Post by Suji on Sept 20, 2009 22:59:43 GMT -5
Drake:
Drake walked into the makeshift kitchen they had and grabbed a bag of old fruit snacks. It seemed Steve and Diana were here too. Perfect. He had a task for them that Rian had given him before leaving for his faction leader meeting.
"Hey guys," Drake said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Hope you have some free time today. We are supposed to get the stuff on this list for our new hideout, but there is a little snag in the plan. You see, I have to go, um, scout out the dam and see what they are doing to it now. So, um, yeah. You guys will have to get that done while I am away."
Drake handed them the list then slid out of the kitchen quickly before either could object. He planned on being far away before they realized he had pawned off his chores onto them.
Stevert:
Drake's words hadn't registered until he had left. It had all happened too fast. Then the words began to sink in. Snag? Drake wasn't supposed to patrol. No, it was Luce or Ember's turn. No, Drake must have gotten mixed up. A few seconds later, Steve suddenly thought. Waitasecond! Drake just dumped his chores on us!
Steve smacked his forehead with his hand and said to Diana, who just happened to be there as well. "Wow. Drake gave us his chores. These look just like the ones that Rian had assigned him. So, do you want to do them or should we hunt Drake down? Your choice. Although, I would prefer the latter."
As he spoke, he had a perfectly innocent expression on his face.
Diana:
Confusion, followed by annoyance, caused Diana to knock over the glass of water she had been sipping on. She frowned and bent over to pick up the cup and clean the mess. Eyeing Steve from her stopped position with her large brown eyes, Diana mumble a curse in French and stood.
"It would be easier for us to complete these tasks and then hunt down the little turkey vulture, ami." A strange sound of mischief accompanied her words. "Like multi-tasking!" Diana laughed. She honestly didn't mind doing chores, if they had been hers to begin with. What else was there to do anyway besides watch old DVDs and, yes, even VHS on the outdated television in her room?
"So, should we split up or do them all together?"
Diana plucked a fresh piece of paper from a drawer and begin to write.
Grabbing a piece of tape to put her note on Drake's door where he would eventually see it, she finished with a laugh.
"That will put the fear of God into him."
Stevert:
"Diana, some times you just scare me." Steve said honestly. He watched her place the note on the door and he smiled. "Hmm, I think we might as well do the chores together. Then we can meanwhile...collaborate...on how to make Drake's return one he'll never forget. Besides, we don't seem to spend much time together. Plus, life is funner with more people around." As he talked, he left the comfort of the kitchen stool and stretched.
Then he returned his attention back towards the paper Drake had left. "Okay," he said to Diana, as if there was anyone else to talk to besides Robert, "I think we might as well take them in order. That means grocery shopping. A lot of it. Good thing stuff is free nowadays because enough food to last eight people for one week would have taxed most wallets. Not to mention anyone else who happens to stop by."
As he walked towards the door casually, he suddenly stopped to address Diana. "Would you happen to know how to get to the nearest store? Rian didn't cover where the Wal-Mart was on our tour of Vegas."
Diana:
As luck would have it, there was a Wal-Mart surprisingly close to the base. Granted, it had been mostly stripped by people in the panic of the invasion, but there were still shelves of non perishables. Diana could practically taste the powdered Tang and tube cheese. Like astronauts.
They had gone there as owls, Diana in her burrowing owl morph and Steve in his evening owl. It had also been easy to get into the building, though they had to find the entrance.
<<You know if we get lucky we can take care of the bedding here too. It would save us the trouble of flying all the way to a Bed Bath and Beyond.>> There was laughter in Diana's thought-speak. Chores were chores, but shopping was still shopping.
Stevert:
<<Okay then.>> Steve responded in a less humorous voice. He was perfectly willing to follow whatever Diana said. After all, she was a girl. And weren't all girls born with instincts to shop? Either that or they had Secret Shopping Manuals that told them how to navigate stores. Who knew? All he was doing was tagging along to possibly provide company and manual labor.
<<Oh yeah, I think I found an entrance.>> he said to his teammate. He couldn't say door because that might have been a lie. The entrance he spoke of was a gaping hole in the back of the store where a portion of the ceiling and wall had caved in. It looked like a storage room. <<I'm at the back of the store. Think you can find me?>>
He moved the short-eared owl's wings and silently flew from his perch on a disheveled telephone pole to alight on some of the rubble that made of the doorstop to the entrance.
Diana:
<<Sure thing, ami.>>
Diana silently glided to the back of the building. The most trying part of their mission would be actually getting all of these supplies back to the base. They would have to go on foot, naturally. Owls were not meant to carry canned goods much less comforters and pillows. She spotted Steve, and landed gently next to him seconds later.
<<Nous pouvons le faire. There is an owl-sized gap over there.>> Diana nodded to the side. Maybe she could pick up some shoes while they were here. Hopefully there would be something left better than those God-awful Crocs that Wal-Marts sold nationwide.
Stevert:
<<Aye aye, Captain.>> Steve said as he raised a wing to cover his eyes and then snapped it out, in a poor imitation of a salute. He hopped over to the gap that Diana had mentioned and squeezed through. <<Whew! I think this bird needs to go on a diet! This thing is fat!>> He complained as his night-vision snapped on. Shadows seemingly vanished and the entire room looked like it was lit up like a Christmas tree.
Non-perishable food. Check. That didn't seem to hard to Stevert. After all, all they had to do was look for anything that wasn't spoiled. There didn't seem to be much of anything in the room. Maybe it was a staff lounge? The boy made a sort of a hop, skip, and a flurry of beating wings to traverse the band of dead air that separated him from the door, which just happened to be open.
<<So, uh, food first or bedding and stuff? Your call.>> he offered to Diana.
