[zapdragon555]

[Please move to Lya Pointa Cathedral when done.]

[Wolf | Kindred | Lamb]

Their task was simple, in all honesty--find the mark, capture it alive, and return to their client. For most hunters, it would be easy, quick, and painless. Kindred had a bit of an issue, though. For one, the 'mark' in question was a near mythical creature--a 'Lost' species, something only a few had seen, much less captured. Another reason, however, was the nature of the beast that lurked in Lamb's shadow, eyes always watching, tongue lolling, maw hungry.

Time after time again Wolf had rushed from Lamb's shadow into some dark alleyway to seek something he'd deemed 'near death,' and come back with red-stained teeth and steaming breath. Lamb was beginning to worry that, when they finally did come across their mark, Wolf would devour it before Lamb had a chance to subdue it. "Dearest Wolf," Lamb murmured, her voice quiet, but edging on stern. "Please stay by my side in this place. If you leave me for parts unknown, I could be attacked by some vengeful spirit, or mortal with ill intent."

Wolf simply chuckled, a horrible, rough sound that seemed to reverberate through the tiny pebbles and cracks in the concrete underfoot. "You know as well as I, Dear Lamb, that you are as capable as I of killing."

[crow]

It had been sort of a weird day for Bambam. Which was to say, being tarred wasn't usually part of his routine. Which was perfectly reasonable for most people, let alone most kids, he'd like to add.

Who knew that wandering around would be so dangerous today? The tar came from a construction site mishap, which they'd apologized for, but that wasn't going to un-tar him, was it? He was going to have to walk home, and...

Just as he was thinking that though, he bumped into someone walking out of a crafts store. They both fell, and in the aftermath, Bambam felt something land on his head.

He grabbed it, and stared at it dumbstruck... An entire container of glitter. "Oh, come on."

[zapdragon555]

Lamb's ears flicked back in a kind of irate move, but she said nothing. She didn't have to, for Wolf sensed it easily. His great maw closed, licking over his bloodstained lips, and let out a soft whine. Lamb eyed him, then reached out to touch his snout, smoothing the mussed fur there down. "Patience, my love," Lamb mused aloud, stepping out of the shadows and peering at the empty street ahead. She pulled a cloak around herself, the hood up once more. There were all sorts in this city, but being seen with such a weapon in her hands--a bow and arrow, glowing with runes--would cause a stir. Plus, Wolf wasn't exactly the friendliest looking creature.

"Patience is a virtue. I am not virtuous," Wolf muttered, an attempt at humor, and Lamb found it in herself to chuckle.

[crow]

"Oh--- Oh, I'm so sorry," said the person Bambam had bumped into. He looked up to see a bespectacled woman in what looked like her middle age, frowning down at him with concern. "Are you alright?"

"What does it look like?" Bambam said sullenly. He was covered in tar and glitter, which was a terrible combination. They were bad by themselves, but together? The worst.

"I could call someone..." the woman offered, though it was clear from her uncertain bearing that she didn't even know who she would call if he took her up on it. Instead, he just shook his head, standing up and walking away. There was no point in staying anyway. The sooner he got home, the sooner he could wash this off...

[zapdragon555]

Lamb was tiring of arguing with Wolf, especially given they were meant to be quiet, to keep a low profile. At the very least, Wolf had the good graces to slip into Lamb's shadow as she emerged from the darkness, walking quietly through the light crowd that peppered the streets that day.

'The mark... our orders are vague,' Wolf murmured from somewhere inside her mind. Lamb nodded, a hum of agreement on her voice.

'Nothing more than a slight description. Like something pulled out of the night sky... Elusive, but curious. Hostility unlikely...' She rattled off the description in her head to Wolf, who listened attentively. Then, suddenly, the shadow lurched forward, startling a woman walking by, who seemed to look around for some kind of logical light source. Thankfully, the crowd swallowed her up before she could turn round to ask questions.

'Here... look,' Wolf rumbled, exhaling breath, a little cloud of what looked like black glitter puffing forward with the snort. Lamb crept closer, peering at the smattering of glitter on the ground, her eyes narrowing with thought.

[crow]

The woman actually followed Bambam for a few steps, still looking at him with worried eyes, but Bambam ignored her. He felt pretty disgusting all over, and wasn't in any mood to talk to someone, even if they were just trying to be nice.

He was still a good half hour away from home too. Normally he might have considered taking the bus, but he knew without bothering to try that he'd just get thrown off in his current state. There was no choice but to just keep walking... under the sun... Wait, could the tar dry out like this?

[zapdragon555]

'At the very least...' Lamb mused internally, her hooves tapping on the pavement as she followed the trail of glitter, a patchwork of shimmering black here and there on the sidewalk, 'We seem to be in the right spot.'

Wolf simply grumbled from her shadow, clearly antsy to get on with this. He never did particularly well in urban settings, always confined to the shadows when Lamb was out in the open. Humiliating, true, but also a surefire way to have a lot of pent up energy.

[crow]

Just as he had the thought, as if thinking it somehow invited the bad luck in, Bambam could feel the tar starting to harden. He let out a truly impressive string of expletives, trying to walk faster, but his efforts could only get him so far. He was just a kid, and... well, let's just say gym class wasn't exactly his favorite. After a while, the tar gummed up his movements enough that he could feel himself slowing down.

Maybe he should have just called that taxi.

[zapdragon555]

Closer, ever closer, Lamb had started to pick up the pace as the glitter continued on, but seemed to get less and less. Like whatever was leaving it behind had wizened up, or maybe there was simply less of the glitter to drop. 'Wolf. Do you still sense it?'

'Yes, my love. Very close. So very close.' Came Wolf's agitated reply, unable to fully sense what it was, but he could certainly sense the same material as the glitter and goop. And there was more of it.

Lamb noticed it first. But before she could say anything about the dark shape up ahead, Wolf shot out from under her, keeping pressed into the shadow of the sidewalk as he rocketed towards the black, glittering form. Wolf circled around it, a black shadow on the pavement with no source, like a shark. 'Wolf! Come back!'

[crow]

Bambam had been deliberating the merits of trying to call a taxi as he was now. In terms of pros, well, at least there wouldn't be any risk of him dropping on the car seat now... But on the other hand, what if he ended up getting stuck on the seat? And there was still no guarantee that they wouldn't refuse him service...

But then his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a movement in the periphery of his vision. "Whoa!" he yelped, startled at the sight of the shadow advancing on him. He tried to scramble away, but the tar made moving difficult, and in his panic all he managed to do was fall on his ass.

[zapdragon555]

Wolf seemed only egged on by the glittery thing's struggling and fear, the shadow's tongue lolling, midnight-black fur threatening to breach the flat surface of the sidewalk.

"Halt," Lamb's stern voice murmured out loud, and Wolf froze, sinking back down into the sidewalk with a snarl. He lay there, beneath the surface, shadow pulsing with the need to chase, but now that the target was slowing down, Wolf was already losing interest. Lamb approached from behind, her eyes squinting behind her mask, hood still covering much of her head and face. 'Wolf. Is this the one?'

Wolf only let out a dry, hollow cackle, aloud, in response.

[crow]

Bambam had braced himself for... Hell, he didn't know. Impact? It was hard to guess what was going to happen when the ground turned black and tried to boil up at you like that. For a hot second, he had thought the tar had sloughed off his own body and turned into some kind of nightmare.

When nothing immediately happened, he opened his eyes slightly--- just in time too, since he felt as though the tar was trying to glue them permanently shut together, which wouldn't have done him any favors. Upon seeing that he wasn't dead, his first reaction was to yell, "What the FUCK!!"

Not the best survival instinct, this one.

[zapdragon555]

Lamb did, admittedly, slow down her pace when the creature yelled in human speech. Her ears twitched, and she inched closer, eyes narrowing as she lightly reached out to touch her fingertips to the back of the figure's shoulder. "Can you understand me?" she asked, her voice a gentle one in comparison to the lolling tongue and hissing breath of the shadowy wolf underfoot.

She tapped her hoof against the concrete, and Wolf skittered away, moving back into her shadow with a low growl. It was clear he was scaring their mark. "I wasn't aware you'd be able to speak. I'm meant to take you somewhere." It was clear, too, that it couldn't move, or else it probably would have by then. If it did, well... she'd catch up.

[crow]

"I should be asking you that!" said Bambam, without any grace whatsoever, scooting away from her touch. It didn't matter how gentle she sounded. He was pretty darn sure she had something to do with that shadowy menace that had cropped up just now, and anyway he'd had some pretty mild-sounding schoolteachers who proved nevertheless to be real assholes.

That, and her next comment kind of ticked him off. "Of course I can---" he began, before the rest of what she said brought him up short. "Wait, hey. I'm not supposed to go off with random strangers." He motioned to himself. Child. Stranger. Stranger danger, more specifically. She hadn't even said where she was taking him to.

[zapdragon555]

Lamb's ears flicked flat against her head, her eyes narrowing slightly behind her mask at the mark's attitude and vague gestures. She shifted her grip on the creature's shoulder, then released, considering him for a moment. "You speak human tongue. That... was not mentioned," she mused out loud, glancing off down a nearby alleyway, then up at the sky. It was still afternoon, though it looked like clouds were rolling in--odd, dark ones... as long as she brought the creature back before nightfall, she wouldn't fail her task.

"I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter. We're taking you to our client," she said, a hand going behind her back to reach for her bow. "His description of a rare and potentially dangerous creature matches you perfectly. Since you can understand me, I'll give you the option to cooperate." One thing was certain--gentle voice or not, she seemed rather ruthless, given her airy tone did not match the commanding words.