[Freezair]

Normally, when things went wrong in the club, it was the result of people. As he liked to say, it was either drunkards, druggies, or dumbasses. And when one of the Three Ds presented themselves in front of him, it was his job to remove them in front of them.

Today, however, he had apparently been demoted. Today, he was on... pest control.

"Kendall!" the boss had said, with crossed arms. "There's somethin' weird wanderin' around in the alley! Some weird animal causin' problems! Go take care of it!"

No "Can you go take care of it?" No "Can you see to this?" It was an order, plain and simple.

[Freezair]

Kendall's specialty was dealing with people, not animals. Well... the line was blurry in this world, to be sure. Hell, he himself had an embarrassingly yellow and downy tuft of feathers sticking out above his ass, and it was beneficial to your health not to notice it. But clearly, the management was having him look for an ANIMAL animal, not a person who happened to have fur and walk around on all fours.

AND he had to root around in the back alley. The back alley stunk! He hated it back here!

[Freezair]

The distant thumping of the club beats played over him as he paced the alleyway. Damn stupid management, making me do this... stupid...

The lid clattered off a nearby trash can.

He thought he saw a flash of something dart in between several discarded boxes.

Probably just a feral Kuhna or something, he began to think. But then, something strange happened.

From between the boxes, he thought he spotted a flash of orange-colored light.

What the...?

[Freezair]

He had to admit, he was curious what was happening. He didn't smell smoke or see flame--it was more like the flash of a reflector on bicycle spokes. Either the critter had found one of those very things, or it was spitting off magic. And if that was the case, it was either sentient--in which case, he was fully within his rights to eject it from the premises--or it was using wild magic, which was dangerous. In which case, he was... well, still fully within his rights to eject it.

Though if it was the latter, he wished he'd at least been given a pair of tongs.

[Freezair]

Slowly, he inched toward the boxes. He was a big guy. It wasn't easy to move quietly. But hopefully, whatever it was didn't hear him.

The boxes rustled. He held still. He waited a few seconds...

and...

POUNCED!

He dove into the boxes as if he was chasing a drunk man trying to make off with the club's most expensive booze. Despite cardboard being flimsy, the corners, edges, and staples all hurt as he charged into them.

A fiery speck of light, glittering like a star, ran the other way.

[Freezair]

Ow! Little bastard! I'm going to have bruises all over my ribs tomorrow for nothing. But Kendall was used to getting a bit beat up on the job.

He did manage to smirk a little, though, thinking about what he might say about this incident later. Heh. I can always say I got those bruises in a boxing accident.

But he had to keep his eyes on the prize. There! He caught a quick flash of... whatever it was, darting between two bags of trash.

[Freezair]

If Kendall could just get a good look at the little monster, he might have a better idea of how to approach it. No subtlety this time--he was just going to chuck those trash bags to the side, and, if possible, make a grab for it.

He hefted one stinking bag to the side and peered between them.

He saw... well, he wasn't sure.

It was as if the thing didn't want him to see it. He couldn't keep his eyes focused when looking directly at it. But he saw its orange flashes as it darted away.

And it ran up the side of, and into... the dumpster.

Aww, hell naw.

[Freezair]

He took a deep breath. At least I'm getting paid for this. At least I'm getting paid for this. At least...

He kept repeating the mantra to himself as he stepped up on a bag of trash and looked into the dumpster. The smell was beyond ripe--yesterday's rotting food mixed with the vomit always being cleaned off the bathroom floors mixed with gods only knew what. The critter was brave to go in there, he admitted. Probably following its instincts--looking for a smelly hiding place to disguise itself against any intruding noses.

But Kendall wasn't a Lucain, he was a Piyo. In human form, no less. He had nothing but his eyes to rely on.

He took a deep breath and heaved himself in.

[Freezair]

The noises the garbage made as he landed in it were somehow worse than the smell. He was certain his suit would never be the same after this, even with extensive dry cleaning. If the little bastard was sentient, he had half a mind to get it to pay for his dry cleaning.

There! Underneath a thankfully sealed-looking black plastic bag, a flash of orange.

He didn't give it a moment. His hands darted out! Bam!

And they closed around something soft and fluffy.

[Freezair]

I got it! Son of a bitch, I actually got it!

He'd had to climb into a dumpster to do it, but hell, he could point to the management and say, "I did this damn job and I'd BETTER be getting a bonus for it!"

Oooh. A bonus. He clapped his other hand around the... thing... to make sure it didn't escape.

He wasn't entirely sure what he'd caught. Nor was he sure it was worth what had happened to his nice suit. But he was going to drag it back inside and demand more than a pat on the back for it.