[RL-- A slightly different audience; Kid, Jing]
AIM log with Kudo Kendra and Jing (shoutitloud), considered DDD canon~! S-sorry for the flist spam, I'll shut up after this XD

Who: Kaitou Kid and Jing
Where: Ekoda, Jan. 8, late evening
What: Kaitou Kid had someone unexpected in his audience for the Iron Tanuki heist
Rating: Very G~

Kid was still smirking triumphantly to himself as he landed on the roof of a nearby building. He stood up straight and deactivated his hang glider, before he spun around and watched the police lights flash in the distance. He could still hear the sirens, but they were distant, and he knew no one was going to come after him anytime soon.

Therefore it wasn't difficult for him to notice when the faint wail of the sirens was suddenly overlaid with the sound of easy clapping, coming from the direction of a shadow cast by an electrical transformer.

"That was a pretty good show!" followed a young, eternally confident voice. There was a shift, and the corner of a coat, dingy yellow in the darkness, flapped in the moonlight. "I particularly liked when you snatched the kid out of the way of the axe. Wasn't quite sure you were going to make that one."

Kid spun around, hand immediately reaching for his card gun. He didn't recognize the voice immediately, due to the fact that he had only talked to Jing twice in person before now. But as soon as he saw who it was, he relaxed, and his confident smirk returned. "You doubted me?" he asked as he shoved his gloved hands into his pockets, "Tsk tsk, and here I thought I had already proven my worth!"

Jing smirked and stepped out of the shadows, arms still folded and his trademark orange trenchcoat (newly reacquired) billowing in the wind. Kir hovered at his shoulder, looking like he thought talking to the Kaitou was a waste of time.

"Yeah, all ten cents of it," the albatross snarked, and Jing rolled his eyes where his partner couldn't see.

Kid chuckled at Kir's comment, but otherwise ignored it, knowing quite well that the bird was probably still bitter over losing the Mascorrida. Or Kid's success at stealing Jing's jacket. One of the two. "You came for the show, I'm assuming," the thief asked, "I'll have to apologize for the lack of spectacle. Tonight's heist was a bit tamer than my past ones." After all, he hadn't really been trying to steal something. He was just saving a helpless little puppy. And proving his skill at breaking into high-security and very deadly vaults, of course.

"For those who can't appreciate the art, maybe," Jing allowed, pulling a coin out of midair and beginning an idle flip-and-catch pattern. He had to admit, Kid was at least on par with him when it came to safe cracking. Slightly slower, perhaps, but not by much. Watching the 'heist' had been rather enlightening. "I'll just have to show up at your next one. We can make a race out of it."

Might as well see who was faster overall. The initial draw over the Sun Mask didn't count -- neither of them had known the rules then, and Jing had been more interested in figuring out Kaitou Kid's motives than he was in stealing the mask. A deliberate race for the same target would be a more decisive answer.

Kid shrugged. "Most of my audience comes for the magic, not the heist," he said as he watched Jing flip the coin. He could tell, just by watching him, that the bandit was also experienced in the art of sleight-of-hand. This probably came without saying, of course, considering his rival's profession. "A race?" The thief repeated. He was stilling grinning, and the moonlight reflecting from his monocle served to make him look all the more devious, "Are you by any chance issuing a challenge?"

"It'd be interesting, don't you think?" Jing was also grinning, but in a way that looked not unlike a kid who'd just been told Christmas was around the corner. "And it stands to reason two phantom thieves would be more spectacle than one."

"True," Kaito said, and he reached up to lower the brim of his hat over his eyes. "This wouldn't be the first time I've raced against a fellow phantom thief." He was, of course, referring to the incident with Chat Noir.

"Better not think that means you'll win, magic boy," Kir interjected, feathered chest obviously puffed up with bravado. "We've raced a few thieves ourselves, yanno. And we never lose!"

"Provided, of course, you can pencil us into your busy schedule," the King of Bandits added, looking amused.

Kid smirked. "I don't lose either," he said, and he was quite confident that he wouldn't, even if Jing was much more skilled than Chat Noir. He had beaten the other bandit in the Mascorrida after all, even if it was only because he managed to throw Jing off his game long enough to take advantage of his weakness. "As for when..." he paused and hesitated, "I'm following your advice and investigating your world soon."

"Afraid you won't have much of an audience there, depending on where you go," Jing noted, leaning back against a flag pole. The coin disappeared somewhere in the recesses of his coat.

"Yeah, thieves are about as common as flies, and people like swattin' 'em even more." Kir raised a feathered eyeridge. "You just lucked out in Zaza."

Kid's smirk faded and he nodded solemnly. "I figured I wouldn't attract a crowd, even with my showmanship," he said with a shrug, "But... I'm not looking for an audience there." He didn't say it, but the fact that he was going there for the sole purpose of finding Pandora was painfully clear in his tone.

"Well, I know at least one person who'd appreciate some showmanship." Pushing off from the flag post, Jing shoved his hands in his pockets as Kir landed on his shoulder. "The one I talked to you about. Maybe if you ask nicely he'll give you a few trade secrets.

"Now it's been nice talking to you, but I think it's time for us to be going." Hopping lightly up onto the electrical transformer, the bandit turned and grinned at Kid as the sirens in the distance got ever-so-slightly less distant. It seemed the Task Force hadn't quite given up on their search yet. "Wouldn't want to outstay our welcome."

So saying, the thief raised a hand and made a quick, strange symbol with a few fingers -- and after a brief pause, looked distinctly puzzled when nothing happened.

Kir's smirk had also disappeared. He turned to his partner, looking annoyed. "Hey, Jing, what're you waiting for?! Just worldhop already!"

"I-I'm trying." The surprise was clear in Jing's voice now. "It's not working."

Kid shifted ever so slightly to look behind him as the sirens got louder. Then he sighed. Looked like he was going to have to make use of one of his decoys after all. The Taskforce always fell for that one.

He turned back to Jing and Kir and saluted mockingly at them. "I look forward to our contest, then!" he said as he watched the other bandit hop onto the transformer and draw a few symbols into the air. When nothing happened, he arched an eyebrow in surprise. It wasn't every day his rival was honestly taken off guard. "What's wrong, forgotten how to worldhop already~?" He asked, laughter evidence in his voice.

"Ha ha, very funny," the King of Bandits deadpanned, obviously not amused. He closed his eyes in concentration and repeated the gesture, and gained a slight look of frustration when it failed to work again.

"Jing! Hurry up!!" his partner insisted. Jing shot him a glare.

"Kind of hard to with you yelling in my ear," he grumped, then frowned to himself, clearly trying to rapidly think of a way to fix this inconvenience.

At this point, Kid had thrown back his head and was laughing heartily, not even bothering to hide his amusement, or offer any advice. It was nice to see his rival flustered for once.

"Sounds like we're the entertainment now," Kir muttered, not sounding any more pleased about the turn of events than Jing was. "It worked just fine before! Go figure that it'd break the first time we tried t'actually show it to someone."

Jing turned sharply to Kir. "That's it!!"

"Eh?" Now it was the albatross' turn to look confused. "What's it?"

His partner didn't answer. Instead, Jing turned back to Kid, looking confident once more. "Now we'll take our leave," he declared, winking. "Now you see us..."

One hand up in a good-bye wave, the bandit stepped backwards off the transformer, Kir making a startled squawk but holding tight to Jing's jacket shoulder. There was no sound of landing on the other side. Not even the omnipresent rustle of Jing's coat, blown by the wind. The sudden silence finished the sentence as well as if Jing had said it himself.

...now you don't.

Kid stood on the roof for a few more seconds after Jing had stepped off the transformer, his white cape billowing in the wind. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. "So you can't worldhop while people are watching?" he said out loud, but to no on in particular, "That might come back to bite you one day."

Stepping off the transformer and jumping to the ground... it wasn't a bad show. It even had some of the same flair Kid liked to put in his own heists. But it wasn't nearly as good as the magician's own performances, Kid thought to himself. No one would ever be as flashy and good at charming a crowd as he.

The sirens were getting louder, and the phantom thief crouched low on the roof as he pulled a small box out of the inside of his jacket. It was time to officially shake off his pursuers.