Viscet #1280 Tryout Form DNP

[madras]

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Username: madras
Name: Nightshade
Gender: Female

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Nightshade is a very clever, witty Viscet. But she also has a sharp tongue, which can get her into trouble.

Nightshade was named for her purple pelt, but it also applies to her personality. She is kind, but she is dangerous to criminals. She is clever, and will not hesitate to chase down a criminal. But she blends in with the shadows, and criminals are usually more scared of her than she is of them. But her friends and the citizens of her village love her. Thievery is not uncommon in her village, and she is hired to retrieve stolen items. This is why she was asked to recover her village’s stolen supplies.

While dangerous to lawbreakers, she loves her friends. She is closest to Orion, a Vislinghood friend. They have known each other for years, and often spend time together.

During an argument, Nightshade can spit out a retort at the speed of light, which she often does without thinking. She can offend her friends easily, though she feels bad about it afterwards.

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[madras]

By madras
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Nightshade’s weapons are two identical daggers. Orion also has daggers, and the daggers were designed to be given to partners. Nightshade's blades are silver, but have a hint of light blue and purple in them. The hilts are black with a blue gem embedded in them. While the blades on Orion’s daggers are wavy, Nightshade’s daggers are curved, and resemble a crescent moon. When Nightshade holds them, they curve towards her. The daggers are sharp on both sides of the blade, so they are very good for throwing and slashing. More than once, Nightshade has stopped an attacker with a swift toss of her blade.

Nightshade would be dangerous enough wielding these, but the blades of the daggers can also be cooled to below freezing. A slice of the daggers can cause painful frostbite. The blade temperature is controlled by a cooling device in the handle of the daggers. The device is controlled by Nightshade’s crown, which can interpret her thought of the device turning on to an actual instruction to turn the device on. Orion’s daggers heat up on command. This is also controlled by his crown.

The crowns not only broadcast instructions to the daggers, they also broadcast thoughts to each other. This can come in handy if Nightshade and Orion need to speak to each other without their conversation being heard by anyone else. At first, Orion and Nightshade didn’t realize their crowns could communicate. But after a while, they realized the voices in their heads were real, and coming from the crowns. They also learned how to control what was sent and what was not, allowing them to have privacy.

While the crowns can broadcast thoughts to each other, they only work for Nightshade and Orion. When they first put them on, the crowns identified them and remembered them. They will never work for anyone other than them. They figured this out when the merchant they bought the crowns from warned about this. The friends verified it when another friend of theirs tried on Nightshade’s crown, and Orion tried to communicate with them. Orion and Nightshade quickly learned that the crowns became completely useless when on anyone other than themselves.

The pair received the crowns and daggers from a merchant, and gave them as gifts to each other. They were out on a walk one day, a rare opportunity for them, and wandered away from each other. While gone, Nightshade found a merchant traveling through the village. He showed her the crown and daggers, and she had some extra currency. The crown was gold with a green gem, and the daggers were made of wavy, white metal blades and a gold-plated hilt with a green gem. They reminded her of Orion, and she bought them as a gift to him. The merchant warned her not to put it on since she was going to give it as a gift, and explained how the daggers worked. When she met back up with Orion, he gave her another crown and dagger set. They had bought the sets from the same merchant! They were grateful to each other, and learned that the crowns could communicate with each other as well.

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The travel pods are how most villagers get around. While there are a few different styles of pods available, the one that Nightshade and Orion use has two seats, a control box, and a lot of storage space. It works quite well for them. Many Viscets without a family with children have this pod. In fact, this was the type of pod Nightshade climbed into to find the stolen Warehouse supplies. The pod’s frame is built off of a thick, strong loop of metal. This offers support, as it is hard to bend. The doors on this model are attached by hinges to the central frame. To open the doors, they are simply pulled up. This basically pulls away the entire side of the pod, offering easy entry to the soft seats of the pod.

While the pod has plenty of space in the front, it has just as much space in the back. Many days’ worth of supplies from the Warehouse could fit in the trunk of the pod, and then some. It is large enough for a Viscet to fit into, as Nightshade proved when she followed the thief to the supply bunker.

How do you drive the pod? Well, most of the time, the pod is not driven. You can tell the pod where you want it to go via a holographic touch screen. While you’re not technically touching it, the screen can tell where you tap. But instead of driving, the pods are capable of teleporting. Most travel is done through pod transportation, but pods can also be driven. This is useful if you get to your destination but find you need to park a few feet to the right, or to the left. Or maybe a Viscet just wants to drive and sightsee, without a specific destination in mind. The pod is driven with controls on the control box, and this feature is very useful. Transportation usually puts you in the general area of a place like the Warehouse, so Viscets usually have to find a good place to park. However, the pods can also transport much more precisely if coordinates are put into the transportation system. The pod will put you extremely close to the coordinates unless there is something else blocking the area. For example, the pod wouldn’t transport into a tree, or into a boulder. The pods hover while traveling or while parked, but not that much. They usually hover only about a foot above the ground. The intended area for transport is scanned before the travel pod materializes. As such, transportation is usually quite safe, and the most common method of travel.

As stated before, the pods hover approximately a foot above the ground. This ensures a smooth ride. Even going over hills, the ride is not bumpy. It feels like floating in a gentle ocean wave, but without water sloshing over you. You are simply lifted and lowered, very gently.

This pod’s design works well for many; however, sometimes a bigger pod is needed. There are pods with up to six seats. These are not often used, though. If anything larger than a two-seat is ridden, it is usually a four-seat. The beauty of the two-seat, though, is that even Viscets in a single home have different places to be. A four-seat isn’t any better than a two-seat if everyone has to be in different places. So, families will often buy two or three two-seats instead of a four or six-seat pod. Families with young Visclings, however, often use a four-seat until the Visclings are old enough to operate pods.

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Nightshade yawned and opened her eyes. The sun was so bright. She groaned as she rolled out of her bed, and trudged outside, ready to help collect supplies for the village. She was still groggy, and had to stop and remember where she parked her pod last night. Oh, right. Her pod was broken. Lucky her. She would have to walk. Yawning, she started the two mile walk to the Warehouse in the town square, where the entire village's supplies were kept. Medical supplies, food, water, grooming supplies--you name it, the Warehouse had it. Everyone contributed to the stock of the Warehouse, and everyone received supplies from it. If you didn't contribute, you couldn't get supplies--unless you were disabled or too young to work. Those particular Viscets were well cared for. That was the beauty of the Warehouse--all Viscets were cared for equally, and no able-bodied Viscet leeched resources from others. Everyone worked, and everyone was cared for.

After about 30 minutes, she arrived at the Warehouse. But something was different this time. People were crowding around the Warehouse, as normal, but sounds of panic, not excitement, were coming from the crowd. Viscets jumped to try to see over others' heads. Confused, Nightshade approached the crowd. "What's going on?" she asked another villager. Panting, the Viscet replied, "All of the supplies are gone! All of it! We're going to starve!" Nightshade's stomach dropped. She felt sick. Who would do this? Why? Everyone was provided for. Everyone had supplies. Who would steal from others when they already had enough? Nightshade wanted to slink away from the crowd and calm herself down before she started to panic as well. But other Viscets were already starting to notice her appearance at the square. "Nightshade!" someone shouted. "Look! It's Nightshade!" The crowd started to quiet down gradually. "She can find the stolen supplies! She can always find missing items! Nightshade! Find them, please!"

"Oh, um...," Nightshade stammered. Sure, she recovered stolen items. It was practically her second job. Villagers from the town often hired her to track down thieves and recover their things. She had dealt with plenty of thieves before, but never any thieves like this.

"You found my stolen necklace!" the voice continued. "And my money!" another added. Soon the crowd was shouting for her to find the supplies. "Alright!" she shouted, silencing them. She couldn't bear the clamoring any longer. "I'll find them." The crowd relaxed and began to thank her. What have I gotten myself into, Nightshade wondered to herself.


Nightshade sniffed around the empty warehouse. She couldn't pick out the scent of any unfamiliar Viscet. Then again, this place was the most popular in town. Everyone came here. They had to, or they wouldn't have any food. Nightshade's nose wouldn't be any help here. She decided to look for items that may have been dropped by the thief. After a couple of minutes, she saw something glittering in the corner of her eye. Tilting her head, she made her way over to see what it was. Behind a crate, sparkling in the daylight, was a bracelet. Her stomach dropped again when she saw it, because she knew exactly who it belonged to. Orion. He was relatively well known around the village. Well, more accurately, he was a frequent topic of conversation around the village. Conversations that were frequently overheard in the village were often something like, "What has that Orion done now?" While often talked about, few actually knew him. Few tended to seek him out, due to his reputation of being full of himself. To Viscets that didn't know him well, he was obnoxious. But Nightshade had known him for years, ever since she was born. He was a beautiful Viscet. A white mane with yellow swirls and a bright yellow pelt made him stand out like the sun. What had he been doing at the Warehouse? She continued to look around, and found his bracelet behind an empty crate. Nightshade shook her head in disbelief. "No...no." She picked up the bracelet and kept it concealed in her paws. Orion was a loyal friend. He would never steal supplies from others. He would never do anything that could harm someone. But his bracelet was right in front of her, and it was the only clue she had. It looked like she would have to talk to Orion.

Nightshade met Orion at his house. "Heya, NIghtshade! What's up?" He greeted her warmly, as he always did. She didn't meet his gaze, and instead kept her gaze a bit to the side. "What's wrong?" he asked her, concerned. She handed his bracelet to him without saying a word. "Oh! Thank you! I've been looking everywhere for this!" He quickly slid the bracelet back onto his wrist. "Where was it?"

"The Warehouse," she replied quietly. "Did you hear about what happened?" Orion shook his head. "No. Is something wrong?"

"All of the supplies were stolen, probably last night. There's nothing left. No food, no water, no medical supplies--nothing." Orion looked shaken, which was unusual for him. "Do you know anything about the robbery?" Nightshade asked him. He shook his head. "No, of course not." Nightshade nodded. "Okay. I'm going to try to figure out who did this. I'll get back the supplies." She turned quickly and started back to the Warehouse.

"Orion? But it can't be Orion," Nightshade insisted. "I'm sorry, but that's what it says. Right here." The security guard tapped the withdrawal records screen a couple of times, right under Orion's name. His name was right there, and it said that he had withdrawn hundreds of packages. If the burglar really was him, he would have to have some really advanced hacking skills. "Do you have any video footage of the burglar?"

The guard shook his head. "Nope. Orion disabled security. We're sending guards to his house right now to arrest him. We'll get him to tell us where the supplies are hidden, don't worry," he said with a smirk. Nightshade felt sick. "Oh. Okay."

She turned and walked off. "I'm sorry," the guard called back. "I know he's your friend, but he did do this. He has to pay the price." Nightshade simply nodded. She walked out of the building, and immediately turned on her crown and contacted Orion. Her crown allowed her to share thoughts with Orion, as he had a matching crown. The link was very secure, and others were unable to listen in on their conversations.

Nightshade quickly began to speak to Orion.
Orion! Did you or did you not steal the supplies?
Nightshade? Of course not! You know I would never do something like that!
Then get out of your house, now!
What? Why?
Guards are coming to arrest you! Meet me in your pod in the forest near the town square. We'll go together and figure out who did this. We have to make sure you aren't punished for something you didn't do.
No! You could be arrested too if we're caught!
I don't care. Get in your pod and pick me up or I'm coming over there myself. If you don't pick me up, I'm going to turn myself for trying to help you escape.
Fine! I'll be right there.

About twenty seconds later, a pod appeared in front of Nightshade. She took a deep breath and hopped in. "We're considered criminals now," Nightshade said. "We're going to be on the run until we clear your name." Nightshade met his gaze. "So we're going to clear your name. And we're going to catch the real thief."

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[madras]

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By madras (Drawn from a sketch from the Viscet Reference Repository)
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Nightshade sat in the pod beside Orion. “So the first thing we need to do is make sure Viscets can’t track us. She hopped out of the pod and opened the hood, quickly modifying the pod so it couldn’t be located by GPS signals. She hopped back in. “I think that should work,” she said. “But I’m not sure. I’ve never had to disable the tracking device before.” Orion looked at her for a minute. “How did you even learn to do that?” Nightshade smiled. “I’ve tracked down lots of thieves. I’ve had to deal with disabled trackers a lot. I checked the pods and figured out what they did to disable it. One of the wires in the hood allows signals to be sent. If you cut it, the pod is unable to send signals.” Orion nodded. “I’m going to investigate the Warehouse again. I have to go fast, or they’ll suspect I helped you escape. Move the pod to another location, just in case they located it before I cut the wire.” Orion nodded again. “Okay,” he responded. Nightshade hopped out, and the pod faded away until she was alone. She felt Orion on the other end of her crown’s connection.

I’m by the lake further into the forest. Meet me here.
Alright, she responded.

Nightshade quickly traveled to the Warehouse. Guards were scrambling around, trying to locate Orion. Hiding a smile, she noticed they seemed to be having a bit of trouble figuring out where he was. She ran up to the guard she talked to before. “What’s wrong?” Nightshade asked. The guard typed quickly on a computer. “Orion wasn’t at his house.” He turned to face her. “Did you warn him we were coming to get him?” Nightshade recoiled. “Of course not! I may not want him to go to jail, but I wouldn’t get in the way of justice!” The guard narrowed his eyes. “Give me your phone.” Nightshade rolled her eyes. “Fine. I have nothing to hide.” She handed her phone to the guard, who opened it and scanned the outgoing and receiving calls, her email, and her texts. After a few minutes of searching, the guard handed her phone back to her. “How do I know you didn’t travel to his house and warn him?” Nightshade sighed. “My pod is being fixed. It malfunctioned the other day, so I took it to a mechanic.” After a few quick calls, the guard sighed. “I guess there isn’t any evidence for your interference,” he said. “The walk to his house is too long for you to have gotten there and back in such a short time.” Nightshade nodded. “Thank you. Now, I just came here to look around. I might be able to locate Orion, especially since I know him so well.”

The guard nodded. “Just don’t get in the way.” Nightshade smiled sweetly. “Of course. May I have an evidence bag?” The guard gave three bags to her and Nightshade turned and walked out of the security room, and into the withdrawal room. Sniffing around, she looked for anything to help her find the thief. Near the withdrawal scanner, where Viscets scan their necklaces to withdraw packages, there was a small brown spot on the gray tile floor. Curious, Nightshade lowered her head and sniffed. Blood. Her heart fluttered. It was brown and dry, but it wasn’t extremely old. Maybe it was even from last night. The thief was in a rush, and adrenaline coursing through their body made them overlook the fact they were bleeding. She looked around some more and found more spots of blood. The Viscet hadn’t been bleeding a lot. Enough to leave some blood, but little enough that they didn’t notice it. Nightshade crouched and scraped it off the floor and into the bag. She left the other two bags on the floor. She ran upstairs to the security room and found the guard. “I found blood. Can you run it to check for DNA matches?” The guard nodded. “This is great. Maybe we can get more evidence for Orion’s trial, for after we find him.” The blood was run through an analyzer, and a holographic screen popped up in front of them. The screen had a picture of a Viscet’s face, and information on them.

Male, 5 years old. He had been arrested for thievery five different times. Name: Blake.

Nightshade hid a smile. She had caught this Viscet before. He had stolen a necklace, and she had tracked this Viscet down and recovered it. This had to be him. She swiped the air, and it gave information on the sample of blood she had recovered. It gave type and estimated age – about a day old. Nightshade could barely contain her excitement. It wasn’t Orion, she thought. It was him. The guard glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Nightshade swiped the screen several times to take in information on the Viscet. She printed out a copy of the information to take with her as well. “Thanks,” she called out as she left the Warehouse.

Running outside, Nightshade contacted Orion.
I’m coming to meet you. I’ll be right there.
Slipping through the trees, she made her way to the lake in the forest. Orion was waiting there, sitting in the pod. He saw Nightshade and jumped a little, knocking over a glass of berry juice.

“It’s just me,” Nightshade said when she got into the pod. “But look, I think I may have found who stole the supplies.” She showed Orion the Viscet information. “Oh, I remember that!” Orion exclaimed, pointing to one of Blake’s previous crimes. “That happened in my neighborhood. One of my friends had their antique lamp stolen. He came in with a gun, and took a few things, but the antique lamp was the main thing. It had been carved from wood by my friend’s grandfather. Guards were nearby, though, and he didn’t get far before they stopped him.” Nightshade checked the records for his place of residence. The last recorded place was a few neighborhoods away. “We should probably check here first,” Nightshade suggested, pointing to the address. “Okay,” Orion said, punching in the address on the pod. “Wait!” Nightshade interrupted. “The guard was suspicious of me. He accused me of helping you. I think I convinced him otherwise, but he knows my pod is in the shop. If I transport over there quickly, and he happens to hear about it, he’ll know I have access to a pod, and he’ll start wondering where I got that pod from, and it might lead him to conclude that we’re working together. I’ll get my pod from the shop, and I’ll use my own. But I’ll have to walk to the shop.” The shop wasn’t too far from the Warehouse. After about twenty minutes, Nightshade had walked to the shop, gotten her pod back, told Orion to stay where he was through the crown, traveled home to get snacks and bottled drinks, and traveled to the address on the information packet.

She parked her pod and watched the house for a few minutes. Finally, she decided to go up to the door. Maybe Blake didn’t live here anymore. There was only one way to find out. Nightshade rang the doorbell and waited for a response. After about thirty seconds, Nightshade rang the doorbell again. An unfamiliar Viscet answered the door. “What?” she asked. “Does Blake still live here?” Nightshade asked. “Oh, no,” the Viscet answered. “He moved out a long time ago.” She was lying. Her ears were twitching, and her eyes kept moving. “Oh, okay,” Nightshade answered. “But you know him?” The Viscet shook her head. “No, no. I just heard he lived here before me.” Nightshade nodded. “Okay. Do you know where he moved to?”

“Nope. Sorry,” she answered. She seemed quite agitated. “Okay,” Nightshade answered. “Well, thank you anyway for your help!” Nightshade turned and walked back to her pod. She would have to wait and watch. But the Viscet was definitely lying.

Nightshade moved her pod a good way down the street and waited for something to happen. She pulled up chess on her pod’s computer and played while she watched. Her pod had a camera with a built in motion detector on it, and she set it up as well to alert her if movement was detected at the house. Nightshade had been playing chess since she was very young, and usually won, even against a high difficulty level. After a few minutes, she had a better idea. Grabbing the snacks and drinks she had in the pod, she crept around to the bushes. She made sure her daggers were still hidden in the sheath she wore underneath her shirt. She smiled when she noticed the pod was blocked from view of the house by a large bush. She knew that a pod would notify the Warehouse security guards if a Viscet was in the trunk, but she remembered this Viscet had disabled trackers before, and if he really did steal the supplies, he would definitely have disabled the tracker. She picked the lock on the trunk with a paper clip she had, and climbed into the trunk. She left the paper clip between the body of the pod and the lid of the trunk to allow air into the trunk, and relaxed. She would wait to see where Blake went, and she could figure out where the supplies were.

Nightshade opened her eyes. The pod was on. Blake was in the pod. And he was going to lead her right to the supplies.

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Word Count: 1607

[madras]

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By madras (Drawn from a sketch from the Viscet Reference Repository)
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Nightshade heard the sound of the pod preparing to transport, and then it stopped abruptly. They had traveled. She pulled out her phone and turned the camera on. She turned video on, and opened the trunk just a little bit. Enough to peek out.

They were in a building. It seemed to be an underground bunker, as the light came through an open door in the ceiling. She looked around and felt relief. There were the supplies. She didn’t know where she was, but she saw them. There was no mistake. Blake must be about to transport the supplies. With a sinking feeling, Nightshade realized he would have to open the trunk.

She pulled out her daggers, put her phone in her shirt pocket, and prepared to jump. She could surprise him, and pin him before he could ever draw a weapon. Turning around in the trunk, she bunched her muscles. The trunk opened. With a yell, she jumped and landed on top of Blake and pinned him down. He growled and grabbed her wrists, keeping the knives away from his throat. He rolled over, until he was on top of her. She snarled and bit his arm, and he yelped. She rolled until she was on top of him again. Biting his arm, she got him to let go. She stepped on his free arm with her back foot and held a knife to his throat. “Don’t even think about moving,” she panted. “Let go of my other wrist,” she ordered, keeping the blade pressed onto his throat. If he moved at all, the knife would cut him. He let go, and she sheathed that dagger and pulled out her phone.

She dialed the village security.

“What is your emergency?”
“I found the Warehouse thief. Come and get him.”
“We’ll be right there. Leave the line open.”

Within 30 seconds, Viscets were coming. Pods surrounded the door because there wasn’t enough room for another pod inside. Viscets jumped in and took Blake from Nightshade. She watched as he was arrested. “You did this, and you framed Orion,” Nightshade snarled. “How dare you?” Blake glared at her. The guard put him into a pod, and he looked through the window at her, still glaring. She met his gaze before going to talk to a guard. “Is the security chief here?” He pointed her to the chief. She approached and he smiled. “Thanks for finding the supplies, Nightshade,” he told her. She pulled out her phone and pressed record. “Does this mean Orion isn’t being charged for stealing the Warehouse supplies anymore?” Nightshade asked. The chief nodded. “Orion is free.” She turned off the recording.

Walking off into the surrounding forest, she told him what had happened through the crown. He was extremely excited, and said something about how he would be super popular now. She just went along with it, and told him to meet her at the bunker in five minutes, to avoid looking suspicious. She also called him on the cell phone to make sure there was a record of her contacting him through the cell. Nobody knew about the crowns, and Orion and Nightshade wanted to keep it that way. He showed up exactly five minutes later, and she ran to greet him. “You’ll be announcing publicly that he’s not guilty, right?” Nightshade asked the chief. He nodded. “In about ten minutes, it will be all over the news.”

"Thanks. You really did me a lot of good.” Nightshade heard Orion’s voice and smiled.

Thirty minutes later, Nightshade and Orion were at the Warehouse. The villagers were surrounding the building, looking on with relief as supplies were returned to the Warehouse. Even though the announcement was made over the news, the chief still announced that Orion did not commit the crime, and that he was falsely accused. He made a public apology, and Nightshade felt happy. She didn’t have to use the video on her phone as evidence after all.

But yelling ensued, and guards ran up to where Orion, Nightshade, and the chief stood.
"Blake! He- he escaped somehow!" People began to panic. [This is exactly what happened when the supplies first disappeared.] Nightshade looked at her friend. "I'm going to go and track him down," Nightshade informed him.

She turned to leave, but a paw grabbed her shoulder. It was Orion. "Wait, this time, I'm coming, too!" he said. [I don’t want to offend him, but I really am worried about him. I wish he wasn’t so rash. But I won’t say anything. Blake doesn’t have any weapons anyway, and I’ll follow him. I’ll just make sure he doesn’t notice me.] "Then, maybe we better split up. That way we can cover more ground," Nightshade told him.
"Okay!" Orion turned to run. Nightshade followed Orion to their parked pods and prepared to track him. He hopped into his pod and started it up. Nightshade did the same. He pulled away in the pod, and Nightshade waited a while for the pod to pull away before starting hers up and following fairly far behind. [Hopefully he won’t look behind him. Wait, where is he going? The alleyway?] Nightshade smiled. [Clever. Good idea. Wish I had thought of that first,] she thought, slightly jealous. Maybe a lot jealous. She followed him, but her hand slipped on one of the controls and she ended up swerving, trying desperately to avoid trees when she ran off the paths marked for travel pods, before stopping the pod. She panted, adrenaline coursing through her. She looked up, and Orion was gone. The pods move fast. “I have to catch up to him or he’s going to get himself hurt,” she muttered to herself. She started the pod again, but it took a while to get up to the same speed she had been traveling at before. She didn’t know the coordinates of the alleyway, so she couldn’t transport. Then again, Orion probably didn’t either. She would just have to drive, and hope she got there quickly.
Nightshade let out a breath when she saw the alleyway. But she felt sick when she saw that Orion’s pod was empty. What happened? Did Blake ambush him? Capture him? Threaten him? Hurt him? Her heart skipped when she thought of one last possibility: Kill him? She thought of different scenarios as she jumped out of the car and sprinted through the alleyway, drawing her daggers. She turned the corner to see Orion standing over…a tarp. And poking out of one end was a tail. Blake’s tail. Nightshade laughed, despite her worry. It was a shaking, nervous laugh, and her legs felt weak, but it was a laugh nonetheless.
“I guess my worry wasn’t needed, Orion,” she told him.
Orion beamed. “I made a burrito!” he stated proudly.
Nightshade laughed again. He was so proud, his chest puffed out like someone had inflated it.
“But how did you get here so quickly?” Orion asked, tilting his head. Blake began to thrash, and Orion sat on him. Blake snarled, but Orion was heavy enough to considerably reduce his movement.
Nightshade glanced down before looking at him again, but not meeting his eyes. “I was following you.” Orion looked annoyed.
“I didn’t need your help,” he said, anger in his voice.
“But—” Nightshade sighed. “Scoot over.” Orion moved up the burrito, towards Blake’s head (which was covered by the tarp), and Nightshade continued. “To be honest, I’m in shock. You did great, and I’m really proud of you.” Orion’s angry face gave way to a smile, then a scowl, then a smile. His face continued to waver. He loved to be recognized. But, I’m always going to worry about you. I didn’t think you could do this by yourself. I’m sorry. But even though I [know] I underestimate you, I’m still going to be concerned about you unless I’m with you.” Orion nodded. “I know you care about me, but I can take care of myself. Right, Blake?” A muffled growl drifted from the innards of the burrito. Nightshade laughed. “I see you can fight, but I would worry if you were by yourself. Which is why I want you to start tracking thieves with me.” Orion’s head snapped up. “Really?” Nightshade nodded. “Like I said, I underestimated you. We would work well together.” [And we could spend more time together.] Orion smiled. “Of course I want to go track thieves with you! We could have adventures, and fight crime, and….” Nightshade zoned out. Sometimes, Orion’s energy was just too much for her. “Oh! We need to call security!” Nightshade remembered. She pulled out her phone and began to dial, but stopped. She handed the phone to Orion. “You do the honors, burrito dude.” Orion gave their location and soon, Blake was being loaded into a pod and taken to jail. [They better not lose him again.]
Back at the Warehouse, the crowd was once again calm. Turning to Orion, she smiled when she saw him beaming at the crowd. He was so happy. He gave a speech that was actually quite moving. [Orion really loves all of this attention,] she thought. She told the chief to ask for applause for Orion, and he did. She didn’t think Orion’s smile could get any bigger, but it did. She couldn’t help but laugh at him. She put her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad this is over,” she told him. “Me too.” They both sighed, and Nightshade looked out at the crowd. “They love you, Orion,” she told him. “You’re finally famous.” Orion smiled. “I know, isn’t it great?!” Nightshade laughed again. She had her best friend back. He was famous. The village was safe again, and nobody was going to starve. She breathed deeply. She could finally relax.

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Word Count: 1632

[madras]

Writing & Ideas: ShimmerSolarPets and madras
Coding: ShimmerSolarPets
Illustrations: ShimmerSolarPets and madras
References: From the Viscet Reference Repository
Photographs: From free-to-use sources