Hijacked!

[pomelo]

[Tags to @Draconian]

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable!

This was just... unbelieveable! Zooey "Pigeon" Ansbacher looked at the night sky, shaking her head. She couldn't believe it. Zooey hadn't been happy since they came to this awful, war-torn country. It definitely did not bring out the best in people. And first and foremost, it really didn't bring out the best in her sister. Dolores' plans had been a bit on the dodgy side since they'd sailed the Cloud Skimmer into Connlaoth. But she'd really gone beyond the pale this time! Someone needed to tell her. Okay, okay, maybe it'd been a bad idea to tell her - to yell at her, really - in front of the rest of the crew like that. Zooey could understand why Lo'd be unhappy about that, fine. But, well, she wouldn't have had to if Lo hadn't stormed out of her cabin while Zooey was pointing out to her the teeny, tiny little moral problems with her new 'business plan.' So, yeah, yelling at her in front of Tommy and Cora and Viscount Pennywhistle... Sure. She got it. But she would have apologized!

Once her sister saw sense.

But no no. She'd been told, get on board or get off. What was Zooey to do? Lo wouldn't listen, and maybe if her little sister really left, she'd realize what a big mistake she was making. So off she'd gone, her and Cassiel, and it'd be a bit hairy, too! (Looking back on it, Zooey couldn't really believe that Lo'd let her fall for so long. Nearly all the way! She could still hear her angry sister's taunting voice, "What's wrong, can't you fly, little Pigeon?") And then the Cloud Skimmer had... gone. Zooey waited in place for it for a few days. Dolores would realize her mistake, give up on her insane plan, and come back for her little sister.

But two days had passed, and nothing.

So now it was on Zooey to find her. That meant needing to get to the eastern coast before Dolores did. It would be hard, but since Lo needed to first collect her cargo, Zooey fancied she might just have a chance. She was determined to have a chance. Oh, she was so mad at her sister. She wasn't going to get away with this! This meant, of course, that they needed transport. Preferably something discrete. It hadn't taken long in this land to realize that her and Cassiel stood out a bit. They needed horses and a wagon or carriage or something.

Which is what brought them here now. The pair - girl and, well, cat-dragon - had been casing the area for a day or two, trying to find something suitable to take. They'd nearly made off with a wagon and two horses, but they knew nothing about horses! Couldn't get them to go! But tonight they were sure of their chances. A single man who already went around with a limp, on his own, was making a delivery or something - who knew, who cared? - and when he and his wagon left the farm, that's when Zooey and Cassiel would strike.

Okay, it sounded bad, but it was for a good cause!

They didn't have to wait much longer. The man appeared again, leading the wagon out of a dimly lit barn. He boarded the front and started off down the dark, forested lane. Perfect. They watched as he went down the lane, until he was far enough away that the farm wouldn't hear anything...

This was the moment. And they were on the move. Cassiel flew out in front of the horses, flying low so no one would see them until he was a few meters in front of them. Then the cat-dragon leapt in the air in front of them, wings spread, and let out a nasty growl. The horses spooked, and during the commotion, Zooey slipped onto the wagon front next to the man. She couldn't fight him, of course, even if he was lame. But she wouldn't have to. Without a word, she crushed a little vial in a cloth, and covered the man's face with it. Grimacing, Zooey held him there until, finally, his body went limp.

Perfect!



"You think he'll help us?" A strange, not-entirely-human voice.

"Eh, he'll have to, won't he?" A girl's voice.

"I hope you're right."

"You worry too much. Ey, he's kinda cute, though, inni'he?"

"I don't think you should be thinking like that... Look, he's moving. I think he's waking up."

When the young man woke he'd find himself in the back of his wagon. Which, by all appearances, was empty except him, and four curious eyes that were watching him. One hand was tied with - if Zooey could say so herself - a really very good knot to the back of the wagon. And one of his legs was, well, tucked under the girl's arm!

[Draconian]

It was an important mission. One he could do. Be useful for. Who would check an empty wagon being lead along by a cripple? Valerian wasn't really keen on doing it - but he was never really keen on doing anything. Having lost his leg and a few other emotional hurts sapped him of his energy to... Care about most things. Still, he cared about the people involved and if he didn't do it, no one else could. It would be too suspicious. It for the best as well. There were real lives at stake and Valerian was thinking only about the good that would come of this.

Didn't think about what would happen if he got caught.

Didn't think about who would be in trouble if he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

The trip was easy, mostly and so far it was problem free.

A gentle gnaw of his lips and he stared off into space while he urged the horse on. Maybe a little faster though, for time's sake. Of course, Valerian froze, eyes wide voice frozen in his throat and while the horse spooked at whatever that was, he wasn't paying attention to the person beside him, and he only cast his scared eyes to her before they rolled into the back of his head and he passed out heavily.



It was some time ( maybe ) before he started to come to. Something about being cute. Voices? Did they get out? were they talking? Who was talking? Was the Horse okay? Oh god. Valerian almost sat up quickly before he realized there was someone there and his arm was tied. A startled look to the girl and the... Whatever that was, and he cringed away from it. There had been two voices.

He gave a suspicious look to the girl before he felt his heart thump in his throat heavily. "There's nothing here to steal," He said simply, voice husky form recently having awoken. He hadn't been passed out for long, but it was long enough to make his voice feel like he hadn't used it in days  - that and also the silent wagon ride previous.

A long frown and he looked at the girl sitting on his leg, frowning. Swallowing carefully he looked away after a moment, "And if you aren't stealing from me, what are you doing?" A frown, "Slavers? I'd be an awful slave, they'd demand 75% off regular price."

[pomelo]

Both girl and cat-dragon tensed, Zooey even gave a bit of a start, when the young man suddenly sat up. They were out of his reach, and of course, they were "in control," but they didn't look much less surprised - or much more confident - than Valerian himself. After all, they'd never kidnapped someone before!

Cassiel, however, noticed how the man cringed away from him and flattened his ears grumpily and glared at Valerian. How rude!

Zooey opened her mouth to respond to his claim that there was nothing to steal, but before she could, he'd accused them of being - unbelievable! - slavers! and then it was Zooey's turn to look offended. "Tsch! What? We ain't slavers! Do we look like slavers?" she responded indignantly. The irony of her being indignant about anything, when she was the one who'd knocked the man out and stolen his wagon was for the moment lost on her. "If we were, though, I reckon it'd just be a 25% discount on yeh," she added quickly.

Get it. Because he was only missing one out of four limbs!

The girl took a moment to grin wide and disarmingly at her own joke for a moment, then her expression sobered, and she regarded the man with eyes wide, curious, and rather earnest. If she was trying to be intimidating, she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Meanwhile, Zooey was conscious to try to keep her ears back against her head, hidden by her hair and the darkness. The last thing she needed was that causing any more of an issue.

"Nah, we're not slavers and we don't want t'steal anything. We just want to borrow something." She paused, sitting up a little straighter as if to better present her case. "We need to get to the coast. And we need to get there, well, soon. As soon as we can. It's important. We don't got time to go on foot and, well, we don't know much about horses or, well, highway customs and the like here. We're not much used to traveling on land. So... we need a way to get there."

Cassiel, who'd not taken his eyes off the young man while Zooey was speaking, leaned forward a little and added, "And, anyway. You don't have much choice." It wasn't really in his nature to threaten like this, but the cat-dragon was still offended at how he'd been cringed at!

[Draconian]

Did they look like slavers?

Valerian just stared at her.

Sure she did. He'd never seen a slaver before and now here one was. It was... Well. Shitty. A roll of his eyes when he told him his joke back at him and he flushed, that easy to notice? Probably. That didn't matter though and he just... Stared at her grinning at herself like some sort of weirdo. Valerian tried to squirm away.

There was important cargo to deliver.

Still he listened. Borrow? The cart. Valerian sputtered, about to screech that absolutely not not but... His eyes flicked to the cat when it leaned forward and all Valerian could do was open his mouth and squeak.

"Your cat just threatened me," he looked to the girl like she wasn't aware and he covered his eyes for a moment. Nope, cat still there. Pressed his hand over his heart to feel it pound into his palm. Nope... Still there. Another swallow and he squeezed his eyes shut and panted. "Okay. No. Wait." He looked to the girl, "I have a delivery to make. You let me do that I'll take you anywhere you want to go even if I have to carry you." This was important to Olive, which meant it was important to him.

"Your cat can... Sit in the back."

[pomelo]

"It's not really a threat," the girl replied with a shrug. "He's just tellin' the truth. After all," she shifted her weight so she could gesture with the artificial leg she'd snatched from Vale and gave it a little wave. It was a gesture that said loud and clear, Where are you going to go? without Zooey needing to say anything. "But it'd be nicer if we didn't have to... Well, it'd be nicer if, y'know, we all just got along, right?"

Zooey meant it, too. She wasn't really much of a bully. She was used to being the light-hearted friendly relief of the Cloud Skimmer. But what choice did she have? Ugh, Dolores, why!? she thought in a sudden frustration with her sister. No no, with or without this boy's willing help, Zooey was going to get there first. She was not going to let her sister do this. So she beamed when Valerian agreed to go with them. An open, disarming, wide smile. (While Cassiel muttered, "I'm not a cat.") That was great! He'd go with them! They just had to -

Wait, what?

Because the wagon, obviously, was empty. And he said he had a delivery to make. Zooey's smile changed to a look of professional curiosity as her eyes started to examine the wagon. Cassiel seemed to pick up on it, too, because the pair exchanged a look and the cat-dragon began to slink around the wagon, sniffing curiously.

"Pretty empty wagon for a delivery," she said off-handedly to Valerian. Finally, her eyes stopped roaming on a board in the corner of the wagon. She'd notice a feature like that anywhere. Actually, Zooey was now embarrassed she hadn't already noticed it. She'd been raised all her life with smugglers, after all! "Eh, you got a false floor in here." It wasn't a question. That board would pull up, she could tell, then a larger section of the floor could be lifted from there. She looked back at Valerian. "What you got in there, then?"

Cassiel, meanwhile froze at the board. His nose carefully at the opening, dragon-like ears fully erect and listening carefully. He knew, without Valerian answering, what was hidden there in the wagon. "Pidge... "

[Draconian]

Shit.

Valerian closed his eyes after he'd said delivery. Why did she catch on? How did she know that he didn't have to pick it up first? Though, sure enough, she caught on and he kept his eyes closed while she looked for exactly what she was expecting to find. "Wait...!" he started, reaching forward but... A look to when the cat-thing spoke.

Pidge.

Her name was pidge? Maybe...

"Pidge," Valerian started, sitting up carefully, his missing leg tucked under his other one - even now, hiding it impulsively in some mild form of shame - "Please. I just need to get them somewhere safe," His hands were out while he tried to plead his case, heart pounding. He didn't want a fight. He didn't need to get distracted. "You let me get to where I'm going and I'll help you do anything. I promise." He slowly reached out a hand and swallowed.

"My name is Valerian. I'm a stablehand," He swallowed, "Beyond this I'm of no use to anyone. You don't let me make my delivery everyone here dies, do you understand?"

[pomelo]

Barely a moment passed between Cassiel saying ‘Pidge’ and the captive young man repeating it. Zooey barely had a chance to process Cassiel’s tone and posture before the man said -

”’Them?!’” Zooey repeated, eyes wide. ”What do you mean, ’THEM?!’”

What was WRONG with this country?! What did he mean them? Why didn’t people understand that you COULDN’T. SMUGGLE. PEOPLE.

Zooey gave Valerian an angry, incredulous look, then clambered over to where Cassiel stood stiff, hackles raised. Her hands ran expertly along the space between the boards, feeling for the latch that would lift the false floor. When she finally found it, she pulled it roughly up. The plank fell with a clamour to the side and Zooey stared down at… at… Two pairs of eyes staring back up at her.

And Zooey and Cassiel stared back at them. Zooey eyes wide, mouth open, ears slightly perked in surprise. Cassiel looked serious, still, deeply concerned. For a moment, everything stayed like that.

”WHAT?!” Zooey’s outburst came in a stage whisper and she turned in a sudden, exaggerated movement to Valerian. For a moment she looked like she would hit him, but instead she stormed out of the wagon, stomping silently around outside, fists full of her curly hair. Everything in this country was the WORST. ”Why do people - “ she steamed to herself. ” - has everyone gone crazy why do - “


As she carried on, Cassiel leaned hesitantly towards the opening, gazing down at the two eyes staring up at him. Staring up, he could tell, in fear. It was a girl, maybe twelve, and an old woman who had put a protective hand over the girl. There were three more hidden beneath the floor; Cassiel could smell them.

”It’s okay,” the cat-dragon whispered to them. ”We’re going to help you.”

The two exchanged a look of fear and surprise and, perhaps, a little disgust at the strange creature that was talking to them. But it was the girl who, eventually, swallowed her courage and whispered in a shaky voice, ”He- he’s taking us to safety.”


Meanwhile, Zooey’s silent rage of stomping back to forth and muttering to herself seemed to abate. Just long enough for her to turn back to Valerian and, grabbing his fake leg, she whacked him hard with it. ”You can’t. Smuggle. People!” she hissed, blazing. Why was that so hard for people to understand!? Zooey pulled the wooden leg back over her should to hit him again when Cassiel interrupted.

”Zooey, stop. I think- I think he’s helping them. That’s what the girl says.”

Zooey froze, then glared fiercely at Valerian. ”Is that true?!”