down with the phony king of england

[holdmyflower]

[This is gonna be stuck in my head all day now.

So. There's a gigantic golden wolf that's been stealing magical artifacts. Of course, being a gigantic gold wolf, she probably hasn't been that careful, if curious parties wanted to see what the hell she was doing with them.

And, you know, if she turned out to be anyone they knew.]

Comments

[adjudicated]

[Of course. He wouldn't have been on the case of high-profile thefts or anything. This totally wasn't going to end terribly in a ways that she knew. And there's no way he's not just, say, have tailed her back the entire way or something.]

[holdmyflower]

[Well. Two things are obvious. One, she's leaving some of the stolen potions--experimental antidotes and the like to, say, sate a vampire's hunger, among other things.

Second, the more expensive stuff has been taken to a...house he probably knows. To a basement he may not have known about and--yep. That's a naked Elly where the wolf used to be, once she's in there.

W e l p.]

[adjudicated]

[Well indeed. He's going to wait for her to find clothes before he steps out, gun already drawn.]

Hands where I can see them.

[holdmyflower]

[...Freezing a little bit, and sighing, before turning to face him, hands rather lazily held out.]

...I don't think you've really thought this through.

[adjudicated]

What? You think I'm afraid to take you on, Elly?

[holdmyflower]

I think I don't smell any silver in that gun and you wouldn't have bothered letting me know you were here if you were here to fight.

I'm not just going to let you arrest me, Mal.

[adjudicated]

I think you're underestimating me if you think I'm going to waste silver on bullets, Elly.

[He reaches down with one hand, gun still trained on her.]

Come quietly. Don't make me call backup.

[holdmyflower]

Go quietly...? Mal, I'm a natural-born lycanthrope, there's no 'quietly' for me. It's you or some bounty hunter when the moon goes full again.

Put the damn gun down.

[adjudicated]

[He's holstering it.]

You know that there's treatments for such a condition...

[holdmyflower]

Treatments, yes, but do you really think they're offering expensive magical medical care to inmates?

[She makes a frustrated noise, baring teeth.]

They make them damn near impossible to get even when we're model citizens. It's only getting worse and you know that.

[adjudicated]

And that justifies stealing these artifacts on such a large scale?

[He's watching her, hand on his hip.]

Consider what you've been taking, Elly....

[holdmyflower]

I know exactly what I've been taking. Breaking curses takes some really specific shit.

[adjudicated]

Breaking a curse? ...You're just stalling for time, aren't you?

[holdmyflower]

Well, yes, but it's not that.

You didn't know I was a werewolf because I can make the treatments myself. There's no curse on my family, so I am what I am for the rest of my life...but Grandmother was an alchemist, and there's something to keeping up the family trade.

The potions that go missing...I pass them out while I'm still figuring out how to make them. But breaking a werewolf's curse, or calming a wendigo, or sating a vampire's thirst, these things take a lot of magic in specific doses. Doses those artifacts can give.

Of course those collectors know it, but they'd just keep them locked up, untouched, unused, gathering dust. It's damn near offensive.

[adjudicated]

So you're not only stealing artifacts, you're breaking them down to... what? Cure the curse on you?

[holdmyflower]

I just said, mine can't be cured. This isn't for me.

It's for the people who can't get by. The people the system won't help.

[adjudicated]

This is completely insane, Elly. I understand you're frustrated at the situation but you can't just steal thousands worth of artifacts...

[holdmyflower]

I think I kinda already did.

Look. I know you don't know what it's like for us, because with your temper you'd have gone off and started a fight you won't win. So...just this one night, let me show you. Leave the gun and your radio here. If you're still dead-set on arresting me come morning, then fine, I won't fuss.

But I will never believe that doing whatever it takes to help these people wasn't the right thing.

[adjudicated]

Leave my gun and radio and walk into the thieves' den, Elly? Did you consider that before it came out of your mouth?

[holdmyflower]

...Before tonight, Mal, did you trust me? If the answer is yes, I'm asking you to trust me right now. I know it's crazy, but just...please.

[adjudicated]

[He just stares at her for a long moment, then sighs and places his gun and radio on the table.]

You have a hell of a case to make.

[holdmyflower]

I know. Come on, it's a bit of a hike and I don't think you're gonna like the fast method.

[Just. Casually heading back out that back entrance.]

[adjudicated]

[He's following now, in silence. I mean there's not a lot more that he could do with this setup but judge her.]

[holdmyflower]

[It is not a complete day without him judging her let's be real.

But lead him she does, to small run down shelter to dingy apartment to boarded-up abandoned buildings where the sun doesn't get in. Whether they're veterans who got bit and lost everything, a man who spontaneously burst into a bear when he turned 40, or vampires trying ineffectually to not eat anybody this week, it's people who can't afford the scam that are legal treatments...if there are any at all.

Turns out no one wants to hire fishmen. Who knew?]

[adjudicated]

[He's quiet and standoffish throughout this entire process of seeing all the unfortunates that she's helping. It's always hard to tell if such a thing ever sways him or not.]

[holdmyflower]

[Well, true to her word, by dawn she's taken him back to her house, and just...sits down on the couch.

No reason not to be comfortable for this, right?]

[adjudicated]

[He's putting back on his gunbelt, then, checking his radio and the pistol both.]

I should still arrest you. I don't care if you're doing the right thing in your mind, you're still stealing untold thousands worth of artifacts. But that said... The amount of hell that's going to break out when they catch you is going to be insane.

So I'm going to let you go. Probably going to stop talking to you, at that, to maintain plausible deniability, so if you've got something to tell me, now's the time.

[holdmyflower]

...Little awkward to ask me that.

[Rubbing at the back of her neck.]

Because I'd been planning to ask you out. For more than just a casual fuck, actually...after your shift would have ended.

[adjudicated]

...I'm a cop. You're a thief. You seriously thought that this was going to go somewhere?