another pre-game catchall!

[fledges]

Who: Kate and whoever!
Where: Westerley, mostly.
When: The past two years.
Summary: Just a log to establish pre-existing cr. Feel free to put up a top level if you want to do anything, no need to contact me first!
Restrictions/Warnings: n/a, but will warn in the subject if anything comes up

Comments

For Kara/Linda/the cute alien girl!

[fledges]

[Kate has decided that Linda is an absolute godsend. She's clever and quick, and while Kate sometimes feels like using trick arrows are a little gimmicky, sometimes a girl just feels the need to have an exploding acid arrow in her life. Just in case.

Every time Kate goes to Linda's shop to pick up a new batch, she looks a bit like a kid on Christmas morning, practically vibrating with excitement and energy, a clear bounce in her step. Today is no different, and when she throws open the door of Linda's shop, she does it dramatically, pushing up her shades, her bow and quiver slung over one shoulder.]

Hey! How'd it go?

[crisised]

[ linda grins when kate comes in and immediately hops off her seat and rummages around under the counter of her little store. ]

Good, I think! [ while for most people this would probably be a worrying assessment--i think--linda's always a little self-deprecating when it comes to her work. ] I didn't have anywhere to test the full spray of the acid, so you'll have to let me know if that needs any tweaking later on.

[ a moment of digging later, and a quiet aha! and she's standing up, a few new fun arrows for kate in her hands. ] Here we go!

[fledges]

[Kate's eyes widen and she lets out an appreciative breath.]

Linda.

[They are so cool. The boomerang and data storage arrows she'd been given by her mentor once upon a time were kind of lame, but these...

She takes one delicately, appraising it and grinning.]

This is perfect. How long did this take you?

[crisised]

[ she thinks for a moment, leaning against the countertop. ]

Not too long. Couple of days? I didn't have any other projects, though, so that's not a standard time frame.

[ since things like patching up ships generally take priority on her to-do list when she has one. ]

I'm serious about wanting to know how they work, by the way.

[fledges]

[Kate is all for that, and she glances up, eyebrows raised.]

Do you have somewhere I can shoot where I won't destroy something important?

[crisised]

Um...

[ linda glances back to the small living space. glances around at her decently-sized storefront. looks out at the streets through the window. ]

Nnnnot really. Things are pretty packed in around these parts.

[fledges]

[She laughs, following Linda's gaze.]

I guess we could just explode something not very important?

3 months prior

[sin_of_wrath]

[Set in their decision to accost an unassuming teenager who looked to be half their age, three young men a head taller than him were harassing Meliodas outside of a dull-looking bar in the middle of the afternoon. One held a knife, pointed right in his face, while the other two loomed overhead to cut him off from escaping--though it didn't seem evident from his body language that he wanted to go anywhere.

In fact, he looked as if they were offering to help him with a favor. He answered a question long since repeated over and over in increasingly threatening and vulgar tones.]

What if I don't feel like giving you my keys?

[The question was posed as if he had no clue what would happen--despite the very sharp implement lifted dangerously close to his eye.]

[fledges]

[It's been a conspicuously quiet day, or more accurately, a day where Kate doesn't have any actual cases. A day that means she's going to be even more broke than usual, so she's roaming the streets, putting up some oh so well designed flyers with her bow in hand, desperate for something to do. Salvation comes in the form of yet another mugging, a scenario Kate is used to. The victim is more of a surprise—he looks younger than her and completely oblivious to his situation. Anyone that small who didn't have a weapon on them would just give up their stuff if they were smart, but this guy looks like he doesn't realize his attacker is about to put a knife through his eye socket.

Kate nocks an arrow, draws, and releases in one smooth motion, just barely grazing the head of the man holding Meliodas. The arrow thunks into the wall of the building behind them, but it has its intended effect—he stumbles back, surprised, as Kate nocks another arrow.]

Punching down today, boys?

[sin_of_wrath]

Oh. [There was an arrow sticking out of his wall. For the first time, Meliodas seemed to react like an actual human being. Looking from the arrow to its former owner, Meliodas seemed to completely forget the armed thugs set on him from three bad angles. The first of which had fallen back quite a bit--not having expected the shaft of that arrow to come so dangerously close to skewering his head. While he was distracted, the other two looked for Kate--following her the moment she spoke up.]

I'll have to fill that. [He glanced at the arrow sunk fairly deep into his wall. She's quiet on her feet and has good enough muscle control to fire a shot that hard and straight just as a warning. I didn't even notice her, either. Thoughts kept to himself, Meliodas let his blank expression return before he set his fingers around the arrow to begin pulling it out. One of the two flunkies still upright grabbed Meliodas by the back of his neck and pressed the knife against his throat.

Meliodas seemed to startle at that, though it was still a fairly sedated reaction. The first arrow was an indicator of an expert shot but the fact that she was already nocked and ready to keep it going indicated that she didn't possess even a fraction of the hesitation in his would-be muggers. That kind of calm and haste was a little scary.]

Woah, woah. I think they mean business--you could really get hurt.

[The mugger, grinning in newfound and misplaced confidence, looked to Kate. Somewhere, deep in his mind, this story was familiar but adrenaline had kicked in and the mugger was thinking more in the moment.] Hear that? He's saying you should back off or we'll--

[He was cut off as Meliodas looked straight towards Kate, completely confident in what would happen in the next few moments.] Nah. I was talking about you.

[fledges]

[A well deserved compliment and a boost to her ego! Kate grins, and when she looses her arrow this time, it buries itself in the mugger's bicep. She went for the scare tactic first, after all, so he got what was coming to him. One of the mugger's friends has already sprinted off, apparently weighing his chances empty handed against a projectile weapon and finding them lacking, and now that Kate has actually shot one of them, the second follows suit.

Kate yanks the third back by the collar of his shirt, and he's so distracted by the arrow in his arm that he barely even struggles, whimpering as he tries to pull it out.]

Oh, come on, you big baby. You were just threatening to take this kid's eye out.

[sin_of_wrath]

[Left alone, Meliodas' lead mugger had quickly weighed his options and didn't seem to offer anymore threat. The knife fell given he couldn't properly maintain a grip on it. Meliodas picked it up and pocketed it. It wasn't a bad looking knife, really. He could use it to cut some boxes later and save on razors.]

He came really close, too. [With a twist and a pull, Meliodas wrested Kate's first arrow completely free of the wall, unbroken, forcing a fresh wince from the thug in her grip. He turned to grin at her head-on, ]

If not for you, I might have really been in trouble, miss.

[fledges]

Hey, no problem. That's what I'm here for.

[The man Kate is holding pulls himself free and runs, although admittedly Kate wasn't doing much to hold him. She frowns after him for a second, then turns back to Meliodas.]

Are you okay? Did he take anything?

Sup Koon

[fledges]

[It's probably no secret by now that Koon can drive Kate a little nuts. They're both stubborn, which isn't a great match, but Kate wouldn't keep coming back if she didn't think he was worth something. He's been helping, sure, but he hasn't been helping enough, and they need all hands on deck. He's been giving them information, but they're outgunned, and she knows it can't be a matter of personal safety or danger for him. Someone afraid of that wouldn't be waltzing around space as a killjoy.

Which means, of course, that Kate is going to give him the dressing down she thinks he deserves.

The knock is insistent and just on the edge of rude, and if he doesn't get to the door quickly enough, she'll knock again. Open up, Koon, she knows you're there!]

[deceptions]

[ Here's the deal — he's confident enough in his abilities that he won't get shot while waltzing around in space. But raw power, or even trained power doesn't get someone everywhere, not with the amount of politics the Quad has on a good day. So he chooses his alliances wisely — the resistance are good, because they're everything his once-family detested ( serves them right ). The RAC is nice, because he gets to go poke his head in locations he normally can't. The RAC provides him with "neutrality", which means resistance work becomes easier as long as he knows to be careful.

Kate Bishop, on the other hand, is not careful. Not with the amount of work she expects him to do ( too much, to be honest ).

He is home, a tiny apartment in an old building, taking a well deserved break after some annoying warrant about bringing someone back alive. It's supposed to be a moment of peace until it definitely isn't, the insistent knocking narrowing his list of potential guests significantly.

The whole "not answering" tactic, he learned, doesn't work in the slightest. So with a low groan he drags himself over to the door, opening the door just enough to see — yep. ] What.

[fledges]

It's so great to see you, Kate! It feels like I haven't been graced with your presence in weeks!

[She says it sarcastically, flipping her sunglasses up onto her head.]

Are you going to let me in?

[deceptions]

If that's the kind of greeting you're looking for, you're in the wrong place. [ Spoken matter-of-factly, though after a pause he slowly, reluctantly opens the door further to let Kate in. He knows it's a bad idea, but it's probably a worse idea to slam the door on her.

( It's a shitty apartment, not filled with much aside from basic furniture. Apparently this house doesn't hold any value to him. )

A sigh once he shuts the door, and then— ] What is it?

[fledges]

[Kate steps inside, frowning at him. They've had this conversation before, but this is probably the first time she's been so aggressive about it.]

We need your help. Real help. I know you can do more than you have been, Koon.

[deceptions]

[ Ah, he knows this conversation well.

It's also not a conversation he likes having — if it were possible, his frown would only grow. Instead, he rolls his eyes, walking towards the kitchen. ] If I helped more than I did, the RAC would have gotten me killed ages ago. [ He's lying, almost; neutrality is a fragile thing, sure, but guess who could also be doing more. ]

Wasn't the information I gave you last time enough?

✿ hard boiled detective work

[shikomizue]

[OOC: let me know if you'd like me to change/add anything ;u;b]

[Keep an eye on him, and report back with his movements. It's a relatively simple detective job, on paper. The client who had requested the work - a balding man with wide eyes and a monotonous tone - hadn't been the talkative type. Hushed words and little explanation was provided, beyond a list of possible locations, a description, and a name:

Tani Umenosuke.

Any basic searches would turn up the entertainer's esoteric sense of aesthetic and grim subject matter. Some say he retains a sense of delicate beauty about his work, while others dismiss him as unworthy of attention.

Others say, in whispers and anonymous comments, that the name is but a moniker taken by Takasugi Shinsuke - a man carrying a bounty on his head with almost as many zeroes as crimes on his docket.

Tonight that man is not the center of attention, but lingering among a crowded bar. The air is thick with smoke and the stench of alcohol, something more than tobacco smoldering between many a customer's fingers. The seats and tables are low to the ground, deep reds and stained browns coloring the dimly lit establishment with an atmosphere of lushness that clashes with the chipped door frame and warped windows.

Music, a haunting solo played on the strings of a foreign instrument, intertwines with the low chatter of those within, Takasugi himself sitting, spread comfortably, simply listening to the men at his table. A nervous, wiry fellow repeats himself for the fifth time as two bulky men constantly interrupt - all of them scarred or modified in some way.]

[fledges]

[Kate gets the job and thinks it will be easy money. Tailing someone is practically detective 101, although once she does some digging, she very quickly realizes this might be a bigger job than she anticipated.

Still, she does what she's asked, following Takasugi to a bar and parking herself in a corner where she can watch, out of the way. For once she isn't wearing so much purple. It stands out too much, so she's in darker, more subdued colors, her collapsible bow in her bag at her side. At the moment, she's keeping her distance, although she is taking pictures with her communicator, trying to be as sneaky as possible.]

[shikomizue]

[For the moment, Takasugi is enraptured enough - or at least presenting himself as such - in the conversation around him to not search the room for other persons of interest. Anyone caught staring could fall into several categories: those who wish to join, those who harbor hatred, and those who were too high to know better.

All of whom are no real danger.

It's the ones who take care to be surreptitious that require more attention.

Takasugi keeps his face tilted away, hair and bandages obscuring one side and a hand resting against his cheek obscuring the other. The only clear photo of him Kate may get is when he leans back, a languid stretch that reveals as much of his chest in his unbuttoned shirt as it reveals his face.

It appears he's leaving, his drink unfinished on the table and no payment for the services to be seen. Seems it was on his company.

Walking out to the street, Takasugi stopped several paces from the door, tapping his pipe and refilling it with simple tobacco. He's under the awning of the establishment still, with clear view down an alleyway lit only by a single flickering bulb.]

[fledges]

[Kate is starting to get impatient. She's not sure why she's tailing Takasugi, and at this point, he hasn't done anything suspicious or even particularly interesting. She follows him dutifully regardless, trying to figure out what the hell she's going to tell her client. Well, he hung out at a bar most of the night and didn't even pay for his own drink. Here's a picture, I hope you like it.

Unluckily for Kate, Takasugi stops right outside the bar, and there's nowhere for her to really go. He'll see her in the alley, and the street is empty enough that she'll be visible anywhere she can keep an eye on him, so she's forced to hover awkwardly, pretending to check a message on her comm.]

[shikomizue]

[The woman had caught his eye inside the establishment no more than anyone else - most patrons blurring into a drab backdrop to the lush but dated decor. Had she simply walked from the bar when he had and staggered down the street, she would have faded almost immediately from his memory.

But she doesn't, so the man gives her a lingering sidelong glance before lighting his pipe. She's checking her phone, not irregular, except her poise implies more sobriety than one would expect.

Then again, so does his.

To dull the time he'll pass here, embers smoldering and releasing a thin trail of smoke, Takasugi would indulge in idle conversation. She can't be worse than the men he'd been surrounded by moments before.] The price here isn't worth the substance - it's no surprise people leave sober.

[fledges]

[Well, this isn't... ideal. Kate is pretty sure you're not supposed to actually speak to the person you're tailing, but at this point, it would be far more suspicious to ignore him than to respond. So, she glances up, sighing as she tries to play it cool.]

Yeah, they're totally scalping people. I don't know how they get away with it.