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“Jackpot!” Nicole shouted, staring at her computer screen. All three heads of her Cunning Hare companions turned in her direction. Billy ran up to where Nicole sat, pushing her slightly out of the way so he could see the Inter-Knot forum on her screen.
Nicole wouldn’t say that that the website was sketchy, but well, it wasn’t exactly legal either. Despite that, after a few successful (and high paying) commissions completed by the Hares found through the site, she often found herself scrolling through the page anyways.
“I got us a commission that looks easy and pays a TON. It’s right up our alley. Simple hollow item retrieval mission. And it’s in such a small companion hollow that we wouldn’t even need a proxy for this one.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Anby asked. “We don’t exactly have the best track record of navigating hollows without a carrot.”
“I say we can do it!” Billy shouted, always the optimist.
“Well I agree with Anby. I’d rather not get lost in another hollow. It gets so boring in there after a while. Especially if we end up just wandering in circles.” Nekomata complained.
“But we can’t afford a proxy right now, even if this job does pay well.” Nicole explained with a whine.
Anby sighed, “It’s not like we have to hire Phaethon for a job like this. We can find a cheap proxy. All we really need is a carrot, then it’s a quick in and out.”
“Ugh, I guess you’re right. I’ll find someone. But I won’t be able to vouch for their quality, just their price tag.”
---
Just two days later, the Cunning Hares found themselves standing right outside a small Hollow on the outskirts of Janus Quarter. Their proxy was late. That fact had the group wondering if they were somehow scammed, but It’s not like they put in any form of advance payment, so it seemed odd that they wouldn’t show up.
Nicole didn’t do much to vet this proxy. Their username was nothing but a string of letters and numbers and their profile only had two reviews. The reviews weren’t negative exactly, but they weren’t exactly positive either.
‘The proxy got me through the hollow. 2.5/5 stars’ - Anon
That review didn’t tell her much, but well, that’s all they really needed from the proxy anyways. The other review was just a 4/5 rating with no comment attached. Even with the lack of information, however, the price the proxy was charging made Nicole hire them without a second thought.
The longer they waited at the hollow’s edge, the more she thought she’d somehow gotten scammed. But if this was a scam, she didn’t see what the scammer was getting out of it. Her annoyance?
About 15 minutes passed before the Hares finally heard a pair of footsteps walking towards them. Nicole turned to see who she assumed was their fashionably late proxy. And, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, fashionably late was the perfect choice of words for the moment.
Standing in front of them was a tall, slim, blonde man wearing a beautifully tailored indigo suit. The man's appearance was definitely not that of what anyone would expect a sketchy proxy working for unreasonably low prices to look like. To Nicole, his completely non-sketchy look made him even more sketchy. But a good deal was a good deal, and it’s not like she didn’t trust her team to be able to take care of themselves if this proxy had some ulterior motive.
“Ah, hello. I assume that you are my employers for the day." The man’s voice was almost unnervingly smooth and courteous. “I apologize for being late. I got a bit turned around looking for our meeting location. I always seem to have trouble navigating the world outside of the hollows, but rest assured, my hollow navigational skills are top notch. As long as you can protect me from any ethereals inside, your journey through the hollow will be simple and streamlined.”
The four Hares all turned towards each other, silently asking each other’s approval to work with the proxy they hired. When none of them said anything, Billy turned to the man.
“Sounds good! I think we’re all ready, so let’s get moving.” Just as Billy turned to jump through the hazy, purple boundary of the hollow, he stopped himself. “Wait, we totally forgot something!”
The stranger that was their proxy tilted his head, questioning. “Is there something else you need from me before we get started with the job?”
“Of course there is!” Billy’s voice was as loud and enthusiastic as ever. “Introductions! We don’t even know your name, Mr. Proxy.”
“Ah, I see. My name is unimportant. You can simply continue to call me proxy. And I’m already aware of the four of you. Your reputation as the Cunning Hares proceeds you, so I see no need for any formal introductions.”
Nicole could understand the proxy’s preference for anonymity. The job was illegal after all. “Alright then! Let’s head into the hollow. We’ve got a job to do.”
With no further directive needed, Billy ran full tilt into the hollow. Nekomata pounced forwards, following quickly behind. Anby and Nicole trailed behind towards the barrier. Before stepping through, Nicole sent a glance over her shoulder towards their proxy. Catching her gaze, the proxy gave her a light and pleasant smile.
Despite the seemingly innocent and kind gesture, something about it sent a chill down her spine. Before she separated her gaze from the proxy’s, she took his unique heterochromatic eyes. Noticing her staring, the proxy sent her a wink before walking past her into the hollow. Tightening her grip on her briefcase, Nicole quickly turned to follow. As she did so, her eyes were drawn to the proxy’s hand where he held a briefcase of his own.
---
It didn’t take long for the Hares and their proxy to reach their intended location. Around them was the rubble of a high end city block destroyed by the creation and expansion of the hollow that engulfed it. This hollow was relatively new, meaning this area had only recently been abandoned and likely had to be evacuated with little notice. It made sense that something important or valuable was left behind in the wreckage. As she scanned the area, she realized that with only the knowledge of the general vicinity and a description of the item they were supposed to retrieve, this job might not end up being as easy as Nicole hoped.
Well, that wasn’t exactly the case. The job would be easy, but it was going to take a while.
As Nicole glanced around the scene, searching for the best area to start searching, she heard footsteps stopping just behind her. She turned to see their proxy a bit out of breath with his previously perfect hair tousled and tangled. In retrospect, Nicole realized that the Hares might’ve been moving a bit fast for the thin and lanky man. Despite his height, he didn’t exactly look like the type to have a lot of stamina or speed.
“Are you alright, Mr. Proxy?” Billy noticed the man’s ragged breathing quickly after they stopped.
“Oh, yes. I’m fine. I just need a moment to catch my breath.”
While the proxy may have needed a bit of a breath after their trek through the hollow, the Hares were raring to go. “Alright, lets split up to-”
“I’m going that way!” Billy booked it to the left where a half of a building sprawled across the ground, surprisingly intact. She had a feeling it would be looking closer to the rest of the rubble in no time.
“Oooh! Ok! I’ll go over there!” Nekomata raced off in the opposite direction.
“We’re starting already? Understood. I will search in this section.” Anby moved towards another section of the rubble, walking with urgency, but not running full tilt like the others.
Interrupted and left alone, Nicole huffed. “I’m supposed to be the leader of the Cunning Hares and yet they all run off without any input from me,” she muttered under her breath. And yet, she still began to saunter slowly to the largest space left open to start her own search.
“So, what exactly is it that you are looking for?” Their proxy asked, his breathing finally steady. “It must be something important if it’s worth digging through all this rubble.”
The question caught Nicole off guard, stopping her in her tracks. After the proxy’s relative silence throughout the hollow so far--only guiding them in the right direction here and there--she didn’t expect him to be interested in the job at all. She’d assumed he was a ‘don’t ask questions’ kind of person; the type that does the bare minimum and nothing more.
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry,” the proxy backtracked. “I must be overstepping. I’m sure that kind of information is classified to only those who took the commission.”
“Nah, don’t be sorry. I understand the curiosity. To be honest, I’m pretty curious too. We were only given a general location, a description of a safe that, whatever the item is, is stored inside, and a combination lock to open it. Apparently, the safe is so secure, made of some sort of porcelume-metal hybrid, that no one short of a void hunter would be able to break it open, so it must be something important. But that could just be an exaggeration"
The proxy raised an eyebrow, tilting his head in curiosity. “Well then, I guess I’ll find out what’s inside at the same time that you do when you find the safe.”
Nicole sighed, staring at the mounds of wreckage they had to rummage through. “If we find it…”
The proxy laughed lightly. “I’m sure you will. I’ve heard great things about the Cunning Hares.”
Nicole wanted to ask where he’d heard these great reviews of her group, but her head was turned back to the job at hand when she heard Billy screech in the distance.
“I’m ok! I just slipp-” His voice was cut off by another crash and a deep thud.
“Well, if you’ve heard things about us, then you probably also know the way we go about things can be a bit…intense. So I’d suggest staying back a bit while we really get to searching. We want to get through all this as fast as possible.”
“Alright, I’ll find somewhere a bit farther back to sit and let you all get to work.” The proxy smiled and moved to put some distance between him and where the group was slashing and shooting at the rubble in search of the safe. The leader of the Hares took that as her cue to finally join in on the excavation.
---
About an hour of searching passed with no luck. Nicole hoped that their proxy, still sitting off in the distance, had high ether aptitude, because even she was starting to feel a bit dizzy. The small size and the recent expansion of the hollow seemed to be compressing the ether within, increasing its density and effects. It was a miracle that they’d only had to deal with a small handful of etherials since entering the hollow.
‘Maybe I should check on the proxy, just in case.’ She turned to look towards where he had settled in a while back. He seemed ok from a distance, but it’s better safe than sorry.
She took a couple steps down the pile of rubble she’d been digging through before her foot clipped the edge of a piece of hard metal buried in the pile. “ACK!” She let out a shrill shriek, bracing herself to fall down the slope of metal and glass debris.
Luckily she didn’t fall far, only scraping her knee and slicing a small cut into her arm from a shard of glass. That, plus the pain of a stubbed toe was nothing she couldn’t handle.
“You’re bleeding. Here, take this.” Being closest to her location, Anby ran over to Nicole at the sound of her scream.
Sitting up, Nicole took the torn piece of fabric the other girl ripped from her tall sock and wrapped it around the open wound. It wasn’t big, but there was enough bleeding to warrant at least some compression.
“What happened?” Anby’s tone didn’t sound particularly concerned, but Nicole knew she was.
“I was just walking down, when my foot hit this stupid, giant piece of metal.” She groaned, getting up to point towards the thick slab of hard metal she tripped over. She’d only fallen a few meters down from it, so they could see it clearly from where the girls stood. Actually looking at it clearly, there was something odd about it. It looked different from all of the other metal pieces around them. It was a different color and was shinier than the others. And strangely, there wasn’t a scratch on it despite being buried in hundreds of pounds of other materials.
“Wait…is that the?” Ignoring the pain in her foot, she climbed back up the pile to the top of the metal piece. After clearing as much of the rubble off the top, it was obvious. A seemingly untouched electronic padlock gleamed like a treasure chest dug out from the sand.
“I FOUND IT!” Nicole shouted, hoping to get the attention of Billy and Nekomata in the distance. “The safe! It’s right here!” So caught up in her own search, she wasn’t sure where either of the two were at that point, but hearing the sound of her voice, they both came running in her direction.
With no patience to wait for them all to gather, she knelt down to reach the pad lock, inputting the code she’d already memorized. Waiting excitedly for the beep of the safe unlocking, her attention was split by two sounds ringing out at once.
Below her, the padlock screen lit up green with a ding, but the sound she cared about more came from farther in the distance. A scream. Loud and terrified. So piercing that her focus pulled completely away from the safe and instead towards the hoard of ethereals quickly approaching the location of their proxy.
Nicole's eyes scanned the ground for the proxy’s golden hair before finding him not far below them, slowly backing away from the pack of monsters, one arm in the air, the other in a deathly hold on his briefcase He was walking himself into a dead end. Having the same thought, Nicole and Anby both raced down the mound of rubble, leaving the safe completely forgotten behind them.
Anby sliced through the first ethereal she reached, moving some of their attention to her rather than their previous target. Nicole blasted her briefcase gun forward, trying to open a path towards their proxy.
“PROXY! Hide! Get behind something! Stay back and out of sight, we’ll take care of the ethereals!” Nicole screamed over the roars of the monsters. There were more of them than she could count. Where had all these creatures been for the last hour of silence within the hollow? Did they just appear out of nowhere?
With the ethereals briefly distracted from their prey due to the booming sound of Nicole’s weapon, she was able to see the proxy sprint behind the closest thing he could use for cover. A half destroyed brick wall that looked on the brink of collapsing. It definitely wasn’t the best place to hide, especially with the dead end behind it, but it would work as long as they could keep the monsters’ attention. And hearing the sound of gunfire and hissing nearing her location, she knew it wouldn’t take long for them to clear out the ethereals and get the proxy out of danger.
And she was right, after only a few minutes, their group had demolished the entire pack of ethereals with relative ease.
“That was great! I needed a break from all that digging through rubble.” Billy’s voice rang out in the newfound silence in the hollow.
Nicole sighed in relief, a smile on her face as she turned back to the crumbling brick wall where their proxy hid. Her smile dropped the moment she saw one remaining ethereal lunging towards the wall, a bladed arm outstretched. Before she could even raise her weapon, the creature swung, its arm slicing through the brick like butter, and leaving anything that might be behind it in the same state as the wall.
“NO! PROXY!” It was too late. She didn’t check her surroundings well enough. She lowered her guard too fast. She left the proxy in danger by being in such close range to their battle, and now he was…gone?
Behind the wall it was empty. No body nor living person. And behind that was only another wall. They were in a dead end. There was nowhere the proxy could have gone except for through their battle. Her eyes searched the area for any sign of him, but there was nothing.
“Proxy? Proxy? Where are you?” She shouted, turning to scan the area behind her. But lost in her dazed confusion and worry, she left herself open to the last ethereal, her mind so distracted that she completely forgot it was still there until its screech was only inches from her ear.
She barely had time to realize what was happening before it attacked. The woosh of a blade flew past her ear, then…nothing. Only fearful anticipation, sudden silence, and a faint chill in the air.
Hesitantly, Nicole looked behind her, unsure of what to expect. There was no ethereal. In its place was a long metal pole sticking out from the ground. No, it wasn’t a pole. It was a scythe. A scythe with an icy blue blade lodged deep into the ground beneath them. In any other situation, with how close the blade whirred past her head, she would’ve assumed that its blade had missed its mark--that mark, of course, being her. But in this case, it had saved her instead.
“Proxy. Proxy? Hmmmm. I changed my mind. I don’t think I like being called that anymore.” Nicole’s head whipped around, yanking her attention away from the scythe she’d been scrutinizing. At first, she couldn’t pinpoint the location of the voice. It was clearly their proxy’s, but there was also something distinctly different about it.
A small cracking sound brought her mind back to the scythe for just a moment before capturing her gaze as it pulled itself out of the ground and flew up towards one of the mounds of debris, spinning as it did so. A collective gasp rang out through the Cunning Hares as they hypnotically watched the weapon move through the air. Their shocked gasps grew when the scythe reached its destination--expertly spun in the hands of their supposedly frail and terrified proxy, and transformed itself into a familiar briefcase as soon as he knew all of their eyes had cemented themselves on him.
He may have looked the same, but even from a distance, Nicole could tell that the man sitting atop that mountain of broken glass, metal, and concrete was not the same person as the out of breath proxy who arrived at this scene or the terrified man cowering from a pack of ethereals. The wicked grin on his face was more than enough to tell her that.
“I know it’s a little late, but I think I’ll take you up on that offer of introductions now.
Just as I’ve heard of you, Cunning Hares, I’m sure you’ve heard of me as well. It’s nice to meet you all. I am Mockingbird. ” He punctuated the name by pulling a coin from thin air and flipping it down towards his spectators. It landed with a clink between them. Nicole gazed down to look at the coin. It was gold with an intricate engraving of a bird-the logo of the infamous phantom thief syndicate, Mockingbird.
Eying the coin, Nicole was able to distract herself from the thief’s hypnotic performance just long enough to ask herself the most pressing question about the situation. Why?
But the answer was perfectly obvious. Drawing her eyes back to the thief, she stared at what he had chosen for his impromptu seat. With one leg hanging off the side and the other perched on top, he sat comfortably on the edge of the, now clearly propped open, safe that they’d been searching for. The safe that she’d unlocked only seconds before their proxy, no, Mockingbird, called out for help.
Her eyes narrowed, both angry and begrudgingly impressed. They’d been played, and they’d been played good.
But their commission was to get whatever was inside that safe and bring it back to their employer, so she wasn’t going to let this thief take it and run away with no resistance. Readying her weapon, she pointed the briefcase directly towards Mockingbird, letting ether energy build in its core.
Noticing the bright glow, the thief gazed down at the weapon in her hands. His eyes widened and for a moment Nicole thought it might be fear in his eyes, but then, he started laughing. “Oh come on now, don’t go pointing your weapons at me after all the time we spent together.” He hopped to his feet, keeping himself at the very edge of the safe as if testing how close he could get before tumbling off. He continued to grin despite her glare and those of her companions around her who had now pointed their own weapons towards him.
“I understand your frustration. I truly do. If I was in your shoes I’d want to shoot me as well.” Despite his position, the thief didn’t look or sound the least bit worried about an attack. “But that ether gun you’ve got there looks like it really packs a punch, and I’m not sure you’d want it hitting this, would you?” Mockingbird raised the hand that wasn’t holding his briefcase to show them a small, nondescript, white pouch held by thick drawstrings.
“Is that the--?” Nicole’s question died on her tongue. She knew the answer, and she knew the question was what the thief wanted. From all of what she’d seen and heard of Mockingbird, and from their current interaction, Nicole could tell that the man loved to talk. He loved attention and theatrics, because why else would he have not already run off with his treasure while he had the chance. The Cunning Hares could use that to their advantage.
Lowering the ether energy emitting from her blaster, she turned towards the rest of her group. Despite their offensive stances, their eyes were just as glued to the performance as hers were, but her movement got their attention. Making eye contact with each one of them for just a moment, she tried to send them a silent message. She hoped with their teamwork and understanding of each other they got the message, but she couldn’t be sure. Either way, as long as they could get to the thief before he made whatever grand exit she knew he had planned, it would be 4 on 1.
After a moment, the group all nodded to each other before Nekomata and Anby ran off in opposite directions and Nicole and Billy stayed in place, silently keeping their weapons pointed at Mockingbird.
Watching their movements, the blonde looked left and right, seemingly trying to gauge the Hare’s movements, but just as he brought his eyes back to his enemies in front of him, he shook his head and sighed. “Don’t feel like talking anymore? What a pity. I was just starting to enjoy myself. But, oh well, I got my prize, so I guess I can make my escape.” He shook the white bag before turning to take one step up the pile of rubble, but stopped for a second. “I’m disappointed. I was so excited to see how cunning the Cunning Hare could be.” His head turned revealing a vicious grin, showing off glistening fangs that she hadn’t noticed before. She couldn’t help the shiver they gave her.
Nicole couldn’t let him move any farther. She fired.
A giant blast erupted at the thief’s feet, sending dust and shrapnel into the air-a smoke screen that also served as a signal. Nicole had to hope that the rest of the group had gotten into position (and knew what that position was supposed to be in the first place), and made their move. The dust cloud blocked her own vision, but if things had gone as she imagined, the attack should already be done and the bag should be in their possession. Even if he knew an attack was coming, and from which directions they were coming from, their speed and movements would have been impossible to track.
The plan (as long as the other Hares were on the same page) goes as follows:
Step 1: Nekomata and Anby separate, flanking the sides.
Step 2: Nicole and Billy keep the thief’s attention while they get into position.
Step 3: When the thief taunts them by showing off the bag (which he definitely will do), Nicole shoots the ground to create a smoke screen and as a signal for the others.
Step 4: Anby moves in first, using one of her blades to slice the drawstring of the bag.
Step 5: From the other side, Nekomata leaps underneath, catching the bag.
Step 6: If none of that works, Nekomata and Anby are used as distractions for Billy to run up and tackle the thief.
As convoluted as it sounds, they’ve actually practiced something similar for a different job (which is why Nicole hopes they got the memo about what to do). That being said, once the smoke screen goes up, the plan should be complete before the dust even settles.
Nicole closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opens her eyes, she should see the thief pinned to the ground and Nekomata holding the white bag.
…That is not what she sees.
Instead, Nekomata is holding a black hat in her hands, Billy has Anby pinned to the ground, and Mockingbird is standing unfazed in the same spot, the white bag still in his hand.
With a stupidly smug grin plastered on his face, the thief sauntered elegantly towards a dazed Nekomata and plucked the hat from her hands. (‘Wait, wasn’t that the hand holding the bag? Where did it go?’) “Hasn’t anyone taught you that it’s quite disrespectful to take other people’s belongings.” His chuckle to himself told Nicole that he was all too proud of that one.
Nicole rolled her eyes with a grumble.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was a valiant effort. Perfectly in sync, masterfully executed, and a plan that seems obvious but tricks the target into thinking they know what’s coming. And most impressive, it was all without planning ahead of time. That kind of trust is truly awe-inspiring.” His tone sounded taunting and laced with irony, but something about them made Nicole believe his words wholeheartedly. Despite the situation and her growing irritation, she silently accepted the compliment and filed it away as something to think about at a different time.
“If I were anyone else, I’m sure your strategy would’ve succeeded. It’s a shame your opponent happened to be the ever elusive Mockingbird. You may be the Cunning Hares, but no one out-cunnings a phantom thief.” Finishing his speech with the flourish of flipping his hat onto his head, Mockingbird held up his briefcase and shot a grappling hook out of one of the compartments. It hooked itself onto the nearest intact building and retracted, pulling the thief up to land on the roof.
“Thank you all so much for your help today. It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. I hope to see you again in my next act.” After one final showy bow, the phantom thief turned and leapt off the other side of the roof, leaving the Cunning Hares in stunned silence.
.
As soon as the thief was out of sight, Nicole collapsed to the ground. It wasn’t out of exhaustion or due to pain. She collapsed from sheer humiliation. They had been so thoroughly bested and beaten and played. And after all of that, they didn’t even know what it was that Mockingbird stole. She could only laugh at the absurdity of it.
But worst of all, they failed the commission, so they were getting nothing out of everything they just went through.
The more she thought about it, however, the less she cared about the payment. After so many years of money troubles, Nicole had become a bit materialistic, but her values still far outweighed any need for dennies. If they’d been stolen from by any normal thief she’d be far more upset about the lack of payout. But with Mockingbird, she was aware of his motives and methods and would easily sway towards being a fan of the phantom thief rather than wanting him locked up.
If Mockingbird had a reason to target their employer and steal whatever was in that safe, then she’s probably happier that it ended up in the thief’s hands rather than those of the person paying them to retrieve it.
No, she wasn’t upset about her team or their employers’ financial loss. She was upset about the loss of her pride.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about this.” Billy, who’d pried himself off of Anby and made his way back to solid ground, sat down next to her on the hard concrete. “The guy’s good. Too good to be honest.”
“Yeah! I wanna see him again so I can ask him how he does some of those tricks. Do you know how much easier it would be to snatch people’s wallets if I could pull things out of nowhere and make things disappear!?” Nekomata preened.
“And one extra bad review and a few less dennies isn’t gonna ruin us. I can skip out on a few burgers if it helps save some money…Just not too many burgers.”
Just as they all gathered in one spot, a single playing card slowly floated down in front of them before landing right next to Nicole’s foot. Picking it up she realized it wasn’t a playing card, but a calling card.
On the front, it simply read ‘Your’s Truly, Mockingbird’ with the phantom thief’s iconic signature.
“The guy really didn’t need to leave a calling card. He literally announced his name and threw an engraved gold coin at us.” Billy grumbled.
Nicole flipped the card over. She didn’t expect anything else on it, but she found more text on the back. She read it aloud for them all to hear. “The coin is real gold. It would make some nice jewelry if you melted it down. Or you could just pawn it off. I’m sure it’s worth a pretty denny. And it ends off with a winking face. What a prick.” After she finished reading, it took a moment before Nicole actually processed the information. “Wait…” They all ran off, separating to look for the coin still left somewhere on the ground near them.
“I FOUND IT!” Nekomata shouted, holding up their new prize.
“Alright then. No harm, no foul I guess.” Nicole smiled. ‘Except to my pride’ she thought, but didn’t dare voice aloud so as to not bring down the newly heighted mood. “Now let’s get out of here!”
Nicole may have made sure not to bring down the mood, but Anby seemed to have no such qualms. “We don’t have a proxy or a carrot. How are we supposed to find an exit?”
.
.
.
“You have to tell me now! How are Phaethon’s friends? What are they like? Are they cool? Did you have fun? Are they worthy of being friends with Lord Phaethon?” As soon as Hugo opened the door, Vivian smothered him with questions.
Hugo sighed. “No, ‘Hello, Hugo?’ ‘How are you?’ ‘Well done on another flawless heist!’”
“Hello, Hugo. How are you?”
The blonde jumped at the deep voice. It was rare, scratch that, practically impossible, to catch Hugo off guard, but the thiren currently sitting on his couch always did have a way of surprising him.
“Well done on another flawless heist.” Lycaon parroted, his practiced refined tone nearly hiding the sarcasm laced words.
“Hugooo, please. Tell me about the Cunning Hares.” Vivian pleaded.
“You don’t even let a man take off their shoes before bombarding him with questions. But I guess I can indulge you, just this once.” He responded, knowing full well that it has not been and would not be ‘just this once.’
Hugo moved into the living room and sat himself down right next to Lycaon, much too close for the man he’d called his sworn enemy only mere months ago. “The Cunning Hares are definitely interesting. They are smarter than they look, and stronger too. They seem to be hiding their strength, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I’m not sure, but to the trained eye, they are clearly stronger than they present themselves to be. They have, at the very least, piqued my interest. Especially their leader, Nicole.”
“She’s so expressive.” Hugo hummed contentedly mentally replaying the woman’s unrestrained and quickly changing emotions throughout their encounter. “She’s prideful but not arrogant. And she reacted so passionately to every one of my taunts,” he chuckled. “The other Hares were far from dull, but Nicoletruly the perfect audience for my performance.” Hugo began to lean his lead back to rest on Lycaon’s shoulder only to be interrupted by the thiren in question yanking him up by his collar and holding him like a mother cat would do with its kitten.
“Hugo, you are covered in dirt, grime, and ether residue. You will not be touching any of my fur until you’ve taken a long shower.”
Hugo groaned for a moment before his sneer turned into a smirk. “Well, Mr. Butler, if I’m so dirty, maybe you should come join me in the shower to help clean me off.” That probably would have been a better pick up line if Hugo wasn’t still hanging from his collar in Lycaon’s hand, but the butler didn’t say no, so he assumed his request was well received.
“Ok, ew.” Vivian grimaced. “Well, thanks for the info. I’m gonna, uh, go…” The girl spun around and all but ran to the closest door.