PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Vhexxen
N/A
quirk Packmate
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N/A
alias Feral
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Post by Feral on Jun 2, 2020 4:54:29 GMT
Feral was coming to appreciate and, dare say, even enjoy doing things she didn’t have to do to survive. Sure, she would have dug through trash to survive, and not especially minded, but her current was much more... optional? Farther out on a branch on the tree of stuff to spend her energy on?
She had already been through three dumpsters this pre-dawn morning, her eyes occasionally tingling like breathed-in mint as she moved into deep shadows sheltered from the street lights and lit door alcoves. There may not have been a moon, but honestly low clouds were better for light: in the city, all the distant lights just reflected off the clouds, and even the inside of a (open) dumpster held plenty of light for her Quirk-boosted eyes. Like right now, with her bare feet (easily washed off when she was done, and so much more comfortable than shoes) perched on an empty pizza box. It had been half-full when she first hopped into this dumpster.
She, of course, had not eaten it; in a few hours, she would be back on campus, enjoying hot food that didn’t risk not being able to taste anything for the next few days. Besides, she wasn’t especially hungry at this time of night/morning. No, at the scent of reasonably fresh pizza the big dump puppy snuffling around the stray trash bags outside the dumpster had started drooling and jumping up on the metal box that echoed with every movement. So she’d tossed him a piece, and then Quick looked on disapprovingly as she tossed Kai the other remaining slice.
”What? You don’t like pizza.” That didn’t stop Quick from huffing at them both, but Kai was happy (and quiet), and Feral had returned to rummaging. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she had come across all sorts of interesting things in past days when she had done this for food. She hadn’t had a use for them then, and often didn’t have the energy for more than passing interest. Now, though...
What she would do would depend on what she found, and the condition it was in. First, though, she had to find something. Something interesting and usable.
Oooooh, what was that? That was shiny. Shiny was good.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Vhexxen
N/A
quirk Packmate
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N/A
alias Feral
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Post by Feral on Jun 2, 2020 20:00:24 GMT
Her ears swivelled in interest as Feral tugged open the hole-ridden white garbage bag. Kitchen garbage, mostly, bits of plastic and meat scraps that apparently weren’t supposed to go in the compost, but strangely heavy at the bottom. That wasn’t what had caught her attention, though.
No, her eye had snagged on a flash of glossy red through one of the holes, in one of the scraps of light from the nearest streetlight, and as she widened the hole she found herself looking at a glass sphere, bigger than Crow’s head, with deep shadows swirling across one half. The other half was almost clear. It rolled out of the bag with surprising weight. Probably heavy enough to cave in a skull, if she wanted. One side was flatter, and opposite that was a different sort of smooth. A chip, or maybe something broken off? Either way, the edge was pretty sharp, so she’d have to be careful carrying it back. Oh! It would be easy to carry in a sling, rather than barehanded. And what if she found other things, or wanted to climb anything? She should have her hands free.
She gave the glass ball a wipe on the side of a nearby dry garbage bag and held it up to the light. Hard to see colour as well until her eyes shifted back, but it was probably very pretty. Someone would probably like it. Ooh, there was another, smaller one in the bag too! Or two? No, they were stuck together, and there was a chip at the bottom of the bigger one. Did it... it did! It fit together with the first one she’d found. So it was three stuck together, but it had broken apart so someone threw it out.
Whatever. It was still pretty. The smaller top pieces were more swirly than the bottom one, and looked to be the same colours. Okay. She really needed to set up a sling now. She set the prizes on top of a garbage bag and rummaged around some more. There had been a sturdier garbage bag in here somewhere... there it was. It wasn’t tough enough to resist her tearing skills, and she dumped out the contents. All dry stuff, nasty and dusty but it all came out of the bag without resistance. She hopped up and hung over the edge of the dumpster for a minute to let the air clear and clear out her face, and then returned to nest the glass balls in the emptied bag. She tied the ends together securely and slung it from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Not bad, not bad. Now, what else could she find?
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Vhexxen
N/A
quirk Packmate
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N/A
alias Feral
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Post by Feral on Jun 3, 2020 5:13:17 GMT
Several dumpsters later, as well as some abandoned odds and ends at the peripheries of residential areas (and a brief nap on one such abandoned couch. It was comfy! Why would someone toss such a comfy couch?), Feral had added a few bits and bobs to her impromptu sling, padding the glass pretty with a very silky scarf, a fox-ear headband that didn’t quite fit behind her own ears, and what looked like it was supposed to be money? But not money that she’d ever seen before. A plastic-y bill, creased in the middle, and mostly blue, with some dude’s face in a white spiky circle like he was supposed to be looking out of the sun. It had lots of squiggly writing and some pictures of buildings on it too. At any rate, into the sling it went.
Taking a little break on a bus stop bench, Feral yawned and stretched, not quite risking falling off the bench altogether. Quick and Kai were half a block away, keeping out of sight as the streets began to see people going about their morning routines. There was a busy little store across the road that reeked of coffee even to Feral’s relatively dim nose. And grease. The grease smelled better.
Her stomach growled. She could use breakfast. The rest of the pack could too, although Kai had already broken his fast. She lifted her chin slightly and sniffed. It would be easy to bump into one of the barely-awake commuters coming out of there with a bag in one hand and an oversized coffee in the other, pop the flimsy paper bag open along the bottom, and make off with the sandwich or bagel or whatever while they, at most, tried to clean up the rest of the mess. It wasn’t as if any of them were alert enough to notice properly, much less identify or catch her.
....
No, she was supposed to be a hero student now. And she didn’t need to steal food. She just had to go back to campus and there would be food. The cafeteria would be open by the time she made it back, especially after she’d stopped into her pack’s dorm room to unload the presents and dole out kibble. And check on Crow and see if he’d even twitched yet today, lazy fluff.
She stretched again. The cafeteria would indeed be open soon, but it was still a good.... three hours before class? The school catered to overzealous heroes-to-be who trained at all hours, so it made sense, but she had occasionally wondered just who really went there that early. Well, now she would know! She could go get food that she wouldn’t get in trouble over, and then figure out a plan with the shinies!
With a sharp whistle that had a couple of commuters glancing up, miraculously, Feral hopped over the back of the bench and strolled in the campus’ direction, the two dogs emerging from the shadows and falling into step on either side of their packmate. It was a grouping that risked drawing some unwanted attention, but dissuaded more often than not. And she did have her UA identification tucked away if it came to that.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Vhexxen
N/A
quirk Packmate
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N/A
alias Feral
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Post by Feral on Jun 5, 2020 1:20:11 GMT
Later that evening, or perhaps still afternoon, Feral returned to her mission. Class had been dull and dry and stiff all day, just chairs and chair and chairs and talking, and she may have nodded off a few times in each course, but she had been able to jot down the required homework.... which she would do later. There wasn’t a lot of it, anyway, mostly reading (less terrible than writing, especially since it wasn’t kanji-heavy reading), and all that time in class had given her an Idea.
Before leaving campus again, she stopped into her dorm to check in on her now entirely lazy pack. Quick found the energy to stretch and stroll into the hallway while Feral reclaimed the broken glass thing from the bathroom, where she had washed it and left it to dry, and tucked it into her school backpack. She kept a wallet in the backpack too, but that was mostly because it was soaked in peppermint and salty chip grease and even her nose could follow it if someone tried to steal it. Her actual Important Plastic Cards (identification, bank card, and Lunar Agency contact information) lived much more securely on her person.
Still barefoot, still in black leggings, but now in a UA t-shirt over her usual black tank, and now ready to go! Feral wove her way off campus with Quick close to her heels, and the pair meandered through city streets for a few dozen minutes before reaching a more commercial neighbourhood, one much less wealthy than those closer to the prestigious and well-defended campus. It wasn’t grungy enough for the average citizen to consider it sketchy, but the stores were perhaps more closely watched by their staff.
The store she went for sold a little bit of everything; that was why she sought it ought. It was also right beside a pet store. Quick’s ears tipped forward as they approached, her step brightening and trending right toward lively. With a little grin, Feral pushed the pet store’s door open and let the leashless white dog trot inside.
A little bell chimed above the door, and some general rummaging noises answered from the back of the store, followed by a pause, a thumb, and a muffled string of strangely mild curses. Feral raised an eyebrow but turned her attention back to Quick, who had needed very little prompting to start patrolling the aisle, nose irreverently shoved into this bin, that box, and that other mound of toys. A rubber chicken in a tuxedo screamed, wheezily. Student and dog both tilted their heads to the left as it reinflated.
Put it back, Feral told Quick wordlessly. The dog sniffed the toy chicken, bumped it with her nose, and then pawed at it. She bounced back as it wheezed again. And then barked at it, and then looked back at Feral.
”Really?” Feral sighed. Of course one of the rare times that Quick, of everyone in the pack, wanted something new, it was on a day that Feral was planning on spending money on something else....... and it screamed like someone was desperately trying to die. ”That’s what you want. You’re sure.”
Yes! Oh, Quick was very sure, and immediately scooped the toy up by its face, with her teeth, and trotted down the aisle as she shook it from side to side, eliciting smaller, squeakier noises as she went.
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