#thiefstcr

she sighs, the tip of her tail flickering, but she takes a seat on the log on the other side of where the fire's crackling anyway, a little ways further than midway down. from here, she can keep this lady in her sights, but more importantly she keeps the straightest line to her escape route open. a glance takes in the s'mores laid out in some kind of peace offering, but she never completely takes her eye off the other woman. maybe it was just the fact that she'd singled her out at all to come out here, but everything about this had her fur practically standing on end.

"all right——you asked, i'm here. might as well start talking. what'd you want me out here for, and how exactly did you hear about me anyway?"

"as for the snacks, thanks, but i'll have to pass. don't you know? chocolate's off limits for followers of the meow-meow sect." she brings her tail forward in a slow, waving motion under her chin, then props it there, as if to prove a point.

Jade had no ill-will towards her current feline companion- quite the contrary, in fact. A little rough around the edges, yes, but clear signs of a jewel just waiting to be unearthed underneath those sparkling eyes.

She laughs, a warm sound, mixing with the sound of the crackling of fire. Offending snacks are pushed to the side, so the line of sight between the two remains unbroken. Her smile promises that those who created them would find their due later, “These are not to your tastes? I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Let’s set all the petty details aside, shall we?” She continues, nails ringing only once against the side of porcelain plates. How, and what, and when. She certainly won't share the details of her own acquisitions, just as she suspects the thief won’t. This was a proposal of mutual benefit and nothing more- this was the sort of gemstone that remained the most beautiful when unbridled- untamed.

☼ TRICK OR TREAT ROULETTE. accepting! [ roll: 1: sweet dream soda. ]

a strange candy this one was: dark caramel liquid is trapped in a small bottle of wax, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. after contemplating it for a moment longer, phainon turns slightly to the familiar woman next to him. "say, cipher... did you hear how to eat these candies? the lady who was handing them out didn't seem to say anything in particular, at least from what I recall..." if he had to guess, there seemed to be a fair chance she wouldn't be interested in the liquid inside regardless, but... thumb and forefinger of one hand pinch and twist at the narrowest end while the other holds onto the body of the liquid: the wax cap streeeeetches, but doesn't give. "huh... so bizarre." then, he turns away from cipher slightly --- and phainon brings the tip of the wax bottle to his teeth, and nips at it in a rather undignified way to puncture the container. the next second, caramel-flavored liquid spills from the little wax bottle, making phainon cough in the process.

he turns back only to let her know he's fine with a wave of his hand --- "no worries, I figured it out." --- then, phainon takes a sip of the sweet drink in earnest.

between the two of them, the one who really stands out is this dr. mei character. and by the way, who the heck introduces themselves as doctor? talk about stuck-up. oh well ~ there's probably still some way to redeem this outing, even if she wasn't in her usual getup.

"you're sure that all you want to do is go window shopping? there's loads of other things we could do——scale buildings, find the highest spot in the city, play tag in the alleyways. there isn't anything else you're interested in?"

she suppresses a thin yawn, feeling a midday drowsiness start to come over her. maybe she'd eaten too much for lunch. . . that sweet-and-sour charbroiled steak had been really decadent. what she really needed was to work that off with a good heist or something ; too bad she had a feeling this lady, statue, something, was probably too much of a stickler for something like that.

worth a shot, though ~ !

"tell you what." she drops her arms and leans in closer to the other with a shimmering grin, one sharp canine poking out of the lopsided smile. "why don't we see how many of these fancy purses and clothes we can nab off the store shelves without anyone noticing? thirty minutes. whoever gets the highest priced item wins and gets to take home the whole haul. what do you think?"

revelation 2025, soaring heights.

How strange. The present is a superimposition, layered over the implacable past—and for a brief, everlasting moment, “Dr. MEI” almost mistakes the curious stranger for Reverie. Pardofelis? Then, she blinks, and the mis-recognition corrects itself, the past returning to the distant and implacable realm of memory—even as the resemblance remains. It piques her interest, enough for her to exchange introductions with the other woman. Cipher sounds more like an alias, a call sign, than a name, but “Dr. MEI” chooses to dwell on other things, instead. Like Cipher's obvious boredom. Like the familiarity of Cipher's carefree, mischievous attitude. Like Cipher's lack of recognition toward her.

What a treat it is—to encounter a fragment from another samsara cycle.

She exhales a laugh—light, uncalculated, fleeting—and shakes her head. “I think it sounds very exciting.” There's a trace of tenderness in her voice, the trace of a smile, misplaced and unearned. Then, a pause, as she feigns a moment of consideration. “Maybe, a little too exciting for me. I have a feeling that you're far more experienced at this than I am, so... It probably wouldn't be much of a competition.”

“Dr. MEI” almost sounds apologetic. But with a tilt of her head, she makes a lighthearted jest. “If you're willing to share a few tips, I'm not opposed to a trial run in there.” She points at one of the gleaming windows. The store's signage looks promising—glittering and vibrant, just like the window displays themselves.

not urban legends.

"you're kidding, right? you think i don't have anything better to be spending my time on?" she actually didn't, really, not in this city. but that's not really the point ; it's the principle of being grabbed off the side of the street like any common little conman. "grey mystery, maybe you got a little too comfortable back on amphoreus if you think you can just dial in favors for no cost. do you have any proof this guy even exists at all?" this ' largeankle ' thing? just hearing it made it sound like a tall tale for bored kids. "and i don't mean some words out of an imaginative drunk guy's mouth."

what part of her looked like she'd be into tracking that kind of fairy tale anyway? what was it to her whether titantoe or whoever was real or not? would she be getting some treasure out of it, even a hunter's bounty?

with a sigh, she folds her arms and closes her eyes, making a look of indifference as her tail tip twitches. "give me something more to go on than hearsay and a bunch of he-said-she-saids, and maybe i'd think about it. and something to make it worth my while." with a cheeky smirk and a claw-like gesture of her hand, she winks. "otherwise, you know where to find me ~ " and she's off, gone like the wind.

nobody knows where to find her when she doesn't want to be found, of course. that's the joke!

find your place in paradise 1(3)/5 | accepting

It's not that Caelus thinks she isn't preoccupied, or simply taking time for herself ( as one should for vacations )- it's that there's very few people here that he trusts knows, so the silver haired heir was one of the first he wanted to approach. Caelus is used to odd stories courtesy of his time with the Ghost Hunter Squad(tm), so of course his little racoon ears are gonna perk up at the talk of some mysterious creature skirting around the nearby woods.

Listen, Caelus has dealt with heliobus before, he ain't afraid of no ghosts. But he would like to not have another.. incident, should the rumors have merit- no he's not terrified of being possessed and having his life sucked out of him again no siree! So of course, he'd rather have someone he can reply on to help him investigate.

It is 100% on him for not even considering that such things would typically require payment for their services. Look, he's a Hero ( and barely gets paid for all the heroic work he does [ big sadge and criminal frfr ] ) and has a rather limited amount of funds- that's he uh... nearly depleted. So he absolutely does not have the means to adequately repay Cipher for the excellent work he's certain she would do.

All the Nameless can really do is chuckle, an embarrassed and awkward sound rumbling in his chest as he plays with the split ends of his silver hair just below his ears.

If anything, even if it were fake, Caelus thought it might have been just a fun little.. exploration adventure for the two of them to take- so he can know her a little better one-on-one. He saw the heir so rarely, and even when he had Cipher wasn't around for very long. The longest he can recall being when they were trying to get to Styxia- at.. at least, he thinks.. his memory is very fuzzy-

Before the lad can even attempt to explain himself or justify his naive actions, a spark of golden light and the thief is gone within the blink of an eye. Similarly an understandable reaction, Caelus thinks. Oh well.. another time. Maybe he needs to go back to the drawing board of what to do that would be something fun for the both of them- and wouldn't be transactional. Hm..

❛ ..Wait- where would I find her? ❜