Questionable Friends With Curious Skills

The week had gone by slowly. Amaryllis had to bring most of the books on birds to Jackal’s. The envy bun was quickly frustrated with the lack of progress… or really it was the lack of response from Mercy that got to her. Not that Ama could blame Jackal.

When Jackal mentioned breaking into Mercy’s office, the greed bun wasn’t opposed, but she wanted at least one more “breaking-and-entering” expert with them. She sighed as she pulled her phone out. She only knew a handful of buns with questionable skills, but the only one she trusted in this matter would be a bit of a pain.

She clicked on the number and in seconds of the ringing start, a voice popped on the line. It was a strangely chipper, moderately deep femme voice, staccato in manner. Amaryllis resisted the urge to sigh as she heard this all too familiar voice.

“Ama, doll, what can I do for you? You never call me unless you need information.”

“Aletheia, It is not information I need this time…. Do you still own those lockpicks?”

“Oh, hun, what chu need lockpicks for? I can’t imagine that it would be any good you’d be up to with those.”

The publisher took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose before she breathed out her next words. “Just come over to Jackal’s and I can explain. Bring your kit.” She snapped her phone shut. She opened it again to text the address to Aletheia.

“You know someone with lockpick and information gathering skills?” Jackal asked as Ama put the phone down.

“Yeah…. They’re… Interesting. To say the least.”

“Interesting?”

“I’ll have to explain how I met them to fully explain how they’re interesting.”

“We should have time?”

“‘Should’ being the operative word.” Ama laughed. “But, it’s a story that involves them breaking into my office to hide after having vandalized a storefront.”

“Well, that’s even wild as a summary.”

It was at this moment that there was a knock on the door. The knock was rhythmic, one, four, two, repeat. The goth shrugged and went to answer the door. There stood a pale pride bun, somewhere between punk and goth themselves. They wore only shorts and a cape, a belt on the cape serving as a ‘modesty’ covering, if it could be called that.

“Jackal, this is Aletheia. Aletheia meet Jackal. She can inform you on the job along the way.”

“Misty, we’ll be back soon.” Jackal said before the three buns left. They all headed for the church. Amaryllis walked away from the other two, who went to hide. She would meet them later.

The goth went to talk to Oleander. It wasn’t much of a conversation, and it definitely got the result that she wanted. Soon, she had reunited with Jackal and Aletheia. She had just hid in the shadows as Mercy left her office. Once Mercy’s footsteps had faded, the trio approached the door.

Lethe already had her tools out, crouching at the door. Jackal almost protested, wanting to do the picking herself, until she heard them mumbling.

“Nothing on 1.. Bind.. Bind… nothing… Click…” After a few seconds of this, they all heard the satisfying click of a lock turning. Aletheia opened the door and they all rushed in, shut and locked the door behind them.

They immediately started searching. Jackal and Aletheia take separate filing cabinets, picking locks when necessary. The pride bun was more in it for their own gain, but would mention anything to the other two that would pertain to their investigation.

When Ama called them both over to look at a file and a shiny item that Aletheia couldn’t describe, they were all baffled. That feeling was quickly decimated when they heard footsteps. Ama held the feather as the other two made sure everything was locked. The trio slipped out the window, Aletheia closing the window in a questionably expert method.

They quickly made their way back to Jackal’s place, having more questions now than they had previously. The feather was now in one of Jackal’s pockets, and all were silent as they walked, as if they agreed that they shouldn’t talk until back in privacy.