[Aiden]

If anybody last year told Aiden that he'd be travelling with Maaike on an assignment out of town, Aiden would have laughed and called the person an idiot. Back then, Aiden would have been more interested in arresting the other therian rather working with her, and he certainly wouldn't have followed her out of New Alexandria based on a mere rumors of information. Yet here he was, waiting for Maaike in a settlement that was two days southeast of Hesia. Though they'd mostly kept a companionable silence during their trek up the Duskies, Aiden had told her a little about his home in Dardanos, and she'd shared some stories about her work in Espur. During their conversations, Maaike avoided talking about many things, and though Aiden prompted her occasionally with questions, he didn't pry. Still, he realized that he wanted to learn more about Maaike—where she was from, why she became a hunter, and so on. Travelling with Maaike was interesting...and if this trip went well, he wouldn't mind repeating it.

The two of them had waited until near sunset before entering the town. They'd agreed that Maaike would enter first to scout, since she was stealthier, whereas Aiden would circle around and surveil their target. Within the past month, Aiden had tracked down a dealer in New Alexandria, and the criminal had named Lycus Paturn as his source. Thanks to one of Maaike's sources, they were able to pinpoint Lycus at this settlement in the Duskies.

With many trees and shrubbery lining its perimeter, the building would have normally been overlooked by passersby. The stone cottage stood with one side leaning toward the wall of the mountain. Another side extended into a stone wall that encircled most of the building and revealed little for outsiders to see. A shed stood a little further back, adjacent to what seemed like a two-roomed building. From the dulled voices within the wooden building, Aiden suspected at least three people were within the shed.

Crouching at his vantage point, the cat huddled within the leafy shadows and kept an eye on the surroundings. Any minute, a bird will fly over, and they will chat.

[Maaike]

Maaike had never been this far north into the Duskies before, so she'd had to be on constant alert for the entirety of their journey from Hesia, noting landmarks and scent trails ready for the journey back. She really didn't fancy getting lost with a bounty in tow — and she did fully intend on taking the guy in alive.

She'd left Cailean and Magda back home, taking only the pack on her bag with essentials and base foodstuffs with the intention of hunting for meat on the trip. She was a little worried that Aiden had become too citified, that he'd complain the whole time of the hard slog and having to bed down on dirt and rock, but he'd actually pulled his weight. His cat form was an especially useful hunter, so they'd fed well. She still couldn't let her guard down, though: Every question he asked, the interest he showed, made her want to spill her guts, and it took a conscious effort to keep her secrets. It was exhausting work, picking through her answers to be sure she wasn't giving him puzzle pieces he could fit together later, and it frightened her how badly she actually wanted to drop the veil altogether.

Loosing a piercing cry that echoed over the mountain, Maaike flew down to land on a tall stone wall behind the shed where Aiden agreed to meet her. Falcons weren't unusual up here, and from a distance she might even be mistaken for a hawk, but she still had to be quick. “Paturn is in an office downstairs. Two guards on patrol around the perimeter, watch your back. Three guards upstairs, asleep. One with Paturn, one at the office door. One each at the front and back.” Ruffling her wings and picking at the underside of one so she'd look more like a real falcon, Maaike recurled her talons around her perch. “Also three in the shed. I can't see into the other building, no windows.” Which suggested that something nefarious was going on in there, something they didn't want people to see.

Not normally one for stating the obvious, Maaike nevertheless sighed, “We'll have to be quiet.” She was accustomed to having to be sneaky. Physically, females were smaller and often weaker than males — who made up the majority of her bounties — and Therians were also at the bottom of the totem pole when it came to strength and speed. She hadn't gotten where she was now, and survived an abusive 'Varian, by confronting people head-on. “Most of the guards are Anyeli.”

Question was, should they start with the guards upstairs, or on the perimeter? Try to take them out silently and work their way in to who they really wanted, hoping the guards didn't hear the violence or stumble across the bodies afterward? Did they sneak into the shed or the out-building and try to learn what they could before the patrollers found them? Or stealth their way in past the guards without taking any of them out and hope they could nab Paturn before they noticed?

If she'd been alone, Maaike would have had more confidence in Plan A, but while Aiden was pretty sneaky in cat form, he was probably too damn tall and in-your-face justice to fold past the guards. She could send him into the shed alone while she took out the perimeter, but that was a small space for four fighters, three of whom had a wingspan twice his height. And they couldn't set the shed alight hoping for the people inside to race out into a trap, because the yelling would attract attention.

“How's your puppy-dog routine?” Maybe she could use him as a distraction — or, better yet, use herself as the decoy and let him do the physical work.

[Aiden]

Cat-eyes immediately drifted upward as a falcon cry signaled Maaike's descent. The cat lurched toward the bird, as if by instinct, before sitting back on its haunches. With a sniff, the cat turned away from the bird to feign disinterest. However, as he rested his forepaws against the tree's branches, Aiden listened closely and scanned each area as Maaike shared the details. As the female therian listed each sentry's location, the cat huffed. Aiden had already seen the two perimeter guards while waiting for Maaike, but he hadn't expected so many other guards to be within the buildings. Thirteen plus Paturn. There could be more in the windowless building.

Clearly, Aiden and Maaike were outnumbered (and probably outclassed) by Paturn's people. Even though he trained daily, Aiden had sparred with enough anyeli in the Guard to know better than to take on an anyeli fighter head on. Most were stronger than therians—as if their command over lights and shadows weren't enough. Sometimes Aiden just wished that Xanth could have re-rolled the dice when she created Elysia's races.

With the Guard, Aiden could have readily stormed into the house and done away with this dawdling. Their Captain Lukas would have placed a few men at each point in the circular perimeter, and dispatched a team to detain and ask Paturn what the Hel he was up to. They'd done something similar when they found Paturn's 'business friend' in New Alexandria. But this job had not been sanctioned by the Guard, so Aiden had only Maaike as his partner. His only way to infiltrate was to take each guard by stealth and surprise. Each of the two patrollers walked alone and unseen by the others, so they should be easier to deal with. The sentries in each bulding were the bigger problem.

“How's your puppy-dog routine?”

Eyes widening, the cat tilted his head and let out a small mew. Then with a wink, he lazily sprawled himself over the branches again. “You would do better,” mumbled Aiden, and after a long pause, “Paturn is too well surrounded-—best is to hope that he leaves to run some errands, and that we catch him alone. Think we'll go for the shed first? They'll have to leave for dinner soon, unless they change shifts.” It all depended on how serious Paturn thought his business was. “We'd be better off going after nightfall.” If either Aiden or Maaike could somehow lure the guards outside of the building one by one, the therians would have the natural advantage. If they were lucky, they might even catch Paturn like that.

A couple thirty meters away, the patrolman turned and began to walk toward the shed. The guard hadn't noticed the therians as he calmly scanned the area. Still, Aiden moved slowly toward a denser section of leaves. In case the guard looked up.

[Maaike]

“Ooh, a compliment.” Human lips pulled back into a smirk that broadened during Aiden's silence. No comeback? That was unusual. Then again, he was concentrating on the task set before them — as she should be.

He was making assumptions, though, that Paturn or his guards, or whoever was in that shed, would leave sooner or later. It wasn't necessarily a bad assumption because people had to eat and pee, but Paturn might be smarter than that. Still, even if just one of the guards from each sector took a break, that was one less to contend with. Assuming, of course, they didn't change shifts like Aiden said.

When the guard started toward the shed, Maaike ducked her head behind a wing to hide her human mouth. That was always a dead giveaway. “Shed at nightfall it is.” They wouldn't have long to wait, but best not to do it together. “I'll do recon one last time,” just in case the guards changed position or Paturn moved from the office. She'd be surprised if he didn't, actually.

---

Just after nightfall, a spider monkey dropped from the roof of the shed to land on the window ledge, chittering at the two Anyeli occupants. One of the men cooed at it. “Must be someone's pet. You think it ran away?” The other hovered at his shoulder, frowning, as the first reached out to try and grab Maaike the Distraction.

Hurry up, Babycakes. I don't wanna be petted!

[Aiden]

As the spider monkey dropped upon the window ledge, a reptilian creature slithered stealthily through the opening of the opposite window. The monkey on the ledge was a good distraction to the two anyeli, providing Aiden the opportunity to sneak toward the third one. The third guy was hovering over an open book at a table behind a set of bookshelves. Perfect.

Lifting itself off the ground, the angel snake reverted fluidly into a human who wrapped one arm around neck of the unsuspecting researcher. Caught in the headlock, the shorter researcher choked and scratched at the taller therian's grip. Sometime during the struggle, a bony wing battered Aiden right under the ear. Aiden yanked the scientist fully behind the set of bookshelves, but not before a tall beaker tipped to its side and clattered against a line of bottles. Gritting his teeth, Aiden quietly set the unconscious anyeli onto the floor before standing. He'd already made too much noise, so the voices at the window had halted.

“Did you hear that?”

“Dunno...” heavy footsteps came closer toward the bookshelves. “Coyle, you okay?”

“Hey Coyle!”

Aiden still had time to shift and slip out of the window, but there were too many things on the researcher's desk that Aiden wanted to investigate. He wouldn't be able to fight two anyeli at once, but he trusted Maaike to help. So when the first anyeli crossed over from behind the shelf, Aiden focused all of his energy into a punch toward the anyeli's jaw. Knuckles met chin with a thick crunch, but even then, the anyeli only staggered back. The second guard was already punching toward Aiden with a sharp yell, but Aiden took that moment to kick the stunned first anyeli into the wall. He didn't know if it worked, because a sudden blinding pain shot into his right cheekbone. Reeling backward into the bookshelves, Aiden barely dodged the anyeli's next blow before the shelves collapsed and spilled books onto the floor. The books were barely discernable, however, because the floor was fogging over with shadows. Xanth dammit, Aiden thought as he crouched into his leopard form, ready to pounce.

((Fight scene = pain in the butt both IC & OCly. Let me know if you want anything changed. Also feel free to GM Aiden & everyone else.))

[Maaike]

OOC// I kinda like fight scenes, myself.

Maaike didn't hesitate. As soon as the fight began, she hopped across the desk and scrambled through the paperwork there, cursing her lack of reading fluency in Anyeli. The letters looked like chicken scratchings to her, but she didn't have time to scrutinise them. It sounded like Aiden was getting his arse kicked, and at least one of the Anyeli was Skotadi so pretty soon it would be impossible to see a paw in front of her face, let alone letters she couldn't read.

Leaning toward desperation — she was so sure there was some vital piece of evidence here, she'd be damned if she lost it — the Maaike-monkey gathered up a scrunch of papers in its thin arms and shoved them out of the same window it had dropped onto. Hopefully, the papers wouldn't be seen and they could retrieve them later for translation. In the meantime, she should probably get her fingers dirty.

Pouncing onto the nearest Anyeli's face, the Maaike-monkey clawed and scratched and screeched in his ears. Unfortunately, he wasn't the Skotadi so the shadows still clung to the room, obscuring Maaike's view and hiding Aiden from her sight. And even more unfortunately, her victim was Apali: The shadows split momentarily as the white-winged featherbrain gouged out her eyeballs and brain with a piercing beam of light right in her monkey face.

She was lucky that the man was either really weak or afraid to wound an animal, because otherwise, Maaike was sure the blindness would have been permanent. As it was, she saw stars — pretty, dancing stars — and the Maaike-monkey fell clear from the Apali's face with a whimper.

Her vision still a bokeh kaleidoscope, Maaike morphed into her human form instinctively, staggering back against the desk she'd emptied. Her hand scrambled behind her for a weapon and came up with something heavy and glossy (a paperweight?). She didn't need to see to be able to grab it, whip it around in an arc, and smoosh it into the Apali's temple. The subsequent thud suggested she'd won.

“Roy!” She used his surname deliberately to obscure their identities, but the Sylvan was accidental, a reversion to her native language. The kaleidoscope was fading but her vision was still clouded, and she hated the sound of vulnerability in her voice.

Xanth, she hoped the rest of this went easier.

[Aiden]

Fangs would have produced better results, but Aiden wasn't aiming to kill the guy. Instead, the big brown leopard collided with the shadowy anyeli, and then all Aiden could do was try and batter his bulky opponent without getting hit in return. He might have bruised part of the other guy's shoulder, but as he raised another heavy paw, tendrils of shadow wrapped around it and scurried up toward his shoulder.

Momentum lost, Aiden noticed a glint of silver and quickly ducked from the knife that cut through the air where his neck had been. The motion broke him free of the shadowy arm-lock, but the shadows coalesced again to form a battering ram that launched Aiden into the air. Wood splintered as Aiden crashed into a chair and a wall, and a burst of bright light accompanied the pain that he suddenly felt in his head. He couldn't be sure if the lightburst had been real, but as the big cat groggily shook its head, Aiden saw that the skotadi was cringing as well.

“Roy!” The familiar voice was a mixture of worry and urgency that drew both of their attention toward Maaike. She seemed stunned, but not as much as the crumpled apali on the floor. Realizing that Maaike had caught the brunt of the (apparently real) flash of light, Aiden skid between her and the skotadi before pouncing once more. Razor-sharp shadows grazed the leopard's ribs. Simultaneously, claws dug into the skotadi's face before melting into human fingers. Gripping the skotadi's face, Aiden hit it against the side of a desk before letting the limp figure go. As the rest of the leopard reverted into a human, Aiden stepped away from the fallen figure.

Taking a long breath in effort to slow his breathing, Aiden braced his hand against one of the unbroken chairs. The room had brightened considerably since the skotadi went out, so Aiden was able to find and nod at Maaike. Three down—many more to go.

[Maaike]

Silence fell, followed only by the sound of hard breathing. Still impaired by a sunburst right in the centre of her field of vision, Maaike used her periphery vision instead to double-check that the good guys - Aiden, in this case - had won. Glimpsing his nod, Maaike melted back against the desk with her hands still curled over the edges, her hair fluttering back from her brow when she sighed.

“I kind of pictured that going so much better.” She'd know better next time not to look directly at an Apali when they were just about to set off a pulse of light like that. Of course, how she'd recognise that they were about to do it was a different matter. “You okay? Um, thanks.” She wasn't normally given to thanking people, even the ones she'd tricked into helping. In fact, she thought Aiden was probably one of the few she had said the actual words to - and not just once but twice. That should probably scare her because that way led to dependency and she'd vowed after Ashton to never depend on anyone ever again, but she could probably let herself slip for once. He kept saving her, after all, though that in itself was enough to scare her.

“I shoved all the papers I could find outside.” She told him this in case she didn't make it out and he did. Scrubbing at her eyes - she knew she shouldn't, it would only make things worse, but the instinct to rub away the blind spot was overpowering - Maaike stepped tentatively toward the bookshelf, turning her head slightly to scan him head to toe for injuries. She couldn't see any, but that didn't mean anything. “Look around, okay? There might be something more.” She hated to admit her vulnerability, but she'd be useless in a fight if they left for the main building now, and she was using the time it would take to scope this place out to wait for her eyes to get back on track. She could only hope that she didn't miss anything vital to their investigation while she was peering at the book spines sideways, but it probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway. The book titles and authors were all written in Anyeli.

[Aiden]

Once he saw that Maaike seemed uninjured and was still talking, Aiden placed a palm against his lower ribs where the shadows had grazed him in his leopard form. Though cushioned under a t-shirt and thick jacket, his skin stung from the pressure, and he quickly took away his hand with a barely noticeable wince. The scratch was uncomfortable, but they didn't have much time to stop and nurse their wounds while Paturn's hired guards still lurked in the vicinity.

“Good thinking, we'll gather it as we leave,” he responded about the papers as he walked toward the messy remains of the lab desk. His boot kicked against a book on the floor, and as he looked down, he realized that it was the same book that the anyeli researcher had been referring to before the commotion. Now it lay sprawled on the floor, so Aiden crouched to lift and examine the leather-bound text. Close by the book, the anyeli researcher still lay on the ground deep in unconsciousness, and Aiden warily checked the anyeli before shifting his attention toward the book.

Accompanied by plant pictures, the written language seemed to be predominantly Anyeli with occasional inserts of normal Elysian. On some dog-eared pages, someone had jotted down notes in the anyeli language. “They've been reading some kind of textbook on herbs...” With the spine of the book balanced in one palm, Aiden peered over the rest of the table and noticed that the larger beakers were filled with soil and various weedish looking plants. The plants were nothing that he has seen before, but given his limited knowledge on plants, that didn't indicate much. He flipped among the book-marked pages to look for any resemblance between the pictures and the plants in the beaker. “About these plants. Do you recognize any of them?” He asked as he turned toward Maaike. The other therian was looking at the bookshelves, but still seemed to have trouble focusing. Voice laced with concern, he asked cautiously, “Is your sight improving?”

((I'm back! Work and studies have been a pain, but I do intend to stay active longer. Let's see where the anyeli's research takes us, yeah? ))

[Maaike]

OOC// Welcome back, Joyness!

Aiden's question might have been completely innocuous, but given that she'd just been flashed by an Apalos (and their relationship to date), Maaike took it as sarcasm and arched an eyebrow at him.

“It is better.” It was. The white-out was fading to a faint pinprick in the centre of her field of vision with a sort of washed-out effect. That didn't help her decipher the Anyeli volumes, though.

Going back to Aiden's question, Maaike placed the book she'd been checking back onto the book shelf and stepped closer to him: close enough that her arm touched his when she leaned around him to cop a look at the desk he'd been studying. His scent was distracting and she had to force herself to focus.

“Mmmmmmh. That's stardust before it's a powder.” Maaike had seen it in its original starflower form during her "investigations". “And 'bane? And... Hmmm.” So far, their findings had confirmed her suspicions about this being a place Thanatos used to create the stuff his network sold, but the rest made her look twice and suddenly Aiden's warmth was less fascinating.

“Well, those look like foxlight pods. Very toxic.” There was a meadow where they grew on Sullivan Territory and her sister had tried eating them once while they were playing in the long grass as fox kits. The whole clan had been in a panic when Robin fell deathly ill as a result. “You think that's babana? And gurrell stems. Trying to make their 'dust taste better, hah?” Or, more likely, they were trying to disguise the taste of the wolfsbane and make it more potent.

A very cold shiver shot down Maaike's spine.

[Aiden]

Still holding the open book, Aiden tilted it toward Maaike as she walked over, in case she wanted to read it. The other therian brushed close to examine the plants on the table, giving Aiden the view of her face in profile. Warm brown hair framed her face as it tilted downward, and the light from the desklamp gave her features a warm soft glow.

“That's stardust before it's a powder.”

Realizing that he'd paid too much attention to his partner's face and the curl of her lashes, Aiden averted his attention toward the large beakers. Upon second glance, the plant did look like a starflower, and he nodded as she named it. He could see the beginnings of pale, blue-green leaves fanning out from the dirt. After scanning the room to confirm that the anyeli were still unconscious, he then prodded at the dried fruit next to the starflower. “It looks like babana,” he agreed quietly. Jeanne's home in Dardanos had been warm enough for babana plants to grow in the backyard, so he was familiar with its variations.

Brows furrowing, he set the book down and reached for the purple flowering wolfsbane—another one commonly known by therians. “Does this look weird to you?” As he tilted the beaker in his hand, the petals folded back to reveal thorns along the stem. With his free hand, he flipped through the pages of the book until he found the page for common wolfsbane. A plethora of Anyeli notes had been written in the margins.

Nothing good would come from hallucinogens and paralytics mixed with the bane of therians. And now the 'bane had mutated into a variant that only the anyeli researcher knew about. He turned grimly toward the unconscious anyeli on the ground. “Say what you want about Paturn, but I'd really like to talk to this guy.”

[Maaike]

Maaike made a non-committal sound, but then changed her mind. “Actually. They all look kind of... off.” She couldn't put her finger on it, but had assumed it was the weird dot in the centre of her field of vision and the flat effect that had made the plants look different, but her vision was clear altogether now (thank Xanth!) and they still looked strange. “Wrong somehow. Maybe they're breeds we haven't seen before?” Elysia was big and varied enough that several types of the same plant could exist in different habitats. Since Maaike (and Aiden, too, so far as she knew) generally stuck to the eastern regions, and neither of them only had as much education in herbology as it took to do their jobs, it stood to reason they'd be unfamiliar with most of this stuff.

Even so... “This place gives me the creeps.”

“Say what you want about Paturn, but I'd really like to talk to this guy.”

Maaike wasn't sure which "guy" Aiden meant, but she had an inkling. “Then let's talk to him.” Abandoning the strange laboratory-greenhouse, she stomped across the small room until she was standing over the unconscious Anyeli, studying his features to be sure that he actually was unconscious as she rolled up her sleeves. Almost as an afterthought, she turned to Aiden. “Make sure the others are still out for the count, okay?” More than using him as extra manpower, Maaike was sure the guard wouldn't appreciate her methods of "talking", so she wanted him preoccupied while she beat the words out of this guy.

[Aiden]

Setting down the beaker and taking the herbology book with him, Aiden followed Maaike away from the labdesk and paused as his partner stepped in front of the fallen researcher. Clearly, Maaike was planning something as she rolled up her sleeves and checked on the unconscious anyeli. That reminded Aiden of the notes and bruises on Maaike's guardhouse 'deliveries' and how she probably got those suspects to talk. He'd prefer less violent ways to get intel from the researcher, but this was hardly the time to debate about it. He continued to the next room, but not before setting the book in the corner next to Maaike. He knew she'd cover all the bases, but just in case...“Ask him where he's growing the 'bane. That stuff can't be all they've got”

With that, he side-stepped past a fallen chair and continued to the next room. Ears flicking into the pointier version of a cat's, he walked toward the fallen skotadi and watched for movements. Moments turned into minutes, and snippets of muffled conversation began to float from the previous room.

Sometime as he swapped attention between the two sleeping anyeli, he heard a shuffle from the other corner. The apali's face was turned the other way, but Aiden had noticed the man's hand move. Oh no you don't. Suddenly, the apali twisted to release a beam that left a crack in the wall. Aiden had sidestepped it, luckily, and already had his hand wrapped around the apali's skull to deliver it against the ground. Of course, no sooner had he made sure that the apali was out cold again, he felt a sliver of shadow ghost around his ankle. Aw, Hel.

[Maaike]

Maaike was startled that Aiden capitulated so readily, and both eyebrows disappeared into her hairline when he actually gave her something to interrogate out of her victim. She'd more than half expected to have a fight on her hands, and now wasn't sure whether to be pleased that he wasn't as much of a stick in the mud as she'd thought, or disappointed that she was missing out on another spat with him.

No, no. Scratch that last one. Nothing about Aiden Roy excited her. Nothing.

A few minutes later, Maaike stalked away from the newly unconscious Anyeli, wiping her hands. He was pretty forthcoming so she'd made more noise than actually hitting him like she'd been threatening, but the last thing he'd said had pissed her off so much she'd lashed out without really thinking.

“Forget Paturn, we have bigger problems. He said — Yah!” Her jaw dropped when she stepped into the room just in time to spy Aiden shoving the Apali's head into the ground. He was full of surprises today. “You okay?” That "oh crap" look on his face spoke volumes, and Maaike's gaze slid down the length of his body to spy the shadow snaking around his ankle. “Sheesh, Baby Face. I leave you alone for two seconds and look what happens.”

She pulled back her foot and slammed it into the Skotados' kidneys. He squawked like a parrot and rolled over to send a shard of shadow her way, forcing her to leap clear. That unfortunately put her in Aiden's personal space, and like an idiot she tried stamping on the shadowy tentacle wrapped around his ankle — only to jar her foot and half her leg when it shot right through to hit the ground instead.

[Aiden]

Whatever Maaike wanted to share about Paturn and forgetting, it would have to wait. He saw and felt the shadows thicken around even as he turned and kicked at it, but he might as well have been kicking at air. The shadows jerked at his leg as if the skotadi were trying to throw Aiden but was still too groggy to do so. “Guh!” As the shadows multiplied and pulled him an inch across the floor, he reached for a table leg for more leverage. He would've used it to pull himself up too, if the shadows weren't so intent on reeling him back down!

And if Maaike had meant for her kick to loosen the shadows, it failed. “That's my leg!” he yelped and waved an arm in protest as Maaike swept her foot to stomp precariously close to his ankle. He tried to scoot away from the other therian, which turned out to be a bad idea because as Aiden moved, the tendrils of shadow collectively pulled him toward his partner. As their legs tangled and Maaike fell toward him, Aiden reflexively caught her and rolled as soon as he saw shadows hurtle a chair.

His elbows hurt as they collided against the ground twice, but hopefully they'd kept Maaike's head from hitting the ground during the roll. A stray chairleg whacked him across the back as it flew past, but even then, Aiden was too busy yelling “Sorry sorry!” as he released Maaike. She hadn't landed in the best of positions, so he'd pretty much squashed her into his torso as they avoided the attack. Trying to ignore how small (and maybe squishy—don't think about it!) the other therian was, Aiden mumbled another hasty apology before lifting himself off of her.

Face flushing, and not just because of the fight, Aiden turned to look for their target. By now the skotadi was already halfway out the door, no doubt to gather reinforcements, so Aiden took a running leap in hopes of grabbing one of the anyeli's wings.

((Let me know if you would rather not GM. I can edit this post. Either way, feel free to GM Aiden. ))

[Maaike]

OOC// GM's fine!

“That's my leg!”

“Baby.” Maaike kind of did owe him an apology, though; her foot had come awfully close to his, after all. She didn't get a chance to think much about it, even if she was the type of person to worry about things like that in the first place, because she was suddenly off her feet and being squished by a dashiri. Instinctively, her arms wrapped right around Aiden's torso and her right leg clamped around his thigh, her head cushioned by a huge hand — he had to have some 'Vari blood in him, he had to! — and her breasts squeezing painfully against his chest as they rolled. And rolled, and rolled.

“Oof!” If he hadn't been so busy apologising, and made such an effort to keep her conscious through it all, Maaike would have come up angry. As it was, her knee twitched in a gleeful attempt to dent his future prospects as a father, but she — barely — managed to control the urge. For a split second all she could do was look up at him in a daze. This wasn't the best time for it, but she was struck by the realisation that, actually, he really was too damned good looking.

In that baby-face way that pissed her off and gave her all kinds of fodder for teasing him, but damn if she wasn't interested anyway. She was pretty damned offended when he scrambled to his feet as if he couldn't away from her fast enough. And then remembered — mostly because he leaped into the air like a great cat to snag the escaping Skotadi's wing — that they were in the middle of a fight, a hunt, and the last thing either of them should be thinking was of how to make babies.

No. Bad analogy. Bad. She loved Sammy more than life itself, but no way she wanted another kid, and most definitely not with Aiden Roy! Though the process itself might be fun...

The thought, her reactions to him, made her snap, “Ugh. I just got flattened by a dashiri.” She was slow to her feet, making more of the flattening than the minimised damage he'd actually caused, and brushed herself off before taking a leisurely stroll to get in the Skotados' face. “You know, birds really ought to think twice before taking on a cat as big as him.” Her thumb jerked in Aiden's direction as her gaze dropped to the ragged feathers floating to the floor. She was pretty sure Aiden had broken at least some of the bones in the vlareon's wing.

The Skotados cowered at their feet, his words little more than a whimpering whine. “Please. Please, I need a - a healer.”

Maaike looked at Aiden, eyebrows arched. “What do you think, Sweetcheeks. Should we get him a healer?” Maaike would have left him to rot, or carried him off to face justice the way he was and let the magistrate deal with his injuries, but this was Aiden's gig and she'd bow to his judgement — even if part of her did want to pay him back for the flattening.

[Aiden]

When his fingers clenched around black wings and tugged, Aiden felt the sickening crack of hollow bone separating as the anyeli continued one way and the wing went opposite. Grimacing as the anyeli let out an agonized scream, Aiden clapped a palm over the anyeli's mouth and wrestled him away from the door-frame. As he pushed the skotadi to the center of the room, the skotadi collapsed to the floor with his wings hanging limp and at a bad angle. Shutting the door, Aiden furtively checked that Maaike was unharmed as she was busy confronting the skotadi. After that, he glanced across the room to check that the apali was still unconscious.

“What do you think, Sweetcheeks. Should we get him a healer?” Strangely, her teasing term of endearment wasn't as annoying this time as Aiden walked to Maaike and their captive. As he stopped beside her in this cold room in the mountains, Aiden easily felt Maaike's heat, which by the way was not distracting at all...

Like other birds, the anyeli's spirit deflated once he realized he was trapped and that his wings were broken. Aiden almost felt bad for the cowering anyeli, but really, it served the skotadi right for the way his partner had tried to blind Maaike and how he'd tried to stab Aiden with shadows. Of course, it didn't matter that Aiden and Maaike had broke into the anyeli's shed and attacked first, and the anyeli were perhaps only acting in self defense...Pay attention Aiden, this guy is one of Paturn's.

Any other day, Aiden would have insisted on escorting the anyeli to a healer before interrogating him or at least called upon another guard to do it. The Law wasn't cruel, and Aiden understood that wings became crippled if healed improperly. But they were in the middle of nowhere and their window of time was closing fast. Jaws tightening as if he had swallowed something bitter, it took a lot of effort for Aiden to finally say, “Do we have everything we want, or do we need to find Paturn, too?”

Turning away from the skotadi, Aiden looked Maaike in the eye. An unwise idea, because the minute their eyes met, he started thinking again about their legs tangling and other stuff. Still, he had enough resolve to say, “He's staying here if it's Paturn that we want.” Aiden said it like he meant it, but Maaike might know him well enough to recognize the conflict hidden in his tone.

[Maaike]

Maaike's eyes narrowed on Aiden for a moment with mounting suspicion. When she met him, he was so stand-up straight she could have flown a flag off him and he'd flatly refused to believe that any of his co-workers could be even remotely corrupt. Now, he was threatening an injured Anyeli with what was almost guaranteed to cripple the Skotados for life, and he hadn't so much as batted an eyelid.

Given her history, she believed, for one dark and shockingly disappointing moment, that her influence on him had been too great, that she'd turned an upstanding guard into a crooked merc. She might have gone on believing that, too, if her sensitive nose hadn't picked up the tang of uncertainty, recrimination, and she peered deeper into the green eyes that met hers. Her own conflict began, then, between the naive girl who wanted to believe in her fellow Therian and the woman who had learned better. But now really was not the time to be getting all mushy and doubtful, so she put the problem of his change in attitude on the back burner for now and turned her attention back to the Skotados at hand.

Which reminded her, actually: She hadn't finished her sentence earlier because the information had gotten lost in the sudden fight and her wits had scattered when Aiden flattened her, but the knowledge might change their plan of attack. “The guy before, he said they have a shipment of slaves coming in today.” The words were for Aiden and her gaze lingered on his almost against her will, but she kicked the Skotados in the thigh, close enough to make him fear becoming a soprano for the rest of his life but not actually doing the damage, in an effort to get more out of him than the other had offered — like the location of the shipment, for one. “Where? Where are they 'coming in'?”

[Aiden]

Slaves. The very thought of Elysians taking freedom away from other Elysians made Aiden sick to the stomach. Slaves did not exist within the area surrounding large cities like Alexandria, but rumors of the trade floated occasionally from rural regions such as Daire. That didn't mean that city-people were safe, though. Every few months, the Guard would hear about disappearances of people, and slavers were just as likely to be the culprit as a kumo in the sewers. Jaws tensing, Aiden crossed his arms as he focused a glare on the skotadi on the ground.

The shivering skotadi shook his head as Maaike demanded for the whereabouts of the slaves. Then, as if reconsidering his actions, the skotadi gulped visibly before saying hoarsely, “They're making the swap at Vyrmo---the-base-of-Duskies-southwest-of-Hesia!” The last few words came out rushed as the skotadi gritted his teeth and leaned forward to fight off a wave of pain.

Aiden had never heard of Vyrmo, so they would have to depend on the skotadi's directions. Paturn's place was southeast from Hesia, so they might make it in time if they shifted and ran all night. A heavy weight settled in Aiden's throat as he realized the fact, and his vision jerked towards Maaike. They needed to leave soon, which meant that they'd have to abandon the skotadi. Even though the man was obviously a supporter of Paturn's operations, it was difficult for Aiden to not express sympathy for the skotadi's injury. Brows furrowing as he watched the twitching dark wing, Aiden was close to reconsidering his goal. However, he thought of the people who were about to be sent to slavery and pressed on: “We might make it. What time and how?”

The anyeli continued to shake. “Ngh. Morning. Six. Ankas.”

Dammit, if they were in New Alexandria, Aiden could have summoned another Guard to help the anyeli. With a frustrated huff, he continued, “How many traders?”

“Seven...no, ten! Maybe anyeli, or 'variIdon'tknow—wait Yarden's the leader and he's a rut-guhrutilus. My wing! Pleaaaase...” the voice was almost a frantic whine as the anyeli cradled his wingtips and looked pleadingly between Maaike and Aiden.

To Hel with it. Aiden quickly extended an arm, which the skotadi took after a moment's hesitation. As he led the skotadi to the doorway, he tilted his head toward Maaike. “There has to be a healer along the way.”“Grab the papers?” As he spoke Sylvan, Aiden inclined his head toward the window where Maaike had tossed them a while ago. But when they set foot on the grass outside, Aiden halted. When in a rush, stop and think. His captain's voice echoed in his mind, but right now all Aiden could worry about was whether or not he would save anybody. He knew that he had offered the help recklessly. They were already at risk for not reaching Vyrmo, and the healer-sidetrip would delay them by another hour at minimum. However, he would hate himself if the skotadi became crippled when he could have prevented it from happening. They would just have to run extra fast after they passed by the healer's. Taroch crap—his logic wasn't making sense.

As he stared at the ground for a good minute, the solution slowly surfaced like a sprout in the sun. Reaching for his COM with his free hand, he sought out Maaike to toss the thing to her. “My friend Lersa is in the League. We can call her.”

((Monster of a post, and I'm sleepy. Pls PM me for changes if something doesn't match up? ))

[Maaike]

There was the Aiden Roy she had come to expect. Maaike was almost relieved to see it, even though he was wasting time worrying over a Skotados who deserved everything she gave him and more. Still, this was his gig, though she had to remind herself of that repeatedly to stop herself from punching the whinging Anyelos in the face to put him out of her misery. How many times had his position been reversed with some Therian slave or a kid who wanted his mama?

“Babycakes.” She couldn't remember if she'd said his name aloud before, or if he'd said hers, but now the fighting was over she preferred to keep things anonymous, just in case. He was too busy reacting to her news and juggling his morality to hear her, though. “Sweetcheeks, listen.” He probably wouldn't, regardless. Being told there wasn't a chance in Hel they'd make it to Vyrma wouldn't sit well with him. Maybe she was wrong, maybe they could make it, but Maaike wasn't willing to risk it. She had the number for a couple of Watchtowers in Hesia. Even if she had to beg and plead and sell Greenview to promise a bounty worth going against their rules, she'd send them to rescue the slaves and stay here. Except she didn't carry her COM with her on missions like this so she'd have to borrow his. “Roy.”

She trotted after him to snatch up the papers and tucked them under her vest, out of sight of the injured Skotadi, before turning back with the intention of arguing her case again. “Aiden.” She almost bumped into him when he stopped, giving the Skotados a wide berth to prevent another One-Winged Ben incident. Her hand slid across Aiden's arm in a gesture meant to soothe; he was clearly trying too damned hard to save a bunch of people they couldn't reach.

“Owwww. Please. Please, my wing...” The Skotados shut up again when she sneered.

She caught the COM with an arch of her eyebrows clearly meant to question his judgement. He was trusting her with something she could use against him if he gave her time to memorise any of the numbers on it. “Lersa? Got it.” In this context, she didn't need to clarify which League he meant. As the number rang, she signalled for Aiden to drag the injured man around back of the shed out of sight of the main house and then propper a hand on her jutting hip.

“Hello. You have reached the League of Protectors. How may we be of assistance?”

Her voice was hushed, her eyes fixed on Aiden for visual cues. “Yeah, hi. I need to speak to Lersa.” As soon as the woman took over, she launched into her explanation. The first words out of her mouth were, “Aiden Roy gave me your number.”

OOC// I figured we could skip the explainy part since we've already done that.