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| Puzzle Me Out; PRP | Yan &Agatha | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 1 2016, 06:10 PM (131 Views) | |
| Yan Cass | Sep 1 2016, 06:10 PM Post #1 |
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Damaskian RP Guide
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Earth. Even after all her travels in the universe, it was still a fascinating planet. If anything, seeing what all was out there had made much of her home world all the more intriguing. In a lot of ways, she could appreciate Earth so much more after seeing how unique it was in comparison to many other planets, and it really helped her understand where other were coming from when she met people that weren’t native to Earth but considered the planet a home to them. Or at least, a favorite. Agatha smirked a bit as she thought back to one of her last forays into the astral realm. There, she’d met a man by the name of Yan. A curious individual, she’d found herself quickly interested in him. He was a lot of fun, intelligent and witty, handsome… and tricky. It wasn’t often that the gypsy met people that could outplay her at her own games. He’d certainly managed that once or twice in their little interaction in the coffee shop. But today… today, she was ready for him. It was two days until the meeting with Prince Vegeta, and Agatha had gotten plenty of time to catch up with her parents. Tracking down her new acquaintance had been rather easy, given some of her… resources. It had just been a matter of how she wanted to approach him. Truthfully, she could just waltz up while he was at a bar or coffee shop, but that would just be too easy. No, she was going to have a little fun -- hopefully he would, too. Smirking a bit, Agatha made herself comfortable as she waited. With any luck, the man would be joining her soon enough. Her plans had already been put into place and set in motion. It was only a matter of time… Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, a male redhead would likely be about, minding his own business. Or perhaps, minding everyone else’s business depending on how much people watching he was getting up to that day. Given the holiday season there were a lot of Earthlings wandering the crowded streets and filling up shops. It was a great time of year to be on Earth, with so much going on -- and not just because of the impending visit by Saiyan royalty. No matter where he was or what he was preoccupying himself with, Yan would find an envelope being dropped in front of him. It was fairly obvious it was for him, given that his name was written on the front. However, it would be impossible to tell who actually delivered the letter, as they had easily passed back into the crowds, leaving him alone with the mysterious gift. Once opened, he would find a single newspaper clipping inside. It was an advertisement for a new store that had recently opened up in town, a sort of hobby shop that sold things like games, movies, and novelty items. There were two interesting things about the newspaper clipping. One was that a single letter in the heading of it had been highlighted in blue: a lowercase T. The other thing of note would be that a section of the text had been circled in an orange highlighter. The part that was circled was a portion that discussed the store’s willingness to hold onto layaways and pre-purchased items during the holiday season. There was nothing else. No explanation, no notes or clues as to who this was from. The only clear message he would get was that it was a game, a puzzle set up by someone specifically for him -- and this clipping was his first clue. Would he play? Yan Cass was sitting on a park bench, and he was minding everyone’s business but in a more passive way than usual. Yes, people watching. He could be entertained just to sit and watch but today he had his sketchbook set absently in his lap and his pencil skirted over the page with little focus. There were drawings of faces in mid conversation, half drawn figures holding shopping bags, their clothes especially detailed, an old man hunched over a table (he had been playing chess by himself until recently, when his companion, a young boy, had finally reached him), and the bottom of the page was a mess of the crowd, blurred together in an artistic fashion. It was a busy day. The weather was nice, cold to suit the season, but sunny and no wind chill to speak of. The page was filling though, and he knew he would need to find something new to do soon. Impossible was not the word he would have used for catching the delivery man’s approach. It was skillful, but Yan felt his gaze immediately, as he felt every small glance. It didn’t stay on him, and he would have let it go but their feet were coming towards him in a roundabout fashion. That was probably why he had looked at him, he thought. He was simply looking in the direction he was going, and yet Yan was more paranoid than that. He became more so as the person slid through the crowd with the ease of an assassin. He was trained, his ki suppressed, and he blended in so well Yan almost lost sight of him a few times before he finally came in range of him. Something dropped and Yan’s hand snatched out, not to grab at the potential bomb but the deliverer wrist. If he exploded, so would they. Nothing exploded, but that was not how it felt to the deliverer because Yan had grabbed his wrist fierce enough to bruise, his pencil pressing right over their artery, and his killing intent seething out enough to cripple the untrained target. The person could not get themselves to speak and their eyes stayed fixated on Yan’s which were more darker then Agatha had ever seen them. To the deliverer, he might as well have been looking at death. He saw age, experience, and no emotion. They were the eyes of a killer and as they stared back, their innocence was written across their face as clearly as their fear. Yan stared for only a moment, though it probably felt forever to the deliverer, then he let go and his eyes closed. The deliverer was gone in an instant. The redhead lifted his eyelids just enough to see the ground and the envelope that had been left, his other senses reaching out as far as they could. He could have kept the deliverer there and questioned them appropriately, but he realized that was not the game. They were supposed to drop in unnoticed, leaving only the gift, and no other hints, and he had almost ruined it. He reached for the envelope, his gaze finally lifting to scan the crowd carefully, his guard still on high alert. He did not think of Agatha then. It wasn’t that he forgot about the girl, quite the contrary. He had made himself known over the last week purposely for her. He could be a ghost when he wanted to be, and considering the work he was doing for the Shadowguard he should have been, but instead he kept to a few haunts in Central City and didn’t disguise his exits. He walked about with a target on his back and it was a bit exciting in it’s own way. He had made himself incredibly easy for his enemies to find, but for a girl with only his face and first name, she would need connections, and he was waiting to see if they would pan out, but, well, he had made himself incredibly easy for his enemies to find him. After finding nothing suspicious in the crowd, no lingering shadows, no strings of ki left behind, he leaned back and inspected the gift. His name was scrawled neatly on the front and it was sealed neatly behind. He tucked his finger into the fold and then ripped dramatically, closing his eyes tight and letting out a loud and childish ”Kaboom!!” shocking many the passerby. Still, nothing exploded. He opened one eye to look once again at the envelope with a child like suspicion, then let out a silent laugh and relaxed once more. What could it be, what could it be? He didn’t dig his hand inside, instead turning it upside down in his lap and pushing the paper in a way to enlarge the hole. The newspaper clipping fell into his lap and almost onto the ground but he caught it with his free hand. He lifted it up and looked at it with a bored expression, after all, it hadn’t exploded, and read the contents within a quick moment. He flipped it over and the other side was half a diaper ad and half a Dear Abby, so he had to assume the written upon advertisement was his only clue. He had not been to this store, but he knew the part of town it was located in, and he thought he remembered passing some kind of balloons at some point around there. Two highlighters had been used, one to dash across a single “t” and then an entirely separate color circled around a segment about layaways. Did someone want him to pick up a package? He lifted his gaze once more, through the ever changing crowds and frowned with a protruded lip. He could think of a number of people to set him up in such a way, but none that he had seen in a while and were on this planet. It was possible that someone from there had come about to fuck with him. They should know by now he enjoyed it. He found himself hopeful, still not suspecting the young political celebrity in all the other options. There were too many for him to even put his energy into guessing, and for all he knew, it was someone entirely new! Something to do had found him. He tucked the advertisement in the pocket of his blazer that held his cigarettes, then capsulized his sketchbook in one easy motion. He stood and stretched, his fitted tee rising enough to show his belt and he let out a deep sigh as he returned to standing straight. His energy was suppressed to a healthy three thousand, high for a human, low for a fighter and it had not even twitched when he’d stopped the poor deliverer. With that small incident passed, he looked like the average human. He wore nice enough clothes and his shoes propped him up so he didn’t look too much the middle schooler today, though with his childish playing a few passerbys must have assumed. He had a bag today and picked it up off the bench and slung it over his shoulder. It was a tell to anyone who knew him, because he kept more things in his pockets then Doraemon and never needed a bag, but that was a separate mystery. He used his pockets for his hands at least, and started walking the ten or twenty blocks it was to the shop. He had no rush that he knew of, and since the Riddler had provided such a limited clue, he figured he was fine as long as he at least got there before the shop was closed for the day, and there were hours until that. Despite not using any of his enhanced speed, he walked like someone used to commuting as such, and he weaved through the crowds and owned the sidewalk. It didn’t take long to cover the ground needed, and all the while he kept his senses on high alert for any sign of a Watcher to this riddle. In his experience, such games were played less laid back then Agatha was playing, and while walking into a trap was always fun, he wouldn’t look the fool in it. Or maybe he would, because there was no sign of anything off as he reached the door of the intended shop. He reached for the knob without any pause but as he moved to pull it open he let out another quiet ”Kaboom~” It was a busy day for shoppers and the store was not full per se, but it had it’s wanderers. Yan walked through and joined them, looking over the novelty items and games like he might buy one. You never knew what you’d find in such a shop. Last time he was in a pawn shop he’d found a dragonball, but he was more impressed here when his eyes passed over a Dr. Thunder action figure. What a find! He picked it up and looked it over, it kind of looked like Chishan now that he thought about it, but then shook his head and set it back. He really didn’t have a place for it. It took him a minute to reach the counter, and the shopkeeper looked at him expectantly. ”I think I’m here to pick something up,” he says inattentively, looking at the shelves behind them instead. He had to shake his head again and look to the clerk apologetically. ”Either I’m here to pick up something for ‘t’ or this is more complicated than I’m giving it credit for.” The clerk looked at him for a moment, blinking as though trying to decipher the fact that a customer came in without knowing for sure that he had bought something. Then, a moment of clarity passed over the man’s face. “Ah, I know who you are. Hang on. Yours is in the back.” The man disappeared, leaving Yan alone for a moment. When he came back, there was a wrapped package in his hands. “Yan?” he confirmed, before handing the parcel over. It was a small box, not tiny but not overly large either. The wrapping around it was plain green, and the only thing on it was a name tag from the store with his name written on it -- and yes, the handwriting was different than that which had been on the outside of the envelope. Presuming Yan unwrapped the item, he’d find something rather peculiar inside. It felt rather like a game box, and if shaken he would hear what sounded like a couple decks of cards. However, while the plastic sealing around the box had not been tampered with and was clearly still closed, it had been completely blacked out with sharpie on every side, meaning that he couldn’t see for sure what the item was. There was a message written with a gold sharpie on the top over the black. Don’t peek. I’ll know. It wasn’t the only thing there. Taped on top of the box was a gift receipt, but a close inspection of the paper would show that the receipt wasn’t for the store he was currently in. It was actually for a large wine and spirits store a few blocks down; a place that was known for selling anything and everything when it came to alcohol. The date on the receipt was from yesterday, and as with any gift receipt the actual item wasn’t listed -- only a code that the store could use to look it up. There was also something highlighted on the receipt. More letters, this time more than one. The name of the store was Cenobio’s, a popular place located next door to a small herb and flower shop. The first three letters, “Cen”, were highlighted in the same blue that the “t” was on the newspaper clipping. If he was smart, and of course he was, he’d be figuring out that there were two parts to this game. One was following the more obvious clues to different locations to gather things, like a scavenger hunt. The way it had been set up wasn’t meant to be difficult, only mysterious. The second part would be a little more tricky. The letters obviously had some significance and would likely spell something eventually, the question was: what? Presuming he made his way to the liquor store to turn in the gift receipt, he would be greeted by a female floor manager with a slight grin. “I was wondering when you’d show up. The mysterious recipient of the card we’ve been holding.” Ducking into the manager’s office, she came back with an envelope. Handing it to him, the clerk smirked. “Before you ask any questions, I have been heavily bribed to keep my mouth shut. Happy spending,” she told him, giving him an appreciative up and down look and a wink before going back to work. Inside this envelope were a couple of things. The first was a matching, non-gift receipt that matched the one he’d received. It was for a voucher that was also inside the envelope, worth one hundred dollars. Curiously, there were also some loose seeds in the bottom of the envelope. There was nothing inside the envelope to gift any clues as to what kind of seeds they were… ...but someone in the small flower shop next door might know. “T” wasn’t it, but the clerk seemed to figure it out on his own. The game was less secretive than he’d assumed. The Riddler had recruited quite the few people to do their bidding, it seemed, and openly. When he was questioned his name he nodded, with a grateful smile. He wondered what the man was thinking of this game. A lover’s scavenger hunt? Perhaps that’s what it was. The clerk certainly sympathized with the right kind of cheer, like the end would be worth it, my friend! Yan took the box, and like a little kid, he inspected the wrapping carefully then shook it gently at his ear. Cards? He looked back behind him, craning his neck to see the aisle where such games were held but giving up after a quick moment. The name tag once more had his name, written differently, either by someone different, or on purpose. He had never studied handwriting like that. Hell, he couldn’t even improve his scribble of a thing called writing. He swore it was because he learned so late in life, but that was just an excuse. He could do anything if he put his mind to it, he just so rarely did. There was no other clues attached, so he set the box gently down on the counter, while the shopkeeper watched with amusement. He tucked his thumb in the fold and carefully ripped where the tape had held it, opening a hole at one end. Sliding his hands in, he gripped the box and slid it out without damaging the paper further. He saw the gift receipt first, the gold of the sharpie blending in like a design but he set the box down once more and admired the effort of blacking out the plastic. He ran his hand along it, tempted to try and smudge it but the message was clear. No peeking, whoever would know, and once more he’d risk ruining the game. He carefully pulled back the tape on the receipt so none of the sharpie would come off with it, then smiled happily as he understood the next destination. Once more there was that separate sharpy used to highlight a few letter this time. “T” and “Cen.” He wondered vaguely if he was working backwards. This was becoming a scavenger hunt of sorts, but he wasn’t one to jump at a puzzle without all the pieces unless he could be active about it. Running from store to store was fun, but he’d wait for more letters before he mulled any meaning to them. He looked up to the clerk, tilting his head with a questioning look. Had it been paid for? The man nodded and waved him off, but he slipped his hand into his pocket and left him a note regardless. Whoever had set this up had probably taken well care of their minions, but he’d take care of them further if he could. The first guy didn’t count. Tucking the box under his arm he started out, and headed in the direction of the liquor store. It was much closer to the shop then he’d been in the park, probably arranged as such to not drag him all the way across the city each time, so it only took moments. He wandered in and his eyes flickered over bottles and he had to stop himself from heading towards the rum. He forced himself to the counter first, figuring the gift receipt might hold what he was looking for. ”Hullo~” he says warmly to the next clerk, sliding the receipt to her across the counter. When she scanned it she instantly lit up giving him a slight grin and explaining her role. He grinned back, though secretly he was thinking: A card and no alcohol? When she returned she offered him another sealed envelope. Before he could look up from it, she was already explaining she could not spill any beans. She gave him a one over and a wink and he suddenly had a large inkling who was running this show. He tucked his thumb under the fold once more and tore the top off with a bit more enthusiasm than care this time. He looked inside instead of dumping it, and carefully removed the receipt and the voucher. Oh, there would be alcohol indeed, he was just to pick it. One hundred dollars to spend~ The envelope still had some weight, so he pushed the sides together so the hole opened wider and peeked in at the small seeds. He plucked one out, but he was hardly a herbologist. He remembered the shop next door though and smiled quietly to himself. Such a careful plot, he had underestimated her. Or no, that wasn’t a fair assessment, he had not estimated her at all. He knew upon meeting they were alike, and that she was exceptionally bright and definitely knew how to think things out. She gave off the air of being clever, even if he’d managed to lure her into small traps of conversation. Those were easy to fall into though, he was exceptionally clever and he fell into them all the time. She had joined him and was immediately playful, looking just for another person’s tale she could add to her collection, but she engaged him and they forgot about the topic of him in the wake of the world. When he had asked she look him up he expected a number of things, but his imagination hadn’t expanded to a play of these sorts. Oh, he liked Agatha. He wandered through the aisles still with no rush and thought absently what to buy. There was one problem with this foray, and that was that he did not know whether they were eating and what. Some liqueurs were better with certain foods than others, and while he was hardly a snob about it, he’d been in a few situations where besides the want to get drunk, he’d rather be quenching his thirst from a meal with the complimentary water. That was no good~ He liked when things paired well. He found himself in front of the pricer whiskey sooner than not, the game still tucked under his armpit but his arms were crossed. Agatha wanted to know about him, so if he could, he should probably get something he preferred. It took him a bit of search but eventually he picked up a Madeira-finished rye whiskey. He knew the brand, and the age was good, so he sided with that even though it went a tad over her one hundred limit. Juch would cover the bill~ This was needed expenses, okay? Despite his Scottish accent, which wasn’t actually native to Scotland, that silvered in and out of Yan’s dialect, depending on his mood and what he was saying, his like for Scotch was also highly coincidental. They had something very familiar to whiskey in the harsher crime filled lands of Kelioux, away from the Masters’ prying eyes, and he had always found comfort in it. The Madeira-finish was more similar, adding a small caramel and chocolate note that rolled up from the back of your throat after a taste. On Kelioux it was made completely differently, but somehow the two tasted quite alike. He took the bottle back to the counter, and ended up finding the same clerk who had given him the card. He offered her the bottle, the receipt, and a business credit card that said “Juche Study Groups.” She gave a small pause, looking over Yan once more before her face turned very apologetic. ”I’m afraid I still have to card you,” she says, trying to laugh off the awkwardness. Yan helped in the fact he grinned, laughing a little himself before nodding. He slipped out his wallet again and handed her another card, this one a picture ID that carried his face, but the name was “Yan Matthews.” She gave it a quick look over, the age labeled him twenty-eight, before sliding it through the card reader. It went through without a problem and she handed it back and moved on to scanning the bottle. She didn’t comment on his buying over, merely wrapping up the bottle with care and scanning both the voucher and his credit card, which also went through without a problem. Now, his arms were filling. He left the shop and instead of going immediately next door, he set the bottle and the box on a bench outside the shop that was meant for the bussing commuters, before looking over his envelopes once more and tucking them into the pocket with his cigarette case, this time removing it. Despite believing now that it was Agatha leading him about, he was still a bit guarded, making note of every person that passed by him or even within thirty meters of him. It was a trained skill that required little from him, but he was being even less reckless thinking it was the other redhead. He would hate for something to happen and ruin his getting to her, if that was in fact where all this lead. After smoking a hand rolled cigarillo that made the air smell of smoke, strawberries, and something not very familiar to most Earthlings, he squashed it in his own portable ashtray and set the butt carefully aside for disposal of later on. He readjusted the box under his arm so he could hold the bottle in the same hand and be free with the other to retrieve the seeds and open the door to the shop. Very important, being able to open the door and get in. It was a quaint shop, and his nose quickly filled with different scents upon entering. There was only one counter and it was not far away from the door so he started towards it. The clerk was busy helping someone else, explaining the meanings of specific flowers and what might be suitable for the bouquet the man was trying to give his angry wife. To his credit, the customer listened to the man thoughtfully, and chose with care not over the top romantic, but more gentle meanings in the flowers, and kept the main one as red tulips, which he explained, likely for the tenth time, were her favorites. It took some time for him to ring the fellow up, but Yan was still not in a rush, despite the building excitement, he had no intention of squashing, at the idea of seeing Agatha again. When the man was fully ringed up, the clerk looked to Yan apologetically, then curiously as he realized he had no flowers in his hands. ”Ah, hopefully you’ve heard of me,” he says offering him the envelope empty of anything but seeds now. He didn’t want to risk spilling them. He said hopefully, because he kind of doubted the run of the mill shop keeper could figure out a plant from just their seeds. They looked pretty generic, without many special attributes. Maybe it was something you learned to take notice of, but to Yan they were pretty plain seeds. ”I’m left wondering what these grow into.” Agatha smirked a bit as she looked in her little pocket mirror. ”Madeira whiskey? Mm, Yan you really are a man after my own heart…” she cooed lightly to herself as she lifted her lipstick to her face and touched up her makeup a bit. Though she was unaware of the man’s thoughts, she would hilariously be thinking about her own heritage… and the fact that she actually was full blooded Scottish. So much traveling and learning a lot of languages and spending time in so many different cultures meant that her accent only cropped up at certain times as well, but there was still a love of whiskey that coursed through her blood. Even as the male redhead made his way to the flower shop, Agatha set her compact down and tapped her lips with her fingers thoughtfully. ”Now, what goes good with a rye whiskey?” There was always steak. Steak went well with just about any whiskey, but that was a cop out meal as far as Agatha was concerned. That was playing it safe, and whatever might come of this… playful little budding friendship of theirs, she had a feeling it was going to be far from cautious. At the very least, he seemed to be enjoying himself -- although he had reacted rather violently to the person who’d run her first errand, something Agatha had already made up to the poor accosted man. Yan hadn’t tried to peek into the box, much to her delight, and was grinning an awful lot through this whole ordeal. Likely by now he figured out what was going on, and that was fine. Agatha wasn’t really trying to keep herself anonymous, she was just havin a little fun and making him work a bit to find her. Anyway, back to the whiskey. The one he’d chosen wasn’t one she was familiar with, so she looked up a couple reviews on her tablet to discover that it fell more in the sweet category, with a bit of a caramel aftertaste. Ideally, it was more of a desert whiskey… but perhaps it would go well with a nice smoked salmon. Most whiskies still were more peppery than anything else, no matter the aftertaste, and salmon worked well with that. It also went well with sweeter things, since a lot of fish was often cooked with honeyed or fruit glazes. Agatha smiled. Yes, fish would do. Picking up her phone, she made a call. ”Yes, hello. I would like to place an order. Delivery, please.” Meanwhile, the lady working the flower shop finally finished up with her customer and was ready for Yan. When he made a comment about hoping the lady knew who he was, the elder woman only blinked at him in a mixture of confusion and concern, as if to say, ‘Am I supposed to know who you are?’ Clearly, this lady was not actually in on the puppetmaster's game. But, she shook off the expression and took a look at the seeds for him. “Hmm,” the lady hummed in thought, dumping a few of the seeds into her palm and poking them around a bit with a finger. “I can’t say as to the color, but they definitely look like lily seeds.” Setting them down on the counter, she reached around to a stand where there were packets of flower seeds for sale and selected one of the ones for lilies. Opening it up, she poured a few out next to the ones that had been in Yan’s envelope, careful not to mix them by accident. They were identical. With a nod, she carefully scooped the seeds back into their respective containers. “Yep, those are lily seeds,” she informed him, handing him back his envelope. The lady pointed toward a corner of her store. “You’ll find some in the back there, if you want to see what colors they might come in.” And there were a lot of colors. An entire display had been set up with lily based arrangements. A small display, but it was big enough to show that there was quite a variety of hues: white, red, yellow, orange and pink. There were arrangements in vases large and small, both mixed with other flowers and not. There were even a few bouquets… one of which, if he was looking for details -- as he should be at this point -- might catch his eye. It was a smaller bouquet of fierce looking orange lilies, dark enough that there seemed to be a hint of red in them. Mixed into the arrangement was a little bit of white baby’s breath and vivid stems of both green and red eucalyptus leafs. It was a bold collection of flora and fauna, striking to behold. Like many other such bouquets in the store, it had one of those little plastic sticks in it that could hold a small card for writing a note on before giving to the recipient. This one, however, already had something written on it: “Y- Pick me..!” It was written in similar handwriting to what was on the sharpie covered game box. Additionally, a closer inspection would show that the paper it was written on was a bit on the glossy side… which did not match the other cards that came from the store, which were more dull and easier to write on without smearing the ink. In truth, it looked rather like the back of a business card -- which is exactly what it was. If he took a look at the other side, he’d find the card was for Tara’s Coffee House -- the very same coffee and tea shop where Yan and Agatha had met in the astral realm. There was nothing highlighted on the card, since a highlighter wouldn’t have stuck to such glossy material. However, two letters were outlined in blue ink from a ballpoint pen: “ra”, the latter half of Tara’s name. Should Yan make the short trek to the coffee store, he’d find it to be decently busy -- not overwhelming, but not deserted either. What would be curious, however, was that if he paid attention he would find that the exact little table where he and Agatha had met would be empty. And the only things on the table would be a folded newspaper… and the cup that the gypsy had taken from him in the astral realm. Yan smacked himself in the face, although very gently, more of a gesture than an actual smack, as she gave him such a confused look. Of all people, the florist wasn’t in on the game. He dragged his hand down though as she explained they looked like lily seeds, and offered her a look of both skepticism and admiration. As she moved to get the package of seeds to compare he smiled to her gratefully. She poured them out and he bent over a little to get a closer look, and they were in fact identical. ”Wow,” he says easily, his skepticism slipping to awe very easily, then looks back to her with a wide grin. ”Thank you~” he says in such a genuine manner the woman was a bit taken back. She offered him a weak smile in return and he took the envelope back and tucked it carefully in his breast pocket before following her pointed instruction and finding his way to the lilies. Humility and devotion didn’t seem to suit Agatha one bit, but they were a popular plant and pretty by themselves. He was reminded of this by how large a section there was of them. Like the stores before, he took his time and wandered a little through the selection until he came across what he was looking for, in a way. She didn’t seem to trust his taste this time, picking a specific bouquet of a fiery orange. He pulled the business card out carefully, and read over the front before suspiciously flipping it over. His smile grew again as he saw it was to the coffee shop they had first “met,” of sorts. Another syllable was highlighted, and he stared at it for a moment still not seeing the bigger picture there and wondering if he should. He shrugged it off after a bit, and picked up the small bouquet and started back. He paused at a soft looking bouquet of aster and anemone, and touched one of the flowers gingerly before moving along. Patience and anticipation. He had enough of it. The florist had moved away from the counter once more to busy herself in the many other responsibilities she held, so he set the flowers down gently and waited, turning the business card over his fingers with a bit of skill. This whole journey he could feel a certain eye on him, but while he’d been out smoking the number increased. He could play it risky with the one, and hope Agatha was keeping a watch on the game she’d carefully crafted, but with eyes on him in the plural, he couldn’t continue to pretend to be naive. Well, he could, but that might get him into trouble at the wrong time. He stopped the card firmly in between his thumb and index finger and looked down to the strange box he had left untouched as ordered. She was really running him about. She had taken control and pulled him into her little world, but his would not leave so easy. He did love trouble. ”That’s a good choice,” the florist says kindly as she moved back around the counter. Yan offered a much weaker smile that she recognized as a man getting something he did not appreciate nearly as much as the person who was receiving it would. At least they hoped. She rung up the bouquet and he put it on the same business credit card as the whiskey. He slipped the it back into his wallet with the card for Tara’s before he returned it to his pocket, then rearranged the box, the drink, and the flowers once more, so he could still have one hand to open and close doors. The coffee shop wasn’t far from here either, the largest hint now it was in fact Agatha, though Yan was beginning to think it would be hilarious if it wasn’t her, and was recalling the one time an old work acquaintance had led him on a similar wild goose chase, using this beautiful romantic he was flirting with as a false bait. That had turned into quite the day. He found himself still looking for shadows that didn’t belong, but none showed up and he smiled almost in disappointment. Cards were being dealt, but he still didn’t know whether he was playing Rummy or Gin. ”He looks like he’s going on a date. Should we terminate?” ”No, just be weary of the timing. His partner could be more dangerous than we have planned for.” ”From what we’ve gathered, she’s an Earthian celebrity.” ”Just be weary of the timing.” Yan reached the coffee shop in a matter of minutes and was happy to see it was making a decent business. He drew a bit of attention doting flowers now with everything else but he didn’t seem to pay it much mind. He was tempted to go find a place in line even if that wasn’t part of the game, but the whiskey he was carrying beckoned louder, even with the slight earliness it was in the evening. That and, he noticed his table wasn’t empty. There were no people, but a cup sat by it’s lonesome, waiting for an owner to return. It wasn’t just the table he met Agatha at, it was the table he took whenever he came here. It had a good view of all the exits and was backed by a wall not a window. When the door opened, the draft didn’t carry far enough to reach it. It wasn’t a particularly special find, but it was where he returned to in his many runs here over the last few weeks, and probably a year before that. His eyes narrowed a little, but one of the barista’s who knew him well enough to draw monkeys on his cups caught his presence and gave him a big wave pulling his attention away. He smiled at her, lifting his hand in turn, and she looked at him quizzically due to his full arm, but his mind was already on the cup and the table. He strode over to it, and his free hand’s fingers trailed over the edge first as he looked at cover of the newspaper, reading it before reaching for the familiar cup. The first peculiar thing he would notice about the newspaper was that there was a single letter highlighted in the familiar blue in the headline: “L”. However, there was something else. In a yellow highlighter, there was another letter picked out: “O”. If he opened the newspaper he would find that there were several single letters selected in the yellow color, totaling in O,R,V,E,E, S, I, R, and R. Certainly a puzzle of some kind for him to spell out. As he picked up the cup, he would hear something rattle inside of it. Upon looking inside he would find that the inside of the cup had been cleaned so that there was no sticky residue to gutter up the Capsule Corp pill that was inside. Presuming he would open it, within Yan would find a small storage box. The box was empty outside of a smaller cardboard carton and a note that had a very gentle, almost unnoticeable waft of perfume on it: Dinner will be ready soon. Don’t keep me waiting too long~ The box itself would be big enough to hold everything he’d been carrying except the flowers. If he desired, he could place the alcohol and game in the box and store them both easily in the capsule so he could have his hands free. But now, of course, he had to figure out where Agatha actually was. He had all the clues he needed in the form of all the letters she’d singled out for him, he just needed to put them together in the right order. Additionally, the carton held yet another puzzle. Literally. Once the lid was lifted, inside would be puzzle pieces. It didn’t appear to be too large of a puzzle, no more than fifty pieces or so -- something that wouldn’t take more than a couple minutes of concentration to put together. The only issue he would find was that there was no cheater picture to follow, no cover shot to give away what the final picture would reveal. When he did put it together, it would culminate in a picture of a lakefront shoreline. The picture itself looked like it had been taken from a personal camera, rather than a professional one. In fact, the puzzle itself looked like one of those that was easily made by sending a picture to the right company and having them make a puzzle for you. There were a few people in the picture, but no one decipherable -- mostly just random people enjoying the water and the sunshine, little more than colorful blurs on the picture. There was a lot of grass and trees that lead close to the water, and beneath one tree was a single item that stood out: A tall sun umbrella that had been staked into the ground over two empty beach lounge chairs. The umbrella itself was big enough to shade both chairs, and was decorated in bright orange and yellow stripes. Meanwhile, Agatha was rather enjoying herself in the shade of her umbrella. She was stretched out on her chair, feet crossed comfortably at her ankles as she watched the other redhead in her mirror with a grin. The gypsy was more than pleased that he’d decided to play along with her little game, not that she had expected him not to. Like her, he had a curious mind and a sense of adventure. It was easy to tell, despite having only met him the one time. He seemed to be enjoying himself, at least. Either way, Agatha was not the type of person to do something like this with someone without making sure the end result was worth it. She glanced up for a moment and smiled at a passing couple that was enjoying a hand in hand stroll around the Central City Reservoir. The lake itself was rather small, but no less lovely as it was a natural lake and not a man-made one that had been polluted with concrete and murky mud water. The small size of it made it nice because one would not have to take very long to walk around its circumference, which meant that Yan likely wouldn’t have to look very long to find her -- particularly since she’d made sure her umbrella was a big landmark for him. And, additionally, it was not very far removed from the city itself. In fact, it was attached to the park that Yan himself had started his journey at. What Agatha didn’t realize, however, was that she was not the only person watching Yan, nor that she herself had been observed by those who were tracking him at least enough for them to have some vague idea of who she was. The gypsy knew little about her mysterious acquaintance except that he was fun, intelligent, sly, and wanted to see her again when she returned to Earth. Agatha, of course, was not one to argue. He’d piqued her interest more than enough, and she’d been looking forward for some time to enjoying his company again. Hopefully, she’d actually get the chance to. There were two letters that stood out from the rest, but otherwise the article was quite what he expected. It was today’s paper, one he had already looked over actually, and it was a spoof piece on the upcoming assembly. He didn’t open it yet, taking the cup and jiggling the contents inside it. He slid into the chair, setting down the box, the whiskey, and the flowers gently on the table. Inside was a single capsule, and he plucked it out with his now free hand, and carefully read the label: “Storage, B6:KLN”. Well, that could be anything, but it designated the size, and it was not too large to open where he was. One had to be careful with capsules. No one needed a jet plane opening up in a shop. He approximated the size in front of him and it was just about as big as the first box he’d gotten with some height. He clicked it open above the items, and carefully caught the box that appeared before it could land on any of his goodies. It was exceptionally light. He had not the faintest of guesses as to what could be inside. Perhaps he was being the tiniest bit of a spoil sport by not even attempting to make such guesses the whole time through, but he really did like having all the pieces together first. He was about to pull it back towards him so he could open it when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A cloud had passed over the sun, causing the light in the cafe to shift. There were electric lights in the place of course, but the wide windows provided most of it during the day. Shadows grew and shrank, sliding across the room, but one took just a millisecond too long to move with the rest. He shifted his eyes in it’s direction and let out a small ”Tsk,” but a smile was already appearing on his face. Just like Agatha’s game, he did not want to make any guesses before the pieces were all together. That shadow could have been there for a whole number of reasons, many of them quite boring. After entering the shop he found two people he suspected of watching him. Their energies were pressed and folded to the small numeral of one but they stank. One was a woman who had already been in the shop before him, sitting at a table with a careful view of his table and the entrance. She was on her laptop and paid him zero attention except when he’d popped the capsule, though she wasn’t the only one, and seemed busy in her own work. The computer was an off brand, something you could not find on Earth, or as far as he knew, in this dimension. The way she sat appeared relaxed, but Yan could pinpoint all the ways to slip out of it into defensive maneuvers, and the number was quite high. The second was a man who entered more recently. He stood in line and nothing stood out about him except his shoes and belt. He was dressed to be casual, jeans and a warm jacket with a strange logo sewed on the back, so a pair of boots should not have been surprising. Yan had an eye for clothes however, and a love for shoes, and that specific model was not one you could find in stores. They slid on tight, and were made to withstand harsh environments and most importantly, energy rising attacks from within. The belt was just sloppy. He was carrying a number of weapons and Yan could tell from the way the capsule pouches were placed. On a normal day he would have engaged them, but today was not a normal day. He had already slipped and shown a little of his more violent side to the possible watching eyes of Agatha Jo and it was really not the impression he wished to make. He let out a small sigh, then opened the box and was amused to find another box. He took it, then set the larger box on the floor. He noticed the soft smell first, almost overpowered by the smells of coffee beans and steamed milk, but still there. Next he noticed the puzzle, his eyes having to refocus on the note. There was a tone of flirt, but he gained more excitement over what the note actually meant. The pieces were all gathered. He set the carton down in his lap, quietly wishing the table was a little bigger, but it was just a coffee shop table after all. He moved and set the game and liquor in the box on the ground and set the flowers on top for the moment, and then set the carton to the side of the table, turning his attention back to the paper. He slid a pen from his breast pocket and wrote down the letters he had received prior at the top of the page. A lowercase “t,” “cen,” and “ra” then he added the “l.” To the other side he wrote “O,” then finally turned the page over and took note of the additional letters marked in yellow. He flipped back and forth until they were all written in the corner with the “O,” then he looked over them all carefully. The blue clicked easily as “central,” if only because they were in Central City. The yellow letters were a little more complicated. He looked over to the puzzle, then glanced back to the counter. The line had disappeared, but the man was there waiting for his drink with another woman. He pushed himself up and made his way over. The same barista who had recognized him met him there and she smiled happily. ”Got a date planned Yan?” she asks, her curiosity over the items taking higher priority than asking for his order. ”Got a date planned for me,” he counters with a small grin. She laughs a little and shakes her head. ”The usual then?” she asks with a knowing smile and he nods, his hand already holding his wallet. She swiped his card and he let his gaze sit on the man with the dumb belt without any care of hiding his look. He took his card back, and only turned away from him to offer the barista another small smile. He wandered over to him as the woman got her drink and moved to leave. He stopped a little too close and the man glanced at him but then away, pretending not to see the small man as a threat, but he had stiffened. There was one fluid motion that Yan made sure was blocked by whatever bug Agatha had. He stood purposely in the way of it. One of the capsules on the man’s belt released and the redhead was suddenly holding a knife against the man’s spine. This caused him to straighten further. ”Tell me, do you already know your fate?” he asks in a soft voice, and his demeanor did not change from a laid back amusement. He stared forward, watching the baristas prepared both their drinks, a casual smile on his face as if he were thinking of his oncoming date. ”Yes,” the man manages back after a short pause. ”And so do you,” at the same time he spoke the barista called up his order and he immediately stepped forward away from the knife. Instead of attacking Yan quickly moved to slide the blade up his sleeve and return his arm to his side so nothing would be noticed. The encounter looked like they’d passed a few words, maybe about the weather or the shop itself, and that had been the end of it. The man took his coffee and offered Yan a friendly nod, and then he left. That was that. The monkey had not let his attention slip from the other woman during this time. She had noticeably tensed when Yan had stepped so close to the belted man, but she had not moved to be his support. Still, another few pieces came together. His tea was handed to him after another short moment and he moved back to sit down with his other puzzle. It was still technically afternoon, and despite the note’s request not to make her wait too long, he had difficulty forcing himself to rush. There was timing to consider now. He dumped the pieces carefully on the table then began to look for the similarities that would click them together. He wasn’t very good with color, and the blurred lines made it a bit more difficult, but there was a lot of dark blue and a bit of green and he could already guess it was a shoreline. With so many vowels and the fact he’d just walked passed the sign for it earlier in the day, it clicked: Central City Reservoir. Despite seemingly solving it, his hands moved to try and piece the picture together anyway. He found the corners and built most of the outline along with a bit of the umbrella first, the orange and yellow pieces standing out more. He sipped his tea and put the thing together carefully, until the picture was formed in its entirety. He slid his fingers over it and smoothed down some of the pieces a little better before leaning back. He had a small dilemma now. He glanced up to the clock, and a good seven minutes had passed. It was all about timing. It would be precise and unfortunate, he was sure. In normal circumstances he could lose the tail. He was good at the sort of thing, and he could make it to Agatha without such trouble, or at least change the timing. Fortunately or unfortunately, she had not made this normal circumstances. While he had followed the game, step by step, with no cheating, his friends had definitely not. There were people placed in the park by now, and a few seemingly enjoying the view of the water as she did. There was a couple who had camped out far enough away from her to grant privacy, but still close enough to engage attack fairly easily. The girl wore the man’s much too large for her jacket, and the logo on it was the same as Yan’s friend in the coffee shop. They were skipping rocks and looked positively innocent. There was another man, who stood out a bit more obviously, his stature just slightly on the defensive, that Agatha might note easily, but it was easy to pass off a stranger’s personal turmoil. Yan picked up the carton and set it a little under the table and then pushed the puzzle pieces back inside it. He set the newspaper inside and closed it before he tucked the note in his breast pocket with the rest of the receipts. He picked up the flowers, then maneuvered the game and the drink around so the carton could fit inside it as well, then recapsulized it. He held it in his hand for a moment, lifting his fist to his mouth, but then he pocketed it. He put his now empty cup into his older one and picked them both up in his free hand. He offered another small wave to the barista, then tossed the cups carefully in the trash and moved to leave. In spy movies, the target would leave the shop and the spies would wait a careful moment, then turn the corner and follow them. In the real world, that was much more difficult when someone could sense energies the way Yan could. You could suppress, but if you were caught by sight the jig was up much quicker. Yan had sat with that puzzle, and while his subconscious mind made work of it, the rest had been used to go over many plans and analyze every energy signature around him. There was a cart around the corner, and someone had come to it around the same time he finished his puzzle. He timed it and waited a careful moment, and they did not leave again when they were supposed to, moving to the side to, he could consider, remove some of the wrapper into the trash. When he walked down the street though, and they made their way after him he had to be suspicious. From there, even as they shuffled out, he could pinpoint them. At least he thought he could, it was always possible he was simply being paranoid. He tried to lighten his mood a little, taking a small glance at the fiery lilies, and thinking of the mysterious Agatha Jo. It was easy to call her a beauty, even an intellect, to notice that sharp wit, or the genuine consideration she had for just about everyone. She was a catch, as they said, and he wondered a bit, what exactly she saw in him to go this far out of her way. He had noted it, when they had met, that they were dangerously alike. If he thought of it like that, the answer was simple: Because it was more fun as such. This caused him to smile quite genuinely, and he only hoped she was also alike in not minding just a tiny bit of danger. It would only be a tiny bit, surely. Probably. The bright orange and yellow umbrella certainly stood out, and he could see it not far down as he reached the reservoir. He took in her energy with a hungry curiosity. He could not get a good sense on the astral version, and energy could tell quite a bit about a person. He noted it’s strength with the most surprise, but he supposed he shouldn’t be considering she ran amok throughout the galaxy. She did not come off as a girl who did not know how to protect herself, but he supposed he’d assumed of other ways than purely physical strength. He pocketed his thumbs, holding the flowers a bit carelessly, and made his way to her. She looked positively comfortable and he couldn’t help but grin at the idea he had just ran about the city while she’d simple lounged here, practically back where he’d originally started. He had been her errand boy essentially, and it amused him to no end. He stopped only when he was right in front of her, pursing his lips a little to try and look miffed but it was obvious he was holding back a grin. ”And here I was thinking all the work would be placed on you~” he says with a lightly, with a bit of a tease. It only took a moment for him to smile though, and he stepped next to her before dropping to sit on his heels a bit closer then sinking into the other chair would allow. ”I can’t claim credit, but someone with excellent taste picked these out for you,” he says with a sweeter tone, offering the flowers, and this time not holding back a grin. |
![]() The Monkey | Sheet | Vault | |
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| Yan Cass | Sep 1 2016, 06:10 PM Post #2 |
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Damaskian RP Guide
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It was always interesting watching someone who didn’t know you could see them. It was not an activity that Agatha really liked doing, because she didn’t like invading a person’s privacy, but this had all been part of the game. She wanted to watch his progress and see his reactions. And so far, everything had gone rather successfully she felt. But then the most curious thing happened in that little cafe. Her newest friend was distracted. Perhaps that would be difficult for someone else to tell, but when Agatha was paying as close attention as she was and was very adept at reading people… She tilted her head a bit curiously as he seemed to be keeping an eye on someone. Or multiple someones. It was hard to tell exactly who. Scrying could only give her so much information. He seemed suspicious of something, even going so far as to give a quiet little “tsk” before a devious smile crossed his face. Agatha raised a brow. ”Interesting…” She continued to observe as he went back to the items she’d given him, opening the capsule and removing the puzzle box and her note. He seemed a bit excited and that made her smile. That expression only widened into something a bit more cheeky as she saw his exchange with the barista. Apparently he was well known at the coffee shop, and the woman seemed highly amused at the situation. And then, Agatha frowned. Even for someone as personable as Yan, it was highly irregular to sidle so close to a random stranger like he was. Agatha could fight, but she wasn’t what she considered a warrior. She didn’t have an eye for details as far as noticing weaponry hidden beneath clothing. Or perhaps she simply wasn’t in the habit of looking. Either way, her eyes went a little big in surprise as she witnessed what happened. Unfortunately for Yan, there was no “bug” or camera to be hiding from. Scrying was a much broader tool that followed the target rather expertly, and while she couldn’t see enough to see the blade that he had procured, there was enough shift in the other man’s posture for her to understand that there was a weapon there. Even if she hadn’t seen that, Yan’s words confused her. He played it off well, as far as his facial expressions went, but… Did the man know his fate? What was going on here? She thought she couldn’t get more confused until the man spoke back, and was clearly unsurprised by Yan’s actions. He even responded in kind, in what sounded like a threat. Agatha was frowning heavily now, gears turning in her mind. Was Yan being followed? The redhead didn’t know much about the curious man she’d met in the Astral Realm other than the fact that they were almost eerily alike and they both expressed an interest in seeing one another again. It was possible he had enemies. Hell, even Agatha had enemies. If he got into just as much if not more trouble than she did… Then someone was trying to crash their date. But there was something curious about the man Yan had confronted. Agatha peered at his clothing closely getting a good look. There was a logo. Why did it look familiar? It wasn’t a company she was familiar with, but still it seemed… The gypsy’s gaze flicked upward beneath her sunglasses without lifting her head. There, on the shore near her, was a woman in an oversized jacket skipping rocks. The jacket bore the same logo. A sudden chill went down her spine. Agatha was so used to being watched on Earth because of her fame. She hadn’t really stopped to consider that anyone here might be suspicious. But it was clear to her now that there were people after Yan, and somehow they had caught wind of her exploit with him today and were setting up something. Perhaps they were just spying, but Agatha wanted to prepare for the worst. Not for the first time, she wished she could use her scrying to actually communicate rather than just observe. She wanted to warn him about the potential trap, but couldn’t. All she could do was try and help him out by continuing to act normal so as not to draw too much attention and force them to act. And if there was one thing Agatha was really good at, it was acting. So, she continued on with what she was already doing. The gypsy wondered for a moment if they knew she was scrying on the other redhead, but in the end it didn’t matter. Most people didn’t know enough about the trade to recognize it when they saw it, and fewer still believed it to be a true ability. Of those who did, even less understood enough about it to know the ins and outs. For all she knew, Agatha was simply appearing as exceptionally vain to those who were waiting at the reservoir -- not an uncommon attribute for a celebrity, though Agatha did have a reputation for being more down to Earth than most others. Still, it wouldn’t matter even if they did know that she was watching him, because they wouldn’t be able to know what exactly she had seen, nor what she had put together in her head. The game continued, now with higher stakes. More than ever Agatha was grateful to have the forethought to give her friend a box big enough to put some of the things he’d gathered in, that way he could have some free hands if he needed them. As he moved, she watched carefully, keeping an eye on his surroundings as much as she could. It was difficult, since he was the target of her spell and as such it followed him. There was only so much control. But, there was enough for her to see that he was indeed being followed. Yet, he acted rather well like he hadn’t noticed. He even took time to lift up the flowers and smile at them. She grinned, knowing he was probably thinking about her and the little game she’d set up. When he got close enough that Agatha could see her own umbrella, the gypsy gently closed her compact mirror and ended the spell. It wasn’t good to scry on yourself, after all. When he finally reached her, Agatha looked up at him with a devious smirk over the rim of her sunglasses. His words earned him a raised brow and a faux expression of offense. ”Excuse me, but do you know how difficult it is to set up a game like this? I did an awful lot of work, thank you very much.” The grin grew back in place as he smiled, and Agatha removed her sunglasses as he came over and knelt next to her. It was strange, meeting him in person where she could finally fully appreciate his aura. It made her think of Toffit, oddly enough. He had told her once that he used to be human, which meant that he wasn’t any longer. She could feel that now. After all, having spent so much time on the Celestial homeworld around angels both good and evil, and after having been kidnapped by demons…. she was familiar with both of their brands of aura. And in him… she sensed both. It was interesting, and perhaps concerning for a brief moment, but in the end she pushed it away. Agatha didn’t care. Yan’s blood meant nothing to her, or rather it wasn’t something she was about to judge him for. His actions were what was important, and frankly she liked him. He grinned and offered the flowers to her with a sweet disposition. ”Oh, you shouldn’t have…” she teased coyly, with just the barest of winks as she accepted the bouquet graciously. Her hands brushed his almost unashamedly when she took them from him, lifting the orange flowers to her nose and breathing in their scent. They were just as sweet as she remembered, when she’d picked them out in the shop earlier. ”My favorite, even. You have very well informed friends…” Her tone was playful, but her eyes gave him a knowing look; a look that said she knew he’d been followed by said “friends”, and a look that said there were others present that had already been waiting at the reservoir for some time. She didn’t bother trying to take any time to point them out to him, since Agatha had already gathered he was better at such things than she was. The innocent hint that there was trouble nearby would be enough for him. He’d figure the rest out on his own. Draping the flowers across her lap, Agatha leaned up with a playful grin and brought her face close to his like she had at the coffee shop, very much like one would expect out of two potential lovers on a date. When she spoke, her voice was low and inviting, and the look she was giving him was that of someone who was very much interested in what -- or well, who -- she was looking at. ”So,” she said with a slight tone of mischief. ”You wanted me to look you up when I got on Earth. Here I am… what happens now?” It was flirtatious to the max, but also continuing with a degree of crypticness. She would follow his lead when it came to the people that were so interested in him, enough so to interrupt what was probably the best date she’d ever set up. Agatha was not amused at having her hard work tainted like this, but she could roll with the punches. It all depended on exactly what he wanted. Yan laughed easily at her attempt at sounding offended. He could feel her picking apart his aura and he was almost attempted to shift and change it. He didn’t know she could sense godly ki, nor her distaste for demons, he just liked being a mystery. So, when he was sure she had gotten a decent taste of him, analyzed him just carefully enough, he shifted his energy so it appeared more human. The godly ki seemed to vanish and the demonic aura shifted to something much more alien. Then he let it shift into something almost Saiyan, before it settled back into it’s weak demon/god state and he looked at her all the while with a clear expression that said: Do not trust all that you sense. He felt her fingers brush against his, something he would have done, and his grin became all the stupider. It faded, ever so slightly at her words of his friends, and he shifted his gaze away from her naturally, taking in the area with an absent gaze. ”I do, I do,” he says lightly. He looked back to her just as she moved her face close to his, and his smile had turned soft, his eyes gentle, despite whatever predicament he had put them in. He did not seem at all troubled, that or he was just that enamored with her. When she spoke, he moved even closer unconsciously, careful to listen to whatever she might say. He could not deny he was impressed with the way she managed to flirt and continually hint to the danger she knew she was in. She would not be as reckless as him to toss it all completely in the wind to just wing it, but she was willing to go carefully with whatever flow he set. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek then leaned in the short distance and kissed her. It was soft and tender and seemed to express more than simple attraction. There was affection certainly, but also a kind of soft admiration and respect. He pressed forward, moving his lips gently to part hers with slowness to show he was still explaining. He pressed in again, more passionately now, showing appreciation for all her hard work, a blissful awe attached. His tongue moved to trail over her lower lip in a slow sweep, before he did fall into the attraction he felt to her, parting her lips with his once more and finding her tongue. His thumb gently caressed her cheek as he pulled back, only to kiss her just once more. His eyes stayed closed for just a moment, and then they opened with the same gentle expression. ”There are eight pressing in close, and twenty I think throughout the park,” he explains in a soft voice, low from prying ears. ”If we leave now, we can lose them for a time. They’ll catch up eventually but it should give us a chance to explore this date a bit further before being interrupted again.” He slides the hand on her cheek back over her ear and the soft fuzzies of her short, once shaved hair. ”Just tell me where you want to go.” The way he said it made it seem like no matter where she said, he would deliver them. If she wanted to go to the moon, he would get them there. Even if it was somewhere more normal, his confidence stood that he would lose the small gang and leave no easy trail to follow. His other hand moved to catch hers, and it was clear he was not willing to let all her hard work go to waste so early. His aura shifted even as she sensed it. Interesting. The gypsy gave him a sly look in return for the one he gave her, a look that said she was very carefully tucking away every bit of information she gleaned from him -- even this ability to shift his aura, which told her more than simply sensing him would have done. It was a bit of a surprise to see him watching her so softly as she spoke. He clearly wasn’t concerned about the people around them, which certainly eased her own tension a bit, though not entirely. Agatha trusted Yan to a point, but he was still a stranger that she knew nothing about and each new piece of information she learned about him only created a greater enigma around him. A fascinating one… but a dangerous one, as well. Unfortunately, Agatha was drawn to things that were both fascinating and dangerous. Red flags in her mind weren’t a sign to run, they were a sign to proceed with caution. The kiss both was and wasn’t unexpected. Agatha had expected, or at least hoped, that it would come to this eventually. What surprised her was that it happened this soon, that he felt the need almost in spite of those that watched around them. Her lips moved gently against his at first, eyes closed as she simply cherished the taste of him. Yan slowly but deliberately intensified the kiss, moving deeper in stages. She responded almost hungrily, parting her lips when he sought purchase inside and meeting his tongue with hers. One of her hands reached up to rest on his chest above his collarbone, the tips of her nails digging lightly into his flesh through his shirt; her own way of communicating the attraction she felt. If they weren’t in public, she’d have had half a mind to just go ahead and pull him on top of her and… well, details. He pulled back a little and kissed her once more, and as he did Agatha affectionately slid the tip of her tongue along his lower lip before gently taking it between her teeth and giving it the barest of tugs. When he finally spoke again, the gypsy opened her eyes and watched him with a slightly hooded expression as he explained the game plan. She grinned a bit mischievously at him, brushing her nose against his just a little. “What, leave and spoil all the fun..?” she asked him teasingly, her own voice barely a whisper. As she spoke, Agatha’s lips hardly moved, making it near impossible for anyone with the ability to read lips to do so. “They worked so hard to track you down and connect you to me; a woman you’ve never even met in the real world before now and had no idea when I’d show up. I’m a little impressed with them, really. Maybe they’ll actually answer some of my questions about you, hrm..?” Agatha continued to grin, teasing at their first encounter where Yan had so easily managed to keep himself from being the topic of conversation -- something he was not going to avoid as easily today, not if Agatha had any say in it. Lifting her hand from his chest, she trailed the tips of her painted nails lightly over the soft flesh on his cheek before gently caressing his lips with the pad of her thumb. “For all I know, this is some clever ploy to get me alone and take advantage of my innocence.” The way she said it made it seem like such a ploy would not bother her, what with the wink that accompanied it and the clear tone of sarcasm with which she addressed her “innocence”. She bit her lower lip a little, amber eyes still meeting his squarely with a look that said her mind was still lingering on that amazing kiss he’d given her. Then, she sighed a little through her nostrils and set her mind to the task at hand. They needed to go someplace a little more safe. ”Damn, I had dinner being delivered here, too. A nice smoked, glazed salmon to go with that whiskey you bought…” Agatha smirked a little deviously, revealing that she had indeed been watching him as he worked his way through her little hunt despite having obviously been sitting here in this park the entire time. In a way, she wished they could at least wait long enough to pick up that meal; she’d been looking forward to it, and it had been ordered from the nicest seafood place in Central City which meant it hadn’t been cheap. But, safety was the priority here. Though Agatha lived a humble life, she did have a substantial amount of money that she kept tucked away. It wouldn’t be an issue. Money was just paper and credit at the end of the day. Yan was a living, breathing being. His life, and her own, were much more important than making sure she got her money’s worth of food. As to the matter of where to go… Now, that one was a little more difficult. Asking a nomad to pick a place she wanted to go was a bit akin to asking a fat kid to pick a single dessert at a buffet. The feel of his fingers running through her short hair was both relaxing and intoxicating. He took her hand in his, and Agatha smiled softly at him. Yan seemed eager and willing to take her near about any place she wanted to go, and the redhead didn’t doubt that he could. After a moment’s thought, her smile shifted back into something more mischievous. ”Ever been to Vegas?” she asked him, though she suspected he had. Still, it was a long way from where they currently were, and by the look on her face the suggestion came from a place that wanted to be some place exciting with him -- somewhere where they could feed off one another’s devious personalities and get in a little trouble. After all, Agatha was all about the adventure… and Yan definitely seemed like the type she wanted to go on an adventure with. Agatha met his kiss with her own enthusiasm, and he was more than pleased. She reached out for him, her nails pressing in as it seemed like heat poured out from her whole hand. Yan was not often the one to make the first move, and despite the fact that he had kissed her first, he wouldn’t have called it that. It was a response to her attention on him after all, all the hard labor she had put into their little game. It was the first real response to the attraction between them however, and he relished in the wanting she offered in response to it. He was aiming to pull back and she drew him in again, and if he knew her better, he probably wouldn’t have stopped them there. As it stood though, he wasn’t sure just how much danger she could take before getting scared off, and the last thing he wanted was her to be scared off. Eight pressing close, twenty a bit off. Her silently cursed it, but at the same time, he knew it was something he had asked for, jokingly or not. It was his own fault as usual, and he was better at blaming himself anyway. She brushed their noses together, calling it fun, and he grinned, but he noticed the caution she took so her words would not be read. Despite her want for mischief, she knew better than to underestimate just what she had walked into. ”Oh, I don’t think they know much about me,” he admits, his gaze shifting once more, but it was drawn back to her as her fingers touched his cheek. He leaned a little into it, his expression softening under her touch, especially as her thumb reached his lips. It only lasted a moment though, as he blatantly snorted at the way she said innocence. He looked at her with the smallest hint of apology after, but he was still suppressing a laugh. ”It might be,” he offers in turn, and he met her gaze as she bit her lip with a look that clearly said if she had any innocence to take, he would definitely be up to taking it. She explained about the meal, and his eyes narrowed a little, playfully criticizing her cheat. He still wasn’t quite sure how she had been watching him. It came with more than a bit of confusion, and while he had felt something, eyes like the sun beating on the back of his neck, he couldn’t place any source. That was odd for him, who liked his privacy more than most, and while he’d experienced his share of magic that gave him a slight suspicion, it seemed off for the earthling celebrity to possess it. She had her own bag of tricks up her sleeve, he already knew, but how deep the rabbit hole went was becoming less and less apparent. His hand slid all the way to the back of her neck, and then he trailed it down, the tips of his fingers grazing the soft flesh back to the front and down to her shirt. When she said Vegas one of his eyebrows rose, but he steadied it again and smiled softly. ”Vegas, it is,” he says despite the tiniest bit of disappointment lingering that she chose another public space. His hand moved across her shoulder, then down to hold the flowers in place, and he rose, pulling her up by the hand he still held with little effort. He looked past her for just a moment, then he looked to her full of mischief before he released her hand and moved to quickly scoop her up in a full bridal carry. He pressed her close to his chest and then grinned, ”Should just take a moment.” There was a small rush of wind, as Yan burst forward, right past one of the questionable people. They were knocked back, and almost instantly they shot a barrage of ki at the two, to which Yan took a quick turn, dodging past them and heading over the water so any further attacks wouldn’t strike any other people. He ran fast enough he didn’t even have to fly, his feet barely sinking as he went. They made it across and he leapt up, taking note of five powerful energy signatures just ahead. Yan could not fly when he thought about it. Luckily, he was not thinking about it. His ki pushed him up and forward with the leap, and they sprang through the air over two trained fighters, whose powers erupted and immediately sought chase. There was killing intent there, and energy pulsed up into beams that cut through the air. Yan didn’t even look back, weaving through as they soared past creating quite the light show. All the while he had a huge grin, and suddenly he gripped her a little tighter and took a nosedive just as one increased their speed to almost get on top of them. They had been over the city by then, and he offered a rollercoaster styled flip before his feet touched the ground in a mostly abandoned alleyway. Just like that he was back on the run. There was a clumsy following by one of the chasers, as they crashed more into the building then the thin street. Two more had arrived at the only entrance to the alley, and Yan made his run straight toward a thick brick wall. He had full ability to scale it but he did not seem to be planning to. If there had been time for closer inspection one might have noticed there seemed to be the oddest bit of shadow on it. It didn’t connect to anything and looked almost like a tear through the world, where the wall was not quite in front but more diagonal. It was just the right size to fit a person and Yan jumped right into it. Almost immediately there was a shift. All the energies from Central City were completely wiped out and replaced with new life. It was as if they teleported, and maybe they had, except the wall was still there and there was no sensation of it. They had simply ran through. Yan maneuvered his leap to put his feet hard against the brick and he kicked off and up so he went over the odd shadow and surely enough, the ally was no longer behind them. It was an open street, and people milled about, minding their own business. The cars were strange though, looking a bit older fashioned than the current Earth standard. The monkey landed roughly on his feet once more and kept a fast paced run once more, but there was no longer anyone chasing them, at least not for the moment. The energies were...off here. The people felt human and yet, their signatures were slightly different. The place looked an awfully lot like Central City too, it’s massive castle standing in the distance, but at the same time, it looked more like a town then the developed capital of the world. The people were less rushed, and as Yan ducked down another side street the buildings looked more wooden and stocky. There were even wooden stalls and Yan ran straight toward another building, that looked a bit like it was falling apart. This wall had a door though, and he slowed down this time. His energy build up in his arm, sliding down to his hand, but it wasn’t the same as if he was building an attack. It would be more similar to as if he was about to use it to heal someone. The hand reached out and grabbed the door’s handle, and the energy seemed to move through the door as he pushed it open and ran through. Once more the world shifted, and they did not enter into a building but out onto the busy streets of Vegas. The lights were bright, and the night sky had already fallen there. The temperature changed to dry and warm in comparison. The world behind them vanished and instead it looked like they were exiting a hotel lobby. All the energies returned to normal, and Yan let out a soft breath, before looking back to her. His energy on the other hand, felt different again, purposely disguised. ”Magic trick accomplished, did you see the tell?” he asks, his grin fading into a softer smile once more. His snort and silent apology thereafter to the comment about her innocence was met with little more than a cheeky grin. He was trying not to laugh and it make Agatha giggle just a touch. When he eyed her with playful suspicion about her knowledge on the whiskey, the gypsy’s expression turned devious again and she offered him a wink. He wasn’t the only one that had secrets, and if he wanted any of them, well… they’d get to that later. He continued to run his hand lightly against her, earning a few goosebumps from her at his touch. She could tell he wasn’t quite as thrilled with the idea as she was, and she had some idea why, but she only continued to smile. After all, Agatha wasn’t done with all her plans just yet… and she hadn’t gone this far just to disappoint him. The look she gave him said it would be worth his while. He adjusted slyly at first and then surprised her by scooping her up in his arms. Agatha laughed outright at that, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling herself snug against him. The grin she was giving him was shocked right off her face when he shot off like a rocket, barreling right past some of the people that had been converging on them. Agatha gasped out of instinct and clutched tightly to Yan as he ran, dodging ki attacks in the process. ”Do I even want to know what you did to earn this kind of attention?” she asked playfully, though it was clear she was slightly alarmed. Not panicking, just concerned as any person would be in such a situation. She kept watch around them as best as she could, trying to keep an eye out for things he might miss and trying to be as much help as she could in that situation. However, Yan seemed more than capable of delivering on his promise to get them somewhere safe, even -- she noticed -- moving in such a way as to make sure that no one uninvolved would get accidentally caught up in collateral fire. Despite the circumstances, Agatha was laughing. She couldn’t help it. There was all this destruction in their wake, people chasing them and quite clearly trying to murder at least Yan, and yet when she caught a glance of the other redhead’s face he was grinning like a devil taking confession. In spite of everything, she laughed. He gripped her tighter as they plummeted toward the ground and she just held on, not in the least bit worried -- she trusted him to stick the landing. The wall that he ran toward was much more concerning. There was a shadow on it, one that as far as she could tell wasn’t being cast by anything natural. She should have been worried, but at this point she was more just curious. A single brow lifted on her forehead and Agatha clutched to him just a little tighter as he moved to slam into the wall… …and then it was like they were in a whole other world. The gypsy’s amber eyes went wide as she looked around in wonder. It was odd. In so many ways it looked just like Central City, but it was completely different. Cars changed, buildings changed, people changed… Agatha was so captivated that she couldn’t even ask. Her head was pivoting like a swivel trying to take it all in. It was like they had gone back in time or something; she honestly couldn’t think of any other way to describe what had just happened. Perhaps some kind of alternate universe? And then just like that, Yan stepped them through a door and they were smack dab in the center of the Las Vegas strip. It took her a moment to speak. When she did, Agatha looked away from the crowded streets and gave him an excited look. ”Where was that?” she asked, mind clearly still on whatever place he’d passed them through. He’d invoked the wanderlust in her, and the passionate curiosity she had for new places. Agatha looked longingly behind them like she half expected to be able to see it still, even though it was gone. Looking around, she took stock of where they were. There were several casinos, obviously, and masses of people wandering the streets. Many of them were drunk, and nearly everyone was walking around freely with alcohol since it was legal to do so. There were people dressed up in dirty, grungy costumes taking pictures for money, and a lot of scantily clad women. Agatha got momentarily distracted as a couple ladies walked past in revealing attire that was little more than bikinis, staring at their asses for the briefest of moments before shaking herself back to the present. “Well, now that you got us safe and sound…” Agatha looked at him while she spoke, her voice low though her face was close enough to his that he’d be able to hear her just fine, even through the chaos. She unwrapped one of her hands from around his neck and trailed her fingertips gently down his chest an inch or two before leaning forward and brushing her lips ever so barely against his ear. ”...What do you say we go get into a little trouble?” When she pulled back, she was smirking mischievously again. Getting down to her feet, Agatha took him by the hand and drew him toward the nearest casino: The Bellagio. Giving him a wink, she put her sunglasses on despite the fact that it was almost night time on this side of the world. It covered her face enough that most people wouldn’t recognize her at a glance. Even though she was pretty sure it would take an awfully long time for people to track their whereabouts through things like social media, it still didn’t mean that she wanted to hand Yan’s attackers a trail. Once inside, Agatha approached the counter and paid for one of their top floor luxury suites. The man behind the counter clearly blinked a little in surprise when he realized who she was, but given how often celebrities came to Vegas he was able to push the excitement away to stay professional. Giving her a smile, he handed her the key card and told her which room they would be in. Agatha smiled back and slipped him a tip, “to ensure privacy”. The man’s eyes went big for a moment when he saw how much money she’d given him, and then he once again schooled himself into control. With an appreciative smile, he assured them he would make sure they weren’t bothered -- which in simple terms meant that the hotel would do their best to make sure no one even knew they were there. It didn’t take long to get to the room, and it was just as impressive as she imagined. There was a california king sized bed in one room that was big enough to hold a massive C-shaped sectional couch. The bathroom was equally impressive, with not just a separate room for a toilet, but a large tiled shower and a tub big enough for two. But where many other hotel rooms might stop there, this suite held even more. A massive living area was the first sight they would be greeted with, complete with a fully stocked wet bar and even a billiards table. A balcony could be seen through a glass sliding door, and on the balcony was another large sectional couch and arguably a breathtaking view of the strip. This was a suite that was clearly meant to entertain rather than just act as a place to rest and clean. Agatha whistled a bit. Despite what others might believe about her wealth and status, this was not something she was accustomed to, and it would be easy to see that by her face. She rarely spent her coin this way, preferring more humble arrangements. But hey, even she could splurge from time to time, right? Making sure the door was locked, the gypsy took a brief moment to take it in, setting her pack and the flowers down in the process. ”Damn,” she muttered somewhat quietly. But, her mind was entirely somewhere else. No sooner had they gotten inside and secured themselves than Agatha took Yan by the shirt over his chest in both her hands and pulled him against her. Planting her lips on his, the gypsy picked right back up where they’d left off in the park, kissing him with barely reserved desire. Opening his mouth with her own, she caressed his lip with her tongue before slipping it in. If she had been at all put off by the fact that they had just narrowly evaded lethal danger, she didn’t seem to care -- or perhaps it had driven her all the more wild. All she knew was that she was heavily attracted to Yan and wanted the chance to appreciate him without reservation, before any potentially dark truths came out related to what had happened and who had been chasing him. Yes, it was highly possible that Yan was exactly the type of person one should avoid getting involved with… but Agatha didn’t care. She just wanted a moment with him, and after that, well… only time and interaction would tell. Agatha laughing was a beautiful sound. He could hear it clearly over the wind and the blasts and it only served to keep the grin on his face, despite all. Did she want to know? Perhaps. If it was spun the right way, she would definitely find it amusing, and Yan was quite the spinner. It was easy to twist reality when reality only consisted of people’s perceptions. He tricked even himself sometimes. A lie told often enough and all that. But he did not want to fill her head with stories just yet. She would get lost in them, he knew, and there was still so much to her that he had not discovered. They landed in Vegas, and Yan’s eyes stayed fixated on Agatha despite the lights and noise. When she got her bearings and asked where they had been, he kept his warm smile. He leaned in, but looked away, as if he were telling her a secret and he had to make sure no one noticed. ”It’s designated B1-7GH,” he says simply, as if the random mix of letters and numbers were the same as saying a city’s name. In a way it was. Both were meaningless unless you were familiar with the area before hand. You could say Charlestown, but it didn’t really mean anything, not if you didn’t have the gist already. The designation was actually a bit more telling than the world’s common name, if you found the right connectors. He looked back to her, his smile shifted to slightly mischievous, begging her to question further but at the same time promising more riddles. She let her attention fall to the realm around her, the drunks, the semi-nudity, but Yan’s stayed put on her. He memorized her face then, reflected harshly in the neon lights that surrounded them, but still soft, and devious, and happy. He could feel the warmth pressed between them, the soft weight of her. Here he was, in all the universe, holding her. Such moments were precious. He could hardly be distracted by someone else just then, and she would probably notice. She came back to him, moving closer so he could hear. Her fingers moved over his shirt and her lips moved closer still to his ear and he held back a groan at her teasing. ”Just a little?” he offers in turn, but let her go despite his better instincts. His hands lingered over her sides, sliding up on purpose as she pulled away. She took his hand instead, and led him on. He let out a small sigh, but he followed easily enough, finally letting his senses move away from her, at least for a moment. As long as they were relatively close, her energy would be disrupted as well, but he was amused as she adorned her glasses, letting out a quiet laugh at the thought of his enemies using twitter. Tumblr maybe. They would likely suspect that he would return to this world, considering Agatha was not a dimensional traveler, but it was still a large world to scour. Time was on their side once more. His attention was caught once more by Agatha, like it took much, as she booked the suite of such a lavish casino. His face had lit up quite a bit at the idea, even though he had been thinking how interesting it would be to see her at a poker table. His thumb caressed her wrist, wanting to touch her in anyway he could. ”I feel so pampered today,” he says with a small smirk, as she led him the way the desk person had instructed. ”Does everyone you fancy get this kind of treatment?” he asks, with no lack of confidence she did fancy him. He expected a tease for it of course, that would only be fair, but he was surprised with how she was throwing her money about. Being a celebrity must pay well. He’d never thought about it before. Like Yan had told her the first time, he barely did things like watch television, and he was terribly alien on some of the things on Earth. Having any kind of real job was definitely one of them. Despite this, when they entered the room, Agatha whistled, and Yan gave her a curious look. He seemed very comfortable, and as she moved away to lock the door, the monkey moved to pull off his jacket, setting it over one of the sofas before turning back to her. He was very used to suites, maybe even of a grander scale. He liked things fancy, and he often had money or people to burn. He either lived on thousand dollar pillows or in the woods with not even a hatchet to his name. It balanced out. There was no room for more teasing it seemed, as she grabbed his fitted tee to pull him back to her. She kissed him with gusto, drawing back on the attraction that felt almost like a heavy air that pulled them together. She was intoxicating. If Yan wasn’t already on her hook, it would have been sunk into him for good then, and he was completely at her mercy. His lips pressed against hers, and then again, parting against them and catching her bottom lip. His tongue slid out, meshing with hers, and he enjoyed the taste of her. His dominate hand slid around her waist, pulling her closer still, and his right moved across the bare skin of her arm. Kissing her was such a pleasant thing, and it only made him want more of her, yet he remained more relaxed. Despite her show of passion, he kept a soft calm, as if he wanted to savor her as much as he wanted to thoroughly devour her. The hand at the small of her back moved down and slid under her shirt, his fingers trailing up over her bare skin. He deepened the kiss, then teased pulling back, catching her lip before diving in again. His right hand moved from her arm to her side, moving down over her ass. He gripped it firmly, then lifted her up again, pulling her in even closer before spinning them around away from the door and toward the rest of the room. Despite his calm, his fingers had already found their way to unclasping her bra, and there was no question where this was going.....
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10:13 AM Jul 11