Chapter 11: The Shadow in Our Caves

[Annette Rosenthal]

"I don't think that was what you were programmed to do." Annette states. "Maybe you need to be deactivated and looked at. Creditors these days just aren't as reliable as they used to be."

She shifts her weight and waits for Bambi to answer the door. "No one is as reliable as they used to be." She says to herself with a frown.

"The next time I see you, 16, you had better be in a suit. A nice suit is quite fashionable. A woman should be proud to wear a suit."

[Lilith "Mistress" Antekkereh]

((Moving Mistress on, sorry Beatrix.))

Mistress is very impressed with Beatrix's speech. She gives the orange haired woman her number, telling her that they should chat more some other time. She then returns to her manor.

Once there, one of the servants nervously informs her of the ball invitation. "Oh, really? Give it to me." Usually she had her servants read her mail to her, but she decided to read this herself.

Looking over the letter with soft hued eyes, she is pleased. It sounded like a wonderful event. Perfect to keep updated on her contacts and form new connections! Standing, she nods to the servant.

"I'm going shopping,." This was a rare event, as she usually only went shopping with female humans she needed to keep good relationships with. She thought for a moment, but decided to keep the same clothes and hair style.

Her heels made sharp tapping noises against the sparkling tiles covering the hallway she was moving down. She kept a private room for her teleportation booth. Opening the polished oak door, she smiled softly at the booth.

Beautiful portraits of soaring dragons covered the booth, a language unknown to man scribbled in various spots. Of course, she had had to write the words down for the artist to write them. It was similar to a tattoo she had on her real body.

Touching her left shoulder, she ponders getting the tattoo done again. Perhaps before the ball. She enters the booth and punches in the code for Helsinki.

It was a popular place lately. Many of the store lines were there, even if only some of them were for the richer. After a few seconds she steps out onto the shopping district's busy streets. She was pleased at the stares she received, even if most of them were unworthy human males.

Her eyes turned a dark shade of caramel as they idly scanned the store windows. Passing a store she would usually never give a second glance, something sparkling in the back of the store window catches her eye. She stops and moves closer to the store window.

A necklace lay at the back of the store window, almost unable to be seen behind all the useless toys lining the front. What was a necklace like this doing in a toy store? It appeared to have dust on it, as if no one had any sort of interest buying it.

The necklace was familiar to Mistress, but she could not place it. She knew it was much more special than anything she had seen in a while, though. Perhaps it was masking itself from the eyes of mortals. Some treasures did that to avoid falling into the wrong hands...

She enters the toy store, glancing around. She had no interest in any of the junk in here aside from the necklace. "Hello?" Calling out, she becomes slightly annoyed. She shouldn't have to wait for any one. Humans...

((Post to Mollie.))

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi had been in her room, so she hadn't heard the door knock at first. Upon realizing someone was waiting at her door, however, she rushes to it. In the process she almost trips over herself.

Pulling the door open, she is shocked to see Annette standing there with Aubrey.

"Oh! Ms. Rosenthal! I apologize for making you wait. What brings you here ma'am? My schedule says I am off today. Was there an error?"

She couldn't imagine why Annette would come in person to inform her of a schedule error. She hoped gravely that she hadn't done anything wrong. She was positive she had correctly filed all her paperwork from Genetech.

[Mollie Marionette]

Mollie walked in the door moments after a raven haired woman did. She smiled at her, wondering slightly what she was doing in a toy store. Perhaps she had a daughter or a nephew that she was going to buy something nice for.

"Hi, I'm Mollie Marionette." She said, walking around to the check out desk, and putting her bag on a shelf behind it. "Is there something I can help you with?"

While she waited for the woman to respond, the fingertips on her left hand began to move gracefully over the surface of the desk, as if playing a tune. She did this unconsciously, not really aware of her mannerism.

[Lena Eva Aysel]

Lena is pretty positive he's lying now. Even if he wasn't, so what if some loony escaped? He didn't seem dangerous.

She decides this is the best way to have him escape if he is truly Malak. Part of her felt inclined to make sure he did escape, though. She feels torn but no indecision shows on her face.

"Whatever, I guess." She states, walking off. She made it look as if she was going to reception, but she circled back around instead. She'd trail him, make sure he got safely away at least.

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette relishes the nervousness of her employee. She grins for a moment, showing her sharp yellow teeth. "There is no schedule error. I have a special project for you though. There is a problem with the London branch of Global Bank. Alrick Vayne seems to have disappeared, but he left behind him quite a few sub prime loans. His lending practices ...well, were sloppy and down right threatening to the state of the world economy. Now, there is some money that just can't be accounted for. Some loans that I think are off the books. I want you to look into this. Scour London banks financial records and look for anything unusual. Anything as small as a penny off. You have a reputation as a pretty good accountant, well, I want you to do a full audit of the bank's records."

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

As soon as she leaves, Malak bolts off. He runs down the hall and escapes through a bathroom window. He could have probably gone out of the front door, but being somewhat paranoid, he made a more dramatic escape, even if he had to drop into the bushes. He keeps running after the fall. Running over the well kept lawn and mentally ill patients out enjoying the weather.

Then, he comes upon a problem. The whole hospital is walled. In front is a gate with security guards.

For a moment, he thought he was free, but now he isn't sure what will happen. He panics. He looks around him and around the building and sees that circle of wall.

Can he climb over it? It seems too tall.

What does he do?

Cars go in and out. They show their labor cards and are let through as staff. "no no no...what do I do?" He asks himself in despair.

Maybe he can just hide within the property until he thinks of a plan. He climbs up a tree and sits there thinking of something. He watches the people ...maybe he could sneak into someone's car. He waits there and tries to think of some sort of plan. At least the tree hides him for now.

[Lilith "Mistress" Antekkereh]

Mistress kept a natural expression on her face as she examined the woman. Small looking thing. She seemed nice enough for a human, but they were so good at seeming nice when they wished to.

"That's a rather... unusual name." A corner of her mouth lifts slightly in a small smirk. "You may call me Mistress. An unusual name for another unusual name."

She moves forward as if walking toward the desk, but inside veers toward the store window. "I'm interested in a necklace that you have set out in your front window display."

She wondered if the woman had any idea how special the necklace was. Obviously not, as it was sitting collecting dust. Did she see the necklace for its true form?

Tapping her finger against her side, she felt as if the necklace was calling to her. She longed to pick it up and examine it more, but she would wait to see Mollie's reaction. She wanted Mollie to pick it up first.

Depending on how it reacted to them both, she could see if it held true value.

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi feels a sigh of relief in her head. She also felt a bit of pride. Annette had picked her for a special job! Thoughts of finding something to wear to the ball dimmed in front of this.

"I will get on it right away ma'am! No penny shall go overlooked. I just need to grab my purse and then I will head over to London to begin."

She states confidently, though the paranoid part of her mind wondered if this was some type of test. What if she failed? What if she got fired? She attempts to pushes those thoughts back.

Clothes for the ball could wait until she was done with this project, she had plenty of time.

[Mollie Marionette]

Mollie grinned, it wasn't the first time someone had said her name was peculiar, but it was the first time someone had responded with a name that she found even more unusual. "Good to meet you, Mistress."

"Necklace?" She questions, puzzled. Her fingertips cease movement as she walks around the front desk to where Mistress was standing. "This old thing? Hm, we don't get many people interested in it."

"In fact..." She looked at it closer, bending slightly, and reaching forward, holding it in her hands. It certainly was a pretty piece, but she hadn't been aware that she'd had any jewelery among her toys, it was probably the only piece in the store. "I'm not entirely sure where it came from."

She shrugs, holding it out to Mistress. "If you're interested in it, it's all yours." She says, not bothering to look for a price tag, that could be taken care of at the register.

[Lena Eva Aysel]

Lena trails him silently, going through the front door when she realizes he climbed through the bathroom window. It takes her a few minutes to spot him climbing into a tree. She watches him, pursing her lips.

A loony would've probably attempted to simply walk out despite the guards. Now convinced, she walks up to the tree. If he didn't play along, he deserved to get captured.

"Jim! What are you doing up there? Come on now, we need to get back home! You can play in the trees after your next appointment with Lonnrot! Our sister Tuesday will be terribly worried about us if we take too long."

She shouts up at the tree, mocking annoyance as she places her hands on her hips. She decides to add Tuesday's name in. Perhaps it would convince him to play along.

[Annette Rosenthal]

"Good. That was the only purpose of the visit. I will check up on you in the next few weeks and see what your work yields. There might be a small promotion if you find something worthwhile." Annette replies. She takes another puff of her cigarette and turns to the door, where Aubrey 16 remains.

"Make sure that Creditor puts on a suit. We're business women, not teenagers at a dance party." Annette says. She laughs then starts coughing. She grabs her chest and the coughing resides.

Saying no more, she just leaves for her car, which is parked out front of the apartment. She gets into the passenger side, appears to bicker with the driver, and is driven away. (although her avatar shows her wearing a sweater, she always wears a suit.)

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Malak is alarmed when Lena mentions Tuesday. He wonders if this is a trick. But he doesn't care any more. He has been through a terrible ordeal. He falls down from the tree, landing hard, but standing up fine enough. "Sister Tuesday...did she send you here for me? How did you find me?" He whispers. His whisper is weak and sounds on the brink of a wimper.

[Lilith "Mistress" Antekkereh]

Mistress watched Mollie carefully as the frail woman picked up the necklace. So it did indeed mask its true beauty. She had not seen a treasure like it in decades. Perhaps centuries.

"May I see it?"

She takes the necklace carefully from Mollie's hand without a reply. The pale silver trend of the necklace shined beautifully, as if made of crashed crystals woven together. At one end rested a silver clasp, real silver. At the other, the piece of beautiful piece of crystal begun to take form.

It appeared to carve itself, shaping into the most beautiful dragon piece she had ever seen at such a size made of crystal. The necklace sent a hum and warm tingle through her fingers which spread into her hands, up her arms... She felt herself smiling.

She wanted to show the other dragons badly! ... But she only knew of a handful of them, and she had spoken to none of them yet. She had no dragon companions to show the precious treasure to. As sadness and spite filled her, the dragon began to turn a black color of crystal.

Mistress could almost swear the small sculpture looked... just like how she used to when transformed. Though, this one would be while she was having a rage. How interesting.

Pulling herself from the necklace, she turned her eyes back to Mollie.

"I will take it." She spoke, a rather dreamy tone noting her voice. Her chocolate eyes had softened considerably, perhaps the lightest shade of brown they have ever been since acquiring this body.

Even if the treasure had not been so unique, she would probably have had a similar reaction. Treasure to a dragon was something... very special. Perhaps like a human's addiction to substances.

[Mollie Marionette]

Mollie watched as Mistress inspected the necklace, wondering why she seemed so interested in it. "If you don't mind my asking, are you a...jeweler or something?"

She leads her over to the desk with the cash register, and reaches out her hand for the necklace that Mistress was still holding.

She looks at the necklace again. "It is very pretty. I'm sorry I can't explain anything more about it...but I work with toys, not necklaces." She explains, feeling like shes rambling a little.

"I just wonder where it came from..." Mollie added in an undertone, more to herself than to Mistress.