Young Writers Society

Pratik stared at him blankly. What was with this dude? "... alright, I guess I should have been more specific with my question. What is your name?" Weirdo.

"Oh our mistake, but best for each here to know exactly how I arrived in this state," the Awareness apologized, with a slight bow. "We are The Sling. Formerly, Zglojik, human archer." When he looked up, he winked. "Fond of longshots and desperate causes."

"Sling." Pratik dipped his head; he could work with that. "Welcome to the cause, I guess."

"Pardon my entrance as well," We said, glancing at clustered Sa & Camilla. "Please think not of me as a spying weasel. Merely eager to assist in whatever way we can pull the rug out from under those smug ruffians." He sat down a tad grouchily. "Meadow teased me for the way I couldn't wind my Bow to standard tautness, you know. Now I've been transformed, gained practically a cannon's worth of fiber!" He exploded, rattling a bead necklace around his throat. "Of course I don't aim to demolish my enemies, merely to shock the wits out of them."

Callista raised an eyebrow. You're not the only Vanora knight that Strongmeadow's kicked out before. Possibly the strangest one they've ever banished, though. She didn't recall being this much of a spectacle when it had happened to her.

"Anyway," she said sharply, turning back to Sa. "About what you said, we've had to show our respect to Strongmeadow at every tournament for sportsmanship, because they get terribly offended if we don't do that. I'm sure we can manage the act."

Camilla nodded. “I think we can pull this off! We kiss a couple fingers, stroke a few egos. The bitter sting of hardcore defeat is all the powerful after the sweet taste of arrogance.”

They grinned. “And boy, watching the crumble will be delicious.”

Sling figured the group was a little uprooted by the leftover remains of his human body to immort-tendril nature, but dismissed it for sake of progress. "So are we going to approach as our common selves with extra charm, come bearing cheeky tricks dressed in unpredictable guise, or something alternative?"

"We'll have to disguise ourselves if we want to pass any anybody and trick them. They know our faces and our voices too well since the last tournament. Unless of course one of us wants to cause a distraction, then going as ourselves is the best way forward to ensure they are thoroughly distracted."

"Well, I am a personal conundrum here," began Sling, dragging the floats of his cold-sunset hair. "They won't recognize me in any occasion - I'm afraid they WILL ask questions on that point, so leave it to myselves to play up distant diversions. Now what sort of pretense do you all want to claim to be meeting for?"

We was spinning that yoyo again, but it jostled green this time. "Neither of these Guilds meets lightly, so if we plan on no disguises, the chatter should be a strong issue everyone has a heavy pride invested in - perhaps a royal birthday or ceremony. Isn't one of the King's sons going to decide this month, which Guild he's going to commit to start training with?"

"No." Pratik shook his head, considering each thing said. "Sa's right, they'll recognize us in an instant, disguises or no. We've been competing with them each year plus all the joint assignments between, and some of us--" He resisted the urge to glance at who he meant. "Used to live in those very same halls alongside them. We need stealth on our side, not disguises or excuses. They shouldn't know we're there at all..." He finally did look at Callista this time. "Do you know where the trophy is kept in their halls? What sort of security it's under, if any?"

Callista gave Pratik a short, brief nod. “There’s an underground vault in their fortress,” she said. “The trophy is kept there most of the time, along with their other precious treasures and heirloom weapons. It gets pulled out for events and banquets to be displayed, and sometimes on other special days, but for the most part, it’s locked up down there. They keep it safe when they aren’t busy flaunting it.”

"Could we steal it during one of those banquets just to add to the embarassment or do you reckon it'd be safer to just stick to taking it from the vault the old fashioned way?

“More eyes is more risk of being seen and recognized,” Pratik pointed out.

Callista snorted. “A banquet robbery sounds far more fun, but if it must be with stealth—” She raised her eyebrows, making a face. She’d never liked stealth much. “—then we’d better go directly to that vault without being seen at all. We could always humiliate them another way while we’re there.”

It would be nice to snatch that trophy from a display stand in front of all of Strongmeadow and get away with it. That was exactly the slap in the face they deserved and the payback she was itching for. But even though her limits were far out, she still knew what they were.

"Raiding the vault sounds unpredictable - only senior members are aware of how it's sealed, and I was quite a ways from esteemed. Unless Callista knows more details in that department, the ceremony offers us visible fortune -- because both guilds are expected to be present for such a momentous occasion. Apart from my shocking appearance, none of you should have to try at all to blend in -- only to misdirect attention with beguiling tongues and sleight of hand. If the display case isn't too solid, we could swap it with a mock trophy, especially as drunk gluttons let their wherewithal slip..."

Sling's mouth smirked. "And I can be in the corner of the rafters, picking up signals or waiting for opportune moments."