The Cat And The Dagger

Job Details:

Sign-Up Page 17, Post Number 409

Wearing her familiar "office lady" attire of white button-up shirt with navy blue knee-length skirt and navy blue dress shoes, Diana arrived in Hosenka to meet a fellow guild member who wanted to meet at a spa. She had a bit of trouble determining which one to enter because she was not sure which one the guildmate decided to patronize, but by using her ability to sense magic she eventually found the one her guildmate was patronizing. It was not connected to Kasumi's Daimyo Spa chain, so she did not need to worry about being recognized here. It had been awhile since Diana had used her "real" face and it was more than a bit uncomfortable.

Diana checked into the spa without any difficulty and was given the key to Locker Number 0501 and went to the locker room to change into a white cotton robe. Putting it on would bring her some measure of comfort, but taking it off to get into the hot springs would be difficult because the scars on her back would be exposed and raise a lot of uncomfortable questions. Her best hope would be to dip into the hot springs as quickly as possible before anyone saw her back.

A few minutes later the blonde was wearing the robe. She left the locker room after securing her clothing in the locker assigned to her. Now to find her guildmate.

Once again using her ability to sense magic, Diana quickly found her guildmate already in one of the hot springs, her long black hair flowing like a silk curtain. No one else was around, which made life a lot easier for the blonde because she would not have to answer awkward questions from more than one source.

"Hi there." Diana greeted the young woman.

[Word Count: 302]
[Diana's Word Count: 302/7,000]

Aside from her jet-black hair, the first thing Diana noticed about the young woman was her heterochromia. One eye was red and the other was golden. Diana quickly walked over to the privacy area concealed behind a paper curtain with an ocean wave motif and removed her robe with considerable reluctance. The blonde was prepared to answer some awkward questions, but perhaps the raven's curiosity would not be too much to handle. Diana stepped from behind the curtain and quickly submerged herself into the hot spring to avoid showing herself for too long.

Diana looked around and checked to be certain there were no eavesdroppers who were civilian, Rune Knight, or Shadow Collective before speaking. She really did not want to have to eliminate witnesses so early in the day because it would be difficult to conceal the evidence. Once she was satisfied that they were truly alone, Diana worked up the courage to give her name.

"I am Stiletto." Diana said to The Black Cat. It was easy to see how the other person got their name... their hair was a clue to their identity. Diana's use of the codename Stiletto was something of a misnomer... the blonde did not employ daggers in the course of her job. Instead it was an indication of how she prioritized stealth and precision over brute force in completing assignments.

[Word Count: 230]
[Diana's Word Count: 532/7,000]

"The knife." Stiletto answered laconically. So far The Black Cat was proving herself to be interesting, but the real test would be how she performed in the field. However, strenuous activity like that could wait because right now was spa time.

She was more than a little impressed that The Black Cat had thought to ask such a question. Stiletto's other guildmate Esper had assumed that the blonde had taken her codename from the shoe, but it was the knife that inspired the name. It was a bit of cultural trivia that the stiletto shoe derived its name from the knife, but not everyone knew that. At least the raven was astute enough to ask the question, which meant that the lights were on upstairs.

Stiletto thought a bit before speaking to the raven. The blonde did not want to live up (or down) to the stereotype of blondes as vapid and not too smart. But what could she say that would catch her guildmate's interest for the right reasons? Stiletto was forced to put that thought on hold because the water got slightly but perceptibly hotter... it had become hot enough to burn her a little. Water that was too hot was far more painful than it was relaxing.

"Do you think that the water has gotten hotter all of a sudden?" The blonde asked the raven. The former immediately began to look around for intruders but did not see any with either the naked eye or with any of her vision modes. Infrared would be useless because of the heat in the room and night vision would be useless because of the bright lights in the room. Stiletto did not like the fact that the water had changed temperature on them without warning.

Were they being set up by the Rune Knights or the Shadow Collective? Or was someone else behind this?

[Word Count: 316]
[Diana's Word Count: 848/7,000]

Stiletto frowned as The Black Cat got out of the spa and grabbed a tower for cover, then left the blonde behind to go investigate the source of the problem. Stiletto had no choice but to follow her guildmate and investigate the source of the excessively hot water. The blonde had the feeling that the high temperature was no accident. Someone wanted them dead and wanted it to look like an unfortunate accident brought about by a faulty water system. However, The Black Cat had nine lives and it would take more than a little hot water to put an end to Stiletto.

Stiletto climbed out of the spa, grabbed a towel of her own and wrapped it around her for cover, then briskly followed in her guildmate's footsteps. The Black Cat should have known better than to go alone into a potential trap. It looked like the blonde would see whether her self-styled feline guildmate really did have nine lives.

-Outside the spa-

Flitting down the hallway like a blonde ghost, Stiletto used a special ability to render herself invisible to cameras and another ability to leave no footprints or fingerprints to trace her by. Now where would a cat looking for water go? The barely dressed blonde made her way past a couple of gossiping employees and looked around until she eventually found a set of stone steps that led to something important. She quickly and quietly made her way down them without anyone the wiser.

-Down the stairs-

The stone floor was cold to Stiletto's bare feet as she traveled down the stairs with only dim lanterns for illumination. She imagined that a trip to the underworld would look and feel something like this, only with a lot more fire and brimstone and a lot more darkness. She was not bothered because darkness was waiting for the blonde on the other side. Part of her till wanted some way out, some hope of a life that involved something other than killing people for money.

Using her natural night vision, Stiletto saw the stairs a lot more clearly and walked down them quietly with newfound confidence. At the bottom the sound of steam and metal filled the air and a sign near a door marked BOILER gave her clear notice of what was ahead. The Black Cat must have passed through here... so did someone else. Barely visible in the dust outside the door were scuff marks like a body had been dragged off to be hidden. Stiletto did not like this situation.

Stiletto cautiously made her way through the door and found The Black Cat staring at a boiler lacrima that was clearly in distress. Steam was billowing from it and the pipes were under pressure that they were not designed to withstand for very long. Where was the maintenance person?

"Unfortunately, I do not know how to work this thing." Stiletto hissed a whispered confession to her guildmate. They were staring down a ticking time bomb with no apparent way to defuse it.
What should they do to escape this predicament?

[Word Count: 518]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,366/7,000]

Stiletto listened to The Black Cat's sort-of apology for rushing in without taking the time to survey the situation beyond a cursory glance. This time the pair had gotten lucky that they were not facing any opposition from the organization that tried to kill them. Stiletto let the matter drop and listened to The Black Cat's assessment of what was going on with the boiler. If they could cut off the flow of air to the lacrima that powered the boiler, the heat would eventually die off on its own.

When asked if she had any ideas as to what they could stuff in the pipe to cut off the flow of air, Stiletto at first thought about sacrificing her towel, but walking around in a torn towel would tip off the staff that something was amiss. It would be a better idea to look for something else to use. Perhaps she could findd something of use in the very room they were in.

"Hold that thought." Stiletto requested softly while looking around the boiler room with the aid of her night vision mode. She was looking for a storage locker with something that could fit in pipes like a bandanna or a t-shirt. The blonde looked carefully for a locker door or anything that could be used for storage by employees and soon located a locker door behind them just off from the staircase they had descended to gain access to the boiler room. Stiletto quickly approached it and opened it to show a bunch of maintenance tools on the bottom shelf, a stack of white envelopes on the top shelf, a pin-up of a woman in a white bikini on the inside of the door, and a grease-stained white t-shirt stuffed off into the left corner of the locker that was partially hidden by the tools.

Stiletto grabbed the t-shirt and shut the locker door, then walked back to the waiting cat and started twisting the article of clothing into a long white cigar. She stuffed the twisted-up end into the pipe and continued to work the rest of the shirt in as more and more of it was twisted to block off the flow of air. Once the shirt was pushed all the way in she could feel the air flow beginning to weaken, which was exactly the outcome she was hoping for.

"That should do it." Stiletto said softly to The Black Cat.

[Word Count: 416]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 1,782/7,000]

Stiletto was relieved to see that her gambit had paid off when the steam erupting from the top of the boiler gradually lost pressure and eventually stopped billowing altogether. The Black Cat almost appeared to be pleased when she gave a nod before picking up a boot that she had found by nearly tripping over it. The dark-haired mage then suggested that they inform the staff so that an incident of this nature could be avoided in the future.

"I agree." Stiletto said laconically just before The Black Cat headed up the stairs with boot in hand and a goal in mind. The blonde clutched the back of her towel and hurried before she lost sight of her fast-moving guildmate. The dark-haired young woman always seemed to be in a hurry.

-In the lobby-

Stiletto hurriedly followed her colleague out of the basement while clinging to the towel wrapped around her as the latter trooped to the lobby. Stiletto made sure that her hair covered her exposed upper back so that her scars were not visible to the staff member behind the desk or to her guildmate. She then stood back and watched as The Black Cat began to speak to the female staff member who was handling paperwork behind the desk. The raven-haired mage approached the encounter with a lack of tact, dropping the forcibly abandoned boot directly in the middle of the hapless woman's neatly organized papers. Stiletto kept a neutral facial expression but was not pleased to see her guildmate behave like that... such deliberate and antagonistic actions were a surefire way to make enemies who could come back to haunt the pair.

Stiletto kept her cool and listened as the hapless woman expressed shock at the sight of the boot. From the woman's reaction Stiletto learned that the boot belonged to a male employee named Yuri. She also learned that some shady characters had gotten to Yuri and had done something to him, but the blonde did not learn what kind of shady characters since the female worker was not forthcoming with that information and The Black Cat had a clearly insouciant attitude towards the matter. Instead the raven-haired mage was more concerned with food.

While The Black Cat's cavalier attitude could one day get her in deep trouble, she still had a point. In light of both the boiler incident and the implication that shady people were behind it, the blonde had lost her enthusiasm for staying at the spa, so a change of scenery was in order.

"I concur with your idea. Where would you like to go from here?" Stiletto asked The Black Cat, keeping all emotion out of her voice as she spoke. The blonde saw much to like about her guildmate, but she also saw much that caused her concern. The Black Cat was a guildmate who merited further observation before reaching a final decision about her.

[Post Word Count: 494]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 2,276/7,000]

"I agree." Stiletto laconically voiced her agreement with The Black Cat's idea. With that the blonde left her footsteps to fill the silence of the empty lobby as she returned to the dressing room to change back into her everyday clothing. The blonde looked around for any sinister agents lying in wait for her as she sidled up to Locker 0451 and unlocked the lock. She then carefully inspected the locker for traps or poisonous animals left for her to stumble across. Neither were present, but the mage did not believe herself free of danger.

Stiletto let the towel wrapped around her fall to the floor and carefully checked her clothing for poison or poisonous animals before putting it on when no threats were found in or on them. Now that the scars on her back were covered she felt better about herself, but only a little. She still had plenty of issues to deal with and no long-term plan to solve them. Instead she took it day by day with no real plan in mind other than get through today and live to see tomorrow.

Stiletto would have to confront her problems eventually. She would have to deal with The Shadow Collective currently trying to kill her, but that was only one of her problems. She also had to deal with the problem of how to reclaim the Winchester family estate in Bellum after the family was all but wiped out over four years ago. However, the blonde's most pressing problem concerned her allegiance to her current guild.

Should she stay with Hidden Blades or would she go her own way and become a Guildless mage?

That important question was the most pressing issue on her mind, but like with the other issues resolving it would have to wait. Right now she needed to meet up with The Black Cat and go with her to find something to eat. The Black Cat was an intriguing mage and Stiletto wanted to learn a little more about her before the pair embarked on a "real" job.

A fully dressed Stiletto hung the used towel on a hook after cleaning away evidence like loose strands of hair, then left the locker room behind and returned the locker key to the front desk. Since she had left no fingerprints, footprints, or hair to trace her by, the authorities would have very little to go on other than "blonde woman with green eyes" if they came into the spa looking for her. Stiletto then departed the spa and went to look for her guildmate.

-Hosenka, dusk-

It did not take Stiletto long to find The Black Cat. The raven-haired mage was clad in a distinctive black outfit and was standing outside the entrance to the spa. Stiletto followed her guildmate past a garden and a few shops until the raven-haired mage spotted a few restaurant signs and asked the fateful question. What did Stiletto want to eat?

"Right now I do not have a preference." Stiletto informed The Black Cat.

[Post Word Count: 513]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 2,789/7,000]

Diana remained calm when she heard that their meal would be sushi. Perhaps The Black Cat had intended her announcement to be a test of sorts for the blonde to see how she reacted to her guildmate's choice of meal. Perhaps the raven-haired mage had just really wanted sushi. It was of no matter to the blonde. Since The Black Cat wanted sushi, sushi it would be.

"Very well then. Sushi it is." Diana announced her compliance with The Black Cat's wishes. The blonde wordlessly followed her guildmate to the restaurant door, where they were admitted without issue. So far, so good.

-Inside the restaurant-

Diana and her guildmate were led by the restaurant host to a table near the back and were soon seated with paper menus made of good-quality material set in front of them. The blonde could not help but to notice that her companion ordered whiskey as her drink of choice. Diana herself did not partake of alcohol because it was a distraction that she could ill afford. She also remembered the near-complete elimination of her family by a poisoned bottle of Imperator '88, a rare vintage of wine that commanded a hefty figure of six digits for a single bottle. Both factors fed Diana's reluctance to drink alcohol, but she would not prevent The Black Cat from partaking of her beverage of choice.

Diana perused the menu and soon settled upon sushi as her meal. As for her drink, she simply ordered a glass of water. There would be no "in vino veritas" utterances for Rune Knights, The Shadow Collective, or the local criminal underworld to use against her. All the world would see was a mask that had been carefully crafted for years.

Diana heard loud laughter coming from the entrance to the restaurant. Her companion rapped her knuckles on the table once and then subtly directed the blonde's attention with a slight tilt of her head towards the door. Diana risked a glance at the source of the commotion and was rewarded with the sight of four men in leather jackets swaggering into the restaurant and putting on a show by intimidating the host with a flagrant "request" for protection money from the hapless man's boss. The blonde looked into The Black Cat's heterochromatic eyes and narrowed her green eyes in a way that meant Diana anticipated trouble from the gang of local toughs.

[Post Word Count: 415]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,204/7,000]

Stiletto had quietly sat at the table while nursing her glass of water and taking bites out of the impeccably crafted sushi rolls. While eating the blonde noticed that her companion was perturbed by the constant harassment the hapless restaurant staff was receiving at the hands of the wannabe tough guys in leather jackets. Stiletto was hardly unsympathetic to the plight of the staff being shaken down for protection money, but she was not sure if the pair should intervene just yet. However, the blonde saw that her feline companion was eager to take action and deal with the wannabes before the restaurant boss was beaten up... or worse.

Stiletto had overheard the conversation since the toughs were being less than subtle about their threats. The leader of the four-man goon squad had insisted on immediate payment of the protection money and hinted at dire consequences if payment was not received. The blonde was getting tired of the clowns who thought they were tough because they wore the same cheap leather jackets and ran in a gang. They were disrupting her dining experience, but she also could not stand for such flagrant abuse of the innocent... she might be getting too soft for her line of work.

Years ago the blonde would not have even been perturbed by what was going on. She would have kept on eating with nary a thought for the restaurant boss or staff, citing the danger of being exposed to attention from authorities being far greater than the reward for saving the restaurant from the goons as a reason for not getting involved. Now her conscience had awakened so much that she could not just sit back and let this happen. There was more than just principle involved... as one of the only blondes in the restaurant, Stiletto stuck out like a sore thumb and she might be next on the shakedown list, so taking out the goons would be a preemptive strike with the fringe benefit of doing a good deed for someone else.

Stiletto's eyes met The Black Cat's heterochromatic eyes. The Black Cat wanted to take action this instant and Stiletto could not blame her. The only question would be how to phrase the request to take action in a fashion that did not draw too much attention. Since they were in a restaurant, there was plenty of room for food-related phrases or gestures that should not arouse too much suspicion. It did not take the blonde long to come up with a gesture that her companion was sure to catch onto.

Stiletto slowly and quietly balled up a napkin and set it aside while using her eyes to gesture towards the goons threatening the restaurant boss. That was the blonde's way of saying "Let's take out the trash." to her raven-haired companion. If The Black Cat picked up on the cue like Stiletto knew her companion would, the goons were going to be in for a world of hurt.

[Post Word Count: 498]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,702/7,000]

As she had anticipated, Stiletto noticed that The Black Cat immediately understood the meaning behind the gesture. The Black Cat had also agreed with what the blonde was suggesting and nodded without hesitation. Now that the pair were in agreement on what to do the challenge came in actually taking out the trash. The Black Cat was clearly ready for a slugfest while Stiletto preferred a more subtle approach to problem-solving, but the blonde soon reached a realization. There might not be time for the subtle approach because the thugs were standing next to the hapless restaurant owner and were about to make good on their threat.

In the interest of time and as a show of unity with her guildmate, Stiletto might just have to eschew stealth and go for the direct approach. She had painful but less-than-lethal techniques she could use against the thugs so that she would not have to face murder charges for what she and The Black Cat were about to do to them. What happened next would not be a fight because a "fight" implied that the four leather jacket-wearing goons had a fair chance at winning. This would be pest control. This would also be a public service performed for the people of Hosenka, but that would be a fringe benefit of the two female mages taking out the trash.

Standing up shortly after the raven-haired mage did, Stiletto followed her guildmate's lead and made her way over to the hapless owner to give him some much-needed support in the face of mindless villainy.

Stiletto stood on the other side of the owner and ignored the glares the quartet of goons were giving her. She had chosen this position to give The Black Cat enough space to do her thing without the blonde cramping her style. She also needed plenty of room to do her thing when the goons tried to make a move on her or the owner. Stiletto's face was the same calm mask she had worn for over a decade as she seconded The Black Cat's question to the owner.

"Is everything all right?" Stiletto calmly asked the owner. The blonde was not as bellicose as her companion but was no less dangerous when push came to shove. She had named herself after a medieval dagger and she was ready and willing to demonstrate that the name was not for nothing. Like the dagger she had named herself after, she was a sharp blade hidden beneath formal clothing and polite manners. If the goons did not back away they would learn just how sharp she was.

[Post Word Count: 436]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 4,138/7,000]

Stiletto heard the vulgar response to The Black Cat's question and knew that from that moment on a peaceful resolution was out of the question. There was also no chance of subtlety, but sometimes one had to act boldly to solve a problem of this nature. One of the four goons learned that the hard way when he mistook her guildmate's soft tone of voice for a lack of will to act against them. She did not know The Black Cat very well, but her guildmate was not one to tolerate flagrant disrespect and promptly showed her displeasure in no uncertain terms when one of the men made the mistake of invading her personal space by leaning into her face.

Stiletto remained calm as The Black Cat demonstrated why her name was a fitting one with an impressive display of agility and martial arts prowess.

The Black Cat started her demonstration by reaching out and grabbing the offender's shoulders. Next she leaned back and pulled him with her. The Black Cat's back hit the floor and she rolled back over her head, raising her knees up to her chest for the next step of the demonstration. Black boots met the thug leader’s gut as she used the momentum of her roll to launch him backwards over her head and into the far wall of the restaurant. The demonstration culminated in a noisy impact against the wall and it nearly being broken from the impact; the rude man lay in an inelegant heap on the floor and was no longer a threat.

Stiletto had watched the proceedings calmly until one of the three men still on his feet decided to invade the blonde's personal space in an attempt to salvage the gang's image in front of the audience of restaurant patrons. A firm hand latched onto her shoulder and the man spun her around and started forcing her back towards the restaurant. Stiletto broke away and spun around, facing down the man.

"Just go back to your table if you know what's good for you. You don't have to be part of what's going to happen to that black-haired trash." The man said in a condescending way that thoroughly annoyed Stiletto. The Black Cat was also not trash. If anyone was trash, it was the gang who was shaking down the restaurant owner.

"What if if I do not wish to return to my table?" Stiletto asked politely. The man clenched his teeth and drew back his hand to slap the blonde for her insolence. His hand had almost reached Stiletto's face when she brought up her left forearm to block it. She stopped the hand just in time, much to the man's amazement.

"That was uncalled for." Stiletto said to him in a stern tone and looked him in the eyes, then dropped her left forearm and drew back her right hand. She slapped him in rebuke before he could even blink. He staggered back with a look of shock and embarrassment that was quickly replaced by a look of anger.

"That does it, you blonde bitch! Your next stop's the hospital!" He threatened her. He strode towards her with his hands outstretched as if to seize her shoulders or throat. What an amateur move.

Stiletto wordlessly strode to meet him and he reached for her shoulders. She suddenly seized his shoulders with her hands, drew him in, and kneed him in the genitals as hard as she could. He yelled and went down to the floor clutching himself. Once the man was no longer a threat she strode past him and rejoined The Black Cat as a show of solidarity between guildmates and to show the gang that she would not be intimidated by them.

[Post Word Count: 626]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 4,764/7,000]

Stiletto had dealt with her attacker in decisive fashion and turned back to her black-haired companion to see what would happen next. The blonde did not have long to wait before something happened. Unwilling to admit defeat at the hands of two young women, The Black Cat's attacker opted to throw a chair at her from afar. That was a big mistake.

In an impressive display of magic The Black Cat somehow drew all the shadows in the immediate area to her and channel them into her arm, then a tendril of smoky shadow reached out and grabbed the chair while it was airborne. Without missing a beat the same tendril rushed towards the man while another tendril emerged from the ground beneath him. The second tendril wrapped around the man and lifted him into the air. Stiletto was impressed by the coordination of the two tendrils, but The Black Cat was not done with the demonstration just yet.

The first tendril set the chair perfectly on the ground and little balls of shadow appeared beneath the legs to secure them to the floor. The second tendril placed the man in the chair and then bound his torso to it before another strand wound around his mouth and the back of his head. Stiletto saw that that arrangement left the man securely bound and unable to speak. The blonde felt slightly unsettled at the display of power by The Black Cat. Aside from the sheer technical mastery that had been displayed, the blonde also had a bad feeling about where this was going.

Stiletto suspected that what was about to happen next would not be very pleasant.

[Post Word Count: 277]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 5,041/2,500]
[Total Word Count: 5,290]

@aeluri