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It was with much relief that the Fallen Angels found themselves reunited again, and they were quick to share details of their adventures, along with all the important information and warnings they'd each been given about the situation. Once they'd all gotten ready, amid much more complaining from some of their members about all of them having to dress as males, they set off on the next leg of their adventure.

After a bit of outfit adjusting on the fly, they'd managed to bluff their way on board as groupies of the Jive Five. As they all tried to follow the thread of conversation, True glanced around at her companions. She couldn't supress a knowing smile as she watched Jeice and Sashi squirming, both of them trying desperately not to scratch at the fake facial hair she and Webby had helped apply. I knew y'all should have just gone with moustaches, she smirked and lowered her eyes. But nope, both of you wanted to be all manly men.

It was Talli who first noticed the conductor watching them all with what seemed to be growing suspicion. Discreetly leaning over, she whispered something to Calie, who then passed the message on to Webby, and so forth until the whole team realized they'd better start paying much more attention to the band's chatter.

It took a few minutes for them to start grasping the positions and rankings, but once they did, True pulled out a small slip of paper, and she and Calie quickly tried to figure out who would be the best singer. Once they did, they passed the answers along to the rest of the team, and as a group they leaned forward and did their best to insert themselves into the conversation.

The Foggiest Notions were reunited and thrown right back into another situation that called for clever disguises. Ravensong was very dapper, like a rich boy who got whatever he desired; Fern stayed close behind Ravensong as usual, her freckles making her look like the perfect young boy; Eurus, channeling some of his magic, rejuvenated his looks into that of a young strapping lad full of spunk; Evangelista took the opportunity to dress in the finest clothing, as usual, wearing long leggings to cover her favorite pair of women's shoes that she "dare not take off"; Armina was dressed as a warrior boy of legend, tough and rough yet very charming; and Max used his handy dandy make-up skills to also rejuvenate his looks as best an undead being could.

They all carried a different flower, to give to Nancy as they made their way to the venue, and the streets were full of Crystania's signature orange glow, pulsating in a way that bathed the group in waves of light.

After they had snuck into Katsuhiro’s rooms, Areiwyn went over and seized Tanaka roughly, pinning his arms behind his back. “Not a single move,” she growled. However, when they discovered it was not Katsuhiro but an automaton, she grudgingly let Tanaka go. He then proceeded to give a long winded speech of which Areiwyn registered only the word “assassination”. Larianne was in mortal danger! She had to reunite with the rest of her team at once so they could set off to rescue her and hopefully Letty as well. At the mention of the Gearwork Goose, Areiwyn remembered back, “Don't mention Bearman Jack to anyone but Nancy,” she muttered under her breath.

Areiwyn, Isze, Aicha and Donner made their way swiftly back to the hotel where Kitcher, Teislyn and Leislyn were anxiously waiting. After conferring about what each side found out, they quickly got changed again. Dressing up as a male was new to Areiwyn but a much more comfortable experience than dressing up provocatively had been. Areiwyn found a suitable wig to hide her long hair and then pondered facial hair. She tried a moustache on but it tickled her face too much. Perhaps if she kept a neutral expression, her face would look more like a boy’s and less like a girl’s.

Areiwyn gazed at the picture of the Nancy Card she had laid out on the table. Black and whites seemed to be the trend, a cane, top hat and goggles too. She stared at herself in the mirror, she thought she looked fanboy enough, either way, she had hidden her gunblades carefully, choosing a nice jacket that was perfect for concealing weapons. She grinned thinking about how Aicha would respond to being told to dress up, firstly as a boy, secondly as a fanboy. Aicha was the type to be used to being on the receiving end of that, certainly not on the giving side.

Donner was pumped up about the success of the mission that he and his fellow teammates had just completed. They had gained some very valuable information and now had a plan to proceed with their attempt to save Larianne. He was also very eager to get back to his mate to see if she was alright and to learn what they had discovered.

He entered the hotel suite with the others but bolted to his and Kitcher's room. He burst into their bedroom just in time to catch a naked Kitcher stepping out of her knickers. The aroma of hot soapy water and lavender bath salts made him smile. There were two towels set aside on the dressing stand, two bathing robes, two sets of slippers, but no clean clothing. "Get ready for a bath dear, I'll scrub your back," was all she said before she stood on tippy-toes and kissed him passionately.

After conferring with the rest of the group about what happened to them and what they found out, Leislyn realized it was time to put together another ensemble. This round, they were to dress as steampunk male fanboys and she wasn't sure what in the world she would do in order to pull this one off. She had mechanical abilities but that didn't mean she was completely masculine and yet she had a wild charm that many men found very appealing but that didn't make her a girly-girl, either. How in the world was she supposed to pull off someone that was supposed to be a man but pretty much dressed like a woman without looking LIKE a woman? She felt a bit of anxiety start building in her throat and mind, then something came over her that stopped that in its tracks. She looked into the mirror next to her and said, "Leislyn, come on. You can do this. If you can pull off suggestively chic without getting noticed too much and act like a politician when you're not like one at all, you can certainly do this. Let's get going, you!"

She went through trunks and trunks of clothes until she finally found an ensemble that worked for her - bluish-colored striped pants, slate-colored steamgear vest, long locks that although appeared a tad feminine would hopefully still have enough of a masculine look to work for her, and a very classy top hat. Granted, she wasn't a carbon copy of Nancy but she wasn't sure that was their exact mission and thought she made a fantastic effort with what she chose to wear. After looking at herself in the mirror, she realized that even with all she had on, she still didn't look quite enough like a man, so she searched around and found a fake black goatee in the bottom of one of the trunks. She tried on several mustaches to go with the ensemble but none of them really worked with the goatee, so she just left it alone.

Teislyn had been pacing in the hotel room thinking over the ballroom situation while Kitcher and Leislyn were sitting on the couch waiting for the rest to come back. "This is all madness!" She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air and continued pacing after quieting down again. The rest of the team made it back and now they were off again once they were changed into some clothes that had magically appeared.

Teislyn looked through the trunks and couldn't believe they had to be boys and more feminine ones at that. Sighing she found some clothes that would fit her well enough, added some goggles on top of the wig and stared in the mirror for awhile.

Donner woke up after a very brief nap and found the bed empty of one diminutive pregnant female weasel. He heard her pottering about in the dressing area and called out, "Kitchie? Kommen back to bed, ve don't have to go anywhere now, do ve?" Somewhere in the back of his head he thought that there might indeed be somewhere they all needed to be, but he tried to push it from his consciousness. "C'mon Kitchie, back to bed for a little while." He whined.

Whining never worked. After a moment, Kitcher appeared from the dressing room and she wasn't happy. "Donner, I love you and I could stay in that bed with you forever, but we have a job to do and I already hate it. I just want it to be over."

Donner reluctantly threw back the covers and dragged himself out of bed over to Kitcher. He took her up in his arms, held her close and leaned in for a smooch.

"Stop it Donner! Put me down!" She turned away from him and reached up for a shirt on a hanger. "I found that somebody must have sent some clothes for us to wear. We're supposed to be "Nancy Boys," rabid fans of some performer named Nancy. Whatever." She flung the shirt down on the bed, "That means I have to look like a boy." She cupped her breasts in her paws, turned angrily and fumed, "How the heck am I supposed to deal with these?"

Donner stared at her stupidly. He licked his lips and quipped, "Um…you could always use some duct tape and tape them down flat." He laughed.

Kitcher punched him hard in the solar plexus, "Knock it off Donner. There is no way in heck I'm going to let you or anybody else do something that hideous. I hate this! I don't want to look like a boy! Boys are stinky, stupid and gross." She was really cross but she became even more cross when she found the bag with the fake beard and the duct tape for her chest. "Damnit Donner! How did you know?"

It didn't take Donner that long to dress, whoever sent the clothes got his size just right and he liked the black and white stripes. In the bag that came with his clothes he found eye shadow, a razor and a fake goatee which he put on with glee, "This ist the best costume ve have had yet!" he exclaimed as he looked in the mirror. He picked up the cane that had been supplied and gave it a twirl. It slipped from his paw, hit a lamp and knocked it off the dresser. Still, he primped and preened in front of the mirror and made goofy faces at himself as if he were talking to a stranger, "Ist you lookink at me? Vell I am dee only von here…vell, except for Kitcher over der, ya ya?"

Kitcher on the other paw not only hated her outfit, but she was horrified at the strange androgynous visage in the mirror. She wanted to cry, but instead she stuck out her tongue and flicked her tail, "Stop fooling around Donner, we need to go now!"

Aicha stared at the clothes laid out before her. As if the last outift hadn't been bad enough now she was supposed to be a boy! The old Aicha would have thrown a fit and destroyed some walls in the process. The old Aicha would have found a way to blame this mess on Areiwyn and then antagonize her for the whole ordeal. But she wasn't that Aicha anymore, was she?

With a sigh, she donned her boy clothes. A quick spell minimized her obvious girl assets. Another changed her hair color black and grew an odd looking mustache and beard. The final touch was a large top hat. Placing her small bundle into the hat, the mage headed off in silence. At least that hat could hold her cargo...

Isze was relieved to be able to pick sensible clothing once more, even if she did have a dress code. At least she could move freely in this costume. Her stripes faced the wrong way, but she hoped that wouldn't be too big a deal. After selecting her outfit, she felt a little out of place in the group. The others appeared to be dressed far more refinedly, and she was basically in lace minishorts and bolero over a bodysuit. From Nancy's poster, she had a secret suspicion of adult-themed entertainment. But no-one said anything, even Aicha. What was WRONG with her? Isze felt vexation pulse under her characteristic calm. She half-suspected the mage of acting like this just rile her up. It did secretly amuse Isze to see Aicha dressed as a male, she even had facial hair! Surely that must irritate her? Perhaps Isze could comment on it?

Isze had considered some hair herself, but what if someone tugged it, or it got sweaty and moved about? She had enough trouble with her own natural hair, no matter what she did some blue showed through the dye and no short wig would stay over her thick braid. So she decided to rely on the blockish clothing, her new short haircut, and her mannerisms to convince people. It shouldn't be too hard, with her chest bound she looked fairly androgynous.

Speaking of chests, she wondered what had come over Kitcher recently. Bossy, confident, fiery, social. Even Isze, who usually happened to be in the areas Kitcher wasn't, had noticed. Perhaps it was pregnancy hormones? In any case, she hoped Kitcher and Donner would adjust happily to these personality changes. All they needed right now was spousal disharmony.

Teislyn shook her head and started to follow the rest out the door when she remembered they needed flowers. "Wait everyone!" and ran to a vase of flowers on a table, snipped some and handed each one. "Kitcher, don't forget the rose."

After changing into their costumes for the concert, Leislyn followed her team mates out of their suite and hotel to where the underground steam cars were waiting to take them to the train station. She wasn't use to wearing boots, it made walking difficult for her and she fell behind the others. She tried to catch up, tripped over her boots and fell flat on her face in the middle of the street. She cried for help and Areiwyn came over to help her up, though she laughed at the look on Leislyn's face. Areiwyn encouraged her to catch up to the rest of the group.

Leislyn brushed off and smoothed out her outfit and caught up to the others, "Luckily I've got my tools hidden in my ensemble, someplace they'll never even think to look," she thought. "Hopefully the rest of our entire mission goes smoothly and my accidental fall didn't delay us all that much!

Areiwyn heard the sound of the rabbit before she saw it. When she turned around, she had to stifle a giggle. There was a heavily armed steampunk rabbit! What next? Her giggles soon turned serious however as they found out that they were missing a special pass. Damn that Djoni and Tanaka. She balled her hands into fists and gazed around wanting to punch something, maybe those barrels?

A group of rowdy pirate-musicians suddenly caught her attention. It seemed the rest of her team were intent on joining with them though so Areiwyn had to restrain herself from causing a scene. With one last longing look at the barrels, Areiwyn headed over with her team as they pretended to be their fanboys. The ploy worked and the team soon found themselves on the train.

Once on the train, the two young weasels sat next to each other, Kitcher was stone cold and Donner was trying to get her to warm up a bit. He flirted with her, teased her, put his paw around her and tried to kiss her ear. The only response he got from her was elbows, two clicks of her tongue and a harumph. He leaned in close to and tried to caress her and she slapped his face, "Don't you even attempt to touch my bewbs Donner! Not till this is over!"

Donner was stunned and shocked. He rubbed his cheek, the red paw print was beginning to form and it felt hot. All he could manage to say was, "What bewbs?"

As they sat in silence for the rest of the train trip to the concert, curious onlookers wondered about the two adolescent 'boys,' their 'lovers’ quarrel' and the two matching paw prints on the taller boy's tear-stained face, one on each cheek.

The Hideous Glow Of The Hourglass Backlights The Stone Cold Rogues Waiting At The Train Station

Areiwyn Aicha Teislyn Kitcher Donner Isze Leislyn

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Jean tucked in the loose end of the cloth she was using to bind her chest and examined her hair.  It was getting longer than she liked, even if she wasn't trying to pass herself off as male.  She quickly shrugged on her shirts and went to find the other members of her team.  "Is anyone willing to do me a favor and attempt a haircut?  I've got a pair of scissors, but I don't think I'll be able to do a decent job on myself.  It doesn't have to be perfect, just reasonable."

Quercus had been horrified at the site of Larianne. The poor girl was clearly lost thanks to whatever it was DeWinter had used. It had taken her a great deal of effort not to leap up and punch DeWinter for his actions. It was only thanks to her reasoning she couldn't help anyone if she was locked up that stopped her. The news about Tanaka had surprised her but she was glad to hear that he had helped his uncle escape. With luck they could get the Infernal Hourglass without needing to destroy what little stability there was. Unfortunately, the next mission involved yet more tight clothes. Quercus sighed as she bound her chest up. Passing for a male was something she frequently did without knowing. She'd been called a he more than once while on the road as no one seemed to expect a female to travel alone with a fox and a song bird. Her loose clothes and direct manner didn't help. Still, she thought as she pulled on a shirt. I might be able to move in these things. Jean's request made Quercus look round. "If you're happy for me to try I can cut it. I have to do my own fairly often." She rolled her eyes. "One of the joys of vines is trying to keep them under control." She pulled out a chair and motioned for Jean to sit. She glanced at the table of items she had yet to add to complete her outfit. "Who will have the black rose? They'll need to present it to Nancy." An idea came to her. "Venom? Why don't you have it? Wolf's right, you are attractive and it might be best if one of our actual guys hands it over." She turned to Shikuyim and gave him a wink. "Then again, maybe Nancy wants a mature man with stories of adventure to charm and enthrall her. What do you think?"

Jean chuckled as she took a seat in front of Quercus and handed the scissors over.  "I agree, just in case one of us girls gets caught for some reason, it would be best to have the two roses in the hands of someone who can withstand close scrutiny."

Quercus took the scissors and began to trim the ends of Jean's hair. "How short do you want it?" "Just shoulder length should be fine," Jean replied.

Shikuyim smiled at the two ladies.  "Surely young Venom should present the rose. Very sweet of you young ones to even suggest me, no no, go on, let's get this all taken care of and get back to our pets as soon as we can. I miss my little companion! One does enjoy the company of new friends as well as wanting the company of the familiar older ones."

Venom was still brooding to himself when the topic of who should carry the rose came up. Snapping from his thoughts he nodded and cracked a smile. “It would be my pleasure…” He wasn’t exactly sure why the others thought he was so attractive, but it made sense as to why he should carry the rose,  and besides he wasn’t going to object to being the one at greater risk in any situation.

Disappearing from the room while Jean took a seat for Quercus to cut her hair, Venom returned after a while with freshly washed hair of his own, damp and dyed a deep black. This far undercover Venom thought it wise to mask his violet hair for a shade less memorable and therefore less damning should they be caught. Taking a seat on the table across from the two while rubbing a towel over his head he watched closely. “Could you trim the back of mine when you’re done?” His tail wagged slightly thudding on the tabletop softly a few times before he could stop it.

"Okay." Quercus nodded and began to cut Jean's hair. She gave it a slightly rough shape at the ends. From what she'd seen it seemed that most young men liked their hair in such a shape and it would hopefully give Jean's face a slightly more masculine shape. A lock of her own hair drifted in front of her face. She sighed inwardly. A part of her wanted to do as the others were doing and change her hair to hide her identity. Unfortunately, she'd already cut it as much as she could and, as she'd found out to her cost, most dyes killed the vines and gave her a violent headache. I really hope no one spots it. We're in enough trouble as it is. Shikuyim comment made her pause. Companions... She wondered how Tipper and Star were. Were they eating enough? Was Star keeping out of trouble? Was Tipper keeping out of the kitchens? Were they warm enough? She mentally gave herself a shake. They were old enough and wise enough to look after themselves. They had done so before this and would do so after. Besides, they would have hated it here. Tipper would be a pile of trembling fur and Star would have gone for DeWinter unless Quercus had locked her up in a room. Focusing on the task at hand she refused to let her thoughts go any further in that direction. "There you go!" she commented cheerfully as she dusted Jean's shoulders of the remaining strands. "I hope it looks okay to you. I can try and tidy it up some more if you want." She turned at Venom's request and smiled. "Certainly, I'll do what I can but it won't be too neat I'm afraid." She moved round to Venom and began to pull his hair free of his neck to trim it.

       

Quercus gazed at the path in front of them. Guards, check points and goodness knew what else lay ahead. She glanced around and spotted the barrels so distraction was a choice but it looked like Jean had a better idea. She was moving towards a group of young men chatting about music and pirates. Quercus strode after her, trying to look as relaxed as possible. Once part of the group she tried to work out what they were talking about. Something to do with the lead singer of a group of musicians who dressed as pirates. Quercus felt more than ever like she was a stranger. Why were musicians dressing as pirates? None the less Quercus moved along with them and tried to understand who and what they were talking about.

After their brief intermission at the makeshift salon Venom felt more confident about going to see Nancy. But still, sneaking backstage wasn’t going to be easy, let alone sneaking in with an entire group. Ironically enough when they arrived on the scene their immediate solution was to literally sneak in with an entire group. The Fellowship had little problem blending in with the Jive Five’s groupies all clamoring to get in to see their favorite band on stage. Once inside Venom quickly scanned the room for Nancy. Disappointingly but not unexpectedly she had yet to make an appearance.

Once inside, Quercus gazed around the Golden Goose and felt impressed. It was elegant yet cozy. Quercus liked it. She hoped her memories of this place would be positive. She noticed a serving maid in a particularly fetching outfit. Quercus rather liked the colour and cut, it looked easy to move in too. The girl noticed her and Quercus smiled in answer to her gaze. The maid tossed her head and moved off but she looked rather pleased. "Steady there." Another youth laughed. "Save your charm for the showgirls!" He clapped Quercus on the shoulder before moving off to join some friends. Should I be happy or annoyed that I can appear to be male so easily? Quercus wondered.

Oh, Oh, Ok..well, that's really pretty simple. Says Witchy, The Silver Legends all nod their heads. Then Tea_Roll, says "What's simple? What are we doing?" TerrenaAnimula and Witchy both look at the Fresh.

Lovecraft looks at Witchy, and says "What do you mean IT's Simple? Are you smoking something besides Rainbows, Witchy?"

Flamingo, meanwhile, stuffs some chocolate covered squid on a stick, into her mouth. "ymmmmmm" she murmers. She than spits all back onto the ground, "ICK! Quick! I need some Skittles!" and hands the box of squid to witchy, with one hand, and grabs Lovecraft by the collar and starts shaking her.

"Ok! Ok! Here" and she quickly hands Flamingo some skittles.

"You're all very interesting" says the Lapine, (which you still haven't gotten a name), "But I'm busy now, and I really need an answer."

Fresh opens his mouth, to tell him that they would dwell on the problem, and come right back, but before he can say anything, Witchy says...

(answer removed as to not spoil it!)

Witchy looks around at everyone. The Silver Legends look pale in the face.

Fresh says, "Witchy...do you feel alright?"

Lovecraft says, "Is the world as we know it, ending?"

Terrenaanimula says, "Witchy, do you want to sit down, hon?"

Tea_roll says "Hey Witchy, I wanted some of those chocolate squids!"

Amdir-Jenna-Jilly-Anna-Leaf-Juana

Trying to get dressed up as a male, wasn’t that hard for Kenny, actually really being a male, but all of the others in the group were females and they quickly learned that trying to be a male was harder than they had imagined it to be. Luckily they were given the heads up that females wouldn’t be allowed in, otherwise only Kenny would now be meeting with Nancy and the rest would stand outside of the Gearwork Goose.

Actually getting in a steamcar over towards the Gearwork Goose turned out to be harder than expected too.
“Can’t we just go for a walk” Ilaera asked the others. “And be caught by the guards on patrol?” Lirien said. “No, thank you”. “There’s no way we can make it over to the Gearwork Goose without being noticed by the guards” Kenny said, making an end to every discussion about another way of traveling. They had been standing in front of the steamcar gates for quite a while already when they suddenly heard a group talking with each other. When they looked up they saw a group of musicians making their way over towards the gate. By the way they were dressed and were talking to each other they were pirates or acting as pirates. “Surely we can make some additions to some of our outfits, make some of us look like pirates” Lorelei whispered, so that no one else in the hallway would hear her. “That’s a great idea” Kenny said. “We can be their groupies” Kayara whispered back with a laugh. The group decided that Kenny and Ilaera would fit the role of pirate the most, since they were able to adjust their speech the most. Kayara only changed her hair style. Lorelei and Lirien were the only ones that didn’t change, since they already had a hard time acting like a male. For some reasons they were both to much a female when they tried to talk. It had made them laugh in the suite when they had been trying to talk as a male, but after some moments they got serious again and decided to not speak in front of Nancy would be the best option they had to maintain their disguise.

(Rox-Ilaera)(Silverlunarfox-Lorelei)(Turokai-Kenny)(Ziva-Kayara)(PastaPiggy/L0stS0ul-Lirien)

They walked over towards the pirates. Kenny tried talking to one of them, but before he could say anything one of the pirates said that they must be fans of the Jive Five. “Yeah, indeed we are” Ilaera said in her best pirate talk, the group didn’t seem to care for them being followed around, they were arguing a lot and actually seemed to have lost interest in the friends that followed them. “Well, that went pretty good” Kayara said softly. “Yeah, I wish everything would go like that” Kenny laughed. “Maybe it would be a good idea to try and gather some more information about this group we’re following” Lorelei said. “If we are pretending to be their fans we should at least know their names and plays I reckon”. “Don’t worry about it” Lirien said. “I have all the information we need and that from only listening to their arguing” she said with a sigh. “People sometimes talk too much about personal things in public."

“Winton,” Blair found him in one of the back rooms. “I had a chat with the companions” she motioned behind her, knowing they had followed her, “they’re talking about a squirrel archer in the woods.” “I have heard rumours about that squirrel from the dwarves and elf scouts that came by over the last couple of days, but they hadn’t actually seen him, so I just treated them as rumours. Without fact or witness, they meant nothing really” Winton responded. “Well, our companions actually saw him in the woods, so what rumours did you hear?” Blair asked Winton. “From what I heard this squirrel archer is forming a resistance band, a rather brave band I reckon.” “Did you hear anything about numbers?” Blair wanted to know how large the group was believed to be. “The rumours don’t talk about actual numbers, but from what I heard the group is growing larger every day. The mine slaves that were freed or that escaped from the Kobolds all join the squirrel’s band, so there must be well over 100 in the group by now, although I’m not sure on that.” “If the mine slaves are joining his group, then we should find him and ask him to be our ally” Blair said firmly. “Well, wait a second” Winton responded. “Even if we find the squirrel, we don’t know if the rumours are even true, so we aren’t asking him to be our ally. And secondly, his group is growing so much so fast, that we need to be very careful with him.” The companions started yipping, squawking, mewing, and flapping in an attempt to get Blair and Winton’s attention. When the two looked over at them, Blanco was mimicking a Kobold and Muse was mimicking the squirrel, this made Blair and Winton laugh a little. But after watching the companions act out a strong hold on the squirrel’s side, they realized it was more serious than they thought. “So, that squirrel is slowing down the Kobolds with his group?” Blair asked while looking at her closest friend Ikalo, who only nodded. Blair looked over to Winton, and he had the same worried yet relieved look on his face. She knew the had to find that squirrel.