Crouching Tiger, Hidden Souls

About twenty minutes later, there is a chime from the phone to indicate a message.

When accessed the message would pop up as such.

"Good day.

I see that you have made a posting about a possible job opportunity near Nan-Wen Cheng, presumably one with an immediate urgency to it.

Unfortunately, it isn't possible for us to provide a full team as you have requested, as sufficient numbers of people in that area or able to reach that area and willing to take on said job are not available. If a full team compliment is required, we won't be able to accommodate you at this time.

However, we do have a single volunteer ready to be assigned to this job if that would be sufficient for you.

Please reply at your earliest convenience to let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Anonymercs"

Sandy had just begun to pour out another cup of tea when the message popped up. He tilted his head, mouthing the name of the.... Organisation? Under his breath. It's not anything he had seen before. A combination of two words, maybe?

Regardless, help is still help even if it is just one fellow. At least this group seemed to sound like they know what they're doing. Sandy sat up in his chair and typed a quick reply, indicating that he would be fine with one person, and his current address. After a few minutes of thinking, he also added "please help bring a bottle of cinnabar ink, thank you" to the end of the message.

He tapped on the send button and took a relieved sip of his tea, thankful that whatever deity upstairs had answered his request. Now he really just need that ink...

((sorry for the late reply!! Life is a whack

( OOC: No worries. I believe life is what happens when you're busy making other plans after all. )

Another reply arrives promptly.

"We are glad to be of service.

We will be sending our representative into your area shortly. Of course, it will take some extra time to secure your requested item. There will be an additional fee for doing so.

We anticipate that your request will be fulfilled within an hour though. So expect our representative at your indicated address at that time. You will be able to identify him as a wolf with silver fur.

Anonymercs"

Sandy raised an eyebrow at 'additional fee', though he brushed it off quickly. How expensive can a bottle of cinnabar ink be, they're in most stationery ships in Nan-Wen Cheng. As to why Sandy didn't get one earlier.... He left his money in the inn.

Sandy looked over the glass teapot with many dried rose petals and leaves floating in the brown water, the tiny glass teacups surrounding it, and his leftover food. Figuring that there was after all an hour before the help arrive, he settled to at least finish his tea while waiting, and at the same time do some googling on this 'Anonymercs'. Maybe he'll get a clue about the wolf.

A quick search of the term Anonymercs would turn up references to a organization that operated much like a staffing agency. Apparently, they appeared to field varying numbers of freelancers to handle all sorts of jobs all around the world, ranging from mundane every day tasks to jobs that would be expected to be handled by military forces. Specific details about those activities were sparse though. Finding information about specific individuals related to Anonymercs would likely take much more than an hour to do though, as they certainly did their best to provide anonymity to both their operatives and their contractors.


About seventy five minutes later...

It had taken quite some time to get here, not too surprising when one has to be sent from one region of a continent to another. The fact that he was there now was a testament to the ability of his employers to coordinate their activities to get people and things around, especially on sort notice.

Getting dropped off at what was considered the 'local office' for Anonymercs in Nan-Weng Cheng, not that it was labelled as such in any way, the wolf was left with an address and a general idea of how to get there. He was also given a package to deliver to the contractor as well.

First he'd have to find said contractor though.

Unfortunately, despite all of his experience navigating the wilderness, finding his way around developed urban areas continued to pose a challenge for him. He'd occasionally get lost or turned around and ended up needing to stop and get directions several times along the way.

As a result, he was late by the time he reached the rendezvous location: the Jade Sea teahouse. Striding up to the entrance, he makes his way inside.

Once inside the building the silver furred wolf pauses to glance around. Dressed in dark brown pants and a dark green shirt, he didn't seem too conspicuous. But the fact that he had a pair of sheathed short swords visible on his back certainly drew some attention his way. Especially inside a teahouse. Most people made sure to give him a wide berth as they entered or exited the establishment.

He paid them little mind though. He was more curious as to who here had requested the help that he was going to try and provide.

(So charredh gave me permission to join, but if you don't want me to interfere C.S.O that's fine too, I can take down my post. Anyway, without further adieu)

Out of all of the places that he'd visited in his lifetime, the City of Nan-Wen had to be the echidna's favourite location. The crowded streets, packed sidewalks and the street vendors allowed for him to keep low, and attract as little attention as possible.

As little attention as possible was always a good thing, it allowed him to... Undertake tasks, of a... Unofficial nature. He made his way past a particularly eager vendor, urging him to purchase some undeniably fine trousers, which would likely have been made through hours of hard work.

In all of the places he'd been, Nan-Wen was the only place that softened him up at all, and funnily enough, he felt he could relax without getting stabbed in the back. Gangs weren't as prevalent here, and it was rare, if not unique that he should ever meet someone who recognised him. But it was bound to happen some day, and for that, he could never truly be at peace.

After managing to squeeze through a crowd with a rather strong flow, he ended up at the front entrance to the Jade Sea teahouse. Finally.

He dressed up especially for this occasion in particular, he had fond memories of this place. And in his life, fond memories were short-lived and far between, but this one, this one remained.

He stepped inside, making his way quietly to a table, greeting the staff as he passed, the only people he'd be happy recognised him.

He sat quietly, simply wanting to enjoy the environment before putting his mind to anything, the smell of tea, and small dumplings wafted its way over towards him, and he turned his head slightly, allowing himself to see the small squirrel sitting nearby, enjoying a meal, alone.

Or at least, he thought the squirrel was alone, a rifle sat across from them, immediately causing the echidna to be drawn out from the moment, unable to feel the peace he'd most commonly associated with the establishment.

His burnt orange quills and large build looked rather ridiculous in his silken garments, but it was one of the only things he could enjoy, and damn well he was going to enjoy it.

Sandy from his spot on the top floor of the teahouse spotted the wolf as he strode into the building. He took a total of seventy-five minutes; frankly, it could be worse. He knew how hard it was to navigate foreign streets after all especially when most of Nan-Wen's residents were so tall. 

He waited until the wolf had somehow wandered to the top floor whether with help or not and waved at him, hoping that the wolf would spot him. The rifle should be striking enough, at least. Unless that large Echidna staring at his gun a short way from his table is more eye-catching than him.

( OOC: It's not my place to try and chase anyone else out of an open rp. So, I don't think you need to be worried about that. )

After a brief time spent by the main entrance, surveying the main floor of the tea house and not seeing anyone trying to draw his attention, the wolf sighs softly. He was definitely going to have to talk to someone at Anonymercs about getting the description of contractors just in case they didn't come out to meet the people they had requested. Unfortunately, that did nothing for the wolf at the moment.

The only option he had was to wander the floor of the tea house and wait to see if anyone acknowledged him with anything other than a look of concern, due to the fact he was visibly armed.

As it turned out, the fact that his swords were visible lead one of the servers to eventually approach him.

"Um... excuse me sir." the server said cautiously as they held a serving tray against their chest.

The wolf turns and looks at them.

"We're not looking for any trouble here. People seem a bit nervous with you here, so is there anything we could help you with to speed you on your way?"

The wolf narrows his eyes slightly at the server, who shrinks back in response.

"I was asked to meet someone here for some sort of work." he replies, "I wasn't told who I was looking for though."

"Well... there was another person who had come in here earlier with a weapon. Perhaps that is who you are looking for?"

"Are they still here?" the wolf asks.

"I believe they are on the upper floor sir." the server replied, before more cautiously adding, "There's... not going to be a confrontation is there?"

"Not that I'm aware of." the wolf replies, as he glances upward, "If there is though, I'll try to be sure that they are the only one who gets hurt."

With that, the wolf walks away from the server, who quickly retreated to report the exchange to their shift manager.

The wolf heads up the stairs and makes his way to the top floor of the tea house. Once clear of the stairs, he pauses to look around again. Almost immediately, the waving of a squirrel caught his attention. As the only person to actually try to grab his attention, other than the server he'd left behind, the wolf makes his way over. He takes note of the people around as he walks past, but otherwise ignores the other patrons.

He stops beside the squirrel's table.

"You were the one that requested assistance?" he asks.

Thankfully, Sandy's lithe appearance is mostly enough to not brand him as someone dangerous in such a place. That, and his sect was quite well known in the region anyway. As the wolf approached his table he got up from h is seat to shake the wolf's hand.

"Ah... Yes! My name is Sandy. Sorry for the urgency, more than a couple of lives hang in the balance now but I'm sadly not enough to help." Sandy whispered in his accented english and moved the rifle out of the seat, propping it against the table instead. "...The authorities requested that if possible, we keep the tiger alive for conservation purposes so this can only shoot sleeping darts, don't worry about it." The squirrel added hurriedly when he noticed the look in the wolf's eyes. "...Not saying we won't need the swords, though. If you'd like, you can order some food while we wait and see if anyone else would want to come. "

(Okie dokie, I'm not sure what the Order is, but considering that my posts are currently mostly observant, I don't think their placement matters. But if you want me to wait, I can take it down and post later?)

Not too soon after the echidna had noticed the rifle sitting across from the small squirrel, a Wolf, quite blatantly adorned with dual blades entered the building, causing quite a commotion as he made his way over. The place became quieter, but not silent, staff moved around with a quickened pace, and the echidna's heartbeat picked up a few bpms.

Apparently, the wolf was there to see, or it seemed, hired by, the young squirrel. He approached the rather, sandy coloured squirrel's table, not making to sit down, but instead standing, the swords on his back facing the orange echidna.

He shifted uncomfortably, realising that with with the current seating arrangement, it'd be likely he wouldn't be seeing any refreshments any time soon. For now, the staff seemed to prefer to stay away from the wolf and Squirrel.

Apparently the squirrel's name was Sandy, and along with that, listening to his speech revealed a lot of information as to why they were armed.

Intriguing.

If the authorities were after the... Tiger... then it'd be almost certain that a third party, some deranged collector, would be eager to pay a high price to have it in their own personal zoo. 

The echidna tried not to make eye contact with the two of them, instead attempting to look inconspicuous, or at least partially disturbed by the presence of weaponry, much like the other patrons. But in truth, this venture to the teahouse had already been soiled, and anyway, a rather interesting topic had arisen at the other table.

The wolf shakes Sandy's paw and nods slightly to him in acknowledgement. He listens to his description of the situation and the general outline of what they need to do.

"Alright. Sounds simple enough." the wolf says, "You're just trying to catch someone if possible. Something more aggressive if necessary."

The wolf then takes a seat across the table from Sandy.

"I think I'll be fine without getting anything to eat here. Not sure if their workers want to get anywhere close to me now." he adds.

He then takes the package he'd been carrying and set it on the table, before pushing partway across the table towards Sandy.

"I believe you requested this." he says, then sat back in his seat,

"Some.... Yes, a tiger. Not the mobian sort. A real wild tiger that the locals suspect to be possessed- oh, thank you." Sandy accepted the package and unwrapped it to reveal the opaque red bottle he's been waiting for. From his small duffel bag Sandy took out a few slips of yellow paper (this earned a couple of patrons nearby requesting a seat change) as the youth paused in his actions to speak in his whispery tone. "Help yourself with the tea, they'll refill the teapot for you."

He didn't seem to realise now none of the staff dared to come near their table as he poured out a little ink onto the bottle cap and opened up a few crudely taken photographs of talisman diagrams on his phone. Dipping his little finger into the bottle cap, Sandy begun to draw on the neat stack of papers.

The echidna listened closely to the two of them talking, Sandy and... the wolf, whose name remained a mystery, smart, in his opinion. And while he didn't entirely agree with the open display of weaponry, he felt a little vulnerable without his own knife. The only place he'd go without it, the teahouse.

The wolf handed a package to the squirrel, who gladly accepted it, and opened it immediately, beginning to sketch something, which he couldn't quite clearly see, onto some yellowed parchment.

It now made sense why the authorities were after the tiger, it wasn't any normal animal, nor a mobian, but if he heard correctly, the squirrel had mentioned that it was possessed, before the package had taken priority. 

Sounds like it would go for a very high price indeed, not that the echidna was completely in the fold when it came to spirits, but he at least in some part of him, he believed in there being something after death, even if it was just the cold place he'd once been taken to...

The wolf looks a bit surprised by Sandy's clarification.

"A feral? Huh... you really wouldn't expect just one to be that big of a problem." he muses aloud, "But possessed you say?"

He falls quiet for several moments as he ponders that.

"Do you believe that is true? That we're dealing with a feral under someone's or something's control?" he asks.

Sandy finished drawing squiggly lines on the papers and peeled them apart to reveal the ink had bled through all the paper as he shrugged, "the locals have enough reason to believe it's ghosts; that island didn't have the best history and haven't been 'cleansed' in decades. As for whether I do... I won't be asking for help if I didn't, right?" 

He folded one of the paper into a small triangle and slid it towards the wolf. "...Regardless of whether you believe or not, please put this somewhere on your body as a safety precaution. It's something like a protection charm." He folded and tucked the remaining into his tail which had just been inconspicuously wrapped around his chair all this time.

While it would have been a preferable event for the visit to the Jade Sea Teahouse to have been peaceful, the current outcome didn't seem to be such a disaster after all. A few days in Nan-Wen was always a delight regardless.

Besides, this seemed to be quite interesting. However, while the echidna tended to believe in spirits, he was rather ignorant to any true power behind them, after all, he'd never dealt with a possession before.

He would follow the squirrel and wolf once they left, but would pay no mind to the protection charm.

The wolf accepts the charm and looks it over briefly. He then folds it up and tucks it into a pocket of his pants. He returns his focus to Sandy.

"When you mentioned the island, what do you mean by cleansed?" he asks.

((wolf, are you pausing your replies until the bois leave their seats?))

Sandy twiddled his fingers and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Like... Clean it of all the energies that was making the spirits rise up in the first place and placate them. That island's used to be a dumpimg ground for...mad or sick people, and now part of it is a recreational hunting site. Bad combination, but the company involved didn't believe in superstitious things like we do until they witnessed on camera a tiger wrecking a hole through the concrete wall. The first 'cleansing' was to just appease the locals, too."

He looked out of the window and at the island sitting peacefully in the middle of the sea. "All we need to do is subdue and tranquilise it, then I can exorcise it safely from there. We'll have to make sure the spirit doesn't try to... Possess a person, this gun's darts are only strong enough for a large cat so keep that charm on you at all times."

(Yes, I might throw in a reply if something interesting turns up, but you shouldn't need to wait for me)

The Squirrel, Sandy, continued to speak of the Tiger Spirit, the lore of the land, and what it would be that they were dealing with. He paid no mind to the foreboding discussion in relation to spirits, but a Tiger breaking through a wall? That raised his eyebrow, which he lowered back into its place swiftly afterwards.

( OOC: I'll keep that in mind to not wait for you then. Apologies in advance if I skip you when you want to post. )

"That does sound troublesome..." the wolf replies.

He frowns slightly as he regards Sandy.

"If the whole island is filled with... negative energy, I guess you'd call it, is it just the one tiger out there we need to deal with?" he then asks, "Is there anything we can do to be prepared if there is anything else out there?"

"It looks like only one tiger has been affected so far." Sandy answered. "They have already closed off the rest of the island to the visitors just in case."

He pointed at the charm the wolf just put into his pocket. "The charm will ensure we don't get... what's the word, 'influenced', but only for half a day. Luckily for us while the tiger is not to be killed, any other animals is free game. Won't suggest it, though."

Sandy tapped his cheek in thought and mumbled, "...I've never used the charms I made myself, but they should work..."

"Well... good to know that other people should be staying clear of the area. Hopefully the problem hasn't gotten worse." the wolf replies, "I'd like to avoid senseless killing of other animals as well. Would be a waste."

He narrows his eyes slightly when Sandy mentions that the charm will only last for half a day. Assuming they worked at all.

"So... will all the other charms you made and tucked away run out at the same time?" he asks.

Sandy laughed nervously at the wolf's mild concern over his charms' usability. "No, I didn't activate those. Oh by the way, the charm will start to burn when its effects are wearing off so please be careful!"

With that final warning Sandy looked at his phone again then back at the wolf. "Um... Any more things we should talk about?"

"Good to know. Hopefully that won't happen at an inopportune time." the wolf replies, "Nothing else comes to mind, unless you have anything else to let me know about."