A Mission by Top Men and Women

[Vio]

^{Maëlys #8}

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My, this one’s hard to read, Maëlys noted as she tried to get a read on Lassa — the control over this woman’s facial expressions and lack of tells was fascinating. People trended towards cowardice, anger, occasionally hysteria or even a masochistic sense of excitability when faced with this sort of ordeal. A clever veil, using a body to hide the actions. A concealed weapon surely, but silent, she analysed, though not entirely sated by the demonstration with which she had been provided. That said, a good magician never revealed their secrets.

Whish– Crack! The sound of the whip filled the alley, but nary did it connect with anything solid, just the air above the top as it made a slow and steady advance. The doctor’s ‘answer’ was informative enough for her liking, but not disclosing the secret? Well, there was no turnabouts without revelations. Even when they posed a query of their own, Maëlys paused to consider, umbrella twirling gently as the whip coiled in her grasp.

“Oh, my~! We have ourselves a proactive player,” she giggled girlishly. “A rare breed, indeed, but I’ll allow it,” she added with another flexing of the leather length — the soft yet sudden sound of it licking the top’s twirling base caused the device to straighten and steadily pull back about a foot before resuming its advance, though it had already encroached upon the halfway mark. “I suppose I’d have to play by the rules to some extent, too, no? It adds to the excitement~! It’s never as fun when your partner is just going through the motions.” A pause. Blatantly prolonged, though not enough to allow the top any extra movement.

“That’s a neat trick for a doctor, though I suppose it makes sense,” Ms Hastings mused. “Do you have any other little tricks up your sleeves that you’d be willing to demonstrate for me, my dear~?”

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:—}
<sub>Maëlys toys with Lassa!

Notes:— ——</sub>

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Hastings Maëlys | #e62020
Lassa Iskario (F) | #3b045c

[Tokoz]

 It seemed that Maelys was willing to play along. She could just keep things going, but the fact that the other woman thought she was in control was... irking. She did have some pride, even if her job meant trampling it into the dirt given a moment's notice. Still... something about the smile on Maelys made her want to wipe it off. 

Her fingers flexed one at a time, before she hummed. She began to walk forward from her position at the end of the alley, and finally stopped just before the spinning top, hands in her pockets. Her pace slowed until she was standing with the tips of the blades on the unique weapon spinning an inch or two from her limbs, and regarded the item with a blank, empty stare and a fixed smile. 

"Indeed I do. I think you'll find that somewhat less effective than you might have hoped. I don't want to break your toy, though, so whether you choose to take that demonstration is up to you!" She replied cheerily, standing quite still as she considered Maëlys. 

"That being said... I wonder if you have ever come across a real monster, Ms. Maëlys? I don't mean some shadow like me. I mean someone like one of the people who can level buildings with their bare hands, or strangle Sea Kings. Because I don't think you can do that, and that means that you're just one unfortunate slip from being eaten yourself."

Chuckling for a moment, she hummed. 

"As for my question... What do you know about the operations of the Red Sparrow Trading Company? Simple enough, yes?" She simply kept standing in front of the top, unmoving and apparently uncaring of the weapon spinning before her. She wasn't even glancing at it. 

She wasn't mocking the person blocking her exit, not really. Just... testing. Seeing how she reacted if her plan wasn't followed. Some people didn't do well with games where the rules were bent, but if that was so, better to find out now then when she did something unexpected. She could only throw up a Tekkai so fast, after all. 

[Vio]

^{Maëlys #9}

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To see the doctor advance was one thing, but to see them casually stroll up to the top’s edge and stand mere inches from its whirring teeth was another. Some would have seen this as a challenge, but not Ms Hastings. After all, her quarry’s freedom of movement was already in disregard for the rules she had previously set for a less fortunate soul. Normally, they were tied down, incapable of moving out of the top’s reach, and thus subject to the woman’s wicked whimsy.

This one was free.

All the same, Maëlys was not about to lash out for someone bending or breaking rules that didn’t apply. Such hapless aggression was unbecoming. Besides, for all her mannerisms, she presently lacked a lust for bloodshed. She, in fact, did not crave violence. Her desires were of a more intangible, but still very quantifiable sort — people of intrigue. A part of her wished to test the doctor’s claim, but her contemplative silence was filled by the opposing woman’s analysis. Indeed, the top remained still and spinning.

^{“What do you know about…,” Lassa queried:
“The Red Sparrow Trading Company?”}

“Much of Bupae is under their control, with mostly absent resistance against their reign,” Maë answered, albeit in a half-hearted manner that only made sense if you knew who it was they were talking about. “I’d imagine you’ve already had to interact with their operatives — whether it be their enforcers or their more secretive employees — just to be walking the streets here, my dear,” she continued, once more lashing the whip and leashing the top, staving it from commencing a gentle and natural creep towards Lassa and instead easing it to walk towards herself.

“After all, they seem to charge exorbitant fees just for ships to make port,” the tall one shrugged lightly. “I can’t say I know much more of their operations, beyond their control of Fairy Dusk and use of violence to ensure cash flows into their grubby little hands– Oh! Would you believe it? They even offered me protection for a cost! I turned them down, of course: Perhaps they should’ve offered entertainment, instead~,” Maëlys giggled, slowing — but not stopping — the top’s return as the whip recoiled to her side.

^{“Now, I have to ask… If given the chance,” she uttered:
“Would you dare to cross paths with Bupae’s monsters…?”}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:—}
<sub>Maëlys toys with Lassa!

Notes:— ——</sub>

---

Hastings Maëlys | #e62020
Lassa Iskario (F) | #3b045c

[Tokoz]

 Tilting her head, Lassa hummed slightly as she actually considered the question. Would she dare to face off against the Red Sparrow Trading Company? It was not an easy thing. The Red Sparrows were powerful, that much was clear. Even with her skills, she was far from able to take on an entire army at this point. Maybe if and when she finally mastered the Six Powers, but with nothing more than Tekkai and Shigan? No, that was quite literally a suicide mission. 

"Not now. Not today." She said finally, shaking her head.

"I know my limits. I know what I can handle, and to face the monsters of Bupae alone? No, that's beyond me at this point in time." As she moved forwards, keeping pace with the top for a few moments, her foot slid beneath the handle of one of the pistols that had been dropped. She stopped there, hands hanging loosely at her sides, and shrugged. 

"But tomorrow? The day after? A month from now? Who can say. Arrogance kills, but I truly believe that one day, I will be capable of taking on any enforcer on this island. Any squad. Eventually, I think I could overcome even the lords of this place. However, they are stronger than I am right now. So at current, I can only wait and learn, watching for the moment they make a mistake."

It galled her a bit to admit her own failure, but she didn't often get the chance to speak frankly with someone like this. Besides, what better way to spend such time. Although, it did raise a pertinent question. 

"I'd turn that around. Would you? What motivates you, my friend? Do you have any ideals, any goals, anything but your own amusement in mind? Anything to push you to get stronger? Vengeance, love, regret, ambition? Is there any fire in your heart, or are you simply seeking to produce enough sparks as to not fade away into the dark?"

Her mouth split into a wide grin.

"Justify your existence, Ms. Maëlys. Because I don't see anyone else here to do it for you." 

[Vio]

^{Maëlys #10}

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^{“Would you?” Lassa turned:
“What motivates you…?”}

“Hm? I don’t care much for signing myself off to any one long-term goal,” Maëlys answered, rather frankly at that. There was a nonchalance in her behaviour, but also a rising air of impatience as she was reminded of previous commitments to which she had turned a disinterested eye. “Eventually, the pursuit of those goals becomes boring, as does the need to justify one’s purpose,” she retorted, her smile finally fading fast as if a switch had been flipped. The doctor before her, not in person but in the philosophies of their conversations, was now becoming a tedious thing.

“Besides, is seeking my own amusement not justification enough? The world may only care for the masses that seek the same goals as the next in line, but it needs people to strive for something different — and I am much the same. If my pursuit of pleasures requires I burn brighter, then brighter I shall burn,” she elaborated, allowing herself to lean forward and bend her knees slightly so as to put her face at least a little closer to Lassa’s as the whip’s coils fell from her grip and snagged the axis of the top, slowing it to a complete halt. “My sweet little doctor, my existence is justified by… a lust for life~! Nothing more, nothing less~! Now, we may soon have unwelcome company, so would you care to accompany me back to my lodgings~?”

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:—}
<sub>Maëlys suggests Lassa accompany her after a fierce rebuttal!

Notes:— ——</sub>

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Hastings Maëlys | #e62020
Lassa Iskario (F) | #3b045c

[Tokoz]

 For a long moment, she actually considered it. Not that she would ever admit this to anyone who would be breathing for more than 10 seconds after. 

"Fair enough. Then, Ms. Maëlys, I suspect at some point you and your sins, lust and all, shall run into me again. I wish you luck until then. Burn bright, but remember that the bright candle burns ever so quickly." With a sudden flick of the foot, the gun slapped into her palm and she fired at the top. The bullet cracked, and immediately, the sound of running footsteps came from the street as an enforcer squad heard the noise and ran towards it, angry shouts bouncing off the buildings. Giving a wink, Lassa leapt upwards, catching a windowsill and propelling herself upwards onto a rooftop and slinking away. 

As the guards headed for the pile of corpses, she took a deep breath and downed a vial, dispensing with her hat and coat and pulling a new shirt out of the bag, along with a bottle. Sliding down a drainpipe on the other side, he took a swig from the bottle of port and went staggering down the street, pausing only to wink in the direction of the tall woman as he aimed to vanish into the night. 


Maëlys, huh? He'd have to remember that one. She seemed like she'd be dangerous one day.  

[Vio]

^{Maëlys #11}

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“I wish you luck until then,” Lassa spoke, bidding the woman a rather flashy farewell that ignited the air with a flash of gunpowder and the crack of fire. Maëlys’ heart skipped a beat as she took a step back, pulling on the coil of her whip and sending the top once more into a violent and slightly shaky spin, but the bullet did not embed itself within her. Rather, it bounced off the dense structure of the top, chipping the wood on the ivory-coloured band that ran around its midsection.

Tch! How daring of you, doctor… Maë’s motions were discernibly tense now. She’d allowed fresh and interesting prey to escape, much to her aggravation, and in doing so they had intentionally created the best distraction they could have in the moment. The pop of the pistol would draw attention, fast, for few corners in Bupae weren’t patrolled on the regular by the enforcers. Sure enough they flocked, footsteps loud in the puddles formed by the drizzle, descending like hungry birds when crumbs were cast about their nests.

^{“Holy s#¡+,” one voice announced:
“What happened here…?!”}

^{“Care to explain yourself, miss?”}

“Hmph,” she exhaled sharply, eyes locking onto the nearest enforcer in his black suit, emblazoned with the insignia of the less covert operatives of the Trading Company, then to the soft trails of red that stained watery paths to drains. Inside, she was seething, but her fury was tempered by the cause. “You’ll find injuries similar to gunshot wounds in their bodies, gentlemen, as a result of an unknown assailant who fled to the rooftops, on the run with a bag of Fairy Dusk,” the tall one explained, curtly but — via omission — truthfully. The whip tethered the top again, dragging it into view and slowing its spin.

^{“Sparrows don’t take kindly to their own being killed…”}

^{Damn you, Lassa… Ms Hastings scowled:
If we cross paths again, there’ll be no escape…}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:—}
<sub>Maëlys is caught out by Lassa’s escape, and silently vows that it won’t happen again as she’s forced to deal with the enforcers.

Notes:— ——</sub>

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Hastings Maëlys | #e62020
Lassa Iskario (F) | #3b045c