[Closed] Wolf Liberation Mission

[rocketraccoon]

Character(s): Rocket, Daud, Billie, Shura, Strange, Kylo, Dany, & Jon.
Status: Closed
Location(s): The City of the Free Peoples/Defenders' Warcamp
Date(s): February 1st, pre-kidnappings
About: A small team of riffraf break into the Defenders' Warcamp, steal an abused wolf, and then try to figure out what the fuck they do next.
Warnings: Animal abuse and the team kills some people.

They have had weeks to figure this plan out, the team spread across the cities during it but in contact via courier. Daud had used Mercy to get an idea of the routines they were dealing with and all that they had needed after forming a plan was the distraction to kick it off. That distraction came somewhat unexpectedly on the first of the month when the orcs belonging to a group that called themselves Tsekour's Stormers made a heavy return.

With a quick word passed between the members of the team, they gathered not far from the warcamp, avoiding the fighting going on between the two armies outside the city, and set their plan in motion.

As luck would have it, the city's resistance had decided to take the same opportunity and so they had had a surprisingly simple time rescuing the chained and caged wolf, cutting down any defenders that got in their way on the way out and leaving no survivors.

The only problem? The wolf is in a state that healing alone can't fix and the team is left trying to figure out what to do with a starved wolf that members of the team suspect may either be the missing captain or related to him in some way.

Comments

Jonathan Strange | ota!

[kingsroads]

a: pre rescue
Considering that most of the team is some variation of battle-hardened, the nerdy elf in a simple tunic and no armor is sticking out like a sore thumb. That's something which Strange has realized as well, as he looks over at the various other members of the team, all who look like they could handle a weapon and all of whom look more capable in combat than he is.

Hmm. He's certainly the odd one out. Still, he wasn't brought onto this just for his good looks and lack of combat skills. But might as well reassure the rest that this person who doesn't look like he knows what he's doing actually does know what he's doing.

"You needn't worry about me," Strange casually remarks, as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small square of fabric. "I've fought in a war, I can handle myself here."

b: during or post rescue
As soon as the fighting started and the group of guards spotted them, Strange just straight up made himself invisible again. He's not an idiot, if they can't see or hear him then they can't hurt him! He'll still help out every now and then and occasionally conjures gusts of wind to try and knock down or confuse any defenders but he is staying hidden and unseen as long as possible.

He only removes his scarf and makes himself visible once they're out of the camp with the wolf in hand. Unfortunately, he's oblivious to the fact that he's making himself visible far too close to someone and that considering everything, people might be a bit jumpy.

"That went surprisingly well!" he chirps, too close to someone's ear for comfort.

post rescue

[redwhaling]

Billie... isn't jumpy, actually. Someone suddenly appearing is a concept she's familiar with — the Sea Wolves all knew the same teleport spell, so this happened fairly often — and that part doesn't bother her. No, what she reacts to is someone being far too cheerful right up by her ear as she's in the middle of pulling her whaler's mask off.

Yeah, she can tell it's Strange by voice alone. That just means he doesn't get punched. Instead, she gets the mask off and immediately turns to put a hand in the mage's face and shove him away.

"Never do that again," she tells him, firmly, like she's scolding an idiot who's just learned to do that. Which is, in fact, what it is. "Unless it's to put a knife in someone's back, which I'm pretty sure you don't do."

[kingsroads]

Strange is working on taking the scarf further off and is about to start folding it up before Billie spins around, shoves her hand in his face, and pushes him backwards some. He stumbles, but manages to stay upright. He gives Billie a slightly indignant look before realizing that if he was close enough for her to shove her hand in her face like that, then he might have been too close.

Maybe. He's still not 100% certain he was too close.

"I'd need a proper knife first. After that, who knows?" They both know he wouldn't stab someone in the back, that's something which is blatantly obvious. There's a brief moment before Strange decides to talk a little bit of shop. "By the way, that teleportation magic of yours is impressive. Self-taught?"

Because he has a sneaky suspicion Billie didn't go to one of the magical universities like he did.

[redwhaling]

Billie hooks the mask back to her belt and gives Strange a funny look when he jumps right to the magic bullshit part of the rescue. Admittedly, it was her magic bullshit and she likes it very much, but still, there's something irksome about him assuming she's 'self-taught'.

So rather than take it as a compliment, she takes it as a reason to get a little sarcastic, her reply coming out deadpan with, "What? You're so sure someone like me couldn't come from one of your fancy magic schools?"

[kingsroads]

"Most people from my fancy magic schools don't immediately jump to using their magic to put a knife in someone's back."

Strange gives Billie a little shrug as he says that. It's said in a very obvious tone of voice, completely unaware of any implications that he might be making about how posh (or not) Billie is. While he talks, he starts to unwrap the scarf from around his neck, brings the ends together, and starts to fold it up.

[redwhaling]

"You must have run with the dull crowd in yours, then," Billie replies, "I've heard academics are better backstabbers than I can ever hope to be."

That said, she'll actually relent after that and give Strange a real answer.

"But no, it isn't self-taught. I picked it up during an—" A what? Definitely not a class, certainly not a school. "Apprenticeship."

[kingsroads]

"Usually that backstabbing is metaphorical," Strange cheerfully responds, grinning all the while. Still, she's given him an actual answer, which he's fairly pleased about. He can still talk shop and drill Billie with a billion questions if it was an apprenticeship.

"For a profession, I take it? What were you before all this?"

Before they were brought back, though he doesn't specifically say that much.

[redwhaling]

"I was whatever I needed to be before all of this, so it varied," Billie gives the vaguest answer of all gods-damned time, complete with a shrug and turning away to go check on the wolf. It isn't much more than a few steps away, though, so it's not like that means she's ditched Strange.

[kingsroads]

What an annoyingly vague answer. Strange can't help but give Billie a little frown before he follows her. Yes, her checking on the wolf isn't ditching him. But he doesn't want to give her the impression that this conversation is over.

"Which of that whatever involved teleportation?"

[redwhaling]

"Most of them," Billie carries on giving Strange absolutely no clues as to what most of them even are. "You can find a use for that kind of spell in pretty much any trade, you know?"

[kingsroads]

Strange gives Billie a Look that plainly implies 'you aren't being helpful and I'm honestly quite annoyed at how unhelpful you're being.'

"I'd love to hear your justification for how teleportation could be useful in the banking or farming industries."

Not that he expects Billie to have been a banker or a farmer. But if she's going to give him grief, he's going to give her grief right back.

[redwhaling]

"Delivering paperwork? Moving crops across the field without having to carry it the whole way? Sure makes it easy to get goats off of the roof, too."

Billie can rise to this bullshit occasion just fine, thank you very much.

[kingsroads]

Goats get up on the roof? Unsurprisingly, Mr. Posh Upper Crust didn't know that. He manages to keep a neutral expression as Strange continues to match bullshit for bullshit.

"I am terribly sorry to hear your arms are so weak that you can't even manage to carry paperwork or crops a short distance," says the person who undoubtedly can't carry crops a short distance. "Perhaps you should see a doctor?"

pre rescue

[exaomori]

Strange is certainly the odd one out in this little ragtag group, and Shura is completely unconvinced by Strange's reassurances. However, this is different than the Long Night, and it wasn't like he was completely defenseless. It doesn't hurt that death only mattered so much at this point.

Shura eyes the fabric in Strange's hand, pulling up the loose scarf around her neck to cover the lower half of her face. Some kind of enchanted item? Well, obviously. She doubts that he'll keep its effects a secret from the rest of the group.

"We all fought back then, you know." Maybe not directly, but somehow or other. Shura doesn't mind letting him know that no one is going to be impressed.

[kingsroads]

"Which still proves my point," Strange responds, though inwardly he's frowning a little because shit, they all did fight back then, didn't they. Look at everybody else, they all might have fought in the army for a longer period than he did.

He continues to unfold the fabric. It's obvious there's an enchantment of some sort on the fabric because as he unfolds it, it unfolds into a scarf that's too big to come from the small piece of fabric he took out at first.

"Besides, this isn't like before. We know what we'll be going up against." Possibly orcs, possibly enchanted locks, possibly a potentially angry wolf.

[exaomori]

It proved absolutely nothing, Shura wants to argue, but she can't disagree with his next point.

"You're not wrong," she concedes. A few distracted orcs probably wouldn't be too much of an issue, not with the party they had. But that didn't mean they wouldn't run into trouble than they expected. She wouldn't worry about it, but with a guy like Strange--

Well, she wasn't alone this time. "Do somethin' stupid again, and I won't go after you."

This is a lie, she has too much of a heart to leave him behind. Plus, she has no idea how he would fare if he was tortured for information.

[kingsroads]

"If I do something stupid, I won't let them catch me," Strange points out, with a little hmmph. "I'm more prepared this time. They won't catch me off guard."

Mostly because his plan is 'don't let the orcs see me' which is only a semi-decent plan as plans go. Still, it's solid enough for Strange's tastes and hopefully solid enough that nobody would go after him or get hurt again due to his actions.

[exaomori]

There are a lot of people who could probably pull off that kind of line. Strange isn't one of them. Shura's lips press into a thin line, but for now, she'll go with what he's saying. Maybe he had gotten his stuff together in the last month.

No, she wouldn't be so lucky. But she had to hope.

"Whatever." But she was wasting time, talking like this. She'll move to retrieve her cloak and pull the hood up over her head to hide her bright hair.

[kingsroads]

As Shura moves her cloak over her head, Strange finished unfolding the scarf. "Like I said," he responds, as he starts to wrap the scarf around his neck. "I'm more prepared."

And poof, when he completes the link, he vanishes from sight, sound, smell, magical sensing, etc. The problem is, it vanishes him and not his animas. Bell the hare sniffs a little indignantly, looking around at nothing, before hopping over to Shura and staying near her side.

It's pretty obvious that the hare's going to hang out with Shura until Strange reappears or she spots him being hurt.

[exaomori]

Okay, that was fairly impressive. She knew that the scarf was going to do something, but that kind of magic was more than just a quick invisibility spell.

"Not bad~" Shura can give him that, resisting the urge to reach out and see if she could feel him. Really, she expects him to come up from behind her to try and spook her, but she's slightly distracted by the hare at her feet. Wait, what was she doing here? Shura had left Shishi back at the inn, so why was Strange's animas coming to her?

"Nya? What are you doing? This ain't a place for you." If this was because she couldn't see Strange and was just going to the closest familiar person...

[kingsroads]

Strange is going to wait a little bit before being an ass and trying to spook Shura. He's idly making his way around her, watching all the while.

Bell's behavior is definitely because she can't see Strange and Shura is the closest familiar person. She gives Shura a bit of a stare, which is odd for a rabbit, before settling down near Shura's feet. She ain't leaving.

[exaomori]

Shura frowns, crouching down to poke Bell’s cheek. “I ain’t going be much help to you.” Except she’s Strange’s animas and she doesn’t know if she’ll be safe or be able to keep up with them, so Shura’s considering whether or not it’ll be more trouble to make Strange send her away or if carrying her will be less work. Shishi had been ordered to stay behind, why didn’t Strange do the same??

Her back is nice and open. Someone who wasn’t set on being an asshole might think twice about taking such an obvious opening, but Shura’s stalker might not catch that.

[kingsroads]

Someone who wasn't set on being an asshole and who's not a bit of an idiot. Strange's combat experience is next to nothing and, more importantly, he's an only child. He does not recognize the signs of 'this is way too easy and I should probably reexamine my choices.'

He can't be felt while he's wearing the scarf so it's only when he makes his way behind Shura that he breaks the loop and reappears. There's a few seconds pause before he reaches over to lightly pinch the back of her neck. Hopefully this will give her a bit of a scare.

Bell accepts the cheek poking and makes a small little huffy noise.

[exaomori]

Bell only has to endure being poked for a moment. As soon as she can feels his fingers brush the back of her neck, Shura reacts. She snags Strange’s wrist, meaning to twist his arm into a hold that is going to sting.

“That was an obvious trap, Windbag.”

[kingsroads]

Strange lets out a little yelp of pain as Shura grabs his wrist and twists his arm into a hold. Ow, ow, that hurts, please stop that. He gives her an affronted look like somehow she's at fault despite the fact that he's the one who's causing shit.

"How was it obvious? You couldn't have even seen me!"

Just ignore the ten billion ways where it was obvious as hell.