Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ruby dropped some money into the pie tin of a street beggar, remembering what it was like to homeless and wandering, the streets were getting worse, and for a number of reasons. Jehric may have a functioning city, but the people were suffering. She didn't know Jehric well enough to decide whether she liked him or not, and moreover didn't care much. She was there for the Angel, and maybe to help save the world just a little bit, or at least try.

She stopped at what used to be a pet store and peeked in. "Hello? Anyone here? Anything fuzzy by chance?"

A man at the counter looked up, he had the face of a clown without the make-up, and looked decidedly unfunny. "Jack's meat market, find the animal you want, hand over some cash, and take it home."

Ruby stared blankly. "Do you have any hamsters?"

The man shook his head, "Sorry, beautiful, sold those already. They were cheap, and people are hungry, all the cats and puppies are gone too, probably in stir fry now. Just have a goose, a couple rabbits, a turtle and two frogs." He smiled, showing a chipped tooth, "The turtle would make some nice soup, and if you french, there's nothing like a set of frog legs."

Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what had happened to the pet store. She pulled out her wallet, and handed over the remaining cash, "I'll take 'em all, everythin' you got left."

The man grinned, "You sure you need all that meat, princess? Well, can't say no to a pretty customer, they're all yours." He took the money, a very satisfied smile on his face.

((Are you gonna make your own version of a platypus?))

((I think she's starting an animal shelter...it should last until other people find out...))

Ruby took the cages and walked back to the base, trying to figure out what to do with all these animals, and how she was going to replace Aaron's hamster without a hamster. "Two rabbits, a goose, a turtle and two frogs. I can put the rabbits in the reactor room, in that one corner, security shouldn't notice. I can put the frogs an' the goose in the lowerst level, an I suppose if I get some of the fake fur from my craft cupboard an' glue it on just right....." She looked at the turtle. "He's about the right size."

She smiled as things finally started to look up.

rofl

A.C. is everywhere. She sees the petshop-turned-butchery, though she knew about that before (she herself had gotten birds for the barracks cook from there), she saw Ruby's charity, and she saw the witch. She was at the right angle to see what her frog was up to, but she assumed it was something magic. Some kind of spirit, perhaps? An animal spy? It didn't matter, so she didn't focus on it.

But now she was torn between following Ruby and seeing what she did with all those animals, and the witch, who might be an important background factor herself. The first was a guarenteed to get her into the AA base, albeit unknowingly, but the latter... it was so rare to get a look at other shadow agents, find out anything about them. Doubtless the witch would lose her before she learned anything else, but A.C. took the chance.

And was rewarded with horror as the witch shapeshifted before her very eyes. She'd memorized the old woman's face at the first, as always, but not since, and now she was horribly worried that the frog had somehow stolen Ruby's youth and given it to this woman. Or worse yet, that the witch really was a shapeshifter or illusionist. If she was, then she was a much worse threat than A.C. had realized.

Even through her horror, A.C. observed, and gradually her alarm lessened. Old spy trick: You can't release the emotion or turmoil--of anything--because you might be caught. You can't talk to anybody, either. So what do you do? You do your job. You track, observe, take notes in a clinically detached part of your brain, and wait until you realize that you're making something out of nothing, but that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't up to something.

In other words, this was a typical day in the life of a spy.