thenearshore | Return to the Planet of a Prayer for the Lost

This was certainly not how she'd expected to be spending the afternoon. But she'd been feeling a little useless in general, and so she'd decided to try and take a more active approach to helping. Prayers were probably a good way to do that, and this one seemed straightforward enough that she didn't feel bad about dragging Snake and Adrien along, even if they might have preferred to be off doing something else.

Marinette nodded as she listened to what Edge had to say, and she couldn't help but worry about the dog. If it had been missing for that long and nobody had seen it? Well, she didn't want to think about what might have happened.

"Is it possible that the dog has wandered far from home and someone else has taken it in?" Maybe it was a ridiculously optimistic question, but she chose to believe that it was something like that until proven wrong. Dogs were generally too smart to get lost, so the only other options she could think of at the moment were... well, they got progressively less positive. "And what kind of dog is it?" Because this is important information. A photo would also be helpful, but she's not holding her breath.

Snake was more than happy to be helping with prayers, as long as he at least had Marinette by his side. Having Adrien too meant that there was nowhere else he'd rather be. Not to mention, this kind of job was perfect for him.

He blinks a little between Marinette and Edge before tilting his head just a little, "'Do you have something with their scent?', says Martin." He then looks to Marinette, "'I can probably still track them if it hasn't rained too much,' says Ayn."

Adrien tilted his head rubbing at his shoulder. "Well, You'd think if they were out looking for their pet there'd be posters someplace and someone would call or return it? Unless it might have been taken in by the pound or a shelter?" Much like Marinette he preferred to lean toward the more positive outcomes it was just how Adrien was - even if he could accept that they weren't the most likely.

"Even if it has been a week it's still possible Snake, Ayn, and Martin could pick up some kind of trail. Maybe not the original one from the home but if the dog is still out running around the city there might be something fresher. Something that might point us in a much clearer direction."

"Scent, huh?" That hadn't occurred to him, not used to tracking with scent himself. But it was a valuable idea to proceed on if they could deliver. "No, but I can get something. A little thievery isn't amiss if we return the stolen good and the pup besides. We're talking a big dog, I don't know the breed name though. White and black and grey, looks a lot like a nicer wolf. I can go get a scented object, you guys can canvas the area looking for him in other people's backyards?"

This was why she was glad to have her shinki because she probably wouldn't have thought about using scent either. She glanced over at Adrien when he spoke up, and then to Snake. "I never would've thought of that. Thank you, Snake. And thank you Ayn, Martin." Because even if it was technically Snake speaking through them, she still thought it was nice to thank them directly.

Then Edge was speaking again and he had her attention. She didn't know an awful lot about dogs, but she wanted to think that at least finding a bigger dog would be easier. "I think we can handle that!" She's just not going to think too much about how he plans on getting something with a scent. Turning to Snake and Adrien, she's grinning. "Do you think we should split up and try to cover more ground?"

Snake nods, "'It will be a big help,' says Ayn." He hesitates for a moment, but then moves in closer to Marinette to ask softly, "Call my vessel name?" If nothing else it would be strange to ask for that while using either Ayn or Martin's name. Not when it's something he finds to be so personal.

He knew that his vessel form would give him an edge in trying to find an animal. While he might only be dichromatic as a giant snake, he was more sensitive to UV light, could sense heat, movement on the ground, and a host of other advantages in finding prey that he didn't have as a (mostly) human. Of course, this time at least it's not prey he would be eating.

He's already putting Martin with Marinette and Ayn with Adrien. Firstly, he's pretty sure Marinette wouldn't refuse him asking to be his vessel form, but perhaps more importantly he wanted Ayn as far from Marinette while he's in his vessel form as he can get her. Ayn is far chattier than Martin, and her favourite topic happens to be Snake's (possible) love-life. They'd already had an incident back in the forest, and he's not too keen on letting Ayn try harder to convince Marinette about how Adrien feels about her, let alone how Snake feels about anyone romantically. Not after how well that went last time.

Adrien nods. "Sure thing. I'm sure we can check on the ground. I mean who knows maybe someone was just like 'oh what a cute pet' and decided to keep it." Plagg snorts from his place tucked against Adrien's collar. His boy is completely too optimistic but it's likely for the best.

As Ayn is settled around his shoulders he smiled and leaned to rub his cheek against her gently. "Hey, Ayn. Looks like you're my buddy today. We good with that?" He's grinning at her clearly not even bothered that he's going to be having a snake riding on his shoulders or the fact that she's going with him instead of Martin. He's good either way honestly.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. You two could go together and I can take a couple streets over? That way if I need help we're in shouting distance of each other." Seems like a good idea to him. He's tilting his head to the side. "We can meet up every couple blocks. Then once we have the scent we'll regroup and focus. Sound good?"

"I'll meet up with you all back here in a few minutes," Edge said, already turning in a snap of cape to stalk towards the house from which the prayer had been uttered. He was of course going to employ the many skills of a ninja to get in -- maybe they shouldn't watch if that bothered them. At no point had Edge ever hesitated to break the law in the service of the greater good.

She glanced up at Snake as he approached and gave him a reassuring smile. "Okay." She'd been with him long enough to know that Snake was generally more comfortable in vessel form. But before that she's going to wait until after he'd handed Martin over. She was a little amused to note that it wasn't Ayn this time, but she decided not to question it. And then a small part of her was wondering how different Martin's personality was from Ayn's.

Either way, Snake would probably be more effective in tracking in his vessel form. Not to mention the fact that they could probably get around so much faster. So as soon as Martin had wound his way around her shoulders, she glanced down at the snake and then turned back to her shinki. "Come, Iyou!"

It was still a sight to see, and she found herself staring a little as her shinki transformed into his namesake. "That sounds good to me." With that, she's glancing over at Ayn and Adrien, and then over at Edge to gauge his reaction to this newest development.

But by that point, he'd already announced his intentions to head off and Marinette fought the urge to giggle. Though she had to admit that the cape was pretty fancy. In the meantime, she leaned into Snake's side and reached up to pat Martin's side.

"Hello, Marinette, it's nice to finally speak to you," Martin says, darting his tongue out at her cheek as he settles on her shoulders, getting his tail wrapped around the top of her arm.

Snake lets out a gentle sigh of relief, glad that Martin didn't seem to be in a teasing mood. Not to mention, he felt like he belonged in this body more than his other, though he's glad that he does usually have hands.

Ayn bumps her nose against Adrien's cheek, "You always have the best ideas, Adrien!" Snake looks to Adrien and says, "'You always have the best ideas, Adrien!' says Ayn." He sounds a little awkward as he speaks for Ayn, a little embarrassed by the excitement that Ayn is speaking with. Unfortunately for Snake, the only person that can understand him right now is Marinette. He's a snake, after all, and snakes don't have vocal chords to speak with, but his vessel power allows Marinette to understand all snakes.

Adrien doesn't know what to make of this but he's laughing as Ayn nose'd his cheek. "Cute." He's confused as he peers at Snake. It's clear there's something going on but he's not catching it. Maybe he wants attention, too? Curiously he's reaching to place his hand against Snake's nose. "Hey buddy. It's okay. Don't get jealous. If you want nudges and pets I'm more than willing, pretty snake." He smiled gently.

"Best get started. Come on, Ayn." He's moving to go and peer around the near by yards. He's happily scanning them. There are plenty of pets but none that look like the one they're looking for. He's humming some jaunty little tune hands slipped in his pockets while Ayn is curled around his neck and settled there with Plagg.

'You do know he's going to go steal something.'

"I do but he'll return it when we're done. We're helping someone and not really taking anything away. We might even actually be bringing their pet back. I'm sure that kind of thievery is forgivable."

'That's not the first time a Chat has said something like that.'

"Maybe not but as long as your actions are doing good and hurt no one there's no harm."

They were a weird crew, and he envied them a little. They clearly share a closeness and camaraderie that he hasn't felt in the Far Shore yet.

But that was fine. They could work together and he could work alone, like a proper ninja from the shadows or whatnot. The important thing was that the prayer get accomplished, the wayward pooch found, and the poor owner reunited with his beloved pet!

To that end, Edge wasted no time in strolling right up to the owner's house and vaulting the fence, heading into a backyard which showed every sign of being a big dog's playground. Finding a few balls was no problem. Those ought to be good, right?

Marinette beamed and reached up to rub Martin's head. "Hi Martin. It's nice to finally speak to you too." It hasn't even occurred to her that Adrien and Edge wouldn't be able to hear Martin's side of the conversation, and honestly she probably wouldn't have been terribly bothered.

She's glancing over at Snake, and then at Adrien and Ayn with a giggle. "Oh right! Snake said 'You always have the best ideas', says Ayn," she explained. Then, glancing over at Edge, she's shrugging a shoulder. "I can uh... hear what they're saying while Snake's a snake~" Fortunately, Martin didn't seem to be as odd as Ayn.

When Adrien wandered off with Ayn in tow, she turned back to Snake. "Looks like it's just the three of us now." For a minute, at least, until Edge came back.

Martin is much more relaxed than she is, for one. It's actually surprisingly apparent in the way they hold themselves, in addition to how much Ayn's always looking around at everything. Martin seems more pleased to take things as they come.

Snake is raised up rather high to look around at the surrounding yards himself. "I think he's coming back with something, says... Martin," Snake says, then getting embarrassed realizing that Marinette could most definitely hear that Martin was not the one that said that.

He plays it off and just makes his way towards the direction Edge went. He pauses to look over his shoulder to see if Marinette would join him in at least welcoming Edge back over and seeing what he'd gotten. Martin decides to comment, "all three of us snakes should get a good scent off of what he has."

Ayn, meanwhile, has decided that she wants to get a better scent of whatever a Kwami is. He was always around Adrien, but most times he didn't tend to stay around Adrien's shoulders while she happened to also be there, and clearly there are priorities. Marinette could probably hear her on the other side of the yard, "Hey, what are you anyway? Besides a cute bite-sized kitty."

Adrien blinked hearing Marinette translate for Ayn. Okay that was something new - like super new. He's staring at her for a moment before grinning a bit. "You always say the nicest things, Ayn." He's leaning up on tip toe to look over a few of the taller fences but he's keeping an ear out for when Marinette and the others are ready to meet up again.

Plagg blinked at Ayn then his tail gave a twitch. 'Not a bite-sized kitty. I'm travel-sized for Adrien's convenience. I'm a Kwami - It's.. There are about nineteen of us in our box. We're each tied to something a conceptual ideal, an emotion... Creation, Destruction, Kindness, Empowerment, Compassion, Passion.' The Kwami gestured with his paws.

Adrien might have faltered in his walking but he glanced over his shoulder to see if maybe Tikki had come to translate for Plagg or something. But that's not the case and he's just eyeing his kwami. "Since when do you speak snake?"

'When she speaks directly to me I can figure it out. It's more tricky when it's not to me. Kwami are required to understand many languages since my ring can end up in the hands of people who don't speak Chinese or French or the language of Kwami or the Ancients...'

"We're gonna have a talk about this, Plagg. Later though we have a mission."

'Whatever you say, Kid. I think they're waiting on you.' He gestures and Adrien follows it before nodding and sprinting over toward where Snake and Marinette are heading to where Edge is.

Boy was he glad he was missing all of this. Or would be if he were aware. Pleasantly ignorant, Edge wandered back out from the backyard, tossing the balls up in the air and then flipping over the fence to catch them one-two-three on the other side. When the mission got serious, maybe then he'd stop showing off.

"Here we go!" he said, lifting his voice with the confidence that no one else would hear it. "Three balls for three snakes, right?"

"That was the plan, wasn't it?" Sorry, Snake. That kind of thing wasn't terribly convincing when she's able to legitimately hear what the snakes are saying. But she's feeling generous, so she'll let him have it for now.

She did, in fact, decide to follow him over to see what Edge had managed to get his hands on, though she glanced at Martin and chuckled as she made her way over.

They were just close enough that she could hear Ayn's half of the conversation with Plagg, and she tried to picture the look on the little black kwami's face in response to that.

By the time Edge had hopped the fence and caught the balls in one fluid motion, Marinette was already getting a little anxious to get the show on the road. But she made sure to applaud the ninja's impressive display as she waited. "That's right!" she announced. "They just need to get the scent and then we can go."

Snake can't clap, but he does tap the tip of his tail on the ground to try to mimic the sound. Snake didn't wait to move forward, letting his tongue flick out over the toys, barely touching any of them.

Ayn and Martin would both do the same once Marinette and Adrien get close enough to let them. Until then Ayn would tease Plagg, "That's basically the same thing. And it doesn't make you any less adorable. I could just eat you up!" She's teasing, probably, since she's not even remotely in a position to try to strike at Plagg, not the way her neck is relaxed as she moves towards him.

Snake at least doesn't seem worried, casually telling her, "Ayn, focus...."

'Is not. It's absolutely not the same thing. I'm not adorable you don't get to call me that.' He rolled his eyes before moving to curl himself up into Adrien's hair.

Adrien hustled over huffing as Plagg plopped himself down in his hair. "Ugh, Plaggg. Stop fussing. I know you don't like dogs but this is silly. I could transform if you're going to be that big of a baby." Not that he wanted to to but he didn't want to deal with his kwami's whining either.

[Reaching out he's taking one of those balls and holding it closer to Ayn.]

Okay, the applause was a bit much -- now he kind of felt like he was being mocked. Maybe if one of them had been a cute girl that was also eligible, no problem, but...

"I'll take to the roofs and follow from there, just in case we need the height advantage for spotting anything." He kept the balls held out so the others could take it or sniff it or whatever they needed to do. "I don't think this is going to be any trouble, but keeping watch for ayakashi is never a bad idea when four people from the Far Shore are around."

It might've been a bit much, but Marinette was genuinely impressed, and applause seemed less silly than shouting things like 'good job!' or something.

Still, she moved close enough for Martin to have access to the ball, and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at Ayn. She really was ridiculous sometimes. Tikki, however, wasn't even trying to cover up her laughter.

"She's not wrong, though~"

"The roofs?" Though she had to admit that it did seem like a good idea. Having someone up there to keep watch for ayakashi, or the dog, would be a big help. "Good idea. And I don't think it'll be that bad, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

So was Snake, and if Marinette thought clapping was the right way to handle it, then Snake figured it probably was.

With the plan set Snake takes to searching for the dog, his tongue darting about as his massive body swings back and forth.

"He and Ayn have the edge on us, Marinette," Martin complains as he gets the scent.

Ayn makes sure she gets the scent too before teasing, "See? Your other admirer agrees."

That finally gets Snake to laugh, even as he explains, "Ayn and I can see heat."

'She's not my admirer. She's Tikki. It's different..' Plagg huffed crossing his little arms over his chest paws flexing with annoyance.

Adrien lowers the ball and hums softly. "Actually, That's a fantastic idea. Having someone at a higher vantage point would keep us from being caught unaware." He's glancing over toward Edge before giving a little nod at that. "You take up high we'll cover it down here."

And if Edge needed any help up high he could always transform and Chat could lend a hand. It was no secret to him that he fought better as Chat than he did as just himself - he knows this.

"All right. Just be careful, in case there's some malice behind this theft."

They all offered, but damned if Edge isn't still a little displeased about getting kids involved. Even if they were fairly close to the border of that distinction. At least he wasn't the only adult here, though.

Edge took two steps, broke into a quick jog, then vaulted onto the roof of the nearby house in one smooth leap. Ninja, after all.

Marinette chuckled a little at that. "Don't worry, Martin. I can't see heat either." Not that that was the same, but she wanted to make him feel better.

Tikki, for the most part, was paying attention to what they were meant to be doing.

When it seemed like they were going to split up again, Marinette turned to watch Edge's ascent. It might've been easier to do this if she transformed, but she had Martin and didn't want to risk it just now.

Once he was gone, she turned around and started walking away from the boys. She figured it would save time to split up as long as she didn't get too far away from the others. And Martin should, in theory, be able to help. But then, how hard was it going to be to find this dog?

Martin starts slithering down her, though he isn't sure how to get around her abdomen, so he's hanging onto her arm, "It'll be easier to smell closer to the ground."

Ayn finds her way to Adrien's arm, stretching towards different objects while she tries to get a catch of the same scent as well.

Snake meanwhile sets out silently in a direction between Marinette and Adrien, apparently content to go looking on his own.

Adrien moves picking his own path to take. But as Ayn comes down onto his arm he's arching a brow.

"Do you want down?"

He's stooping to bring Ayn closer to the ground. "Here. I mean it's a little dog not a person so the scent would be closer to the ground, right?" Heck if he knows. He's just guessing. So he'll let her down to the ground if that's where she wants to go.

Plagg gave a little snort. "You've got a Cat, three snakes, a ninja and a princess looking for a dog. This by far the strangest time I've been awakened."

Up atop the nearest roof, Edge glanced from Marinette to the boys and back, then scowled. Something about this whole thing sat wrong in his mind. Lost dogs, those happened, and Edge was worried about what they'd find at the end of the road.

Here was hoping.

The scent, though old, lingered all over the street -- how many times had the dog been up and down, doing its business on walks, over time? They'd need to canvas carefully.

That comment made her feel a little silly for not thinking of it sooner, and she paused to kneel so that Martin could get closer to the ground. She wasn't sure if he was going to hop down or not, but at least this way it wouldn't be as long a drop.

"How long do you think it's going to take to find this dog?" she questioned, and then something else occurred to her.

"Do we even know the dog's name?" How had nobody thought of that yet? Maybe they were all too focused on figuring out the logistics of this to even think about something so simple, but now she just felt a little foolish.

Return to the Planet of a Prayer for the Lost

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