Hiding, hiding, the favorite game
Climbing, climbing, all in vain
Running, running, he's on your tail
Screaming, screaming, your voice goes stale

== Roxy: Climb

You are an excellent climber, even without a magical boost holding you to the wall. So it comes as no surprise to anyone that you climb up the outside of the house to your room. It's dawn, and you are exhausted. You are actually nocturnal, a cycle you've trained yourself into, so you fall asleep when the sun rises and wake when it sets. Since you quit drinking, this has grown progressively harder, but there's no way in hell you're giving this up.

Who on Earth would give up being rogue just because it means you have to be nocturnal?

After a quick night breakfast, you collapse into bed and just pass out. You haven't had to teach Nepeta anything, because she's a natural at climbing and shit, but you're exhausted nonetheless. You sleep through the long, quiet day under the rough sheets and blankets you've amassed.

It's really only you and your new recruit who ever had any trouble with the weird sleep schedule; Rufioh and the thieves just accepted it and act exactly the same.

It's the late meal when you emerge from the room you share with your sister in your dark blue rogue costume. The tunic is a kind of cerulean, the leggings are a very dark blue, and the hood is sort of navy. Your boots are black and easy to walk in. You take off the mask for the purposes of eating and walk downstairs.

You could do with a drink.

Problematically, no one in the house will give you one since you sobered up. So instead you eat too much stew and bread and try to remember what helped when you were first quitting. It's all sort of a blur, honestly. You seem to remember that when you were really craving something, sometimes acidic stuff helped. Maybe it's just the memories of the vomit. But you figure you might as well try.

Your sister hands you the last slice of orange (a rare delicacy) in the house and nods at you. She's probably reading your mind. You take it gratefully and eat it slowly.

You don't want a drink so much when you finish the orange, either because the acid really helped or because remembering how much you vomited and how much your head ached when you were drunk really deters you.

Most everyone goes to bed right after the meal. Normally they'd already be asleep, but there was some sort of chase in the market today.

"Come on, guys!" you call to your fellow rogues. "We've got jobs to do."

You spend the next week or so relaying information on the J name people's plan to stop the new tax edict. You're careful, quiet, and secretive. But you know that it can't last and the day it falls apart is the day before the J name's plan begins.

You're sneaking through the woods to contact the Amporas, because they have to keep Lord English off your trail until phase two. They're not doing a good enough job, either, hence the letter Kankri wrote for you to deliver.

You take one more step and then you spot him: the man with the white hair. You've never met Duke Scratch in person, but you've heard of him and seen the drawings.

He's not the sort of person you forget.

You know who it is the second you see him. You duck behind a tree as he turns around, a terrifying smile decorating his face. His features are utterly generic; it would be impossible to describe him at all. The only thing worth noting is that his hair is cloud-white, as is his skin; his eyes, nearly black, form a sharp and scary contrast. You squat down and cover your bright blond hair with your hood. But he's not moving. To get the message to the Ampora castle, you'll have to pass him.

You think through your options. You could wait for a carriage, but it's late and that wouldn't work. You could wait out the night here, then walk down the road like nothing's wrong. Unfortunately, you're wearing your rogue clothes and though they are excellent for nighttime working, they are not exactly inconspicuous in the daytime. You could go back to the village you passed about a mile back and steal some clothes, but that would be a huge waste and that village is he poorest you've ever seen.

That leaves the option of trying to sneak around him.

Dammit.

You slowly shift your weight so you are standing with your back braced against the tree. There is no way around this—wait.

You look up. The tree branches should hold your small weight. They're close enough. You once did something like this with Nepeta and Rufioh on the way to the Egbert castle.

You throw your arms around a low-hanging branch and pull yourself up. You climb higher, careful of anything that could rustle and alert the duke to your presence.

Once you're high enough, you jump to the next tree and wrap your arms around the trunk, barely balancing on the narrow branches. This is the single dumbest thing you've ever done. Except maybe quitting drinking. Or starting drinking.

You balance your feet on the thin branches at the top of the tree directly above Duke Scratch and prepare to leap to the next tree. If you miss this one, you'll fall right in front of the duke and there goes the operation.

You inhale deeply and launch yourself to the next tree. There's a long moment of hanging in the air like a bird before you throw your arms around the next tree trunk and land, barely, with your feet on a slim branch that's going to crack under your weight any second.

You keep moving.

In retrospect, you should've taken more notice of the duke looking up.

You deliver the note by chucking it, tied to a rock, through Eridan's window, and deftly catch the response. It's nearing daylight, and you really have no choice but to walk like you belong in your odd clothes. You take off the hood and use it as a pretend bundle of something and hide the eye mask in it. You look weird because you have no bodice or normal skirt, but hopefully no one will take notice.

Unfortunately, hope does not seem to get you far these days.

You set your shoulders back and head for home. Roxy Lalonde, out. It's a four-mile walk, so you won't be back for a long time. They aren't expecting you back for another whole night. You might find a nice place in the woods to curl up for the day and sleep.

You join the crowds of people traveling to a different village in hopes of finding a place to sell for a bit more. You've seen the poverty here first hand, and that is why you left behind your family to be a rogue. You keep your head down and you look just like one of them, except that you are wearing weird clothes and trying not to fall asleep on the road.

The duke is still there.

You can't risk sleeping in the woods now, but you're just so tired. You think on it for a long time, then decide that if you slip into the woods on the other side of the road, you won't be noticed. This is a heavy-traffic road and you're pretty inconspicuous (or so you'd like to think). You wait until a carriage passes in front of you, then you dive into the woods and crawl through the underbrush until you find a nice enough spot to sleep. Daylight comforts you as you drift off to sleep in the warm June air.

You wake up when something near you moves. You've been a light sleeper since you sobered up. You spring to your feet with your hands held up defensively, ready to fight any threat. You don't see anything. What woke you up?

Something—someone—pulls your elbows back and pins them together, rendering your arms useless. But you can still kick like a bitch and you do, aiming for the shins in case it's a girl.

The person grunts and lets you go and—oh fuck, it's Duke Scratch. You whip out your dagger and slice open the skin on the back of his hand, a carefully calculated move so he has to stop the bleeding before he can chase you.

Shit.

You push off the hard gravel road and start running as fast as you possibly can. You've got a mile to go; you can make it.

You run your fastest mile ever, making it home in about seven minutes. You vault up the side of the house and clamber in your window, starting to properly panic. You change into some normal clothes and style your hair differently in case he's tracked you here. You run down the stairs and tell your friends, "Guys! Scratch nearly got me! We need to get everyone but a couple kids and a fake mom and dad down here and everyone else in the top room or something!" The top room, a. k. a. Meulin's room, is connected to the rest of the house by an old rope ladder and a battered wooden hatch in the ceiling.

"Calm down," Rose says, and you suppose you must be wild-eyed and probably scaring your friends. "Did you do the back-of-the-hand cut? That works very well."

"Of course," you answer. You're not stupid, even when you panic.

"Then he's probably at a doctor," Rose reasons.

She's right, and you now realize that the duke is most definitely at a doctor's. How could he have followed you here? You're calming down now. You realize it's noon and you'd be hard to follow on the roadway anyways.

It must be the lack of sleep.

"Get some sleep, Roxy," Rose says, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder. You know that as the older sister, you should be the one worrying about her, but most often, she is the concerned one. She even drinks sometimes, though Jade and Kankri and Karkat when he's over usually hide all the alcohol somewhere. You don't even know where.

"A letter came for you," Kankri adds, sifting through the pile of mail on the table. The only time when he's not talking is when he's focused on something else. He tosses your letter aside and continues sorting. He'll be up all night responding to those. Wait a second—

"Why are you guys all still home?"

"The seer stand is closed today because we need to catch up on inventory," Rose tells you. "We're behind schedule on the sewing."

You nod. "I'm going to bed," you say. The three seers nod and you fall into bed again.

At least you know you won't wake up with a hangover.

You wake up at around nine PM, just in time to get dressed for the late-night meal. You have a truly dangerous mission today: you must travel to and get inside the Egbert castle in order to give the Underground there the plans of the local waterworks, which must be controlled. Running water is essential to the villages because the disease carried in the water can strike if it doesn't flow. (Your sister knows all the technical terms; you just refer it as the disease.) So it is essential for the Underground to gain control of the water.

After a quick meal, you're off to see John, and once again wishing you could have a drink. You really could do with a beer right now.

You run into Jade on the way back, but she's on the road and you're in the bushes. You make sure no one's around, rush into the road, and lay stones in a pattern of three, one, four. Jade picks them up and nods in your direction. You nod back, even though she can't see you, and continue on to the palace.

Once you arrive, you pick up eight pebbles and throw them at John's window. Three, one, four. He opens the shutters and says, "Come in."

Easier said than done.

You find your usual place and scale the stone wall carefully, using your magic to pin yourself to the wall so you can't fall. You reach the top of the battlements and walk along them to John's tower. Once you arrive there, it's just a matter of reach. You extend your arms to latch onto his windowsill and hoist yourself up with a bit of magic to help.

John opens his shutters and you land on two feet in his room. "Where's the others?" you ask. You still slur your speech, even without the alcohol, and you wonder if maybe it's just how you are. You might be stuck with a bad speaking voice.

"Uh…I think in their rooms?" John answers. He is quite cute for the hugely awkward teenager he is.

"We need all of 'em," you say. "I can only say this once."

He nods and leaves the room quietly, though not as quietly as you in your boots. You double-check your pack for the plans and yep, they're all still there. You just need to hand these to your friends and explain this shit. It's complicated as fuck, you have to say, and you must be getting tired again, because you're swearing more than usual. But it's also essential, so you're going to stay awake long enough to read it out.

The other seven soon join John in the small room, including your twin brother Dirk and little brother Dave. You don't see your brothers often anymore, though you see your sister just about every day. You resist the urge to hug the both of them and instead spread the maps and charts on the floor. "Entrance here, waterwheel and gears here," you begin, pointing to the places on the diagram that Vriska drew from her spying missions and Kankri labeled. (Whose bright idea was that?) "And guards usually come 'round once every half-hour. So you'll have to stay ahead of them. Most hallways will hold three people at once, max, so that's how many you can have with you. Uh...I think that's everything Kankri told me to tell you. 'Cept that if anyone gets caught, don't expose the others. But I guess that sorta goes without saying."

The eight people in the room with you nod solemnly. "So who's gonna go?" you ask. You need to report this back to HQ.

Karkat turns to face the others in a very leader-like way. "Me, obviously. And…you, Dave, yes you, asshole. And John, you might as fucking well show up."

Latula raises her hand, and you remind yourself that she is Michael here. "Hey, I can come too."

"But we need a knight here to defend the outside, dumbass," Karkat says. "To keep people out. That's your fucking job, obviously."

"What about the rest of us?" Jane asks, and you want to hug her because you know she hates her role in the plan.

"Do what you always do," you shrug. Then you do hug your dear friend and gather up the papers. "Wait-d'you guys need these?"

"No shit," Karkat says dryly, and you give him back the stack of papers.

"We're screwed if someone finds these, so try to keep 'em out of sight," you tell him. You scribble down a couple notes on another sheet of paper and stick it in your pack.

"Till next time, mes amigos," you say, climbing out the window and back to the battlements.

You climb down the usual way and head for home. You're feeling alert and ready for the two-mile trip. You just need to get home before about sun-up and you'll be fine.

You're halfway there when you see him a second time. Duke Scratch, standing by the roadway, smiling as if he's not there to catch anyone who plots against the monarchy. You still couldn't describe him, but you can recognize him from a mile away. His white hair and skin make him shine like the moon in the dark forest and you are suddenly very grateful for your dark-colored clothing and hood. You shift your attention to pulling the hood low over your face and making sure your pale skin is covered.

When you turn to face him again, he's looking your way.

Shit.

You freeze, again, behind a tree. This time, the trees aren't tall enough for you to climb over his head. It's utterly empty, so you can't pass unnoticed on the road. And it's also completely silent, so passing through the woods will be next to impossible without making some small noise. However, that seems to be your only option.

You hit the ground and start crawling through the underbrush. You're less likely to be spotted this way. This is not an okay thing to be happening!

You are right next to him, close enough to hear him breathing, when he suddenly turns and you freeze in place. You're wearing all dark colors and the brush is hiding you-surely you're safe?

You've got to stop thinking shit like that.

He is walking in your direction and you've got no choice. You position your feet in a runner's lunge and push yourself forward, running through the trees and not caring who follows. Duke Scratch does not look surprised. You notice bandages on the back of his right hand and realize you're one option down.

You slip the dagger out of the arm sock on your left arm (the entire reason you have those things) and hold it so the second he's close enough you'll be able to inflict some major damage. You don't know where you'll get him this time, because honestly you're afraid to kill him, and you decide that if he catches up, you'll slice open his leg so he can't walk. Maybe break it, too, and leave him lying in the road until daylight.

You realize you can't lead him to your home and you can't go anywhere else. So you turn sharply into the deep woods, where you have the advantage over a man raised in a palace. If you can get far enough ahead, you can scale a tree and let him run past so you can get home before the sun rises. He is easy to see in the dark night, and you would be too if not for the hood and the fact that he's behind you. Your hours of night work that have made you pale and your blonde hair are the reason you have a hood.

You reach a good tree and leap up to the first branch, wrapping your arms around it and bracing your feet against the trunk to climb. You reach the second branch and you don't stop until you've reached the top of the treeline. The duke, who you can easily pick out from the dark trees below, stops at your tree and looks straight up. He claps, very, very slowly. You can barely make out his mouth, but you think he's saying, "Well played, Lalonde. Well played."

How the fuck does he know your name?

He leaves and you drop out of the tree and, shaking badly, make for home.

You've got a hell of a story to tell your friends.