The signal had gone off too soon. It had to have; otherwise Didoozy would not currently be hurtling towards a cliff face without a single trace of an airship in sight. If Tamarty had done her job correctly there would be an airship right here.

Didoozy tried to spit out a curse but the air in her chest was squished out of her, something heavy and cold had smashed into her solar plexus. She made a strange, raspy gasping sort of noise as her body attempted to wrap itself around the source of the pain. It was a handrail, pushed into her guts so hard it may might have cracked a rib. But most importantly it was an airship handrail.

Didoozy was certain the airship had not been there a moment before. Had they started making their ships invisible now? It was just like the Talls to go and make even their airships invisible.

Didoozy pulled herself up and over the railing, landing on the well-polished wooden deck with a quiet thump. She wanted to melt to into a puddle of gasping pain around her bruised sternum but Tamarty hadn't mucked the job up so neither could she.

It should be easy enough to complete her end of the bargain. As long as Edmindy had all the details right, which he usually did, then all she had to do was find the first door on her left down the starboard staircase. It was just like Talls to make up fancy names for everything.

If she was fast enough mayhap the Talls wouldn'tnotice her at all. She crept forward, eyes darting back and forth. Every little shadow and creak had her blood pumping faster in anticipation. This was not her first heist but Talls had a way of appearing out of practically nowhere, like the cursed airship had.

The deck was immaculate but there were still plenty of hiding places fit only for someone of her stature or smaller. It was a matter of muscle memory for her to move from shadow to rigging to doorway in fast little bursts, footfalls silent. She paused only long enough for the shadow of a Tall to pass her by before scurrying her way to the stairwell entrance.

The stairwell was empty as she pushed herself down the opening with her hands braced against the narrow walls. She didn't trust the stairs to keep quite so she used her upper body to propel her downwards, letting her feet touch the edge of a step only when she needed to adjust her hands on the lacquered wooden walls. This method got her to the landing in only a few eyeblinks but it was enough time to allow for the first sound of trouble.

Talls wore thick leather boots that rose all the way to their ridiculously extravagant knee height. 'Really, who needs all that top-ness to them? ' Seemed unsteady to her.

The sound of those boots was impossible for her to mistake. Although Talls varied in their appearances they were all massive, heavy beings. While some had the skills required to move silently most let their shiny boots clip clop across any old surface; a perfect alarm to warn of their approach. No Kin would ever be so loud, not unless it was on purpose anyway.

Didoozy sped up her progress. Either she would beat the boot owners to the door or she wouldn't, but going slow would result in failure for her for certain. She could see the door from where she stood, nearly within reach. She found herself praying to the Fates that she have just a moment longer to close the door. One moment more to avoid being seen.

The door clicked shut behind her. She had made it. 'Sneaky all the way'. She turned to survey her bounty. She was in a posh office with polished brass and shining chrome everywhere. The wood paneling in here was darker than the stairwell or hallway, the weird white light that emanated from the ceiling muted by all the dark tones. Books lined the walls and a richly polished rainbow wood desk sat in the center of the room. The desk was the most likely hiding place. She approached the over-sized beauty with more than a hint of reverence and anger. It was exactly like a Tall to cut down a rainbow tree for a desk. It wasn't that a kin wouldn't do the same but at least her people knew it would bring bad luck without a blessing.

She hesitated at the though of ill luck, but the desk would have cursed whoever cut the rainbow tree so she would be fine; and she did love a masterfully crafted desk. This particular specimen was far to large to ever be useful to anyone of reasonable stature but it was also, admittedly, very beautiful. Whoever had crafted it had seen the beauty of the tree and done little to embellish the natural splendor of the woods many colors. Didoozy circled the desk pushing a chair out of her way. There were three drawers, she reached for the lowest and largest first.

The inset handle had a hint of resistance before rolling out smoothly. Only once it was already open did it occur to her that she probably should have checked to see if the thing was trapped or locked. But it seemed fine so she stuck her head over the edge of the drawer along with her arm.
She riffled through the drawer's contents which mostly consisted of blank papers and glass jars with odd liquids that sparkled and shimmered. There were also a few long cylindrical things that she assumed were strange writing implements since they were next to the paper. Didoozy pocketed a few of the writing sticks for inspection later and moved on to the next drawer.

This one was above the last, equally as wide but only a third the height. Inside she found a beautiful shiny metal tube with glass caps at either end, it too disappeared into a pocket. There was also and a single shiny green eggfruit. She stuffed the eggfruit in her mouth and closed the otherwise dull drawer.

She loved her jacket for exactly this reason, the entire linings had various sized pocked sewn into it. She had even been able to make the pocket out of the same matte blue and black pattern since it had been liberated from a Tall and the scraps left over from taking it in had been plenty sufficient for her alteration.

Well the jacket was nice but so was the weird green little bag she had found that hung around her hip like a belt and could hold things bigger than it should. Which is where the tiny metal box with the itty bity lock went when she spotted it inside the last and widest drawer. The little metal case was too cute to leave even if it wasn't the box she was supposed to be looking for.

Didoozy had to stand on tiptoes to see into the recesses of the last drawer but there it was, finally, what she had been sent to retrieve. A gold edged box with a glass lid. Under the lid, nestled in velvet, a locket the size of an amberlue egg. She reached in until the edge of the drawer was biting into her armpit attempting to pry the box and all into her grasp, but the thing was either heavier than it looked or fastened to the bottom of the drawer. Didoozy scowled down at the box and began to fiddle with the obvious clasping mechanism on it's front.

When that didn't work she checked for any not so obvious clasping mechanisms. This was all starting to take too long. If she didn't get off the ship soon it could dock with her still aboard. That might be survivable if it wasn't headed straight for the Tall's city, the one place it might not be possible to escape from. The city was a strange place with rules all it's own and it was best avoided, that she knew for sure.

The damned box would not open; it was time for drastic and quick measures. Didoozy pulled the chair back over using it to boost herself up so she could clamber on top of the desk. Now she could look down into the drown straight at the top of the lid.

She moved one of her heaviest iron rings to her middle finger, a smoothly polished round band so narrow it couldn't go past her second knuckle. One side of the ring was raised above the band and flattened into the shape of a triangle, the Kins symbol for the Fates. She curled her finger, placing the flattened side of the ring against the glass top of the box. With a quick jerk she lifted then smashed her small hand, ring first, into the lid; shattering it. A small sliver of glass cut open the side of her hand, spilling little red droplets onto the broken box.

A shrill siren that made the inside of her head ache with each heartbeat began the moment her fingers curled around the heavy locket. With sirens blaring and head throbbing Didoozy tried to stumble her way to the door. The sound made her vision go hazy around the edges. She shook her head, trying to free it of the daze the sound was placing her in. She stowed the locket, heavy and real, in her breast pocket. She had done the job, now to survive it.

She tried to focus and reach for the doorknob but it was already turning beneath her fingers without any pressure. The door swung inwards, and she had to jump back to avoid getting smacked with it. There in the open doorway stood a Tall, her cool onyx features contorted in confusion. She was thinner than most of the other Talls, her uniform tight against her narrow frame. The uniform's typical cut outs showed windows of dark skin ornamented with the telltale tattoos that marked all of her kind.

Her sharp jawline began to clench as her small dark almond shaped eyes drifted downward to Didoozy's face. Didoozy could not help but marvel at the woman's beauty, she was very symmetrical. Even her pointed ears looked almost the exact same height, their tips nearly even with the two small white horns that curled delicately over inky black hair. A third eye tattoo wept a single white line that ran down the center of her broad nose, across her bow shaped lips to dip below her delicate chin.

All of this Didoozy noted with no small awe as she darted between the woman's legs, ducking and trying her to best to avoid shoving her shoulder into the other woman's crotch. She might be short but it was still a challenge to slide through narrow spaces, even on such a well waxed floor.

'I feel like I just missed an opportunity to make a terrible joke...' the depressing notion almost made her turn back but she had no good one liners in mind so instead she retrieved a handful of poppers from one of her larger pant pockets. The pants were Kin crafted but she had added a few extra pockets over the years. Enough to keep a tidy stack of the loud little devices on her when she could afford them. They might flash blind anyone who watched one go off but a popper wouldn't hurt anyone for real. She flung the handful behind her as she ran down the hallway.

She could hear the thundering cry of "Thief!" but any response that might have followed was lost as the poppers went off. Behind her the hallway was filled with green and orange smoke, bright flashes of light and a rolling crackle punctuated by the occasional BOOM!

Poppers were more of an art than a science and no two ever went off quite the same way; which meant the confusing display of colors and sounds continued its erratic belches as Didoozy took the oversized stairs two at a time, using the railing to haul herself up. She was across the deck in a flash, not bothering to hide this time.

The railing was ahead of her, freedom within sight. She could make it, using her momentum to haul herself up, vaulting her small body over the chin height obstacle. She pushed herself into the vault with all her might, her mass clearing the ship, pulling her over the side to freedom. Her hands left the railing, her entire body in open air; when she felt the firm grasp of a hand around her wrist.