"Seems like there's more Creeplings this week than there were last week, huh, Youngbae?" Soul muttered to her phase partner. Being that he was currently phased, he couldn't really roll his eyes at her, but he barked a short laugh in her head.

((Five Creeplings would be five Creeplings too many,)) he responded good-naturedly, giving himself a little shake. A veritable cloud of black dust rose from his short coat, the remains of the two Creeplings they'd already caught and killed. Creeplings, twisted and ugly things that were usually summoned to do the bidding of a dark magic user, tended to leave a pile of dried-out ash that looked like coal dust behind when they died, and it was always hell trying to get it out of fur. Youngbae sneezed.((Ugh. I think I got Creepling in my nose.))

((That's disgusting, hyung,)) Seungri said with a flashy flutter of his wings. He preened a bit, perched in relative comfort on the shoulder of their temporary Commander.

((You're disgusting, bird-brain.))

"Is it too much to ask that you all behave like grown...people? We're supposed to be sneaking here," Maggie griped, adjusting the striped pelt draped over her shoulders and upsetting Seungri's perch with little care. "I'm pretty sure every necromancer from here to Santa Fe can hear you whining."

"It's not their fault, Unnie," Mei stage-whispered. "Fuzz-for-brains isn't here, so they all have to be delicate little flowers in his place."

Seungri trilled a little laugh, and even Seunghyun purred a bit, butting his big head up against Mei's hand.

"Fuzz-for-brains is doing recon that could probably save our lives," Maggie pointed out.

Mei snickered. "Ten bucks says he's slipped into the nearest salon to get his nails done."

((How much do you think they'd charge for a polar bear to get its nails done?)) Daesung asked from where he was padding along the top of the wall that bordered the alley.

((Enough to give even Jiyong-ah paws,)) Seunghyun said with a twitch of his whiskers, setting the whole group to groaning in disbelief.

"You two are awful," Soul said, lips twitching into a grin. "Really awful."

((Don't you mean paw-ful?)) Daesung teased, stopping a bit ahead of them. He practically melted into the darkness, almost as completely as Seunghyun could, only his eyes clearly visible. They flashed glassy and green in the gloom, and the humans in the group could just make out the flick of the tip of his tail. Daesung tended to look like a miniature version of Seunghyun even in the light of day, though both of them insisted they were different in every way. It didn't help that they shared a corny and somewhat childish love of puns.

Soul groaned again. "No. No, I don't. I don't mean...that. At all."

"If you're all done," Jamie said, her presence bringing a sudden chill, "Jiyong and I have finished scouting."

"And?" Maggie flexed her hands, claws sliding out with an ease borne of experience.

Shrugging, Jamie leaned against the wall, tapping her fingers against her thighs to whatever song was playing in her head this time. "Nothing. It's like they just vanished into thin air."

"Well," Mei replied uneasily, "they can't do that...can they?"

"Uh...I don't think so?" Gnawing on one claw, Maggie sighed. "Okay. Here's what we'll do. Daesung-ah, you're on patrol. You scope out the nooks and crannies, see if they're just blending into the shadows - start at Town Center and spiral out."

Nodding, the black cat stretched and took off like a streak of ink along the wall.

"Mei-ya, you and Seunghyun-ah back him up. Stay about three blocks back and don't lose sight of his tail, got it?"

Mei and her phase partner rumbled agreement in sync, turning to follow their rapidly-vanishing companion.

"Seungri-ya, take the skies, see what you can see. Try to keep one eye on the three of them, okay? And for the love of god, don't get distracted by any more rabbits!"

Screeching indignantly, Seungri spread his ashen wings and took off, scattering papers and empty cans across the alley.

"Soul-ah, you and Youngbae-ya head back to where the rest of the Creeplings got past us and see if you can't sniff out a trail."

"Sure thing," Soul agreed, already in the midst of soul phasing with Youngbae, human nose twitching along with his canine one as they loped back into the midnight shadows.

Sighing, Maggie dug her claws into the pelt she wore and tugged it closer about her shoulders.

"How about me, sis?"

Glancing at Jamie, Maggie tilted her head in a helpless shrug. "I guess you and Ji can back up Soul and Bae..." she trailed off, staring up at the full moon as Seungri looped past, a dark, goshawk-shaped shadow across the silvery-white disc. "I wonder if Ri and Dae will ever find their partners."

"Ji says he wondered the same thing about himself for ages," Jamie pointed out. "It'll happen when it happens, right?"

"I guess." Fingers combing through the soft black-and-orange fur, Maggie sighed.

Jamie watched with a complicated sort of expression, as though she was torn between fear, sympathy, and morbid fascination. "Does it..." Her brow furrowed as she rethought her question.

Knowing her sister, and knowing what she was worrying about, Maggie smiled. "Nah. It doesn't hurt anymore. Not physically, anyway. It's just...empty, in one little spot. Like when you're really hungry and your stomach feels hollow, except it's your heart instead."

The younger woman squirmed uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I was just..."

"Worried. Yeah, I know. But, hey," Maggie added with a suddenly bemused grin, "if there's one Shifter you don't have to worry about, it's Jiyong. I mean, who messes with a nine-foot-tall bear?"

"A nine-foot-tall bear that got distracted on the way back," Jamie grumbled. "By a scarf."

Bursting out laughing, Maggie was about to reply when Seungri swooped down with a screech that had both of them jumping.

((Daesung-hyung's in trouble! Creeplings! The others are too far out! Noona, what do I do?!))

"Get to him as fast as you can!" Taking off towards Town Center, Maggie felt Jamie fall in behind her. "Do what you can to keep them off him, but be careful!"

((On it!))

Not again, Maggie thought. Please, not again.

A huge, lumbering white form charged past at the next cross-street, bellowing hoarsely. ((Hyung,)) Jiyong shouted, his panic vibrating in Maggie's skull, ((how far away are you?!))

((Too far,)) Seunghyun replied. ((I'm sorry, we were following, and he just took off down a side street!))

((Damn it!)) Huffing another gravelly bellow, Jiyong plowed across the park that surrounded Town Center, pigeons and benches alike scattering before him.

Next to Maggie, Jamie rumbled in sync with her phase parter, hair bleeding white. She, too, slammed through obstacles with little care, leaving Maggie to vault over the remains of public grills and bike racks.

"ing bears," she breathed exaspiratedly.

As they rounded the gate to enter Town Center, a six-block area of shops, theaters, and restaurants, they spotted Mei and Seunghyun running full-out from the East, while Soul and Youngbae approached at a breakneck speed from the West. The group converged as Seungri dropped in front of them, leading the way down a dead-end alley.

They stopped suddenly - except for Jiyong, who took a bit longer to stop than the rest of them on account of being twice the size of even Seunghyun - staring at the sight before them.

Daesung jumped down from his perch on the shoulder of a young woman they'd never seen before. He sat at her feet, tail snaking around her ankle lazily. All around the pair were little piles of dust, the remains of the Creeplings they'd been hunting.

The woman stared at them, looking bewildered and a little frightened, bringing the length of lead pipe in her hand up instinctively. "Um...hi?"

"Hi," Maggie replied absently, scanning the surroundings. "Was that all of them? All five?"

((Yes, noona,)) Daesung replied. He sounded a bit strained, but otherwise fine, and Maggie's heartrate started to return to normal.

"Okay."

((Okay?!)) Jiyong took a couple of steps forward, vaulting up to stand on his hind legs, as he knew there were few people in the world who weren't intimidated by the sight of a polar bear towering over them. ((You had us worried sick, Daesung-ah! We thought you were going to be killed! You terrified the feathers out of Seungri!))

"Oh, god, do they all talk?" the strange woman moaned, pipe dropping from her slack fingers.

"You can hear them?" Mei's irritated scowl morphed instantly into a delighted smile. "One of us! Daesung-oppa, you found another one of us!"

((Ah. Yeah.)) Daesung remarked, ears flicking back and forth. He looked up at the new woman, who had started to tremble a little. ((Valerie, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Valerie.))

"Hi, Valerie," everyone chimed, a little off-balance.

((She's my phase partner,)) he added as though it was an afterthought. When no one responded right away, he padded forward, then began to change - shedding his pelt like it was a costume, he seemed to unfold, almost, standing on two feet shakily, about as tall as Maggie. Brushing off his jeans, his fingers found the small pelt tucked into his belt, and he smiled. It looked awkward, as though he wasn't used to smiling like a human...which, Maggie conceded, he wouldn't be.

"Oh." Soul brightened. "Oh! Awesome!" She rested her hand on Youngbae's head as his tail wagged enthusiastically. "Welcome!"

"I..." Valerie blinked. Then, looking down at Daesung, she sighed. "I'm not going to like this at all, am I?"

((Trust me,)) Seungri said, looking up from where he'd been righting his flight feathers, ((you will.))