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A gentle gust of cool wind rustled War Wolf’s cape as she shifted her weight and propped a foot up on the roof’s raised ledge. Through her binoculars, the tenement building across the street lay still and silent, as it had for the past hour, only shadows and crumbling cement with a ghostly midnight pall cast over it. If the drug deal she’d been tipped off about was going down here, then the perps were waiting until it got good and late.

War Wolf picked up her foam coffee cup from the ledge and took a scalding sip before placing it back down, never deviating her eyes from her watch. Couldn’t let anything slip past.

Another gust of wind ruffled her fur, but this was different. Deliberate. Controlled. Familiar. War Wolf felt the newcomer’s presence and knew who it was just from the wind. She sighed, keeping her eyes on the building.

“Oh, Hey, Big W!” Slipstream greeted, floating down to a hover beside her. “Funny running into you out here. Well, I guess not, since you stick to rooftops and it’s night and this part of town is…oh! Sorry.” He hushed his voice to a near whisper. “Didn’t know you were staking out. Ick, that place looks ready to crumble. Leave it to criminals to pick the worst places to meet up.”

War Wolf clicked the bincoulars' focus wheel several times, clearing up the image as she zoomed in.

“Bet you’re wondering why I’m out here. Couldn’t sleep. Well, I also was assigned to night patrol for a week from that tapioca incident. But I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if I was home in bed. Been thinking about me and Strikira lately. We’ve been going out. Well, you know that already. You gave her that look when she told you, like she’d grown a second head. Or a second boob window. I really love that boob window. Anyway, she knew I was the pranking sort, so she knew what she was getting into. But I’m starting to wonder if I prank her too much. But then I dunno if I’m just worrying about nothing.”

War Wolf took another sip of her coffee and scanned the windows on the tenement building.

“Yeah, I know,” Slipstream scoffed. “She can take any joke I throw at her. But I wonder if I go too far sometimes. Like, I tried on her costume when she was off showering, figured it’d be funny. I tell you, they must design men’s pants with some extra baggage space if you know what I mean, because those pants made me sound like a twelve year old falsetto, and that boob window looks much better on someone who has the kinds of goods that window is meant to display. Anyway, the damn pants got stuck ‘cause they were so tight and we couldn’t get them off and by time I was greased up enough to get them off, they’d stretched too much and were ruined. So now Strikey needs a new costume, which is a pain to make. Maybe I should just think a little before a prank. Make sure the laugh-to-anger ratio is worth it, you know?”

War Wolf shifted her weight again and propped her other foot up on the ledge.

“Yeah, just a little consideration should do it. Thanks, Big W, you’ve been a big help. Great listener. Really needed to talk this out. You know, the way you’re posed there reminds me of another prank idea I have for Strikey when she’s on a stakeout. I float up from under her all slow and pop my face up right in front of her binoculars. Funny, right? Hey, actually, can you help me test it out? See if it’ll work? I mean, you’re expecting it now so you won’t be surprised, but still, we can see if there are any flaws in the idea.”

War Wolf let out a small, barely audible sigh through her nose.

“Great. Ok, hang on, here I go.”

With a light breath of wind, Slipstream was gone, having leapt off the roof. Several seconds later, War Wolf’s nose was tickled ever so slightly by an updraft from below where Slipstream was undoubtedly lying in wait, preparing to rise up. The wolfess calmly sipped once more from her coffee cup, extended her arm, and dumped the remaining coffee straight down.

“YEOW!” Slipstream shot up like a rocket, raining droplets of steaming hazelnut blend in his wake and furiously bombarded himself with air currents. Within a few seconds, he was dry, but his fur had poofed out as if he was a stuffed animal fresh from the dryer. He hovered for several moments, catching his breath and wrinkling his nose at the coffee smell that now pervaded his costume and fur. “Okay…make sure Strikira’s not drinking anything when I try this on her. Thanks for the tip, W. Also…maybe calculate laugh-to-injury ration along with laugh-to-anger. They do go hand in hand rather often. Ranger can tell you that. And Medic Mouse. I’m gonna go shower for an hour or so. See you later. Have fun storming Tetanus Towers over there.”

Silence once more fell over the area, at least for about five minutes until another presence swooped down onto the roof, this one arriving with the patter of boots rather than a breeze.

“Hey, sorry that took so long,” Spectra said, placing her own coffee cup down on the ledge. “The barista’s a bit of a fan and wanted to challenge me with some objects to make from steelight. I now know that I can make a pretty damn good steelight X-Wing. Hey, I thought I saw Slipstream come from this direction, was he here?”

War Wolf nodded. “I gently reminded him that I don’t like goofing off on stakeouts.”

“Oh, well, too bad I didn’t know he was coming, I would’ve got him a coffee too.”

“It’s okay. I gave him mine.”

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War Wolf and Spectra belong to me
Slipstream belongs to  GameGod210
Strikira (mentioned) belongs to  WolfRider
Ranger (mentioned) belongs to  TRAIN
Medic Mouse (mentioned) belongs to  MojoRover
Art by  bluwolf0