Oxventure: Blades in the Dark

Animals were rare, in Volisport. There were the goats, of course, but given that you hardly ever saw them detached from a cab, it was hard to think of them as... well... alive.

Edvard hunched down, taking care not to get his shoes wet, and peered into the grate. Whatever was in the gutter (certainly not water) was bound to stain, and also, he'd borrowed them from Barnaby.

A pair of golden eyes peered back at him, accompanied by a trembling "meeev".

"Well," he muttered, "nothing for it. I suppose I'll have to build some sort of mechanical kitten-rescuing man."

"When do we start?" Barnaby Fortescue III - Lilith would not be referring to him as "The Butcher" - stood in the corner, grinning from ear to ear.

"Start what?"

He leaned in, conspiratorily. "The crimes."

Lilith glared. "We broke into a mansion! You were there."

"Was I? Are you sure?"

"Yes! You talked to that sleepwalking lady!"

"Oh, that." He frowned. "Does that count?"

"As what?"

"Just seems to me like it shouldn't count, if there's no danger." Before she could continue, Barnaby raised his hands. "But I'll trust your judgement."

People, Lilith thought, were a lot more difficult than ghosts.