Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Northern Borders

Started by Lion, February 04, 2017, 06:48:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Lion

Grumbling something when she laid down, Crowe let himself stay sort've squashed against the wall. There wasn't much room to be had on the bed to begin with. He didn't mind sharing it either because he sure as hell wasn't going to be sleeping on the floor.  She had a big butt anyway, and her head was shoved up it.

He laid his head further into the pillow, where they laid back to back and somewhere in the night he had strew his body across hers, and had his head laying on her belly and feeling the warm breath streaming from her face.  Man did it stink.  Like the remnants of rum and turkey.  It wasn't a pleasant smell.

And it stirred him, and reminded him of the throbbing headache he had when the time to wake up arrived. Crowe groaned and scrambled away from her.  "Blech," he said, and shoved her out of the bed. "It's time to get up."




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

Crowe would find that Atashi slept like a goddamn rock, and only snored sometimes! But the two of them were soon out cold enough that he probably didn't even hear her for most of the night. Probably.

He wasn't the only one who had no issues getting physical while sleeping; at one point she had rolled over, wrapped her arms around his mid-section and spooned him, before rolling back over so he could use her like a pillow and eventually wake up.

She was still dead asleep when he suddenly shoved her and she hit the floor with a solid THUD. She snorted and drowsily opened her eyes, finding her face against the bug-eaten rug and slowly sitting up with a yawn and a stretch as she scratched her head, her hair a rat's nest even in its ponytail, and looked around.

"... Hey, the fuck? I was sleeping." She grumbled, squinting against the morning light starting to filter in through the window as she climbed back up into the bed and made it a point to drop herself right on top of him as payback for pushing her.

"S'sleepytime." She mumbled, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Lion

What in the serious rum-induced mania was she doing? Crowe was still too drowsy and trying to fight off his throbbing headache, she just flopped on top of him and he slumped back and had the breath heaved out of him.

Man was she heavy.  Pfft, because sleep and hangovers always made a person heavier. It was basic science after all.  Crowe just groaned and in truth he didn't wanna get up either, but they were going to waste the day if they didn't get up now.

Not to mention her hair was in his face.  He blew hard raspberries and shifted her hair off him so he could speak. "You know if you lay on me, I'm going to get a semi," he huffed.  "Atasheeee!"  He tiredly pushed on her shoulders and let his arms slump backwards. "Are you...  You're asleep!?"  That was bloody fast.

He lifted her head up by the sides of it and blew his morning breath in her face.




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

Yep, Crowe wasn't wrong. She was mostly already asleep again.

He complained he'd get half a hard on and she just groaned in response, too tired to formulate a proper sentence along the lines of 'well build a bridge and get over it' because fuck words, she had a headache, he was pretty comfortable and that was really all she cared about right now.

So back to sleep she went.

At least until he forcibly lifted her head up and blew in her face.

She scrunched her nose up and jerked back a little at the sudden stench, cursing before she found his face, put her hand on it and shoved him away so he was blowing air to the side and not directly at her.

"Ew that's gross get that away from me." She grumbled, and unfortunately now his plan had worked because she'd been moving around enough she was starting to wake up.

She sat up, her weight shifting down directly onto his hips where she sat, straddling him, as she took her hand away from his face to reach up and rub her own face and wipe the sleep out of her eyes, grunting.

"Ugh what time is it.." Her head hurt and she still just wanted to go back to sleep. Guy was a jackass, pushing her out of bed.

Lion

Yeah, maybe he was a jackass to push her out of bed. To be fair he was used to sleeping on his own. And she was irritating like an ass rash. Except worse because she could speak. Still, that aside, they had a mission to formulate and the task of getting his book back to execute.

Crowe could only partly remember what he wrote down and tried to imagine his sketchings from where they had looked upon the noble. But damn if security didn't look too tight. 

Crowe pushed her off again, but gentler this time so he could sit up, scratch his groin and shift off to go get food.  His stomach was growling something fierce and he could use a hot coffee to soothe his head. 

"If you want free breakfast, you're going to have to get up and come downstairs." He rubbed his eyes and glared at her expectantly.  "Come on. We gotta find a way to get into the estate. I think better on a filled belly."




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

This time Atashi didn't complain as he pushed her off' she obliged and let him climb out of the bed, rubbing her face tiredly as she pulled her hair out of her ponytail. Her brunette hair was surprisingly incredibly long--in its high ponytail it went to the middle of her back, out of it it went down to her ass.

She bared her teeth in a mocking sneer at him while he glared at her, as she combed her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah alright alright, gimme a minute."

Whether or not he stuck around, she got her hair mostly back under control, back into its ponytail and quickly threw the rest of her clothes back on, so she was ready to go at a moment's notice once they were done eating. The whole ordeal maybe took her five minutes, and then she was downstairs, ready to fill her belly with whatever they had available so they could get this show on the road.

"So what was your original plan for getting into this place, remember?" She asked in a low voice as she munched on some bread, tilting her head at him curiously. At least she was smart enough to know not to speak too loud, in case anybody who worked for or knew the noble happened to be around.

Lion

"I saw a few good spots," Crowe said, sipping the bland coffee they served here. It would do for now. And he could feel his head slowly recovering from the pounding.  "Namely the balcony above the terrace.  Could climb up it, given someone is distracting the guards below."

"The security looks like it's a bit snug though. Could knock out a few and take their clothes. But I'm sure the frilly bastards knows his own guards.". Sighing and cutting into his eggs, Crowe ate quietly for a moment before stealing Atashi's bread.

"What about you? Got any ideas you wanna throw out there?" And ripped the bread between his teeth.




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

Unlike Crowe, Atashi had yet to reach the point in her adulthood where alcohol tore her up so badly. She felt a little groggy, but that was probably just from a crappy night's sleep if anything.

She nodded thoughtfully as she tried to remember what the mansion had looked like, or what little she'd seen of it yesterday anyways, while she ate her pot pie.

"I'm usually pretty good at distractions." She offered with a shrug, before he stole her bread and she snapped at him, "Hey!" And tried to swipe it back, before grabbing his cup of coffee (despite the fact that she already had her own) and quickly downed the rest of it and slammed the empty cup down by his plate, for revenge.

"I mean I'm always partial to trying to sneak in because that's what I'm good at," She huffed, glaring at him for stealing her food as she ate a little faster to finish her food before he could steal any more of it. "Usually through some servant's entrance or something. I betcha he don't know what his own servants look like, they usually don't. And they can get in just about most places without anyone caring. Can steal their uniforms lots easier too."

Lion

The revenge coffee drinking was met with nothing more than a glare. Crowe was not in the mood for this shit, so he didn't see why he should make it worse. Not at all thinking that it might have had something to do with stealing her bread. That was all he stole thankfully and finished his food without another hiccup.

Except for the hiccups he now had.  Crowe growled and grumbled like a grumpy bear until the hiccups settled. 

"Gotta give you props. I didn't think you had any kind of brains in there.  But they're there," he said and poked her skull.  He stood and brushed off his shirt.  "That's better than my idea.  We're doing that. And it'd be funny to see you try and act dainty.  Let's get out of here."




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

She grinned to herself as she finished her food, pride swelling in her chest because she'd beat him yet again--last night was totally a victory by her standards. She'd beat him at drinking and won his little tiff over the food. Hah!

She stared at him as he hiccuped, leaning a bit away from him. If he was getting sick with something she certainly didn't want to catch it, gross.

He gave her credit for being smart and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Obviously I have brains, because I was able to convince that noble to buy your stupid book in the first place." She pointed out, shoving the last piece of bread into her mouth as she followed suit and got up as well. "I dunno I think you might look better in a maid's dress than me, ya got the petty attitude of a woman that's for sure." She said as she started snickering, her snicker being a rather unique shishishishi.

At least the inn they'd stayed at wasn't too far from the noble's house, but it was definitely going to be quite a walk to find their way around to the backside of the property and try and weasel their way in through a back door to the servants' quarters. The real trick was getting through the guarded fence up to the estate without being spotted.

"Did you pay any attention to the guards?" She asked as the noble's mansion came into view, guards standing outside looking bored as hell. "They have any patterns maybe?" After all, he'd been the one observing them and this place--if he'd done his homework good enough, he'd be the one to lead them to getting inside here.

Lion

He'd gotten a good look all right. He'd even mapped out the plans and exits and entrances and where booby-traps might best be lain, where guards could be hidden in case of a scuffle. all of it was written down in his journal, coded even, although the lines in his strokes might be easier to read than his handwriting.

Crowe growled a little, but refused to linger on any further grumpiness. Now was the time for action.

He slowed as they walked to make their appearance all that much more casual and pointed up to the wall on the side of the manor. "A guard usually walks the wall and there's a changing of station every twenty minutes or so. It takes the guard right here at this post two minutes to walk from one end to the other. I counted. Yes I can do that."

He gestured up to the side of the manor beside the noble's that possessed his book. "There's a tree there that can drop off down just over the wall and into the small set of brush just beside the post. My guess is, now would be a good time to start climbing."

He gestured for her to go first since she was slightly smaller and a little swifter than he., to scale the loosened and haphazard bricks of the side-manor, hidden by a tree just between the two houses. He jumped when the moment presented itself and landed adeptly within the boughs. It was a large oak, old and gnarled and overhung some of it's branches just across the wall as he'd said.

He didn't wait much longer until the guard had his backed turned before he silently dropped down into the bushes on the other side.




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

Atashi made sure to listen carefully as he explained what he had learned about this lord's mansion as they walked past it, speaking in hushed tones while also trying not to look too suspicious. She looked up as he pointed to a certain wall, eyes peeled as she took in what he was saying and nodded with a certain seriousness to her that almost seemed uncharacteristic. They were here to do a job and they were gonna get it done and do it well if she could help it.

But then he made that comment about counting and she stopped for a moment, mocking a gasp of surprise as her hand went up to cover her mouth. "You can--you can do that!?" Another gasp, aaaand "Ohhhh look at you! Who's such a good wittle boy who knows how to use his big boy words and numbers ohhhh you are! Yes you are!" Her tone was dripping with sarcasm as she spoke to him like she was either talking to a dog or a small child.

She jumped up the wall first as he indicated and sprang up into the branches with nimbleness that left him in the dust, scurrying in the tree like a goddamn squirrel, but she let him pass her as he dropped into the bushes. She waited a moment, making sure the guard wasn't suspicious of anything before she followed suit, crouching amidst the leaves of the bushes as she perched next to Crowe, still with that stupid smirky grin on her face as she peered out from the bushes. They had successfully made it into the property now but getting into the mansion itself might present itself to be even more difficult.

She blinked however when some movement caught her eye. She saw a servant, wearing the tunic with the noble's crest on it, carrying a sack of flower as she walked around the corner of the mansion and disappeared. Hm. Service entrance perhaps? If she had a dog ears and tail they'd have definitely been standing straight up and alert right now.

Atashi was about to start sprinting after the girl before she thought first and looked at Crowe, figuring he should still lead the way until they got inside, considering there were guards on the inside of the fence, patrolling the perimeter of the mansion itself. He wouldn't appreciate it if they got caught, and neither would she to be honest. So, better be smart about this, even if she hated letting him have control for now.

Lion

Crowe didn't voice it, but he had seen what she'd seen and he nodded to her when they're eyes met. A service entrance was a better way of getting in than chancing it with an open window and risk getting caught by a family member. Or worse, the nobleman himself.  Crowe kept where he was, out of sight just when the guard came back to his post, not seeming to notice them.

The man at his perch took a seat and shuffled into his clothing to find a smoke to roll, licking a paper slick and powdering tobacco into it and rolling it up between his fingers.  Crowe patted Atashi on the shoulder and gestured her to go first when the way was clear.  He immediately followed and moved toward a stack of ingredients that were being carried inside by queues of servants.

Crates and baskets and sacks of potatoes. Crowe picked up two crates and set them into Atashi's arms and took potatoes himself and immediately ushered himself inside, or was about two when the girl that first walked bumped headlong into him.  Crowe staggered into the tiled wall beside him.  "Shit!" he hissed.

"I'm so sorry," the girl squealed. "I didn't think anyone else was here to help me with the shipment. Please, take that right into the kitchens into the pantry.  Just straight ahead." She smiled toothily at him. "It's nice to finally have two big strong hands around."  She moved passed the pair.

Crowe looked behind him at Atashi, and snorted, admiring her own build. And gave her a wink of approval.




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Cheesigator

For a moment, Atashi wasn't sure if she should have been as surprised as she was when Crowe signaled for her to go on ahead, and she narrowed her eyes at him, a little suspicious. Did he trust her, or did he want her to get shot at first?

Probably the latter.

Still, no point in trying to argue the matter--she'd wanted to be in the lead anyways, because she was damn good at stealth. She peered out from their momentary hiding spot, looking all around to watch the guards before she darted out, clearing the space to the service entrance easily, with Pigeon right behind her.

She blinked and watched him curiously as he picked up some crates before she caught on, and just as she was about to reach for some much lighter, smaller-looking packages, two crates were stuffed into her arms by her companion and she let out a slight sigh of defeat. Man, couldn't a girl catch a break? Not that these were that heavy, nor was she that weak, but she'd have liked to take an easy option just for once--

She heard Crowe swear and tried to rubberneck around the crates to see what had happened--he'd run into a servant girl. She watched the girl go back inside and caught Crowe's look and wink, and rolled her eyes before quickly stepping after the servant girl to follow her.

"Um, excuse me! We were sent over here because we were told that you might know where any spare uniforms might be, my brother and I just got hired by the Master today." She explained, the honest and pleading tone in her voice surprisingly easy to believe as real.

The servant girl looked over at her, arching her eyebrows at Atashi's tattoos, but said nothing of it. "Uh, oh, right, the spare uniforms are in that closet at the end of the hall--we're only allowed one each, so please be careful with them."

Atashi nodded, thanking her and setting the crates down where instructed before going to the closet and pulling out a uniform for herself, throwing it on over her current attire, and then pulling one out for Crowe and handing it to him with a cheeky grin.

She looked back at the servant girl. "Thanks! What's the quickest way to the main hall? Sorry we can't help you out more with the shipment."

"Oh, that's alright--it's that set of stairs to the left at the end of the hallway, make another left and a right and you'll be right there."

Atashi nodded and saluted to her before leading the way, quite proud of how easily she'd assimilated them in to the manor staff.

"Well, if you were a stuffy noble who'd just bought a famous artist's sketchbook for way too much money, where would you put it?" She asked Crowe in a hushed voice as she followed the instructions, leading them up the stairs and into another hallway.

Tags: