Who is Magpie?

Running between rooftops had never been her favourite mode of travel but every so often it had become necessary. The streets were covered in a thin layer of snow and steps in the streets would be easily noticed with how later it already was. Today, however, she had a special reason for hating this particular mission. The Martin believed she would need help and assigned Bluejay and Kookaburra. She didn't mind Bluejay, he was a fairly quiet boy with blue hair and dark skin that made the pale blue of his eyes pop all the more.

The pale eyes was the one thing that she didn’t envy about the fae. It made them stand out; easier to pin in a crowd.. A trill of a laugh broke her focus, nearly landing her foot in a gutter as she was counting her strides. Kookaburra. She was by for the most irritating person she had ever had the extreme displeasure of working with. Her name actively reflected her personality, and her success rate was only beat by her death rate.

She was flamboyant with porcelain smooth skin and shocking pink streaks in the under layers of her hair. The only time black graced itself over her body was on a mission, and every other waking moment you would think the rainbow corner in Hot Topic had thrown up on her. She was what school teachers would kindly call a social butterfly, but Magpie not so kindly called her irritating.

Magpie had only been half listening to whatever she was saying, and had completely tuned her out two blocks ago. Honestly, she had only been surprised that she was still talking about it.

“… he was clearly very confused about me being in his office and all. He did the whole I'm calling security bit, but I already had my safire blue dagger out, you know the one, I got it for my last birthday. Anyway, long story short, I threw the dagger into him so hard I almost lost one of the gems from the hilt in his chest cavity.” She trilled another stupid laugh before looking over at Magpie.

Her dull expression didn't waver despite Kookaburras grin egging her on. "I don't have any unexpected murder stories to share.” She said plainly, ”because when I receive a mission I always hit my target,… or don’t, if that was the mission."

Kookaburra scoffed with frustration, but Bluejay interrupted her speech. “Just leave her alone." He advised softly.

Kookaburra groaned. “Why should I? It's just a game. She should liven up."

“You know how she is, just leave her alone." Bluejay urged. "We're working."

Kookaburra rolled her eyes. "but she's always like this. Even at home she acts like she has a long stick up her..."

"Burra!" Bluejay snapped. "She gets the job done, quietly, which is maybe something you should try."

Magpie had stopped running just ahead of them and was now crouching down to look across the street their target. She almost let a slight smile grace her face, but her mouth only moved into a less firm line below her nose. The others rarely stood up for her; it was much easier to single her out as the outsider then cause waves among their own kind.

"What are you thinking?" Bluejay asked finally, crouching beside her and knowing she had been the one to stake out this location through the week.

"Two outside smoking, three inside, upstairs; where we need to be." She paused, thinking quickly. "We could send Kookaburra down to distract them with her merciless prattling." she mused.

"You...!" Kookaburra started but Bluejay interupted.

"Hush!" He whispered. "You told her to liven up, and that's about as close to a joke as you're going to get from Magpie."

Kookaburra held her tongue, realizing he was right. "Good one." she muttered reluctantly. "I could though, distract them I mean." she offered.

Magpie shook her head. "You're more personable than me, but you also read faster. You'd be more helpful inside."I'll distract them, draw their attention away. I don't really want to bleed, but signal me if the ones upstairs don't follow out."

They nodded, Kookaburra cringing slightly. She would never stab herself for the sake of a mission, but there was very little Magpie wouldn’t do.

Magpie moved towards the fire escape soundlessly, only making noise about halfway down, and then on the last flight making it sound as though so stumbled and falling with a scream onto the concrete. The two at the door ran immediately, and one from the hallways upstairs could be seen rushing down the interior stairs through the window to join. The other two looked out the window but seeing the others seemed to believe there was enough help and returned to work.

Bluejay let out a low whistle and Magpie fought to keep the crinkle from her nose. As she let the men help her stand she made it seem that she stumbled over one of their shoes and as she fell tipped her knife from her inside pocket upward. As she removed the knife she let a loud, pained sound burst through her lips. Sliding the knife back into the pocket, she stumbled further.

“Are you alright miss?" one of the men asked and Magpie struggled to stand, knees wobbling.

She forced a strained smile. “Of course, I’m so embarrassed. Three handsome men running to help me, my boyfriend… ex-boyfriend, always told me I’m was so clumsy.” She took a few steps forward and slumped against one of the men. “Ouch.”

She rubbed the area with her hand and let confusion cross her face before she pulled her hand out to show them it was covered in blood.

The men panicked, one of them yelling to those inside for a first aid kit. Magpie hid her face in her hands, acting embarrassed, but she was secretly pinching her cheeks to redden them. The man held her in his arms and someone else carefully removed her coat. The balled up some gauze to hold to the wound, hoping to slow the bleeding.

One among them, only one, had apparently taken anything first aid related, which Magpie had found secretly hysterical. She couldn’t fathom having a body and not knowing how to keep it alive in the case of injury. The one with first aid kept asking her if things were okay; if moving her shirt up was okay, if touching her was okay, if the pain was ok… She couldn’t help but wonder if she would have died had she stabbed anything interesting due to his formalities.

She distracted them with conversation about her fake ex-boyfriend, playing to their want to be chivalrous to distract them from focusing too hard on her. She knew five to ten minutes was all she would need to give them, but it would feel like forever with them doting on her.

Meanwhile inside Bluejay and Kookaburra were quickly flipping through files, taking photos of shipping plans, money transfers, agreements, contracts,.. anything with the wolven’s alpha’s name on it. Kookaburra flipped through the files quickly, just as Magpie had foreseen, finishing her section long before Bluejay and peaked out the window from the side.

“You better hurry, one of them looks angry. The rest still seem concerned but I don’t think any of them have the knowledge to treat her…” Kookaburra commented, not so much worried about Magpie because she was Magpie, but because she was one of them.

Bluejay scoffed. “She’s smart enough to not hurt herself enough to need immediate treatment for… except that one time, but that was our fault, she won’t need to get us more time this time. Help me and we’ll get through it faster.”

She nodded and joined him, making quick work of what was left. She left out a back exit and circled around, sending Bluejay for the car. Kookaburra pretended to a friend of Magpie’s that had been looking for her. They didn’t have to pretend long before Bluejay pulled up with their car and they piled in.

“If they weren’t wolves, being surrounded my five big strong men would be a dream of mine.” Kookaburra sighed, thinking about it as she climbed through the centre to the front seat.

“Me too.” Bluejay laughed. “Not even going to help look at it, Burra?”

She groaned, already sitting down. “Would you let me if I offered?” She turned back to Magpie who was already stripping off her shirt to sit in just her crop top.

“The bleeding has slowed quite a bit. If he’ll let me see the healers it will be better by tomorrow.” She mused, holding her wadded up shirt to the wound. “I’ll probably be in more trouble for ruining another coat.”

“Let you see the healer?” Kookaburra gasped, but Bluejay knowingly shook her off.

“I won’t say anything about the coat. If you’re quick when we get back you can probably get it in the laundry machine and the blood should come out.” He muttered.

“Can we scroll back to not seeing the healers?” Kookaburra gasped.

Kookaburra had healers begging to fix her after missions, being the granddaughter of their king had it’s perks, and had never been forced to endure pain for longer than necessary. She was new to being around Magpie, but meeting her sooner like any of the others had wouldn’t change anything. No one knew much about her uniquecircumstances.

Bluejay knew far more about Magpie than most. “Her training was different than yours, it’s left her far more reckless. As punishment, some of her self inflicted wounds, or injuries that could have been avoided, are forced to heal at a human rate… unless of course they need her for something. I think she’ll be in luck, things have been picking up lately and stitches could be a distraction.“

Kookaburra looked between them. “You’re talking about her like she’s not even there.”

“It’s fine.” Magpie interrupted. “I prefer it when people talk about me to my face. Behind my back only shows cowardice, and I wouldn’t want to work with anyone who doesn’t even have the nerve to do that.”

Bluejay felt a slight warmth at her compliment, knowing that was growth for her. “Thank you.”

Kookaburra didn’t understand the exchange and chose to sit in silence. She didn’t like Magpie. Everything she had heard and all her previous experiences had left a bland taste in her mouth, but she couldn’t help wonder what else she didn’t know. She had never heard of anyone being refused medical treatment, even due to recklessness. They saw the humans as an extremely emotional species , and Magpie didn’t seem to have any emotions of her own outside of the ones she put on as part of her act.

Kookaburra looked into the car’s side mirror, catching sight of Magpie in the back. She thought she looked…. Happy. Like her small exchange with Bluejay had lightened her day. She wondered if that few people ever talked around her… or thanked her, that this was enough to make her happy.

When they arrived Magpie went straight towards the laundry room, the opposite direction of the healers. “It’s just a coat.” Kookaburra muttered to Bluejay.

“She isn’t paid the way we are.” He returned. “We get money, and our supplies are covered. She’s trained to believe that everything she receives from her clothes, to her meals, ever a roof over her head is her debt to them. A bloodied coat would stand out and need to be replaced. Her chores and training would be increased to cover the cost.”

Kookaburra was surprised, sure that no one else knew this. “Why?!”

“Because she’s not one of us, and she is under their control. She receives the Mensdillia flower regularly in her tea to keep it that way. She is here as long as she takes the tea, if she were to stop,…” He said in a low hushed tone, “no one knows, no one is supposed to, not even her.”

“Why are you telling me?” She looked around, realizing her tone was louder than his.

He looked at her now, instead of off in the direction Magpie had gone. “Because you are the next in line to succeed, you will have the power to change it… or not. Whichever you decide.”

She thought for a minute at that, and at all the secrets she would learn when she took over, before it occurred to her. “How do you know about any of this?

He turned away from her. “Because I bring her tea every morning.” He strode off toward the reception room to hand in the summary of their assignment and the data they took and Kookaburra was left wondering