Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 7:52:35 GMT -6
AmonuroStamina: 2 Strength: 0 Resistance: 0 Dexterity: 5 Mentality: 8 Special Abilities: Ethreal, Empethetic Link, Wind Immunity, Fly Moves: Telekenetic Powers, Wind's Blessing, Wind Burst, Winter Gust, Clarity
For quite a few years in a row now, the mammalian had come to noticed that Vakrah was a particular season for the City-folk. Namely, that it seemed to make quite a few of them do.. perhaps not the most terribly wise decisions. The first time it had come by the culture shock was fairly slight, but it instead managed to rack up year after year since - the show of affection and love was just so very emotional and high-strung, it really had a tough time registering for her. Back home there was a considerably more direct and formality-based approach to letting someone know you fancied them. And here, it seemed, you got things like assaulting someone with an excess of candies.
On the one hand, she didn't really fault the questor and hunter their reservations about the deed. After all, if love wasn't what they were looking for, then there was no forcing the issue. But at the same time she did feel as though the two were perhaps.. a bit too aggravated by something that could, in reality, be a rather sweet gesture (pun intended). Considering their respective forceful personalities, the sphinx could hardly fault the potential love-struck vandal's caution about approaching either of them. Although.. she supposed the other issue of the matter was said vandal did approach both, rather than one, so that could obviously be seen as something of a conflict of interests..
Regardless, with shijin in tow, the two were on the case.
(1)
Amonuro: 62 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 9:04:08 GMT -6
This part of the year was perhaps a bit more trying for the empathic creatures of the Labs, seeing as the humanoids certainly weren't keeping their feelings in all too much check. For Amonuro it was easier than others - he mostly felt what she felt and the empathic connection didn't extend much further than that. For someone like An'Sciresarc, however.. there was a reason the sphinx made sure she stayed inside the whole month.
With the questing board the centre of a very obvious and loud scene, the mammalian had decided to opt for the Hunter's Lodge as the base of their investigation instead. Anyone with eyes and ears would have heard the two ladies discussing the issue at length and she suspected the vandal would not feel exactly encouraged to come forward in such a circumstance. But.. with both shopkeepers at the questing board, it also meant there was no-one manning the Lodge, which would have made it a perfect target for leaving some more candies. The two had a tentative plan, but needed to set up a few things first. Mostly, because the sphinx had never been to the Lodge before and so had no idea what it even looked like.
(2) Amonuro: 62 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 9:04:29 GMT -6
A short while of searching (with only a few directions asked along the way) and another dozen or so minutes of walking later, the two arrived at the building. She had made sure to ask permission to investigate inside as well, but even so, it felt strangely trepidations to push open the door and step inside. Perhaps because the place was so new to her, perhaps because the kind of crew who ran this were people of a particular repute - whichever the case, the sphinx stepped inside and carefully peered around in case anyone else was still there. Spotting no-one, she stepped a little more confidently and began to make a round of the room.
When the Lodge had opened, she had heard of the place, but never got around to needing to visit. Hunters to bring you the rare and wondrous beasts of the world were all fine and good, except she had her hands already filled enough with the creatures she had, much less needing to bring in more. Partly she began to wonder what this shy candy-vandal saw in the two ladies to enamour them so, the place had a very particular air to it, and it wasn't exactly romantic. Her eyes passed over the trophies on the walls and the otherwise rustic interior, until finally she sighed, hands planted to hips.
"I don't think we have much to find here," she told the shijin.
(3) Amonuro: 62 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 9:04:50 GMT -6
Which, on the one hand, made sense - the shopkeeper had already encountered the candies left as presents, and given she hadn't been exactly thrilled about them, wasn't likely to just.. leave them laying around. The place was swept clean, figuratively speaking, which likely had made Odoshi feel better but also ended up erasing any clues the two might find. At the very least, the limited interior meant the vandal only had so much space to work with (can't exactly hide something if there's nowhere to hide it behind or under). From what she saw the two ladies show as examples, the candies had not been big, but they were plentiful. A package, then, most likely.
To the sphinx detriment she realized even the counter didn't really have all that much dust on it to show any hints or signs. Amonuro, who did a pass around the furniture of the room, sadly shook his head as well, finding nothing in his phasing through the different drawers and shelves. The problem with brand-new shops, it seemed, was they came too clean to read.
Although.. it didn't necessarily mean they were out of options..
(4) Amonuro: 63 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 9:05:22 GMT -6
Doing one more round of the entry room, the sphinx and shijin discusses the beginning of a plan. With Odoshi at the questing board, the place was unguarded, perfect for another 'visit'. No vandal would come close to trying again so long as the sphinx still hung around there, so after leaving the shijin with a few instructions, she took her leave. It wasn't exactly a walk of demonstration, but the mammalian made sure to exit the shop in a slow enough manner as to absolutely be spotted by anyone or anything looking to see, but not so slow as to seem to do it suspiciously. She dusted her hands, sighed, stood there thinking a moment and then walked off towards another building further down the road.
Reaching another crossing a short distance away, she turned and walked between the buildings, then quickly ducked into an alley. Sneaking her way back around towards the Lodge, she sat herself down behind some crates at the back of a different shop just across the street and waited. The empathic link between mammalian and shijin wasn't at threat from influence by others people around them, but it was a fine way to communicate through impulses.
And while she sat and waited, Amonuro settled into the rafters of the Lodge, hovering into a beam and peeking out to keep an eye on anyone (or anything) that would come through the door, ready to notify the mammalian within a moment's notice.
The trap was laid, now they just had to hope it would be sprung.
(5) Amonuro: 63 (1/5)
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Post by Jack on Feb 29, 2020 22:46:04 GMT -6
A trap eh? Someone flitted across the shadows toward the shop, wondering what might be inside of it at this hour. Perhaps to leave an offering?
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 23:59:20 GMT -6
The sphinx sat and peeked out from behind the crates as best as she could. While the real cue to spring the trap would come from the shijin, she felt a need to keep an eye out for the front of the Lodge all the same. The hour was still daytime, the street not quite overtly busy, but neither completely deserted. Any number of people came and went by her hiding spot, none the wiser of her position but also looking no more interested in the Lodge than the average. As time passed on by, the watching of the people gradually became more entertainment, to give herself something to do, rather than purely sticking to surveillance.
And if she thought herself to have a hard time focusing on the task, the poor shijin wasn't off much better. As the vigil began, Amonuro coiled himself up around a rafter beam, more in it than around it.
(6) Amonuro: 63 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 23:59:41 GMT -6
As time wore on, however, the coiled, ready-to-spring-at-a-moment's-notice posture quickly deteriorated into the shijin lounging around on top of the beam, imitating a blue slinky that was half-rolled, half-lounging noodle. If shijin could breathe, this one would have heaved quite a number of sighs within the time frame, and this considering he technically didn't even need to 'lounge' considering the beam was ephemeral to him.
But, Amonuro had grown into the habit of imitating motion and form of physical things, despite the fact the only physical thing he ever could feel was the mammalian.
Back outside, the sphinx shifted in her position, trying to find a more comfortable sitting angle. The position itself wasn't terribly bad, but the side alley her stakeout took place at just happened to be one with tiny gravel as its bedding and road. Given enough pressure and time, the tiny stones could leave any kind of butt quite sore (and she hadn't the foresight to bring a blanket).
(7) Amonuro: 63 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 29, 2020 23:59:58 GMT -6
It was about half an hour into the daylight stakeout when the sphinx first noticed a bit of motion. People still passed to and fro along the street in-between her and the Lodge, but there was one particular individual among the thin crowd that managed to stand out - for one, they were also looking to be the one person who was desperately trying to avoid just that. Weirdly ironic in context, to be outed by the very thing you use to hide yourself with. The sphinx shifted, rising from sitting to crouched and leaned out further from behind the box, in order to get a better look.
The individual was behaving shady at best and downright concerning at worst, moving closer to the Lodge in strange pauses and starts, as if the different street corners or objects along the street were somehow safe havens. The sphinx kept her gaze on her, and sent the shijin an impulse to be ready. Not for anything specific, for it could still be a false alarm, but there was only catching a vandal red-handed, if they actually did the handling.
(8) Amonuro: 63 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Mar 1, 2020 0:00:11 GMT -6
The person eventually reached the front of the Lodge and the tension in the situation was reaching a high point. The sphinx ended up almost standing behind the crate by then, in case she needed to get to the scene quickly. The flitting movement from object to object made it a little difficult to see details of the person, and the distance certainly didn't help recognize a face, but at the very least she could commit to memory some overall appearance aspects in case the shopkeepers ask later.
When the individual reached the door of the Lodge, both mammalian and shijin were just about ready to pounce. With a slow creak, the door opened and Amonuro sent a spike of excitement to the mammalian. Her reply was forced patience, a sign for 'not yet'. The individual looked around the space of the shop, paused..
..And closed the door, taking their leave.
Darky blinked, the tension ebbing away, realizing the person was likely trying to find the shopkeeper for more shopping reasons, rather than vandalism. This time around? False alarm.
(9) Amonuro: 64 (0/5)
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Post by Renathan on Mar 1, 2020 0:14:12 GMT -6
You have rolled a Success! Your QP will be added to the bank, and your prizes will be sent to you shortly. You may continue roleplaying if you wish (take the following info into consideration when continuing roleplaying ;3).
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After all that hard work (including whatever you did afterward) you are given your first glimpse of whoever has been leaving those horrendous notes...
A young boy wearing a sweater and shorts was holding a little box of candies and a card when he was glimpsed sneaking suspiciously close to the building, and then when he was spotted he tried to run away! After running directly into Jolyne, he turns around, looking sheepish. A tongue lashing by Odoshi later, and the boy was trying to defend himself- "I am not trying to uh, trying to be weird or anything!" He finally shouts, the poor thing couldn't be any older than ten. "I just want to open a candy shop! We were thinking about Selling Vakrah stuff too, but I knew that we needed to uh, advertise!" He looked really sheepish. "I thought y'all would be okay with it, but I was too embarrassed to ask!" He hangs his head in shame.
Who knew that the Vakrah Incident was a misunderstanding all along? The tiny entrepreneur was let off lightly by the two prickly shop keepers all things considered, and told that he can ask any time he wished (it was better than frustrating everyone at least).
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