[closed] sometimes we all get lost amongst...

[frontlinetitties]

Who: Gideon, Ciri, and Harrowhark
When: March.
Where: Cadens
What: 3 women out cruising for birds. Just not in the way Gideon would prefer :C (pigeon quest!)
Warnings: n/a, will update if needed!



[Okay, so this latest job isn't exactly the sort of thing she's cut out for-- she's been here long enough to be aware of what a pigeon is, but how one goes about catching a flying, flapping, winged creature without killing it in the process remains something of a mystery. It's a far cry from the usual line of work she's fallen into since arriving here, but the guy looking for the bird is some city bigshot, and whilst he hasn't exactly said what the reward will be for catching it, Gideon is kiiinda hoping it involves a big fat cash injection.

Besides, it's all part of her plan to drag Harrow out of the musty, boring as shit old library and out into the (kinda) fresh air, for once. That, and the chance to hang out with another bangin' sword lady, so already there are enough perks involved for her to overlook the weird nature of the job itself.

So here she is, in the close confines of one of Caden's twisting back alleys, with hands planted firmly on her hips as she squints up at the rooftops above them. Her expression, it's perplexed.]

I have it on good authority that the pigeon-thingy was last seen in this alley.

[Good authority = a kid she bribed with a piece of candy.]

Fuck knows how we're gonna catch the thing, though.

[Or if it really is their pigeon-- don't they all look the same?]

Comments

[wiedzminka]

[ Gideon is off to do her thing, thankfully without argument, and Ciri focuses on Harrow next. As expected. That's fine. She only nods. ]

I do. Stay here.

[ Without further explanation (though she does pause to eye the bone cage with some fascination), Ciri uses a nearby parked cart to clamber up onto one of the rooftops. From there, she stands up to scout, shading her eyes against the afternoon sun.

Honestly, she doesn't expect to see the bird still around here, even if Gideon's tip had been accurate. But miraculously, she actually spots a fairly large, white bird a couple buildings down. She can't tell yet if it's the pigeon, but it sure looks like it might be.

Ciri crouches again, calling down to Harrow below. ]

I think I see the bird, but it's around back the other way. You'll have to go around this building and take the other alley.

And I think we might need to catch it on the roof. Your bone cage thing can function even if I'm the one carrying it, right?

[necrosaint]

[ Harrow may have a reputation for being bossy, but she does know how to defer to someone who actually knows more than she does. It may be something she perceives as rare, but Ciri clearly has this handled, so Harrow nods. ]

Yes, it will. Especially if you capture it from above, then I can add the bottom back in. [ The bone cage transmutes; the cage walls grow larger, and the bottom vanishes. Now it is simply the top and sides of a cage that can be dropped over its prey. ]

Should be the easiest way to operate it. Do you need me to have it brought up to you?

[ Once that's answered, however unclearly—as Harrow did not mention how she would do so, thinking it obvious—she'll start to take herself and the bones to the closer alley. For someone who does very little physically, she moves like a stealth expert, clinging to walls and constantly looking around her as if the next few steps could result in her imminent death. ]

[frontlinetitties]

[It's just as Harrow begins to stalk off like a particularly dextrous spider that Gideon makes her return. She'd only dawdled a little in the tavern, just long enough for casual flirtation with the cute, freckled barmaid who had subsequently given her what she was asking for at no cost. She slides back into the alley with one hand shoved into her pocket, the other curled around a heel of bread. A heel of bread that she sure as hell happens to be chowing down on.

A glance around leaves her momentarily confused, with Ciri out of sight and Harrow vanishing off in the opposite direction.]

The fuck?

[She declares around a mouthful of bread.]

I leave for five minutes and you all fuck off without me!

[wiedzminka]

Not yet. [ Ciri tells Harrow, still keeping an eye on the bird. In her periphery below, Harrow is moving to slide into the shadows like the pigeon might recognize her from her sordid past or something. Ciri doesn't comment.

It's when Gideon reappears that she looks down properly. She only rolls her eyes a little at the comment. ]

No one's gone anywhere you couldn't find us. Now be quiet.

The pigeon's over there.

[ She gestures. ]

Go with Harrow and meet me on the other side. Hand up the cage and the bread from there. I'll try to set it up a little closer.

[necrosaint]

[ Harrow just looks at Gideon, and puts a finger to her lips: thankfully, Ciri is the one who actually says the words so Harrow doesn't have o do any of that rudely sharp whispering she has a tendency toward.

Instead she makes a beckoning motion with her hand, a 'come here to me' that is at least more inviting-seeming than it is fast and exasperated. This isn't an order, Gideon, it's a request. ]

I can have a skeleton bring up the cage if we need, but Gri—Gideon can do it too, [ is just loud enough to be heard.

And then, more harshly, but still whispered: ] Are you eating the bait. Don't you know that isn't how bait works.

[frontlinetitties]

[Ciri's voice coming from somewhere above has her peering up vacuously for a moment, before everything clicks into place. Okay so they did start without her - still kinda rude - but she guesses she can forgive it seeing as they weren't outright buggering off and leaving her standing alone in a dirty old alleyway, scoffing bread. Ciri gives out commands and Harrow makes 'to me' gestures at her, which makes Gideon roll her eyes even as she does move to do as she's been told. Did she willingly come out here to be bossed about today? Well yeah okay...she guesses there are few other ways this was likely to go down.

She moves with a surprising lack of sound for a large woman chewing on bread-- you don't spend the entirety of your youth creeping about the Locked Tomb without learning how to move with stealth. Although there's none of the dramatic flare that Harrow applies to the act of stalking.

She reaches Harrow, and they continue their trajectory toward the adjoining alleyway as she looks down at her Necromancer without a trace of guilt or shame. Her response comes in an equally hushed tone.]

Nah, I'm just sampling the bread. How big is a pigeon anyway? Small, right? It doesn't need all this bread. Besides...

[She says, as she draws her hand from her pocket, revealing... yes, another hank of bread.]

I brought backup.

[She tips Harrow a wink.]

[wiedzminka]

[ How big is a pigeon...? Ciri looks back down at the other two women, already knowing they are unaware of basic concepts like birds and trees, but still. She sighs, makes a rough circle between her hands to indicate approximate pigeon dimensions. ]

Not big. A small chunk of bread will do.

[ Crouching on the edge of the roof, she reaches down. Gideon is tall enough to hand up what she needs. ]

Just give it here. With the cage. No need for skeletons. I don't think pigeons like skeletons.

[ What does that even mean?? ]

[necrosaint]

[ How could pigeons not like skeletons? Harrow would be miffed, bordered on offended, if she could even go so far as to comprehend such a thing. Didn't pigeons have skeletons? ]

It would be easier to reach—

[ But—with a look of shocking apprecation for Gideon's "backup" bread that is almost pleased and almost a smile—Harrow does not press. Ciri knows what she is doing and for once Harrow does not feel the need to argue. When someone competent takes charge? Let them.

She passes Gideon the top-and-sides of the cage, ready to grow itself a bottom as needed, to hand to Ciri. ]

Or, [ is muttered more softly ] I could have a cavalier the size of a small tree.

[frontlinetitties]

[It still surprises her now and then, to find herself on the receiving end of one of Harrow's smiles. And not the sneering, thin-lipped dangerous kind even. Something closer to genuine than she once would have imagined possible from the other girl. She blinks down at her, briefly stupefied, mouth still stuffed with bread--

--but then she flashes a slanting smile of her own and moves to fulfil Harrows? Ciri's?? Command without complaint.]

The hottest tree you ever laid eyes on.

[Comes her own, quiet quip as she moves to take the bottomless cage. Extends her arm upward toward Ciri, standing on the tips of her toes-- and what do you know, she's within reaching distance.]

I take it you want the bread, too?

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri crouches down and reaches out to grab the cage, and then the bread as well after she gives Gideon the affirmative. She is intent on setting the trap above the bait, and then all they'll have to do is wait. And hope, probably. And count on the bird not realizing she's a person if she holds still enough.

Making a shushing motion at the two women waiting below, Ciri stalks in a crouch along the roof to get closer to the bird. It stares at her, ruffling up even more warily and taking a step back, but not flying off. So far so good.

She sets down the bread. It cocks its head.

She rolls the bread closer slowly. The bird hops forward. Ciri holds the cage very still above the bit of bread, waiting for it to get just a few inches closer.

Victory is close at hand...! ]

[wiedzminka]

[ And then, someone down the street begins beating their rug off the side of their balcony with a loud thud, thud, thud and Nicola spooks, abandoning her snack and flying away with Gideon, Harrow and Ciri's pigeon-based hopes and dreams. ]

...ah, fuck.

[frontlinetitties]

[Gideon watches beside Harrow with baited breath, sculpture-still in the alley below as they await to claim their inevitable prize. They're so close now, she can almost feel the weight of the coin they'll no doubt receive, hot and bright in her hand. She bites her lip as the bird hops closer - it's such a small, shitty thing, how it can be worth all this fuss she has no idea - and they're almost almost there when--

--that fucking noise from down the street makes her straight up flinch, she'd been so focused and silent and certain of their success. The stupid bird flies off, and they're left standing and crouching about like morons as balcony dickhead starts whistling a merry little tune. Ah fuck, indeed.

Gideon lets the air out of her lungs with a rude, deflating sound. Sets her hands against her hips, and casts her eyes from Ciri to Harrow, then back again.]

Welp! That's that, then. I guess it's gone forever now.

[Because fuck trying to find out where the little shit flew off to, right?]

Pub?

[necrosaint]

[ If this had been Harrow's mission - if her focus had been on it because it was something she wanted to accomplish for her own sake, and not because Gideon had talked her into it - she would not have allowed anyone to give up that easily. As it was she swore under her breath, a fierce "Emperor undying!" hissed out at the rug-beater.

At least that was the only thing she did to the rug-beater.

But Gideon was the one who most wanted to make the attempt. If Gideon similarly wants to give up, well ... ]

That would have worked if not for the outrageously hateful variable of other people.

[ She sighs. Her tone is at least evening out into 'defeated' instead of the 'angry' it started out at. ]

I think drinking is customary around here when one fails at something, yes.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri sighs, and hops back down off the roof to hand Harrow her cage back. Gideon's suggestion is met with a shrug and an appreciative look. ]

Sure. It's hot, and that was annoying. Cold drink sounds lovely.

Oh, don't look so put out. [ She laughs, apparently the least bothered of all of them even if she is a little annoyed they were so rudely interrupted when it was such a close call.

She claps Harrow on the shoulder. ]

Consider it a valuable learning experience. Now you know what a pigeon is.