9994/By the Book

By the Book
Date of Scene:	05 February 2022
Location:	New York Public Library, NYC
Synopsis:	Captain Boomerang is out on a mission to retrieve a long-lost Japanese tome. He manages to 'successfully' barter for it from Saeko, who's come to examine it as well--and who easily outfoxes the rogue.
Cast of Characters:	George Harkness, Saeko

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George Harkness has posed:
3:00am.
Outside the New York Public Library's main branch in Manhattan.

A man sneaks his way along the terrace that runs along the south end of the building, his blue coat alternately visible and invisible as he moves between shadow and the light of the lampposts throughout the area.

"Waller!" the man hisses to no one in particular. "Waller! I thought you had someone takin' care of the electrical grid here. I'm /way/ too exposed out here."

A voice in his ear replies, "Boomer, we can't risk this operation becoming even more closely scrutinized if 5th Avenue suddenly has a power outage. Just be careful and quiet."

The man grits his teeth and sighs. "Fine, fine. Slip in nice an' easy, get me eyes on whatever that book was, get back out with no one the wiser, right? What was it called again? The Kojak?"

The voice in his ear sighs. "Kojiki. You're looking for an old-looking Japanese document. The library's just come into possession of an apocryphal volume of it. It has the potential to be incredibly dangerous."

"Got it," the man says, leaping over a low railing. "Good thing it was discovered so early, eh? You know, before it changed hands enough to get into the bloody library..."

Saeko has posed:
Saeko was, by human standards, relatively old. Over a thousand years to her existance, the kitsune had grown to the rank and station of Tenko in her service to Inari and now her 'flexible interpretation' of the rules that had allowed her to intervene more directly for people in need. Still, when it came to things from her 'homeland' that were potentially older than her and might even have a mystical nature about them? Well, Saeko was feeling nostalgic.

The interior of the library was colder, darker...but Saeko paid no mind for it as she simply 'appeared' as id she had always been there, her form wrapped in her usual if rather immodest yukata and her more literally foxy features on display. The alarm systems in the building? They -were- technically on, but a 'glitch' of sorts that had just so fortuitously occured across all systems had the woman walking happily into the secure volume area, a wave of her hand bringing the door protecting it open with a resounding 'click' of the lock.

George Harkness has posed:
Moving considerably less casually or elegantly is George 'Digger' Harkness, whose face is illuminated for a moment as a motion-sensor light comes on in the room he enters from a ground-level window.

Quickly, he slips a boomerang from a holster on his chest and flings it--turning off the light and the motion sensor with several ricochets before it careens back to his hand.

As he sneaks toward the secure volume area, Harkness clears his throat as quietly as he can. "Problem here ... it looks like the door's already open. I hope you're not going to tell me the book did that."

Inside the area, sitting on top of a pile of books on a table labeled 'TO ARCHIVAL', is an archaic tome whose cover reads in Japanese: 'Favors Owed by the Spirits of Heaven'.


As Saeko continues further into the area, Harkness picks up the pace while trying to remain as stealthy as he can. He curses under his breath and throws another boomerang, one that swoops about the room in a wide arc, well away from the woman, before he catches it on the return arc.

"Sorry for the surprise, love," he says loudly, standing in the doorway. "But I came here for something important, and I just can't see a path to sneak toward what I need without you seeing me. So let's just rip that band-aid off. You turn around and walk now, and I can get what I need. How about it?"

He offers a wide grin that's entirely unappealing, and after a moment it's clear that he recognizes this, too, and the grin disappears.

Saeko has posed:
A twitch of those pointed ears atop her head was perhaps the first sign of realising she wasn't alone, but that loud Australian twang wasn't exactly subtle either.

Her form moves, a little waver of her silhouette before she steps into the light, a smirk on her lips. She could disguise herself as human, but well...who was going to believe a lone thief in the night?

Eight tails fanned out behind her, the Kitsune tilts her head as she steps forwards. "And here I thought people were supposed to be quiet in a place like this?"

Sure enough, rolled up in her hands there appeared to be an aged Japanese tome, the woman having beaten Boomer to his prize it seems!

George Harkness has posed:
Harkness stands silent for a long moment, mouth slightly open and brow furrowed.

"I, ah, I..." he sputters before a voice in his ear screams something loudly enough for him to snap out of his stupor, grabbing his ear.

"Aw, shit!" the man yelps and then sheepishly grins. "'Scuse the language. And the volume. I just figured, you know, no one's here this time of night. All the better for taking care of secret business."

Harkness gestures with the boomerang in his hand toward the woman's tome. "I've got many--/many/--questions for you, my dear, but there's really just one important question: have you happened to pick that up by mistake? Please say 'yes'."

Saeko has posed:
A blink, faux innocence at its best, Saeko looks down at the book in her hand, the other lightly caressing the cover. "Oh, it seemed like an interesting read," she offers in her accented english, the look melting into a grin as her gaze lowers to the odd weapon in his hand.

"And I am going to guess that you, yourself, are not the librarian."

George Harkness has posed:
"Who, me?" Harkness asks, still grinning. "Oh, yeah, that's me, alright. Brought me trusty bookmark here an' everything." He holds up the boomerang to punctuate his statement.

"And /I'm/ going to guess that /you/ don't have your library card on you, unless it's tucked away in one of them tails. Those are tails, right?" he asks, his expression twisting. "I don't quite think I'm drunk enough to see double yet, so I can't be hallucinating /that/..."

Saeko has posed:
His words bring a grin from the Kitsune, but not perhaps for the reason he might think. After all, he couldn't know she was meant to have nine tails, the way they moved was deliberately obscuring after all, nor could he know that little 'tell' for a particular trick of hers.

Regardless, she craddles the book to her chest, a little shift of her form and a step forwards with that smile never having removed from her lips. "They are tails, yes. And I suppose this is the part where you either threaten or bargin for the book, no?"

George Harkness has posed:
"Well, honestly," Harkness replies, turning his hands palms-up, "I was kind of hopin' you'd just give me the book no strings attached."

He sighs, shoulders slumping slightly. "But if I gotta threaten or bargain, then, yeah, that's how this is gonna go. You want this t'go the easy way or the hard way?"

The voice in his ear shouts something again, and Harkness cringes. "This /is/ bargaining! Now let me /do/ it!" he snarls, turning his head away from Saeko as he replies to the voice.

Saeko has posed:
Divine spirit or not, Saeko had been on the Earth enough to understand a radio, her head tilting the other way and a little twitch of her tails in somewhere between amusement and annoyance before she shrugs her shoulders.

"Your masters seem...impolite," she offers, ear atop her head giving a little twitch of its own before she shrugs and holds the book outwards, "but if this is what they demand so greatly...than simple manners would suffice. Of course, I would like -them- to say as much."

Of course, expecting Waller to say please? That might be a reach.

George Harkness has posed:
An enormous smile spreads across Harkness' face. "You know what, my dear? I would absolutely like that as well."

"Ah-ah," he says after a moment, finger to his ear. "That sounds like a reasonable request to me. And you said that this needed to be as discreet as possible...unless you actually /wanted/ me to come in and just obliterate this /library/, of all things."

There's a long moment that passes before Harkness removes his earpiece and holds it toward Saeko. The voice that had been speaking to the man growls and then barks out: "Will you ... /please/ ... give Boomer ... the ... god-damned ... fucking ... BOOK?!"

Harkness replaces the earpiece and sighs. "I think that's as polite as it gets. I know, I'm disappointed myself. Try to set an example for 'em, and what do I get?" He shakes his head with an exaggerated frown on his face.

Saeko has posed:
A grin on her lips, the earpiece is returned and the book offered with it, its binding showing age and the characters on the pages beneath traced with a precise and beautiful caligraphy.

"May your masters enjoy what they sought..." she smiles, a bow of her head before she turns away and her form seems to waver, disappearing into the thin air.

Of course, neither Boomer nor Waller could know that the 'double' had been long gone, already lounging in her hotel suite with the -real- document. The book she'd turned around with? The one she'd teased and tricked with?

Well, it contained some wonderful recipies of period meals!

The thought alone had the fox giggling to herself as she indulged in her mug of tea across town.