[center][img]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/xYNz5Y2DKS83pKct9KXUY-PvT56r7LfcBYOL5o7bjPM/https/fontmeme.com/permalink/210424/1aacb67ba4eb5c934f204d6669b28a48.png[/img][/center][hr][center][color=CornflowerBlue][b]Location:[/b][/color] Circus Dressing Rooms [color=CornflowerBlue][b]Interacting with:[/b][/color] 'Madame Xanadu' ([@dreamingflowers]), KJ ([@DClassified])[/center][hr]

Sword-swallowing, it turned out, was not as easy as Alisa had thought it would be. Although she had no fleshy esophagus to pierce with the razor-sharp blade she was shoving in her mouth, it still hurt when it scraped the back of her throat. It had taken several tries (and several dozen YouTube videos), but Alisa finally figured out how to get it down her throat properly. Now, she stood in her dressing room, laptop open to a YouTube video, practicing lowering the long blade down her throat. It was one of Viktor’s katanas that he had allowed her to borrow for the show. Alisa was being extra careful with them- he wouldn’t be pleased if she scuffed up one of his swords.

After about thirty minutes of practice, Alisa left the tiny dressing room to go do something else. [i]Anything[/i] else. [color=CornflowerBlue][i]Maybe I’ll go watch the performances. Or sort through some of the suspects’ garbage?[/i][/color] Both were good ideas, although one of them was much grosser than the other. Alisa adjusted her little plastic mask while she wandered down the hallway, looking for something to do. 

Just then, a sequined purple cape entered the corner of her vision. Alisa turned to see the fortune teller… one of their suspects! She grinned and followed the woman down the hallway to her room. [color=CornflowerBlue] “Ma’am! Ma’am!”[/color] Alisa rushed to meet her. [color=CornflowerBlue] “Sorry… I just wanted to catch you to tell you what a huge admirer of your work I am. I love… the occult. I’m Ava.”[/color] She stuck out her hand. [color=CornflowerBlue] “And, erm, I also wanted to get a fortune? If you have time? I’ll pay once we get our paychecks, if that’s okay.”[/color] Of course, it was all a lie- Alisa definitely didn’t [i]want[/i] a fortune- but if it got her into the woman’s dressing room, so be it.

The fortune teller, Madame Xanadu stared at Alisa with an intense gaze, taking her time in answering the petite android. She looked to her sides, making sure they were alone before beckoning Alisa to follow her. The woman didn’t acknowledge Alisa’s faked enthusiasm and entered her dressing room. Once Alisa was inside she closed the curtains.

“Please sit, as you don’t have any money, place something of value inside the shell”
On a table there was a silver bowl, shaped like a seashell. It held the earnings of her previous reading. The woman took off her cape and disappeared to the back of the room. It was difficult to make out what she was doing there, a set of drapes concealed her from any clients in the main area of the room. 

Alisa drew back, surprised. How had the woman known she didn’t have money? X-ray vision? [color=CornflowerBlue][i]Creepy.[/i][/color] Still, she sat down cross-legged on the pillow in front of the low table, twiddling her thumbs as Madame Xanadu did something in the back. Something of value? Alisa was only wearing her skintight blue performance suit, black performance flats, and her mask. With a sigh, she untied the ribbon on her mask and put it in the shell, revealing her face. What was the harm in it, anyways? She wasn’t recognizable.

[color=CornflowerBlue]“I’m ready!”[/color]

There was no reply from the back of the room. No moving of curtains, or any other sound for that matter. It was suspiciously quiet. The only sound came from a set of wind chimes, which was strange because there wasn't any wind. Minutes passed and it seemed more and more likely Alisa was alone in the fortune teller's room. Madame Xanadu had pulled off an impressive disappearing act, almost as if she knew Alisa was coming to see her.

After a minute of sitting in silence, Alisa stood. Something was wrong. [color=CornflowerBlue]“Hello? Miss?”[/color] There was silence in return- Alisa couldn’t even hear the sound of breathing.

Perhaps this ‘Madame Xanadu’ was their Kobra operative. The innocent didn’t run. If she was, the team had a much bigger problem than before- Alisa had just totally blown their cover! The girl opened the curtains cautiously, going into the back room. 

The back room was full of papers- bank statements, letters, notes- but Alisa didn’t bother with those. Where had she gone? There weren’t doors or windows back here, but the woman certainly hadn’t just walked out the front door. Her being a teleporter was unlikely, so she had to have gotten out some other way.

That was when Alisas eyes fixated on the wind chimes, ringing despite the lack of wind. Her eyes widened. There was a secret entrance! She began to scour the area for any sort of secret opening, upending furniture and putting aside documents for later.

“Xanadu…” A lower male voice hissed from the entrance. He stepped into the room looking for the fortune teller. His eyes shifted from left to right nervously, he didn’t want to linger around too long. On the table he spotted the money shell holding a very strange object…  a ribbon? 

He walked over to the table and picked up the blue satin ribbon, holding it between his fingers. The man brought it up to his nose and smelled it, it didn’t have any distinguishable scent. There were some sounds coming from the back, but it wasn’t Xanadu, or she would have answered him. 

He couldn’t risk it, he had to get out without being spotted. The man quickly scurried out of the room, bringing Alisa’s ribbon with him. 

Upon hearing the unfamiliar voice, Alisa stopped looking for the secret door and pressed herself against the wall. She peered out the gauzy purple curtain, not making a sound. 

At first, she thought he was just some guy mad at the fortune teller… but then he [i]smelled her mask and ribbon[/i] and took them. The guy looked nervous, glancing around, and then left. 

Maybe he was the Kobra operative. Alisa glanced around the room, looking at documents. Not for the first time, she wished she had brought a purse… but while she was looking at documents, the guy was getting away! She was briefly agonized between going after the fortune teller or going after the man. One was technically her mission objective, while the other was much more interesting. And he had taken her stuff. 

Alisa needed to go after the man- she would come back for the documents later. She discreetly speed-walked out the door, going in roughly the direction she had heard him go out in. 

[hr]

After a few minutes spent searching, Alisa saw no sight of the man. [color=CornflowerBlue][i]Goddamnit.[/i][/color] What a waste of time! She then walked back to the fortune teller’s room, to find the door closed and locked. Evidently, Madame Xanadu had come back… and had probably found her things upended, rifled through. Alisa had no mask, had maybe just blown their cover, and had nothing useful to account for all that mess. She scowled and put her face in her hands. She had fucked up.

She still needed to go tell someone, though. Hadn’t Ja just finished his act? He had been in one of his good moods lately. She should go talk to him. 

Moments later, she knocked on the door of Ja’s dressing room. [color=CornflowerBlue]“It’s Alisa. Can I come in?”[/color]

Once let in, she leaned against the wall. [color=CornflowerBlue]“I hope your act went well! I went to talk to the fortune-teller. I can’t say if she’s the prime suspect or not, but it was [i]weird[/i]. She snuck out through some sort of secret opening in the back as soon as I came in, so I started going through her things, but then this guy came in looking for her. He seemed really nervous. He picked up my mask and ribbon and smelled it, and then left. I tried looking for him, but I couldn’t find him, and by the time I went back to her room the door was locked. I didn’t really get enough evidence to confirm anything.[/color]

[color=CornflowerBlue]“Anyways, I figured I’d come and tell someone what was up. That’s weird, isn’t it?”[/color] She looked a tad bit embarrassed as she said all this, perhaps aware of how dumb this all sounded, but otherwise looked fine.