Just Another Night on The Prowl [RHI!] [M]

[DaGlobster]

Herrick chuckled slightly.  "Not odd at all." Herrick said, and leaned forwards a little more, once more brushing some of his wild hair out his face. Usually, he kept it in a ponytail, but he was feeling like letting it hang this morning. Herrick was one of those rare and dangerous men who knew he looked devilishly good, just like a seductress who understood the true power of her body.

"After all, if you could see yourself scaling that bookshelf, then you believed it to be possible. If you knew you couldn't do it, you wouldn't have believed you could. It's a simple philosophy, really." He said, stroking his short beard thoughtfully.

Damn this noblewoman. It was so obvious she was playing dumb here, but he didn't want to call her out on it. The last thing he wanted was to fight the Serenian Guard in a library, especially the one he was supposed to be robbing, possibly tonight.

[Rhindeer]

Einin shrugged and flashed him a little smile. "Then I guess I thought it was possible! Honestly, though, I just got bored waiting for the attendant, and it was only a couple feet out of reach. It was never really a matter of if I could do it or not--that didn't even enter my mind!"

Opening a book, she began to browse through it. She didn't plan on reading them here, but she wanted to at least see if there were any that looked worth borrowing.

"Which, you know, that's not exactly a good thing. That was careless of me..." She sighed and looked up. "Again, I deeply apologize for that."

[DaGlobster]

(I just want to push things along here, but feel free to let me know if you wanted the conversation to go on a bit longer and I'll edit.)

Herrick scoffed. "Please, you don't need to apologize to me, Lady Beirne." Herrick said, placing a hand to his chest. His eyes casually floated over to the door to the library, from behind which some clanking could be heard. It seemed the Guard had finally decided to check the one place they hadn't looked in yet. Before the door opened, he nonchalantly picked up one of the books from Einin's pile. "The Outdoorsman's Guide To Malevolent Fae, huh? can't say I've seen this volume..." Herrick muttered, opening the book and more-or-less burying his face in it just as the door opened.

A surly man stepped through, a scar over one of his eyes, which was milky white. He seemed more thug than Serenian Guard, but all those details seemed irrelevant as his other, icy blue eye scanned the room. He stepped in, nodding respectfully at the librarian, who just narrowed his eyes and went on with his business.

The guard walked towards the aisles, passing right by Herrick and Einin, and walked a few more feet before stopping, and turning around. He approached their table again, and laid a single finger on the binding of the book Herrick was trying to hide behind, slowly pushing it down.

"Thought you could hide from me here, you spineless gutter rat?" The guard said in a voice that might as well have been accompanied by the man spewing gravel from his mouth as he spoke. Herrick turned his head towards Einin, a smile on his face.

"We'll have to finish this conversation later, Einin." Herrick said, and shot upwards from the seat. Before the man could draw his sword, Herrick kicked the wooden chair upwards and towards the guard, smashing it against his chest plate. The man staggered backwards, and Herrick took the book he was reading and swung it sideways, denting the guard's helmet and knocking the man out cold. The entire altercation happened within a blink of an eye, and at about the same time the guard hit the floor, people were starting to notice something had just gone down.

He turned around briefly, putting the book back on top of Einin's pile (if she didn't knock it over in surprise) and gave her a slight bow. "I beg my leave." He said, shooting her that overwhelmingly confident smile of his as he sprinted into the aisles, climbing up the shelf at the end and out of a stained glass window.

[Rhindeer]

Oliver, who had been lingering nearby, was at Einin's side in a flash the instant Herrick wielded that chair as a weapon. With the guard there handling the criminal, Oliver's priority was getting Einin somewhere safe, and so, with a hiss of steel, he drew his sword and put Einin behind him. "We're leaving, now," he said. "Stay close to me."

But it seemed Herrick was intent on fleeing, not fighting, and Einin watched as he escaped through a window, her heart beating fast from the surprise of that sudden change in atmosphere--though she didn't feel afraid, just excited. But she hung close to Oliver and acted afraid like she was expected to, even as her mind went pieced the puzzle together.

That was how she recognized him.

She recognized him from a wanted poster.

The drawing, from her memory, was a little off, his eyebrows too bushy and nose too big in the image, but now she could see the resemblance. A thief, then. A wanted thief, and a successful thief, with several killings under his belt. And not only that, but he had been...awfully interested in her, and had tried to dig just a little too deeply. Knowing what she knew now, it was an uncomfortable realization.

Uncomfortable, and yet, he was only a man. One man, at that.

She may have been a little skittish of heading back out on her adventures after everything that had happened, but she needed to dive back in eventually, and this?

This might be just the mark to start with.

With the threat dealt with, Oliver helped her gather up the books she'd chosen,  checked her out, and escorted her back to her carriage, and all the while she mulled it over in her head. Was she ready yet?

She supposed there was only one way to find out.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick laid down in the attic of a burnt out building, looking at the stars as they slowly drifted by. Tonight was an excellent night for parceny, but something hung in his mind like an old, eye-catching painting. He had to admit, he'd never been one for fostering his affections (it wasn't healthy with his cohoice of career), but there was something about Einin Beirne that struck him like one of those books at the library.

He realized then, staring up at the stars, that he had told her everything without even realizing it. About his heritage, even his name. It wasn't like some of the other women he met before, where he had given his name for the sake of business, but with Einin, he had just let it out.

He shoved this to the back of his head, and got up, going to a surprisingly intact (if not a little on the charred side) dresser he had used to stuff his equipment. The building was a jeweler's , Herrick reckoned, sinde the wood was a decidedly pricey looking, just like the large display windows in the ground floor.

He opened the dresser, and took out his set of leather armor. He slipped himself into it, and then donned his cloak (which he had redyed to provide camoflauge in a more urban setting. He checked all his buckles and gear, and set off, climbing out of the attic and onto the rooftops. He looked around at his surroundings, before starting off, silently sprinting towards the library building.

[Rhindeer]

That night, Einin set out as Owl. Rufus had given her a new mask to replace the one that had been stolen and broken, but kept it to the horned owl theme. Instead of gray like the old one, this one was shades of brown, gray, and black, and she thought it rather an improvement! There was more detail in this one, and she thought it made her look fierce.

Once she was dressed and her hair and eye color changed (still all she could manage on herself, though she was working on more advanced illusions), she grabbed her sword and potions and sneaked out of her estate and off the property. Illusion helped there, too. A wrong step on a dry leaf nearly gave her away to a patrolling guard, but she sent out the illusion of a cat racing across the yard to explain the sound. It bought her the time she needed, and soon, she was free.

That night, Owl didn't actually plan on confronting anyone. Her goal was to gather information. It felt like a safe place to begin, and like a good idea--to know what you were getting yourself into. On her mission with Rufus, Rufus had stressed the whole "watching and waiting" element, and from what he had said, he had been gathering information on his query for quite some time. Their mission had been successful in the end, and the day had been saved!

So that's what she needed to do. Because barreling in was...not working.

It had nearly killed her, because she hadn't known she was facing Smed, and hadn't known much about him that could have prepared her, anyway.

A chill raced down her spine at the thought of the goblins, and she paused for a moment, frozen in the middle of a poorly lit, empty street. She glanced around the area, breath held. Maybe this was a bad idea. What if he found her? What if he and his lackeys were out here right now? Sure there were Wolves out there somewhere, never far away, as Rufus promised...but what if? Owl didn't believe for one moment that it was over, especially with how he'd wanted to find out her name.

Rubbing her arms to smooth away the goosebumps, she took a slow breath in and out. No. She couldn't let fear control her. Creatures like Smed were exactly the reason she wanted to do this--so other people weren't hurt like she was. No. She could do this. She had to--or she could keep cowering and hiding.

She didn't like cowering.

Rolling her shoulders back, Owl pressed onward. Baby steps. Gather information. That's all she was doing tonight.

Her journey brought her to the library, which seemed like an odd destination, except it was where she'd seen some of the most recent wanted posters, just outside it near the door. It was there that she headed, and sure enough, there it was: a poster with a crude sketch of one Herrick Tavish, a near spitting image of the man she'd met that day.

Owl tore the poster free. Oliver had ushered her out of the building so fast she hadn't gotten a chance to snatch it, or even look at it, then. Now as she studied it, she could only shake her head.

"Why are criminals so dumb?" she muttered to herself. Really. He had told her everything.

That is, if what he'd said was true.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick took in the air as he moved across the rooftops. It was cool, and reminded him of Adela's spring breezes. He finally came up to the library, stopping on an adjacent rooftop. He would've jumped, but he heard a ripping sound, and stopped dead in his tracks, getting low and stealthily peering over the edge of the roof.

There was a...something there. It was either the most masculine woman he had ever seen, or the most feminine man he had ever seen. He looked at the poster it was holding, and saw that it was his own. Herrick disappeared behind the edge again, thoughts rushing through his head, thoughts that he quickly panned, filtered, and organized.

There couldn't be a single person that knew he'd be here tonight, either that, or there was a vigilante looking for him specifically. Either option seemed unlikely, since he had arrived to Arca about two days ago. He reached to his bandolier, and procured a hand lens with no case, just a frame with several different glass lenses piled on top of the other. It was a magical lens, one of his many small yet useful tools.

He peered from the roof one more time, and got a closer look at the person studying his poster. He had to lean towards it being a woman, given the proportions of the rear-end. He focused in on the stranger's head, and lifted the first lens, stripping away the first layer from his own sight.

Herrick smiled. Lady Beirne. I knew there was something more to you he thought to himself, and then realized he needed a way to get her away from the library. He thought for a few seconds, before an idea came to his head. He cupped his hands over his mouth, whispered into it, and made a discreet tossing motion to the area behind the library.

"Help!" came the voice, sounding like that of a youngish girl. It came from behind the library, and was compounded by the laughter of a gruff-sounding man.

[Rhindeer]

A cry came from behind the library then, and Owl folded the poster and tucked it under her belt. Turning quickly with a flourish of her cape (new, as well; she had lost all her old clothes to Smed) she bolted toward the sound.

But didn't charge onto the scene.

As much as she wanted to barrel in, sword drawn, and save the poor girl, she remembered what Rufus had taught her--and what the goblin experience had taught her: caution. And so as she drew close she pressed against the wall and edged in, one hand resting on the pommel of her sword, and peeked carefully around the corner.

No one was there.

That was odd. They couldn't have gotten too far that fast. Owl's heart beat quicker as she watched the area, tense and poised for action and ears straining, and after a moment she stepped around the corner and into the area. Gods, she hadn't meant for this night to turn into a rescue mission, but she supposed a hero couldn't choose when they worked.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick watched Owl run behind the library to investigate, and grinned. He waited for her to completely disappear from his sight before he attempted the leap from his rooftop the the facade of the library. He got a running start, and successfully cleared the gap, landing against the facade just under the giant stained glass window that provided the library its light. It wasn't exactly silent, but he hoped that Owl would be too occupied investigating behind the library to hear. He started climbing up the various features of the facade, when the unimaginable happened. He was almost there when a rather old piece of architecture came loose (an engraved gargoyle's head, to be precise), and made a resounding smash against the cobblestone street.

"...Fuck..."

Herrick quickly made the rest of the climb and begun making his entry. He pressed himself against the facade, using an angel statue's arms as a platform as he started pulling out his knockrod, holding it up to the lock so it would attune. Such a large library couldn't function without its own pigeon coop to relay messages, so he intended to gain entry through the window, where the coop was behind.

"Come on, you piece of crap..." He whispered.

[Rhindeer]

CRASH! The shattering sound, ringing out from the front of the library, made Owl jump and whirl around. And it was then that she had the unsettling thought that maybe it had been a trap.

She kept her hand on her sword and crept toward the front. Sure enough, a large stone thing had fallen and shattered against the cobblestones. Edging forward, Owl nudged a piece with her boot and turned it over. A fierce stone eye stared back at her, and she glanced upward.

And found the headless gargoyle.

That was strange...gargoyle heads didn't just fall off of their own accord--whoa!

That was when she saw him, a man pressed up against the building's side, standing on the arms of an angel. If it hadn't been for the gargoyle drawing her eye, she would never have thought to look there.

"Hey!" she shouted, loud to get his attention. "Where do you think you're going?"

[DaGlobster]

Herrick looked down at Owl, his knockrod shaking gently in his hands as it tried to attune to the window's lock. "Where am I going, my good sir?" Herrick asked, and suddenly the knockrod went still.

"Inside." He said, answering his own question as he shot her his usual grin as he tapped the window's lock and the thing swung open. He stood on the angel's arms for a few moment before hopping inside, coming to a quiet landing in the library's pigeon coop. The birds all started panicking in their cages with the sudden movement, but quickly calmed down again. With his entry, the window shut behind him, the lock clicking back into place.

Herrick wasted no time in starting to work on the door to exit the coop.

[Rhindeer]

Well, shit!

It was Herrick.

Had he been in the library, then, to scope it out in preparation for...whatever it was he was doing--oh.

Oh.

He'd been in the library to find a book, a pretty terrible sounding book at that. Had he come here to steal it then? Bad idea, for a criminal to have a book like that in his hands. Taking a step back to better view the building's front, Owl studied it for possible hand and footholds, then went to the building's side. She wedged her gloved fingers in between old bricks, managed to get the toe of her boots in some, and climbed up until her fingers found the edge of the narrow terrace. Thank the gods that climbing had always been one of her strengths, a sort of skill she'd just always had--because she had never had a fear of heights, and as a child, her parents had always caught her trying to scale one thing or another. (Sometimes with bad results, like a broken arm.) She hauled herself up between two gargoyles, grunting with the effort, and watched that her cape didn't get caught on one of the pointy edges.

She rose, carefully, to her feet and edged along the ledge until she reached the angel, and the window it was guarding. Then she climbed up onto that, reached for the window--

And found it locked.

Of course.

Climb she could do. Pick locks? That was another thing entirely. Even if she could, she didn't have the tools.

And then there was the matter of getting down. She was fantastic at climbing!

She'd never broken a bone climbing up.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. Unclasping her cape, she let it flutter down to the ground--better not risk getting tangled in it--and then picked her way back to the corner she'd climbed up.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick glanced behind him, and when it was ready, he tapped the knockrod against the door. It clicked open, and he stepped into the library proper, closing and locking the door behind him. He glanced around, aware of the fact that the librarian and a few of his assistants resided here. He dropped to a stealthier posture, and started making his way towards his quarry.

"Did you see what made that racket?"

He stopped dead in his tracks, a voice coming from the first floor. He stalked up to the railing, and peeked over. The librarian was there, oil candle in hand along with a cheap looking sword. The crotchety looking dwarf was dressed in a nightgown and slippers, but still somehow carried that spooky countenance that all librarians did. Herrick knew from local rumors gathered that the librarian was nothing if not paranoid. He heard a large door cracking open, and then closing.

"Looks to be that old gargoyle's head finally came off."

A youngish looking man came into view, one of the librarian's assistants.  "Damn it all. I knew that mason was no good." The librarian cursed, and walked back over to a table that held a large, leather bound tome on it, sitting down and opening it up to continue reading. Herrick noted with some silent groans that the book the librarian was reading was the one he was after. Herrick ducked back behind the railing, formulating a plan once the assistant returned to his room downstairs

This was going to be interesting indeed.

[Rhindeer]

It was slow work, but Owl managed to get back down. There would be no getting in the way Herrick had gone; she didn't have the tools, and even if she did, that wasn't her style! Breaking and entering? That was for criminals.

And she was no criminal.

However, there was a criminal inside, and Owl had considered the thought that sometimes, she may have to abide not quite by the law in order to save people and things, and though this might be one of those times...yeah, there was still no practical way to get in on her own.

So, after a moment of pacing and wracking her brain for ideas, the obvious solution clicked into place.

Picking up her cape and clasping it back on, Owl squared her shoulders and marched to the front door.

And knocked. Loudly, and hard enough to wake the dead.

It was a few long moments, but finally a voice came to her from the other end. "Who is it? And at this hour of the night! We're closed! Come back in the morning!"

"I know, and I'm really sorry about that, but it's important," Owl said, pressing close to the door. "Listen, you have a thief inside your walls. It's Herrick, a wanted criminal. I saw him enter through the top, past the gargoyles, through the window! I know this sounds crazy, but you have to let me in! I can take care of him for you!"

And then, knowing how suspect that sounded--a random person wanting inside in the middle of the night--she added, "I'm Owl! And I can protect you! If you heard about the shop that burned down, and the masked stranger that saved the man? That was me! You have to trust me."

[DaGlobster]

Herrick was still plotting when a sharp knock came to the door, followed by Owl's voice. Well, for someone who had cleverly lied to him when they met earlier today, Lady Beirne was proving to be quite the blunt person.

Herrick used the time bought from both occupants investigating the door to move positions, gliding across the second story floor towards the back and hiding there. He watched as the librarian grumbled a few curses to himself, and walked over to the door, sliding open a slat so he could look at the person at the door.

"A criminal?! Good Gods, man get in here!" The librarian said as he hurriedly unlocked the door. As he swung it open, he took a better look at Owl. "Yeah, it's you alright. I knew the man who owned that shop, we were good friends." He added as he beckoned for her to come in. Once she was inside, he closed the door again, now glancing around warily at his surroundings.

He idly twirled his sword. "I had a feeling about that. Gargoyle's don't just fall apart by themselves. What makes you think he's inside, though? Only way in's the front doors..." The librarian asked, stroking his long beard.

Herrick remained silent and still, spying on Owl and the librarian as he waited for his chance to take the book sitting on the table. He swiftly jumped the railing, landing silently among the many dark aisles of books.

[Rhindeer]

"I know he's inside because I saw him," Owl said, lowering her voice. "I saw him enter from the window up above. I've been tailing him."

It felt kind of odd, talking to the librarian like this. She frequented this library, and was politely familiar with the dwarven man. He didn't recognize her, though, which was good. It meant Ryk's lessons in manliness had been paying off. She walked confidently now, though, rather than consciously. Whereas before she had to pay attention to how she walked, stood, and sat (claim space, don't swing your hips, feet apart), which thus made it come across as a bit forced an unnatural, now she could slip into the role as naturally as she could slip into the role of a noblewoman.

Practice made perfect, after all.

"Listen, I've got an idea of what he's after. Do you have a book, Of Black Stars and the Blacker Arts? I overheard him talking about it."

The librarian raised his bushy eyebrows, blinking in surprise--and then paling with realization. "I was just reading that one, lad," he said, and turned, motioning her to follow. "This way! It's on the table in the back, the big tome!"

Owl didn't wait for him. Her longer legs carried her past him fast as she sprinted toward where it must be--the only lit room in the building, where she could see a large table and, atop it, a large, open book.

She reached it, looked around, and then grabbed it.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick stalked among the shelves, lingering on the edges of the shadows so he could formulate a new strategy of approach. Einin had the book now, which should make this heist all the more interesting. Out of all of his tools, he had none which could get him close to her undetected, so he'd have to play a more subtle game here. It was either that, or walk out into the light, get into a half-decent scrap, and run off. He had to admit, both plans tickled his fancy, and he was confident of his ability to pull both off.

Second plan, definitely.

Herrick made sure his cloak and cowl covered his appearance appropriately, and enacted his plan.

The sound of two blades being drawn hissed through the library like a disturbed den of cobras as Herrick stepped out of the darkness, rapier and short sword drawn.

"Yeah, about that. I know you're closed an all, but would you mind if I borrowed something?" He said, and the librarian wasted no time in raising his sword.

"You bastard!" the stocky dwarf yelled as he charged forwards, throwing a crude horizontal swing at Herrick. Herrick raised an armored knee to deflect the blade, and brought the wrist-guard of his rapier down on the dwarf's face. The librarian stumbled to the side before falling over onto his rump, running to go cower in his study.

Herrick turned his gaze over to Owl. He smiled under his cowl, content with knowing who was really under that mask. Regardless, he played along. "Nice mask, lad. Now, hand the book over." He growled. The voice he used wasn't really threatening, being more cautionary than anything else.

[Rhindeer]

Owl had her saber drawn the moment she heard the hiss of steel, and soon she found herself alone with Herrick.

"Thanks, Tavish! I'd say the same to you, but yours is pretty boring."

With the book tucked under her other arm, Owl fell into a proper fencing stance and flashed him a crooked grin, blade extended. "You know," she said, tone conversational, "instead of stealing, you could try doing what everyone else does when it comes to libraries and books. Just an idea! A radical one, I know. I came up with it all by myself."

She began to circle Herrick, her pulse quickening with nerves and excitement. She had practiced since Smed, but she hadn't done any real fighting, and her experience with Smed had certainly taught her all about worst case scenarios. It was THE worst case scenario. And yet, she didn't feel as nervous as she expected. She knew how to fight against men. Maybe no one as tall as Herrick, but Ryk was bigger than her, and stronger than her, and he hadn't gone easy on her.

Now that she'd had her taste of the worst that could happen, she felt strangely calm in the moment.

"Anyway, if you want the book, you're gonna have to come get it. I don't think this is something the likes of you should be playing with."

[DaGlobster]

Herrick scoffed.

He had to admit, things were playing out exactly how he had wanted. It seemed Owl was perfectly comfortable with fighting him one-on-one, so he saw no reason for this to be over quickly. He raised his rapier and Cheesecutter, leveling both points at Owl as he slipped into a fencing stance of his own, defensive.

"You know my name. Interesting. You know, either you're a bounty hunter, or the one person I told my name to here. Which one is it, hmm?" He said, and started counter-circling Owl.

"Ahh, I suppose it doesn't really matter, does it?" He added. This stalling was a play for time, Herrick using every precious second to analyze her style. He could tell she was far from a master swordsman, and he gave Cheesecutter a small twirl in his hand to emphasize the point that he was skilled with his weapons.

"Your mask might be flashy, lad, but is it fireproof?" He said, and he suddenly sliced a small pouch on his bandolier with Cheesecutter before making a broad, horizontal swing, the entire maneuver taking up the entirety of half a second. When he swung Cheesecutter, a whitish powder flew into the air before bursting into bright flames. They wouldnt do more than singe up Owl's clothing and blind her for a few moments, but it would definitely be enough to ignite her fluffy owl mask if she didn't get out of the way

Herrick followed up by lunging forwards, using whatever moment of vulnerability this created to start up a series of shallow stabs aimed to disorient and cause pain.

[Rhindeer]

"Is that so surprising? Your name's plastered all over," Owl said with a snort. Which wasn't a lie; his poster had been on the library wall, and was now tucked away beneath her belt.

As she moved, she studied him, and came up with an idea of what she needed to do. A man large as him was going to need a special approach--but it seemed she wasn't the only one with some tricks up her sleeve.

Because that was when he flicked his blade and sent a white powder at her.

Out of reflex, Owl sidestepped and turned her head, thinking he was trying to do the old "dirt in the eyes" maneuver. But when the powder burst into flame, she realized just how lucky she was as her quick reaction saved her from blindness--and burning. A few sparks hit her clothes, though with no fuel, most of the fire burned out in the air before it reached her. She had no time to check that the sparks didn't actually catch fire when Herrick came at her, and with that small distraction, she was immediately put on the defensive.

She parried, relying on footwork to put distance between them, because with his greater height and reach, distance would be key. Closeness had to be on her terms. She had never fought a dual-wielder before, but she noticed he tended to use his rapier for offense, and she retreated quickly, circling so she wouldn't get backed into a corner. When she got a little more distance between them, she parried another blow then thrust--but it was only a feint.

Only a gesture to guide her own magic.

With a soundless poof, smoke billowed up between them--fake, only an illusion, but one of the easiest she could create--and she moved in quickly before he could realize it was fake. Slapping his rapier to the side, she lunged, aiming a quick stab at his thigh.