[center][h1][b]The Tale Of [color=tomato]The Monkey[/color] And [color=yellow] The Snake[/color][/b][/h1]

[i][h3]-The Grand Escape-[/h3][/i][/center]

The Great Escape was bustling with patrons. The success of both Gemini and the Mavericks meant that they were gaining influence in the area. They were starting to carry out more operations, and they needed external help for a lot of that. Naturally, the heart of all freelance activity was thriving because of it. They might not have seen eye to eye on a single thing, but they all loved money and they all liked the business. 

This also made it a relatively safe place for meetups. Needless to say, the life of a freelance esper can get pretty dicey, so they tend to frown on people stirring up shit in their outposts. The Great Escape was one such outpost, and nobody was allowed to hurt anyone else. 

Viper had said that she would meet with Lilliah and/or Silmeria later to pick up a box, but she had been attacked. It was not evident if she would return or not, and no specific time had been given. There wasn’t any sign of her, but Viper wore a pretty uncanny suit last time she appeared, so who knew? 

Lilliah looked about the crowd as she walked along, clad in her usual sleeveless suit and having a more stoic expression on her face as she read the crowd with the best poker face she could manage. Not too hard if she imagined…less pleasant times in her life. She was looking and listening for anything that might indicate Viper was around, the gift kept safely in an inside pocket of hers, though she also sought to keep her guard up in case of anything…going sideways. The increase in business for her patrons was good, but at the same time the Mavericks had some influence here too. It was a two-way street, and one that left her somewhat nervous but also trying to keep neutral in a place like the Great Escape for a good reason as well. 

She had no idea if Viper was going to even show up after Merry’s, admittedly empathizable and relatively justified, attack on the other female esper. Viper seemed the sort to stick to business and keep it at that, and Lilliah was under no foolish preconceptions she could change it otherwise. It was more a thing initially done out of stupid monkey-like curiosity, one she silently swore at her esper form in her mind for pushing on her, and yet now she was hoping to satiate that curiosity without reaching out to get bitten in the hand either. Truth be told, she wanted to see why Viper wanted it so bad. If it got her information, then it was good for the future if she ever ran into Viper again. If it didn’t get her information, she wasn’t going to stick her hand in the serpent’s mouth for it one bit…

While snakes had a reputation for being stealthy, it was hard not to notice Viper’s neon colored hair sticking out from under a black baseball cap. She had her hands shoved into pockets in her jean vest and was staring across the table into space. Or at least her head was pointed straight ahead, her yellow eyes were scanning everyone who walked past her table. Though Viper would have no realistic way of spotting Lilliah, as she had only ever seen her in the esper state. 

Noticing the familiar hair, Lilliah pretended not to notice at first before making her way slowly over there and taking visible notice the second time. She sat down at the table across from Viper, looking at her right back in those yellow eyes. It was a far different situation than being in her esper form for this, with the caveat that she was more serious and stoic here than her esper form ever allowed. Looked totally different too. Even so, the Gemini Esper was not going to play all of her cards in a single hand either…

[color=tomato]“Are you Viper?”[/color] she asked in a rather formalized tone, albeit with a little exasperation tinting her words, lacing her own fingers together as she rested her forearms on the table, [color=tomato]“You match the description I was given well enough by my client. I was paid to bring something to you.”[/color]

Lilliah pulled her left arm back, reaching into a side pocket on her vest before pulling out the package itself. A small gift wrapped green and tied off in a gold and red bow. She gently pushed the package itself into the middle of the table, right between the two of them, without even batting an eye. 

Viper hadn’t budged an inch, even after Lilliah presented the box. Though her eyes were moving all over the place. Before long, she turned to look at the box.

[color=yellow]”Is that what they’re calling me?”[/color] Viper had never stated what her alias was. Though given that “viper” was written across her armor, it was probably a title she understood.

With cautious hands, Viper pulled the ribbon off of the box. The sight of such a pretty gift attracted attention from other tables, but that didn’t seem to bother Viper. She set the lid aside and pushed past some red tissue paper to get at the item inside. What she pulled out was a plush of a tiger.It had a big head with a cat smile stitched onto its face, and big marble eyes. Viper’s brow jumped when she revealed the contents. But after a quick inspection, she set the plush off the side and looked across the table.

[color=yellow]”So that’s it?”[/color] Viper folded her arms. [color=yellow]”No other instructions? You were just paid to bring it to me?”[/color]

Lilliah looked at the tiger plush with a raised eyebrow for a moment, but as Viper asked a question she let out a small but exasperated sigh. However, her face did not change its expression otherwise. She looked Viper back dead in the eyes afterward. 

[color=tomato]“For the most part, though the client offered a bonus to learn more about the package and yourself if I got the chance. They were curious to ask about why this package matters to you, and the nature of its contents. Yet around here, and many other places, looks can be more than deceptive. They can be a serpent ready to bite your hand with lethal intent if you reach too far into that enticing-looking hole in the ground.

So pardon my caution, but I’ve had such a ‘bonus’ opportunity like that bite me in the ass for not feeling out the situation first. A dumb mistake, but one I wish to not repeat again in the most blunt sense. Hence my disclosure of these things at this venture.”[/color]

The female esper ran a hand through her own bangs before resting her forearms back on the table once more.

[color=tomato]“…Though I will freely admit I feel somewhat more curious about this myself now, though, given it seems to be simply a plush toy of a tiger. Also given the very curious nature of how you and my client ran into each other, and the fact that they arranged for me to come to this meeting at all in the first place in their stead. 

To that end, may I ask what this package is to you and the nature and purpose of it in the first place?”[/color]

Viper Stared at Lilliah for a moment. But her serious exterior broke when she chuckled. [color=yellow]”What is this?”[/color] She put her hand on the tiger and pulled it closer to herself. [color=yellow]”I told two people about this meetup, and I knew damn well they were Gems. If they did their job, they’d already know what was inside the box. I expect the government to stick its nose into everything.”[/color] She sat back in her seat. [color=yellow]”Come to think of it, what is it with the ‘they paid me to drop this off’ shit? Gemini has operatives for that. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless…”[/color] Viper squinted her eyes. [color=yellow]”Unless one of them decided to work outside the system?”[/color] After a moment, that guttural laugh that was more fit for an older man escaped her mouth. [color=yellow]”If that’s the case, this is really spicy.”[/color] She tugged on her mask and adjusted her seat. [color=yellow]”I’m Afterglow. The ‘Viper’ thing was just an alias I used to appeal to Cobra’s ego. The proudest people are the easiest to manipulate. Just gotta fangirl hard enough and make them think they stand a chance to get some. My goal was just to fight the government espers, retreat, and snag the box once Cobra fled his office. Things got complicated.”[/color] She held up the plush. [color=yellow]”As for this? It’s a grimoire. Now, that ‘someone’ who hired you is probably well aware I can just blink out of the area. If you want me to stay, you’re going to need to keep things entertaining.”[/color] Afterglow pointed across the table. [color=yellow]”Enter the esper state. Now.”[/color]

For a moment Lilliah was silent, pulling her arms down beneath the table…but then a brief shine of transformation glimmered before the visage of Wukong sat before the merc’s very eyes. It was good they were in an isolated part of the establishment, though it wasn’t an ideal situation to be seen transforming. Now, however, as Afterglow’s eyes looked where the girl talking to her had once sat…Lilliah was wearing a grin, propping her legs up on the side of the table and crossing them with her hands behind her head and a cheeky grin on her face. The most idiotic, stupid, and foolish entrance she could have made, smiling into the face of certain danger right in front of her. 

…But for once, she had to swallow her pride to agree with her monkey-brained esper form. If she had to do this, because why not, she had to play along as best as she could. Even so, she gave a small chuckle as she swiftly picked up the grimoire-toy and began to look it over curiously. She made no moves to run away or any such thing, just simply to sit and look at it carefully without a visible care in the world. 

[color=tomato]“I just couldn’t resist! But it lasted longer than I’d hoped, so there’s that much. Was curious why you wanted that box so bad, and wanted to see how you’d react to a ‘third party’ being sent. Not sure if you are much willing to humor this all of course, or if I’m inherently screwed!”[/color] 

Afterglow sighed. [color=yellow]”Damn, I would have bet money you were the sniper.”[/color]

[color=tomato]“Hmm? If I had sent her, this place would have been leveled. Don’t think she even heard you back there either, given the murderous rage understandably going on.”[/color] 

The simian esper felt the softness of the plush and stared into its little eyes, her grin fading into a look of curious examination. Likely it wouldn’t react to her anywho, but all the same she was simply indulging her esper side to help play up the act in part. Not that it wasn’t at least partly genuine, her esper form made it easy, but giving into that influence was not something she did normally for a reason. 

[color=tomato]“Still, even though all of this could bite me in the ass or worse right now, I’ll hand this back in a second while we're both still here. So no rush. Not like you couldn’t kill me here or blink away with this thing anyways if I tried to run with it, and we both know that well enough by now~”[/color]

Viper’s hand briefly surged with magic. A yellow mist encapsulated her hand before she relinquished the tiger back to Lilliah.

Lilliah’s eyes looked back up into Aftertglow’s, that stupid shit-eating grin coming back onto the simian’s face as she sat properly in her seat now. The grimoire was placed back onto the table with noticeable care, sitting equally between herself and the merc. Wukong then rested her elbows on the table, placing her curled-up hands underneath her own chin as she rested her chin on them. The grimoire, for what it was worth was just sitting there staring back at the other esper as only an innocent plush could seem to. Not that it was just a mere plush, as that much was more than obvious by now. 

Viper’s eyes swung between the plush tiger and Lilliah. [color=yellow]”So what? You trying to turn this into a date or something?”[/color]

[color=tomato]“No no no! Not unless you think I’m that good-looking~”[/color]

The simian esper gave a teasing wink, before seeming to calm down a little more. This was met with a low growl from Afterglow.

[color=tomato]“Truth be told I just wanted to ask about the story behind this grimoire and why you wanted it. The story behind it all. That was all I’d be after here if I can get it.

…Maybe even ask a bit about yourself beyond that, but I figure that would be a bit too dangerous to ask about unless you felt like sharing something extra. Don’t wanna get bit for reaching ‘too far’ down the rabbit hole.”[/color] 

The female esper sat back and stretched her arms before resting them back on the table, casually this time, but keeping a general positive grin on her face. 

Afterglow stared at Lilliah in silence. Her mask may have hidden her mouth, but it was clear by her squint eyes that she wasn’t really sure what to make of the ape esper.

[color=yellow]”Fine.”[/color] she layed one of her arms along the backrest behind her head. [color=yellow]”My family was really good friends with the police commissioner in precinct eleven. Workaholic, never took a day off. Even on days he wasn’t supposed to be working, he’d be in there filing paperwork or whatever it is they do. ‘It beats sitting at home all day’ he’d say. Jeff really didn’t fit the stereotype of a loud, angry commissioner. I don’t think I ever saw him yell at anyone.”[/color] She pointed at the plush. [color=yellow]”My cousin had that plush right there. He used it a few times, but he had a bad habit of leaving it around. It’s kind of big by grimoire standards, but he didn’t like the idea of crushing it inside his pockets. So when we ate with Jeff, he set the tiger down and just forgot about it.”[/color] She sighed. [color=yellow]”I said Jeff never got angry at people, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t fuck around from time to time. He knew damn well who that tiger plush belonged to, and he also knew he had a birthday coming up. So he dug through last year’s leftover Christmas supplies and wrapped it up like a gift. He was going to make my cousin wait two weeks for his own plush tiger. He had this whole skit planned where he was going to pull the tiger out of his safe and say he found it at a crime scene or some dumb shit like that. We were all in on it, my parents saw more humor in the situation than I did. But it was just a plush to them. They didn’t know how important it was.”[/color]

She reached for a cup of coffee she had set off to the side, and held it up to her mash. Afterglow tapped the center of it, which opened a small port. She poured the coffee into the mask before pushing the cap on her mask back closed. Her filters puffed traces of yellow smoke out of the seams.

[color=yellow]”Days before his birthday, Cobra Gang shows up. Jeff was killed, and I may have known just where to look to see where people like him go to hire. I tried to charm my way into King Cobra’s favor. While he did give me my own security detail, it was impossible to enter the commissioner’s office without him leering at me. It wasn’t until big bad gems showed up that I might have had a shot at recovering it. And, well, you know how it went from there.”[/color] Afterglow seized the plush tiger and pulled it up to her chest. [color=yellow]”Satisfied? I’m not gunna tell a fuckin’ gem any of my personal details.”[/color]

Wuknog nodded in response, her attention having been rapt and admittedly more serious during the entire explanation process. It was a hell of a story to be sure, and even more a hell of a situation to imagine. Yet whether she could trust it as the full truth or not, it was satisfying enough of a tale to help soothe the simian-like curiosity that had pushed her into this situation in the first place. Not a pretty story, but far from the worst she’d seen or heard or frankly experienced thus far…at least from her perspective. Then again she wasn’t going to hold everyone to the bar of that last category in terms of severity... 

[color=tomato]“Fair enough! Sounds like a hell of a situation to come about to be sure, so at least you have the plush back if nothing else. Cute little thing though~

But hope your cousin does not lose it again. Or, er, however ownership of it goes at this venture.”[/color]

The female esper let out a small sigh.

[color=tomato]“You did what you felt you had to in order to get it back, plain and simple. Not that I don’t feel at least a bit peeved about the nearly dying thing, but that wasn’t the first time death and I have flirted with each other. Probably won’t be the last either. Though maybe we won’t end up on opposite sides of the battle one day, eh? Haha! [sub]Ah, depends on what jobs we both get really.[/sub] 

But I won’t press for more info about you anyway. Your life is yours, and my life is mine. More trouble for everyone than it’s worth to prod any further.”[/color]

Wukong leaned back in the seat, putting her elbows on the back of the bench seating behind her before talking again. She didn’t seem as absurdly peppy, more relaxed now after hearing it all, but even so she seemed to pick back up a bit. However, the edges of her mouth seemed to turn up just a bit. Noticeable, but not too much. That simian silliness would not leave her alone in this form, would it?

Afterglow grumbled through most of Lilliah’s closing thoughts. [color=yellow]”I don’t see us fighting together any time soon.”[/color] Her eyes briefly scanned her surroundings. [color=yellow]”But you’re one of the more respectable gems I’ve encountered.”[/color] 

Her body, and the plush, faded into a yellow dust before dissipating into the air. 

[hr]

[center][h1][color=tomato]Wukong[/color][/h1]

[i][h3]-Carmine Hall-[/h3]

"A Bloody Nightmare In Barovia"[/i][/center]

To say that the situation was something out of an old Hollywood horror movie would be an understatement. Dramatics, lightning, the pile of bodies, the blood, it all screamed of pure and utter [b]theatrics[/b] to the female esper's mind. The blood tunnel had been a nice touch, the promises of help were at least something unless the blood mage tried to pull a trick, the gunfire on the way in had been expected. Yet all the same something felt peculiarly 'off' about this mission so far. 

It was too perfect a setting for all of this, almost as if they'd been [i]expected[/i] in the first place and were being treated to the theater show meant to stall, stop, or kill them to avoid the utter and [i]sheer nuisance[/i] of the master of the house even thinking of descending to [i]their level[/i]. Had someone asked her to guess the plot point coming next, she'd have guessed things would go downhill until the master showed up with a limp Binky in tow and got defeated on the eve of his bragging victory speech. Or something along that sort of lines of 'hey this was all a ritual, and by shedding blood we summoned a demonic beast or whatever else'. 

Or perhaps she was overthinking things, which was very possible.

To see this all on a movie screen, however, was far removed from the real thing and the reality of it all that sat before them. Those were real bullets, real blood, and now a real vampire on an organ acting as if he had control. Truth be told he did in a sense, really, it was his home territory and he has hostages. One of her teammates, on the other hand, seemed ready to just blow his heart out of his chest with the pull of the trigger. Fair. 

And yet...

[quote=Valkyrie/Merry][color=orange]"Permission to cull the vampire?"[/color][/quote]

[color=tomato]"Something feels off about this,"[/color] Wukong said over the team's comms, her body already poised with a readiness to move in whatever direction she needed to by the time the vampire finished talking, not wanting to be ill-prepared for the scenario by standing around gawking or such, [color=tomato]"It's too theatrical. Too...neatly organized even. Like they were ready for us, or something else of the sort."[/color]

[center][hider=Banner Sheet] 

19 | Female | G.E.M.I.N.I. | Wisdom At Journey's End
Cherrywood Sage’s Staff | Quarterstaff | Physical | "Thrums With Power" (Aesthetic)
Blooming Crimson Peach | Unhindered Mobility
Tao | Wind | Oneness 
[Flight (6), Storm (4)] | Push (2), Pull (2), Restrain (4), Summon (4), Trap (0), Damage X (6)

DAMAGE: D  | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: D | 500

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: E | CHAOS: D | 500

[/hider][/center]

[@Izurich][@BrokenPromise][@Ponn][@FamishedPants][@SilverPaw]