[Aiden]

While Theo arranged for a cart to carry their group from the magistrate's villa to the HQ, the trip had taken a while. It was bumpy, the air was still cold, and by the time Aiden left Maaike in the guard tower and went home, the hour was almost near daybreak.

Yesterday had been a long night, and he'd worked longer than he'd expected to. So when Aiden arrived at the guard office the next day, he did so with weary eyes and feet. Fighting back a yawn, he greeted the receptionist and grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge. As he took a drink, he strode toward the lower set of stairs in the very back of the building. When he reached the heavy door at the bottom, he waved at the keeper and smiled in thanks when he was allowed to pass. The cells were tucked safely below the guardtowers and had only a few vents for air circulation. Each of the rooms were surrounded by heavy stone walls and a thick metal door, and small crystals lit the room in various colors. As Aiden passed one of the doors, he heard the occupant cough and wheeze from within. Stepping toward the cross-hatched steel windows, he muttered, “Hey Merza, you alright in there?”

A gust of wind brushed against Aiden's face and dishevelled his hair. “It's crappy. My bed smells funny.” The voice turned whiny, “It's been four days! Can't you let me out? I promise not to steal again!”

“Would you bet money on that?” When met with silence, Aiden bit back a sigh. Merza was normally a good guy...he just hit a low spot after the wife left. The nymph had been so depressed, he'd quit being a fisherman and started drinking and gambling himself into debt, and to keep up his lifestyle, Merza had resorted to stealing jewelry from people's homes. It was tough to see a friend of a friend suffer like this. Tapping the metallic door, Aiden muttered, “Oi, when we release you on Saturday, you should start fishing again. No gambling, okay? I'll be watching.” for what it's worth..

Hearing only an affirmative grunt, Aiden rolled his eyes. As he took another drink of soda, he continued down the hall and wondered if Thanatos' thief had awakened yet.

[Maaike]

The "Thanatos thief" was most definitely awake.

And seething.

At first, she'd been terrified that this cell was one of Thanatos' cages and that she was on her way to the black market or something. She'd been so groggy that it took her a while to realise the cell was a little big if he just wanted to sell her off, and that it looked very familiar. She'd never been on the inside of one before, of course, but she'd seen plenty in her time as a bounty hunter. Her neighbour's complaints didn't amount to black market trading, either, so when she finally did see a uniform she wasn't surprised.

She was mad.

“You vlareons! How moronic can you get?” She ranted at the bars of her 'cage' for several minutes with a string of swear words and insults about the Guards and their ancestors while pulling at the bars with all her might. Seeing their stupidity for arresting her instead of Thanatos -- that damned vlareon! What the hell was that stuff he knocked her out with, anyway? -- she would have tried to escape, but they must have dealt with Therians before because the vertical bars were woven through with horizontal ones and thin wire mesh to boot. She might still have managed to squeeze out in her archon form (with a lot of bending and twisting, and losing probably most of her feathers) but the drug hadn't left her system yet and was making it hard for her to 'shift.

She'd eventually quietened down and decided to bide her time by sitting cross-legged on the ground in the middle of her cell, her hands cupping her knees and her glare focused squarely through the mesh to intimidate the crap out of whichever Guard came first. She was getting out of this cage if it killed her.

“You!” Any half-formed plans evaporated when she recognised the Guard who finally did come. It was his voice and his scent first, making her frown with vague recognition. She knew immediately he was Therian and words tumbled through her head as she planned her insults ("How could you cage a fellow shapeshifter? You're so human!") but then as she leaped to her feet and pressed herself against the bars, she saw his face. She'd never forget that baby face. “You idiot! What the hell are you doing locking me up? Are you a total moron? Let me out of here!” And to emphasise the point, she pulled once more at the cage bars.

Maaike really did not like being in a cell.

[Aiden]

Little did Aiden know that he'd be coming face to face with the worst morning person ever. Maaike had been quiet when Aiden walked over, but as soon as she saw him, she lunged at the bars as if his face had ticked her off. Well, she obviously wasn't used to being on the other side of these bars. But what could she expect--she'd just broken into the house of somebody with really high authority!

However, Aiden was used to speaking with irrational people, and keeping a neutral resolve, he merely lowered his soda bottle as he halted a few feet from the cell door. No matter how hard that Maaike pulled at it, the cell door wasn't going to budge. New Alexandria's financials were quite well-off, so they'd spared no expenses in constructing a sturdy prison. “Good morning to you too,” Aiden replied although the morning truly wasn't going well. He wasn't smiling either. As if Maaike were just another convict, Aiden simply looked at her with a somber expression. “Though I'm afraid I can't let you out, and I'm sure you know why.”

“So what got into you?” Holding the soda bottle by its neck, he dangled it between his fingers as he crossed his arms. Unconsciously, his eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. When he first saw Maaike, Aiden had thought that she was super awesome for her gravity-defying skills and her well-trained falcon. As a temporary team, they'd kicked butt and caught One-Eyed Ben in Espur. Aiden didn't know Maaike enough to admire her, but at the very least, he had respected her until now. Lips thinning into a line, he levelled his gaze toward Maaike and spoke in a quieter voice. “What were you doing in Magistrate Thanatos' villa last night? Does the magistrate have a bounty?”

[Maaike]

“Because I'm surrounded by morons!” Maaike pulled at the cage bars again for emphasis, even though by now she was pretty sure she wasn't getting out that way.

“You know that baby face of yours really suits you.” It was far from being a compliment. She was basically saying he was as dumb as a baby, or too naive to live. Or both. “Don't worry your pretty head about it. Just let me out and I'll deal with the corrupt vlareon. I'm real good at cleaning up.” She couldn't be more condescending if she tried, but it was a natural state of affairs for Maaike. She'd learned the hard way not to show vulnerability, and the best way to protect herself was to keep people at arms' length. Only Graeme ever saw through her bravado, and she was convinced that was only because he knew her before dear ol' hubby bit the dust.

But one of Maaike's fatal flaws was an utter lack of patience, so she was soon yanking and banging on the bars of her cage and yelling, “Let me out, dammit!” swiftly followed by another string of words to turn the air blue. If he came close enough, she was going to reach through the gaps and wring his bloody neck.

[Aiden]

She could yank and yell at her jail cell all day, but that would only give her bruised knuckles and a sore throat. Maaike had a very colorful vocabulary, however, and as she cursed pulled at the bars, Aiden couldn't help but grimace at her language. She cursed fluently in Elysian and Sylvan, and he unfortunately understood both.

Knowing full well that Maaike was just trying to be difficult, Aiden sighed. Insults on his person and family were a given in his field of work, so he simply ignored Maaike's comment on his naivette. With a small grin, he took another drink of soda. “Yeah well...your mother's a Helhound too.”

What he couldn't ignore, however, was her claim on Thanatos. “You know I have to worry about this. It's my job. Is there a bounty on the magistrate? You're crazy to take it--why would you face a person of the law anyway?”

He muttered in Sylvan, just to be safe. “But what did you mean by corrupt?”

Seeing the stubborn set of Maaike's jawbone, Aiden leaned closer to the cell--but not too close. In a hushed tone, he murmured, “Please, Maaike. I haven't told the captain about you. You know how much trouble you'd be in if he knew you were a bounty hunter, and not just a thief? He'd flip if somebody'd put a bounty on the magistrate.”

[Maaike]

The moment Aiden switched to Sylvan, Maaike got serious. Up to then, her tirade had continued to the point she'd begun to wish she'd learned some of Ashton's languages just so her swear list was more extensive, but that wish quickly passed when she remembered some of the ways he'd used those languages to demean people, including herself. He'd been a manipulative vlareon, even in a language she couldn't understand.

“Is there a bounty on the magistrate? You're crazy to take it--why would you face a person of the law anyway?”

Maaike's laughter had been a peal of sarcasm and she had sneered through the bars of her cage. She wasn't fussy about who heard them, so her obnoxiously loud “Why do you think, numb skull?” was in Elysian. Then she matched his Sylvan, too, mostly because that was her first language. Though, it was surprising how easily she could make a musical language sound like an Anyelos' barked orders.

“Gee, thanks, Officer. Just what I always wanted, some guy to protect me from myself.” But, “Let's see, why would someone put a bounty on an officer of the law?” As she spoke, she backed away from the bars, cupped her right elbow with her left hand and tapped her chin with her right forefinger. “Oh, I know!” He could drown in the sarcasm, but she dropped it to lean in close again so she could whisper right in his face: “Because he's a corrupt son of a wraith and you Guards, all so high and pompous, you're just helping him get away with it!”

As she hissed the last, she pushed back again and stomped in a small circle like a caged tiger, ranting again in Elysian. “You law men are all the same. Give you a little power over the people and you think you're all that, but flash a bit of this - ” She rubbed her first two fingers and her thumb together to indicate money. “ - and you're anyone's patsy. Puh, you make me sick!”

[Aiden]

“That's a very serious accusation about the magistrate, Maaike.” Aiden chuckled weakly and shook his head as the woman stepped away to resume her crazy dance in the cell. Maaike had accused Thanatos twice already, and as Aiden stared back at her, he saw that she seemed to believed in what she was saying. But her charge was unbelievable. For many years, Thanatos helped condemn many of the city's worst criminals, and he donated to charities every year. The 'vari was one of the most respected law-people in the city...Absolutely unbelievable...

Maaike was cursing again, but her accusations grew worse as she blamed the Guard of corruption too. Regardless of right or wrong, that prickled. “You know nothing about our Guard,” Aiden hissed immediately in Elysian. “It's been a helluva year, and we've worked night and day to keep the city decent. Why would we throw our work away like that?” Even though he has seen a few corrupt guardsmen, those exceptions did not represent the whole. Anyway, Captain Theo was always quick to kick out those kinds of people.

Eyes narrowing, Aiden crossed his arms again and shifted away from the cell. Belatedly, he realized that he had raised his voice, so he tried to level his tone. “Don't even throw that kind of crap around here, Maaike. Hind's teeth, you're not even from around here, so why should I believe an inkling of what you say about my city?”

“"So far all you've done is point fingers at people, but I haven't heard a shred of evidence."”

[Maaike]

“More serious than a sword through your gut,” she confirmed with a saccharine smile at odds with the white-knuckle grip she had around two of the bars.

She only frowned when he argued about his precious Guard, though. Maybe he was lucky, and right that Alexshire's was less corrupt than Espur's had been, but Maaike doubted it. Wherever there was money and power, there would be backhanders and bribes, and worse. Some of the Guards she'd stopped back home had honestly thought that a "look the other way" here or a "pretend you didn't see" there was harmless, but then they never thought to ask what they were letting happen. And sure, some of the merchants only wanted to sneak in an extra load of whatever they were selling without having to pay the taxes for it, but most of the time it was black market stuff. And some of the Guards hadn't stopped at just looking the other way.

But it was hard to fake that kind of indignation, so maybe Aiden Roy really believed what he was saying. In a way, she was happy for him. She'd give anything to go back to that kind of naivete.

“... why should I believe an inkling of what you say about my city?”

“Pah, haha! It's all the same, you slack-jawed bobble-headed moron! You honestly think this place is any better than my city?” Maybe he was right. Alexshire didn't have the same kind of in-your-face connection to the oceanic trade routes like Espur did. Their goods had to go the extra couple of miles through the docks under scrutiny, be it legal or lascivious. But they still dealt with goods from all over the realms, so what made him think his people could resist temptation any better than hers? “You have 'Vari, right? You think they see a bit of shine and say no? And you know it costs money to fund that little war the Anyeli have going.” Even though they were meant to be at peace right now, Maaike would bet her last xanthos that both sides were still arming up ready for the next swing.

What really ticked her off, though? “So far all you've done is point fingers at people, but I haven't heard a shred of evidence.”

“That's because,” she roared, throwing all her weight against the bars of her cage and baring her teeth at him, “that vlareon drugged me and you morons arrested me before I could get any!”

[Aiden]

Any hope of peaceful conversation flew out the (barred) windows. Maaike's bad temper was suddenly so contagious that Aiden growled and shoved his face closer to hers. “Mother of helhounds! That's it? You went in there based on mere rumors and crap!? And what would you have done if you found nothing, huh? Tidied up and apologized for the intrusion?”

He frowned and paced in front of the cell's door, waving an arm in anger. She was truly absurd to go in there without prior proof! And there were better ways to get evidence than going straight to someone's homes! Not that the magistrate was guilty of anything anyway! “Of course we have issues too--why do you think we have the Guard and this place?” He waved his arm down the hall, and belatedly realized that he'd spilled some of his soda onto the floor. But he ignored that and resolutely glared back toward Maaike. At this point, he was determined to speak only in his home language. There were too many ears around here. “But that's not the point! We're talking about the magistrate! Hel--I would have had a decent night yesterday if you hadn't barged into that mansion! I can't believe you--you don't just barge into people's homes on a whim!” or so he thought.

Curse her and her conspiracies! And the anyeli war!? The last thing either side would want is restart it again! The more that Aiden heard, the less he was willing to believe. Still glowering at the other therian, Aiden took another drink of his soda. It wasn't cold enough, and he rambled on. “You must be smoking taroch crap!” Okay, that was an age-old elementary insult, but Aiden had never been creative with his insults. “You can't just break and enter--especially when you're looking for something that never existed! He's not guilty of anything!”

((School has gotten really busy lately with papers and midterms. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to be a slow poster for the next few weeks. ))

[Maaike]

Under normal circumstances, Aiden's display of temper wouldn't have unnerved Maaike (or, at least, she wouldn't have let on that it unnerved her), but she was still feeling vulnerable from the combination of drugs and the mental struggle which had stirred up all kinds of bad memories. When he threw his arm out, she couldn't find the humour in his accidentally soiling himself. Instead, she flinched back and hunkered down in a defensive stance, instinctively coiling into herself.

She was actually glad for the cage for a moment, because it meant he couldn't just lash out at her unawares. If he wanted to beat her, he'd have to come get her - and that would give her ample opportunity to prepare both mentally and physically (and also a chance to escape if she played her cards right).

“Decent night? Decent night?!” Her screech was enough to make her neighbour rattle his bars in protest, telling her to hush it up. Maaike was too angry by now to listen or obey, turning her fear back into anger. “Is that all you care about, a decent night's sleep?” She wanted to launch into a tirade about the things Thanatos was doing, about how his victims would never ever get another decent night's sleep ever, but he didn't want to hear it.

He was wrong, though. “I have more than enough proof the guy's a bad apple, Aiden.” Her tone was softer and she used his name deliberately, almost pleading for him to understand - but law men only dealt with hard evidence and paper trails, and that put the acid right back into her voice. “Or are you both deaf and blind to what's really going on right under your nose? If this were any other guy, you wouldn't be nearly so shy about investigating him.” Her eyes narrowed on him with utter conviction for a moment before she turned her back on him to stand in the middle of her cell with her arms crossed over her chest and her legs braced. She was hyper-aware of his presence behind her, a little nervous that he might come in to beat her up after all, but she'd be damned if she'd show him her fear.

Do it, come in here so I can kick your arse and use your idiocy to escape. Come on, come on...


((It's okay, Joyness, I understand. Take your time. ))

[Aiden]

Ignoring the fuss from the neighboring cell, Aiden crossed his arms again and glared at the lunatic therian. He'd almost felt bad for yelling at Maaike and making her flinch, but that moment of guilt disappeared as soon as she started to accuse him again. “Not sleep. Just a decent night without dealing with magistrates, bounty hunters. You.” That was a petty thing to say and he regretted it immediately, but not enough to take it back.

If she were right about the magistrate, then he'd rather not stay in the dark and live naively. But as much as he respected her efforts, he thought it was absurd. “I've known about the magistrate for longer than I've known you, and he's been nothing but kind to the city. So suppose I am deaf and blind to whatever you claim he's doing.” And he sure as Hel wasn't, by the way. “Then show me something I can actually believe. Maybe then I'll consider it.”

Or maybe he wouldn't. For all he knew, maybe Maaike was running on false sources, and he wasn't willing to waste any more time. Sighing, he leaned closer to the bars with a frown. “But right now, there are real and confirmed criminals who are running around and threatening people, so I'm not going to waste time chasing after one of your fancies.”

[Maaike]

Maaike was surprised that despite his obvious annoyance he was still being even marginally civil to her. She knew of course that people like him existed. Her childhood had been happy and carefree, so it wasn't like Ashton had been one of many to traumatise her. He'd just been really, really good at it - to the point now where Maaike always expected the worst of people.

“Well, at least you admit it.” There was no conviction behind it, though. Somehow, Maaike thought maybe he was one of the few law men who actually did it for the people and not for his pockets, and she wanted so badly just then to trust him. To tell him everything she'd picked up about the guy. Except he was right. There was no hard proof. Thanatos knew better than to leave a paper trail - he had to be over a millennium old, after all.

She snarled again when he dismissed the whole thing as her "fancy". Who in their right mind would make up stories like this? - but she supposed that was the point. And she couldn't tell him the truth without putting Sammy and Graeme in danger. Even if Aiden was on the up-and-up, Thanatos had proved he didn't need bribes to get what he wanted. Damn him.

“Forget it.” It looked like she was sulking, no doubt, but he clearly wasn't her way out. Until she had strong evidence to whack him over the head with, he wasn't going to be any help at all, and Maaike refused to waste her time, so she sneered, “Go back to your petty crooks and leave the big bad to me.” Maybe she'd annoy him so much he'd stay away from the cells for a while and give her chance to escape. He'd already proven himself handy in a fight, so while Maaike was convinced she could beat him - eventually - she didn't want an encounter with him slowing her down. “Here's a piece of advice, though. You want to actually serve the people like you say? Try listening to them, moron.” She didn't know where he'd got this idea that evidence was the be-all and end-all of an investigation, but no way he could properly help anyone with an attitude like that.

But with that, she turned her back on him and dropped to sit cross-legged in the middle of her cell, haughtily dismissing him as if he were a maid. She would never ordinarily treat anyone like that, though. She just wanted to censored him off.

[Aiden]

“You want to actually serve the people like you say? Try listening to them, moron.”

His eyes narrowed further as he instantly realized what she meant. True, he'd done nothing but accused Maaike for crimes since the moment they saw each other, but she'd done the same (and was meaner, too!). Well, two wrongs didn't make a right, but right now Aiden wasn't feeling generous enough to admit his faults. Not that he usually admitted those sorts of things anyway. There was a such thing as pride, and he had an amount of it, although not as much as Maaike.

Dear Xanth, it was as if she was done talking and was sending him away! Eyeing the woman as she remained seated on the floor, Aiden huffed and kicked (lightly) at the cell door. He didn't like to be given the cold shoulder, especially not from a sulky vigilante-bountyhunter-criminal. “Yeah well, good luck finding the big bad while locked in here,” he grumbled before chugging down the rest of his soda. Darn it, the stuff wasn't cold anymore. He had been prickled by her comment about going back to those petty crooks. Though not prickled enough to actually investigate the magistrate. He knew a bad lead when he heard one, and following her hunch would be a waste of time.

She hadn't budged or uttered a word. Stubbornly, Aiden glared at the hunter's back, waiting for her to say something, anything.

...The ends of her hair were not just red, but an obnoxiously bold red. Did she still think she was fifteen? She was acting like it too...

Within the minute, he glanced away from the other therian. Aiden wasn't in the mood to be patient, and the conversation was not going anywhere. Inhaling deeply in attempt to clear his annoyance, he nevertheless exhaled quickly and rapped the back of his knuckles upon the cell door. “Well fine then, you can stay quiet, you four-year-old.”

((Assuming that this was her intent from the previous post, I took the liberty of assuming that she wouldn't reply to him. Poke me to edit if you would like.

And yeah, she's dismissing him, but he's not one to be easily dismissmed! ))

[Maaike]

Maaike had never considered herself a childish person, but something about Aiden Roy set her teeth on edge. Behind that baby face of his was a matching immaturity, surprising since up to now he'd been way more patient than she would have believed. You do have this way of bringing out the worst in people, Maaike, sweetie. Well, in this situation, she'd take that as a compliment, because the faster he left her to "sulk", the faster she could find a way out of here.

She couldn't help the small smirk when he kicked the door, but it fled the second he made light of her being in a cage. He was Therian; he should know what this would do to her. Maybe he didn't care; maybe he thought she deserved it. Maybe she'd ram one of the bars through his teeth when she got out.

And so she couldn't help the biting, “Well, fine, then, I will!” either, or the way her spine stiffened ramrod straight, but instantly regretted her childishness and the fact that she'd just proved his "four-year-old" comment right.

Why the hell wouldn't he just disappear and let her escape, damn him?


((No problem, it fits that she wouldn't respond. Haha, I could go on all day with them arguing like this, it's so fun. ))

[Aiden]

“Fine!” He bit out immediately after Maaike, and realized that he was acting just like her. Well, whatever. He deserved to act childish when he was dealing with this kind of person! Brows furrowing, he bit the inside of his cheek and fumed at the irresponsible woman. Taroch crap…all she said was taroch crap…and it still amazed him how she'd break into the magistrate's house based on a rumor. He didn't believe a word she said, and it irritated him to no end how she wouldn't listen to him when he was right.

There was no point in arguing with her though, and anyway, wasn’t she safely locked up? Based on the laws of trespassing, she’d be in the cells for at least a few days, and that would give her some time to think. With luck, she’d just go back to Espur and mind her own business. Hopefully, they’d never meet again.

With another huff, he whirled away and reached into his pocket for a granola bar. Violently crinkling the wrapper open, he saw the food and put it back into his jacket. He'd been hungry before...but it's amazing how quickly your appetite could be banished by an argument. “To Hel with this. Stay away from him, you hear?” With another kick at the door, he gritted his teeth and stormed toward the entrance without waiting for her to reply. Actually, he'd ignore her if she did.

((Aiden has left the thread.

Sorry for making you wait so long! >__<
I'm finally on winter break now so let me know if you're still up for the plot that we planned in October. Just send me a PM to follow-up? ))

[Maaike]

((No problem, Joyness. I'm glad you're back, and I'd dearly love to continue with that plot! ))


Maaike's whole body jerked at his last violent kick, but she quickly recomposed herself, her shoulders and spine still tensed. She couldn't believe the nerve of that idiot! Telling her to stay away? Who under Hel did he think he was?!

Oh. Right.

Well, he could go feed himself to a hydra for all she cared. No way she was giving up just because he was too chicken to do his job. She was going after Thanatos with a vengeance, even if it meant holding onto her patience long enough to trap him and catch him red-handed, just so she could shove his guilt in Aiden Roy's baby face and tell him where to go!

First things first. She had to get out of here. And with Babycakes gone, she could finally get to work. So, a few minutes after he left, she clutched her stomach and started screaming. It didn't take long for her shrieks, and the yells of her neighbour, to reach a guard. Maybe if he were a bit more experienced he wouldn't have fallen for the ploy, but all she needed was a big enough gap in the bars for her archon form to squeeze through and she was gone.


((Oh noes! Maaike has escaped! And the thread's finished, hee.))