Ash winced as Eve's hand slapped over his mouth. "Teddy's don't talk, so shhhhh..." she mumbled as she placed her head on his chest. She then yawned, pulling her head up to look at 'Teddy'. She was drowsy-eyed for a moment, simply staring at him. Then her eyes suddenly widened, the situation suddenly dawning on her. She jumped up, slapping Ash across the face and stepping on him as she moved out of the bed.

           "Perv!" she shouted, not understanding the situation and more than a little frazzled, "I can't believe I called you sweet! Pervy... guy!" She picked up the nearest object that she could find, holding it as if it were a mallet, or some other blunt device.

Ouch! Well, I'm nice and wide awake now... thought Ash as he got gagged, slapped, and then stepped on. He instinctively put his hands up to both defend himself and also show he meant no harm.
"Eve... settle down, will you, please?" he asked with a pained tone and expression. "And put my alarm clock down, please..  you're making a mistake. I was alone in my bed when I fell asleep last night. I left you on the couch."

Raia was still by the entrance to the park, and she tried to act like she's not interested in the bird, but as soon as it faces forward again she's tailing after it once more. She tried to stay far enough behind to not be suspicious, but close enough that she won't lose track of the thing. %"Curiouser and curiouser," as Alice once said,% she thought to herself. So, not an animal...maybe a robot of some sort? Or a remotely operated device. One of the two, most likely. The question was, who would want such a device, and what purpose it was serving. Only one way to find out!

...well. That went better than expected... Ash thought to himself as he got out of bed and saw to changing into some clothes - making sure of course that his bedroom door was firmly shut, first. He headed into the living room thereafter, watching Eve thoughtfully as he moved into the kitchenette and saw to getting himself some food.
She's almost like a child... he thought to himself. Accepting the situation so quickly, but so scatter-brained at the same time... I wonder what happened to her to make her this way? The thought circled in his head as he saw to getting some food. "Can I get you anything for breakfast?" he asked his guest as he saw to preparing a bowl of cereal for himself.

Meanwhile, the not-a-statue bird was making its way at a rapid pace along the street. It made a few sharp turns along the way, until finally it turned onto Archer Street. It slowed down once it got here, and then, upon reaching a particular tree, it stopped, lowered its body toward the ground... and then sprang up into the high branches. If there had been any doubt about whether this was an ordinary bird or not, it was now most certainly eradicated. It sat on its perch and directed its gaze across the street toward an apartment building: block 250-275. It also seemed somewhat unperturbed now about whether it was being watched or followed - it seemed satisfied that its perch was high enough to avoid such inconveniences.

Raia blews a few strands of hair out of her face with a breath and considered her options. She couldn't very well climb the tree -- well, she /could/, but it wouldn't do her much good. It was a good thing it was a Friday and she didn't have any classes, because having followed it this far, she planned to see things through. What sort of weird person was behind this? She doesn't know, but she intends to find out. So she settled herself in one of the benches near the entrance of the apartment building and started people-watching.

IC:

"Aww...they put a barrier around it..."   Serenity mumbled to nobody in particular from her hiding place in the bushes.  Surge had gone further into the city, trying to find a job. Serenity had credit...from her previous life as royalty...and it paid for food and stuff, but...they couldn't live like that forever...they had to be careful...so nobody from the kingdom got wind of where the purchases were coming from and came to retrieve the wayward princess.  If they ever did, Serenity made Surge promise to run away and not follow...she didn't want him suffering because of her.  She doubted he'd actually obey however.  Love can make people do crazy things...including risking their own lives.  It was enough of a gamble that they had fled in the first place, but...When she thought of the alternatives...

She shuddered and returned her attention to the present. NOW how am I gonna find out what that beam did?  I waited out here all night...for that? I should have gone with Surge. But...she couldn't.  She couldn't afford to let anyone see her.  Too many had seen her last night...but it was getting dark then, so she could rely on the darkness for cover.  She should get back to the abandoned warehouse where the two were squatting before anybody ELSE saw her...it was early...there would be less people out in the park right now...She started to emerge from the bushes, making sure the cloak was covering her distinctive marking...and this time her hood was up too.  However, she ducked back into the bushes as somebody went past...somebody from last night!  What...was the person following something?  Great...now her curiousity was up...She turned briefly toward the barrier-covered area.  It wasn't going to go anywhere...This on the other hand...Her lust for adventure was triggered.  Keeping to the bushes and other shadowy places, she began following Raia...

TBC

            Eve looked back, her eyes widening once more. "Stranger danger!" she yelled as she hid behind the couch. Of course, she calmed down almost instantly as she remembered whose house she was in. "Oh, wait... Sorry, pervy Ash." she quipped, tilting her head to the side and smiling, "I'd like some porridge. As long as you don't mind..." She slunk down sheepishly.

Ash shook his head, laughing slightly. "Not at all, Eve. You're my guest after all." he replied, setting about getting her some breakfast.

Presently, the both of them had breakfast, Ash guzzling his way through his quite rapidly. He now sat looking thoughtfully at Eve as she finished off her food. "Hmm. I'm not sure what to do with you..." he mused. Eve looked up at him as he said that with a curious expression. "Uhm, what I mean is, I'm not sure how to help you best with your situation." he explained. "I mean... you've no idea where you actually live. And I'm guessing that you haven't anything on you to identify yourself, or you'd probably have found your way home by now. It's a bit of a quandary, really - I can't in good faith just leave you wandering the city streets."
"I think I know my way to Hammond and Riker, where I work." Eve offered.
"Ah, you do? That seems fair enough... alright then Eve, I'll make sure you get the right bus this time." Ash replied, nodding his head. "Oh, but just in case you get lost, here." He took out a notepad and scribbled down his address: 252 Archer Street, Sector 7. Then after a moment's thought, he scribbled down the address for Tiberius Electronics, too. He then handed it over to Eve. "Put that somewhere safe. If you get lost, now you've somewhere to get back to - I don't mind helping you out if you've no-one else to rely on." he smiled, then got to his feet. "We'd better get going. I don't want to be late for work, and neither do you if they'll still let you in... if you wound up lost, try to get to one of these two addresses. I should be at one or the other."
"OK!" Eve nodded, and the two of them headed for the door.

Outside, the not-a-statue seemed to become more alert, all of a sudden. Its gaze became fixed on the apartment building's front door - and a moment later, out came a very tall off-white coloured fox with light brown hair, and a somewhat shorter tan-furred fennec fox with brownish hair.  Something about them seemed familiar... however, any thoughts on the subject were interrupted as the bird-like thing in the tree spread its wings, its gaze still focused on the two foxes. There was a quiet, high-pitched whine from under its wings... and it suddenly shot high into the air with a whoosh of engines. It rapidly shrank from view as it sped upward - but it was now clear who it had been looking out for.

Ash meanwhile was unaware of the odd bird thing as he made his way down the street, heading for a bus stop. He had other things on his mind, such as what he was going to tell his boss about last night, and how to go about warning him that a scatter-brained fennec girl might turn up at work asking for him...

              Eve looked about, nearly wandering off before Ash caught hold of her so that they both might wait for the bus. "Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched by someone?" she said, then noting Ash looking at her and shying away, "You're not a stalker, are you pervy Ash?" She started fiddling with her thumbs.

Raia noted the bird's reaction to the two foxes...and blinked, taking a second look. Where had she -- of course, the park the previous afternoon. So perhaps this was even more closely linked to that beam of light than she'd thought! Very suspicious. The taller fox was, at least. The fennec looked a bit clueless, even to Raia's uninformed observations. She waited a bit before getting up to follow the pair. At the bus station she got her book out of her bag and settled in to read -- or appear to read, while in reality listening to their conversation, and just skimming the pages of her novel.

Eve got a rather pained look from Ash for that. "Less of the 'pervy'?"
he pleaded. "People are going to get the wrong impression. And no, I'm
not a stalker." he added, sticking his tongue out slightly with a grin.

Thankfully the bus then arrived, swooping down smoothly from above. "Alright, this is the shuttle to Sector Zero." stated Ash. "This'll get us to the main bus station. You should be able to get on your way from there, I reckon." he continued as he boarded, and swiped a card through a reader. It was a simple travel card, pre-paid to a certain amount and usable on all public transport. For people that lived in a large city like this, it was often an indispensable thing to have. He found a seat toward the back of the bus--tall as he was, this was more comfortable--and sat down, patting the space next to him for Eve to sit. "My work's only another short ride from there. Usually I'd get the subway as it's a little quicker, but I figured it better to make sure you got where you needed to." he said with a smile.

Once all were aboard, the shuttle lifted off smoothly, bound for the main bus station.

Raia, of course, was one of the ones aboard the bus, after pulling out a travel card of her own. She took a seat somewhere in the middle, expertly pocketing her card and getting herself settled without removing her nose from the book. She read all the time going to and from school, and she long ago perfected the art of reading and navigating at the same time. She still had her ears tuned in to what she could make out of the foxes' conversation.

       She plopped down on the seat, grinning up at the taller fox. "Where does this bus go again?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

       "Sector Zero." Ash replied quickly.

       "Oh..." she said, looking back toward the front of the bus, "Sector Zero?"

At around noon or so, Lyla finally emerged wide awake. She awoke in her night gown that she wore to sleep every night. It wasn't much, it was very long so the hem reached her feet. However, she quickly took a shower and changed into her normal attire. It consisted of some black pants, a red outer shirt to cover the white t-shirt she wore underneath that and a protective headband along with some boots. The outer shirt extended somewhat past her black pants. Of course, she wore a protective vest underneath her shirt just in case someone decided to pick a fight. She was an officer, so you could never be too careful. She straightened up her own headband which lay underneath her long, red hair. The length of it reached down to about right underneath her shoulders.

Slipping on a pair of gloves that she liked, she slipped out the door, locking it behind her. She had to go pick something up today. She could take her own personal vehicle that she was given for her duties as a WEAPONS officer, but she'd take the scenic route today. It was a bright, sunny day. Might as well go walking about and take advantage of it.

"Right." Ash replied. "Most cities over a certain size get divided up into Sectors. It makes stuff like deliveries and travel a little easier than just giving a street address, y'know? Anyway. New Exile City has a total of nine sectors. Sector Zero's the central sector of the city, so it's where the main transport hubs are - the bus station, subway station, and so on. It's also where the city council buildings and all that kinda stuff are as well. The rest of the sectors are arranged around that one. I hear that from high enough up, the city looks roughly circular, or octagonal. Or like a flower... different people have different takes on it... Me, I just think it looks city-shaped." he concluded."Sorry, I'm rambling on. As long as you know what bus you need to get and where to, you shouldn't have a problem from here - and you've got my addresses handy, so you know where to find me."

Lyla opted against taking a bus, for she enjoyed the walk towards her destination. After walking for about say... an hour or so, she eventually arrived where she wanted to go to. A simple electronics store, nothing strange about that, right? Of course not! Opening the door very quickly, she raised her voice "I'm here for my special order," She said. Her walk on the way over was a pleasant one, she got to beat up a nasty burglar on the way over! Oh well, it was fun at least 😛

IC:

Where'd it go? The thing the person Serenity had been following was following was abruptly gone, leaving her following this person for no reason.  She watched her get on a hoverbus, and didn't follow.  There was no reason to anymore.  The thing they were both following was gone now anyway, and she did not want to call attention to herself by using public transportation.  She figured she could follow the bus though...she was fast enough just using her feet...if she could keep track of which bus it was, that is.  She darted from shadow to shadow, following it from the ground.

TBC

(OOC: Meh. I got nothin. *shrug*)

            "I like flowers. They're pretty." replied the fennec with a giggle. She then looked out of the window, and toward the busy skyways of the city. Even from here, she could see just how vast the city was, the grey and white buildings stretching on for miles in any direction. The thought of it frightened her somewhat, causing her to instinctively latch onto Ash's arm, a frown crossing her face. "How do you do it?" she questioned, not lending any information as to what IT was.

            "Pardon?" asked the grayish fox in return.

            "How do you keep track of it all?" she asked again, "The places you need to go, and how to get there. The times that you need to be there. Who you're supposed to meet there. How do you do it?" She pulled her legs up onto the seat, holding them together with her arms. She leaned into her friend's side, burying her face into her knees. "I just can't do it. I don't know why, but... It's scary."

Ash couldn't help feeling a pang of sympathy for Eve. He knew how it felt to be overwhelmed by trying to keep track of things in life, as he'd felt the same initially when he'd struck out on his own. He put an arm round her shoulders comfortingly.
"Everyone has their own methods... some people use a schedule, some people write things on the back of their hand... me, I just keep track of it all up here." he said, tapping the side of his head. "It can get a little frantic at times if you have a busy schedule, granted... but once you learn a daily routine, it's easy to keep track of. It becomes instinct."

The bus came to a smooth halt in the busy main bus station. Ash got to his feet, tilting his head toward the front briefly for Eve to follow him. "Here we are..." he said as they exited the vehicle. "You should be able to find your bus easily enough here. There's a board with the details of the buses over that way," he said, pointing it out, "and there're plenty of staff on hand willing to help."
With a smile and a wave, he headed for the exit. "Catch you later, perhaps, Eve!" he called, hurrying over to get on another bus that would carry him the rest of the short distance to work.

Some time later, Ash found himself busily helping to pack up boxes of electronics. When he'd arrived at work, his boss, Shiro, had greeted him with a look of wide-eyed amazement and an exclamation that they'd just taken on possibly one of their largest orders yet. Ash soon learned from Shiro that their customer was none other than the daughter of a considerably well-off family on Tabiator. This meant that someone would have to load up the order into a delivery craft and take a quick trip through the cosmos. And seeing as Ash was one of the only other people due in to work today other than Shiro, he got landed with said task.
So it was that he was just coming up from the basement store room for some more odds and ends, when a voice called from the general direction of the service desk.
"I'm here for my special order!" it said. The voice was female... and sounded familiar.
"Just a sec!" he called, hurrying up the rest of the way from the basement and approaching the service counter. He was a little surprised to find himself eye to eye with the WEAPONS officer he'd run into last night.
"...uh..." he began, a bit startled. "...Lyla... right?" he ventured.

           Eve sat within the bus heading away from Hammond and Riker. They had deemed her a failing asset and cut her loose. She stared aimlessly out the window, seeing the slightly familiar contours of her home, a condo on the outskirts of town. Entering the house, she found it devoid of life, spartan to an unusual degree for someone of her nature. The only furniture was a couch, kitchen, and a small television. She had since been forced to sell many of her belongings so that she could pay for her grandmother's medical bills. She sat upon the couch, the cushion sinking in to match her shape, and flipping on the TV. There was a report on the channel about a hospital that looked familiar to her.

OOC: Skipped ahead a smidge.

Raia thanked her luck that she has gone unnoticed thus far. She was now hanging out in the plaza where the store was located. She had chosen herself a bench from which she could keep an eye on the storefront of Tiberius Electronics to make sure the fox didn't leave without her noticing. She wasn't the most patient of people, but when she really was interested in something, she can focus on it to the exclusion of much else. She took a quick break a bit before noon to grab something to eat, but other than that, she stayed put, sometimes reading, sometimes people watching, but always with some of her attention focused on that one store.

Tabiator 33:15 pm Eastern Central Time (8:15am Arcadia II CST)
Yulan suddenly sat bolt upright in her bed, quickly stifling a cry. She passed a hand over her brow and felt a cold sweat there. It had been the dream again- the ever recurring dream that had plagued her nights of late and robbed her of sleep. It terrified her and she couldn't understand why- that said she didn't understand the dream itself either. It always consisted of the same series of events: She would see the entire solar system, with the inhabited worlds her focus, arrayed before her in all their splendour. Then the inhabited worlds would start to spin too fast and wither and die like rotting fruit, while beyond them the light of the stars would be blotted out by an encroaching darkness. As each world died the darkness- not merely an absence of light but something that seemed to move and flow like an aware and active tangible presence- would swallow that world, until only the sun and the light of a few stars were left. In those brief moments a message would appear in the starlight, written in some obscure archaic language that looked to Yulan both maddeningly familiar and infinitely obscure at once. Then the sun and the stars would be swallowed leaving only a thick and heavy darkness- the point at which she always woke up.

Knowing it would be a while before she would get anymore sleep, Yulan decided to surf the net for a while. Sliding out of bed, she stretched an arm and her dressing-gown came floating over to her. That was the advantage of her particular spark talent- telekinesis. "The ability to manipulate matter with the power of the mind alone," was how the dictionary defined it. When, as a 12 year old girl, Yulan had first discovered her ability- by managing to unlock a locked door without a key- and read the definition it had filled her head with wild and crazy ideas. Could she change her appearance? Could she make herself fly? could she use it to alter her surroundings however she wished? Yulan smiled wryly to herself, remembering her attempt- at 14- to answer the last question. Shan, her eldest brother, had been helping her redecorate her room. He'd stepped out for five minutes and Yulan had decided to see if she could finish the job with her telekinesis. The resulting bang had been audible from the far end of the estate. Her brother had been unable to believe his eyes when he ran back in: Huge shards of metal had burst through the surface of the walls and crumpled into the strangest formations. Long strands of what had once been paint dangled between ceiling and floor in thick viscous clumps. Almost everything in the room looked as though a giant hand had seized it and flung it haphazardly about. In the middle of all that Yulan had stood, her hair wildly tangled, her face and clothes covered in flecks of paint, wide-eyed but unhurt.At first her brother had demanded to know what had happened, then as he saw her wide-eyed expression he had changed his tone and asked if she was alright. Even as she had nodded she had felt herself tear up, at which point her brother had wrapped his arms around her and told her he didn't care what had happened as long as she was okay.

 
Yulan flicked on the custom-built monster she called a computer and mulled over that incident and her dream as it hummed into life. She had far more control over her ability now, but she was also far more careful how she used it. She still hadn't told her family she had a spark-talent, although they wondered even today what had happened those two years ago. As she began to browse, Yulan noticed an article of news that had captured her attention the previous night. The mysterious beam of light that had descended on New Exile City on Arcadia II. At least nothing more seemed to have developed there. There was also a notification from Tiberius Electronics- her order was being processed and should arrive within the day. That brightened her mood and lessened her concern over the dream slightly. There was also- Yulan blushed as she opened the message. It was a copy of the series of ads she'd been part of, advertising goods and companies her father was endorsing. Not that there was anything to blush about really, she was in full hanfu with her hair loose and cascading down her shoulders, rose-coloured shades concealing her eyes and an unsmiling expression in place- her formal face she called it. It was the reason she could feel confident about showing her face when she sneaked out- when she wasn't wearing her formal face it was hard to tell that she was the same girl as in the ads. But it still made her blush knowing the ads were up on most animated billboards and on just about every ad channel- and then some- on the holodeck. Her mind turned to her dream again. She entertained the notion that some recurring dreams at least, were the mind's way of calling attention to something you had noticed but hadn't consciously realised. If that was the case, what did her dream mean and why did it scare her so? Or if- as some said- recurring dreams forecast the future, then what was in her future that was so terrifying? What was going to happen tomorrow?

She blinked her eyes for a minute, not expecting to see Ash working here. "Yes... I didn't expect to see you working here," She noted, dotting her eyes around the room. Well, he had to make a living somehow, right?

"Anyway, I came for the special package I ordered previously. It should be here today," She nodded, her voice carrying a calm tone right now. She stood tall and confident, as she always did. Possibly bordering on arrogance, but she had no problems with that. She was a powerful officer, and liked that. Strength was a quality she admired, which made sense, in her profession. "What are you up to, around here?"

(OOC: Well now I've gone and gotten Reni into a situation where I'm not sure what to do with her.  so let's see how Surge is doing instead.)

IC:

"Sorry, we don't need anyone.  Good luck on your search though."

Surge sighed.  He tried to keep himself from looking too dejected as he left the building.  This wasn't going well.  The last four places had given him the same answer...and though they never said it, he knew why.  It was because of the sparks that were constantly running through his quills.  Every employer saw them as a liability.  And there was no way for Surge to get rid of them.  Even when his power was low...there was always some residual static in his quills. How was he to be a good providor if no one would give him a chance?  He sighed again. Maybe I should go to a power station and apply for a position as a battery...Seems to be the only thing I'm good at.

TBC

(OOC: I'll PM you later today VW, I have an idea in mind )

"...I work here." Ash stated simply. "Lemme just check on your order..." he added, passing a hand over a clear glass panel behind the desk. This brought up a list of orders on-screen, and he quickly flicked through it. "Let's see... ah, here we go. A weapon modification, right? That's more my boss's department than mine - and I'm actually in the middle of packing up a delivery right now." he looked round at the door through to the back. "Boss! Ms Brangwin's here for her order!" he called.
At that, a sturdily-built cheetah dressed in a red shirt and black trousers walked through from the back, nodding to Ash and then looking to Lyla with a toothy grin. "G'morning miss." he said pleasantly. "You came at a good time, I just got done wrapping it up, so to speak. I'd have been done sooner but as Ash mentioned, we just got a huge order in last night on the computer, so we're putting it together just now. Ash here's off on a little jaunt." He tilted his head slightly at Ash. "You alright, man? You look like you just had some déjà vu."
"I did." Ash replied. "Remember the thing that was on the news, about that beam of light in Edenia Park?"
"Oh heck, yeah man! I almost forgot to ask, that's right near your place, isn't it? Did you see anything?"
"Almost got hit by it, Shiro. But I was alright, got out the way just in time. But anyway... I met Lyla--er, Ms Brangwin--last night at the scene. WEAPONS sent her straight there."
Shiro looked at the woman with a new-found respect. "WEAPONS, eh?" he said, thoughtfully. At 5'10", he was a little shorter than Lyla - and quite a bit shorter than Ash. "Well now, not often we see your guys in here." he said, then added with a grin "P'raps that'll change, eh? You'll put in a good word for our business with your boys, won'tcha?"
Ash rolled his eye, but he was smiling at Shiro's antics. "I suppose I should've seen that coming." he grinned. "I'm gonna go get the ship round the front and pack it up, if that's OK."
Shiro nodded. "Go right on ahead, Ash." he replied, then turned his attention back to Lyla. "So!" he said with a smile, "Lemme go get your order - and if you wouldn't mind a bit of a natter, p'raps you could tell me a bit about what happened last night. So long as that's, y'know, not all hush-hush." he added quickly.

Meanwhile, outside in Aladria Plaza, a small bird-like non-statue thing landed in a tree across the road from Tiberius Electronics. It swiftly folded in its wings, hiding the compact engines hidden there, and focused its gaze on the electronics shop.

IC:

Serenity was surprised she had been able to keep keep track of the right bus while not being discovered herself. Now she was again hidden in some bushes near the bench Raia was sitting on...waiting for some cue from her unwitting leader as to where they were going next.

TBC

(OOC: Meh. Not much, but...*shrug*)

"I'm not at liberty to say a whole lot, but what I can say that the damage was very minimal and that we are still trying to investigate the origins of the beam. I don't know everything either, very few do. Well, that's all I'm at liberty to say without losing my job," She chuckled, in a half joking/half serious manner. She quickly took out some kind of card and handed it to him. It had the WEAPONS emblem blazed across it. Apparently it held all the funds she received from them, to be used at any time. While she handed it to him, she inspected the packaging of the weapon modification she received. She was definitely looking forward to getting a chance to using it, she was starting to get a bit bored with her job.

"You wouldn't happen to have a practice area, would you?" She asked him, in a tone that suggested she was obviously joking.

           "There was a fire today at the local Exile Medical Hospital, five patients were killed by smoke inhalation. All surviving patients have been moved to other hospitals. More information at ten." Eve's jaw nearly dropped. Her grandmother had been in that hospital, it having been the closest to her home. She jumped up, throwing on a sweater, and ran out the door. Fishing in her pocket, she found the address that Ash had given her. She rushed to the first person she saw, an old man feeding some birds, and pressed the paper into his face. "Can you tell me how to get here!?"

           The old man looked a bit shocked, leaning back and staring at the paper. "Oh, pretty lady, that's just down this road." The old man smiled. "Why don't I treat you to dinner, pretty lady?" Eve backed away a bit, smiling nervously.

           "No, that's ok..." Eve replied, beginning the long run to the electronics store. The old man watched her with a lecherous smile as she left.

"'fraid not, ma'am." Shiro replied as he took her card and swiped it through a reader, before handing it back to her. "But, there's an indoor weapons range a few blocks away from here where you could give it a good testing." He grinned at that. "I can tell you're looking forward to it after all."
Ash passed by the two again, carrying a large box or two, which he set down near the door. "That's the lot, I think." he informed Shiro.
"Alrighty then lad." Shiro nodded, and tossed him a set of keys. "You know where she's parked."

As Ash left the store, the mechanised bird thing watched him carefully from where it was perched... but it didn't give chase, instead focusing on where he'd left its field of vision as he headed into a nearby lift. A few minutes later, a medium sized shuttle descended from above and parked neatly in front of the shop. As its cargo ramp lowered, Ash hopped out of the cockpit and headed back into the store, coming back out shortly after with a handful of boxes which he saw to loading into the craft. There was quite a pile of them, so it looked like he'd be at it for a bit. As he disappeared inside the shop again, though, the mechanised bird suddenly sprang from its perch and glided quietly across the road... to come to rest on top of the shuttle, peering down surreptitiously. As it was on the roof of the craft, it went unnoticed - birds perching on top of stationary vehicles was a normal thing, after all. But this was, however, not any ordinary bird. It watched carefully as the fox came out again with another load and disappeared back inside the shop after putting it in the ship... and then, very swiftly, it hopped down from the roof of the shuttle and scuttled into the cargo hold!

Meanwhile, back inside the shop, a short beeping sound came from a device round Lyla's wrist. It was a bit like a watch, but it was in fact a small communicator issued as standard to WEAPONS officers, and one they were to keep on them at all times when and where possible. It was this that had allowed her superiors to summon her to the impact site last night, although the sound it had just made indicated she had a message waiting, and it wasn't urgent...

Raia noted the reappearence of the off-white fox with interest. However, the reappearence of the not-bird was an added bonus. She watched the bird perch on the shuttle...and then vanish inside! Raia quietly put her book away and adjusted her bag. If the fox was going -- especially if both the fox /and/ the bird were going -- then she was going too. She just had to find a way to sneak aboard that shuttle.

She timed things carefully, crossing the street while the fox was inside fetching more boxes, then pretending to be interested in an adjacent shop's window display. But the next time he went inside she darts to the shuttle, quickly looks around, and slips inside. By now there were enough boxes for her to hide herself from view while he continues loading. She settled herself into position. It was a bit cramped, but this might just be what she had been waiting for.

((z0mg, we're all around right now!))

IC:

The purple hedgehog's ears perked up.  Her unsuspecting guide was on the move again. She watched her dart into the shuttle.  On top of that...she thought she had seen a bird enter that ship...Is that what they were following?  And why would a bird enter a spaceship?  Now she HAD to find out what was going on!  She glanced around.  She watched the fox that was loading the ship enter the store again...and then darted from bush to bush until she was quite near the ship.  Her speed came in handy in keeping passersby from noticing her dart into the ship as well.  She settled behind a stack of boxes and waited.

TBC

Lyla noticed the message on her watch, but paid little attention to it. She could simply attend to it later on. Instead, she dwelled upon the moment to take advantage of it. It wasn't required, but she figured why not ask the man about Ash. After all, he did work with him. He was likely to know a good amount of details on him.

"So, I don't mean to be blunt or anything, but is there anything you could tell me about Ash? Like who he is and where he comes from?" She asked him, tucking her new package away.

"About Ash?" Shiro echoed her with a blink. "Well... not much to say, really. Far as I know, he's lived in this city all his life. I first met him when I was doing a short course at college; bumped into him one day and just got talking. After he graduated, I asked him if he wanted to work here, and he said he did. He's a pretty ordinary guy... well, 'cept for him having a talent. It's not one he tends to show off too often though."

"A talent?" She queried out loud, a change to her tone of voice. Like a special ability of some kind? That was certainly interesting. Was it anything like she was capable of doing? Well, she intended on at least asking him and finding out. "Go on... what is his talent?" She asked, rather bluntly.

"Well, best if the man just shows you himself." Shiro replied, as the fox re-entered the store."Ash? Show her that thing you do."
Ash looked round. "Eh? Oh, my talent? ...well, if you insist..." he replied, and pulled out a notepad from his pocket. "It's nothing too amazing though. Watch." he continued, as he tore a page from it. Putting the notepad away, he laid the torn-out page flat on the service counter. He then held a hand over it, a few inches above it and not touching the page. The paper started to quiver slightly, and then it began to fold up, all on its own. After only a few moments, it had formed into a very neatly made origami crane.
"...and there you have it." stated Ash plainly. "Paper Mastery, they call it. It's not exactly practical, but it's a neat party trick if nothing else."

Lyla was a bit disappointed, and it showed. She thought it might be something more than that. Oh well. "I see," She said, thinking about her own talents. More often than not, she didn't need them. Her slicers were more than enough to tackle the duties of her job, but they were nice to have. But she couldn't even recall the last time she had to use them. No point in showing them off when she didn't have to though.

          Eve found the store rather easily with the old man's directions, however vague they had been, and ran for the open doorway. Little did she know that the open doorway was actually a screen door, but she found out quickly, running straight into it. She fell on her rump, holding her nose. "Owie-owie-owie... Why does a store have a force field in it's door?"

Ash flicked an ear as he heard someone collide with the glass front door of the shop, and he looked round to see Eve sat on the ground outside the smoothly-opening automatic door of the shop, looking a bit dazed and questioning why a door would have a force field.
"...Eve?" he said, tilting his head. He walked over and offered a hand to help her up. "What on Arcadia happened to you?"

           "I ran into your force field!" she cried, holding her nose. She took Ash's hand and stood up, brushing herself off, but looking at him rather cross. "You put up the force field, didn't you, Pervy Ash? You meanie!"

           Ash sighed, trying not to laugh, "There is no force field. It was a door. See? It's open now."

          "Oh..." stated the vixen with a confused look upon her face.

"...look, never mind." he continued. "I'm actually in the middle of something... I assume your being here means your employers let you go." he said, with a slightly glum look. "That being the case and all... do you want to tag along with me for a bit? I'm about to go and deliver some odds and ends to a client. An extra set of hands to help move things would be welcome, if you've no other plans?"

            Eve thought for a while, her brain completely frazzled by all these events suddenly cascading around her. "The hospital that my grandmother was in caught fire, and they may have moved her, but I don't know where and I need to go to find her, and there was a fire and people got hurt and..." she stopped suddenly, needing to catch her breath after that long stream of a sentence. She looked up at Ash, tears forming in her eyes, before running up to him and hugging him as tightly as she could manage, which admittedly wasn't very tight. "I miss my grandma!"

Ash instinctively reacted the way any decent guy would when faced with such a situation, and gently hugged Eve back, trying to reassure her. "Calm down, Eve..." he said in as soothing a tone as he could manage, given that he was caught in the rather embarrassing situation of having a sobbing woman grabbing hold of him in front of his boss and a WEAPONS agent.
"I can phone the hospital for you and ask after her. Which one was she at, and what is her name?" he asked, giving an apologetic look to Shiro, who was now eyeing Ash with one eyebrow raised - an expression on his face that said "you sure kept that quiet!".

          Eve let go of him, wiping a tear from her eye and smiling up at Ash, like a little sister would for an older brother. "Thanks." she said before tilting her head to the side and looking up a bit, "Well, her name is Eve, like mine!" she said, giggling a little. "She was admitted to Exile Medical. I don't know what to do. I don't know of any other hospitals in this city." She then noticed the other two in the room. She waved vigorously to the two of them, "Hi! I'm Eve. I slept over at Ash's last night!"

"Did you now!" said Shiro, a grin spreading across his features as he gave Ash a knowing nod.

"...h-hey!" exclaimed the fox quickly, feeling his cheeks burning, "She doesn't mean like that!"

"Then how does she mean?" inquired Shiro, his grin becoming a highly amused smirk.

"She means as in I found her lost and she couldn't remember her way
home, so I looked after her. And well you know it!" replied Ash in a
miffed fashion - although he could still feel his cheeks were flushed."Anyway, let me get on phoning the hospital." he continued quickly, pulling his phone from his pocket and looking up the hospital number before hastily dialling. It didn't take long to get a reply. "Hello? ...ah hi, I'm calling in regards to a patient... Strauss, Eve Strauss. Uh-huh... uh-huh... ...I see." Ash nodded. "Alright... can you call back as soon as--thanks. Bye."
He hung up and looked round at Eve.
"They couldn't tell me her status currently. It sounded like they were still quite busy moving patients to different wards... they'll call me back when they have word."

          Eve fiddled about nervously, looking down at her hands then up to Ash and repeated this motion several times. "I'm worried..." she said, literally stating the obvious. "I want to see her... I don't know what to do. I can't wait..." She looked back up to Ash. "What should I do, Pervy Ash?"

OOC: GRAH!!! SHORT POST!!!

"Well, you could stop calling me pervy...." Ash replied in a slight mutter, but then his tone became more serious. "But on a more serious note, it's probably better to just sit tight for now. I know that's a difficult thing to do, but the hospital are still having to concern themselves with organising patients and reallocating them, from what they told me. I think at this stage any worried relatives coming in to find loved ones would further complicate their job." He put a hand on Eve's shoulder, a reassuring expression on his face. "They've got my number, and they promised to call back once they had word. They've got things under control, so I'm sure it won't take them too long. If you stick with me then you'll know as soon as I do. I've a delivery to make on Tabiator, but I don't see that taking especially long - heck, if you're happy to give me a hand, it'll get done faster, and we can be back here sooner. How's that sound to you?"
It was about the best thing he could come up with off the top of his head, and what he was saying was true; delivering the materials and installing them if needed wouldn't take more than a few hours at most - as long as there were no unexpected complications on the way.

(OOC: Unexpected complications, you say?  ;p  Not really a whole lot to do right now, but...)

IC:

Tired and discouraged, Surge flopped down on the old sofa.  The seat was something they had found by the side of the road, being thrown away by it's previous owners.  The upholstery was faded and frayed, the stuffing coming out in places...and one of the arms was broken.  It probably wasn't all that safe, but...it was all they had at the moment.  So dispondant was Surge, that it took him a minute to realize his runaway princess wasn't there.  Alarmed, he jumped to his feet.  Glancing around in panic, he finally noticed the piece of paper sitting on a nearby box.

Dear Surgie...

Reni.

Surge cursed under his breath.  If there was one thing Reni did NOT know how to do, it was hide effectively.  For very long anyway.  She was probably getting herself - and therefore him by proxy - into trouble right now.  He grabbed his cloak and left the abandoned warehouse they were staying in, ducking out the alley-fire-escape that was their "front" door.  Worried, he hoped she'd still be at the park...though he sincerely doubted it.

TBC

(OOC Edit: What the...scroll bar? )

Lyla couldn't help but laugh at all the sudden things that were happening to Ash. Was life always like this for him? She sure got a strong impression that he did.

However, she remembered the message that she received earlier but neglected to tend to. So she figured she'd take the time to do that now, since she had nothing better to do.

             Eve rubbed her eyes, much like a child who had just woken up from a long nap. "Ok. I'll help out." she replied, "Maybe that will take my mind off of things." She walked past the taller fox, looking around in a confused manner. She didn't quite know what she was supposed to be doing, so she walked up to the nearest box and tried to pick it up, only managing to fall on the ground without even moving the box in the slightest."Pervy Ash... I can't pick it up..."

            "That would likely be because that box is twice your size." responded the off white fox.

            Eve looked up at the box, scratching the back of her head and smiling back at Ash. "Oh." she said, giggling.

"And that's also why we have such wonderful things as trolleys." he added, neatly threading the prongs of the one he'd been using under the pallet that the box was sat on. "This's the last one, anyway. C'mon, I'll load it onto the ship and then we can get going."
With that, he pushed it outside and up the cargo ramp, beckoning Eve to follow. Once both were aboard and the box and pallet placed securely with the others, he headed through into the ship's cockpit and seated himself, pulling on a safety belt.
"Take a seat and buckle up, if you would." he smiled, flipping a few switches. The cargo bay's ramp closed up and there was a whining whirr of engines powering up.

Back inside the store, a press of a button on Lyla's communicator device made it project a
flat hologram in the air before her eyes. The message wasn't especially
long, but it was of interest nonetheless.

WEAPONS Infoburst (Confidential)

To: Brangwin, Lyla

Cc: Opteryx, Solus

Our analysts have made some progress decoding the strange hieroglyphs
left behind in Edenia Park. They match those found on ancient Arcadian
artefacts pre-dating the interplanetary conflicts.
The message that we have managed to decode thus far has just one thing to say: "The Day Is Coming". As to what day and when it's coming, we remain unsure. A lot of the hieroglyphs are still unstable and keep shifting their shape every few seconds or minutes. We have yet to ascertain through what means this is being achieved.
It is unclear at this stage if this is a threat, a promise, a warning or a prank. Work is still ongoing to figure this out. Please continue your investigation as and where possible.

~WEAPONS Command.

Outside, meanwhile, the ship took off smoothly and joined the other traffic, heading for the city outskirts - due to traffic density, it was prohibited to use craft engines beyond a certain ouptut level in the city limits, as it could cause accidents and property damage. Hence, anyone wanting to head into the great beyond would have to head outside the city first. Thankfully it was a fairly short drive to the unrestricted airspace, and soon the ship they were in was heading upward at a steady rate.
"Initiating inter-planetary flight protocols." the ship's on-board computer announced flatly. "Adjusting pressure levels... completed. Preparing g-force buffers. Priming jump drives." This was followed a few minutes later by "Preparations complete."
Ash opened the throttle up all the way. The engines roared and the ship rocketed upward through the clouds and through the atmosphere... and soon, all that lay before the two foxes through the front viewport was the blackness of space and the shining stars.

In the cargo hold, something shifted... and then poked its head out from behind a pile of boxes. it said.