Masters of Shadows

[Clopin]

January 13th | Open to Clopin’s assassins. This takes place at night. 

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Now that the court had officially closed for the night, the king drew a deep breath, and slowly slid down in his throne. The gold crown upon his head was starting to cause him a little bit of a headache, and he decided to take it off, swapping it with his much more comfortable hat. He then stood and stretched his stiff arms and legs, as he hadn’t moved much in the past few hours.

Listening to even more people hem and haw about various occurrences was worse than just listening to the complaints of his own people. At least he knew them and cared a little more about their issues. These people were still his people, but by Mahomet’s beard, he did not usurp the throne to hear complaints about a stolen goat. He had sent out Dante a while ago to fetch a few of his Rogues, for a special assignment. Tonight would make up for the boredom he’d endured.

As he descended from his throne, a memory of the old king came to him. It was a shame how he’d been killed, but Clopin figured it was only a matter of time. The previous king knew he’d been playing with fire, and as fire tended to do, it burned him.

A sudden noise tore Clopin out of his reverie, and he turned to see a familiar person approaching. The gypsy king smiled, as Taylor bowed her head in respect.

“So, “special assignment”, huh?” Taylor asked, with a smirk. Clopin chuckled, and readjusted his cloak.

“I suppose you could call it that. The truth is that I have selected you, among several others, to be my personal assassins.” Clopin said. Taylor’s eyes went wide for a moment, as she let it soak in that she would be an assassin.

“Bob must’ve told you about our previous…adventures then.” Taylor said. Clopin shook his head, and pointed to her hip, where her dagger sat in its sheath.

“I saw how well you fought with that dagger of yours. Your control and mastery is unlike any other. You even managed to not injure your sparring partner.” Clopin said.

“Well, that’s a pretty neat compliment, coming from the King of France himself. Careful though, I might try to kill you.” Taylor said, as she nudged the king's shoulder playfully. Clopin couldn't help but roll his eyes and chuckle. She would definitely be an interesting character.

“So…where’s the others?” Taylor asked, resting a hand on her hip.

[Deleted]

Slow but long strides carried the tiger through the night and towards the court. Every movement of his sturdy form guiding him closer to the looming shadow of a structure before him. His single golden hue glimmered like a jewel whenever the slightest shimmer of light cast across it.

Snow kissed toes halted for a moment against the cobblestoned paths, a silence toe seeming to tap against the ground as he took in the sight of the building before him. He couldn't help but wonder how man created such detailed things, made with their own palms. It confused and bewildered him, yet brought a form of awe to the old beast.

He shook his head, casting away his wondering thoughts before he moved to enter the building. Heavy steps being kept as feather-light as possible, muscular but lethal form sliding through the shadows as though he was a part of them. He came to a halt between the towering columns. Watching the exchange between Clopin and Taylor for a while longer.

At the question of where the other's were Khan couldn't help but lightly shake his head. Seemingly gliding out of the darkness and behind the young woman. "The other's are coming...I'm sure they won't be 'tardy' if that's what you're worried about, Miss 'Ruse'." He turned his gaze to Clopin, shifting his weight to his other side.

"What exactly is this meeting about?"

[Shenzi]

The matriarch approached silently. Shenzi was perfectly capable of being sneaky if she wanted to be. The only tell of her approach were occasional flickers of a spotted pelt in the brief breaks of light. Her strong upper body appeared from the dark off to one side of the room. If one had not been looking in that direction at the moment she stepped out, it would have seemed she popped out of nowhere. That was assuming one didn’t mistake her for a stone statue.

A relaxed smile was on her face and her shadowy eyes peered out from the stray black hairs of her mane. Once she’d taken her seat, Shenzi was silent, her expression near unchanging. She didn’t speak immediately because she had nothing to say. Sure, alliances were something she was more careful with nowadays, but getting bent out of shape went against her cool self-image, least of all when nothing wrong had happened yet.

The hyena decided to make herself known by commenting idly:

“Pff. I bet this’ll be a hoot and a half.”

[Esmeralda]

A shift of cloth, and a jingle of jewelry announced Esmeralda, now Aurelio, as he stepped lightly through a side door and into the throne room. His long hair had been tied back and combed into a modest pony tail that rested over his shoulder. (Feeling casual today, he didn't bother with a short wig.) Aurelio carried himself in a way that made his shoulders seem broader. There was a straightening to his mouth that firmed his jawline. His usual skirt traded for a loose fitting pair of trousers under a dark sash.

"Hope I'm not late," he grinned lazily and then sat down on the floor next to the throne with his legs crossed, "Or, if I am, I'm at least fashionably late."

There was a husk to his voice, lowered down into his chest that added even more to his current persona. Today had been a masculine day. He hadn't dressed for the part earlier while he had been training with the cadets, but now he decided to indulge himself.

Aurelio nodded his head in greeting to each person in turn politely. He may have been late, but he didn't need to be more rude than necessary, thank you very much.

[Clopin]

“I honestly don’t care if the others are late, I just wanna get things started.” Taylor retorted, in response to the tiger’s comment. She narrowed her eyes at the old beast, but there wasn’t much she could do. A young woman with her small frame would never be able to challenge a Bengal tiger.

That was basically courting death. Now, that wasn’t a novel thing for her, but if she wanted to actually fight in this war alongside Bob and Sophia, she figured that she had to play on the safe side for now, and not piss off her new teammates.

“You’re not late at all, mon ami.” Clopin said, without so much as a glance towards Aurelio. He had to admit though…Esme looked like a completely different person. Frankly, he was impressed by her abilities. He was glad that she could join them tonight, as it was going to be a very crucial first mission.

A test, really. But his end goal was to be able to extract all that he could from their intended target, even if it meant killing him.

“I wouldn’t brush off what’s at stake.” Clopin said to Shenzi, as he dramatically tossed his cloak out so that it slowly billowed to the ground. The gesture earned a small chuckle from Taylor, who quickly went silent when Clopin glared at her.

“Now then,” Clopin began.

“I have chosen you all to become my personal assassins. As you know, there are many threats to our city that reside outside of our borders, not including those associated with our war. Tonight, our target is the British ambassador.” Clopin said.

With a wave of his hand, his scythe appeared in a cloud of purple smoke, gently floating in the air until Clopin wrapped a gloved hand around it.

“He is a dangerous man, and as long as he is still breathing, he poses a threat to our army. He has vital information on the Blackbloods, and your mission tonight is to extract that information from him…by any means possible.” Clopin said, his expression growing dark.

[Deleted]

The retort from Taylor had Sherekhan pause. His golden hue narrowed dangerously at her, muzzle crinkled and the small flash of teeth was seen. He had not taken her attitude well, she was damn lucky he was not as quick to react as he was in the past. A low growl bubbled in his throat but it fell silent after a moment. His attention being turned briskly back to Clopin, his tail thrashing before he settled in his place. His ears turned towards the discussion and intently listened to the order that Clopin declared that was necessary.

He hardly minded as Aurelio and Shenzi made their entrance much more focused on the task at paw. He raised his chin, and small grunt released from him. "I suppose that means you want us to work as a unit?" A 'dumb' question, but one he was sure at least one other person was thinking. If they would have to work as a unit, it would be a bit more difficult. He was used to playing solo, so this would be a difficult turn of events.

[Esmeralda]

"Yep," Aurelio answered Shere-Kahn in Clopin's stead, "It's a bit of a test run for us to see how we work together, and learn about each others strengths and weaknesses."

Aurelio moved his hands with a flourish and he pulled out a tightly wrapped scroll out of seemingly thin air, "I've already scoped out the British ambassador's, a Sir Alexander Brighton, residence. I'd slipped in as one of his maids and have been casing the area for a while."

Aurelio opened the scroll and held it out facing the others, showing several notes written in a careful script and map that was drawn by hand, "Care to take a look, everyone?"

Aurelio had talked with Clopin about this in advance and so he had, had time to gather intelligence for this coming mission. It was what Aurelio liked to do best. Infiltration, espionage, and the like. Yes, he was officially an assassin, but he liked to think that people were a more useful commodity alive.

But Sir Brighton... well he agreed with Clopin. This man was a danger and would be better to be put down. Aurelio had also seen first hand what a louse the man was first hand. He wasn't particularly kind to his staff, ignoring 'the help' and carrying himself with a disgusting amount of superiority. Not to mention his lecherous behavior with his female staff... Well, Aurelio wouldn't really miss him.

[Clopin]

Clopin couldn’t help but smile as Aurelio took the lead. His brother was quite the multi-talented person, from convincing disguises to espionage. Of course, Aurelio had only learned from the best. He peered over the other’s shoulder at the carefully written notes, about key points of entry into Sir Brighton’s house, to times when the ambassador was home, usually reclining by the fireplace with a book in his hand.

“Aurelio, I must say, you’ve outdone yourself with this one.” Clopin said.

Taylor gazed over the notes, reading them carefully for her own knowledge.

“If I’m not wrong, it looks like maybe the second floor window might be the best place to sneak in from. Aurelio’s mentioned that the window is nearly silent when opened, and if we step lightly, he’s not gonna hear anything, which gives us a chance to prepare ourselves.” Taylor mused.

“I believe that sounds like the best course of action.” Clopin said. He snapped his fingers, and his cloak disappeared from his shoulders, in a puff of violet smoke. It weighed too much to be able to bring on the mission, and the last thing the people of France needed to see was their King hopping from rooftop to rooftop, cloak billowing out behind him like a cloud.

[Shenzi]

Shenzi sat back on her haunches. Her smile shrank into a tiny frown, her brows furrowed and her ears started to pin back. Suddenly, she lifted her head, her bangs swishing as she did.

“Oh-ho-ho-kay,” she half laughed, using a harsh tone, “You had me then you lost me. Work together? I hardly know you all.”

Though she was a pack hunter and could effectively work as a unit with her clan, it was different with anyone else. That, and she was comfortably used to being the one in charge. She squinted her eyes at the paper.

“And I can’t make heads or tails of human-scribbles,” huffed the matriarch, before shrugging her shoulders, “I’m just sayin’, you better have a lot of faith in us if you think we can pull this off. How dangerous is the guy?”

[Deleted]

"Indeed." A low rumble came from Sherekhan. The big cat moved to stroll past the group and towards the door, ready to get on with the mission as annoying as it was quickly becoming. The only thing that gave him pause was the appearance of the scroll that Aurelio seemingly pulled out of thin air. He came to a halt, his gaze cast back to the small gathering for a moment. "If you expect me to read that then you'll find I am in the same boat as the hyena, I can't read what you humans write. Not unless you care to teach her and me. Though frankly, I believe that would take too long."

His tail curled slowly behind him, his body turning to face them once again. "If you all are so eager to learn our strengths and weaknesses, I suggest we get a move on. We are losing precious moonlight that we can use to our advantage." He turned his head towards Shenzi. "Lady Shenzi, care to come with me?" He invited.