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[birthday] of friendship and french ninjas;
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIBBUUUU I love you very much! I'm so glad that we've been able to become closer friends, because I love talking to you and being able to thread with you always. You're one of my favorite people and i want absolutely nothing but the best for you--SO I HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY IS FABULOUS, and that this upcoming year treats you well. Because you deserve nothing but the best and then some, and I'll be rooting for you the whole way [angry ragey plurk emote]
anyway here are some dumb shenanigans
--
Of Friendship and French Ninjas
Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief extraordinaire and exceptionally talented and skilled infiltrator amongst so many other things, was at the moment fleeing very quickly through a dark hallway. He admittedly hadn't expected his quarry to catch on quite so quickly, calling card or not, though perhaps that had been a bit of an insult to their intelligence and capability--he doubted it, though.
They probably just got lucky, in all honesty.
Still, even if they'd discovered him earlier than anticipated, Lupin was still more than just a single step ahead of them; he had the loot safely tucked away in his pocket (things that had been stolen by other thieves were fair game, and they should well know that) alongside a bit extra for his "commission", and his escape route long planned out. It was just a matter of getting to that hot air balloon he'd stol--repurposed earlier for this very purpose and then it was up, up and away.
Which...was almost how it happened. He was laughing, too, safe and sound as the balloon soared away, his compatriots only in that they shared the title of "thief" yelling after him with frustrated, barely audible words--
And.
The fire keeping the balloon afloat spluttered.
Lupin had all of a few moments to process that--and then the balloon, which had not gained near enough altitude to have enough hot air to sustain itself, began the slow but rapidly speeding up descent as gravity took hold.
He had a moment to scowl, another to proclaim "shoddy merchandise" (as if he could get some sort of refund for something he hadn't paid for in the first place--), and then only the time to yelp as his balloon hit the trees. On the plus side, he didn't actually hit the ground. On the flip side, that was because his balloon was caught between the branches instead, and he was left hanging there over the side of the basket, heaving out a huffed sigh of equal parts relief and frustration.
On the one hand? He was alive. On the other? He was still quite a ways from his hideout, and now his method for getting there in style was long gone.
Lupin had just dug into his pocket to check on the loot, to make sure it was safe, when a voice from below made him jump, shoving it back into his pocket immediately.
"Heyyyyy--are you alive up there?"
A glance over the edge of the balloon's basket revealed red hair, a toothy grin, and a messy appearance of soot and grime. It was an open expression, a warm grin that didn't seem at all sinister or to have ulterior motives at all.
In short, it was not the sort of face Lupin saw often, and there was a definite moment of uncertainty to how to even respond--this was not a thief, this was not the average sort of person who was trying to make a quick buck, this was...
"Who are you?" the words escaped him in a bemused tone as he leaned over, and the other man beamed in response, all sunshine and relief.
"Ah, you are alive. I was beginning to doubt. It seemed like a pretty nasty crash." The man shrugged, stretching his hands over his head a bit; Lupin, still bemused but edging closer to relaxing a bit the more he processed what he was seeing, opened his mouth to respond. Before he could, though, the man continued, voice taking on a more overwrought tone, "I thought for a minute it was my dreams coming true, and a princess coming to me from the sky...!"
A sigh. "But instead, it's a guy..."
Lupin blinked slowly--and then his expression grew far flatter, the first and certainly not the last time Lupin would make such a face at Impey Barbicane.
Either way, it was thankfully the work of a few moments to retrieve Lupin from the tree, and the matter of only a few more moments for introductions; soon enough, Impey was looking over the balloon with a tsking sound.
"We can't fix this poor baby. She's over and done with with the way the balloon's torn there, see?"
Lupin did see, he saw very well just how badly torn the ballon was, arms crossed and head lifted to inspect his once-getaway.
"The mechanism itself was just a bit rusted, but while I could fix that, I don't have another balloon. Oh well, right?"
As far as Lupin was concerned, there was nothing particularly "oh well" about it, and he was pretty ready to just start walking and save himself the trouble of trying to do anything else at this point--when the magic words came out of Impey's mouth.
"But I think I could rig something else up that would work even better."
Immediately, Lupin turned from where he'd been halfway to the treeline, quirking an eyebrow at Impey, tone perhaps a bit more eager than it should have strictly been for the sake of negotiation--
"Really? You can do that?"
Impey grinned at him, toothy and confident, and said, "You can trust me."
--
It turned out that trust required a meal, many explosions and an entire night's worth of work. Lupin, exhausted after a previous few nights of already planning out and scoping out his heist, watched Impey work with half-lidded eyes, chin propped on his hand. Already, he'd seen three explosions, some cursing, some cheerful exclamations, and some yelling of dubious meaning, and at this point he really had no idea if any progress was happening or not.
There was...the shape of a vehicle, sure. But whether or not it worked when it looked like a hunk of scrap metal was still to be seen. At this point Impey was whistling cheerfully and still covered in soot, so really, it could have gone either way, Lupin was pretty sure.
He was also pretty sure that if something didn't change about the situation in the next couple of minutes, he was going to thoroughly pass out, and cheerful and friendly companion or not, he certainly was not prepared to fall asleep unguardedly in front of someone he barely knew.
And, as if in response to his internal longings, something did change--though Lupin was pretty sure that someone had it out for him, because it was certainly not in the way he wanted it to change. There were shouts from beyond the treeline after yet another loud, if controlled explosion via Impey's work--and those shouts sounded a bit too familiar for comfort. Lupin bolted upright immediately, rushing to Impey's side.
"Is it finished?" he asked urgently, reaching for a soot-covered arm (and thinking better of it just before he latched on).
Impey blinked at him owlishly from beneath a mask of dust and soot, and when he opened his mouth to ask, "Why?" Lupin pointed behind him, at the angry group of thieves that was shoving their way through the trees towards them.
It was a persuasive argument. Impey inspected the group, angry expressions fixed on their faces, coming their way, and immediately latched onto Lupin's wrist, dragging him towards the vehicle.
"Alright, time to get out of here. Let's go, let's gooo...!"
Eager as he was to leave as well, Lupin still had the presence of mind to ask, "Wait, it's actually finished?"
He would've been better off not asking, when Impey shrugged and grinned and admitted, "She's done enough! Probably!"
And as the machine revved up, Lupin clinging to the makeshift seat inside with white knuckles beneath his gloves, he was overwhelmed with questions that he wanted to ask if only he could find the words for them--why Impey was coming along, why he had made this machine in the first place, how he had done it--but only one managed to escape in a yelp as Impey floored it--
"What does 'probably' mean?!"
His only response was a laugh, but nonetheless they were moving, and as they left the angry shouts behind, Lupin couldn't help but grin as well--tensely, but nonetheless widely grinning with the thrill of the chase and the escape, and even with a sudden new companion who had basically invited himself along, the grin went nowhere.
(At least, not until the machine actually exploded a few miles down the road.)
anyway here are some dumb shenanigans
--
Of Friendship and French Ninjas
Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief extraordinaire and exceptionally talented and skilled infiltrator amongst so many other things, was at the moment fleeing very quickly through a dark hallway. He admittedly hadn't expected his quarry to catch on quite so quickly, calling card or not, though perhaps that had been a bit of an insult to their intelligence and capability--he doubted it, though.
They probably just got lucky, in all honesty.
Still, even if they'd discovered him earlier than anticipated, Lupin was still more than just a single step ahead of them; he had the loot safely tucked away in his pocket (things that had been stolen by other thieves were fair game, and they should well know that) alongside a bit extra for his "commission", and his escape route long planned out. It was just a matter of getting to that hot air balloon he'd stol--repurposed earlier for this very purpose and then it was up, up and away.
Which...was almost how it happened. He was laughing, too, safe and sound as the balloon soared away, his compatriots only in that they shared the title of "thief" yelling after him with frustrated, barely audible words--
And.
The fire keeping the balloon afloat spluttered.
Lupin had all of a few moments to process that--and then the balloon, which had not gained near enough altitude to have enough hot air to sustain itself, began the slow but rapidly speeding up descent as gravity took hold.
He had a moment to scowl, another to proclaim "shoddy merchandise" (as if he could get some sort of refund for something he hadn't paid for in the first place--), and then only the time to yelp as his balloon hit the trees. On the plus side, he didn't actually hit the ground. On the flip side, that was because his balloon was caught between the branches instead, and he was left hanging there over the side of the basket, heaving out a huffed sigh of equal parts relief and frustration.
On the one hand? He was alive. On the other? He was still quite a ways from his hideout, and now his method for getting there in style was long gone.
Lupin had just dug into his pocket to check on the loot, to make sure it was safe, when a voice from below made him jump, shoving it back into his pocket immediately.
"Heyyyyy--are you alive up there?"
A glance over the edge of the balloon's basket revealed red hair, a toothy grin, and a messy appearance of soot and grime. It was an open expression, a warm grin that didn't seem at all sinister or to have ulterior motives at all.
In short, it was not the sort of face Lupin saw often, and there was a definite moment of uncertainty to how to even respond--this was not a thief, this was not the average sort of person who was trying to make a quick buck, this was...
"Who are you?" the words escaped him in a bemused tone as he leaned over, and the other man beamed in response, all sunshine and relief.
"Ah, you are alive. I was beginning to doubt. It seemed like a pretty nasty crash." The man shrugged, stretching his hands over his head a bit; Lupin, still bemused but edging closer to relaxing a bit the more he processed what he was seeing, opened his mouth to respond. Before he could, though, the man continued, voice taking on a more overwrought tone, "I thought for a minute it was my dreams coming true, and a princess coming to me from the sky...!"
A sigh. "But instead, it's a guy..."
Lupin blinked slowly--and then his expression grew far flatter, the first and certainly not the last time Lupin would make such a face at Impey Barbicane.
Either way, it was thankfully the work of a few moments to retrieve Lupin from the tree, and the matter of only a few more moments for introductions; soon enough, Impey was looking over the balloon with a tsking sound.
"We can't fix this poor baby. She's over and done with with the way the balloon's torn there, see?"
Lupin did see, he saw very well just how badly torn the ballon was, arms crossed and head lifted to inspect his once-getaway.
"The mechanism itself was just a bit rusted, but while I could fix that, I don't have another balloon. Oh well, right?"
As far as Lupin was concerned, there was nothing particularly "oh well" about it, and he was pretty ready to just start walking and save himself the trouble of trying to do anything else at this point--when the magic words came out of Impey's mouth.
"But I think I could rig something else up that would work even better."
Immediately, Lupin turned from where he'd been halfway to the treeline, quirking an eyebrow at Impey, tone perhaps a bit more eager than it should have strictly been for the sake of negotiation--
"Really? You can do that?"
Impey grinned at him, toothy and confident, and said, "You can trust me."
--
It turned out that trust required a meal, many explosions and an entire night's worth of work. Lupin, exhausted after a previous few nights of already planning out and scoping out his heist, watched Impey work with half-lidded eyes, chin propped on his hand. Already, he'd seen three explosions, some cursing, some cheerful exclamations, and some yelling of dubious meaning, and at this point he really had no idea if any progress was happening or not.
There was...the shape of a vehicle, sure. But whether or not it worked when it looked like a hunk of scrap metal was still to be seen. At this point Impey was whistling cheerfully and still covered in soot, so really, it could have gone either way, Lupin was pretty sure.
He was also pretty sure that if something didn't change about the situation in the next couple of minutes, he was going to thoroughly pass out, and cheerful and friendly companion or not, he certainly was not prepared to fall asleep unguardedly in front of someone he barely knew.
And, as if in response to his internal longings, something did change--though Lupin was pretty sure that someone had it out for him, because it was certainly not in the way he wanted it to change. There were shouts from beyond the treeline after yet another loud, if controlled explosion via Impey's work--and those shouts sounded a bit too familiar for comfort. Lupin bolted upright immediately, rushing to Impey's side.
"Is it finished?" he asked urgently, reaching for a soot-covered arm (and thinking better of it just before he latched on).
Impey blinked at him owlishly from beneath a mask of dust and soot, and when he opened his mouth to ask, "Why?" Lupin pointed behind him, at the angry group of thieves that was shoving their way through the trees towards them.
It was a persuasive argument. Impey inspected the group, angry expressions fixed on their faces, coming their way, and immediately latched onto Lupin's wrist, dragging him towards the vehicle.
"Alright, time to get out of here. Let's go, let's gooo...!"
Eager as he was to leave as well, Lupin still had the presence of mind to ask, "Wait, it's actually finished?"
He would've been better off not asking, when Impey shrugged and grinned and admitted, "She's done enough! Probably!"
And as the machine revved up, Lupin clinging to the makeshift seat inside with white knuckles beneath his gloves, he was overwhelmed with questions that he wanted to ask if only he could find the words for them--why Impey was coming along, why he had made this machine in the first place, how he had done it--but only one managed to escape in a yelp as Impey floored it--
"What does 'probably' mean?!"
His only response was a laugh, but nonetheless they were moving, and as they left the angry shouts behind, Lupin couldn't help but grin as well--tensely, but nonetheless widely grinning with the thrill of the chase and the escape, and even with a sudden new companion who had basically invited himself along, the grin went nowhere.
(At least, not until the machine actually exploded a few miles down the road.)