middaeg | (open | november log)

(one)

This way!

[Hopefully whoever Akko manages to rope in on this hunt for wandering vegetable animals is able to keep up. Setting aside some of her natural ground speed thanks to being a Puca, Akko's quite excited to be on the tail of this radish fox that's managed to elude nearly everyone else who's gone after it. (Akko's fairly confident this is though. The fox can't possibly outrun (or outwit) her and her friend this time!) So, her attention for the person trying to help her is a little bottomed out at the moment with that singular target and goal in mind.]

[But if she's running a little too fast, she's at least a little more difficult to lose in a crowd right now. It's not so much the shape she's decided to take (a Shiba Inu, of course, because why wouldn't you want a hunting dog with you on a hunt?) as it is the color. Rather than any of the traditional or more expected colors for the breed, Akko managed to come out... Well, she's blue. A fairly bright blue, too, which means while she's also paying equally no attention to the people on the street that she's having to push past to follow today's quarry, she's at least easy to see coming and hasn't been colliding with anyone or knocking them over. Although, it's possible someone might want to still apologize on her behalf.]

C'mon! I think we almost got 'im this time!

[Akko never said anything about the blue color either. Did she do it on purpose? Was it a mistake? She'll never part with that secret.]

(two)

Here...

[It might seem impossible to believe, and no one could be faulted for thinking as much, but Akko is tired. After a day of running around trying to suss out where all the radishes, heads of lettuce, and a few carrots got off to, she's gone all over the city it feels like. She's exhausted.]

[She waits until the offered bottled drink is taken from her before sitting down on the curb next to whoever decided to help her for either part of the day or the whole of it with a very heavy sigh. (She wants nothing more than to just flop down, but even she knows that'd be a bad idea on the cobblestone.) Akko stretches her legs out in front of her, toes spreading for a moment before she relaxes them and sits still with yet another sigh. It's a little less dramatic than the one that preceded it. Before taking a drink, she says,]

Thanks for helping me today. [She nudges the crate on her opposite side where all the critters have been gathered up.] I don't think I could have caught them all without your help.

While Monika was the athletic type, she wasn't more fit than what a regular person who engaged in routine exercise had achieved. Sitting on the curb next to Akko, she was a sweaty out-of-breath mess. Not that was common out of her, but at the same time she felt... good?

She always appreciated staying busy.]

Yeah, it's...

[Still needed a moment to catch her breath and drink some very-needed water.]

No problem! I just need to rest for... a while, if you don't mind.

[She lives here now.]

[Akko nods.]

Let's not sit here too long though, or I don't think either of us are getting up ever again, [she says with a small laugh. She's also pretty tired after all that running around. Who would have thought small vegetable animals could be such a pain?]

[Honestly, Monika didn't really mind that idea, not after all that running.

So much running!]

But we don't have to get back up so soon, right?

[Mercy, please.]

[Akko shakes her head.]

Nah, I think we got a while.

That's good!

[Sweet reprieve.]

So how have you been? You seem pretty comfortable with your changes, now!

[Kaede could have followed on the ground--if she wanted to hear screaming and cursing and people scrambling out of the way because a Chimera with sharp pointy antlers was barreling down the sidewalk. Which she did consider. But she'd probably run into at least one person or get a trailing scarf tangled in her antlers, or crash into an apple cart. And that would be dreadfully inconvenient.

Instead, the Chimera had ponderously fluttered up to the rooftops and followed that way, scrambling over tile and cast iron decoration alike. These long arms made dropping to four feet easy enough, and she had little trouble keeping pace with the bright blue dog below. Her passing didn't go unremarked upon, but as long as she kept moving too fast to be scolded Kaede didn't care much.

Getting ahead of that ambulatory radish was harder; it seemed to be aware it was being followed from above, and liked to duck through stacked barrels or under vendors' stalls where Kaede couldn't see precisely. This time it had darted into a narrow alley, one that was dimly lit and cluttered. The Chimera could still see fine, though Akko might blunder into the obstacles ahead.]

There's a fence ahead of you!

Wha–

[It was nice of Kaede to try and warn Akko. But there's always a little bit of inevitability when it comes to Akko's clumsiness, something she seems to share in common with her mentor. The warning comes a little too late for Akko to both look in the direction of Kaede's voice and then at the forewarned fence. With a heavy sound, Akko collides into it almost face-first and bounces off to land in a heap.]

[The sudden jolt is enough to break her concentration and suddenly, where there once was a dog now lays a Puca.]

[The Chimera continued on a few strides--until she heard the whumpf. She skidded to a stop, the little wicker carrier on her back with other mobile vegetables in it nearly smacking her in the back of her head. Its contents made little distressed trilling noises, and rattled about sleepily in there.

Kaede looks down at the heap of once-dog-now-Puca, then at the vanishing radish tail of the fox, and sighs.]

Akko? Do I have to pick you up?

[Akko props herself up on an elbow, rubbing at her face with her other hand.]

No! Don't worry about me! [She tries to wave Kaede to keep pressing forward after the fox, stopping the gesture short when she almost ends up flat on the ground again because she lifted her elbow up. Strange how gravity works like that.] Just– Whoa! Go after it! Before it gets away!

[The Chimera's tail flicked as she considered, for a few moments longer than she would have earlier. Akko didn't seem that hurt, from how much she could still yell. She still hadn't gotten up, but that seemed less from an injury and more from rushing to move without getting her feet back underneath herself.

Kaede glanced at where the fox had gone, back at Akko again--and finally came to a decision. With another, slightly quieter sigh, Kaede jumped down from her perch on the roof to a stack of boxes on the other side of the fence, and loped after the fox as asked.

It had vanished by now, but there weren't too many places for it to go; this alley was littered with piles of scrap and poorly stacked crates as much as dead ends, all perfectly nice places to hide away from noisy pursuers and just as noisy streets. Where Kaede's nose wasn't much of anything, her hearing more than made up for it. A long ear twitched as she heard rustling, scrabbling claws beneath a pile of old wagon parts and barrels, and quietly the Chimera came to a stop. It could be a rat, it could be a radish fox. On silent paws, Kaede slunk around to the opposite side she had come from. If Akko was in fact fine, she'd likely make a racket approaching--and neatly flush the mystery creature out.

Or Kaede was going to end up catching a very startled and bitey rodent again, one of the two.]

[ Bright blue or not, nothing can save someone who doesn't see her careening around the corner at breakneck speed.

There's a shrill screech, a hard collision of some several kilograms of fur and muscle crashing into a teenage boy, and an even more painful impact as the two of them smack against the ground. ]

Ow! Watch where you're going, asshole!

[ Groaning, Kaito tries to pick himself up off the ground, smarting in all the wrong places. But the bright blue dog gives him pause. ]

...What the hell?

[A bright blue dog who now appears to be sporting some black rabbit ears and some parts of her fur now seem navy if not outright black as well. Thanks to the sudden collision, some of Akko's concentration on the spell was shaken and it's just enough to undo some of the magic. But she doesn't seem to notice. Akko is so singularly-focused on catching that dang fox, that she is quick to scramble on her feet and resume the chase.]

No! No! No! It's going to get away!

[Kaito had best roll out of the way because Akko's coming through, even if it means stepping on him to do it.]

It-- wha--?

[ Kaito stares after Akko dumbly for a few moments before he scrambles to his feet. Off he goes chasing on her heels, not even entirely sure what they're chasing. ]

What are we running after??

The fox!

[Which is perhaps the least helpful description. A radish fox is not particularly large and is definitely not going to stand out very easily with a bunch of people milling about, trying to go about their days and not meet the same fate as Kaito with that very strange dog barreling through. But Akko seems to be like a heat-seeking missile and is hot on its trail.]

I've been after it all day! It's not getting away this time!

[She veers down an alleyway abruptly.]

[ Kaito loses a bit of momentum at her sudden change in direction but he quickly catches up again. He hasn't quite been here long enough to remember the layout of the streets yet, but... ]

How about-- you chase it down to the main road and I'll approach from the other end? We can box it in and grab it!

(one)

This one is for you!

[Akko holds out the neatly wrapped package that she's retrieved from her satchel with a wide smile, one clearly hoping for a good tip for being both so efficient and clearly careful with the delivery. There's nary a scrape or dent to the package in sight!]

[She certainly tries hard enough that it's not out of the realm of possibility that she's got it right this time. She may very well have managed to knock on the door and deliver something that has been expected for a reasonable amount of time. She's also never one to let her mistakes sit for very long, and tries to make it up as quickly as she can. Which is actually entirely more likely in this case.]

[Or, in other words, it's entirely possible she's gotten it wrong. The address was not clearly written (or maybe it was and she wasn't paying very much attention to the fact it's 103 and not 130) or she's made an assumption that since you're near enough to the walkway, you clearly live at the intended address. Or it's also possible she's pulled the wrong thing out of her bag. There are so many things in there, it's a wonder that the bag can even hold them all or that she's still upright. (Were the bag not enchanted, she probably would be dragging the thing along the ground.) Whatever the reason, this package is not actually "for you" and probably for someone you have never met. But Akko seems quite confident.]

[So, does one try to politely tell her she's made a mistake? Or does one accept the package that does not belong to them either for the purposes of correcting her mistake or simply to have some ill-gotten gains?]

(two)

[Akko is mid-route when she's stopped by someone. To be more precise, she's actually in the process of trying to figure out the numbers of the house on this street because some are missing them and it makes a little harder to successfully deliver the package she has in her hands. She talks with them for a bit, and they explain to her their plight. They had meant to make it to the office she works for this morning to have the package delivered today, but they missed the deadline! But they will feel awful if this particular package doesn't make it there today. It's someone or other's birthday after all. Akko looks a little uncertain for a brief moment, but it's not because she's contemplating whether or not this is legit.]

[Oh no, Akko is trying to figure out how they can fix this without getting herself into trouble at this job she's managed to hold onto for longer than a couple of weeks.]

I'm not sure what to do. You have to pay the base fee, but... [Akko sighs a little. She's just going to have to chance getting into trouble.] Give me the fee. I'll fill out a packing slip for you when I get back, and it'll be okay. We'll get this to Beatrice today!

[In case you were wondering, it's not Beatrice's birthday, and that's probably not a birthday present inside the box she's about to accept.]

Hm?

[Alucard stands in the doorway of his home (too neat a garden at this point with bright orange and yellow mums, carefully lined with fall pumpkins and squashes like he's some autumnal Disney princes and a contrast to "your dad and the skeleton lawn ornaments" according to Trevor) looking down at the young woman offering a modestly sized package.

His eyes go down to the handwriting in particular. Looping cursive, the kind that one has to be an expert to accurately make heads or tails of. The street is right but--

--Ah, he sees it.]

Miss? That's a very loopy zero on that last number, not an eight.

[Akko looks at Alucard for a moment longer, blinking slowly at him when he declines the package and claims she read the writing wrong. It's not exactly a freeze response, but it's probably a bit obvious that there's a small process of trying to picture the address in her mind's eye to confirm what she saw despite the fact it's still directly in front of her. (In fact, it's still in her hands.) It's only after that moment that she lets her gaze drift down.]

[No, it still looks the same as when she looked at it the first time. She frowns at it, looking back up at Alucard.]

What? How?

Here--

[Alucard's finger moves to the package, pointing just below a capital letter O higher up on the address label. He then carefully traces over it with a long fingernail, emphasizing the script itself.

You wanted a random lesson in paleography right Akko?]

See the shape of the O here? Now look back at the zero.

Edited 2020-11-18 18:43 (UTC)

[She's always here for random lessons! Whether or not she actually absorbs any of it though, that is a completely different matter altogether... It's not too big of a demand on her attention though to follow his tracing and pointing on the package's label. Still, her frown only deepens further.]

But the "zero" is even loopier than the 'O'! It's definitely two circles on top of each other. It's an eight.

It may be loopier, but the curve simply isn't there.

[Alucard senses a very pointless and circular argument looming over them both. He is absolutely not going to get into it, not when he already knows it'll be counter productive.

Heading it off at the pass though, that's an option.]

I also know the names of my neighbors on this street and their addresses. You're looking for next door.

[Alucard is wise because Akko would have definitely tripped face first into that endless loop, and it would have been a bit of a small challenge trying to reset her as it were. Akko looks from Alucard over to the house next door.]

[It is the wrong next door.]

Next door?

Next door.

[He nods his head once in quiet confirmation, but realizes that this kind of thing deserves a little extra.]

I could walk with you, if you'd like.

[ Shu can sense trouble a mile away -- it's something that comes naturally from living in a dangerous environment for so long. He just so happens to be walking on the other side of the street when he overhears the conversation. Something about the whole thing smells fishy, especially in the fact that the recipient sounds so young.

Time to intervene! He crosses the street and heads towards the potential trouble. ]

Why don't you take the package to Beatrice yourself? I'm sure she'd prefer to get it from you than anyone else.

[ The diplomatic approach first. ]

[Akko looks from Shu to the woman asking her to deliver the package. Her ears pull back a little as she can sense the obvious tension that's been created by him coming over.]

I simply haven't the time, [she explains.] But it is a bit rude of you, sir, to interject into this conversation between myself and... What was your name dear?

Akko?

[Akko almost sounds uncertain about her own name while the woman by contrast sounds as though Akko had already provided it. (She hadn't.)]

Yes! Akko.

[ Nothing about this feels right. He's not about to let her get away with taking advantage of Akko. Shu doesn't back down, nor does he lose the politeness. ]

Is this really the best way to go about it? [ He turns to Akko. ] Akko, are there specific rules about accepting deliveries? Do you know this person well enough to risk your job for them?

[Oh... Now she definitely feels caught between a rock and a hard place. Not that she didn't before, but it's made more so by another adult trying to convince her to do the opposite of what the first one wanted her to do.]

I don't think I'd get fired over it... [she mumbles.]

Of course you wouldn't, dear! Is that all you are worried about? I promise you, if something happens, I will be there first thing to advocate for your job back.

Do you know her? [ He addresses Akko in a softer voice -- she's not really the one at fault here. Any scolding of her could come after this is resolved. ] Can you really trust her word and that she's not making you deliver something she can't pass through a courier service legitimately?

[ Is Shu pointedly ignoring the other party here? Yes. ]

Sir!

[Akko's ears pin back a little at the abrupt exasperation and offense from the woman. Her discomfort with accusing the other adult of wrongdoing is palpable at this point.]

Um...?

[She doesn't know what the right answer is.]

It's up to you to make the choice, but...I wouldn't accept that if I were you. Go with what your gut tells you.

[ Telling her what to do doesn't feel right; letting her learn from the experience will do her more good. ]

(one)

It'll wear off in a few minutes! I promise!

[While earnest, Akko's actually not able to really confidently say that about the twin potions you just drank with her. The potion was supposed to make it easier to find someone with more pinpoint accuracy than a Bond could typically afford. But instead of making it easier to find someone, it's made it impossible to lose them at all! Because currently, Akko and her willing test subject (that would be you most likely) are now stuck holding hands. Or locking arms. Or leaning on each other. There's just simply some manner of touching involved that's impossible to pull apart because the moment that there's any ounce of freedom, magnetically the two are brought together again.]

Just...give it... [Akko says, straining to wrench herself free, ears pinned back with the effort.] A little...more...time!

(two)

[Akko laughs nervously.]

Well, I did say it'd give you a green thumb, right?

[Which she did say. But this is certainly not what was meant. The potion she concocted was supposed to make magic associated with encouraging plant growth a little easier to do (for Witches or Fauns), but the end result is... Well.]

At least the flowers are pretty?

[She flashes her best smile, but there's a certain wobble to it that signals even she's not particularly convinced this is a good thing. Just stay away from fire and be sure to drink lots of water, and you should probably be okay while your body's made out of plants. Probably. And try not to strangle Akko with any vines.]

[well

this is awkward.

When Alphys first heard about alchemy experiments, she was all on board for it. Because, you know, SCIENCE> But now their arms are interlocked and no amount of struggling will pull them lose.]

A-re you sure it's only a few minutes? The effect is, uh, awfully s-strong...

Yeah, I mean! It wouldn't really be good if it lasted forever and ever, right?

[Akko asks this with a very nervous laugh. She's probably not inspiring a ton of confidence at this point.]

(open | november log)

veggie tales;

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one

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special delivery;

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alchemical mishaps;

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