It Takes Two(FlowyWolf!)

JackieCat · April 28, 2016, 11:55:56 PM

OOC:

Tags to @FlowyWolf!!

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IC:

"Pfft." Lorin blew a strand of her long black hair out of her eyes, but it fell right back down. She pulled it back to tuck into her hair tie as she walked down the busy street.

It was hot out, but not unbearably so, and despite being completely out of money, Lorin wasn't in a bad mood. She had a job to do.

She needed money, and there was a fast and exiting way to get it. There was a very nice manor house here in Ketra, and inside there was a huge pile of gold. Well, it was hidden in the basement, and Lorin was very set on getting at least some of the gold.

But the thing was, two people were needed for the job, or, at least, it would be much easier that way. There were traps, Lorin knew, and they were supposedly pretty hard to get past.

Lorin usually worked solo, the thief getting in and out silently and quickly, getting what she needed for herself. She was sometimes hired by Thieves' Guilds, but was rarely assigned a partner. All the same, Lorin like people, and didn't mind wanting a little assistance with this job.

The elf was thinking about which bat she would go to to find a suitable partner when she saw something out of the corner of her sharp eyes.

She wouldn't have seen him if she wasn't a thief herself, because the young man seemed to blend into the shadows so well. It looked as if he had just picked the pocket of a lord, but the purse didn't look very full.

A possible candidate.

Lorin slowly made her way across the street towards the small thief, being careful to make it look like she was a simple traveler looking to buy her wares on market day, so the young man wouldn't think she was coming for him. Thieves are generally spooked when they see someone coming straight towards them. A thief's job is to go unnoticed, and, for most, attention is not a good thing. Being sneaky was almost always a good way to approach a thief.

The street was busy, and Lorin made a quite believable show of looking at the vegetables of a vendors' stand that was near the young man.

"You want a job?" Lorin whispered out of the corner of her mouth to the boy, being as discreet as possible while still attempting to draw his attention.

FlowyWolf · April 29, 2016, 07:59:15 AM

The boy walked quietly down the crowded streets of Ketra, managing to never touch a single person thanks to his small size.
It was his job, not to draw any kind of attention toward him, and he was doing it pretty well.

Raven had already found his prey, and he followed him very carefully, he couldn't miss that wonderful opportunity. Touching the scar on his left cheek, as to remember what would have happened if he had failed, he got closer the unaware man, ready to take action.

Raven smiled when he got closer to his prey; -it's gonna be easy- he thought when he saw those tiny strings around the man's little bag.

Then, when he finally was sure no one was watching him, he slipped into that dense crowd and, drawing his knife unnoticed, he cut with one single hit the strings.
His other hand was there, ready to take the falling bag, and as soon as it reached his palm, he was already far from the robbed man.

As he finished his job, he stopped at a stand near there and, pretending to watch some fruits, he took the money out of the bag without moving them from his waistcoat's pocket.
However, while he was hardly managing not to show his disappointment, a voice reached his ears.

"You want a job?". Raven instantly raised his head, frightened. There were three women at the stand near him, two humans and an elf, but none of them was watching him.
However, Raven was sure those words were referred to him.
Holding something in his hand he barely recognized as an apple, he asked even more distractedly for its price, while watching the women at the stand.

-What this elf wants from me?- as he looked to the other two women, in fact, he instantly noticed they were talking to each other and, more important, their voice were different from the one he heard before.

His first thought was to run away quickly from there, he wasn't sure to want to know what she was talking about.
However, maybe for his desperate need of moneys, or maybe for the evil plan he quickly began to develop in his mind, he looked up toward the elf and said innocently:

"You're right, my friend, an apple would be a perfect snack for us!".

JackieCat · April 29, 2016, 11:28:56 AM

Lorin smiled, good, he was playing along.

"Ah, let's go sit and eat," she said, starting slowly towards a bench that was sitting in front of a nearby shop. She could now see that the person was about two years younger that she was, and while he seemed somewhat hesitant, he seemed to want to know what she wanted.

Hopefully they'd be able to make a mutual agreement about splitting the pay, Lorin so hated it when her partners insisted on more than their share. If a job was done fifty-fifty, then the profit should be split fifty-fifty. That's at least how Lorin saw it.

The elf sat down on the bench, which was tucked back into a small alcove. It was shadowed, and they would be mostly unnoticed sitting there.

FlowyWolf · April 29, 2016, 11:58:46 AM

Raven was disappointed when he saw the elf go toward a bench, without caring about paying for their snacks.

-Shit, now it's me who has to pay for it!- Biting his tongue for not having thought about this eventuality, he launched irritated his just earned coins to the merchant and, bringing those so highly paid apples with him, he went near the elf.

Raven was visibly worried, that unexpected spending made his need of money even worse, he absolutely had to find a way to earn enough to pay his master Jawin, or he would surely have received another sign of his fury. For an instant, he looked angrily at the young elf; she had ruined his plan, he made it all just to scrounge her a snack, but instead, it was he who had to offer it to her.

When he finally reached the bench were the elf was seated, he launched irritated the apple to her and, biting avidly the fruit he had paid so much for, he waited for her to talk.

-I just hope it's worth it, Jawin won't forgive me another time, if I don't get enough money neither today.-

JackieCat · April 29, 2016, 12:42:29 PM

"Sorry about that," Lorin said when the boy sat down next to her. "I am seriously completely out of money, don't have a coin on me." This was true, but then she got to the point. "No use making small talk," she said. "So, I need help on a job. There's a rich duke who lives in Ketra not far from here, in a bog old manor house. I've heard that there's a vault in the basement. Yes, I'm sure it's really there too, and not just some rumor. Anyway, I'm aiming to steal some of it, and I need help. The duke's name is Ralion, and, supposedly, there are all sorts of traps and stuff preventing thieves from stealing the gold." Lorin leaned back, taking a bite of the apple. "So, that's the general gist of it," she said after she swallowed.

If the boy agreed to help, she would fill him in on the details. After all, she didn't want to tell him everything, he disagree, and then go and rat out on her to the city guard. But Lorin assumed he was accept despite his worried looks, after all, he had hardly any money now that he'd bought the apples.

The elf took another bite of the apple and waited for a response.

FlowyWolf · April 29, 2016, 01:21:57 PM

Raven listened to the elf's excuses with an irritated look, still thinking about the money he had just lost.

-Well, just my lucky day, finding a thief poorer than I actually am...- depressed, Raven bite again his apple; at least, he could satisfy his stomach, since he had paid that delicious fruit.

When, however, he heard about the job the elf was proposing him, he almost choke.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing, did she really wanted to rob a duke?
Raven couldn't believe what he was hearing, that foolish elf hoped he could actually help her doing such an impressive robbery, he that was just a common thief...

As he thought this, however, he suddenly became serious, as his evil mind started to work properly.

-Actually, she doesn't know I've never did such kind of things...-
Biting again the almost finished apple, Raven turned toward the elf, trying to look like as if he was sure about what he was saying.

"So, you need my help, uh... and, let's see, what about my reward, how much are we talking about?"

JackieCat · April 29, 2016, 01:39:28 PM

Lorin narrowed her eyes slightly at the boys sudden mood change. Always suspicious, Lorin wondered about the young man, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I'm not sure the exact amount in the vault," she said. "But I know there's a lot, and whatever we get, we'll split, fifty-fifty."

She hoped he would agree. He was rather young, but at that age Lorin had been quite successful, and the elf wasn't one to judge a book by its cover. But all the same, she knew nothing about this young man, nothing about his skills, his personality, not even his name. Nothing. But Lorin was a risk-taker, and there was always an adventure to be had with her.

FlowyWolf · April 29, 2016, 01:58:59 PM

As Raven heard the words "fifty-fifty", his eyes lit up with joy.
-Woah, fifty-fifty... she really considers me as a professional thief...- getting excited for how things were going, Raven finished his apple and tried to seem unimpressed for her offer. He had already forgotten about the danger that mission could bring to the table, all he saw was the money he could get, enough to avoid Jawin's punishments for at least two weeks.

For a moment, he even thought about asking her for something more, it wasn't good to end a negotiation so quickly, but he feared she could give up as soon as he spoke. However, he couldn't make the deal too quickly; he also had to think about his safety, above all.

Therefore, throwing away the apple's core, he looked around to be sure no one was watching them, and then, he finally turned to the elf and, smiling as politely as he could, he simply said:

"I'm kinda interested in it, so... tell me something more, and we could have a deal..."

JackieCat · April 29, 2016, 02:52:17 PM

Lorin smirked, good, he was at least interested, she didn't need him to tell her that, she could tell just from the look on his face.

"Okay," she said. "So I've been scouting out the layout of the duke's manor for the past week, finding out the routines of the guards, the entrances and exits, which doors are secluded, which are not, that sort of thing. I know somewhat about the layout inside from other thieves who have attempted, and failed, to steal the gold."

Lorin was down to the core of her apple, but she didn't throw it away, not yet. "So I'm pretty knowledgeable about the manor, and other manors I've stolen from are similar in structure and security, so I'm mostly familiar. Have you done any jobs like this in the past?"

FlowyWolf · April 29, 2016, 11:41:08 PM

As the elf spoke, Raven's eyes opened widely, scared.
-What? A duke's manor, is this the job she want us to do?- he had to fight back his tongue not to let it express its skepticism.
However, as she kept talking, Raven calmed down; it was obvious she wasn't a normal thief like him.
She was a professional one, she had been investigating for who knows how many days, before to take action.

And she have chosen Raven. He had yet to decide if he had been very lucky, or if it was just another trick from his doom. However, he was sure about one thing: he couldn't miss that chance. It was too late, the sun had already started descending toward his nighttime refuge, and he had nothing but a handful of useless coins.

When the elf finally asked that thorny question, Raven was still uncertain about how to respond to it, so he let his instinct to decide at his place.
"Yeah, I've done something like this in the past..." it wasn't completely a lie, actually, he really robbed in some houses. Of course, it wasn't a duke's manor, but a simple merchant's house guarded by anyone but a dog or a stupid boy, but he avoided giving her this information.
As for the traps, he had to work against them just one time, the past year... instinctively, Raven looked the scar onto his left arm. Well, that time didn't went well at all.

Fighting back the anger brought by those memories, he smiled again to the elf:

"So, when do we start?".

JackieCat · May 08, 2016, 10:27:26 AM

Lorin caught the look in the kid's eyes as she spoke, and she bit back a chuckle. Obviously this was somewhat big for him!

When she finished talking and asked her question, she studied how he answered. There wasn't a pause, but his answer was quite undescriptive.

However, she followed his gaze to his arm, where a scar marred the flesh. Perhaps it hadn't gone so well last time? Lorin mentally shrugged. That was fine, she liked a challenge.

"So, what's next?" Lorin pondered aloud. "So, you're in?" It seemed like he was, but there hadn't been any formal decision, and Lorin wanted a handshake before giving over her plan, even though thieves weren't always known for their honor.

FlowyWolf · May 08, 2016, 11:55:46 AM

Raven was still a bit frightened to answer to that last question.
He was obviously in, he knew it, he had no other chances to earn enough money to avoid Jawin's punishment. Yet, it was hard to say it loudly, he had an alarming foreboding about that mission, and he couldn't find the courage to make it official.

Raven looked again at the young elf for a moment. She seemed to be a skilled thief, and her previous words proved it. Probably, the boy actually could have some chances to get the job done with her help. At the end, even if he wasn't so experienced, he wasn't neither so bad in what he usually did.

"Yep. Count on me, Elf." Smiling at her, he lifted his arm toward her, willing to set the deal with a handshake as soon as possible, before she could change her mind.

If that hit had ended well, Raven could give to Jawin enough money to be safe for weeks, maybe even a month, and that thought couldn't do anything but make him smile happily, oblivious of the danger he was going to face.

JackieCat · May 08, 2016, 08:50:09 PM

Lorin saw him hesitate, but smiled as he held out his hand. She took it and shook firmly.

"Good," she said. "Now, as for my plan. . ." she looked around. The street was still busy enoguh so their voices would not carry, but empty enoguh so Lorin could see that no one was spying on them. "We'll go in tomorrow night," she said, looking at the setting sun. "Not tonight. I know how to get in the actual manor, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as we both keep quite and you follow instructions," she looked you boy in the eyes her green eyes giving an unspoken warning. If he didn't follow her instructions, they could be caught, and very bad things could happen. She continued. "Once we're in, getting down to the vault will be a bit trickier, but there are, of course, no traps in the living space of the manor. There are two guards standing in front of the hall leading to the vault, and two guards directly in front of the vault door. We should be able to take care of them pretty quickly." Lorin looked at the boy. "But there'll be no killing unless absolutely, and I mean absolutely necessary. If someone dies and it's not necessary, then the deal's off, okay?"

She wouldn't continue unless the young man agreed.

FlowyWolf · May 09, 2016, 03:29:17 AM

Sadness caught Raven when he heard they wouldn't have done nothing before the following night.
That ruined all his hopes, now he had to go back to Jawin without enough money to avoid his fury, and that meant...

He shook his head furiously, he couldn't think about it in such a moment like that, he had to pay attention to the elf's words.
In fact, her tone was pretty serious, and her eyes were not hiding the importance of her warning. It was a serious job, more than anything he had ever done, and when he heard about the remote possibility they could kill anyone, he was seriously thinking to give up.

But he couldn't, he really needed that job.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill anyone." Then, he suddenly had an idea. It was dangerous wo stay away from Jawin's house for so long, but he had no other chances. Besides, if their job was successful, he could have paid Jawin enough to make him forget about his long absence.
Therefore, looking around to be sure no one of Jawin's men were around, he said smiling as innocently as he could.

"So, where are you going to spend the night? I mean, maybe we could stay together and talk about our job, if that's not a problem..."

JackieCat · May 10, 2016, 01:10:26 PM

Lorin nodded at his agreement. She did not like killing one bit, and there had been very few times that she had to kill someone on a job. It just wasn't something she wanted to do. She was fine taking peoples material belongings, but killing someone else in the process wasn't worth it. She would rather give up the job and run than take a life.

Her eyes narrowed when he asked where she was going to stay.

"You don't have a place to stay?" she asked, evading his question with one of her own. She still didn't know this young man, and wasn't going to trust him with any more information than she needed to.

FlowyWolf · May 10, 2016, 01:48:12 PM

"Of course I have a place to stay, I'm not a bum! It's just..." Raven's upset quickly disappeared, replaced from his usual worries. "... complicated."
He couldn't explain the whole story, it was too long and truly complicated, and his stupid shout could have caught someone's attention, he couldn't risk to talk about Jawin anymore.

"Listen, it was just an idea, never mind, just tell me where and when we'll meet, and then I'll go my own way." Definitely, it wasn't his lucky day. Everything was going wrong for him, ever since from the beginning. With those premises, it was actually really likely that job would have been a whole disaster.

JackieCat · May 10, 2016, 04:01:08 PM

"Okay, okay," Lorin chuckled at his quick words, then leaned back in her seat and thought for a moment. "Hmm. . . We'll meet in the alleyway adjoining King St. and Akkiel St. It's not too far from the manor, and no one will be around that time of night. . . Oh, yeah, we'll meet at about one 'o' clock. That fine with you?"

This young man seemed like he wanted the job, but he hesitated sometimes, and there was definitely something he was hiding. Although it didn't really matter what it was, as long as it didn't interfere with the mission.

FlowyWolf · May 10, 2016, 11:50:24 PM

"Yeah, fine..." more than depressed, Raven stayed there, sitting on the cold stone and swinging slowly his short legs.

So, he actually had to come back to Jawin's home that night. He couldn't do anything else, he had no money to pay a hostel, nor he couldn't spend the night in Ketra's streets. Jawin had a lot of friends, even if it was really unimaginable to the boy, and they could have found him and brought him back to his master.
Then, Raven didn't want to even think about what he would have done to him.

His only hope was that Jawin had a profitable day, so that he could forgive him. Maybe, if he told him about the job he had founded... no, he couldn't, he didn't know how he could react knowing he was going to rob in a duke's manor. Moreover, if his master didn't know about his rob, Raven could have hidden his money from him and then use them in the days in which he couldn't steal enough.
Or better, he could use them to go away...

Massaging distractedly the scar onto his left arm, he almost forgot the elf was still there, as absorbed as he was from his fears and focused not to let those furious tears come out from his dark eyes.

JackieCat · May 11, 2016, 12:01:01 AM

Lorin could see immediately the sadness in the boy's voice, and she leaned forward.

"Tell you what," she said, smirking. "You tell me why you're so hesitant and stuff, and I'll pay for a room for you at the inn I'm staying at. Oh, and before you answer saying I don't have any money. . ." Lorin held up a slender finger and stood. She walked into the street and looked around, then turned around and bumped, hard, into a man walking towards her.

"Oh, goodness, sorry, sir!" she said. The man grumbled and walked away. Lorin skipped back to the boy, holding a pouch in her hand.

"Money," she said, tosing the pouch in the air before deftly catching again. "Now, tell me what's up with you or you're sleeping wherever it is that you really don't want to sleep."

FlowyWolf · May 11, 2016, 12:35:27 AM

Raven jumped from the fear when he heard the elf's voice, as absorbed from his thoughts as he was.

But hearing that wonderful offering was something he didn't hoped anymore to happen, and his eyes didn't hide his happiness, erasing quickly the sadness inside them and turning their tears into joyful ones.

Watching the elf in action, Raven was astonished. She was so good, Raven was in awe, she robbed that pouch as if it was the simplest thing in the world, even him, who was aware of her intentions, hardly saw his stealthy movements.

Raven bit his lower lip, thoughtful. His threat was scaring, he didn't want at all to come back at his place, not after dreaming to not come back there for that night.
But, if he wanted to make that dream come true, he had to trust that little known elf and telling his story, and he wasn't really at ease with that.

However, his silence was lasting too much, the elf could get bored to wait his answer, so he finally decided to speak, trying to disclose just the minimum required.

"You see, I... well, I work for a master, and... well, the thing is, if I came back to him without enough money, then he would punish me hardly and... well, actually, I've not enough money."

Hoping the elf could be satisfied by that little explanation, he nevertheless avoided to watch the woman in her eyes, scared she could see through them more about his life.