Aenigma [con't]

[Masquerade]

[From the Havoc/Mask thread here. Dunno if Mina wants this open or not~]

The smell of salt-water began to fade, instead replaced by the mechanical scents of old, dying buildings and the rank of the mold and mildew that infested everything even vaguely organic. You could kill off all life, and within a few weeks the more annoying organisms would return in full force. Lovely.

"I laugh when I see the Wildcats. They think themselves so fierce; battlescarred tomcats rather than the puffed up pet persians they really are. And running in packs? That wolves, not cats, unless they've suddenly developed a pride mentality." Mask sighed, twisted a way ward strand from his bangs and tucking the offending piece of hair behind one ear. That was why he'd joined the Wharf Rats, after all. They were the least retarded of the four Tribes.

[Mina Crow]

[One more post and you're a Commoner, Mask. *Cough* If RiverClan heard their precious leader now... xD Yes, this is open, but who'd be that nuts, facing two Wharf Rats Hunters/a Hunter and the Beta?]

"Little kitties squabbling over a moss ball. The one who chokes himself to death with it first wins, woo-hoo." Will smiled half-heartedly, one hand caressing the small axe at his hip. It was rather useless and cumbersome on a fight, yet it imposed respect and fear; most times, being face to face with a crazed axe murderer was enough to cool down the moods. And besides, it was useful for scavenging through the debris. Keeping an eye on the buildings, scanning them for one still not looted by the Wharf Rats, he changed the subject.

"I never got a report on that capture of yours. What was the loner's name - Sigurd, right?" Will frowned for a moment, in thought. "Eagle and Seagull. How did they go?"

[Hey, he's a Wharf Rat. Information is everything.]

[Masquerade]

"Sigurd. Seagull and I found him in the Grid; Eagle was chasing after him, not sure why though. Eagle was his usual self, although Seagull certainly pulled off quite a transformation in personae. I was impressed, to say the least, although it sadly didn't last very long." Mask replied, "Sigurd himself came along quite readily once he realized we weren't playing around. Seagull was an excellent help. Eagle... well, lets just say the little Gull and I could have pulled it off on our own."

Ah, poor little Sigurd. Hopefully Mask hadn't hurt his arm too badly on the trail back to the Wharfs. He hadn't checked on the kid in ages... perhaps he'd become rat food. His smile became a grin at this thought, chuckling to himself. Oh, Mask was in a rare fine mood today...

[Mina Crow]

Will shot Mask a sneering, raucous look. A mock warning; the axe was there mostly for effect, but he was also armed with two more practical knives. And he was called Havoc for a reason - thankfully, no one but Mask himself dubbed him 'Havoc dear'. No one would have lasted long after that, so Mask should consider himself a lucky young man.

"Eh, stop being the puppet-master, will you? Blurt it out. Though I'm not the proverbial cat, curiosity kills me all the same. So, what happened, after all? Last I looked, Seagull was a quiet young mouse. What do you mean by 'transformation'? She turned out to have hidden Geisha skills?"

[Masquerade]

"Curiousity killed the cat, but will satisfaction bring it back, I wonder?" Mask smirked, passing Havoc a look that might've been called condescending by anyone who didn't know him. He always looked like he was talking down to people.

"I can assure you she didn't reveal a sudden apptitude for the shinobi arts of shadow and blade, nor did she exhibit signs of knowing the arts of tea serving and flower arrangment. What I saw was a sudden burst of authority. It's hard to describe sufficiently... let me just say that if she acted like that all the time, she'd be one of the Wharf Rats' top hunters." he trailed off, pulling a pair of fingerless gloves from his pocket and slipping them over his hands with slow, deliberate movements. They were his climbing gloves, for when he needed to get over the mountains of refuse that had one been buildings and hov-cars. Wearing them in the Grid was just habit.

[Mina Crow]

"Authority?"

Will looked puzzled for a moment, then laughed cinically, narrowing his eyes at Mask.

"You've just made my day, Mask. Gull - she's what, eleven, maybe twelve? You're seventeen, Eagle's 15. The kid looks like he's 13. And she ordered you about? Don't insult my intelligence, please."

He paused for a second before dropping the glare.

"Now, seriously, what happened?"

Will shrugged and kept on walking, as if dismissing what he took for Mask's usual babble.

[And here am I, thinking of red sunglasses *coughCyclopscough*]

[Masquerade]

"Dear, ignorant Havoc." Mask sighed, "never once did I say she ordered me. She handled the loner well, but when push came to shove and her spunk ran short she seemed all too willing to pass responsibiliy on over to me."

"Long story short, we ran into the loner, a Wildcat, and there was a bit of a stand off. The Wildcat left after a show of force on our part, and the loner gave up soon after." he drawled, lacing his fingers behind his head and passing Havoc a brilliant, if a bit unsettling, grin.

"And now poor Siggy's good friends with the rats."

[Mina Crow]

Will laughed again, more cynically even, if possible. Mask might regret his words, one day. But that could wait. Long.

"She's the brain, you're the brawn, then? Never expected to see that team, I say." He fidgeted with the axe for a moment, then continued. "A Wildcat? Oh, yeah... Poor kitties. Show them a bit of a claw and they bound away with their tails between their legs." Facing Mask, he returned the grin, not a bit unnerved by it. Too much used to it.

"Well, we're good friends with the rats as well... Tasty. Yummy."

[Argh. Muse.]

[Masquerade]

"I hae the distinct pleasure of being both blessed with brain and brawn; Seagull is simply amusing to watch when she discovers that she can actually stand up to someone." Mask purred with a small laugh.

"Personally, I'm starting to wonder if rats are actually a good food choice. They eat filth, and it gets into the meat. And aside from that, they also lack certain vitamins. I'd druther not get scurvy, and pills and vegetable soup only go so far." he said rather morosely, pulling up the side of his shirt and poking one blatantly visible rib.

"Alas, I'm bare skin and bones!" he lamented before dropping his shirt back into place.

[Mina Crow]

"Think positive. At least you're live skin and bones. We can't say that much of those poor rats we feed upon. Perhaps..." Will paused for a second, a sickly grin dawning on his face. "I've heard human flesh tastes like pork. After all, we are in New Pork... And Sigurd looks like he'd made for a fine dinner. Not too fat. Or you'd prefer to become vegan? There could hardly be a better time for that. Lots of moss and seaweed on the damp parts of the sewers." He fell silent for a while, then resumed the previous subject. Talking about food only made him hungrier.

"A Wildcat. Seagull ordering you about" - he seemed oblivious to Mask's remark - "a loner... You've been quite busy, my friend."

[Masquerade]

"Idle hands are the devils tools, but it seems even the busiest of digits only bring forth the original evils of murder and betrayal around here.” Mask replied, cocking his head to the side with a small smirk.

“Being vegan does not appeal to me in the least, particularly given the fact that the only things that grow around here are mold and fungi. The rest of it may as well fall into those categories, given the conditions they grow in. Everything else has abandoned this hell for parts unknown beyond the fence.” His smirk transformed to a sneer. “If push came to shove, I’m sure little Sigurd would be palatable in the very least. Perhaps if you basted him in d-hyd soup before hand, he’d be less stringy… He’s definitely a stew meat, in any case. You’d need the juices to soften him up; otherwise he’d be far too chewy to make a decent meal.”

[Mina Crow]

[Whoot, 500th post. ^^]

"Hmm. Gods, now this is making me hungry. Ah, screw it. Don't think that our dear Mistress would be very happy if we made a stew from our little prisoner. At least if she didn't get her share. With you not choosing the vegan path, less meat to us all. Bad choice, my friend." He paused, then laughed coldly. "Imagine him roasted on the oven, with a little red apple on his mouth... Crispy meat." With a sigh, Will shook his head.

"Next I'll start thinking of Christmas turkey à la Siggy."

[Masquerade]

[Hah, they're talking about eating Siggy. Pfft. *crazyasslaugh* Belated congrates on the 500 posts, as well.]

"Ah, we should not let our stomachs get ahead of our reason, yes?" Mask laughed, "We don't even know what we're going to do with him, unless you know something I don't..?" he let the question hang, abruptly shifting the conversation onto a new, less hunger-provoking topic.

"What news is there on the Cigarette/Vampire war? Or from the Wildcats, even? It seems rather quiet around the docks, these days. Does the peace extend into the park?" he asked curtly, the amusement that had earlier tempered his voice replaced by sharp, pressing tones.

[Mina Crow]

Will shook his head. "Nope. Berserker didn't say a thing. Not that she talks much, heh?" he smiled faintly, then continued on the new subject.

"The Cigarettes are in an uproar. Again. Ah, well. You know how it is, them and the little blood-suckers..." he shrugged. "While they fight each other, at least we are safe. Somewhat. I miss the days when we dealt with the Cigarettes, though. Jade's times." He fell silent in a sudden. Better not to talk about that, better to leave old feelings behind. Not worth it. "The Cats are waiting. Kits set to pounce. Let's see if they don't stumble in their own tails. Quite a show, that'd be..."

[Heh. Just realized something about Havoc. *Giggles*]

[Masquerade]

[D: WHAT? What've you reeeealized?!]

Mask breathed a sigh, his smile one of a man sharing a private joke with himself.

"Kittens with paws still too big, stumbling fur and milktooth fangs. And we rats who bear the plague of unspoken truths and whispered lies." he mused, before glancing to Havoc with an expression that was ernestly serious.

"Would you betray another, simply for personal gain, dear Havoc? Would you slip a knife between one of your fellows ribs if it meant you'd profit?"

[Mina Crow]

Will started to speak, then snapped his mouth shut. I'm not telling about that. Stupid. Worthless. He took his axe from its belt loop, fingering around with it a bit. Ah, freaking thing. Scare the sh.it out of them and all goes down to hell. Havoc. Sure as sure.

"'Course not", he snapped. "Hey, I'm a Rat. Not a mole, Mask dear. I prefer the sewers to dirty undergrounds. And if we don't stick together, no one's gonna do that for us, don't you think?"

[Simple. Nothing too hard to figure out. He fancied Jade. And it makes sense with his personality xD]

[Masquerade]

[[*helpless snickering!*]]

Mask grinned at Havocs snappish reply, tutting softly under his breath.

"Then you're a fool, but an honorable one." he said with a quick glance to the younger boy. "But we are all fools here. Myself, for instance, well... I'll be the first to admit that love and hate mingle quite freely in the vast corridors of the mind, and has driven me to madness all in the name of love and lust. All before New Pork, even."

His smile was once more a guarded, private one, and he fished into one pocket, producing a wide silver band on a length of black twine. He held it before his face for a moment, brilliant green eyes fixed on the gleaming ring, a spot of brightness in the otherwise bleak streets they trekked through, before hiding it in a tight fist.

"Tell me, Havoc darling, have you ever seen someone you love die before you?"

[Don't you just love random threads where characters start letting go of some of their secrets, even if it isn't publicly? *hums*]

[Mina Crow]

Will's eyes flickered at the ring for a second, them traced back to the path. Mask was treading on a subject he avoided to touch, but heck. Live with it. Let Mask ramble about and he'd be free to think quietly.

"I lost my family here. Not in front of me, but too close anyway. I'm not intending to get close to anyone on this flaming city. It brings all down to dust, mark my words. You?" Will was visibly fuming. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, feeling like he'd smite anyone who dared to cross his way. Especially if it was a Vampire. They'd never known what had happened to her, but the Vampires had done it before. What had happened to the late Cigarettes' leader was common knowledge among the Tribes. They might have done just the same to Jade.

[Masquerade]

"Father passed on in the wake of the plague, mother is most likely back in Canada holed up in a Sanitarium somewhere..." Mask said with a sudden bitter tang, one which promptly was lost again when he continued on, "I don't suppose you've ever seen the love of your life gasping for breath, lips blue and eyes rolling back in their head as the darkness creeps in to smother their conciousness?" he sighed softly, turning his gaze to the trio of pigeons that chose then to flap noisily overhead.

"Once you've seen such things you become a changed person, Havoc my darling, something inside snaps..." he purred darkly, "But I suppose you've had your share of horrors."

[Mina Crow]

Shut up. Shut the fu.cking hell up, Will almost snarled.No, it wouldn't do. Mask would want to know what was that about, and that wouldn't do. It simply wouldn't. Instead, the Wharf Rats' Beta sighed and smiled weakly.

"Don't worry. I have my own personal daemons. Green-eyed ones, mostly. Those are the worst kind, believe me. And snapping - why do you think they call me Havoc?" What he would give for a piano... Any instrument would do, really, if he could strike a chord out of it. A flute would be enough. Soothing music. Green-eyed daemons.