19488/Burglars can be Gentlemen

Burglars can be Gentlemen
Date of Scene:	12 November 2024
Location:	Somewhere in NYC
Synopsis:	Kitora foils a jewelry heist without even breaking a sweat.
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Togashi, Kitora Alua

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Gabriel Togashi has posed:
It's a clear night in New York City. It would be dark but the Big Apple never really sleeps so there's only really pockets of darkness, mostly in the back alleys and other hidden places of the city. Hidden by the regular noises of the city the noise of a crow's flapping wings is almost imperceptible so it would be easy to miss the unusual sight of a crow flying around with a piece of paper fluttering from it's beak.

After drifting around on the air currents over one of the more commecial areas of the city the crow lands on a the lid of a Dumpster in the alleyt behind one of the smaller buildings in the area and peer curiously at the open window next to the Dumpster. It's one of those half windows they used in the older building's bathrooms and it's clearly barred on the inside.

Kitora Alua has posed:
A red glow from just above the rooftops can be seen as Kitora drifts along, oriented mostly upside-down so she can look 'down' at the grouind easily enough as she hums softly. She is just looking for something happening... a crow carrying a piece of paper did catch her eye as she almost bumped into it. Curious.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The crow hops from the Dumpster to the window, still with the paper in its beak. After looking around a few times it hopsbetween the bars protecting the window and all the way into the room the window opens into. A few seconds later the room's light comes on and the silouhette of a woman opens a door and disappears further into the building, turning the light off behind her.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua frowns as she floats down in front of the window, still relatively upside down. She hmmmms as she peers in the window, then floats over to a window that a human could more easily access - she is curious about the whole thing, but so far nothing would seemingly need atention - if someone wants to play Harry Potter with crows, who is she to stop it?

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Kitora quickly realizes that besides the window the only thing on this side of the building is an emergency exit door. But it just takes going out to the main road the alley is connected to to find the display window for Spearman & Sons Jewelry.

The display shelves directly behind the window are currently empty and the store is protected by a roll down gate.

Strangely, there's a young woman walking around the shop. Every once in a while she stops in front of a display case, fiddles with it for a few moments, then raises the lid and puts select piecves in a small bag. Even more strangely she has not turned on any lights and is doing everything in the very weak light of the security lamps.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua frowns. She can see the woman from the top of the window as she watches. She notices that the woman isn't using a key or any legitimate means of opening the cases. She waits a few seconds more, then decides to act. She focuses her power on inside the jewelry shop as a red glow would surround the woman as she lifts a foot off the ground, holding her in a zero-gravity bubble.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The young woman looks shocked as she goes to take a step and instead starts to slowly float and spin forwards in the air, her hair spreading out in a fluffy brown cloud around her. It takes her a moment to realize some of the item in ther bag are starting to float out of it she she clutches it closed. The sudden movement sends her spinning sideways so now she's corckscrewing slowly in the air.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua is just holding the woman there as she opens her phone, puts it against the window, and turns on the flashlight app to get a look at who is there. She just observes for now, deciding what to do next - pretty sure a call to the cops is in order. But how did this thief get in?

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The answer to that question comes rather quickly. As soon as the light shine on her the young woman puts the bag in her mouth then things go... wobbly. Her form melts and shrinks, her hair pulls into her scalp at the same time black feathers start sprouting alll over her skin and replacing her clothing. In a matter of seconds the crow is back, the jewelry-filled bag firmly held in its beak.

It takes it a few seconds but the crow quickly starts to figure out that if it keeps its movement controlled it can actually fly and it slowly starts making its way towards the back of the store. Clearly its having trouble controlling up/down vs forward, half the time flying itself into the ceiling instead of in the direction it wants to go in.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua frowns. So that crow was a shapeshifter. She starts to spin the crow around and around, doing her best to hold the tiny thing in place in the middle of the jewelry store, trying to pull it towards her. She isn't sure how to get the thing out without doing damage to the shop - she reluctantly calls 911 to report a shapeshifting robbing a jewelry store.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The crow starts to freak out as it feels itself getting pulled closer to the front of the store. The shift starts again, feathers spreading out over the crow's skin as it grows in size. Once again it's only a matter of seconds before the crow is replaced by a hispanic man in a dapper black suit, the bag of jewels still clutched in his teeth. Finding himself at the ceiling again he plants his feet and pushes, hard. This sends him flying down towards the floor. On the way there he clips one of the display cases with his shoulder, shattering it before falling behind it with a crash lound enough to be heard even through the reinforced glass of the display window.

Kitora Alua has posed:
And breaking the display sets the alarm off, and now will assure a more rapid police response. "Drop the stolen merchandise and leave - the police are on the way..." She is still using her powers to hold this slippery being in place, but the resistance is a bit tiring...

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Hearing a voice the man pauses for a moment, going completely still. After a quick moment to consider he rolls over and gingerly pulls himself up to peek over the edge of the shattered display case, looking out at the girl floating outside the window. It takes him a moment to spot the face looking at him from the top of the window but once he does he smiles wickedly and winks at the young woman. "Well, then they'll have to figure out who's who first." Even as he speaks his appearance is changing again. Short black hair lengthens to the exact same color and cut as Kitora's and his face becomes an exact copy of hers.The body... Well, that part isn't quite right. It's female, it's curvy, but it's like it was borrowed from another person. And that person is still wearing the dapper black suit.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua snorts softly. "Oh please, the old clone thing? You don't even look like me. With the way my powers affect me while using them, you can't really approximate the effect without looking like an abomination." Indeed, the girl's glow has a strange effect where there's a glowing node visible inside her head and her eyes too. "But the most telling thing is this - I'm not the one holding the bag of jewels in a smashed-up jewelry store."

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
Faux-Kitora tilts her head to the side in a motion that's eerily similar to how the crow was moving when looking into the window. "You may have a point there. You know, you coulld just let a girl go. I mean, it's not like the people that own this place really need all this money. And I could do so much good with it once I sell it off... And it's not like handing me over to the police is going to do much good." Her voice sounds genuinely sincere when she talk about doing some good with the money.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua snorts, shaking her head. "Drop the jewels and I will let you go so you can return to crow form and do the walk or flight of shame out the bathroom window." She just shrugs. "You just shouldn't profit from the crimes." She just remainst here even as the po-po gets closer - she can hear the sirens. "Clock's ticking."

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The non-glowy redhead looks in the direction of the sirens. Yep, clock is indeed ticking. She takes a deep breath and, with a frustrated expression on her face, she lets it out in a big sigh. "Fine, you caught me fair and square. Your terms are fair." Holding out the bag so it's clearly visible she drops it in the middle of the glittery shard of glass of the broken case, then changes back into the crow.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Kitora Alua nods as she uses the gravity power to 'fling' the crow toward the back of the room - but such a tiny creature is hard to manipulate properly as she just waits, the red aura fading from you. But instead settling on the stuff on the ground, making it super-heavy as she stares. "You have about a minute." She just waits patiently.

Gabriel Togashi has posed:
The crow tumbles around in the air and end up on the floor before it can get air under its wing. After giving Kitora a reproachfull look it ruffles its feather back into place and, with a couple of hops to pick up speed, it launches into the air and disappears into the back room. Right when its about to leave it notices a tennis bracelet on a repair bench so since it's out of sight of the redhead at the front of the store it make a quick detour to pluck the bracelet up in it's beak before flying out the way it came in.

Kitora Alua has posed:
Unaware of the last-moment act - thieves gonna' thief - Kitora 'falls' straight up right as the police arrive. She sighs softly, shaking her head. Did she do good? She could've let that shifter get captured, but... but.... well... what would the police do with such an entity? That would've been really awkard. She shakes her head as she orients herself and starts flying home.