[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie grunted, sliding off the dragon's back when he landed. She crept along behind Indigo, fighting back the urge to run out into the middle of the street and begin spinning in circles while laughing hysterically at nothing in particular. It was raining, her favorite weather.

They came across a large building, and she held her breath, placing a hand over her mouth for safety precautions. She hesitated behind Indigo as she waited for her to take action.

[Indigo]

Indigo studied the wall for a moment, then slipped her fingers and toes between the stones and began almost running up. Lysander lay down in a puddle and stretched his paws absently. Indigo swung herself over the windowsill. She took pride in the way she perched there without any part of her technically entering the room and thusly not getting arrested, although this time she had to make room for Wolfie.

"Oh, good. We're here on time."

Moist looked at the window and groaned. There were two of them this time.

"I think that about covers it," Indigo said, turning to Wolfie. "If you'd like, we can stalk him for a while. I had been planning on pestering random people and waiting for muggers in alleys, but it depends on what you want to do."

Yes, Indigo was allowing Moist to go back to sleep. Possibly. Which was odd, but today she felt like breaking limbs. Also, helping the Watch annoyed Vimes, and that was always fun.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

"Ooh, that's tough." Wolfie gnawed on her lower lip. "Stalking people is lots of fun but pestering random people also proves to be quite entertaining at times as well..." She turned to Moist. "I won't even bother asking you, because I know what your answer is already..."

She turned to Indigo. "Well? I think both ideas sound nice, but why don't you decide?" She grinned. "What should we do, eh?"

[Indigo]

"Mm." Indigo looked out the window. "Hey, Lys! Should we stalk Moist or pester random people?"

"We should go home!" Lysander shouted. "It's pouring!"

"Oh, you're no fun," Indigo muttered. "Well, for some reason I feel like pestering random people. Also, I want to see how many muggers come after me. The look on their faces is wonderful. Let's go?" She ran down the wall faster than should be legal. "Hmm. Seven, twenty-four, eight hundred and three, that one." She pointed at a random person in the street and ran after them, calling back:

"Oh, and I'll be coming back later!"

There are many people who have had to deal with Indigo in the past two years or so. Most of them would agree that while she tends to drive you up the wall, usually on purpose, for some reason you don't like it when she eventually leaves. No one can ever figure out why.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Although it made her feel silly and childish, a single giggle escaped Wolfie's lips, followed by the sound of gagging and a groan.

When they reached the street, she whispered, "So, basically, you pick out someone, anyone, and bug them to death?" She scanned the heads around her, looking for someone normal and boring that should could torture with her un-normal and un-boring-ness. Spotting a middle aged man with sagging features and a brown toupee, she stifled a laugh with her arm and glanced at her friend.

[Indigo]

Indigo shook her head. "Not to death. People get arrested for that sort of thing. And be careful who you choose, and avoid anyone you see carrying some sort of tray with sausages on it, got it?" She continued after her target. After barely three steps she was intercepted by an obvious Assassin. You can tell because they always wear black.

Indigo groaned. "This is ridiculous! I haven't been here ten minutes! Anyway, I don't live here. How is it I'm on the register?" She then very carefully performed a series of complicated actions and continued after her target. The Assassin rolled into a doorway to avoid being trampled and waited for her arms to stop hurting.

The selected target (aka Random Person A) was a street urchin, as they are often called, about ten. Indigo stepped in front of him, took one look at his face and said, "Why do I always get the pathetic ones?"

Because those people take offense at that sort of thing, Random Person A said something that should not be repeated here and attempted to bite Indigo. She moved out of the way.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Turning once in a circle, Wolfie chose the first person her eyes landed on.

Skipping, she made her way over to the street corner opposite her. A woman stood there, blond bun messy and falling apart from the rain. Her make up was smudged and running down her face, her clothes soaked. She looked like a drowned cat.

"Excuse me," Wolfie said, drawing near. The woman took one look at her and her stained red lips pursed and turned down at the corners.

"What?" she snapped wearily, pulling her bag closer to her.

"I couldn't help noticing that you're wet."

The woman blinked. "What do you want? If it's money, you're not getting any."

"Oh, I don't want any money," Wolfie said, grinning.

"Then what do you want?" the woman sniffed. She was obviously wealthy.

"Mind if I call you Dung?" Wolfie said calmly, approaching the woman as if they were old friends. The woman's anger and annoyance showed more clearly this time.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked in an outraged tone. "What did you just call me?"

"I think the name Dung suits you, you know?" Wolfie smiled brightly, kicking up some muddy water from a puddle. A few drops landed on the hem of Dung's dress and she began to walk away furiously, Wolfie hot at her heels.

[Indigo]

Indigo watched Wolfie, laughing. "And now," she whispered to herself, "someone's going to pull me into an alley and say 'Your money or your life?' and I'll have to hit them. And then the Watch will show up and someone will be really p--"

Someone pulled her into an alley. She bit her lip, trying not to burst out laughing at the textbook use of knife-at-the-throat.

"Your money or your life, kid?" hissed a rough voice. "I'm not playing games here."

"No, but unfortunately for you, I am." Indigo twisted deftly out from under the knife, pocketing it as an afterthought. She once again did something very complicated and fast. The would-be mugger, or whatever, vanished down the alley. Indigo stepped out into the street.

"Ah, Ankh-Morpork," she muttered, following someone else. "Can't live without it, can't live in it without creative fighting methods."

[Wolfie_Barrow]

"So, Dung-"

"Stop calling me that!"

Wolfie was still following the woman, and the woman was getting thoroughly irritated.

"-I was thinking, maybe you and I could get some food, because I'm-"

"I am not going to buy you food!"

"What then?" Wolfie said. She caught up with Dung and began to walk backwards in order to keep eye contact with her. "Will you buy me a-"

"Leave me alone!" Dung cried. "My name is not Dung and I refuse to spend any money on you!"

"Do you want to know what will get me to go away?"

"What?" the woman asked, almost frantically.

"Tell me that you're an immature know-it-all and you think you could have anything in the world with the snap of your fingers because you think that you're the best there ever was. Then tell me that you're completely wrong- you're not the best there ever was."

"Alright," Dung said weakly. "Alright. I'm... I'm an immature know-it-all and I think that I could have... Have anything in the world with the... Snap of my fingers... Because I think that I'm the... That I'm the best there ever was."

"Go on..."

Dung groaned. "I'm completely wrong... I'm not the best there ever was."

"Ok, good, now tell me that I'm-"

"Please!"

[Indigo]

"I need my skates." Indigo pulled a pair of roller skates out of the air and hurriedly put them on. They made everything easier, especially since she was being followed. She couldn't even stop to bug someone! Someone should complain, which was something she was good at. Even when followed by Assassins.

Ah, yes. The Assassins. As she understood it, they could only take out a contract on her should she be in the city, even though she wasn't a resident. Why this was so only they knew. She was a special case, which made sense. A teenager who can be engaged in a fight with seven adults and win could be considered dangerous, although personally she thought that was just a fluke.

The thing about Ankh-Morpork was that you were far more likely to be attacked by random people than to find a decent meal. Especially in some of the shadier areas. Such as the Shades.

Indigo hoped the Assassins wouldn't catch up any time soon. They had no idea what they were in for.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie yawned. It was fun for a while, but now, annoying this woman was getting boring. She turned around and suddenly felt a spasm of panic when she realized that she didn't see Indigo- anywhere. She ran back to the area where she had started out at, right across the street from the post office, but she didn't see her friend anywhere.

Suddenly the rain didn't seem so wonderful. Suddenly the dark sky and the freezing water pelting her felt menacing. She shivered, wishing  that she could snap her fingers like Indigo did and make something appear that could lead her in the right direction.

And then she realized what an idiot she was being.

She hoped that her change wouldn't startle the citizens around her too much.

When she was on all four and furry, she had to stop for a second because the alien smells in the air made her a bit dizzy at first. She ignored the gasps of horror around her and concentrated on the only familiar scent around her...

[Indigo]

Black shapes. Not good.

For them, that is.

The first Assassin was very confused to find that instead of...inhuming the girl with style, he was tumbling into the gutter, which is not a pleasant place in Ankh-Morpork. There were two more, which was unusual, but there was that word again, "special". The first of them was classically grabbed and thrown into the second, allowing Indigo to grin down at them with derision.

"You call that assassination? What are you, students?" She turned and stalked away. Lysander, who had finally stopped sulking, randomly bit an Assassin's nose. This for some reason brought a question to mind.

"Where the heck is Wolfie?"

[Wolfie_Barrow]

The scent was getting stronger, but then again, she once followed a scent for nine days and it was that strong, so Wolfie didn't know if she was getting closer or not. She sniffed the air, sniffed the ground, sniffed the wall of an alleyway... She realized, after a few blocks, that she had lost the scent and had been misguided by someone else who smelled like Indigo. This person stared at her as if she were a wild animal, which, actually, he wasn't all that wrong.

It was when she realized she had somehow gotten the wrong scent that she also realized she had no idea where she was.

She hadn't been paying attention at the different turns and the man was selling something, going back the way she'd come, and she had no idea whether or not he would take the same path (probably not if he wanted to get different customers), so she wouldn't be able to just follow his scent. She might just get even more lost.

She sat down on the cold, wet sidewalk and whined.

[Indigo]

Lysander sniffed the sidewalk. He hated doing this, but there was no alternative that didn't involve biting things. After a few minutes, he started after the scent, Indigo skating impatiently alongside him. Once or twice he paused to make sure he had the right scent. At one intersection, he paused and looked around wildly.

"I smell her," he said slowly. "And...you."

"Wha--oh. Some people smell alike, y'know."

"Yeah..." Lysander continued after Wolfie for three paces and stopped. "The Shades."

"Damndamndamndamndamn!" Indigo muttered. "This will not be fun."

"I lost the trail," announced Lysander.

"Damn!" Indigo kicked the ground. "How'd you manage that?"

"Criminals," he replied. "Someone dropped a peppermint bomb here."

"Ugh." Indigo looked up. There was a wolf sitting on the sidewalk, watching the crowd. "Ah." She walked in that direction, slipping because of the skates.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

While halfway through a whine, Wolfie caught sight of someone moving towards her in the rain. At first she couldn't make out who it was, but when she realized it was Indigo, she jumped up and bounded over to her friend. She changed back into a human and said, "I need a towel."

In one instant, it was as if all the fear of being lost and never seeing Chouko or Indigo again had turned into a clueless bliss. She didn't have much, but what she did have in life she treasured, and she wasn't about to lose any of it, so even thinking about something like that was purely not acceptable.

She scratched her ear. Did she smell peppermint?