[OPEN] BOUNTY HUNTING

[reticence]

A. THE PREP - CLOSED TO SNAKE
As soon as Faolan heard that the thief had struck again, he had taken to the streets, intent on finding who it was that they had struck and what they had taken. A description would be nice if he could get one too, although considering that the target is a shapeshifter, he realizes that it won't count for much. Still, any information is better than nothing, which is what he's been running on for the last while.

As he closes in on the address he'd been given by his informant, he takes the briefest of moments to familiarize himself with his surroundings before he's stepping up to knock on the door. He can only hope that whoever he's meeting with will be tolerant of a strange man showing up at their door asking questions about what's happened to them.

B. THE HUNT - OPEN
Faolan is on the hunt. On the hunt for a cat burglar who had made off with a few choice items from a fairly wealthy family in the area. Whether it's a literal cat burglar or not Faolan is not yet aware. He figures that he'll just cross that bridge when he gets there.

He's armed. Of course he's armed, he'd be a fool not to be, going out on a hunt in the night as he is. But they want the person alive, and that's going to be difficult he knows. He isn't used to capture being part of his routine, but he supposes that he's just going to have to build it in. Wouldn't be the first time he's improvised. Wouldn't be the first time by far.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he can't believe that he's doing this for £250. He can't believe that things should have gotten so desperate that he should risk his life for as much. He tells himself it's not for the money, it's for the job, for the recognition, but ultimately that would be a lie. It's been a slow season, in the PI field, and when the times are tough, well. You take what you can get.

Faolan's leather jacket creaks as he adjusts the gym bag over his shoulder, some well-arranged workout gear conveniently hiding the hunting gear beneath, and he crosses the street towards where he's been told the next heist should occur...

C. YOUR HUNT - OPEN
OOC: What it says on the tin! Going hunting on your own? Go right ahead! Tag in yourself and see if you get any bites!! I'll be tagging these as well, but if you'd like a different setup than B with Faolan and/or would like to tag around with each other for this plot, this is the selection for you!

((ooc note: didn't sign up before but still want in? NO PROBLEM!!! go ahead and tag into either part b or c and happy hunting!!))

Comments

[knightscode]

It's a cat.

It's a cat.

Lancelot has seen werewolves before, but not shapeshifters. He hadn't expected the man to turn into a cat, and at the sight of it --

Then Faolan's voice cuts through his confusion and Lancelot makes a break for the door. Don't let it out, he says, and Lancelot follows the instruction on instinct. He belts past the cat and barely makes it, slams the door closed with a slight flinch as the animal barely avoids being trapped. It lets out a low growl of discontent and arches, fur fluffing up, before looking between the two of them and making a break in the other direction. There's more than one way it can get out, after all.

[reticence]

Faolan jumps to the same conclusion that the shapeshifter-turned-cat has, that there's more than one way out and since they've blocked the first exit, he immediately starts assessing for potential others. How many other doors are there? How many of them will lead out to another room? Which will be a better usage of his time, to jump at the cat or to jump at the door to the hall. Faolan assesses his options, his talents, and the skills he knows he possesses versus the skills possessed by Lancelot, and chooses the door to the hallway, slamming it closed before the cat can even think to jump through it.

"We need to keep him in here!" Faolan calls out to the other man, before adding on, as something of an afterthought, "Grab him! Put some of those superhuman skills to work! It's going to get out!"

[knightscode]

Grab him? Has Faolan ever tried to grab a cat before, he wonders? Such things usually end badly, more so for the human than for the cat. He hesitates, because once he moves away from this door it is no longer blocked again, but the cat is belt back toward the door for the room it came out of. Not even considering trying to for the hallway, since Faolan has already blocked that. Lancelot pushes away and dashes toward the room, hesitates in the doorway. The cat is sitting neatly on the bed, eyeing him, and he knows it's agile. He knows if he dives for it then it will have already begun to move.

It feels ridiculous, to be chasing a cat about, and more than that he doesn't want to hurt the animal. Even if it isn't an animal inside, Lancelot feels an instinctive guilt about hurting a cat. It pushes slowly to all fours, fur bristling, and he tries to assess the room. One other door -- bathroom, maybe? -- and a set of windows.

"Faolan..." he begins, wary, as the cat slowly prowls toward him. It can probably sense his nerves. Can't cats sense that? Can shape-shifters too?

[reticence]

Faolan is watching the cat move, and a little uncertain of what to do about it himself, though his mind is working furiously. If Lancelot will just keep it distracted... If Lancelot will keep it distracted, then maybe he can devise some way to catch him. Lancelot is the bigger threat, after all, in more ways than one. Faolan himself? He works hard to be barely noticeable, in the best of circumstances.

So Faolan takes a risk. While the cat begins to prowl towards Lancelot, Faolan makes a decision. Grabbing the blanket off of the bed that the cat has just vacated, and holding it out in front of him as he advances behind it, as silently as he can. He feels more than a little ridiculous, and is certain he looks no less so. But if it works, then it will not matter in the least.

And with that thought in mind, Faolan throws the blanket forward, following swiftly behind it...

[knightscode]

The cat bolts forward as soon as the blanket hits it, between Lancelot's legs, and he turns to try and grab it but only succeeds in grabbing at bits of blanket. There's a moment where it's caught in the blanket, scrambling to try and free itself, then it explodes free and shifts back -- the man bolting for the patio door now they have both left it unguarded.

Lancelot curses softly under his breath and drops the blanket, almost trips on it as he tries to get back out into the hall.

[reticence]

Faolan's there and cursing right along with Lancelot as he bolts after the man toward the patio door that he's headed for. He may not be as fast or strong as Lancelot, but he doesn't trip himself up in the blanket, which he does consider a point for himself. (He has to consider something a point for himself, especially considering how much the other man has over him.)

So when he gets to the man and the door before Lancelot, he doesn't question what he's about to do. As the man is almost there, he throws himself forward, nearly falling over himself as he grabs the doorknob and pulls it back, cracking against the man's head and whatever else of him had managed to make it through before he'd reached him. If it worked, it means that he'll have knocked the man out, or at the very least dazed him enough to catch him. If it didn't work, it means that Faolan is now in a very vulnerable position in harm's way. And just because he can't kill the thief does not mean the other man has any such qualms about him in reverse, he realizes, in hindsight.