Forget You - End

[unpocoloco]

Who: Coco and friends
What: It's time crash a party and make a rescue (this plot!)
When: Forward Dated to the evening of November 1st into the morning of November 2nd
Where: Mexico City
Warning: Death subjects, possible death

Comments

[hawkwardness]

After that, his human vocal cords are gone. Here comes that familiar not-speech, which isn't muffled by the door. < Doesn't sound like he's in trouble... One of us has to find Coco. Me or you? >

This he 'says', tension in his tone, as he struggles out of his pants with the help of magic, still not fully wolf. But he's starting to smell things better than before...

[awooligan]

Cliff looks down at -- himself, that's him as a wolf dead to rights, yeah -- Tobias like the question is the stupidest thing he's ever heard in his entire life. Kicking him off the Coco case is just not an option.

"I know her scent better." Still embarrassing, but true. Also he was way more used to the senses -- and if Tobias was just a regular wolf like he would have been a regular human, Cliff's tracking might have been better anyway. He's not sure how a werewolf ranks against wolves. "You find whatever key this guy's talking about, get them out of there. Okay?"

[unpocoloco]

The brief easing of tension on the skeleton evaporates immediately.

"Coco?!" His voice cracks with the rise in volume. "She's here?! No, no, no, you have to get her out! Do you hear me?! She can't be here! He'll kill her! He wants me gone, he'll kill her!"

The panic in his voice verges on hysterical. He breaks off as a golden light shimmers on his bones, rattling him, and making him sink to the floor.


Outside the door, it seems a choice has been made. Cliff can move on ahead down the hall, there's a turn to the right where her scent remains strong.

branching off o/ no chill

[awooligan]

The sudden insistence from the mystery someone makes Cliff jolt a little with surprise, but the feeling icily falls away to make room for the fear he'd been trying to suppress by leaning into frustration. He'd known since long before now that it was a possibility, Ekkehardt telling Coco and him as much when he'd caught them stealing Héctor's file. It was something else entirely for his thoughts to be given a voice that was desperate with pain and panic.

He doesn't have the self-control to click together the pieces that point to this being the father she'd been searching for, though he probably knows it on some level. His thoughts are too busy screaming for him to find Coco to take the time to acknowledge it. Without waiting for more information or an attempt to scrape together a plan, Cliff takes off at an inhuman speed in the direction his nose knows his friend was taken. A hard right it is!!

[unpocoloco]

That path seems to curve around. There's not much need for choices here for Cliff's going to follow the scent where it leads. They're near the back of the building when Cliff will find the door.

Unfortunately, he'll also find the guard returning, having passed off an old antique and coming here now to take care of business. The man sticks a regular key into the door to unlock it.

[awooligan]

He can hear the other set footsteps, but his pace hasn't exactly made his own particularly subtle. Still, he pumps the brakes enough that maybe the guard won't hear and abandon his task, getting ready to sprint forward again if either he turned around or the second he pushed the door open. Though he hasn't gotten to test the fact, he has it on good, precocious authority (Kevin's) that he can easily outrun a car driving around their neighborhood. Should be good enough to close the gap even if he's slowing now.

[unpocoloco]

The guard, not hearing Cliff yet, doesn't lift his head. He turns the key and opens the door to step inside.

A shoe is thrown out and narrowly misses the man.

Cliff has a few seconds window before the door closes again.

[awooligan]

For a brief moment he instantly decides to tell no one about, his instinct is to fetch the shoe to bring back to its owner. That's a waste of time and attention he needs to pick up his pace again and kick off. The wolf is more suited for leaping forward to bodily slam against the closing door with force -- hopefully enough to knock the man down or at least out of the way. Either way, Clifford's quick to swing around with a snarl and bared fangs, nails scraping against the floor in an attempt to slow without sliding too far back.

His hackles are raised, and he's shaking with anger. Much as he wants to, biting isn't an option -- keeping himself between the guard and where he assumes Coco to be takes priority over going in to attack, anyway.

[unpocoloco]

The man, not expecting to be bowled over by a wolf in the middle of Mexico city, hits the ground hard. His head hits the floor, but he still manages to raise himself and his look of confusion immediately turns to fear.

Behind him, there's a gasp. Coco, stuck by yet another damned support beam, is missing a shoe and has another lifted in her free hand. She takes in the wolf.

"Cliff! The keys! On the floor! He dropped them!"

The guards eyes dart to the keys and he tries to lunge for them.

[awooligan]

The keys -- the relief at hearing Coco's voice is shoved aside as he follows the guard's gaze more than anything to determine where they are. He lunges, too, powerful legs springing him forward. Even with the full moon passed, it's close enough to where the urge to sink his fangs in and tear the flesh to spread blood and blight is strong. Fear of what that would make him -- especially in the eyes of his dear friend -- gets the coin of perception flipped to his human side just before they collide so his elbow can drive towards the man's face in place of gleaming teeth while his other hand blindly reaches for the set of keys.

[kept_his_letters]

It's a little scary, she can't deny it. It's a primal thing, to see snapping jaws. But it's just as much about watch a fight, and even more so about the man who absolutely would hurt both of them.

The change happens so fast, she has to blink to be sure her eyes aren't playing tricks. The man is even more thrown by this, as well as the sudden elbow in his face. The man's hands withdraw to clutch the wound. The keys are Cliffs.

[awooligan]

He can't help the "Hah!" of victory even though he doesn't feel particularly triumphant. They still hadn't won this, and with his heart hammering away it's hard to decide if it's better to go to Coco as quickly as possible or to further subdue the guard. Both are incredibly tempting options, for different reasons.

In the end, his brain scrambles together something in between and he pushes the keys to slide in the girl's direction. The possibility of her not being able to use them on her own or the keys sliding too far to reach hasn't occurred to Cliff thanks to adrenaline, but it's too late for that, he's made the choice to shift back into the heavier, solidly-built wolf and push his paws hard into the man to pin him with another snarl.

He could eat his face. And he'd deserve it, for taking Coco away and threatening her life, even if he wasn't that Ernesto guy himself. It's a scary thought... Years of enduring pain without fighting back is what's saving this man, Cliff thinks.

[kept_his_letters]

The keys slide. Like in a dance, Coco's foot swings out in a sweep arc along the floor. She draws the keys in.

"I got it!" Quickly she works to uncuff herself.

The man on the floor looks wide-eyed up at the wolf. He might have been enlisted to murder but that murder hadn't involved this. With the keys lost, he tries his best to scramble back, even with the wolf on him.

He's cowering.

In a moment, Coco is free. She rubs at her wrist and then hurries to Cliff's side. Or rather, the guard's. She kicks at him, then makes a leap over his back.

"Come on, Cliff!"

[awooligan]

If you're gonna be down for murder, you have to be willing to accept the consequences!

The wolf part of him swept up in the rush of fury feels a swell of satisfaction seeing the fear directed his way and with a rough growl he snaps his jaw at him again. Cliff feels sick to his stomach, but it's too hard to do anything about it until he sees something rushing at him out of the corner of his eye. It might not have been for him, but the swinging foot still makes him flinch back. It's an automatic response. Cliff catches himself from further reacting with a hand to brace himself with against the floor, back to a boy, and then he's pushing himself up and rushing to join her. She's right, it's much more important to go.

Leaning against the door after slamming it shut behind them, he finally lifts his gaze and gets his first proper look at his friend. He could hug this girl, he's so happy to see her, but -- "Key! Lock him in!"

splitting threads it is?

[hawkwardness]

< Fair enough, I don't know anyone's scent. > Maybe he shouldn't have gone wolf. Ugh. Too late now, he needs a few minutes before he can change again. Aaand Cliff is running away before the words have really registered with Tobias...

< Don't worry! > Whoever he's speaking to...? Stay calm, Tobias, focus. Give them info, since the damn door is locked. < He'll find her, he's... uh, gone to do that. Ernesto must have this key? What does it look like? >

[unpocoloco]

Don't worry. How on earth is he supposed to do anything but worry? That's his little girl, that's his daughter...

But the voice does bring some thought to register. He presses his hard "palm" to the door.

"T-tobias...?" Key. The key. No time to ask how they got here without remembering him. "Old? Like an antique. He keeps it close. Someone came in here with it to check, but they might have passed it back by now..."

[improbablenotimpossible]

"We're going to find her, there's others here covering a lot of ground," He started, his voice calm. Then... this man was clearly Coco's father from his frantic response.

And naggingly familiar, he hated how he can't put his finger on it. "So it might be on his person... or his dressing room."

[unpocoloco]

"Others?" He asks Sherlock. He looks from him, to the door. "How did you all know...?"

[improbablenotimpossible]

"She was looking for her father," he answers quietly.

[hawkwardness]

He puts his nose to work, sniffing the ground outside the door, running through the mental list of people that have been down here. Sherlock, himself, and Cliff would have come from one direction, all together. Ernesto's must be the fainter, older one... thank goodness for wolf instincts to give him a vague idea on how to decipher smells, because his hawk and human selves don't have a clue. A moment of spellwork, and he's hidden his clothes away in whatever pocket space he keeps his phone in.

< Okay. I'm leaving now. > Just so they know. < I'll be back as soon as I find the key. > Snuffling off...

[unpocoloco]

Tobias might find the dressing room, but he's unlikely to find the keys there. It's down to finding De La Cruz himself...

Or, perhaps not. Backstage, it would appear someone else has made some quick moves. Grab the key and hurry back!

[hawkwardness]

< We found, um. > [All this and he still doesn't know the guy's name. He's turning and leading the way back quickly, though not running. Can't expect her to keep up with a wolf.]

< Coco's papá. Behind a door, locked up with the help of magic. If that's not the key that opens it, well. > [They'll... figure something else out??]

[nor_iron_bars]

Shit.

[Jail is abruptly moving a lot faster- she might not be able to keep up with a wolf running full-tilt, but for a woman doing a dead sprint in high heels she moves alarmingly fast.]

[The time for subtlety was five minutes ago, before she started visibly having a conversation with an actual fucking wolf. Now is the time for moving.]

[hawkwardness]

[They'll be back at the door in no time then! His own doggy trail is easier to follow than one man's out of everyone else that's been around.

And when close enough, knowing he can't be overheard if he doesn't intend to be:] < Jail snagged a key off him! You're almost free, we hope! >

[unpocoloco]

[The door is right where they left it. No other security around, it seems they're all quite busy. So, all that's left is putting the key in the lock.

Though behind the door, they might hear Coco's father mutter, "Jailbreak's here too?"]