[Plot] Important Crimefighting Routines

[Nailah Weaver]

Sneaking out had been easy. Stuff a pillow under your covers and head out before curfew.

Now, way past midnight, Nailah lands on the roof with shaky legs and a couple of new bruises under her belt here and there along with a package of important evidence under her arm. Or so she assumes anyway. The window to her dorm room had been closed. She'd gotten too used to Wanda being fine with a constant stream of fresh air, but apparently her new roommate was a little pickier and she was forced to the roof as an alternative. She's exhausted and pretty sure she has at least a couple minor cuts she wants to take care of before crawling into bed, but now that's suddnely much further away than she thought. With an annoyed sigh she opens the roof access door and tip-toes down the stairs on the soft pads of her feline feet.

[Narrator]

The manor was old, and at times, creaky.. As stealthy as Nailah could be, she couldn't help but create a couple squeaks and creaks along the way.

In the hallway, a small black dot on the ceiling flashed red.

[Nailah Weaver]

"What! Motion sensors? Since when!?" Nailah quietly curses to herself before hurrying down the hall. She's a floor to high still, but maybe making for the staircase at the other end of the hall might dodge whatever attention she just attracted.

[Zandra Rogers]

Nailah hustled towards the staircase. Maybe she'd get away with this after all!

With a blurring of air and zip, all of as sudden, Zandra the prefect was standing there, blocking her way from the staircase.

"Naughty, naughty girl," she smirked, arms crossed.

[Nailah Weaver]

"What the!" Nailah startles at the sudden appearance, taking a half step backwards before catching herself. "No, I'm a good guy!"

[Zandra Rogers]

"Out sneaking past curfew? Tsk tsk tsk. Too good for the rules to apply to you, I take it?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Crime doesn't have a curfew, so neither does justice." Nailah nods and dramatically clenches her fist.

[Zandra Rogers]

"No, but little girls with morning classes certainly do. As well as little girls with demerits."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh frick off. Little girl? I stopped a bunch of grown-ass crooks from peddling drugs tonight!" she complains.

[Zandra Rogers]

"Yeah, well, tough titties, Miss Pretty. You're the precog, right? Then you shoulda known you were gonna get busted."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Figured I wouldn't waste my talents on something pointless. My bad, won't happen again." she glares, shifting the box of who-knows-what under her arm to rest a bit more securely. "So that's what, 10 points from Gryffindor?"

[Zandra Rogers]

"Nah, it's a first-time offense; you'll get off easy.

Probably caf duty for the day."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Cafeteria duty? Come onnn... I was just cleaning up the streets! They're smuggling drugs through Maldon, you know, and you want me to serve hamburgers?"

[Zandra Rogers]

"Hey, all I want to do is bust your ass. I dunno what they'll have you do down there; I'm not in charge of the punishments division. Otherwise yeah, ew, no, I wouldn't send people out to mess with a bunch of greasy food either."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Just gimme a pass then. You don't have to bust my butt..."

[Zandra Rogers]

"Mmm, sorry, but no. Not gonna happen, flygirl. Like I said, I'm interested in catching little sneaks like you."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Well congrats on helping the bad guys." Nailah frowns. "I hope you're happy."

[Zandra Rogers]

"Pfft.

What do you have there, anyway?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Nothing!" she says a little too quickly. "Just some... homework I did while staking out a place." she settles on for an obvious lie. The box she's holding has obviously been pulled out of a trash bin of some sort and bits of paper are sticking out where it was closed in a hurry. Some of them in the distinct shape of strips left over from being run through a document shredder.

[Zandra Rogers]

"Uh-huh. I think you'd better hand that here," Zandra said, taking two steps closer to Nailah.

[Nailah Weaver]

"No way! This is important stuff!" Nailah says, taking a step back and twisting to the side to move the box away from Zandra.

[Zandra Rogers]

Zandra zipped next to Nailah at super-fast speeds, attempting to wrench it out of her hands.

Zandra was just fast; she didn't have any "take box out of someone's hands" powers; that'd be WAY too specific. And Nailah might have a slight edge up on a normal person, potentially with a precog flash of Zandra heading her way anyhoo -- just like she had practice in the danger room, when...Zandra was running her test.

[Nailah Weaver]

Nailah does have good reflexes, even as tired as she is right now. Not enough to yank the box completely away but enough to keep her hands on it as well, diging her sharp fingernails into it.

"You can't just... take... people's... stuff!" she growls, ending on a sudden jerk of her arms to pull the box free.

[Zandra Rogers]

With a clattering crash, Zandra goes sailing into the wall, as Nailah jerks the box back. This dazed her for a moment as she struggled to get to her feet.

"You little brat; gimme the box..." she said, shaking her head and trying to regain her footing.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Stop trying to mug me, you... you... hall monitor!" Nailah objects and dashes for the stairs.

[Zandra Rogers]

Zandra's daze and Nailah's ability to go in an unexpected direction gave her a bit of a head start.

Escaping would probably be difficult; even without precog powers, Zandra could eventually search everywhere. But maybe she didn't have to find the box when she eventually found Nailah?

[Nailah Weaver]

There aren't a lot of places she could get to fast enough to stash the box before Zandra inevitably catches up with her...

As soon as she reaches the bottom of the stairs she let's her thoughts shatter into hundreds of futures, looking for the few that have her sifting through her find somewhere down the line. Facets of success fall away as she's spending precious seconds on looking for them, possibilities narrowing until she has no more time to try and say for sure how any of them will play out. She picks one that might have worked at one point, still might, futures shifting around, only collapsing into a singular point as a decision is made and her future sight fades.

She stops and pries at the wood paneling on the wall, pulling a section free and stuffing the papers from the box behind it. Most of them anyway. She slams the panel back in place and takes off down the hall.

[Zandra Rogers]

And, just as she finishes putting the panel back into place and starts off, a gust of wind passes her, and Zandra is standing in front of her again.

"Oh, I am going to whup you for that, Weaver."

Hey, at least she was using her name now! Respect++!

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh yeah, bring it, Zippy." Nailah blusters, although she really doesn't feel like getting into an actual scrap right now.

[Zandra Rogers]

"You and me in the Danger Room. Tomorrow.

After you serve the entire campus lunch, or clean the bins, or whatever the heck it is they end up sending you to do. Just try not to get too gunky; no fair trying to knock me out through stench alone"

Zandra clearly did NOT want to rumble with Nailah right now either; not in the hallways, at least.

[Nailah Weaver]

"I'll try not to embarrass you too badly."

[Zandra Rogers]

"Oh? You want to put a wager on it then, flygirl?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"I win you let me come and go as I please for a week."

[Zandra Rogers]

"When I win, you're responsible for the laundry for your floor for a week."

[Nailah Weaver]

"You're on, Zippy!"

[Zandra Rogers]

"And now, get your butt to bed, or I'll put it there," she harumphed, pleased with her win.

She had apparently forgotten all about Nailah's box.