Ascension (closed)

[trinadi]

Teru stopped pushing for a moment to give Moira a sullen look. He could throw himself around and climb and jump, but that was nothing like this. He only knew how to move his own weight around, not other objects. It was more through her effort than his that the piece was pushed upwards and slid back to allow them freedom.

He hung back to avoid being kicked in the face as Moira hauled herself out. When she held out her hand he pushed it away, much like a stubborn toddler. “I don’t need help.” Holding onto the edge he then placed his foot against the wall and kicked off and up, using the momentum to swing himself up. He balanced there, half out of the ground for a moment, then slumped forward and pulled his legs free of the dark.

Teru helped to push the piece back at Moira’s request. As soon as it was in position he shuffled back a bit and began to draw his hand around in the dirt, making a circle. “That was bad,” he said gloomily. “They’re not going to be happy.” He was probably going to be punished for being seen.

He gave a sniff and looked up at her. “No,” he said. He pointed at a bag tucked into a darker corner of the alleyway. “That’s for you. Was told no running. Have to stay with you. Have to listen. Have to give the bag.” He began to run his finger in the circle again, deepening it.

[FallenBlu]

Moira raised an eyebrow and turned on her heels, her eyes resting on a rather small bag hidden in the dark shadows of the building above it. Crouching down she pulled open the back and angled it towards the minimal light that was coming from the street. Slowly she pulled out items from the bag and suddenly found herself looking at a rather fanciful dress, complete with a set of gloves and heels. The dress itself was a light shade of blue, and was a bit to shimmery and elegant for her taste. She had never worn something that looked so expensive.

"They want me to wear this? How lovely," she said sarcasm dripping from her voice.

She returned her gaze to the bag and found that there was another set of clothes, and those were obviously for Teru. She turned and looked back at Teru who was making a small circle in the dirt with finger. Nodding, she picked the bag up and dropped in front of Teru.

"Looks like you have something to wear as well," Moira said with a grin, no longer feeling alone in having to wear these unforgiving clothes. How anyone could dress like this was well beyond her. At least she wouldn't be in soggy clothing. That was the one and only plus side to this whole thing.

Moving towards the back of the alley she dumped her jacket onto ground before shooting a sharp look at Teru. "Don't come back here till I'm finished? Understand?" Moira asked sternly.

[trinadi]

The bag landed in a cloud of dust. Teru gave a sniff and stopped his drawing. He looked up at Moira and then at the bag. Why was she happy that he was wearing something new too? People weren’t supposed to like it when others got new things, too. That was what Sen said.

Tilting his head he put out a tentative hand and picked out the clothes, examining them. It was all fine materials; embossed velvet and silks. There were black trousers and a dark blue shirt slashed with pale to match what Moira had been given. The boots in it were tall and dark with silver clasps, and there was a short cape in the fashion that young men wore, though Teru could hardly be accounted into his age group.

“I don’t like it,” Teru mumbled sulkily. “I don’t like it, why do you like it?” Detecting sarcasm had never been one of his strong points. “They smell funny.” They smelled clean.

He stood up and began pulling off his jacket. He didn’t respond, and he didn’t try to hide, instead stripping right there in the middle of the alleyway. He seemed unabashed, and was. He stripped right down to his skin (not having worn any undergarments) and began to wriggle into the clean trousers. They were very tight compared to what he was used to, and he had never had to do up laces before always having his bottoms belted around his hips. He left the string pulled tight but untied, unsure what to do. Instead he pulled on his jacket. His eyes never went to Moira.

[FallenBlu]

"I don't really care for these type of clothes either Teru," Moira said with a sigh.

In fact this was one of the rare occasions when she wore anything like this. She often found dresses hindered her movements too much to her liking. Even now as she stripped down to her underwear she was thinking on how she would complete the mission in this dress. Next she pulled the light blue dress on, some what relieved by how it fell on her. It was long and somewhat pleated and did not puff out. It was smooth and silky, and she couldn't stop herself from running her fingers over it. She quickly slid into her heels and pulled her long gloves on. Satisfied she made her way back towards the front of the alley.

Personally she had expected a bit more whining to come from Teru, especially once he put the clothes on. But instead he was rather quiet, sulky all most in her opinion. Her sharp eyes drifted to his hair and was about to fix it, but stopped herself from doing so. She was sure Teru wouldn't really appreciate it much. Tugging on her gloves she took one last look at herself before looking back at Teru.

"You clean up rather wall Teru," she said with a grin, as she dusted off shoulders of his jacket. Satisfied, she looked towards the front of the alleyway. And now began the long walk to their intended target. She hoped and prayed for a quick, silent and easy mission. The last thing that she needed was to draw attention to themselves. Who knows what might happen if they were to be seen. All she knew was that she was not going down without a fight.

"Ready Teru?" Moira asked, as she took tentative step out of the alley way.

She took in a deep breath and stepped out of the alley and into the bright lights that illuminated the street. Taking a deep breath she motioned for Teru to follow and set out for their destination.

[trinadi]

Teru watched her out of the corner of his eye as she came closer. Shuffling his feet to turn around slightly he straightened in his crouch a bit. He poked at her dress, staying balanced on the balls of his feet. He fiddled with it a moment, crunching the layers of netting under the topmost fancy piece of silk. Then she touched him. Teru gave her an insolent stare as she cleaned him off. “It’s not good looking,” he said.

Rising as she walked away Teru looked down at the bag. He nudged it with his toe. Hooking an edge of the opening he gave his foot a kick. The bag flipped open, half exposing the contents. A smallish hat remained inside, feathers and fanciful silver detail adorning the side. Teru looked over at Moira and back at the hat.

He scratched at his head, running his hand through his messy hair. With a resigned sigh he reached for it. Picking it out, he gave it a careless shake for dust. Teru slammed it down on his head, unaware of the pins in it used to keep it at a jaunty angle at the back of his head. He gave a little yelp as one poked his scalp, but left it in place.

Careful of the boots, Teru came forward. “’M ready,” he said. He hovered half in the alleyway, watching her, and then moved quickly to follow.

[FallenBlu]

With Teru in toe, Moira lead them up the street towards their destination. With each step that she took, she found herself fiddling with her dress. She wasn't use to wearing something like this. As a young girl, dresses were all her mother dressed her in, but it had been years since that time, and as she grew into the young woman that she was now, dresses had become something she did not wish to wear, no matter how pretty or elegant it was. Even now she found herself muttering underneath her breath as they made their way to the large house where the party was to take place.

Arriving at the large gates that separated the outside world from the rather large mansion like home, she and Teru were greeted by two men who were ushering guest past the gates and pointing towards the house in the distance. Once they were pass the first set of "guards" Moira looked back at Teru and smiled gently.

"So far so good. Let's hope the rest of the night goes just as smoothly."

Upon arriving at the front door, their was a small line leading into the house. Once again their were a pair of men, though this time they were standing in front of a set of large wooden double doors. As each person or couple moved forward, they were asked for their invitations, in which they showed quickly before being shown through. Moira swallowed hard and looked back at Teru.

"Your pockets wouldn't happen to have the invites would they?" she whispered quietly to her companion.

[trinadi]

As they walked, Teru kept looking up at Moira. She was saying things, speaking quietly. He didn't think she was talking to him though. He tilted his head to the side, a puzzled look on his face. Why would she talk if she wasn't talking to him? He heard people singing to themselves, but why talk?

They neared the gate and Teru was distracted from trying to listen to what she said. Instead he looked up at the large house, much bigger than where he lived, and that place was the biggest in the middle ward. He moved slightly, closing the space between himself and Moira by a fraction. He didn't recognize either guard. They eyed him and one smirked, the other gesturing at his hair over the heads of the guests.

"Smoothly?" said Teru blankly.

Teru looked at Moira and titled his head to the side again. "Invites?" he said. They reached the guards and he turned, looking up at the one. He immediately recognized the man and smiled slightly. He did not receive a smile back, instead the man held out his hand. Teru looked at it quizzically and then pulled one of his paper animals out of his pocket, dropping it in his palm. At the same moment, the other guard turned to Moira, slipping her two ornate cards in a flash.

The guard on Teru's side looked at the little origami figure and shook his head. "You lower rich boys," he muttered in a decently convincing tone of disapproval. "Showing cheek even when invited to an officials house. Been out all day, too, I bet." Before Teru could ruin the act, the man turned to Moira. "Do you have the invitations for yourself and the young man, Miss?"

[FallenBlu]

"Indeed, I do."

The trade off was quick and unseen by the naked eye. One moment her hands were empty and the next the invitations that would allow her and Teru to enter the party when her hands. She smiled wildly at the two mean before her and then quickly showed them the invitations. The two men looked them over quickly and then opened the door for the two of them to enter. Moira curtsied and the entered the rather large house. Beyond the doors was a dazzling array of good looking and well off people. Women wore dresses that made hers look it was some sort of cheap knock out. But she didn't really care. The main entrance hall lead into a large circular room where men and women mingled about, some dancing to the live band that was playing a ways away.

"Well, isn't this impressive," Moira said as she looked over at Teru. her eyes then went to the golden chandeliers above her head. She let out a quiet whistle and crossed her arms. "How does one live this way?" she asked, though once again it was mostly to herself.

Fixing her hair a bit, she motioned for Teru to follow and quickly began to mingle into the crowd. Once she was away from the door, she found a quiet spot in the crowded ball room and motioned for Teru to move over. "We should probably do a bit of recon before we do anything. The last thing we need to do is attract attention to ourselves," Moira explained, "From there we can begin our main objective."

[trinadi]

Teru frowned at the two guards and scurried after Moira. The girls did that same odd pulling thing with their skirts at the house he lived in. They did it to his owner and their customers. That was because they were higher up. So were these two men higher up than Moira, or he? He walked somewhat behind and to the side of Moira, always just at her shoulder. He didn't like the people. The smell of perfume. The clack of pointy shoes. The chatter was light raising to the high ceilings, and the men talked different.

Moira commented on the room and Teru looked around at her. "It's shiny. Slippery. Not good for anything." He glanced at the chandelier she had been admiring and then away, watching the guests intently. "You own people," chirped Teru. "You get lots when you own people."

Sure enough a woman passed him. His hand struck out like a viper, and the woman walked on. It would take hours for her to notice her bracelet was gone. Teru held it out to Moira, not looking at her. "You need to sparkle," he said. It took a long time for them to weave through the crowd. People kept stopping them, talking to them. Teru always looked at them, eyes wide and blue. The men just laughed it off as a young man unsure how to be an adult. Women just thought him cute.

At last they were at the side. "Re...con?" said Teru. His eyes glazed over slightly, then suddenly brightened. He understood 'objective' to mean he needed to start his job. "I start now?" he said. "Where do I go? Up? Out? Other room here?"

[FallenBlu]

Moira guessed that it was a little too much to ask for when it came to Teru and his pick-pocketing. Nevertheless she hadn't even seen the young man grab the bracelet from a passerby before handing it to her. She took the bracelet into her hand and simply sighed. Now was not the time to scold him and bring attention to what he had done. That would be saved for later. Her eyes darted around for a moment, taking in all the sights, the sounds and most importantly the people. For the time being they were alone by themselves, and thankfully everyone else were in rather large groups chattering incessantly about things that weren't of grand importance.

At the mention of objective, the docile and quiet Teru suddenly came alive with a new vigor. Sadly, the word recon seemed to pass through one ear and out the other. Grinning, Moira fanned him down and motioned for him to get closer, which she was sure that he wasn't going to do. He didn't like being touched nor, being near anyone for that matter. She spoke quietly, but held the air of an aristocrat as she put on her bracelet and explained to Teru what they were going to do. "Yes, we're going to start, but keep your cool, all right?" she began, "The guests are still arriving which means that the man of the hour won't be out for a little bit longer,"

"That means we have a limited time frame to get this done and-" she paused wondering just how much of this Teru was taking in, "Anyways, what I need you to do is head out and up. The man's office is on the second floor, which shouldn't be a problem for you. Climbing is sort of your thing. The window should be a opened, apparently the man enjoys the 'simple things in life' " Moira said as she rolled her eyes.

"You are to hold him there until I get there. It's not a hard job, but I know this place will probably be covered with guards and the works. So for right now, your our best shot. And try to do it quietly. I have a few things to attend to," Moira said, as she straightened up, her eyes looking for where her own part of the operation would begin. Her eyes quickly landed on the door to the kitchen, where another one of her friends stood, dressed as a waiter. The plan had all ready been worked out and once that area was clear she could continue to the basement to knock out the power and then proceed to make her way back up. She just hoped that nothing would go wrong, since the last thing she wanted to do was take the direct approach.

[trinadi]

She wasn’t pleased with him; Teru could tell from the look on her face. She wasn’t happy with the bracelet or, more likely, that he had taken it at all. He was decent with perceiving emotions like that, at least. Displeasure, irritation, impatience, they were all things he was used to. She seemed to feel a need to hit him though; she made the same movement his owner did. The one she made when she wanted him to come closer. The one that was always followed by him being hit.

He inched closer, bowing his head slightly. But she did not hit him. She put the bracelet on. Teru lifted his head and looked at her, his expression a mixture of confusion and curiosity. “What’s keeping cool?” he muttered. He watched a fat, overly dressed man pass. “Do I have to take off my coat?” The man gave him a disapproving glance. A gentleman wouldn’t take off his coat, no matter the temperature. This fact was lost on Teru, and the man moved on muttering about ‘new money.’

Moira paused, and Teru looked back up at her. He blinked, head tilting a fraction. “Up…” he mumbled thoughtfully. He looked around, at the people, at the walls and ceiling, and then he was gone. He did not go back out the main door. In fact, he did not go out at all. Instead he walked over to a servant and poked him. The servant turned around and Teru gave him a petulant look. “Toilet?” he said.

The servant looked affronted. “The restroom is up this hallway and to the right,” he said. Teru bounced past him, running up the hall. No one was in this part of the home; having only just started into the festivities, no one had moved back there yet. He got to the door and pushed it open. He left the door ajar, too. Looking around quickly, checking that no one was around he moved to the window and opened it. The gap was tiny, but large enough for him. He slid it, feathered cap brushing against the window.

Bushes were directly below it, and it was those that he landed in. They were thorny, twisting around artistically and he stifled a squeak as he was stuck by them. Shoving a fist in his mouth he closed the window and began to prowl around the side. He kept to the shadows and began his search for a way to the top windows. He paused a moment and frowned. Why hadn’t she told him which window? He knew how to count. He did not dwell on this long, however. He needed to get up, and up he went. In the darkest spot he could find Teru began his climb. His fingers found the grooves in the stone, feet scampering and propelling him. The only thing that could go wrong was to be spotted. He wasn’t going to think on that.

[FallenBlu]

EDITING!