover her face and let out a shrill groan of frustration before dragging her hands down her face.
She doubted she would ever own a cat in the future.
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Post by Elias Larenz on Aug 12, 2014 9:59:32 GMT -5
This was a bad idea.
No, it wasn’t simply a bad idea. It was far worse than that. There was a reason Elias stayed inside for most of his days. He would adore being able to go outside much more frequently, but that proved difficult. He had no defense mechanism against heat, meaning he was more subject to overheating. Strokes weren’t much fun, really. This was a problem even in Germany, so being outside in Death City? A city in the middle of the desert? No thanks.
Alas, Elias had partnered with a girl he was terrified to ask anything of. He had gotten more used to her mocking ways and brute strength, but Elias was still aware that he was almost nothing when compared to her. Jo Workmann. The girl was one of the few people who could deal with Elias’ personality and also deal with his health issues. She honestly didn’t seem to care about the lot. That was why Elias put up with her nonsense.
However, this was inexcusable. The blonde-haired boy couldn’t be sure if Jo was messing with him, or if she simply did not understand how subject his body was to the heat. Due to how their last mission had went, Elias thought it fair to let his partner fix this one. There was nothing else that particularly peaked his interests anyway. And Jo had picked this mission. Not wanting to argue with her, Elias had agreed. That’d probably end up being a mistake.
Well, whatever. Not much he could do about the whole thing now. Elias didn’t particularly like to complain about his illness. Worst case scenario he’d just have to transform into weapon form and Jo would have to carry him around everywhere. Hopefully she’d agree to doing such a thing... Surely she didn’t want her partner dead, right?
Elias wasn’t exactly dressed for the weather either. He wore the same thing he usually did. Gloves, boots, thin red jacket. Probably not the best choice of attire, but he wore it for a reason. Gloves were there to stop people from seeing the bandages that were wrapped around his hands. Boots to stop him from bumping his foot into anything so hard he broke a toe. And the coat was so that no one would see the all-too-visible veins that were especially easy to see around his torso. Though one could also make the argument that the clothes were just a fashion statement. He did look rather good in them.
Him and Jo neared the house where the owner of the lost kitty should be. Well, not owner. They were housesitting, correct? Not that it particularly mattered. The objective was still the same. Catch the cat. A simple enough task, but since the person was so desperate as to ask NOT students for help the execution might prove to be quite the challenge.
There it was. The house that would begin the team’s second mission. The house was nice enough, though that probably didn’t matter. The cat wasn’t lost in the house, if he remembered correctly. It wasn’t nearly big enough. A girl stood on the porch, though the only features Elias could make out from this distance due to the sun’s glare was her red hair and grey dress.
Walking up to the porch, not bothering to make sure Jo had followed him, Elias tried to get the girl’s attention by talking in his normal charming voice. ”Excuse me miss, but were you the one who sent for the NOT team?”
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Post by Jo Workmann on Aug 24, 2014 21:51:38 GMT -5
The ClothesFinally another mission. Even though these things were almost pointless, she did want to get a few under her belt. From what she understood, get a few of these oddball missions down and she could move up a class. Missions on the class above were supposedly more of a challenge. She’d actually get to fight things! None of these…. helping people get to be a couple or finding cats. Man… she was itching to get into a fight. Not one out of anger, that wasn’t really a ton of fun, but she wouldn’t be picky. If someone was pissed and fought her, she’d be amused all the same. But she wasn’t about to go starting trouble! That was a little out of her needs. Angry people were so… odd. Why get so worked up? Whatever. Right now she had to deal with this heat and finding this cat. Making sure to stay close to her partner, Jo kept her hands securely in her jean pockets. While there was no real change to her normal attire, she found herself vaguely thinking she should alter it. It was damn hot. A jacket sure didn’t help that out. And they’d probably be running around outside looking for the meowing devil. A grin crossed her face at that thought. Meowing devil. Cats were lazy critters. But they also knew how to command. Creatures she wasn’t especially fond of, but didn’t hate either. Most definitely a dog person. Rolling her shoulders back, she could feel the sweat dripping down her spine. No wonder. She was wearing a leather jacket and black shirt. Yep. Definitely had to think about that. Sometime….. They were nearing their destination. Some girl was watching a cat and they had to get it back. They were meeting her at this address… right? Glancing to her partner, she wondered if he was doing all right. He had that weird touch thing, was the sun going to be hard on him? He would have to tell her of course, it wasn’t her job to check in on him every three minutes. If he got hot, those clothes would have to go, or he’d have to go all weapon form. Jo didn’t care how he dealt with it, as long as he dealt. Eyes back on the house, Jo’s memory was jogged from their last outing together. That magazine house… If she could avoid going inside and possibly seeing another picture perfect place, all the better. It was just strange that people called that a home. Deciding to instead focus on the people, she let Elias move ahead of her. Taking her good ole time, her heels half kicked, half dragged across the ground as she walked. Glancing around the ground, the porch, the house, the red head, her partner…. Jo hadn’t even ascended a step yet by the time Elias started talking. Where would a whiskered demon be? Looking around didn’t exactly mean Jo noticed a lot. Just that… she was looking around. Sure, she saw a few colors, got the basics of their contact, but was mostly looking for a fuzzball with feet. Jo vaguely heard Elias’ words. But… did he really have to ask? Wasn’t this the place? Thinking back to what the address had been, then checking to make sure the house number was the same, Jo shot him a quizzical look. Did he forget? Whatever. Her confused questioning was easily replaced by her grin. “Let’s find this cat so I can get outta here! I wanna get some training in.” Grin never leaving her face, Jo still hadn’t decided to climb onto the porch. In fact, she had halted herself at the steps. While speaking, she had lifted her hands from her pockets, made easy fists and had them hover just in front of her in line with her chin. After her words were done, she did four quick jabs, two with the right and two with the left. The light amount of glee on her face settling in at the thought of fighting. Even if just with a punching bag.
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Post by The Sidhe on Aug 26, 2014 13:31:00 GMT -5
Ruby stood covering her face for one last moment, breathing slowly to try and get her temper under control. Yelling wasn’t going to do any good, even if it did make her feel better. She had no doubt in her mind the neighbors must think she was crazy now with how she’d been berated the cat trying to chase him back into the house. Sighing she’d draw back to the porch right as she spotted two teenagers heading her way. “Oh thank goodness,” she sighed, her shoulders dropping a little. Now she could let someone else deal with that devil of a cat.
The blond boy that approached her was a doll. Adopting a greatly relieved smile, she nodded and leaned a bit on the railing. “Yes, I’m Ruby,” she glanced to the…girl? That followed the other, acknowledging them as well. “I can’t thank you enough for coming. That evil little ball of fur has been running me ragged. The day’s barely started and he’s already tagged me once already.” She twisted one of her legs around just enough for them to see the scratches, droplets of blood that were beginning to dry standing out clearly against pale skin.
Ruby adopted a more displeased expression remembering it, but tried to remain impassive. It didn’t work. Her lips formed a pout and her eyes narrowed. “Hades is a holy terror. He’s sweet enough when Marissa is home, but the problem is that he only likes Marissa.” She spared a glance to the door. “I was taking out the trash when he bolted past me and disappeared under the house, but I’ve seen him all over. Sitting in the window, climbing the trees in the backyard, lounging on the porch,” Ruby stood upright and crossed her arms, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “I swear he’s taunting me.”
“In terms of where to look, he won’t be in the house. There’s no way for him to get back in since there’s not cat door for him to go through. He’s an indoor cat for the specific reason that he’s vicious and would get into fights.” Ruby turned to the porch to lean on the rail again, looking down at the crawl space beneath the house with a sour look on her face. “He was under the house just a moment ago, but who knows. He may well have run to the backyard when you two showed but I can’t be sure. He’s a tricky one.”
Turning back to face the team, Ruby put her hands on her hips. “You’re free to roam about the property as you please. I’d say try not to break anything, but it isn’t like I can’t replace it before Marissa comes home at the end of the week. The crawl space is just big enough to maybe fit you if you literally crawl, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you want Hades to claw your face off if he’s under there,” she said to the blond boy specifically. Ruby then descended the stairs and point to a little to the left of the house to a wooden gate. “That’ll let you into the backyard. I left it unlocked for you, so don’t worry over the latch or anything.”
Ruby turned again to face them. “And obviously, try not to hurt him even though I would love to declaw that sucker at this point. If you want I can also grab a pillow case or something from inside for you to stick him in once you find him so you don’t have to hang onto a hissing, squirming ball of hate. And, of course, if he really gets you bad I have band-aids inside.” She put on a small smile. “Unless there’s anything else, I’ll leave it to you.”
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Post by Elias Larenz on Aug 27, 2014 1:31:57 GMT -5
The girl Elias had spoken to had indeed been the one who had sent out the mission. Ruby was her name. Quite the pretty name, to be sure. Elias gave the girl a warm smile, but that soon faltered when he saw the cuts on the girl’s leg. That must have hurt. Quite the devil the feline was, it seemed. This might be the kind of mission Elias’ disability would actually come in handy. The inability to feel was certainly situationally useful. Though at the same time, he’d still scar from any cuts. Hmmm... Might want to refrain from throwing himself into danger, then.
Elias listened to Ruby’s story about the cat with his usual interest. Certainly much more than Jo, but Elias knew that paying attention was one of the most important things to do when trying to be polite. He didn’t want to insult Ruby, after all. Insulting Jo, on the other hand, was something he might have done as he had ignored her words completely. Elias was beginning to just generally ignore most things she said. She tended not to contribute to the situation at hand. It was rather annoying, honestly.
So, the cat wasn’t inside. No going inside. That might be a problem, actually. Elias might just overheat. Hopefully Jo would keep an eye on him. Eck, who was he kidding? No she wouldn’t. He’d have to ask her, wouldn’t he? And even then the girl wouldn’t pay attention. After telling him that she wasn’t his mother, of course. Oh well. He’d just have to find the bugger and catch it before that was a threat.
”No need to worry, dear. I assure you we’ll have him caught in no time.” Elias spoke, that warm smile coming back as he fanned a hand out over his chest. ”And I do believe a pillow case would be rather useful, if you’d be so kind.” After those words had been uttered, Elias gave a slight bow, then turned his attention to Jo.
Hm. How on earth was he supposed to ask Jo to keep an eye on him without sounding needy? She had picked this mission, so perhaps it was just her plan to torture him. Whatever. He’d be able to deal with her mocking much better than the heat. ”So, Jo, you do realize there’s a great possibility I’ll overheat out here, right?” He spoke to her in a low voice. If Ruby hadn’t already gone inside to get the pillow case she was unlikely to hear. ”I’m not sure if you really want me to die from the heat...”
Elias wasn’t really sure what else to say. Hopefully she got the gist of it. It was simple, really. Jo not only had the job of looking for the cat but also making sure he didn’t end up dying from a stroke.
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Post by Jo Workmann on Aug 31, 2014 21:37:43 GMT -5
Oh Good Lord Almighty.
This chick talked as much as Elias. Her memory of her first meeting with Elias was a lot of words. So many. Sure, he was interesting, but even then she thought he was a jabbermouth. Then this girl… Jo visibly shuddered at the thought of them having children. The rugrats would probably hop out of the womb chatting on and on.
Jo did her best to pay attention. It… just…. she could be doing SO MUCH ELSE. And here she was helping with some stupid problem again. Really, who couldn’t catch a cat? Who had enough time to realize they couldn’t catch a cat and then put in a notice for help? Was this an actual demon or something? This girl certainly thought so.
Talking about the cat and the scratch and the thank you and the girl it belongs to and who he likes and how he got out and where he has been and how she FEELS. Man. Maybe her and Elias should get married. Just on and on it went. Exhaling deeply, a faint smile remained on her lips as she shook her head and continued looking around the property for a fuzzball. Even if she didn’t understand how they could go on and on, it was a weird sort of amusing.
The Ruby girl did eventually get around to something that could be of help. Where the cat might be. Still… she gave them about as much of a clue as if she would have guessed herself. A lot of critters she knew took off when someone new popped up. That, or they charged them. Seeing as a cat wasn’t clawing her eyes out, she was going with the assumption that the cat took off away from them.
Backyard.
Seemed like a good place to go. The girl went on and on, but Jo was already making her way to the left of the house, bypassing the porch she never ascended to. Her pace was rather quick, taking off into a bit of a run. She heard the girl’s words faintly as she no longer felt the need for them. It would probably be more things to distract them.
Hopping the gate with little effort, using her legs to jump up and hands to help propel her over, she landed on the opposite side. A grin on her face once again, she turned to look towards her partner.
“Hurry yourself up, Elias!”
Due to the lowness of the male’s voice and Jo’s general inattentiveness, she missed out that he wanted a pillowcase and that he might overheat. Pausing only a moment longer, she used her right hand to wipe the sweat from her brow. It was hot. Really hot. This desert.
Laughing on the inside, but mostly just grinning in reality, she turned to head off into the backyard, with or without her partner. A prick in the back of her mind did concern her about him a bit.
You'd wish to partner with someone who can’t go outside without - in most likeliness - passing out from a stroke?
That was something he had said in his continuous talking when they met. It must be something with his weird touching thing. Jo still didn’t understand it, but Elias should. He would be able to do what he needed to avoid dying. He got this far, afterall.
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Post by The Sidhe on Sept 2, 2014 0:48:08 GMT -5
Ruby merely glanced at the rather ambiguous partner the blond boy had arrived with before nodding and moving quickly in the opposite direction towards the house. Pillowcase. Helpful. Very helpful. Ruby shuddered at the thought of those two have to wrangle such a heathen, but she supposed students of Shibusen would be able to handle it more than anyone. She ducked back inside the house, hurried upstairs to the linens closet. Ruby snatched the first pillowcase she laid eyes on, hurried back down the stairs and outside, handed it over with a smile that seemed almost like she were sending the boy off to war with doubts as to whether or not he could make it back alive. “Here you go. This should hold him if push comes to shove.” Ruby then moved back, giving a solemn salute over her shoulder as she retreated back inside the house. “Good luck!”
Red hair disappeared back into the house and the two were left to their task: locate and capture the frenzied feline. Ruby hadn’t cared enough about the gate hopping antics to remain or try to stop them, and it certainly wasn’t as though the fence would break. The backyard, however, was likely to cause problems the moment they set eyes on it.
The backyard was a hot mess. Whatever hobby of gardening Marissa had once had clearly existed no longer. The grass was cut cleanly enough, but the edges needed a trim still. The little gravel path that greeted them had seen better days, dirty and mixed in with dandelions and weeds. Unknown orange flowers reached for the sun, others that resided in shade preferring to remain closed. Daisies littered the immediate area. The right at ankle level was a clearly torn open way into the crawl space beneath the house, dark save for the pale grey shadow cast by the sun just inside the opening.
Further in towards the actual rear of the house didn’t look much better. The dandelions were laying siege to the lawn. Irises and daffodils popped up near the siding of the house and around the back deck, but not anywhere else. What were likely once well-kept lavender and rosemary bushes were now aggressively overgrown and reached out from the flowerbeds they’d been placed in, small and thin branches like claws attacking the green just beyond their reach. Ivy had grown and overtaken a great deal of the beds, even beginning to scale part of the house and nearing the gutters above. Blackberries also seemed to have invaded, apparently from the next door neighbor’s backyard as they arched over the fence and plowed down into the corner of the yard before fanning out.
Three trees dotted the property, two at either corner of the property line with the other at the far end of the right side of the fence towards the middle. The latter was thin and frail looking, sporting deep purple leaves that looked like they would fall off if you looked at them hard. The other two appeared to be related to oak trees in some way judging by their leaves and branches, but also deliberately brought in and planted given the environment. Each stood around fourteen feet tall with reaching branches and bright green leaves that glittered in the sunlight. The roots had begun to disrupt the soil around them, and the thicker branches seemed perfect for potentially housing a cat with anger issues.
The small deck was decorated simply. A table with a currently folded umbrella sprouting form it and five chairs surrounding it. The sliding glass doors offered a glimpse into the living room which looked equally unkempt. The wood floors needed polishing, but where clean for the most part. There were open bags of snacks on the coffee table and sweatshirts and what looked to be at least one pair of pants thrown over the back of the sofa. Ruby could be seen seated upon it, flipping through a magazine with a bored expression on her face and a glass of what was hopefully iced tea in her hand.
The crawl space was readily visible from under the deck. The trees offered a safe haven, and the bushes and brambles alike were tempting. All they had to do now was look.
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Post by Elias Larenz on Sept 4, 2014 15:24:45 GMT -5
Elias had just about finished talking to Jo when he realized something was a bit off. Mainly the fact Jo had seemed to have disappeared. That was a bit of a problem. He heard Jo call out to him, and Elias immediately spun around to lay eyes on the girl. She was already in the backyard! And telling him to hurry up, to boot. Eck. Not good. She obviously had not heard a word he had said, and probably wouldn’t care to listen in general. He was about to tell her to wait for a minute, only to hear Ruby’s voice.
”Ah...! Thank you very much!” Elias said, feigning enthusiasm. Thankfully, his hands weren’t all that fumbly today so he was able to take the bag from her without too much hassle. Ruby then retreated back into the house. Best go join Jo in the backyard, then.
Elias wasn’t nearly as energetic or nimble as Jo was, so he actually needed to open the gate to the backyard to enter it. Not exactly the prettiest place, but it’s not like Elias was here to look at pretty roses. Actually, roses might even make things a bit more annoying. Thorns and all.
The fact the place wasn’t too nice might be a good thing, actually. That meant Elias wouldn’t feel bad if he or Jo destroyed anything. Plus, the area was rather open, meaning not too many hiding places for the cat. Of course; that also meant Elias would have to deal with the heat with no breaks. Hm. How hot was it today, anyway? It certainly looked hot, but for all he knew there might have been a slight cool breeze. Perhaps he’d be just fine.
Elias scanned the area to see if the cat was anywhere to be seen. Nope. Of course not; that’d make the whole ordeal actually easy, and we couldn’t have that! The question was where on earth it could be. Perhaps there were bits to the backyard Elias couldn’t see from where he and Jo currently stood. What he did see was Ruby. Was she going to watch them search for the cat? Well, he supposed that made sense, but even so Elias didn’t want her to freak out if he were to pass out from the heat or something...
”Alright. Let’s get started, then.” Elias said to Jo. He wasn’t too keen on the idea of telling her to watch him again, so his words were left to that.
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Post by Jo Workmann on Sept 12, 2014 11:12:24 GMT -5
Her boots crunching lightly beneath the semi-graveled pathway, Jo’s eyes were scanning across the yard. Hardly as neatly kept as the last house they had visited. But still… all these gosh darn flowers. Now, in her mind, dandelions totally counted as a flower. They were yellow and flowery, weren’t they? As far as Jo was concerned, this was quite nearly as neatly kept as any other garden. Except for one fact… There were a lot of bushes. Jo didn’t really know what kind of bushes they were, but they were reaching across the yard haphazardly. It looked like a jungle. Well… a jungle for midget people.
Hearing a quiet ‘thunk’, the blonde girl turned her head slightly, glancing back over her shoulder. A bright grin on her face, she saw her partner approaching. He had opted out of jumping the gate, instead opening and closing it to give her warning of him approaching. He didn’t look all too pleased, but then again… when did he? For a moment, she let that thought sink in. When did Elias look happy? Most of the time it wasn’t around her. Maybe.. around other girls? Every now and then she saw him smile all weird and talk funny. Maybe girls made Elias happy? Chuckling to herself, she shook her head at her partner. She wasn’t considered a girl in his mind, that was probably why she couldn’t make him happy.
Silly Elias.
Of course, that’s when Elias had to look towards Ruby. Following his gaze, Jo found herself looking towards the woman in the house. This only solidified her thoughts that girls made Elias happy, even if he didn’t look totally pleased at the moment. Stifling laughter, she returned her attention to her partner. They were cat searching! He just needed to give the word and they’d b-...
Getting started was a good idea, that’s what Elias had spoken. But… why hadn’t he moved? Why hadn’t he given more information? Was he leaving this up to her? Grinning again, the bit of confusion that had made its way onto her face was instantly gone. If he left it up to her, so be it. They would find the cat in the midget jungle!
Her right hand shot out towards the pillowcase he held. While she wasn’t totally making the connection on where he had gotten it from, she didn’t need that in his way. It was time to use her weapon partner! Her left hand was held out towards him after she made her swipe for the case. The joyous grin remained on her face, but she also looked expectant.
“Let’s get started.”
She agreed, repeating his words with her own flare of confidence.
“Fan it up, partner.”
That trace of mocking smile returned, but she still truly wanted him to take his weapon form. How else would she terrorize the garden/yard? Her left hand was still extended, she waited for him to take his other form.
Once that was taken care of, Jo was going for the bushes. First the lavendar and rosemary would be her targets. Overgrown and ruthless bushes. Then that blackberry was going down!
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Post by The Sidhe on Sept 29, 2014 19:33:10 GMT -5
Hades was entirely aware of the team’s intrusion, he just didn’t care yet. They were far enough away, why should he brother? The fat tabby cat was perfectly content to be sprawled out under the blackberry brambles, safe and sound save for a spider or two which he’d already pawed to death. Or maybe eaten. There were no witnesses to pin him to the crimes, after all. Hades continued to lie still, breathing deeply but with one ear cocked to the side. Just because the team was far away didn’t man he was entirely ignoring them. He was only partially ignoring them for now.
But beneath the shadows and in amongst the stiff vines and their thorns, it was impossible to see the tabby cat. Prickly leaves and blackberries looking very sorry to be ripe in the desert heat further obscured their view. What’s more, they took up a good portion of the garden. They had a number of feet to work with and potentially cut through, enough to make a racket once they’d begun. If they drew near enough, they may have been able to hear soft and content purring coming from within the prickly and unnecessarily pointy enclave.
The spindly looking tree to the far right of the yard clearly housed no angry cat. Nothing indicated Hades could be in either of the oak trees either. Their leaves obscured the higher branches and allowed only peeks at the lower ones. But no lazily hanging paws or twitching tails were visible, at least not from a distance. There was no cat curled up in the curves of their reaching roots either. For now it seemed that Hades hadn’t been in the mood for climbing.
Lavender and rosemary were too small to house such a rotund feline. Short and low to the ground, one curving upwards while the other leaned with purpose to the side. Each was rather dry looking from abuse under the Nevada sun without enough water. Frail and thin, they still left a sweet scent on the air but were rather brittle as a hiding spot. It was also rather easy to see through them given their withered looking state.
The flowers popping up around the house were too thin, and the ivy in the beds was too low and shallow to properly house a cat. The crawl space on the other hand seemed a lovely hiding place, and one Hades had already made use of. Old claw marks marred the edges of the wood and skids of dirt led in and out. Paw prints stood out clearly against some of the drags. But it was dark from where they stood, and underneath was dim enough that it would be a pain in the neck to see without a flashlight of some sort.
They were set and ready to go. All that was left was for the search to begin.
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Post by Elias Larenz on Oct 2, 2014 10:23:23 GMT -5
At least Jo wasn’t completely tuned out to what was going on. She still wore that stupid grin, but at least had the sense to take the pillow case from him. Elias didn’t trust Jo completely. Surely only everything would go wrong if he let her take full charge of the situation. Even so, he lacked much of a choice. What, Elias was just going to grab a squirming cat with ease? Good luck with that.
Jo’s voice turned into an echo, repeating Elias’ own words. Of course, she spoke with much more confidence. Jo looked like she was enjoying this. Huh... Why on earth could that be? Surely searching for a cat in a garden was not her definition of fun. Nor was it Elias’. The last mission had been similar to his idea of fun, but not this one... That was for sure.
Jo’s next words confused Elias a bit.
“Fan it up, partner.”
Elias did nothing for a moment or two. He was a bit confused by Jo’s command. Surely in this case things would be quicker if the both of them could search for the cat. Why would Jo want him to change to weapon form, anyway? Perhaps she had actually heard what he had said.
Yes! That was it! Kinda surprising, actually. The only reason Elias could see for Jo wanting him as a fan was to keep him out of the heat. Elias didn’t even consider her trying to use the blades of his fan to tear apart the garden they were searching for Hades in. Nor did he suspect her simply wanting a fan to cool herself off. That was probably because Elias wanted dearly to think Jo was actually looking out for him. It was a comforting thought.
Elias couldn’t help but smile at the thought. ”Right!” He said in an enthusiastic voice. Genuinely enthusiastic, too. Not just feigned enthusiasm like it had been before. Taking the girl’s hand, Elias was cloaked in a blue light. But only for a second. After it faded, the boy appeared as a beautiful golden tessen fan.
Jo was lucky. If Elias had known her true attention on getting him to turn into a fan was to destroy the garden he wouldn’t have done it. Or at the very least not been so enthusiastic about taking on the other form.
”So, where will we look first?” Elias asked his partner. He really had no idea where the team should start looking. The cat had left no obvious trail. Hopefully Jo had a plan or something.
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Post by Jo Workmann on Nov 1, 2014 21:26:08 GMT -5
A smile appeared on her blond comrade's face, something Jo still wasn’t quite used to. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy him smiling, she just didn’t see it often. Elias often looked at her with a confused expression, or more likely irritation. That was more the normal Elias that Jo knew. It didn’t bother her all too much, but the occasional smile did feel all the more grand.
The enthusiasm in his voice only spurred Jo onward. As soon as he was the fan, they would literally going tearing through the backyard! They would find that cat! If only the pair were on the same page. His hand took hers and the fan took shape in her hand. Keeping the fan closed for the moment, she shoved the pillow case partway in her pocket and then tossed him a short distance up in the air. Throwing him up with the left and catching with the right, the young Workmann was all grin.
While Jo had heard his question, she didn’t answer right away. She held his form gingerly but securely, her thumb pressing along the bottom ribs of the fan to open it up. Eyes quickly studying his form once again, she gave a bit of a nod, a pleased smirk, and then her attention drew away from him.
”To the jungle.”
The pleased smirk settled into the grin again, one that some might describe as crazed. While Jo certainly didn’t feel that way, she was excited. Going to search for a cat in the wildness that was plants. As she had intended, she started in farther to the backyard. More away from the house, towards what once may have been a garden, Jo had her target in sight. While she wouldn’t realize what kind of plants they were, she moved at a light jog to the rosemary and lavender bushes. Sure smelled like flowers…
Leaning down a bit, Jo brought Elias down towards the ground with her. Then, shifting her body and arm and him upwards, she did a diagonal cut upwards and to the left. Bringing some dirt flying into the air as some of the brush and flowers clung briefly to Elias’ blades before continuing with their newfound momentum into the air. Chuckling lightly, Jo’s movements kept on with a relaxed rushedness. She wanted to hurry and find the cat, but this was certainly amusing! The spots she picked were seemingly random. Taking up a chunk of stringly leafy bush/flower and taking a few steps to merely tear through them with her bladed fan again.
The kitty was not among these flowery smelling bushes. The jungle grass was still no match for Jo and Elias! Patches of sliced foliage and thrown dirt scattered over the once more overgrown garden patch. However, there was no reason to linger there. Nothing lived among this besides bugs and worms. Turning her sights upon the blackberry bush, the invading bush from the neighbor’s hung from the gate and taunted her. The cat must be there! Not so obviously if she took the time to think about it, but one track minds only worked a certain way.
Moving from the disheveled garden and towards the feet of blackberries that came from over the fence and continued along into the corner. Pulling Elias upwards with her hand, she brought a slash from his bladed self down onto the closest part of the bush. No time to waste! This with a few added words.
“Going to make me a blackberry pie?”
Laughter accompanying her after, Jo would hack away at this thing until she was sure there were no signs of small mammal within.
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Post by The Sidhe on Nov 18, 2014 15:29:31 GMT -5
The poor bushes suffered a gruesome death indeed by the bladed fan. Sprigs of lavender and rosemary lay in ruins, the brittle stems sliced clean or ripped apart. The dirt that flew had landed in amongst the other beds, resting on the ivy before a portion of that too was torn asunder. The flower beds looked a thorough and savage mess with leaves and dirt and plant carnage strewn everywhere. It was even worse off than before in terms of looking tidy, but the plans being trimmed back made it seem oddly more appealing than previously. But then again, maybe the best way to cull the overgrowth was to just murder it outright.
The Meister may as well have been making pie. Blackberries flew and broke off their stems, or were smushed or cut through easily by sharp edges. Deep purple streaks were left in their wake, bits of fruit sticking in spike of the motion. Perhaps jam and pie both were adequate references. But amongst the berries grew thorns. Prickly and stubborn, they grew on hollow but strong vines. Thankfully they were no match for a Demon Weapon, but they also fell rather stiffly. Rather than simply relenting, they instead piled on one by one, caught on their own thorns and pointy leaves.
The cracking of the vines as they were sliced apart and the rustling as they fell against each other spooked the cat hiding within. Hades scrambled up and backed into crouch with his ears flat back against his head. The team would hear him growl and his, going so far as to swat at the berries and leaves that fell down towards him. Tail flicking back and forth dangerously, the feline was hardly in the mood for such shenanigans. He had been having a perfectly nice nap and they just had to go and ruin it. Rude.
As his hiding place died, Hades decided to make good his escape. The fat tabby cat shot out of the blackberries like a bat out of hell, surprisingly fast given his weight. He ran for the oak trees. He clawed his way up with only slight difficulty, lagging with his rear end temporarily slowing him down. But Hades made it up, climbing several feet up into the air and scuttling onto a thicker branch that would actually be able to hold him.
A branch that happened to be fifteen feet in the air.
Not satisfied with the attitude he’d already given the team, he crouched in an aggressive and round ball of fur and continued to his and yowl. He was extremely displeased with their behavior and would have them leave him alone immediately. The wide leaves helped to obscured him, as did their thick supply. They obstructed as far as paths went and blocking the view of one terminally pissed off cat was hardly helpful.
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Post by Elias Larenz on Nov 18, 2014 20:51:33 GMT -5
Well, that wasn’t what Elias had been expecting.
”Jo...” He protested her actions in a low voice. Well, he probably should not have expected her to simply be looking out for his own welfare. No, Jo had the ingenious idea to instead start ripping up the place. No, no, no. Elias was not happy about this. He had half the mind to change back into regular form and force Jo to stop tearing up the place, but he also did not think that would be the best idea for his health. Gah... Poor Ruby. He’d have to apologize about fifty times to her when this was all said and done. All further quips by Jo would be ignored, including the one about the pie.
Berries were flying everywhere, which gave Elias yet another reason to not turn back to regular form. Berries stained like crazy if he remembered correctly. Erm, didn’t that mean they’d be staining his weapon form too? Gah... If so, how on earth would they get that out? He’d have to figure that out, he supposed.
Jo’s little rampage had not been all for naught, thankfully. If it had Elias would have felt even more bad about it. He really should get around to teaching Jo some manners at some point. The cat had made it’s presence known. Turned out it had been hiding in the blackberry bush and Jo had disturbed it. Despite the size of the cat, it was damn fast. Elias couldn’t help but let out a surprised noise as he saw the cat dart out. Jo must have seen it too, so he didn’t bother trying to point it out to her.
And then the cat decided to climb up a tree. Great.
Of course it just had to go about yowling too. Just lovely. Elias didn’t particularly care for the aggression, as he was well aware that Jo wouldn’t give a damn and scratches didn’t really affect him. What bothered him was the fact that the cat was now up in a tree. Elias obviously could not climb trees. Jo probably could, but he didn’t really want to see her be hurt by a scratching cat while climbing down a tree. Erm, she could sack it though. They did still have the pillowcase, right? Yes, that’d work.
”So, what do you want to do?” Elias asked his partner in a quiet voice. He assumed she’d ask him to switch back into regular form and she’d climb up there and catch the cat, but he also didn’t particularly trust her.
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Post by Jo Workmann on Dec 14, 2014 18:35:42 GMT -5
Jo certainly didn’t have enough time to observe her work on the past bushes. The future was too bright ahead of her. She had to find the cat. And that meant blackberry bushes. Or trees. Or somewhere. But definitely not somewhere she had just been. No cat would have hid from her bladed fan! Especially when it was tearing through leafy greens… colors… whatever.
Now was happening and Jo was excited over it. The fan slicing and dicing through the blackberry bush, she was having a grand old time. The girl didn’t know enough to realize that blackberry innards would forever scar her clothing and keep a stain on her skin for days to come. A spray of juice caught her above her eyebrow, her gloved hands were quickly getting covered, brambles were beginning to stick to her clothing, and her boots ever so slightly crunched on the strong branches as she took high steps in hopefulness to get deeper into the mess.
Just as she was thinking this was more fun than she had in a long while, she heard a faint sound. Hesitating only a moment, the girl grinned more energetically upon the realization that there was a living creature in the bushes! Her eyes scanning quickly ahead and around her in search of what made the noise, Jo kept hacking at the bush. Soon the cat would be theirs!
And with that, it raced from out of its hiding place. Catching sight of the feline at the last second, Jo twisted fiercely for the animal, not the greatest idea in a bush of pricklers. When Jo turned her body quickly in an effort to get the cat, she got a solid scratch over the bridge of her nose and her jacket caught in the branches. Needless to say, this slowed her down enough that she couldn’t get her target. Rolling her eyes at her own carelessness, she chuckled just a bit, ripped her arm out of its captor’s hold, and jogged out of the mess she made.
Towards the trees it was. Jo was around in enough time to see the cat get to the trees and only slightly struggle to get up into the leaves. Laughing quietly, she glanced to the fan in her hand as she made her way over to where Hades was.
“I would have never thought a fat cat would get up a tree so fast.”
The girl said with every bit of humor she ever had, a smile easily on her face as she spoke to her partner. It was funny to see the bundle of fur scurry up a tree. Not fully under the tree yet, she stayed a few paces away for the moment. As the cat climbed out of her eyesight, she thought she saw a group of the leaves rustle. The tree was full of leaves, that was for sure. That cat wasn’t super visible but she could faintly hear him. Grin never leaving her face, Jo did the first thing that came to mind.
“Better go get him, partner.”
Looking down at Elias’ weaponform as she replied to his question, she looked back to the tree again. Bringing her arm back, her eyes settled just above where she had seen the rustling of leaves. And…. threw that fan like nobody’s business. With enough force to get him up into the trees about twenty feet or so, she sent her partner spiraling to retrieve the cat.
“Un-fan and get him down here!”
The girl called out, almost laughing, as she moved to get under the tree. She might have to catch a falling cat… or a falling Elias. As an afterthought, she pulled the pillowcase from her pocket. Why did she have this again?
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