Act 5, Scene Five, The Grinning Cat

Let us begin, shall we? 

“Halt! Hands up, drop your things, cat!”

Raieed took a few moments, looking down at the table from which he had been working on a prothesis he had been planning to give to Nikolai as a gift, as his old one had begun to resemble something pulled from a disposal chute, and slowly turned, looking to see three men in heavy security gear, clearly meant for particularly nasty riots and the occasional horde of angry cultists with pointy knives.

“...What?”

His genuinely confused statement and look actually gave the leader of the trio a moments pause, his well-set features forming a frown. Clearly, he had expected Raieed to resist. Or struggle. Or spit acid. Maybe this commander didn't understand Tajaran very well.

In all fairness, he did regain his composure fairly quickly. “Your under arrest for one hundred and sixty two premeditated murders, thirty two counts of theft, seven counts of grand theft, and one count of public nudity!”

Once again, Raieed returned another confused look, pulling the neon pink goggles up from his head, the band snapping against his forehead as he went to scratch at his chin. After a moment, Raieed decided on what he was going to respond with. “The fuck arrrrre you on about?”

This time, the Commander, who was clearly beginning to question if he had broken down the wrong door, didn't respond right away, the gun he had been threateningly pointing at Raieed lowering, and spoke something softly towards one of the officers behind him. “You sure it's him?”

The other officer, a barrel chested fellow who seemed to be bursting out of his armor, frowned and spoke up, his thick Scottish accent breaking the silence. “You know any fecking kets who cen own such nice fecking houses?”

It was true, the home that was currently missing a door and now possessed several burly men with large laser based weaponry was fairly nice, existing in a nice section of the station and housing several rooms for various things, and what you would call medium wealth furnishings, clearly not fitting a race who tended to earn credits somewhere between zip and nadda.

This seemed to re-encourage the commander, who turned and resumed his accusing pose, raising the gun towards Raieed, giving another threatening, or what he probably hoped looked threatening, glare. Now, had they not have spent the last few moments eye-ing each other and being general dumb-asses, they'd have noticed Raieed slip a pill bottle into his hand, and two pills into his cheek. They would also have noticed the bright pink goggles slipping down his head and may have been prepared for the further cause and effect of allowing particularly slow officers to run the lead of a sting on someone who may have been scaled somewhere between 'Saturday morning cartoon villain' and 'evil mastermind'.

The room was blanketed in bright green light. Normally, this would have been bright white, but the uranium lined pill had made the flash into a fairly potent EMP as well as a decent 'fuck this noise' flash bang. Without fail, all three fell to the floor, clutching their eyes and ears. If they hadn't been busy being deaf and unable to hear Raieed's laughter, they'd have noticed all their gear had been drained of charge, and that they all looked particularly stupid, or at least more so then usual.

Reaching under a nearby couch, he yanked a satchel out, a fairly worn out thing that was made of the usual synthetic brown leather that almost all satchels of this type are made of. Secondly, he slipped on his lab-coat, the bright white material offsetting the dark hue of Raieed's fur.

At this point, the officers were getting to their feet, albeit slowly. They may have even regained their composure and whatever remained of their dignity, if Raieed hadn't swallowed another set, sending them recoiling back to the ground, swearing and giving off whimpering puppy dog noises from their assaulted senses.

Slipping on his sandals, Raieed trotted out of his house, taking the time to flick the lights off and locking the door.


Darkfoot of the Caves, or as the humans always called him, Ali Amari, took a moment to look at his work. It was a concoction Raieed had taught him, and he had dutifully mixed the recipe, creating the two separate pills. All he needed to do was test the output and-

Knock Knock, Knock Knock....

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-

Rushing to the door, he opened it with a lazy grin, knowing only one person who would smash his lab door in such a way. He spotted his Father at the door, returning the same lazy grin and entering the chemistry lab, speaking up in their shared tongue. “Darkfoot, snow bless you.”

“Shadowfoot, Adhomai Guide you”

Sitting down with a plop, he shuffled the leather bag in front of him, and kept the same grin, nodding towards the door. “I have issues, it seems, son.”

Closing the door with a whoosh and a click, he nodded, clearly well aware of the trouble his Father got into, usually involving his off and on girlfriend, Millie, or the occasional missing object that would miraculously turn up in Raieed's possession.

Pulling up a chair, he sat next to Raieed and sighed. “Make Millie mad again?”

He shook his head, the smile finally losing it's pointed edge, slowly returning towards the ground. “No, no. They seem to have found my Brother in blood. Linking his sins to me, seem's Raieed is in trouble. Not the usual sort either, Manes seem to be taking note, as if I stole their sugar.”

This finally brought Ali's grin to a halt, as he well understood the danger of what he had meant. He also knew that Raieed would need to flee the area and that he may not see him for a particularly long time. “Surely, you will find someone to remove such accusations of sin, Shadowfoot?”

Raieed's face fell a little more, the frown speaking enough for Ali to not need to hear the answer.

“”....and what is needed of me, Fatherrr?” he spoke, dropping out of their tongue as his ears quivered.

“Nothing, Ali, nothing. Raieed simply wishes to gift you with a few things.” He said, smile returning as he pulled the Labcoat off of his back, handing it to Ali, along with the sandals. “Keep these safe, Raieed will not be able to do so. He will rrreturrrn one day forrrr them, yes?”

Ali took the items into his hands, and felt the severity of the situation growing. He had watched Raieed maul a particularly offensive security officer for spilling his coffee on the sleeve, and the man had resembled someone who had tried to headbutt a cheese grater.

More conversation may have occured, had the sound of jackboots trailing down tiles had not begun to melodically echo down the halls. Instead, Raieed spoke one last sentence, the Language of his kin on his lips.

“Blessed be, Child of Snow and Stone, we are forever gifted with it's grace. Under the title of Shadowfoot I do grant you, and all that it means. Show all who come to befriend us your power, those who offend your strength, and those who require defense your actions.”

Smiling in the same way a Father smiles after seeing his son doing something particularly impressive, such as beating the snot out of another child, he reached into the satchel and pulled a small black device from it. With a press of a button, he disappeared from sight.

The door whooshed open, a taser floating through the doorway, attached to a arm, attached to a security officer who clearly wasn't paid enough for this kind of thing, and seemed to be terrified down to his core. Had this person been more knowledgable, he would have maybe thought to cover the door a little better as Raieed silently slipped past and begun making towards the Station Docks.