[Job] Maria's Cat #3 (With Laverne)

Once again Kenshiro was looking for a cat… for that lady Maria again… which meant that someone had kidnapped Leonal, the nen-using cat that could turn into a large, bulky human. The whole situation caused him to wonder exactly who would have the ability to kidnap something like that unless Leonal had gone willingly in which case there was the matter of wondering why. Given that he had told the cat during their last encounter that if his owner didn’t learn to respect him a bit he wouldn’t chase after him. Still, it seemed that this wasn’t one of those cases and it seemed like the lady, while still egocentric, had least taken the bow off of the cat’s neck and stomped calling him Mr. Fluffy Bottoms.

Still, he had walked all the way here and was now getting ready to leave the hotel room in which she was staying. This was one of those rare instances where he was kind of hoping that another person would show up to be able to help him hunt the cat down. Maria had insisted that two or more people help with the job to ensure the safety of her cat, but he was thoroughly convinced that he could have done this by himself, but he did agree with her risk assessment. Despite this, he was thoroughly positive that he was leaving if no one showed up fairly soon.

Word Count: 236/800

Traveling to one of the most busy places seemed like a good idea at first, but it quickly turned out there was only so much to do in Heaven's Arena for the average person. Laverne really did not like this fact, being on a low budget and not much to actually do. So she figured maybe something interesting happened if she just started doing something. As in the first thing that presented itself.
Only a short while later, that was exactly the reason, why the short girl found herself on the way form her own, cheap stay to a more pompous and upper class hotel. Some lady was looking for her cat and Laverne figured having some reason to go all over town was good enough.

Having dressed in the highly conservative, almost suit-like former school uniform, she fit in at least somewhat with the kind of people she had seen going in and out of the building in question. Having read the request and knowing the woman's room number, the long-haired girl skipped the reception desk and immediately took the elevator. Getting out of it, all she had to do was walk down the hallway. Looking at the numbers on each door, eventually she got to the point of “This one.” and knocked. If it weren't a hotel room door, she'd have just busted in as usual, but as it were, she'd need a key for that.

[474 / 800 Words]

As he turned to leave and start trying to complete this mission on his own, as he put his hand on the doorknob, there was a knock at the door. It often surprised him the number of different people that tended to sign up for jobs like these. In this instance it was a short girl with suit and… possibly the longest hair he had ever seen in his life. She looked like she was about twelve maybe, but he had no idea and if experience had given any lesson, it was that age was not a factor in determining if someone could take care of themselves.
”Uh… can I help you?” He asked, placing her under his own scrutiny. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any faith in people or anything. As it stood, at the very least it was difficult to see much about her other than the fact that something was odd about her. With a look at Maria he simply pointed at this new girl, shrugged his shoulders, and stepped outside the door.
”Maria’s over there if you’re here to help with the job you can come with me.” He added, finally deciding that he was in a hurry and adding that before giving the girl a chance to answer his first question.
”My name is Kenshiro…” He added, thinking back to the only other job he had done where he worked with someone and how much easier it was now to talk to women.

word count: 723/800

Some dude opened, immediately giving her the eye in a way Laverne knew all too well. A solid moment passed before he spoke up and that clarified everything. Her initial thought was mostly confusion about what even was going on, after all the requestee was not supposed to be some guy with abstract sense for facial decorations but a lady of probably slightly advanced age.
But all in all, this turn of events was good. If he had already been given the details on the whole issue, that'd save her some unnecessary time and bother. Like this, she could just get the relevant details context sensitive from this guy.

Greeting and dismissing the woman somewhat into the room behind the door in the same, open-palm gesture, Laverne turned and let the door close behind her. Following right behind 69, the much shorter girl completely ignored him introducing himself with his actual name. But she did pick up on the conversation cue. As she wasn't a big fan of fancy formal introductions, she dropped that reply off to the side, ahead of more things to be said. "Laverne. So what's the run-down? Where are we starting to look for this cat? And what's it look like?" That was pretty much all she would need to know for the most part. Not like she actually knew her way around the place, but the girl expected to get by with landmarks and such as usual.

All in all, this would certainly become a fun distraction, 69 probably had the wrong idea of her, as do most people initially. But only time could tell.

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Kenshiro almost laughed. She was direct, he kind of liked that. It was refreshing to not have to deal with pussy footing around all the stupid nuances of society.
”I have no idea where we’re starting, I’m trying to work that part out. The cat is a regular cat… that uses nen, and it looks like a black cat, on the other hand he can use nen to turn into a large, very muscular man which leads me to wonder how exactly it was that he got kidnapped.” He explained, catching the girl up to speed on everything he knew up to this point. As he explained he continued to try to think.

After a moment it really seemed to dawn on him. If the person that kidnapped the cat was a fighter it was possible that he would be fighting at heaven’s arena. That presented some sort of motive and it also gave them a place to look.
”Given that the guy that allegedly kidnapped him was a fighter it’s possible he’s at heaven’s arena and we can spot him while watching him fight in a match and follow him from there. If that’s the case the cat, Leonal, might have followed him willingly to learn how to fight better or something, but it’s just as likely the guy just said he was a fighter and actually runs a snow cone stand soooooo…” He trailed off. It was kind of a long shot, there were a lot of small details that could have been overlooked, but he wasn’t exactly the type to think of every possible contingency.
”I guess we’re going to heaven’s arena.” He stated with a shrug.

Word Count: 1273/800

She had heard some ridiculous stuff before, heck even told some of it herself. But this, this was clearly in the completely outrageous part of things that could conceivably happen. Not that she cared, if it meant doing something, anything even, and getting paid over it in the end. As for all the other facts, like the cat being kidnapped by a supposed fighter who just might be at the Arena, she just assumed that's what the lady had told him and not wildly-made up things. Having opted not to interview the client herself, meant relying on the accuracy of 69's statements.

"Heaven's Arena, then." It was not too illogical to find a supposed Strongman there, but the whole deal did pose the question of why would anyone want to abduct a random pet from someone just kind of passing through the city? Maybe it would make sense eventually later down the road, but for now, not so much. Least Laverne would be able to easily find the destination, if nothing else was going on. It also gave her a solid excuse to visit the Arena, as the lazy part of hers usually overshadowed the interest to go.

They would eventually arrive, and a reasonable problem with the whole setup became evident almost immediately. "How exactly do we tell who of all the people here is a cat abductor?" As the place was, it obviously attracted all kinds of people looking for the glory of combat or the money that could be won with it at least. "That is unless someone with a black cat under their arms just happens to come by." This was a flaw she could have easily seen coming, but since 69 had spoken out the suggestion, he was obviously entirely to blame. "So we either ask if someone's seen a third person with an appropriate cat, or you remember any other details that'll be more helpful, sixty-nine. Which one will it be?" She sort of grinned. A little. Putting people on the spot for things they were not necessarily at fault for and rubbing them the wrong way was somewhat fun on it's own.

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He probably could have lied and said that he was just testing her, but the fact was that he was still really bad about expressing all of his thoughts all at once… not to mention the fact that she had chosen to come with him instead of getting the run down from Maria.
”Right, the fighter I mentioned apparently has himself modeled as a cat. I’m guessing he’ll be pretty noticeable in the arena unless cats are the in thing this year. “ He added, though he didn’t really like the fact that she was identifying him by his brand. Still he wasn’t about to bring it up as something that bothered him, he had learned that made people, especially those around his age, tended to continue to use stuff like that purely out of spite.
”So if I’m coming up with all the ideas for how to complete this job, what are you getting paid for exactly?” He joked confidently with a smirk as he continued walking to heaven’s arena. It was going to cost them money to enter the arena as spectators but it wouldn’t cost them money to enter the arena as fighters.
”and we’re probably going to end up spending money to find out since I’m not signing up as a contestant and crossing my fingers.”

Word count: 1852/800

Getting questioned in her value to the task at hand was not exactly what Laverne had in mind. But she would not let it get to her that easily. After all, two people were requested, so whether she was necessary to be there or not was not as much a concern as the fact that the mission demanded it. "Eventualities, of course. Who are you to know what might happen." And that was all of that. The real serious topic at hand however, they would have to agree on. Getting into the arena would cost money unless they went in as contestants, and ultimately the short girl really valued her bodily integrity. At least more then whatever the admission fee to watch the spectacles was.

"And that's already exactly the eventualities i'm here for. After all, i am clearly underage." Emphasis on clearly. It was visibly clear indeed, but factually rather wrong. Then again, how would the cashier at the entrance know? Or 69 for that matter? "Which means i can get a discounted ticket on my own or go free if with a full-price paying adult." This was certainly a little stroke of genius. Either option would save them money lost form the payment. And the first variation would even allow them to split up if they so desired, so Laverne could be watching the events and fighters inside for their culprit while Numberface could keep an eye on the coming and especially going people. "We could split." is all she said, however. Expecting her momentary partner to catch on to that thought without her lengthy explanation.

And with that they had pretty much reached the point in time and location to make up their minds on the matter already. Almost forcing his hand, Laverne wasted no time directing her steps toward the entrance, either with or without Kenshiro. She had already decided for herself that she was going to look for clues inside, but he had to decide for himself which of the two options he thought the better idea.

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Approaching the mission from two different directions seemed like a good enough plan for him.
”Wait, kids get in free?” He asked, partially surprised. The arena in NGL or “the pit” admitted children for some of the seedy people that loved that kind of blood sport. In addition he himself was only fifteen so it wasn’t like she was the only one that could get in for free, but part of him thought he should enter as a combatant. So first things was first; as his partner walked away he chose to start searching for some adult or another that would let him enter as their kid. Of course he had to find some old couple or something since a regular couple would probably charge him.

It took some doing and it was a matter of being selective, but he did manage to find an elderly couple to claim him as their grandson. It was so detail oriented and he didn’t like relying on this advantage because he wouldn’t be able to use it when he got older, but he had to show off his I.D. anyway because he didn’t look that young. Boring parts aside though, he did have some fun. The old couple had mentioned that they liked the matches on the lower floors because you got a chance to see the people who were going to be big names one day which actually made him pay closer attention to the matches. If some of them were particularly skilled he could learn something from them and increase his own chances of success when he finally did decide to fight. Above all else though, he was looking for a guy that had some cat like behaviors in his fighting style. In the interim, his compatriot could look at another set of rings and help him narrow it down a bit.

word count: 2505/800

Apparently, Sixtynine had misunderstood her genius plan at least in part. While she had taken off without waiting for his reaction, Laverne had not expected him to go off on his own like that. But she figured if that was what he wanted to do, so it would be. Would not stop her from the plan she had intended. Inconspicuously walking up on the masses of people lining and queuing up for entry, it was easy enough to find a reasonably sized group of people. All she had to do, having done so often enough in the past, was standing near a group of people preferably with children around her own apparent age and hope for the best. If somehow that did not work, she was at least next in line and could still get away on a reduced ticket without trouble.
But to her luck, three adults and way too many children for any possible family constellation they could be involved in just went in and just a minute later Laverne found herself past the entry area and it's money-charging antics.

Having already lost track of what Numbers had been doing, the dark-skinned decided it to be more helpful to the cause if she continued onwards and had a look at the upcoming things down in the Arena itself. Maybe just seeing something on the lineup would give her a good enough hint about the perpetrator in this pet abduction case. And if there is anything easy to come by while being part of a live audience, it's flyers and pamphlets about the very event one is being audience to. However smart this idea was, the scheduled main events were fairly ambiguous in participant names as in the way that none of them indicated the associated person to be dressed up in a cat theme. Either that or she didn't catch on to some smart fighter's cat pun. Seeing how the procedures were not about to start anytime soon, Laverne figured maybe it would be a good opportunity to find Numbers in this audience, see if he already found something out and possibly lecture him on catching her drift mostly the wrong way before.

[2870 / 800 Words]

Ken was already sifting through the fighters looking for Leonal or some other guy that had entered at about the same time. The number of matches they had fought previously was a fairly major detail but after reading through a little bit he got frustrated with the process. Reading wasn’t exactly something he had gotten the opportunity to do when he was enslaved and as such his reading level was still only about as good as a middle schooler. With that understanding he decided to simply be patient. Other things did occur to him as he sat and waited with the rest of the crowd. He couldn’t remember if he had told Laverne the cat’s name. Details… there were so many details to take into account. It was something he needed to get a handle on or he wouldn’t be able to continue with his plans on becoming an assassin, but as it stood there was nothing to be done. The girl had decided to go rogue before, or at least that had been his impression of the events as they happened. Nevertheless if it came down to it maybe they would have to fight the guy and there was nothing that was going to prepare them for that more than watching him fight someone else.

After moments of waiting that felt like hours he happened to look down at the pamphlet he had thrown to the floor and happened to notice that one of the fighters on the list was named “Katt”… It could not possibly be that easy could it? With that random realization that occurred for no other reason than the fact that he was frustrated, he left to find Laverne. Surely she had come to the same conclusion and would have been able to put everything together the way that he had… only she had more likely done it on purpose. After about ten minutes of searching he handed her the pamphlet with his thumb tapping just below the name as he took a seat next to her.

word count: 3212/800

"That might be it." Laverne pretended to have totally noticed this before. "It's the only lead we have either which way." She concluded. And that was not even very wrong. So they had to sit and wait for a little while. At least it ment they would get a good look at the guy to determine if he was the cat abductor in question. To topf it off, the event he was in not being over yet meant he'd still be in the building and probably far easier to track down, by waiting at the contestants exit, later. Unless they wanted to slip out and try to get past one of the mystical "Staff Only" doors that could lead them down into the bowels of the arena, maybe to the places where contestants prepared and waited even. Just to make sure this time Numbers did not come to the opposite conclusion of her suggestion, the short girl took the extra moment to drop more then one sentence of exposition regarding her thought on him.

"It's still a bit, before this Katt person is up on stage. The easiest thing to do is obviously wait, watch him and then wait at the exit to cut him off there since he has to leave the place eventually. Or..." and she almost liked this idea, cause it sounded much more interesting, which Laverne was always all for - even if it got her in trouble. "We scout the premises and find a way to the contestant floor. From there, we could either grab this guy before or even straight up search his crap while he's out in the ring." seh explained with somehwat lowered voice. The last thing that needed to happen was raising some kind of suspicion even beforehand, if they actually decided to go with the plan. As far as her own decision went, she had not made up her mind, the sort-of taboo involving the second option was tempting, but on the other hand, it would be a bother if that complicated the job.

Not like it mattered, if the team's other half did not catch her drift even with this much of precise explanation, or was straight up too timid to do it, there was not much the dark-skinned girl could do. After all, she couldn't exactly just go by herself if it was something that might lead to as much trouble as thas plan B. In which case, she could wait. While that was not any adventure, just doing pretty much nothingcould be nice at times. Especially when that was how money was earned. For the first time, she properly stared right at Sixtynine, as if forcibly establishing eye contact would have any good influence on his decision making skills.

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Ken got her suggestion. It seemed pretty straight forward, but cutting him off at the exit would create a larger ruckus and he was all about not making his face too well known at this point.
”I’m willing to go into the contestant’s area and investigate and or capture. The people that would catch us at that point seem less destined to put our faces up on a screen somewhere. In any event, we have some sneaking to do in order to get back there.” He spouted obviously.

He started to formulate his own plan involving simply speeding past the guards as the contestants headed back to their rooms, but he figured it would be easier to just register as a contestant. It didn’t matter whether he showed up to his math or not, and he wanted to see if the girl would come to the same conclusion.
”So do you have any immediate plan for this. I mean it’s not exactly like we’re going to be able to just go get a key. I hope you can pick these locks or something.” He said, knowing full well that all the locks were digital. If he could get away with it he was happy letting her do all the leg work in this little job.

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"Of course i can't!" Laverne exclaimed almost immediately, without even leaving time to process any of the other information from his reply. "Do i look like some tech whiz? No i don't." she snapped, mostly for already feeling personally attacked by Face finding a flaw in her idea. Not to mention he had also figured out something useful for selfsame plan she hadn't thought of. Kenshiro could easily pass for a participant and register to get into the participants and staff only areas. Herself though, not so much.

"I'll just 'acquire' a key or something. Lie to some staff, maybe cry a little. It's not that difficult." Laverne figured. And by 'acquiring she obviously meant stealing. Would not be the first time she whacked someone in the back of their heads after appearing harm- or helpless at first, either. Really all she had to do was roam around into some relatively remote corner of the place and pretend to be lost. "So, you're coming, going or staying, then?" the short girl asked as she began to leave the place in the audience they had just recently gotten into. The worst that could happen was they'd get thrown out of the place, in which case exit camping for their target was still an option. And in her mind, taking the risk beat waiting by a long shot.

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