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Tiger-Lily

She knows where the Burden is going and scoots ahead to give herself time to slip through the door, keeping a close eye on the Burden's feet so that he doesn't stand on her.

She hopes she will find Shadow but the least she can do is scout the place whilst she is here. There is much to learn.

The burden stops at the far door where Tiger expected, and opens it. This one doesn't require any special fidgeting. Tiger spots a tell tale blotch that is Shadow coming towards her before she exits the room.

[OOC: As a note, Shadow doesn't note Tiger-Lily's presence.]

Shadow

He enters the shadow beside the doorway, next to the hinges, looking to go beneath the door itself as it opens so as to avoid being spotted by the Burden.

{OOC bit confused as to which doors were are referring to but her action is clear.}

Tiger-Lily

She sees Shadow and moves close to him. She had come here to find him afterall.

"It's Tiger-Lily"

She whispers quietly near his head.

Shadow

Quietly, he responded,

"So you found a reliable way in and out?"

Tiger-Lily

"Nope. Came in with the Burden. Was worried about you."

She keeps her voice low, hopefully below the Burden's hearing range. She is still watching the Burden carefully.

Terror

He continued his search of the outside of the building. Many new structures built by burdens had few accidental entry points, unlike the older buildings with their broken windows and rotting walls. But it was still possible something useful had been overlooked. And Terror was good at hunting things that didn't want to be found.

Shadow

Inasmuch as a two-dimensional area of darkness within a larger area of darkness could look bemused, the feline shadow radiated that emotion. He replied in equally near-silent tones,

"Worried about me? Why? I wasn't going to attack it, that would make our task much harder! I know what's at stake here and this is neither the time nor the place to toy with a burden like a cornered mouse."

Tiger-Lily

"I didn't know if the Burden might capture you. And I didn't want you to have to face the Burden on your own. Maybe I was wrong. I'm not very experienced in these things."

She sighs softly, still keeping her voice really low.

"Anyway, we are both here, shall we continue?"

Shadow

Quietly, he clarified,

"In My present state, it couldn't even touch Me, much less capture Me, and that's if it even registered My presence at all. A lone burden is no threat to Me. Anyway, back to what we must do."

Moving on, the shadow travelled through darkness to the next unopened door and passed beneath it.

The door that Tiger had just come through, which Shadow now goes underneath leads to a large room. It runs at least half the building. At the far end are big doors that lead outside, as they had seen them when looking around. There is also a smaller door which the burden and Tiger had entered.

Tiger is left on the side of the now closed door watching the burden in uniform walk away towards the other side of the interior of the building, where the more burden like smells are.

Tiger-Lily

"Oh.."

She responds as Shadow slides under the door. She hadn't really appreciated his capabilities nor thought things through before she rushed in. Now she is feeling not a little foolish, especially as she cannot follow Shadow.. and unless she can find a way out, she will be stuck here until the Burden leaves.

Her head swivels from side to side. Stay here and wait for Shadow? Follow the Burden so she doesn't get trapped?

She reasons that Shadow can't see her but that she should stay close to the Burden. And she might learn something.

"I'll follow the Burden" she whispers under the door and then sets off to follow him.

The burden walks down the hall and past where Shadow's scent enters the hall. He keeps walking into an area with several burden sized doors. One of them he opens. Before Tiger has a chance to get there, he stops and says "howdy Mike, how is it going?"

Another male burden voice answers "fine enough, but glad to see you."

She can hear him rustling and a chair squeaking. The door remains open with the burden she followed standing in it. As the pair prepare to exchange positions.

Shadow

A cursory examination of the room, committing it to memory, then returning beneath the interior door to continue the explorations.

Tiger-Lily

She tries to commit as much of the layout as she can to memory, also looking to entrances/exits which they will need for the raid.

And now there are two Burdens. Life is more complicated than she had thought. Does she stay with the first Burden or the new one?

She decides to follow the one that moves around the most. That way she is most likely to learn more and maybe find a way out.

One burden remains in the room with the glowing square boxes. She notes in those boxes are moving pictures of some of the places they have been inside and outside the building. As well as some places that they haven't been.

The one that was in the room says "I will make a set of rounds and then I am out of here." He heads further away from the big room.

Shadow's shadow approaches as the man heads deeper towards the burden side of the building.

He makes a quick round of walking down the corridor and checking into closed rooms. They are filled with metal things and low table things that offer plenty of things to be knocked to the floor. A couple of them have windows.

There are a few more rooms like the second one Shadow investigated with the empty table and the closed wall things.

The entire area smells of burdens and the pungent cleaners.

[OOC: Thanks for the reminder, forgot all about him.]

The outside of the building is broken up by burden sized doors. Clear doors in the front and solid every where else. In the back near the door that Tiger-Lily went in there are two large vehicle sized doors.

It is quiet till Terror spots a slinking group of young burdens. They are off to one side under a tree and out of the light shed by the pole in the lot with the burden's traveling thing. An acrid smell of some kind of burning element assault's Terror's sensitive nose.

Tiger-Lily

Perfect!

Doing the rounds will get her into lots of places and then she can follow him back outside. She focuses on staying close to the 'rounds' burden whilst avoiding his feet. And she tries to learn as much as she can.

She understands the screens. Her Burden spends a lot of his time looking at one. In the evening, not so much but the screen stays alive and show views of the outside. She has worked out that they are little machines in the same places as show on that screen. One at the back door and one at the front. Somehow they are connected. So she notes what the screen shows outside, might be important.

Shadow

He waited for the Burden to move on, then continued methodically going through the doors which he hadn't seen behind yet, building up a picture of the place in his mind. Avoiding the Burdens was a priority: Whilst they couldn't touch him, he didn't want them to see shadows where no shadow should be.

Both Tiger and Shadow are able to travel through the rest of the building. Much of that side is burden related and exactly what the rooms are for is unclear.

However the burden they are following does eventually turn back and walk to the large room with the cages and animals. He seems to be headed towards the door to the outside.

Terror

He hissed softly at the smell coming from the burdens. He slid into a darker shadow to stay out of their line of sight -- young burdens were far less predictable than the older ones, and could sometimes be cruel.

But he did not retreat, no matter the noxious smell. Perhaps they had something to do with the mystery of this place? And that meant he should probably figure out what they were doing. Terror stuck to the darkest of shadows, sliding stealthily closer, in hopes of deciphering their actions without calling attention to himself.

The group of burdens were talking with each other. They had small brown things they were sucking from, in addition to a smoking ember they are passing around. It was the ember that offered the noxious smell. The burdens seemed completely unaware that Terror was stalking them.

Tiger-Lily

She and Shadow had worked in harmony without the need to break the silence much, just a small noise from her to alert Shadow to her presence as he couldn't see her. They were both getting a tour of the place which is useful. She is still looking for a way that they could get back in without needing a Burden.

It seems they are heading to the place where the other animals are kept. Too many memories of her own confinement but she steels herself knowing that there is a rescue in planning for them all.

Shadow

He'd never admit it, but it was a useful arrangement: Tiger could go where there was a risk of being seen, whereas he could go where there was no obvious way in. It meant better coverage, a more thorough exploration.

He watched the approach to the door to outside with great interest: Sometimes these blockers of ways had fiddly bits beyond the ken of catkind, but there was always a chance this might not be the case.