Playing the Pieces (Open)

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Sparrow explained about connections with the police station that allowed him to get information easier and gave her a few more helpful pointers. Nicky felt like she was asking a lot of questions, but this was important, this was crucial information that she needed. He seemed like he was quite skilled at gathering information based on the tips he was giving her. This made Nicky more confident with her decision to assist him. Luckily she seemed to be asking all the right questions, Sparrow answered each one easily and she nodded along. Though, he did seem shaken as he spoke of the goals of this mysterious group. They sounded like horrid people, almost less than human the way he described them They did whatever it took to get what they wanted and everyone was collateral damage. Then again, their goal to destroy humanity didn’t sound too pleasant. She shivered at the thought, disturbed, but not discouraged. What really intrigued her was what he said about manipulating darkness. That didn’t sound possible for a human or gifted to do. Only Oscuro could do that, right? Oscuro wouldn’t work with humans, she hated them, she’d probably kill them all either out of annoyance or just for fun.

    The more he spoke, the more upset he seemed to get. His grip on his phone tightened and he claimed they were impossible to catch. Nicky vowed to herself right then and there to change that. She knew they couldn’t allow this group to roam free any longer and with Nicky as his new ally, maybe they could do something. She thought about possibly getting Yurie involved, him being such a strong Chaser, but she wanted to make sure he was capable of handling both activities at once. And Sparrow might not be happy if she shared this information with others, she’d think more on that later, for now, she had more important things to do.

    “Don’t worry Sparrow, I believe we can take them down, I’ll see if I can find more trustworthy that may be willing to join our cause and send them your way if you’d like. One of my older brothers is a Chaser, so he might be helpful to the cause, but I’m not sure about anyone else. I’ve still yet to meet many people. I don’t seem to run into a lot of people in Argi, most likely because most of my excursions are out to the wilderness.”

    There was a moment of silence, the wind blew, and a glass bottle rattled as it rolled across the concrete. Looking up to the night sky, she blew out a deep breath, shaking her head. He seemed to think she would back out now that she knew what this group was capable of. That would never be the case though. Nicolette may not be the bravest, but she sure was stubborn when it came to something she believed in and she would never give up on this, ever. One corner of her mouth quirked up in a half smile and she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, letting out a quiet, breathy laugh. She could already tell that she was going to enjoy working with Sparrow, things were certainly going to be interesting considering the circumstances of their partnership.

    “I’d never dream of quitting on you. You can’t get rid of me that easily man, once I get hooked on a mission, I stick to it like superglue. Don’t worry, I’ll be safe and I won’t tell anyone. I vow on my life magic that I will never tell anyone without your permission.”

    She doubted he’d gotten her reference to one her favorite books, but she smiled to herself anyways. She’d been wanting to use that line for a while now and now that she had finally gotten the chance, she hoped she’d delivered the line well. As, she waited for a response from her companion, her phone buzzed in her coat pocket. She pulled it out and slipped off a glove to unlock the touch screen. A somewhat worried sounding text from Isidore filled the screen and she sighed. He was wondering where she was and wanted her home ASAP. She typed up a quick reply and and locked the screen. She went to place it back in her pocket when it buzzed again, this time the message was from Yurie, rolling her eyes, she replied to him as well and turned her phone on silent. Placing it back in her pocket, she put her glove back on and looked up at Sparrow with an apologetic look on her face.


    (So, I don’t know if you were curious or not, but if you were I’ll tell you. The book reference is from a book called Splintered, a warped version of Alice and Wonderland. It’s got at least two books in the series that I know of, so if you’re interested I would really recommend it. The reference is basically if someone breaks a vow they made on their life magic, they lose all of their powers, or possibly die.)

[Sparrow Wrightworth]

    As Sparrow explained, he noticed that Nicky was absorbing a lot of the information quite quickly. Her impressive learning curve and dedication to justice would make her a very valuable ally indeed. Hearing about the girl's offer to contact one of her brothers, Sparrow's eyes sparked an interest. It was always good to find talent, but it was also important to remember the amount of people that can remain organized effectively under one cause. Luckily, this organization was sneaky in practice, but lacked the necessary strategy to account for error. A sort of cult that wishes for the destruction of humanity can attract many misguided souls who simply wish to be acknowledged as something. As such, the talent becomes underwhelming and sloppy. 

    With a small smile at the thought of having such an advantage over the enemy, Sparrow nodded at Nicky's suggestion. "You 'vow on your life magic', then? Now I know you are quite dedicated if you wish to make a reference like that," Sparrow gave a little laugh as he noticed Nicki checking her phone. Waiting until she was finished, he waved away the apologetic look she had as if to say "It's fine".

    "On another note, I would love to meet your brother," the young man continued, "I would just like to make sure that his talents and motivations line up with ours as much as possible. If and when I do meet him, would you be willing to help me conduct a little 'entrance test'?"

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Nicky was glad that her new associate appreciated her joke in such a serious time, after all, someone who could make lighthearted jokes in that kind of situation was someone she wanted to keep around. It was never good to be serious all the time, it was bad for you, at least Nicky thought so. Humor was like a healing force to her, a good laugh always made her feel better after something bad happened. Realizing she was getting distracted, she pushed the thoughts out of her head and returned her mind to the current conversation. Sparrow seemed happy to have Yurie join their group and Nicky was glad that she was already able to make a contribution to the team. Though the best way to make a new friend really wasn’t to follow someone through an alley, but it seemed Nicky had made a good decision this time.

    When Sparrow asked her about an entrance test, she nodded. That did seem like a good idea, no wonder she hadn’t thought of it, she was always getting into trouble, but she sure had fun doing it.

    “No problem, just tell me a time and a place and I’m sure I can get him there. That is, as long as he’s willing to join us. If not, I know he’ll keep it a secret.”

    A cloud moved in front of the moon, momentarily darkening the alley. Then it passed and it was illuminated again. Unsure of what else to do, Nicolette bounced up and down on her heels, trying to get rid of her nervous energy. She wanted to make sure she did this right, she didn’t want to screw up all of Sparrow’s hard work. Though she wasn’t sure exactly what all he’d done besides collect information. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to mess anything up for him.

[Sparrow Wrightworth]

    Seeing that Nicky was eager to do some work, Sparrow smiled. He had definitely made the right choice to include her. When hearing Nicky's question about the details of the little entrance test for her brother, he nodded, "It seems like telling him outright that we'd like him to join wouldn't be the best move. I suppose the best way I could test him is if you could get him to a more secluded area with less people, so that we can minimize any possible outside interference or surveillance..."

    Taking a few steps, Sparrow also noticed the temporary cloud passing in front of the moon. A shadow loomed over the city for a few moments before quickly leaving. For some reason, the young man felt something big was coming soon, and he wanted to be prepared. Turning back to Nicky, he held up his phone and continued, "Once I find a good meeting place, you can text him that you would like to meet him there for a conversation. I'll try to make it a place that wouldn't seem odd for you to go there. Once he arrives, we both must hide and test him remotely. I was thinking that we would create fake dangers that he would try to get past, all the while I would review his talents."

    Sparrow put his phone in his pocket and placed a finger to his forehead in thought. Once finished, he looked back to Nicky and spoke, "I suppose that's the general idea of the plan. I'm aiming to make this test as simple as possible, while giving me the information I need to know. Do you see anything that might be an issue in the plan?"

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Nodding quickly, she clasped her hands together tightly. She was practically vibrating with excitement and she couldn’t wait to start. She could barely contain herself, and she knew she would have to leave soon before she started jumping around ecstatically. How exactly do you end a conversation like this? I’ll have to make sure I have all the information I need first and then I’ll see if I can end this and get home. Yuri and Isidore seem worried. Hopefully nothing bad happens.

    Nicky looked around, making sure there was no danger nearby, as she had stupidly forgotten to do earlier. The coast seemed clear, so she turned back to Sparrow. She thought for a moment before replying.

    “Well Yuri is a Chaser so he goes basically everywhere. And he knows I like to explore, so I doubt he’d find it odd for me to be out somewhere isolated. I mean, it might worry him, but he really wouldn’t be surprised. So anywhere would be good really, as long as the area was vacated of course.” She paused for a moment. “Also, if you’re going to be texting me, then you’ll need my phone number.”

    She pulled out her phone and the paper with Sparrow’s number, quickly putting him in her contacts and sending a simple message of There, now you have it. Then put both back in her pocket and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. She was really glad she had met Sparrow, if she hadn’t, she probably wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity. The opportunity to help people. It made her feel good to know that she’d be able to do some good in this world.

[Sparrow Wrightworth]

    Sparrow took the contact information and entered the number into his phone, his fingers clicking away quite rapidly on the keypad. He had always preferred these kinds of phones. Touch screens prevented muscle memory from actually registering information. That, and he disliked the delicate nature of most of them. Closing his phone with a satisfying "clap", he looked up at Nicki and noticed her eagerness to begin. With a smile, he breathed into his hands and rubbed them together, a small puff of his breath revealing itself in the cold night.

    "Yuri's exploring nature will certainly make this meeting more believable... I'll make sure that no innocents are within the area so we won't have to worry about outside injuries," Sparrow clicked his tongue quietly in thought, "Until I narrow down a good spot, you can go about your life as you normally would. If you have the urge to look for information, text me when you find any. Other than that, I think we can reconvene at a later date. For now, I need to start walking back to my dorm for curfew."

     As the boy placed his phone back into his pocket, he extended his hand in a farewell handshake, "It was great to meet you, Nicki. I'm sure we'll be able to do a lot of good for this world together. Remember that you can always text me if you need help or have questions, okay?"

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Their encounter seemed to be coming to an end. It was late and cold, and her family was probably worried and slightly irritated, that she wasn’t home yet.

    “Like I said, any place would probably be good, so whatever you choose will be cool. You can just contact me if you need any help or whatever. It was lovely to meet you as well, I’ll keep that in mind. And again, sorry about earlier. Our introduction really wasn’t the best. Have a great night, see you around.”

    She shook Sparrow’s hand and nodded at him, then smiled and gave a little wave before walking around him towards the end of the alley. When she got there she turned and looked back, thinking over what had just happened. It’s not every night that you meet someone trying to track down a secret organisation, and then join said person. Shaking her head she laughed and turned back walking down the sidewalk. She quickly made her way home, going straight to her room. She lay on her bed, tossing her phone in the air and catching it over and over again while staring at the ceiling. This town sure was a weird place, but that just made it even cooler.