All those who love thieving; say aye!

[Brandon Blackwing]

x

The 79th of Summer 514AV


OOCThe multiple Brandons are back! It might be a bit confusing, so I apologize


“An ace, ” stated the thief with a smug grin on his face.
“Bullshyke!” yelled the playful Brandon while slamming his fist on the table in false anger, his eyes sparking in joy. His one hand detached itself from his cards as it grabbed the one last placed on the stack between the four Brandons. All four had the same face, the same clothes and the same voice, yet all of them were different. Though none wore his hood, and they looked exactly the same, all of them knew who was who. It wasn’t just the different expressions and manners, they just knew. The playful Brandon flipped the card with a flick of his fingers, nine shining red diamonds blazing on the item.

“I knew it!” exclaimed the challenger of the thief’s words, grinning happily as said thief was forced to add the stack of cards to his current hand. “We’ll start again with … let’s see here … a seven!” the thief spoke, slapping a card on the table, its back facing up.
“Bullshyke,” commented the observant one calmly.
“Give me a break, will you?” pouted the thief as he retracted the card and put it back into his hand, “we haven’t even started yet!” The observer did not reply, instead he watched with care as the thief placed another card on the table, then he spoke up once more. “And which card is that?”
“Hm? Oh, a seven. I am honest this time.” The observant Brandon nodded and turned his gaze to the more refined-looking one of the four, who gently stacked his own card on top of the thief’s, naming the number six. Then, it was the observer’s turn. “six as well.”
“A seven.” added the playful Bran, slowly placing his card on the stack.
“Have an eight,” grinned the thief, adding to the growing pile of cards.
It was the mannered Brandon’s turn again, with the brief word “nine” he too layed a card down. Then he spoke again, “Say, why don’t we invite Incognito to play with us too? The more the merrier.”

A hail of objections rained down on him, all coming from the thief and the most playful of them all, the observer guarded his tongue, as per usual. Leaning against a wall there was a fifth figure, who was unlike all of the other four. The man was hooded and though it did not hide his face, the mask he wore did. What was remarkable was that he had no feet, and no body at all, the cloak looked as if he had a body, but it wasn’t visible. Standing far apart from the others, it was evident that he was not liked by them, for more reasons than one. “He’s not going to play anyway,” ended the thief, “not without Kriegsfelt’s consent. ” The playful one, who had assumed a more or less serious expression, nodded in agreement. “Let’s continue.”

“An eight,” spoke the observer upon letting go of his card.
The polite Brandon gestured quickly and objected with the words: “I have to call you a cheat, I have three eights in my hand, and one has been played already.” The observer merely grinned.
The playful one shook his head. “Moron, you don’t have to tell us your reasons for objecting, nor reveal your hand, not even partially. And just scream bullshyke instead of trying to be so mannered.”
“Firstly, one has to explain his reasoning at all times, for that allows people to relate and understand you. Secondly, the word bullshyke is rude and inappropriate.”
“Oh, for Yshul’s sake! ” growled the thief “can’t you ever loosen up? Always with your rules and manners, that’s the real bullshyke! I say it’s a good thing we mostly ignore this guy.”
The others nodded in agreement, and the polite one sighed in shock.

“But,” started the playful Bran curiously, “did he cheat or not?” and before he was done speaking his fingers had flipped the card already. Much to the polite one’s confusion it indeed was an eight, an eight of hearts to be precise. “But, but… then who…?” stammered the polite Brandon. Card after card he flipped, but no other eight was found, but tracing back the turns, they found out that the other card that was supposed to be an eight was a king, and most of the other cards played were not what the players had stated them to be, except for the polite Brandon’s.
“Hey,”the thief shrugged cheekily, “it’s a game in which you are supposed to cheat, you know.”

The polite Brandon looked as if his world has just been turned upside down, and stared at the thief’s lips in horror. “But cheating is against the rules…”
“Not in this game!” the playful one pointed out happily.
Suddenly, the observant Brandon sharply turned his head towards the door, a bright white portal, and gestured the others to hush. “Someone’s coming. Three someones.”
“Ah, that’s great,” thief and playful Brandon replied in unison as three silhouettes entered, black shadows passing through the white and entered the room. They were entirely unrecognizable, all one could see were their outlines, the rest was black. “I was getting tired of playing with a spoil-sport and Mr. Serious.”
“Let’s band together, ” one stated, it could have been any or all of them, “we don’t want our guests to think I have multiple personalities.” By the end of the statement, all Brandons but one had vanished, as had Incognito. All were one now, and one was all –like it was supposed to be.

The remaining Brandon, the one and only Brandon Blackwing, stood up and threw the cards he still held on the table, gesturing for the newly entered figures to take a seat around the small table. One by one they became visible, their identity and color returning. They became people and stopped being shades. “Welcome I guess, I am called Brandon, Brandon Blackwing. And who might you be?”

x

credit goes to Euthisa

[Amora Jade]

A bright light shone itself in the eyes of the young thief, blinding her until she could adjust. Amora squinted away from the figure and tried to blink until she was able to see what exactly was in front of her. Slowly the shape of a tall man began to form in front of her. It had no face, no color, and no depth. Just the outline of a man who was as bright as the sun. A small voice protruded from the figure in a soothing tone, calling to her. “Amora…” A freezing wave of shock ran down her spine in an odd fear of the sound. Though it was soft and inviting, somehow it put her in a panic. The sound reminded her of her past, of someone she wanted to forget about. Unwillingly she began to move towards the figure. No matter how hard she fought, the thief couldn’t make her legs stop moving. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she neared, her heart felt as if it was going to explode. Once she found herself directly in front of it, her hand began to reach out. Amora closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in a desperate attempt to will herself away. The moment her hand came in contact with the figure all the light disappeared, and he was gone. The dark haired girl slowly opened her eyes and put down her hand. She moved her head from side to side and rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust once again. For a moment she found herself in nothing but complete darkness, not even able to see her hand directly in front of her face. The thief found comfort in this; she felt that if she wasn’t able to see anything, neither could anyone else. It meant, in her own eyes, that she was safe. Slowly she began to walk once more, being sure to slide her feet across the floor to be sure she wouldn’t run into anything. After a moment it started to feel as if someone was leading her along by the hand. Then another person, and another. The thief felt as if she was walking in a group, but somehow was not afraid of what she couldn’t see. Amora walked for a long while, eventually being able to make out the figure of a door in the distance. The only light for what seemed like miles found its way through the cracks of the frame. It was flickering and dancing on the ground below. The group departed, leaving her alone once again. Not knowing what else to do, she let herself walk towards the door. Upon arrival she could hear a voice from the other side; it seemed to be several people, who sounded exactly the same, arguing. Amora placed her hand on the knob and turned it slowly. She hadn’t even turned it completely before it slung open and a bright light blinded her once more. The thief entered the doorway to the sound of the voice she heard inviting her, and apparently someone else she hadn’t noticed yet, in. “Welcome I guess, I am called Brandon, Brandon Blackwing. And who might you be?” Amora looked around the small building, there wasn’t much and weren’t any other people besides the welcomer and the others she had walked in with. The girl decided it’d be in her best interest to answer since she hadn’t a clue what was going on, “My name is Jade.” OOCI know, this is awful. I’ve never done a dream thread before and from what I read it’s not really supposed to be something you can control so I just rode with that.

[Nickolai Marin]

It was uncanny how dreams often reflected that which one desired most; for upon entering the sweet embrace of slumber, that is exactly what Nickolai saw. At first, he was greeted by a light so blinding that it took him a few moments to adjust to its brightness...However, basking in its light was leagues away from being an unpleasurable experience. In fact, this light provided a warmth that was comforting and enjoyable for the young larcenist; a fact which resulted in a light smile forming upon his lips. Upon adjusting to the brightness, Nickolai was greeted with the all-too familiar sight of the ocean afforded by Zeltiva's docks. As he stood upon the very same spot as he did countless times before, the young larcenist was greeted by the taste of salt upon his lips; compliments of the seabreeze which blew inland.

He was home. After so long, he was finally home.

Yet, to be here was not enough to satisfy the avarice of his heart. No, for Nickolai he desired so much more...and the Dream was happy to deliver. Instead of the typical streets and buildings that he had grown accustomed to, the subconsious vision provided him a manor instead. Wrought from awe-inspiring architecture, this imposing structure stood behind where Nickolai stood...and drew his attention through the opening of his front door. Turning, he looked and saw a duo of figures standing in the doorway, faintly obscured by the light. However, their rapid footsteps quickly revealed them to be the love of his life...in addition to one he had never seen before. She was a child, no more than four in age, and looked so similar to Cecilia that it was shocking.

Yet in his heart, Nickolai knew that this was his child.

Opening his arms wide, his family dove into his embrace and pushed him off of the docks. However, there was no terror or fear as they plummeted towards the sea; only laughter. As they splashed into the cool depths of the ocean, Nickolai's arms wrapped about them...and the sinking began. However, as the light of day began to vanish in the face of the deep's darkness, Nickolai noticed their presence within his arms had ended. With a shocked gasp, he fumbled in the darkness to find where they had gone, only to make the shocking discovery that he could breath. "What the-?!" he began, only to be halted by the collision of his form upon something solid. Apparently he had landed upon his backside and slowly began to sit up in the darkness.

Rising to his feet, another light greeted him. This one was not as inviting as the former, nor as bright, but it was enough to pierce the black and beckon him forward. With eager steps, Nickolai moved; ultimately passing through the doorway and entering in time to view the ridiculous scene. Four, no, five men playing cards? Four identical men? As the bizarre scene continued to unfold, Nickolai soon found that it was not just he and the masculine five-in-one that stood within the room; for another had arrived. A question was then posed to the both of them, prefaced by an introduction; and Nickolai promptly addressed them both. "Marin. Nickolai Marin...Nice to meet you, Brandon and Jade, I suppose? Now, would someone mind enlightening me as to what the petch is going on?"
.

[Eleazar Victor Syroin]

Consciousness still slipping off somewhere far far away, Eleazar opened his eyes. As with all dreams he didn't think to question where he was or how he got there, just accepting the scenerio as it went along. There was water and it was black, the darkest black he has ever seen, and he was on a boat. The boat wasn't large of grand, it was made of simple grey wood and was barely five foot long but it felt sturdy, like it would continue to be of use for many years. Bobbing up and down in a rolling rhythm the teen looked about for something other than the boat and the blackness. Squinting pale green eyes honed in on a white crystalline beach to his left. Well there was a place to dock at least. Absent mindly picking up the paddle left in the bottom of the boat, Eleazar began to paddle towards the beach.

It took a few chimes before he realised no matter how hard he shoved the paddle through the water the boat wasn't moving. Confused Eleazar let his hand trail through the water, it was not viscous at all. Thin and fluid in feel like oil but with a thin layer of a stretchy ice like substance over the top. Intrigued the thief scooped some into his hand, trying to cup it between his fingers and get a better look, but as he took the fluid above the surface is disappeared from his hand. It was strange, it had been there but it hadn't. Repeating the motion a few times and getting the same results, the thief scratched as his stub confused. What the petch was this?

His confused reflection shrugged back at him with this thought. Well at least he wasn't the only one that was confused. Pondering some more, the thief frozen when his reflection began to look off not at him but beyond him with fearful wide eyes. Launching his body around to see the would be attacker he was met with nothing but thin air and the squelchy slurp of a hand breaking out of the fluid and wrapping it's fingers around his wrist. Cluing in that he had been grabbed all of five ticks to late, Eleazar hit the water.

Fighting and clawing at the hand holding him was a lot harder than expected. It felt like he was drowning in treacle, so thick and nothing like what it had been before. His body was dragged down further and further till the water ended again and the air started. The fall and subsequent impact with the floor afterwards were painful to say the least. Lying face up on his back, the thief watched as the last few drops of the black liquid dried up, leaving not a stain on the white ceiling above. Rolling his shoulders as he got to his feet, the teen brushed himself down.

“Well 'at's one way ta git places.” was his only remark on the situation.

Finding himself in a white hall, Eleazar did the sensible thing which was to round the next corner and the corner after that till he found something. That something happened to be a door with two people entering through it. Speed walking in behind them, he tried to recognised either of the two and the other already in the room. Only the female seemed vaguely familiar but then again most females did, he could blame that on a dead mother and a persistent not to be dead unborn sister. Noting the question and the introductions of Brandon, Jade and Nickolai, Eleazar took this opportunity to shuffle past the last two and pace over to the table.

Picking up a card, eyebrows furrowed at the foreign looking suit marked on it. Wonder what he had been playing before we disturbed him? Still pondering about the card, the scruffy looking man realised the other three seemed to be expecting an introduction from him. Flourishing out a bow, he casually hopped up to sit on the card table, kicking his boots in a carefree manner.

“E'm Eleazar. Eleazar Victor Syroin. At yer pleasure,. 'Nd as Nicky boy said what 'e petch es goin' on aboot 'ere?”

Credit goes to Nickolai Marin for Boxcode

[Brandon Blackwing]

x

One by one the newly entered people introduced themselves. The only female among them went first, stating her name was Jade. She gave no last name, or first name for that matter, but Brandon figured it didn’t matter. Not everyone had to know one’s full name. Next came Nickolai Marin, a rather shady figure and he seemed not quite happy with the current situation, voicing his confusion while the third of the visitors walked over and presented himself. His name was long and complicated, the only part the bat could remember was the middle name; Victor. He too seemed to be rather wanting to know what was going on. Brandon had no real idea what they were talking about, there was nothing going on.

A shrug was offered as his arms spread in a gesture of uncertainty. “We were just playing cards,”tried the Kelvic, “care to join? There’s four of us after all.” Onyx orbs were already searching for the deck of cards, finding it within a couple of ticks. It lied next to Victor, close to the place he was sitting. Frowning upon seeing the man who’d just bowed sit on the table and on a couple of his cards, shrugged again and gave up. “Well, since Victor’s sitting on them I guess we’ll have to find something else to entertain ourselves with.”

“I do not believe that you will need to keep yourselves busy,” came a voice from above, and Brandon reacted instantly. Sending a glance and a dagger upwards immediately, he jumped up, his chair clattered down on the floor. “Who the hell are you!?” he demanded to know, a finger pointing at the man floating near the ceiling, the dagger Brandon had thrown caught between thumb and index finger. The hovering wasn’t what the bat found disturbing, but it was the fact that the mysterious man had appeared out of thin air. Not even Brandon’s nose nor ears had detected him before he had decided to speak up, only the gods knew how long he had been watching them.

“Who I am does not matter,” he spoke coldly, his eyes sparking and shimmering as he slowly drifted down, stopping only when his feet hung a couple of centimeters above the middle of the table. “Please, Brandon, Jade, Eleazar and Nickolai, be seated. There’s no need to be wary, I’m not here to harm either of you. I’m not an enemy.”
The bat Kelvic refused: “I’d rather stand. Enemy or not, I feel a little safer if I can react to situations.” With his gaze firmly fixed on the floating man, he didn’t see whether the others did as the intruder had asked or rather followed Brandon’s way of thought.

Refusal wasn’t really allowed it seemed, the mysterious floating guy scowled and snapped his fingers. All those who stood were seated soon, their seat scooping them up and carrying them upwards while the man followed suit. Soon all of them were drifting through the air and the scene changed. The dark room disappeared and was replaced with the view of a busy city, knights patrolling through the streets. Though there were lots of people, the five hovering people weren’t noticed. “Trivia time: does anyone know which city this is?”

“Perhaps, don’t you?” The bat was still grumpy for being scooped up and put on his chair like a harmless puppy. “Of course I do, but it’s a question for you guys,” the guy smirked. “Well, anyone?”

OOCSo, feel free to control the floating guy and make this even crazier. I have no idea how it happened. Well, dreams are not quite normal

x

credit goes to Euthisa

[Amora Jade]

There was only one face Amora recognized from the bunch, and though it had been quite some time since she had seen him it did comfort her a bit. The thief continued to asses the situation and take in her surroundings as the others introduced themselves. Nothing about the place seemed familiar to her, leaving her utterly confused as to why she was there. The other unfamiliar body introduced himself as Nickolai Marin while Eleazar carelessly rummaged through the cards and plopped himself up on the table before announcing his name as well. The thief almost wanted to laugh at the boy, but couldn’t find the courage to make any noise outside of breathing. Though she didn’t question, Amora was just as confused about the situation as the others and wanted an answer as well. Unfortunately not much of an answer was presented to them from their host; instead he insisted the three play cards with him, and whoever he was imagining to be there with him. The girl was beginning to get the idea that he didn’t quite have “all his cards in the deck.” The intruding voice from above sent a slight chill down the female’s spine. It wasn’t because it sounded awfully frightening, but because she had no idea how the man was levitating at the ceiling and no one had noticed him there the entire time. The slightly insane boy called Brandon reacted in a violent manner, forcing his dagger into the air towards the intruder- just to be caught and do no damage at all to the man. The thief was disgusted at the display of magic right in front of her. She knew there was nothing she could do to hurt the mage which caused a whole slew of emotions to stir up all at once- ranging from anger to fear. Amora slowly backed behind Nickolai to stay out of the man’s view until she could find the right moment to sprint out the door she came in through. She hoped that he hadn’t noticed her, that maybe he hadn’t been there the whole time and had just shown up somehow. “Please, Brandon, Jade, Eleazar and Nickolai, be seated. There’s no need to be wary, I’m not here to harm either of you. I’m not an enemy. ” “Petch.” The thief paused and looked at the man as he barely hovered over the table. There was no way she was about to do anything a mage told her to do. Before she could stomp out the door in protest a chair suddenly found itself underneath her and lifted the unsuspecting girl into the air. Amora held onto the seat as tightly as she could, causing her knuckles to turn white. The thief sat as still as she could and watched as the small room vanished and a large city take its place. Amora hadn’t a clue what city it was- she had never ventured far from Sunberth and never really felt the need to ask many questions about other cities. From first sight of it she could tell it wasn’t her kind of place. There were tall walls and tons of guards. Everyone there was so… civilized. No one was roaming the streets drunk off his or her asses, and no one even looked like they were trying to steal anything. They were all well behaved and well-mannered. Amora scowled at the disgusting sight of it and just simply shook her head “no.” The man watched as the female stared down with disgust and let out a sort-of entertaining maniacal laugh. It was apparent that to him the answer should be universally known. Amora just gritted her teeth to keep herself from saying anything that might make the man want to cause her chair to suddenly disappear.