Follow the city lights

It was a beautiful evening in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, and the resident population was entering that part of the day when you hurry up to finish your business around the town, already foretasting the moment when, finally at home, you'll take your shoes off and enjoy your well-deserved relax, possibly with an abundant dinner in front of you.

Even the most ill-famed area of the city, the one around the port, was not immune to the general atmosphere, as those who worked during the day were finishing their respective occupations, and those who worked at night were just starting to show up: under the beautiful sky at sunset, the dischargers were discharging, the robbers were robbing, the killers were killing and the strollers were strolling. And so on.

And a young lady, who had just landed at the port after many days of travel, was looking at all that with a smile on her face.


Kagutsuchi! Geez, it's been a while...

She said, allowing her eyes to wander around the area. That was the first time in years that she had a chance to come to the Hierarchical City, and the first time ever that she was there as a tourist. Or at least, as the closest thing to a tourist a mercenary can ever hope to be.

Her reason to be in the city was simple: she had heard rumors about a famous criminal, with a large bounty on his head, being in town. If the guy had a huge bounty on his head, Sector Seven would probably be on his tracks: furthermore, if the guy was so dangerous to deserve such a large bounty, then NOL was probably going to take matters in their own hands; and when NOL and Sector Seven are in the same place, things happen.

All she wanted to do was to see those things: she was sure that, with a bit of luck, she would have been able to bump into some Sector Seven member, some NOL agent or even some vigilante from whom she would have been able to obtain the information she needed. For once, she was on a mission for herself.

Breathing the (relatively, if you didn't mind the smells) refreshing air of the evening, the girl moved her first steps in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi...

Once again a legend returns, the One-eyed Cat who was called a hero would trust his footing to be light and careful, silently stalking through the leagues of people, the almost-kaka looking jacket was ignored. It made it easy, for all to ignore the two tailed feline who's diminutive stature made him easy to overlook. "Well, I reckon this return might be different than my last visit." the drawl would be easy to miss, as the hooded cat would politely pass by the young, well endowed woman, with a single word passing through his lips of a polite nature.

"Pardon me, ma'am." there was a single instant that a single red eye would be seen, as Jubei had to glance up at this powerful presence, she was likely a young fighter with some purpose in Kagutsuchi, clearly things were going to be interesting here. He'd chosen the right time to visit and all he could hope that his arrival had not been too late. Something about this world seemed dramatically different, they were playing for keeps; or perhaps it was just an old cat going senile in his age. But with this, another of the Six Heroes was on site in Kagutsuchi.

It happened so fast that it would have evaded the attention of a normal person: it didn't evade the attention of a trained mercenary who just happened to hate Beastkins of any sort, kind and shape.
And the... Thing that had just walked past Bullet was a Beastkin, no doubt about it: the cat-eared hoodie, the two tails, the cat-like feet, and the red eye she had briefly seen when the creature had turned to tell her something.

She was there for a reason, however. She couldn't draw attention on herself by letting her hate for Beastkins transpire. She couldn't afford to pick a fight in a place like that, and sure as hell she couldn't mess with a person whose strenght was unknown to her: it would have been much wiser on her part to just...

EHI!

Her lips had moved on their own. She took a little moment to ask whatever god was casually listening to her why she had to be so damn impulsive. But it was too late, the cat had clearly heard her, so now there was nothing to do but to see what would happen...

Spoiler:

While Jubei did hear her alerted cry, it wasn't anything that he'd simply brush off, after all being as old as he meant that you've heard a lot of things down throughout your life, it wasn't so difficult to just offer the young woman a simple turn of his head and minor response. "Ya alright there miss? Sorry bout that brief pass, think nothing of it." naturally he'd say this, before turning his head, though the elevated cry was a bit surprising. He could at least account for the fact that she either didn't see beastkin before or may have been repulsed; something like that which drew off into its own thoughts. He still hadn't focused enough on his tasks, but something told him to stop a moment to see this woman briefly.

At this point, Bullet was atrociously embarassed: she had no idea of what she was thinking when she shouted that "ehi", and she most definitely didn't want to pick up a fight, as it would have caused her to draw unwanted attention on herself.
On the other hand, she couln't hide her dislike for Beastkins, and besides, no that she had the full attention of the creature, it would have been very embarassing and awkward to just stand there without saying anything...

Listen, I am willing to let it slide this time, but you Beastkins should be very careful when you are around normal people! We have a completely different concept of physical proximity, you know?

She immediately realised how silly (and quite racist) her statement had sounded, but it couldn't be helped: she really thought that the best behaviour or a Beastkin was to stay away from humans as much as possible...

The poor girl suffered from her own cruelty, he'd let it go again since it wasn't why he'd come. Another unfortunate youngster who had a distaste for a people who were not going away, but naturally it wasn't his place to bother with any judgments he may have had in mind. Banishing his thoughts of pity, he'd have to move on, before the poor girl burst! She seemed certainly like she was going to lose it, if coming that close to him had caused her this much distress. "Right, well sorry t'have troubled ya, I'll be moving on." the comment was polite, with no hidden undertones. Simply enough to allow the elder hero to move on, he'd given a light head nod and turned from her to go now. Though it was a shame that such hatred lingered, it had gotten a little more tolerable the past century perhaps...but some things were hard to kick, especially the habit of mankind.

Uh... Fine... Err... You'd better do...

Bullet was well aware of the fact that the cat had defeated her with the power of sheer politeness, making her look like a racist bitch. She was extremely embarassed, and didn't know what to do to salvage her situation: however the cat was leaving, so at this point the smartest thing to do was to just drop the conversation and walk away...

It was in that moment that her gauntlet-like Armagus started to react to something. Confused, bullet noticed the big sword that was hanging from the back of the creature: she hadn't noticed it before, but it seemed to emanate a very powerful aura, that was causing her own Armagus to react... It was the kind of effect only a very powerful weapon could have, something around the power level of a...

Suddenly, Bullet started to realize that maybe the cat wasn't just an ordinary bipedal cat (if a bipedal cat can be considered ordinary anyway). If that weapon was what she thought it was, then maybe the cat in question was an extraordinary person, someone worth keeping an eye on, if she wanted to acquire some info on the latest events...

While attempting to tail a person that has already noticed you is generally a bad idea, Bullet was aware of the fact that she didn't have much of a choice: reluctantly, she started to walk casually in the same direction the cat has gone, hoping that, as the streets became more and more crowded, he wouldn't notice her...

Such a great day to find traitors, rebels, and maybe the usual deviant or two to dispense justice or whatever have you that comes with the job, but for now, it was Aquila's first day in the shit hole of a city exploring the area, just getting a feel for it, as she'd count this her most recent moment here. The last stint she has done in this area were years ago, that it seems once again on rumours of something big going on did she even mobilize as a force of her own. Being in her high performance squad can be tedious work, as she elected not to go in announced or as flamboyant as one can be. Instead, dressed up in the totally original and inspired trench coat with a hood worn over her head, complete with a black lower face mask impressing the idea of teeth as it hosts jagged lines along the metal frame, on whomever so gazes at it. Her weapon earlier formed hugged the entirety of her left arm within the shape of a gauntlet, pointy and large in silvery black sheen worn outwards, with a hilt sticking out from the elbow.

Her large stroll swagger boisterously pacing her way past the teeming masses as they stepped aside in her presence, only because they didn't want to get poked by her pointy claw, gave leeway into paving a path out of parting prongs forking past her as she inserted herself within the stream of flesh gestating and wafting towards their destination-end areas, cultivating a finality to their laborious traveling on foot for whatever ends they wish to mean. Conveniently, her path ran directly over one of the Six Heroes that she knew not of, whom was well hidden by the non-parted crowd in front yet to give Aquila way, as her proximity remained respectably distanced still from the smaller catman, despite his size, was ever so vast in prowess. A betrayal of stature yet to be given away to the normally attentive Aquila, whose mind were muddled by ingestion of external means of edibility, that, and the fact her eyes were peeled for activities, criminal in nature.

The Feline Warrior had noted the degree of changing presences within the surrounding space around him, if anything it was a strong detection that had kept the elder beastkin alive this long, senses far sharper than the average man. With a single blink of his red eye, he'd briefly look to his side and if for but an instant seemed to be sure that one person of distinction had been closely monitored. It was she and the young woman who was presently walking in the direction of the elder cat that were of his notice. 'Well it seems like I've got a tail...hmm a third one to be sure.' it was the minor traces of mental humor that would become visible in his small grin. It was more than obvious that he'd felt no threat upon the presence of either. As far as it went for judgment, it seemed that both had their reasons and at present, it was not necessarily a threat to him.

Testing where this would go, the cat beastkin would continue his path, through the streets towards the city by stance. Though a little extra moment of lingering would test if he was being followed for sure or not.

Hoping for him not to notice her, Bullet kept following the cat man... And then she stopped: her gauntlet-like Armagus was getting another reading, from somewhere behind her.

She quickly turned around and she saw it: the unmistakable hood, the mask, the Armagus... What was coming her way was some high-ranking member of that NOL special squad, what was its name again?
As Bullet tried to remember, the other person was coming closer and closer, even if it looked like they weren't coming for her...

Great... Now what?

She hesitated, unsure about what to do... And the hesitation was fatal: as she turned around again, she had completely lost track of the cat man...

DAMNIT!

She couldn't help but shout.

(OOC: Hey Bullet, Aquila is in front of Jubei and by that extent, not behind Bullet, lol. Aquila doesn't see either since the crowd is obscuring her sight of them. But that's fine, I used too much purple prose in my writing so I am also at fault here.)

Meanwhile, Aquila was just minding her business. Interested not in the fuzzy cat man nor the upcoming and... 'sensibly' dressed mercenary, if she actually KNEW they were there, but didn't, for now, as that sentiment wouldn't remain consistent... Henceforth remaining oblivious to their general life around the area as the crowd obscured her from beholding them from her visual recognition of their presence. Now since she was in fact opposite of Jubei, aptly named after a one eyed enigma and legend of Feudal Japan, she was whistling a hearty tune in spite of a lack of knowledge over the legendary Hero whom she regards with a semi-reverence as any good abiding citizens of NOL should. She didn't wear her uniform which betrayed who she was, and her black buttoned up trench coat with the hood worn over didn't present NOL-allegiance in general either.

It was a lackadaisical moment that went without speaking, as she would continue her path likewise, nonchalantly passing Jubei's side without even showing a longing gaze that most would consider rude, thinking him as one of those more mutated kakakin, only sparing a brief glance as time seemed to slow for her. Reading his features, his bestial face which she'd consider adorable were it not an anthropomorphic cat-man, and not reacting much to it besides an indifferent stride forward as her outward appearance remained calm. It wouldn't hit her now as she never paid much attention to genetics, not to Beastkin genetics, but humanity's half-human cousins should look more human rather than completely bestial with some animal traits. The cat had one eye present, and a particular set of weapons, complete with two tails, which was interesting in themselves. At the time, she'd ignore it as nothing more than a chance occurrence, a distortion of genetics in spite of the peculiarities and passing resemblance to Jubei of the Six Heroes as told by legends long and old, lurid with resplendent tales of boisterous victory, that there was no way someone that ancient would exist now, unless they were vampires, or leprechauns, or vampire leprechauns. Now THOSE, she'd watch out for.

Still, the crowd parts in two from earlier, to reveal another anomaly in a crowd of small timers. Having passed by Jubei, with no impulse to stop the cat to ask him a question over something that is completely out of the ordinary anyways, as it would be impolite, and she, being a polite person like any civilized people, stopped and stared. A crowd joined in her action as a perfect spaced circled spread around Bullet to look at a creamy vanilla haired woman letting loose a holler of frustration summed up within the simplest of words 'DAMNIT', uttered out in dreary loss, or some such of that stuff.

Aquila only smiled from behind her jagged tooth-imagery half-mask that concealed her jaws, stifling a giggle, as it was quite humorous to see someone laden with dissatisfaction for an errand perhaps undone, and what errand that was? That was yet to be found. Still, in retort to Bullet's outburst, Aquila quipped with an accompanying chuckle, "Smooth going, lady."

It was enough for the old cat to look back from the corner he'd passed briefly, while it seems one didn't seem to really know he was there, the other had lost track of him and rather quickly. "Well seems like the little miss got a bit lost back there. Hm...might be interestin', I may leave her a little somethin' to follow. Since she seems to interested." the words themselves hinted at play, perhaps he could see what this girl would do, rather what she was capable of doing. Perhaps he would see what role she might actually play in the whole of this strange set of events.

The NOL special squad person adressed her directly. Which was about the last thing Bullet needed in that moment. She did her best to look disappointed and not hostile, annoyed and not enraged, frustrated and not violent: the last thing she wanted was to pick up a fight with NOL at the stage.


Are you talking to me? I am sorry, I've just had a tiring trip to arrive here by ship, and now I just found myself in a... Uh... Unfortunate situation. It's not against the Librarium's precepts to let out one's frustration once in a while, is it?

And once again she bit her tongue: once again, she had allowed her polemic nature to get the best of her, letting out a sarcastic remark that was absolutely innecessary in that situation. She could only hope that the officer's sarcasm scout was out of service at the moment...

(OOC: Hey Bullet, you said way earlier in the chatbox you'll edit, right? If you do so, or aren't planning on it, mind informing me of your decision?)