Ass. Couldn't people just be nice and let her steal from them? Goddamnit.
The day had begun peacefully enough - and then she had made an amateur mishap, which even she felt the burning of shame. She had been caught stealing, and from a pirate no less! The absurdity of the situation made her wince. She was supposed to be nothing more than a low-level thief and she had went so far as to do that? She felt just a little stupid, and she disliked that feeling greatly.
Lani tugged her hat lower over her face, pulling down the back firmly as she secured what she stole to her belt. If she was going to steal it, she would continue on. She wouldn't forfeit it - she'd come this far and she'd see this mess through to the very end. Even if it meant that she'd have to run out of Cerenis; and she had just gotten there, too! She was stealing to pawn something so she could afford a meal and lodgings. Most importantly would be a bath. Lani wanted one. She needed one. For some reason, she was constantly finding herself in the most ridiculous situations and it all involved her getting absurdly dirty.
Slipping out from the alley she decidedly melted into the crowd. Too bad it didn't last for long - they recognized her floppy little hat. She was too in love with the damned thing to actually throw it away or even hide it. Glancing back at the origin of the boisterous yells, mostly for her [or the 'dirty little thief' as they called her and more obscene names] to stop. And anyone to grab her, and they added something very ear-catching to that simple phrase. And it was, "we'll pay you." The risk had immediately went from a 5 to a 10 on a one to ten scale.
Dodging and twisting around a ragged, although young gentleman, she nearly stumbled into the grip of some lady. She just barely managed to dodge it as she made a mad dash for anywhere but the swarming masses of people. Which wasn't easy when people were blocking your way [or seemed to be doing]. Lani was lacking energy, and quite clearly much of her wit, and a substantial amount of power at the moment. She had the last three months deep in the wilderness and had exercised her powers quite freely. Now she was stuck. What a bitch.
Lani was certain she could clearly make it over those two people's heads, she was almost certain. In fact, she was so almost certain that she tried. And failed. But knocked them both in the fact with her soft-leather slippered feet. Didn't matter. They went down. Unfortanuately, so did she. She scrambled for a grip on the ground, limbs flailing. Just barely did she escape a fallen person grabbing at her ankle.
There! Alley!
She made a skidding halt, nearly fell backwards and onto her side, but managed to thrust herself into the narrow passageway. That was all fine and dandy, except it could just be a dead-end. Or worse. Her eye-twitched. Certainly there were rats. And bugs. And maybe even a dead body. The latter didn't bother her as much as the former two. To her, rats and bugs were only good roasted. And even that could be an iffy thing.
Then she realized. Her hat. Where the hell was it? It was not where it should be - on her head.
Turning around almost immediately and obviously without thought, she thundered back down the passageway, out in the open and looked frantically for her hat which had released her messy blonde curls that sporadically jutted from her head. Most of her upkeep over the past three months consisted of ritually dunking herself in a very cold spring. She hadn't taken much more time than necessary so she was pretty certain her hair was matted. She bet she looked like a little animal.
Right now, that didn't concern as much as where her hat was.
She began mumbling things in an entirely different language, her hands waving up and down, fluttering in a chaotic mess, nearly smacking a few certain individuals in the face as they ebbed around the crazy lady.
She had entirely forgotten about the people chasing her. She wanted her hat.
"I want my damn hat! Where is it?!" She demanded of no one in particular, glaring around herself with angry baby blue eyes and then unceremoniously dropping to all-fours, looking at ground-level for any evidence of the dark green felt floppy-thing she was already missing.
