Midsummer mischief

[bellbound]

1. Break-in at Samantha's flat, Kensington, mid-June (for Roddy and Dodger)

It seems like an ordinary night. Mogget is sleeping in his cat bed in Anthony's room, as he always does. The little boy is sleeping soundly, while Mogget is under strict instructions to protect the child and to never, ever ask or let him take off his collar. Mostly he avoids any sort of interaction with the boy; he's not going to risk getting his tail pulled.

Samantha sleeps in the room next door. Next to her is the bathroom and on the other side of the hallway is a spare room that is being used as a study. Samantha's laptop is in here, along with a number of files and other items related to her work.

There are wards on the house too, magical wards designed to deter fae (except him, of course) and to prevent witches from using magic to spy or break in. It's secure enough that they've never had any problems, although the security is nothing like as sophisticated as what he was used to at Sylvia Redbright's house. But Samantha's flat is also far less well-known; she doesn't use it for meetings nor does she advertise where she lives. She prefers to keep her home life private.

That suits Mogget just fine too. There's a glimmer of moonlight seeping in through the curtains as he sleeps, peaceful and still.

2. Magical Innovation Centre, Richmond, post-rave, 15th June (open)

He's given to understand that the police broke up a rave outside the premises last night and it certainly looks like it. Broken bottles and food wrappers litter the streets and there are several buildings with graffiti sprayed on the walls. This used to be a good neighbourhood. Now no self-respecting witch will go near it and so Mogget has been sent in to assess the damage and take a look around the building – hopefully without getting caught.

He pads across the lawn in cat form and pauses to sniff at a discarded flyer. Hillingdon have got a lot to answer for.

3. Litha celebrations, a park, 21st June (for witches and allies)

He hasn't been an Unseelie for millennia and yet this day still makes him either sleepy or grumpy. Sometimes both. Summer, even the cold wet English summer, is not his time. As usual the witches are doing their dancing and chanting around the midsummer bonfire, while Mogget slinks away beneath a picnic table and watches from a distance.

As the evening draws on and the shadows lengthen, he loses interest, yawning a couple of times before curling up into a tight ball and closing his eyes. The celebrations will go on until dawn. Frankly, he'd rather get some sleep.

4. Choose your own adventure! Hit me up with your own prompt.

Comments

2

[ghoulaid]

Some people will be spending most of the day sleeping off the consequences of last night. Ghoul, however, is not one of those people. He hadn't gotten too wild so he feels fine, and he's taken it upon himself to return to the scene. Just to scout it out, nothing major- mainly seeing what people have left behind and making sure no one's been abandoned in a locked closet.

Running off trespassing kitty cats is something he hadn't expected.

Ghoul makes his presence known by flinging a balled up piece of trash at Mogget. It falls short since it doesn't have enough weight to carry itself as far as it needs to, but whatever. He tried. "You can't be here."

[bellbound]

The balled up paper doesn't get near him, but it does attract his attention. Mogget looks up and immediately bristles at Ghoul, tail lashing behind him.

"Can't I? This property belongs to Circle Daybreak. I don't recall giving it up to mangy wolves."

And that's still true, which is why he's able to say it. Legally, if not in practice.

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul just grins. "Y'don't recall it 'cause you didn't. Place ain't mine either." He moves closer after that, crouching down nearby and picking up another piece of garbage that looks like it might be an important card of some sort. But, upon inspection, it's nothing. Ghoul flings it away, because it clearly belongs back on the ground where it came from.

"Circle Daybreak really oughta take better care of their stuff, don't you think? This place is a mess." Which is something that Ghoul obviously had no part in. Just look at that innocent face.

Ignore the fact that many of the flyers smell like him.

[bellbound]

What an incredibly believable story.

He backs off when Ghoul picks up another piece of rubbish, just in case wolf boy gets any more ideas about throwing things at him. But no, instead he's going for cheap insults.

Mogget can match that. "Rather like your den," he agrees. "Smells like it too, funnily enough. Perhaps you could explain why."

[ghoulaid]

The den isn't this kind of messy. It's cozy and lived in and a little beaten up, that's all. Ghoul huffs on its behalf, but doesn't comment on Mogget's incorrect opinion.

"Ain't a mystery." He shrugs. "Some of us might've been around last night. What d'you want, though? Ain't nothin' for you left."

[bellbound]

"I'm here to assess the damage," Mogget replies in a tone that suggests he'd rather be doing anything else. He'd especially rather not be interrupted by Ghoul while he's inspecting the area. The sooner he can do his rounds, the sooner he can leave.

And with that thought in mind, he turns to head for the other side of the premises. Next stop: the car park. Oh, joy.

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul narrows his eyes as Mogget slinks away. He can't just leave him alone around here. He might try something.

He has no idea what a single cat could possibly do to steal the center from underneath Hillingdon, but then again, this is Samantha's magic cat. Who the fuck knows. "Samantha's still interested in this place?" He hurries after Mogget, determined to follow him around like an annoying gnat. "Lotta vomit in there, probably. Don't think she'd want it back at this point."

Who is he kidding. Of course she'd want it back. But does Mogget? He's a fae, isn't he? Surely he can't be thrilled about the idea of putting this place back in Samantha's hands. "What d'you think of all this shit?"

[bellbound]

Obviously Samantha is still interested in the place or he wouldn't be here. He doesn't even deign to comment on that, instead stepping on to the concrete and making a mental note of the vehicles parked here.

"I think I'd like you to stop following me," he answers without missing a beat, eyes scanning the parked cars. Maybe the worst-kept one belongs to Ghoul. Probably not, he thinks. Kid probably has to take the bus.

[ghoulaid]

The bus has character.

He's going to have a bad time, because Ghoul's still right there, tailing after him. "I'd like you to stop bein' such an ass, but neither of us are gettin' what we want." Charming as ever. No doubt Mogget misses the alliance with East End. "Either I follow you or I chase you the fuck off, which one do you want?"

[bellbound]

He doesn't miss the alliance with East End. Funny, that.

"Neither." Chased or followed, both unappealing options. He's not going to say yes to either one. "I fail to see what you get out of this. I'm here because I have to be. You I can only assume chose to come here."

He crosses to the other side of the car park to continue his inspection, stepping delicately over a puddle. The stink here is genuinely unpleasant, a mixture of car fumes, alcohol and various other substances, trash, old food... And then there's Ghoul himself, so add the smell of wet dog. At this rate he'd rather they kept the place shut down.

[ghoulaid]

That's not how it works.

Ghoul continues trailing after him, stomping his way through the same puddle without a care in the world. Unlike Mogget, he has shoes and a lack of fucks to give. "I got my own shit to do, I just don't like the idea of you bein' unsupervised. You're nothin' but trouble." Like he's one to talk.

Something Mogget's said makes him wonder, though... After a (probably too-short) moment of silence, he starts up again. "You don't seem to like doin' anything you been told to do. What happens if you just don't fuckin' do it?"

[bellbound]

"That isn't an option," the cat replies, not looking back at the werewolf trailing him. It's a silly question that gets a short answer. If he could do whatever he wanted, obviously he wouldn't be here.

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul may not hold any love for Mogget, but he's still a prisoner. The only one Ghoul knows now, and he has to wonder what exactly goes in to the whole binding thing. Might be a good chance to pry some answers out of him.

He seems to forget how uncooperative Mogget is. "What is it? Like, mind control?"

1

[roddy_reinigen]

Roddy's job was simple. Get inside, open the door for Dodger. It certainly wasn't the first time Roddy had used his rat form to sneak into someone's house for information, and he didn't much care for the mother of witches, and would be more than glad to do something to piss her off.

That said, he was completely terrified of doing this because he knew it would piss her off.

If he was caught, there was pretty much nothing he could do to stop her from killing him, and considering what he was doing, she wouldn't even be considered to be in the wrong. Frankly, this entire thing was insane, and he had half a mind to tell Dodger that this whole deal was off and he was going home and forgetting about the whole thing. Unfortunately, the other half of his mind was busy analyzing every possible opening and entrance into the place as he walked outside the building, checking it out. Samantha lived on the third floor, which was high enough that he'd rather avoid trying to climb up to it, but not so much it would be out of the question if he didn't find a better option.

He decided to get in through the kitchen vent. Fortunately, he saw the output for what he assumed was the kitchen vent, and the one that would lead to her apartment (assuming they took a fairly direct path) was close to the fire escape. It was also fortunate that this was facing an alley, where witnesses would be less likely.

Roddy ran up the fire escape until he reached the appropriate level, climbing up onto the railing and sitting on it as he reached out, getting a grip on the edge of the opening that he planned to use to climb inside. Holding on as tightly as he could, he shifted quickly, knowing that once his arms shortened, he'd have to carry his entire weight. Soon he was dangling by that rapidly shrinking hand, but fortunately since his weight was dropping at an incredibly rapid rate, he was able to hold on. His clothes dropped into the alley below, and once he'd become a rat, he scurried inside.

Once he forced himself to ignore all the delicious smells of evaporated grease that had dried in this vent, it wasn't hard to go from there, the natural ribbing of the duct work gave him a nice foot hold, and once he reached her kitchen, he dropped down onto the kitchen vent, which was only fastened by a few screws and made mostly of metallic mesh, so was pliable enough for him to get enough of an opening between the base and the frame to push his head through. Once his head was through, his body quickly followed, landing on her stove. From there he hopped to the ground and quickly, quietly, scurried under a counter, listening to the sounds of the house.

He doesn't know what he's looking for, or what he might end up finding, but he is certain that Samantha being who she is, he might find something interesting. But he'd rather focus his search in an area of the house where he hears no signs of life, and that's why he chose the spare room.

Of course, the second he gets inside and starts nosing around, he's delighted at what he sees. Her computer's here, and part of him wishes he could just pick the whole thing up and run out, but he's not entirely sure if he wants to take the risk of changing back to human yet. And so he continues to look around, careful to avoid touching anything in case there was some strange magic...stuff on any of it.

[knowntohisfriends]

The job was simple enough, at least from the way it had been put to him. Of course, that could easily be the Dodger just chosing to remember it as it being put to him as simple enough, because of course robbin' some bloody witch's place was simple. Except for those annoying wards all around the place, but he had his contacts that not even the Old Devil knew about. That's why Roddy was there, after all.

He needed the bloke to get in and to let him in. Roddy could lift whatever he wanted, the Dodger wasn't going to to stop someone getting their fair share, but he had a job to do and was getting good pay for it. The sooner he was into the flat, the better. Hanging about alleys wasn't exactly the part of the work he liked - mostly because that belonged to the other job and the less he had to do that, the better.

"Hurry up, Rat," he muttered, looking up and waiting. Of course it had to turn cold that night, of bloody course.

He'd better be able to get into the place. He probably should have listened better when it was being explained to him, but people keep putting food in front of him when they do that.

[bellbound]

There would be no getting Dodger into the place, but Roddy was already in there and in the study he would find a bookcase filled with spellbooks and other more ordinary tomes, a desk and chair, Samantha's laptop on the desk along with several files and papers and a framed photograph of Samantha with her parents and baby son. The desk had a number of drawers too, one of which was locked and had a magical seal placed upon it that would alert the household of any intruder.

As for Mogget, he was still asleep but he would be the most likely of the flat's inhabitants to wake up and notice a rat scuttling around. It was only a matter of time.

[roddy_reinigen]

Roddy didn't know, of course, that Dodger couldn't get in, and fully intended to try and let him in...in a moment. First he wanted to make sure he'd have an emergency exit, just in case things went south. He shifted to human and went over to the window, opening it just a few inches, a large enough opening for a rat, but not much else.

Shifting back to his rodent form, and satisfied that he'd scoped the place out sufficiently to make a grab for a few things and run, he decided to go let Dodger in.

Heading back to the fire escape window, he again shifted back to human, crouching so he couldn't be seen from outside, and carefully, quietly opening it.

He whispered, "Dodger, come on in," down to the boy below, before shifting back to his rodent form and returning to the study, oblivious to the fact that he couldn't be followed by his accomplice.

The first thing he did was crawl around behind the column of drawers in the desk, and attempt to squeeze under it. If it was possible, he would then attempt to climb up behind the drawers to get in them.

[bellbound]

He'd be able to get into the largest bottom drawer which was stacked full of papers, stationary and folders, but not the others since the one above that was the locked one, and that wouldn't budge. The lock would have to be broken.

The smell of rat was getting stronger. Mogget's ear twitched.

[knowntohisfriends]

The Dodger climbed up the fire escape fast, keeping his feet as silent as he could on the metal. Getting to the window, however, he finds himself still locked out.

"Oy, Roddy!" His whisper is only loud because of how silent the flat was. "Roddy, I can't get in. Bloody witch has warded the place!"

[roddy_reinigen]

Roddy hears Dodger loud and clear even though he's in another room, aided by his rodent hearing. That meant this all fell on him. It also meant that Roddy was on his own, and if he ran into trouble there would be no one on his side to save him. A terrifying thought, but Roddy forced himself to focus on the task ahead of him.

Climbing back out of the drawer column, he went around front and decided to climb up the front, gripping his tiny rodent hands and feet onto the handles to go up. It was now he could see the lock, but part of him hoped it wouldn't be...

He gripped on the handle with both hands, using his feet to push against the drawer below, trying to pull the drawer out. No use. It didn't even budge and it was, Roddy concluded, most likely locked. Scurrying away from the drawers for a moment, Roddy looked for something heavy enough to smash the lock.

[bellbound]

There were plenty of things that could be used to break the lock. Any of the heavier books, for example. Or the pair of heels tucked beneath the desk. Or the paperweight on the desk.

Of course, any of these things would make rather a lot of noise... He might be better off using a paperclip to pick the lock.

[roddy_reinigen]

Roddy knew hitting something heavy against the lock would make a loud noise, and he knew he'd have to be prepared to run when he did it, but the thing was...there was a reason why the plan he and Dodger cooked up involved letting Dodger in. Dodger had actual experience picking locks.

Sure, Roddy could sit there and fiddle around with the lock all day, probably get caught anyway because he couldn't sit there forever, and then have to make a run for it and leave empty handed. Or he could break the lock, still get caught, but at least have a chance to grab something that had to be important if Samantha bothered locking it up before he made a break for it.

He chose the latter, shifting to a half human, half rat form so he'd have the size he'd need to pick up the paperweight off the desk and smash open the lock. From there, he barely even looked. He heard his heart pounding in his ears as he pulled the drawer open and grabbed something that looked small enough for his rat form to carry. A flash drive. Shoving it in his mouth and holding it in his teeth, hoping it would be something close to what they were supposed to be getting, Roddy rushed over to the window, gripping the windowsill in his hands so that when he shifted back to rat form, it was only a matter of scrambling to get his hind feet up onto the windowsill as well.

[bellbound]

That woke Mogget up. It startled Anthony awake too, the boy frowning in confusion as he looked around for the source of the noise.

"Stay here," he hissed.

He smelled a rat. And whatever it was, his first priority was to keep Anthony safe. So Mogget stalked over to the door, nudging it open with his nose, and stared out into the hallway, tail twitching. The noise had come from the study.

He padded over, not quick, but cautious, and entered the room just as Roddy shifted back into rat form to climb on the windowsill. For a split second Mogget stared. Not a rat, a shapeshifter. And there was a broken desk drawer and was that something in the rodent's mouth?

Instinct kicked in. He darted forward and leaped up to the windowsill, intending to swipe at the rat with needle-filled paws.

[roddy_reinigen]

Fortunately, Roddy's own instinct kicked in, fear of falling temporarily overridden by his much stronger fear of cat, and he dropped off of the windowsill, falling straight down.

As he neared the next windowsill, he reached out his hands, grappling it with his claws, and ended up with his body dangling precariously from the ledge. But his descent was stopped, he still had a flash drive held firmly in his mouth, so Roddy decided he was doing pretty well...so he decided to release his grip again, dropping down and then doing the same with the first floor windowsill, at which point he concluded he could probably drop the rest of the way without dying, so released his grip once more, falling the few remaining feet to the asphalt below.

It stung a bit when his feet hit the ground, and he suspected they'd be a bit red for a while, but Roddy figured if he got away, then that was a win. He decided to look up, though, to check whether the fae was in pursuit.

[knowntohisfriends]

The Dodger had watched as Roddy came scrambling out like there was something after him and decided that running was probably their best option. He kept Roddy in his gaze as he ran though, not wanting to lose sight of him, when it looked like he had the thing he'd been commissioned to get. He stops, and looks at him.

"Roddy, you got it? I got a bloke to get it to."