Forums » General Roleplay » Hide and Seek (1x1)

Sterling sat in his one-room office, booted feet propped up on his desk when the fax machine whirred to life. He blinked and leaned forward as two pages printed and the machine's gears grounded to a halt. He winced at the noise--he needed to get that fixed--as he picked up the pages. The first page had a name and physical description. The second page had a picture.

Sterling frowned as he took in the image of a kid with silverish hair and what looked like ears. "A demon? Another one?" But there was more written at the bottom.

Must be taken and delivered alive. Reward: 100,000.

Whoever wanted this kid was desperate. Why else would it have come to his office? His feet hit the floor with a thud, knocking over a crossbow that had been propped against the chair. He scooped it up, clipping the quiver to his waist, before grabbing his trench coat on the way out the door.

The location last seen was not too far away. He could get there in three hours. He only hoped the kid hadn't run too far in the meantime.";

Jonah twitched and scratched his ears, he was getting nowhere fast. "Agh.. Where the heck am I?" He stomped his foot and looked around, deciding to take a break from wandering around town. The was an old, run down house a few yards away, that would make a great place to rest for awhile. He set off for the house, his pace steady and unhurried as he walked.

People stopped and stared at him often, freaked out by his ears and tail. Most thought he was some punk wearing his Halloween costume way to early, others thought he was a monster, which in a way he was.

Sterling parked his car on the edge of the city, near the old motel that should have gone out years ago, but somehow still lingered on. He put down a deposit on a room with two beds, figuring it shouldn't be too hard to find a kid that looked partially human. His earlier attempts to check in the town had been thwarted by several people who had never seen the kid.

Only upon further inquiries, did he get a few witnesses who admitted that he might be further on the edge of town. So he had driven here.

His crossbow was in his arms but only for defensive measures; he wasn't planning on shooting anyone with it unless he was attacked.

He reviewed his procedure for trying to get the kid. Perhaps kind words instead of threats would work best. At any rate, he wouldn't be going back empty handed.

Jonah glared at the people but continued on, entering the house without much effort. The door had long since rusted at its hinges, so opening it was easy. The interior of the house was dusty and full of cobwebs. "Woah.. Good thing I'm not allergic to dust." He mumbled, kicking pieces of wood and debris off of the old couch in the living room. The floor creaked and seemed to groan as it was no longer used to being walked on, much less having a boy plop down on the couch that sat upon it. Dust clouds spewed from the couch, causing him to cough and have a slight difficulty with breathing. "Darn it.." He got up and sat on the floor, as it wasn't worth the trouble to sit on the old couch, wasn't comfy anyway.

He circulated around the edge of town, eventually zeroing in on a small group that was talking about something that had caught their attention. Of course, his appearance would readily draw attention to him; few people went around with crossbows in this day and age--but Sterling had always made a point of having it with him.

He pulled out the picture of Jonah to flash to the people. "Any of you seen him? His parents are worried sick." A small lie to save face, and get some helpful responses.

There were a few hesitations and then one person spoke up. "I think he went that way." And pointed to a rundown building.

Sterling grimaced, wondering what else might be living there. "Thanks." He made his way towards the indicated building.

Jonah pulled a cobweb off the wall behind him with a sliver of wood, the spider still in it. "Ack.." He tossed it across the room, the spider managing to escape uninjured. "Tough little thing.." He murmered, laying back on the dusty floor, closing his eyes to take a short nap.

Sterling tried the door and found it unlocked. Not surprising; whoever had the key had probably lost it by now and there wasn't a whole lot left in the place.

He heard a short, startled cry and flinched. He kept his crossbow in one hand as he cleared each room. The last room he came to had a couch and...he paused to see what could only be his assumed target asleep on the dusty floor. He grimaced as he pulled out the sheet of paper with the kid's face and name on it, lining them up.

Perfect match. He took a step forward, the floor creaking beneath his boots.

Jonah jerked awake suddenly and was on his feet in seconds. "What the heck..?!" He rubbed his eyes, his vision blurry from all the dust. He looked up at the man and froze once he saw the crossbow. "Crap, crap, crap! A hunter.. here of all places!" He thought to himself, stepping back and glancing around for a way to make a quick escape. There was no way he was going to let himself be caught, not now, not ever.

He had to give the kid an A for effort; he could certainly move when he needed to. But Sterling kept the crossbow aimed at the ground.

He could see Jonah looking for an exit, ready to bolt and he tensed, ready to give chase if need-be. "Kid, relax. I'm not here to hurt you. Are you Jonah?" He showed the picture that he'd been given.

Jonah stepped back some more, nodding his head slightly. "Yeah what if I am? What do you want with me?" He growled a bit, still looking for a way out. He was confused and frightened, wondering who the heck sent a hunter after him. "This is bad.. Gotta get out.." He gritted his teeth.

"I don't want anything with you; but someone is worried about you and asked me to come find you." The name of the group or person on the flyer meant nothing to Sterling, but Jonah might recognize it. "I'm here to speed things up. If you're thinking about running, I might advise against it. There's not a whole lot of places left to run to."

Jonah raised an eyebrow, someone worried..about him? Pfft, what a joke. "You're lying, theres no one who would waste their time worrying about me. So get lost and leave me alone, old man." He growled, bracing himself for what he was about to do to escape.

Alright, so talking about it was getting him nowhere. It was looking like the kid was gearing up for a fight.

"I could soon as shoot you now. Plenty of space to shoot without killing you." Sterling brought the crossbow up, sighting on the kid's leg. "Of course, it'll hurt like hell. So if you'd rather not get hurt, you'll drop to your knees and put your hands on your head."

Jonah cringed at the thought of being shot, but even so he stood his ground. "Tch.." He bit his lip and glanced at the window. "Stay here and get caught, or try to run with the possibility of being shot? This is just not my day.." He took a deep breath and flung himself through the old glass window, landing on the ground and jumping up quickly. "You know what, old man? You can tell whoever sent you to take that worry of their's and shove it!" He darted off as fast as he could.

He cursed as the kid leaped through the window. Slinging the crossbow over his shoulder, Sterling ducked through the window and landed on his feet. The quiver of bolts jarred but they didn't spill.

"Kid!" he yelled, giving chase. "You don't know what you're doing!" Why didn't he ever get the easy cases? The ones where the target gave up at just a mere threat. And if he shot now, that would only further spook the kid. Next time he was going to pass on such an "easy" case.

Jonah ignored the man's words and kept running. Being part wolf demon had its advantages, such as being able to run much faster than normal humans. "Bastards must be getting lazy, sending a hunter to get me instead of doing it themselves.." He smirked at the thought and jumped into the nearest open sewer manhole. It smelled horrible, but it was better than being out in the open and he could take advantage of the dark tunnels.

Sterling stopped to look down into the sewer where he'd last seen the wolf demon disappear. He was puffing, gasping for breath after the ridiculous sprint. "Damn."

He wasn't about to climb down after the kid; his luck he'd get stuck or worse, encounter something slimy. With a sigh he propped the crossbow against his shoulder and decided to make a circuit of the city. Perhaps he'd run into the kid at one of the other manhole covers.

Jonah kept running in the tunnels for a bit before stopping, realizing that the man hadn't followed him. "Whew.. That was a pain.." He growled and sat down to pick the shards of glass from the window out of his clothes and skin. "Damn hunters.." He flicked the shards into the sludge-like water, wishing he had chose a different place to jump into.

Sterling took his time moseying around the town and flashing Jonah's picture to anyone who would look. If nothing else, if they did see him again, they would be able to point him out right away--not that Jonah was hard to miss...

He grabbed some lunch, keeping an eye primed on those who walked by; but mostly he looked for crowds of activity; they would be the ones who would have seen something interesting and gathered to talk about it.

But after finishing his lunch, he decided to head back to the original manhole to see if Jonah had returned the way he had come.

Jonah covered his nose and looked around for an exit, the smell was so bad he didn't know how much more of it he could stand. "Ugh.. I'm gonna be sick.." He covered his mouth, trying to keep himself from throwing up. The sludgy water, or what he assumed was water, began to bubble up and churn. "What the..?" He backed off, watching the sludge as it pulled itself in front of him. "Oh crap.." He tucked his tail and ran back the way he came, scrambling back up the ladder and jumping out of the manhole and kept on running.