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 Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 7:44 pm
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As prim and proper as she may've appeared at first glance, something isn't quite right about the redblooded maid-servant. Despite her apparent mission to find the purple pen, there's no sense of urgency in her step, no exuberance, no nothing. Her shadow, Lutrin, has more life than she. The click of her heels keeps her from noticing the soft steps of the thief on her tail.
Along the way there are many doors, all exactly the same and shut tight, hiding their secrets. At the end of the long hall is a stairwell, one the redblood takes up towards the third floor, up towards the room with the bejeweled window box. It's possible to go down just as easily; the stairs curl around like a spiral in each direction.
From below, another round of barks and a sound like running. From above, silence save for the redblood's heels.
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 8:05 pm
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Lutrin hung back as the servant reached the stairs. Rather than immediately follow after, she waited around the corner, lurking in what little shadows she could find cover in with wide eyes. When at last the redblood disappeared onto the next level, Lutrin clasped her hands together. She let out a hearty chuckle, befitting a true villainous mastermind. She now had access to the third floor and all its secrets.
Without shame, Lutrin retrieved a piece of coloured chalk from her equipment satchel and drew an arrow on the wall, designating the way she had come. Map or no map, she would not be confounded by Moorba's labyrinth. She then, on the opposite wall towards the stairs going down, drew a question mark along with a mouth full of gnashing teeth. Judging by the sound of Moorba's lusus/pet/guardian beast, the first floor would be her escape route only if no other alternative was available.
Stashing her chalk, Lutrin scuttled up the stairs in a crablike fashion. She had lost her guide for the time being, but perhaps she could find her again. She stood still at the top of the stairs, listening. Sure enough, from further down the hall she heard the servant's distinct footsteps. Chortling, Lutrin scurried in the direction she thought they came from. She did not scurry so quickly though, that she ignored the doors lining the hall. She kept her lookstubs out for the block with the beautiful bejewelled box.
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 8:38 pm
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Of the rooms Lutrin may have peeked in on, most held recuperacoons and other odds and ends like chairs and bookshelves. They were obviously spare blocks, as many as a hotel might have, and completely unnecessary for a mansion housing a single occupant and their lusus (unless one was kind enough to count the servants who slept in their basement quarters far below). Nothing here looked overly lived in. There was quite a bit of dust.
One of the doors, however, lead to a small closet full of cleaning supplies. A mop and bucket, a broom and dustpan, but the only truly interesting thing was a green coat. Like the previous rooms, it was covered in a thick layer of dust. Who knew how long it had been there.
Further down the hall, the redblood stopped at a door roughly halfway down, just about the same distance from the stairs as the ablution block had been. Unlike the others, this door was purple and bordered with a tacky, peeling stick-on gem pattern. As the redblood reached for the doorknob, the door swung in and left her standing there with an almost surprised expression.
"Hey, whoa, oh-! Ah, it's only you, Saadsa." The man who came out of the block was clad in a similar looking butler costume, black lined with brown instead of red. "Hey, do me a favor, huh? Don't go in there."
She gave him a dubious look, but turned away from the door when he moved and pulled it shut behind him.
"Moorba's gonna be looking for dinner soon. Help a guy out?"
"The mistress sent me to retrieve her notebook and pen," she argued listlessly, but began to follow him down the hall away from where she'd come.
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 11:10 pm
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While most of the third floor held little to interest a thief (at least for the novelty hunting kind), one room secreted a delightful surprise. “Oho-HO!” Lutrin chortled, as she held open the door to the closet. The laugh slipped out before she could stop herself, spoiling her otherwise silent pursuit. Suddenly aware, but not all together shameful, she cast a furtive glance down the hall. Her eyes slid this way and that, searching out any witnesses to her slip-up. Somehow, miraculously, the redblood seemed not to have heard. The bungle went unnoticed. Chuckling with renewed zeal, Lutrin ducked inside the closet and shut the door behind her.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then there came a rustling from within. It was followed by a jostling, and then a tussling. The door bulged against its hinges. Something clunked. Another thing thumped. Gears churned. The signature boing of a spring joined the growing orchestra. “Shhh!” Lutrin's voice urged suddenly. All noises ceased their ruckus immediately. After a moment, they began again but proceeded at no greater than fifty percent volume.
At last the noises stopped and Lutrin burst forth from the closet. Except not Lutrin. The troll that emerged was nothing like the black squirrel, the scourge of the trees. Scourge of toilets might have been a more apt title for this troll. Armed with a mop, a bucket, and a scruffy moustache, and dressed in an oversized coat with a kerchief wrapped around their hair and horns, they were without a doubt of the custodial pedigree. Of course, were one to examine this picture perfect janitor a little closer they might have noticed that the moustache was of the stick-on variety. Were they to examine even closer they might have thought the dirt on their face to be conspicuously smudged. And if this hypothetical observer was on the more astute side, they might have deduced the possibility of the kerchief doubling as a face mask. All in all, the shoddy janitor cut a suspicious character in the otherwise cultured manor.
Also there was very clearly a loot bag sitting in the mop bucket.
Catching the door handle before it could fly into the wall and make a loud bang, Lutrin instead slowly drew the door back the few remaining inches to the wall and let it touch with all the gentleness of one kissing a sleeping kitten. Neither the door nor wall made a sound, not even so much as one sleepy but contented purr. All for the better. Giving the wall a loving pat, Lutrin turned to resume her mission, allowing the rest of us to put to rest (no pun intended) this weird and protracted analogy and get on with it.
With the mop in one hand, and the bucket and her sack full of goodies in the other, Lutrin continued down the hall to where the servant and another, different servant conversed. Pressing herself and her cleaning bucket into a shallow alcove, Lutrin hung back far enough to not draw attention to herself and waited out the engagement. When the pair left (thankfully in the opposite direction as herself), Lutrin scurried out from her poor excuse for a hiding place to the obvious door. Those tacky, shiny, glue-on gems meant something good!
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 3:17 pm
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It was finally time. Lutrin—no, the manor's custodian—would find the Lady's room behind the juvenile entryway. Of all the blocks so far and even those spaces outside, this was certainly the grandest. The ceiling stretched higher up than it had in the hall, peaking into the vague shape of a triangle. From it hung twinkle lights, a few of which were dim and needed replaced.
Down from the ceiling and along the walls, the strings of lights continued. They arched around hanging photography and ended only an inch or so above the floor. It was like a night sky missing its moons.
To the left, Atrili's recuperacoon, large and elegant and framed on all sides by sheer purple curtains. Above it stood well-made fake architecture. Castle parapets, just like the play set outside. To the right, two dressers stood tall on either side of a small, oval shaped table and an unbelievably comfortable looking plush chair. Atop the table were strewn a great many things from makeup to hair clips to a small, silky satchel that looked like it should have something jingly inside.
A mess, quite honestly, but difficult to tell whether Atrili had made it herself or if someone had been going through her things.
The rest of the block was not so disheveled. There was a tea table near the recuperacoon set with expensive china and overlooking an impressively sized dollhouse modeled after—you may have guessed—a castle.
In the very center of the room, a lonely box, nondescript save mailing labels and postmarks. It was unopened, but marked with large, distinct claw marks. Sat on top, a sealed envelope.
From somewhere in the hive, another bark could be heard.
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 4:08 pm
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As she entered the cavernous respite block, Lutrin set aside her mop and bucket. First thing her eyes drifted upwards, and she gazed open mouthed at the ceiling with all its twinkling stars. The whimsy and grandeur was not lost on her, and a for a moment she could do little more than marvel, lookstubs not unlike the china saucers by the recuperacoon.
Once she had gathered her wits once more, Lutrin got to business. She scanned the room with the expert eye of a thief, searching for anything of value... or more accurately of interest. True to typical Lutrin fashion, the brownblood ignored the china as well as anything else in the same vein of classically expensive and went for anything that captured her whimsy.
Hoisting her loot sack out of the bucket, she scurried around the room, sweeping various treasures into the bag. Of course she took the satchel—its mystery contents were as novel as anything else. She also selected a few hair clips she liked, and in the bag they went. Next up was the dollhouse. While the house itself was too big for her to take with her, the furniture and props within were not. Anything that was not glued down was soon cleared out. “Move the right way. Looter's Movers: All your belongings will handled with care!” she chimed merrily as she stuffed it into her sack. The bag had become quite full and quite heavy. Lutrin was not yet finished though.
Hopping around the room she disentangled the lights from their fixtures, a process that was a little... louder than ideal. Lutrin paid no mind though. She took her time, even going so far as to spare more than a few moments to draw moustaches and monocles on the hanging portraits. At last though the lights made their way into the bag and she was done. Almost. The box and the letter in the centre of the block still needed to be addressed.
Lutrin grabbed the chair by its frame and dragged it across the floor towards the box. When it stood more more than a foot away she plopped down, bouncing lightly on the soft cushion. She pulled the box (and its letter) into her lap and using her teeth, ripped it open. “Let's see what secrets you're hiding, Moorba!” The letter would follow in a moment.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 7:40 am
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What hid inside the inconspicuous box was nothing absolutely groundbreaking. It held no secret poised to ruin Moorba's already shaky reputation; in fact, there were more clues scattered around her own oversized hive to implicate her than here in this lone cardboard box.
The prize was, presumably, a gift to Atrili from someone named Euberi. Inside the box was a mixture of bubble wrap and white tissue paper flecked with rainbow glitter and beneath those protective layers....
It was a crown fit for play-pretend royalty, bulky and plastic. Wherever the manufacturer could squeeze a large gem, there was one, to the point where not a single smooth surface remained. Each gem was heavily faceted and shiny, but on closer inspection was nothing more than colored clear plastic dusted in glitter and finished in high-gloss clear coat. Behind them, if Lutrin squinted, it was possible to see tiny light bulbs.
Sent with the crown was a short scepter topped with a similar fake jewel. Attached by a flimsy plastic tie was a piece of the toy's original packaging, a small tag announcing in cute, curvy font:
♔
Be the Queen You Were Meant to Be!
Light up the room and lead the way
with a wave of your scepter!
AA Batteries Included
From somewhere in the hive came thuds, like excited footsteps of something large coming ever closer.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 5:33 pm
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“Its perfect.”
Allowing the bubble wrap and tissue paper to fall to the floor in a heap, Lutrin held the crown with trembling fingers, her eyes wide and aglow with wonder. It was without a doubt the grand prize of her expedition; a treasure truly befitting a king (or queen as it were) of thieves. This made all her efforts worthwhile. That and all the other junk she stole. The sceptre was not half bad either.
Spending only a moment more to admire it, Lutrin stuffed the crown and rod into her loot sack along with the bubble wrap she had dropped on the floor. Bubble wrap had too many uses to be thrown around so carelessly! She had to hurry though. She could hear approaching footsteps from deeper within the hive. Her visit was nearing its end.
First thing's first: a calling card. Fortunately her host (or technically Euberi) had provided one for her in a manner of speaking. Retrieving the purple poof pen from her bag, Lutrin scribbled a hasty signature outside of the envelope that had accompanied the package, “The Black Squirrel ☺”. When she was finished she slapped it—the envelope—back down on the table. The pen of course went back into her bag. With that out of the way she set about making her escape.
Going to the window, Lutrin found her grappling hook exactly where she had left it. She drew up the end of the rope and tied it around the end of her loot sack. Then, she gently lowered the rope and bag back out the window. When it had gone as far as the length of rope would allow, she pried the the hook from the window box and dropped it. A second later she heard bag land with a thump in the grass below. Next up: herself.
The footsteps were getting louder, but Lutrin had paid them little mind. She ripped the curtains from around the recuperacoon and tore them into long sheets. Winding them around each other for extra strength, she soon had a short, makeshift rope. It would not reach the base of the hive, that much was certain, but it would get her partway. She had enough experience with falling that she was sure she could handle one more. She tied it off at the base of the window. There was only one last thing to do.
“Citizens of the Moorba Mansion!” Lutrin proclaimed in a loud voice. She puffed out her chest and invoked all her juggalo training. “Tonight is a night to remember! Tonight marks the event of a lifetime! Tonight... tonight is the night history was made!” She paused for dramatic effect. In the pause she could hear several footsteps hurrying towards her. “I cannot stay much longer—destiny calls—but remember this as the night you were saved from your mortal sins. Do not waste this opportunity. Live happy and live well! Viva la Revolution!”
Then, wrapping the end of the curtain around her hand, she swung out into the night.
Hivestuck I'm good ending it here if you want!
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