Make It Rain

The man was standing in his room, in front of his mirror. He frowned at his reflection that stared back at him. He was trying out his new uniform, provided by the Trading Company. It didn't look too terribly different from his regular attire, but something just felt amiss. "Oh well..." He mumbled under his breath as he looked over himself, one last time. His pants were still white, but the upper half of his body was clad in white aswell. Save for his hat. His hat remained the same.

A grumble echoed in his head. "Geez, just how long are you planning to loiter in front of that damn mirror? I thought you had to meet with somebody." Nova was laying on the floor, besides the bed and had clear view of what the mage was doing. Or rather, not doing. Perry would sigh. "I know, I know, you don't have to remind me." He replied with a quick glance backwards. "It sure doesn't seem that way." Nova would shoot back as he sat up and stretched.

Nova wasn't wrong, though. Perry had been invited- no. He was called to action by one of the higher-ups in the Company. Though as soon as he learned that the place that they would be travelling to would be a desert, Perry needed a bit of extra persuasion to agree. He still wasn't completely on board, but he didn't have a choice, as it seemed. He knew that he would be at a severe disadvantage, no matter what the job description said. Desert was probably one of the sunniest places a mind could think of. No good for somebody who lived and thrived in the shadows.

The young man would clear his throat, as part of his lengthy preparation. That also included filling his pouches with items that he deemed would be useful in a desert setting, such as water. That would most definitely come in handy at some point. The one good thing about the uniform was the fact that it was white, so it would help to block some of the incoming sunshine. However, Nova was starting to lose his patience. "Alright, let's go." He would command and leave the room, leaving Perry to catch up to him. The thief would shake his head and follow his otherwordly companion.

It was around midday, people were milling about the lobby, whether it was going for lunch or taking care of trading business or going, perhaps returning from adventures. The young man's gaze would glide over the numerous faces, spotting the one and only. Nova followed the mage to the Vice President of the Company. She was leaning against a wall, dressed in a white dress, as per the Company's rules. Perry's cape fluttered behind him, white, with the Trading Company's mark embroidered in the middle of the cloth.

As soon as the unlikely duo reached the woman in question, she pushed herself off of the wall, asking whether he was prepared to leave. Honest answer was no. "Greetings! Indeed I am and so is Nova, here." He would reply as he pointed to the creature next to him with a cheeky smile. "Let us away, then!" Perry would say, with forced joy in his voice. It was going to be a really long day, provided he saw the end of it.

It seemed that Perry's forced enthusiasm went unnoticed and he wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing. However, he was very much pleased to hear that he did well with his look, especially since it was vice president who seemed content with his attire. It made it the amount of time Perry spent in front of the mirror worth it. Though it was good to know that not having his hat also white was fine. It was one of the most important pieces of his wardrobe, after all.

The mage and extraterrestrial creature followed the Vice President, who said that they would be taking an airship to reach their destination. Perry was rather excited about the prospect, for it wasn't every day that he got to use such way of transportation. Yona asked Perry if he had been to a desert before and the mage shook his head. "No, I haven't. I prefer darker and colder places and desert only fits that description during the night." It was only partially true. Perry didn't particularly enjoy deserts because of the lack of people. It wasn't on top of his list of areas where there would be people or places to rob. Perry just didn't want to scream out loud that he was essentially a professional thief.

The group walked down the front stairs as the VP was making sure that Perry knew what the aim of the job they were tackling was, before summing it up. The mage would nod as they neared the airship landing. "Indeed. One can only hope that the desert heat will be our only problem." He would sigh a little bit as Yona asked about Perry's curious companion while she was scaling a ladder that led to the airship that would be their vessel. "Well, he said that he was from a different planet or something." Perry would look back at his companion. "I saved him from people ganging up on him and named him Nova. We stuck together since then. Not that it was too long ago." The young man would explain as Yona climbed up and the duo followed her.

The airship was quite fancy, only adding to Perry's enthusiasm. Nova pulled himself up with his head appendages and all of them were on board. The captain of the airship was already there and Yona greeted him, introducing herself and the mage. Perry and Nova would wave at the captain as their own greeting, with Perry taking a swift look at the woman. While she had a bit too many belts around her person, the young man knew that there was a stunning body underneath them. Yona agreed to take off as soon as it possible, turning to Perry for his opinion, as the captain asked him about his experience with flying.

The young thief would puff up his chest, as he felt Nova rolling his eyes behind him. "It's not my first time flying, but this type of transportation has been more of a luxury for me." He would reply as his companion walked to the side, exploring what the airship had to offer. "We're ready to depart whenever you are." He would say with a little nod. Perry wanted to explore the airship a little bit himself, but there was one burning question he had for the captain. "How long will the journey take, Captain Briggs?" The young man would ask, curiously. It was really just to see how much time he would have before having to work under the searing desert's sun.

Perry noticed out of the corner of his eye the Vice President disappear into the ship's bottom deck and Nova went off to explore on his own terms. That left the young man by himself and surprisingly feeling lonely all of a sudden as the ship was preparing to ascend. Well, at least he would have a bit more time with the charming Captain of the ship, if nothing else.

The Captain offered the thief what he would consider quite an opportunity - to be the one to steer the ship, with the Captain's assistance, of course. She also assured him that he was not being told what to do, as he was a guest, not part of her crew. The woman hauled some ropes onto the deck and replied to his earlier question. The road to the desert would be a short one, it would seem, thanks to some enchantments.

"I will take you up on the offer, Captain." The young man would cheerfully agree to the opportunity that had presented itself. Who knew when he would get to be the one steering an airship the next time? "Your help with the navigating will be much appreciated and needless to say, needed." Perry would confirm that he would indeed require the help that was being offered and follow the Captain's instructions. As much as he wanted to be a little bit mischievous, it was probably for the best that he set those thoughts aside. There was no need to cook unnecessary trouble for the Company.

Although Nova went off to explore on his own, since he didn't want to witness Perry possibly flirting with the Captain, he quickly found himself in the bottom part of the ship. Some of the crew members were giving him looks, some didn't care about the strange creature roaming about. The ship was coming to life as Nova saw the VP doing some of the work herself. One of the crew members was attempting to fasten a couple of boxes so they wouldn't move during the voyage, but it seemed that he didn't have enough hands to keep the boxes in their designated positions while fastening them. The extraterrestrial creature's hair-hand appendages extended past the man and supported the boxes. The man turned around in surprise, but when he put two and two together, he nodded with a little smile. "Thanks." He would say as he finished up his work. Nova would discreetly look at what Yona was doing, while he was helping out. He wanted to try his telepahy on somebody else than Perry and this seemed like a solid moment to do so. "So, what do you think of Perry?" The being's slightly distorted voice that held a hint of amusement would ring in the woman's mind. Nova was well aware that the question sounded a bit weird, but he was interested what others thought of the undercover thief. Mostly just for comedic value, so that he could possibly tease Perry about it later.

The captain of the ship presented Perry with the steering wheel, or rather the helm. The young man listened to what was being explained. He looked around the ship as the woman explained and named everything. It was quite a bit for somebody who was not familiar with the profession. He made sure to remember her warning and glanced over the compass, as the Captain took her hand off of the helm. The thief took hold of it instead, making sure it didn't move and make the whole ship go off course. Captain Briggs also told Perry to just yell to the crew, if he wanted to change the vessel's speed. He did his best to take a mental note of everything. He didn't want to disappoint the Captain, after all. "I will do my best, Captain!"

In the meantime, Nova didn't quite get the reply he was expecting. Instead of the woman's voice he felt a hint of something else, before she spoke up. It made him realise that not everybody would be too pleased with sudden telepathy. Perhaps he got too used with talking to just Perry all the time. "Uh... Apologies. I'm Nova. Perry's friend." He would explain. "I'll ask for permission now, then, to talk to you. I can only communicate with people via telepathy. You wouldn't understand my normal speech." He would continue, while asking for the permission.

The flight was relatively peaceful for Perry, who kept an eye on their course and speed. There was nothing that needed adjusting based on his own judgement, so he didn't need to be yelling at the crew. A large bird made an appearance, which was promptly speared down by one of the members of the crew. Captain Briggs called it Wyning Gull and gave Perry a warning, but the story that followed afterwards was cut short by a yell from a crew member who gave them a heads up about a flock of gulls that were headed their way. It was a group of roughly fifteen of those birds, making Perry frown. That was a lot of targets. The Captain took hold of helm, wishing that the thief was capable of doing something. "I'll see what I can do."

Unfortunately, a lot of his tricks wouldn't help. His void spike wouldn't attach to air and his favourite shapeshifting antics would do no good. The crew was mobilising and grabbing throwing spears. Perry considered taking one himself, but he decided to lob two shadowy balls in the direction of the flock. There were enough of the birds for both of the balls to connect and take them down. A number of spears were launched by crew from the edge of the vessel. The number of the birds lowered, but there still were gulls wanting a piece of the sails. Perry conjured an another ball of void, this one enveloped by a purple flame and threw it at an another gull. The ball burned its feathers, making it plummet downwards.

The young man frowned. He didn't want to exhaust himself too much, before they reached their destination. Thus, he reached for one of the spears that the crew brought out and joined the throwing contest. Some of the gulls flew above them, as they didn't manage to get them all in time, but once they switched the sides of the airship, with their combined effort they got the rest of them. The Captain made sure that the ship stayed on course, while the rest of the crew busied themselves with the sudden problem they had. "Are all of the sails alright? As well as the crew?" Perry called out, as he lowered the spear he was still holding onto. "Aye!" A man yelled back and the thief was glad that there were no damages. Or at least damages that were readily apparent and dangerous.