[se] no treasure

Come sit right here and sleep while I slip poison in your ear

For once, Mabel could admit there probably should’ve been more to her repertoire than all-out offense. She’d managed some of that in sparring with Aurelia, but there were other possibilities to manifest, try, and peruse. Maybe something like traps? An undetectable force, made to slow an enemy, an adversary, down?

Armed with her daggers and flutterspy, she chose another dim evening to walk within shadows and avoid the beach. She could hear the waves, send the glassy, winged creature off to investigate, but for the most part, it was kept within the palm of her hand, its filaments rich and delicate all at once.

Eventually she came to the bottom of the volcano, eyes peeling over the ash and soil. Perhaps here, under the cover of darkness in loam and surroundings, she could make something. Flicking down on her knees, she sent the tech off to sail into the sky, and notice if anyone else was traversing through, before digging a hole. Rudimentary, given a number of other individuals’ talents, but she had to start somewhere. Then she lined the top portions with some nearby brush, twigs, leaves, capable of staying over the foundational gap without falling into it.

But what would entice anything to come by and step in? Her hands went to some glinting seaglass, pretty in hue, and placed it nearby – in case some animal enjoyed shiny things. Thereafter, she scurried off into the assemblage of greenery, wondering, hoping, for some calculated success.

MABEL

RAY

In ancient times
cats were worshipped as gods

Ray had been out gathering herbs as she usually did in her spare time when she saw it. A piece of seaglass, oh so enticingly placed on a subtle trap. Suppressing a smirk, she decided to have some fun on her errand. How would the trapper react if someone 'got stuck' in their trap? Would they feel bad? Laugh? Panic? The herbalist was feeling mischievous so she decided to find out for herself.

Walking over, she pretended to suddenly spot the glass. Tilting her head she reached, purposefully taking a step to trigger the trap. And just as she suspected, the ground gave way and her foot sunk into a hole. "Oh! Fuck! Seriously?!?" She called out in her best pissed off voice. Giving her leg a few 'experimental' tugs, Ray frowned. "My leg is stuck you fucker! Help me out!"

They have not
forgotten this

Come sit right here and sleep while I slip poison in your ear

At the first outcry, Mabel sent off the flutterspy again. Its little glassy wings spun through the air, casting aloft in barely a whisper, barely a sound, and she hoped in the dim darkness, without much of the moon shining, it’d be a hidden figment in the sky. All she wanted were some pictures, some clues, about the movements and motions she was hearing.

Of success.

And sure enough, the piece of butterfly tech sent back images of another woman, tugging at her leg, embedded in the hole. Unaware she was being entirely duped, the young Ascended felt a short round of triumph in her chest – however short-lived it might be. Stealthily, tucked in the cover of brush and shadows, the Ascended grabbed hold of a rock, and chucked it in the victim’s direction – ducking her head down low, waiting for something else to occur.

MABEL

RAY

In ancient times
cats were worshipped as gods

Ray stifled a laugh as a rock when passing by her head. Clearly this trapper wasn't a typical hunter. Perhaps a youngster who had bitten off more then they could chew? It couldn't have been a prank trap. The culprit likely would have come out by now. That in mind, Ray decided on her next course of action.

Dramatically flopping onto her back, leg still bent to remain in the trap, she threw an arm over her eyes. "Oh, woes is me! Left for dead in a trap while a bitch throws rocks at me!" Chuckling slightly she turned her head in the direction of where the rock had come from. "Seriously though. Care to help me out of this?" It'd be too boring to stop her game just yet after all.

They have not
forgotten this

Come sit right here and sleep while I slip poison in your ear

The flutterspy’s images spiraled through her mind, and if she weren’t in hiding, she would’ve hissed. She could see the rock fly past the woman’s head – and then the dramatics, the theatrics, the nature of pretenses echoing and bounding through. Partially offended, and the other portions irritated that all of it really hadn’t come to fruition, the youth’s hackles raised.

That’d been enough.

Forced, unfortunately, to cease and desist here unless something became really bad (and even Mabel, despite the daggers tucked on her belt, wasn’t certain she’d be on the winning end of all that). Nor be willing to help the stranger.

She called the piece of tech back, placing the glassy wings carefully back into her pocket, and then slunk through the brush; scarcely making a sound. Or hoping so, anyway. It was difficult to do while the woman was still laughing and pandering to her now silent, absent audience.

She’d have better luck next time, perhaps.

{FIN}

MABEL