Tsuiraku-town, part 3

[ComradeHavok]

As Leo broke into a run, Mouse had to fight back the urge to take out her rifle and blow one of his knee caps off. Gault had gone as far as to threaten to cut off Mouse's sweets if she started firing off her rifle in town again. So, instead, she started chasing after the man, while still remaining mostly out of view. She peered her head around the corner to see him jump over a fence. Once Leo was over the top, Mouse ran up to the fence and peered through a gap between two planks to see where the man had gone.

[Jack Rothwell]

An observer would've seen the merc brake at a non-descript house, glance in both directions and begin hauling himself up the drainpipe to the roof. If it was one thing Leo was comfortable with, it was heights. He pulled himself upwards, arm over arm, silently thankful that he'd taken time to change out of his over the top (not to mention restrictive) 'Martin Dashwood' costume.

Once we was up, he could make his way across the rooftops for a while as the buildings were bunched pretty close together. Further planning could wait til he hit the edge of town.

[ComradeHavok]

Mouse was somewhat impressed by the man's display of agility, she was somewhat perplexed as to the utility of jump along the rooftops like that. There were fewer ways to be more obvious about where you were going in a place like this..

She shrugged and pried loose one of the planks that made up the fence. She crawled through the gap and began to make her way quickly through the alleyways, watching as the man leapt and bounded across the rooftops. Mouse also had rather good hearing, and so had an easy time following the sound of footsteps on tiled roof. As she went, Mouse wondered if she might be able to pinch a few coins from the man after this was over. She would certainly deserve some kind of sweet pastry as a reward after this was all wrapped up.

If Leo looked at the alleyways below him, he might catch the glimpse of a smallish figure wearing a wide straw hat. From his angle on the rooftops, he would be unable to make out the figure's face. From what he could tell, it appeared to be a youngish lad, maybe in his mid teens.

[Jack Rothwell]

Leo hit the next rooftop and skidded into a crouch, mentally chiding himself for the pace he'd taken off at to evade his potential followers. He dropped to a slower speed, kept low and tried to tred lightly as he crossed the following rooftop. Even with the best will in the world however, there were still occasional glimpses to be had as he stepped, sometimes leapt, from one building to the next.

A flash of movement below him caught his eye, from the angle it was mostly hat ('Nothing that would stand up in a court of law.' His old man would've said). Three houses later he saw the same hat again, just a glimpse of it. It might well have been two people with the exact same choice in headwear, but paranoia was knocking on the door. Leo froze, pulled himself into the shadow of a chimney stack and tried to think of his next move.

[Graybeard]

Joe was starting to get annoyed.

"As I said, one of our backers was on the line until you interrupted." And still is. It might be good for Peter to hear this conversation. "He's with one of the higher-powered guilds in this country, an outfit not to be screwed around with. We do certain things for him, including guard duty. For some damn reason that he won't tell us, he has asked us to extend that duty to your daughter. You are 'expendable' in the sense that you're not covered by that protection. For that matter, neither am I, which makes us both pigeons for assholes like we seem to attract to this vineyard. Now if you will excuse me, I have some work to do, connecting with protecting your daughter's precious ass, wherever it happens to be located at the moment."

---------

Galina caught the look on her friend's face. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm -- not sure," Layla said, stalling for time ... and then she had an inspiration.

"This will sound weird, but my boyfriend has expressed interest in joining that church." At least he will after I talk to him.

[Hours]

Having gotten away, Seishi reviewed his orders and went off towards the border into Rinkaiel proper, out of the protective bubble of the various people who had been searching that bathhouse for him and into the places where Kitaura and his ilk couldn't touch without stirring the nest of the sea eagles.

He'd been ordered to find a new place to stay and wait for orders.

---

As night was apparently falling, Gault sent his men off to enjoy their nights wherever they may find a bed. The new offices he'd rented that morning hadn't been set up for anyone to sleep in yet, and aside from those two little intimidation jobs he hadn't bothered to give them any more jobs for the day. He could handle this one alone, actually he could handle the last one alone, but it was good to shake the dust off every now and then.

Gault stopped for a drink in at the old Mead and Drum.

[Sareth]

"Riiiiiiight," Jasmine drawled, not looking particularly pleased. "I get that you've got some sort of interest in my daughter, and I'm willing to take on credit that you guys are part of some larger cabal than I'm used to. I'm even guessing that you are in quite a hurry to get back on that ball again, and talk with whoever. But that still leaves me without an answer for my question." She glowered at the man. "What f*****g organization are you guys?"

[ComradeHavok]

Mouse caught a glimpse of the man ducking behind a chimney, and heard no more footsteps. So, she ducked behind some crates and peeked just over the top of them, watching to see what the man did next. As she watched, she rummaged through her pack for an apple pastry. She found one.. but it was her last one. She briefly lamented this fact before proceeding to nibble on it.

[Graybeard]

Joe was starting to get seriously annoyed now.

"Look," he said, "you're starting to poke your nose into things you have no business poking it into. If you're not careful, you're going to get your damn fool self killed. I would honestly rather that not happen. There've already been too many deaths around here for the good of the business, and besides, the way you people are, you'd probably take someone else with you. But if you --"

To Joe's complete astonishment, the crystal ball spoke from its concealment. "Just tell her, Joe. She's probably figured it out already, and we can always deal with it later if it causes trouble."

Thunderstruck, Joe opened his mouth, closed it again, repeated the process. Finally, a single word came out ...

"Waffenbruderschaft."

----------

Galina blinked, twice. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting that."

Layla smiled wryly. "Yeah, it came as a surprise to me too." Although not as much of a surprise as it will be to Ace. "I guess it makes sense, in some strange way, for an airship pilot. They think the original airship technology came from the dwarves, you know, before Tsuiraku made them magical."

"Really? I didn't know that," Galina answered. "Anyway, I didn't really spend enough time there to have any ins. I guess I could introduce myself again to Reverend Orpiment and mention a possible convert. But let's get back to what we're here for. Take a look at this staff and tell me what you think it does..."

The lesson resumed, but Layla had already done a good afternoon's work in those few minutes.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Pastries and guns, it's a winning combination. I'm assuming we're around sunset now, since peeps posts are saying nights approaching, been a long day after all./OOC


Leo's stomach rumbled as sat on his perch and wondered briefly when he'd last eaten. A few minutes fell away as he cast furtive glances around the area from his vantage point. The mysterious hat was nowhere to be seen, and the shadows were growing longer as the sun kissed the horizon.

'Come on 'hero' she needs this done.'

Gingerly, he slid down the tiles and dropped down into the owner's back garden. He wasn't far from the edge of town anyway. A quick sprint would take him to the dusty road that lead to the vineyard. If his paranoia was right on the money at least they'd be guns on his side when he arrived.