Chapter Text
Tara walks into Belle's office to find Edgar and Belle already sitting.
Belle was sitting at her desk, her hands lying idly on it. She was wearing her regular attire, a simple white button-down with her red coat hanging off one shoulder, dress pants, and her signature gold arm. Edgar was hunched over as always with his pelican-like posture in front of her, hands in his pockets.
"Nice of you to join us, Tara... At your leisure." the gang leader stares her down intently.
she just nods, letting it roll off her back, not feeling the need to justify to them why she was late; she had her own business to take care of. If Belle wanted to call her in without any warning, it was beforehand. It wasn't her problem if she was late.
Edgar, on the other hand, seems to be armed and ready; with a murderous glint in his eye, he grins, rubbing his hands together. "Who do we need to beat up."
Belle rolls her eyes at his tenacity. She herself couldn't help but feel similarly irked by his enthusiasm; it's only the afternoon...
Wait what time is it again? She glances down at her watch. ah. It is, in fact, four PM. She could see the reason behind Belle's attitude now a little more clearly.
Tara Snaps back to attention at the sound of the woman's voice.
"Well, aren't you raring to go? Calm down kid. Sides, this is gonna be a stealth mission." she drops to a murmur "Something you clearly need to work on."
Tara titters softly at the dig, not trying to her amusement. Edgar, on the other hand, puts his hand over his chest and drops his jaw in great offense at the two women.
"I CAN BE STEALTHY."
Tara grins under her mask, trying to keep herself from audibly laughing; she quietly spawns a shadow clone, ordering it to go up and push the boy's shoulder slightly.
"AE!!" he jumps up just about 3 feet in the air, spooked by the shadowy hand on his shoulder.
Tara snickers as she banishes the clone, thoroughly satisfied with herself. Pissing off Edgar was definitely in the top ten of her favorite pass times at work.
Edgar glares at her and balls his poncho fists, eyes full of discontentment.
Belle Snaps her fingers.
"knock it off, you two," Belle nags. "Anyways," she continues.
"that also means, you guys need disguises. You're too recognizable to go out like that"
Tara points at her mask "m mmmmmmm mmmm mmm?"
The old woman frowns. "no. You can't just wear your normal mask. If anything, you'd be less recognizable without it." She says, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
She was certainly right; Tara knew this of course. But the idea of having to go in the general public without her mask, as much as she would never admit it out loud, terrified her.
Belle seemed to sense her growing unease at the situation, so she clarifies. "well you can't wear THAT mask, maybe a different one? But you can't wear your regular outfit, or your eye, pennant, thing either.
Tara blanches and tries to make a rebuttal "mm-"
"Remember, we're not going for brute force here. You can have it with you, but you can't be WEARING it, or they'll coin you right away.
She was considering explaining to her that she valued her depth perception, but something told her that it would be a fruitless effort.
Edgar interrupts her thoughts with a question. so much interruption today. "who are THEY anyway..."
"well, they're the reason we're going through all this trouble in the first place. A dangerous detective trio who recently took down some very powerful money launderers. They're supposedly standing guard at a charity auction that's supposed to be our next hit, so I need you two to distract them while I rob em blind." Belle answers, trademark grin on her face.
Edgar looks at her deadpan. "Why don't we just, like, go steal from a different charity auction."
"why should we? We have to show that we don't fear them"
"but,,, don't we? We were literally doing all this work just to avoid encountering them; if we wanted to assert our dominance, we could just, like, jump them...." he murmurs, making a little guy with his fingers and making a jumping motion.
Belle's eye twitches, dumbfounded by the boy's stupidity. "Yeah, let's do that, right in front of all the guests, actually; let's call the police for them while we're at it!"
Edgar sighs loudly, slumping his shoulders even farther, somehow. "whatever...."
Belle continues, "I could ask Pearly to make some disguises, she likes that kinda stuff anyways. I just need your two's input on what to make."
"The event itself will be held in a Casino, the theme being, masquerade"
Tara smiled behind her mask, happy that she seemingly wouldn't have to bare her face for all to see. She pondered if someday there would be a version of herself that didn't worry about that kind of thing. She discards the thought, it was A useless platitude that would get her nowhere.
"So stereotypical..." Edgar rolled his eyes as he spoke, arms crossed with typical teenage defiance. So much anger. She supposes she could understand, in a way. She had her own hidden temper. But therein lies the difference. Hidden.
*Belle sighs* "Do ya have to be so negative all the time? Like for once why can't you be enthused about somethin'? Isn't it hard having that much of a stick up your ass all the time? The white-haired woman grilled.
Wow. She is not in the mood today. Chewing both her and Edgar out more than usual. She'd have to talk to Belle alone later to see if anything was going on with her. Although later. She raised her hand silently and motioned towards the door. may I leave o great and wise leader?
"Yes, Tara, you can go, talk to Pearl about what yer gonna wear, and try to stay within a thousand dollars budget, will ya?"
She nods and exits the room neither follow her out. That kid spends too much time holed up here at the hideout; she wonders for a second if the boy didn't have many friends; maybe she could try setting up some kind of 'playdate' with her brother..... No. Neither of them would appreciate the gesture. He's probably just introverted anyway.
Although Tara tries to put the thought to the back of her mind, she cannot help but think about them for the rest of the day: the boy's attitude and tendencies and whether they hold any deeper meaning she could be concerned about.
No time to worry about stuff like that right now. She should stay focused on the hiest they already had planned; and do a little bit more research into these mysterious investigators Belle warned them about.
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