Stakeout

Stakeout
Date of Scene:	22 March 2013
Location:	Eastern Continent - Flourgis - Shard Seekers HQ - Garden
Synopsis:	Sammy proves that he is rather tenacious when it comes to trying to guilt young girls into getting into his van.
Cast of Characters:	Sammy Colt, Leida

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Leida has posed:
Flourgis, City of Flowers
Friday, 8:28 AM

Today was a day like any other in the sprawling desert metropolis. The sun has already crested the horizon and begun its daily climb into the cloudless sea of blue sky, its golden rays casting a bright tint on the stone buildings and cobbled streets of the bustling trade district. It also brought with it the typical heat of desert and as usual the resident demon girl of the Shard Seekers is taking refuge inside their modest clan headquarters.

The shade atleast provides a minor reprieve from the scorching rays but the walls cannot keep out the sheer overwhelming heat. The harsh winds that blow through the empty dunes also bring with them a bounty of sand that seems to get into everything. Normally Leida would be the one to clean up around the place but as more and more of her hidden potential leaks through she finds herself less willing to do menial tasks.

She is a princess, after all. And royalty doesn't do chores. Infact they should be honored that she's allowed them the chance to be her host for such an extended period of time. Nevermind the fact that her own world has fallen into the darkness and she's probably not very welcome anywhere else. Trifles.

As of late, Leida has found a new way to pass the time during the awful daylight hours where the very air seems to be trying to sap away her strength. She sits in the wide basin of an aqueduct that passes through the outer edge of their personal garden, wallowing in the cool water that flows gently along on its way through the city. Her clothes hang from a nearby wooden pole that has clearly been added recently for that very purpose. Even if she does have to live in these meager surroundings that doesn't mean she's going to let her only set of good clothes get wrinkled or dirty by simply draping them over the back of a chair or something.

The young girl sits in her smallclothes, wearing the old white shirt that she scrounged from the Seekers spares when she first arrived here. The garments are completely soaked and pasted to her small body from her occasional dips beneath the surface of the waist-high water, as is her long raven hair which she has slicked back to keep the bangs out of her eyes.

At the moment the girl seems to be amusing herself with the various lilypads and insects that float downstream, watching them drift past or attempting to catch some of the more interesting ones with little success. The splashing about keeps her cool, however, and for someone who's used to sitting around in court all day looking pretty this is fairly amusing.

Sammy Colt has posed:
Monday. 7:34 AM. : Sammy, sitting in the back of a van, headphones on and watching a small screen. The entire van is lit up by this glow as a warm drink's steam rises from the styrofoam cup.

Tuesday. 4:32 PM : Sammy, still looking at the screen intently. One of the headphones are slightly off his ear and there are now four empty styrofoam containers about the back of the van. Sammy's tie is a little loose.

Wednesday. 9:02 AM : Sammy, leaning back with a bored expression on his face as he bounces a ball against the roof of the van and catches it in an attempt to stave off boredom. It doesn't seem to be helping. The back of the van now had a healthy floor of styrofoam containers. Sammy's hair is disheveled. He looks down at the styrofoam containers and lets out an idle 'hmm'

Thursday. 7:23 PM : The screen is still on, but all that remains infront of it is a fort made of styrofoam cups with a pair of night-vision goggles poking out and staring at the screen.
Friday: Now. The back of the van bursts open as a sea of styrofoam cups surge forward. Sammy gives himself a dust-off and brushes off his sleeves, as well as adjusts his tie. With one, swift motion, a comb appears, brushes through his hair and vanishes into his pocket as he lets out a long, painful sounding stretch in which every joint in his body lets out a relieving POP noise.

After a week of monitoring, Sammy's had enough. Usually he'd have a partner to ensure he didn't go nuts all alone, but this was more of a solo mission for the Turks than an operation.

Cut to the garden!

Sammy Colt, Turk extraordinaire and terrible liar-face is walking while looking down at some small display that looks jury-rigged. The beeping coming from the device becomes quicker as he approaches Leida's position. Taking a moment to look up, he notices some clothes on a wooden pole. His gaze indicates he's not sure why those are there, but then his eyes peer just to the right to see a water-wallowing princess.

"Don't get out much, do you?" He asks suddenly as he stands next to her clothes with a look of boredom and his hands in his pockets.

Leida has posed:
The strange beeping and the sound of footprints reaches the young girl long before Sammy comes into view of the garden. While Leida's ears are not particularly better or different than a human's the shadows can sense his presence and their whispers alert her to the intruder.

So when the Turk rounds the corner with his strange technological device in hand, the princess does not panic or overreact to being caught half-naked as she might have in the past. Infact, she doesn't even bother to give him a response for a few moments, instead hopping after a particularly pretty butterfly that comes drifting down through the air, drawn in by the aroma of the various flowers that decorate this small verdant patch.

Her efforts are futile, however, as the fluttering insect casually stays out of reach of her short arms and quickly makes its way off into the safety of the tiny forest of multi-colored petals. With an obviously exhaggerated sigh, she puts her hands on her hips and turns to face her visitor.

"It is generally considered quite rude to intrude on a lady while she is indecent."

Despite this complaint, Leida makes no attempt to cover up or conceal herself in the water. Her expression is a mixture between annoyance and disdain as she stares at the man who works for the people she has rebuked several times when they tried to get her to volunteer herself for vague experiments on 'controlling her darkness', whatever that meant. That creepy women probably just wanted her blood to make some twisted monster or something.

"To what do I owe the displeasure of your visit?"

Sammy Colt has posed:
"It is rude to intrude on a lady." Sammy admits with a shrug before leaning on the post. "Lucky for me, one isn't present." He adds with a smile as he directly insults Leida. There's no playful tone there. This is Sammy on almost a week of no play time. He's not in the best of moods, but that's not saying much considering the kid's generally a nice guy.

"This 'displeasure', as you put it is simply a courtesy call." He states with a glance over towards the garden. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, oh princess-to-be of darkness. How go controlling the urge to arrow people that try to help you?" He asks in a sort of mocking tone before grabbing her clothes and tossing them towards the water, expecting her to get 'decent' for their little chat.

Leida has posed:
Leida narrows her eyes at the mocking tone. Being forced to live in a place where the atmosphere is so directly opposed to her liking for several months has not left her in the most agreeable of states either. Her arms cross over her chest but before she can shoot off a biting retort back at him the clothes come flying towards the water.

Almost out of instinct, the princess reacts and an arm of oily shadows erupts from her back to snatch the garments from the air before they can get soaked. Instead of surprise the girl gives him a smirk that conveys her sense of superiority to the secret agent rather plainly. "Considering you have seen first-hand what I am capable of, your willingness to taunt me with such remarks speaks greatly of your foolishness."

Leida clambers over the edge of the aqueduct and settles down on the stone lip. Her short legs dangle off the ground, kicking back and forth chidishly as she casually goes about wringing the wetness from her hair. The water that drips off her stains the surface of the rock and the ground.

"My urge to unleash arrows into random passersby was quite under control until you arrived," she says nonchalantly. "Your concern is unneccesary."

Sammy Colt has posed:
Sammy's eyes watch the shadow hand. There's no surprise. Not even a hint of amazement. But there is a look of 'are you for real' coming from his young-looking face. As Leida pulls herself up and threatens him with more arrowly harm, the Turk merely steps from the pole and saunters beside the water while speaking.

"Hmm. So. I'm a foolish liar then?" He asks, but doesn't wait for a reply. "My 'concern' as you put it is valid. You just summoned a hand of darkness from your back to catch you clothes. Do you not realize that this means you're letting the darkness take over?" He asks, but again, does not wait for a reply.

"Oh, nevermind. Right. You have it all under control. That's what they all say until a little 'whoopsie'." He says, throwing his hands up before putting them back in his sleeves. Naturally, Sammy feels guilty about having unleashes Leida's darkness, but that can't be the only reason he's trying to help, right?

Leida has posed:
"Not all darkness need be feared, human," Leida says, continuing the process of squeezing water from her excessively long princess-hair. This could take a little while. The shadowy arm remains arched up overhead but it draws the clothes back out of his reach, holding them off to the side like a simple hangar. Made of pure shadows. Totally normal.

"There are nations from other lands that employ the darkness as well. I have been learning the history of these places from my time among the markets. People from all over the world come to trade and it is not difficult to pick up on things if you know how to listen." The fact that she is being trained by one of these Dark Knights would probably not do much to put them at ease considering Angantyr claims that people feared him nearly as much as they feared her. She suspects his personality has something to do with the amount of hate he gets. Atleast, he still looks normal.

Sammy Colt has posed:
Sammy listens idly as he picks up a rock and skips it across the water. "mmhmmm. Many nations that employ the darkness." He states in a rhetorical fashion as he watches the rock skip twice and sink. "Many people also lie. Tell me, are you a liar, too?" He asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks at her with a pause.

"Because ShinRa 'employs' the darkness, to that, I mean, researches on it to bend it to the advantage of the people." He says as he turns to face her.

"And yet you arrowed me in the side for a lie? I don't know if I'd consider that hypocracy or just plain mean. I mean, if you're 'okay' with the darkness and all, then surely you're okay with a lie? Or perhaps hurting people to get your way? Or perhaps even murdering someone who tells you no?" He asks, his arms crossing in the process as he stands at the edge of the water, waiting for her to answer.

Leida has posed:
The girl snorts dismissively but manages to do so in a dignified manner as she pushes off the edge of her stone seat, apparently satisfied with the state of her hair. The dark arm retracts into her body, growing shorter as if being reeled in like a fishing line until it hovers only a foot or so over her shoulder.

Leida turns her back to the Turk and sheds her damp shirt. The thick mass of her hair acts like a cloak that protects her modesty as she slides into the frilly pink blouse and dress but she shows no hurry as she gets dressed. An ornate comb is produced from one of the small satchels on the belt that goes with the ensemble and she hands it off to the shadowy limb which begins to run the slender prongs through the damp locks.

"Your understanding of the darkness is full of misconceptions and childish superstition! Shadows and the absence of light are not the same thing as evil, fool. I am an honorable woman!" She turns her head and glares at Sammy over her shoulder. "I kept the secret of your involvement in that incident, did I not? If I were flirting with such evil powers would I care for the promise I made to you? Perhaps I simply should tell them. Having a bounty on your head might keep you from hounding me with your stupidity for a time."

Sammy Colt has posed:
"Go ahead." Sammy states with a quirky grin. "Tell them you lied." He says with a pause, "So far as 'flirting' with evil powers, you are right. Shadows aren't evil." He conceedes with a nod efore pointedly staring at Leida. "Shadow Lords, on the other hand, are." He states before stepping away from the water, heading towards the exit slowly. "And the way Seith talked, your powers are not simply 'shadows' and you know that. So keep lieing. Keep telling yourself you have it under control. In the long run, I only lied once, for help. You on the other hand are lieing out of stubborness." He comments as he stops next to the pole and looks to Leida.

"Remember: The truth hurts."

Leida has posed:
A cringe of annoyance wrinkles her features though whether it is due to him striking home on one of his points or her mounting frustration at his attempts to prove that she needs help is unclear. In truth, the mention of Seith has reminded her of their unfortunate encounter and the deal she struck with the Shadow Lord. It was the only way she could think of to stop the forces of darkness from assaulting the others as they attempted to put the pieces of Manhattan back into place but the end result is that she has been forced to lie yet again to protect her friends.

"Stop acting like you know so much about me, human," she snaps. "You bear witness to one unfortunate event and suddenly you think yourself an expert on Shadow Lords and the darkness they wield? You seek to lecture /me/ on the dangers of my own powers? Your arrogance is immense."

Leida turns about to face the Turk completely now, turning her scorn on him in full. The tenebrous arm continues to fuss over her hair though it wields the comb rather clumsily as if she doesn't yet have much control over it. "I know more about lies and shadows than you ever will, human," she hisses. "Do not presume that you have anything to teach me in regards to the harm that simple misdirections and subtle misinformation can bring about!"

Leida's anger is explosive but dies out just as quickly. She turns her nose up at him in a dismissive manner with a soft 'hmph!', tilting her head away as if no longer wishing to see the man. "Now if you are quite finished, I have more important things to do than listen to the dull platitudes of a fool."

Sammy Colt has posed:
"You know, you're right." Sammy says with a smile. "I'm no expert on you, shadow lords or even lectures." He says as he goes to leave, "But I am an expert on people and I can tell that something is eating you on the inside. If you let it, it'll rot you to the core. Like a worm in an apple." That reminds him - how long has it been since he ATE something? OhsweetReno! !ow he's hungry! He's FAMISHED.

"So, go ahead, don't listen to me. Rot away and snap at your friends. Bite their heads off. See what I care." He would, too, but this is a bluff. One would almost say a lie.

With the most immaculate of bows, Sammy politely completes a proper noble act and turns towards the exit.

"But what would I know? I'm just a fool." He says while whistling a careless tune as he disappears into the garden's foliage.