Pinning The Blame (Ana Sol Starris)

[Casper]

Timestamp: 37th of Spring, 512 AV It was almost midday, and the sun rose high above the streets of Sunberth, illuminating the chaotic streets with its powerful rays. Casper, having informed himself of the timing of the tides the night before by asking the innkeeper, found the moment perfect for frequenting the Seaside Market. He had been there a few times before, but it didn't really matter as the perpetual change in stalls here threw his orientation off. He really didn't enjoy coming here. It was loud, full of of clients and shopkeepers haggling for items that were worth little to nothing. Casper knew that many of the deals were rip offs, but he did not have any work to do for the Fence, and he found it depressing to stay cooped up in his small room at Pig Foot Tavern. Now that he was here, he regarded the dusty room as a safe haven from all these barking sheep. He hoped that after the effort of coming down here, he might stumble upon something of interest before buying lunch and heading back home. Seeing a clothes shop, he wandered into it with the idea that he might buy something extra to cover himself. Despite almost always wearing his cloak, he constantly found himself shivering whenever a breeze waved past him, which was often in this coastal town. The temperatures were rising slowly, but clearly not enough. He thought he might buy himself a thicker cloak, or simply something extra to be more comfortable in the current weather. The merchant was busy with another client, arguing over a pair of boots, apparently. Casper's eyes darted over the many items on display, and his eye came to rest on a pile of scarves. They looked like they were well woven compared the the rest of the things there, and one of the wool ones would see to it that he didn't freeze his neck off. Which happened often. Still, he would have to wait until the shopkeeper finished his haggling with the client, and Casper was getting hungry. Perhaps he could go eat something and come back later? No, that would be too much of a nuisance. He stood there, his gaze lingering on one of the darker scarves, wondering how best to organize his time.

[Ana Sol Starris]

What trouble can be arroused today.. Ana thought to herself as she walked the streets of Sunberth, what mayhem should be caused, contemplating so idly of what to do. The little thief was feeling simply marvelous, stronger than before as if someone had lifted a weight off her shoulders and given her a chance to live once more. Breathing in the salty air wafting in from the bay, the fishy musk of both rotting fish and sweating sailormen as well as some other scent she could not identify. After what seemed like hell for around seven to eight days.. The seaside market seemed wonderful to the little thiefs senses, her mind, what an awful experience that had been. Now it had lifted to reveal the small woman had more purpose than to be some thrown around piece of flesh, she had the skills to do what she wanted, she could do whatever the hell she liked- and no one could do a thing about it. Arrogant as that seemed, Ana could care less, she evaded death the first year, then the second and the third, and still she was evading death even now. There was a higher purpose for her existance, one that was destructive and followed an even darker path, there was the possibility that once she reached her lifes goal.. It would be her undoing. Browsing goods, she observed, she listened, she watched, her eyes scanning stalls of useless items to her to the people bickering for better prices for outrageously priced pieces of shyke. Her hood was down and there was a gait in her step, hands at her sides, hidden inside the black cloak. Ready at any moments notice, the nimble fingers would insert themselves into a customers pocket and using his own movements against him to pull the purse out. Straight faced, Ana stopped as she pocketed the coin, a man with white hair. WHITE hair, why, the only white hair she had ever seen was that of a kontis! Taken aback by this mans appearence, she stared at him, completely forgetting that her victem was right behind her. Curiousity seeped into the abyssal depth of her mind, why was his hair white.. Of all colors, white? Tilting her head ever so slightly, she took in his body as quickly as she could with her eyes. Muscular it seemed, but she couldn't be sure with his clothing. Looking down at what he was looking at, it seemed to be scarves, why would he be looking at scarves.. Was he that cold? Or maybe he was looking to buy a lady friend a present.. The thought made her smile, love, a concept she had never understood even though her brother had tried to explain it to her so many years ago. Lust? Well, this was Sunberth, perhaps he was trying to woo a lady... But would he really want to go for such a method? Glancing at the shop keeper who was so red in the face by now with the customer it seemed like he was going to blow a mountain up, with that throbbing vein in his forehead, it was quite comical actually. The customer who was still arguing with the shopkeeper still hadn't noticed such lightness of pocket yet, good, why.. This was perfect, a perfect set up. Slowly she motioned to the white haired man and said in a rather hushed voice "you know he's distracted, you could just pick one up and be off.." There was a glint of mischief flowering in her eyes, still quieter she said "he won't notice." With that she glanced again at the stall keeper from the corner of her eyes, the man was facepalming, irritated, he seemed to be giving into the annoying customer. Smiling ever so sweetly to the white haired man, would he believe Ana? Would he actually believe her? There was a strangled gasp behind themselves after a few moments of what was silence, a sound that was a cross between animal and human, the victem of theft had figured out his money was missing. "Please, I had my purse with me this morning!" The victem begged. The shopkeeper growled, bellowing at the man "ye' wasted far too much of my valuable time," throwing his hands up, and in a threatening voice "be on ye' way or this'll get messy!" With a voice of protest, the victem tryed to explain more still as a gaurd stepped out, looking faintly bored but also ammused, as if he had been paying attention to the argument more than what was going on around himself. The gaurd ushered the victem away by brandishing a heavy looking mace "be on your way" he commanded in a low, guttural voice. The protests ceased as the gaurd swung, the man scampered off like a rat- escaping the blow. The shopkeeper was seething, as he glared after the man, still he had not looked at the two stragglers next to his stall. Ana hadn't been watching, only listening, noting the inflections in their voices, the raises, the yelling and then the sound of an object cleaving the air. It was a risky move to have stayed near the shop, but she had anyways, she was far too confident in her abilities today. Such antics would get her in massive trouble later.

[Casper]

Just as he was about to forget buying anything altogether, Casper's thoughts were interrupted by a small blonde girl who momentarily surprised him as he had not seen her walk up to him. At first he tried to recognize her as a familiar face, but it quickly became clear that she was a simple stranger looking for a partner in crime. He couldn't help but chuckle condescendingly in response at her proposition. "Ah, that'ss a great idea," He sneered, turning to face her with arms crossed across his chest. Did she actually expect for him to believe that she was only there to give him some friendly advice? Even though he didn't know what she was thinking, he knew from experience that she wasn't acting out of the goodness of her heart, or any sappy crap like that. "Sso, I can't tell if you are really sstupid or are jusst betting that I am," he continued, his smile fading as he stared down into her golden eyes, trying to discern what she was up to. Unfortunately, he had never been very good at reading people. All he knew was that in his mind, stealing was the pettiest of crimes, and never something he had ever really considered. It was a job for street rats and beggars. The fact that some stranger had even thought of suggesting it to him was infuriating. Who did this tiny girl think she was? His attention was distracted from the woman as the argument between the merchant and client reached a climax, and a guard entered the room to escort the confused customer out. The guard understood the word "escort" to mean chasing the man out with a mace. It was quite a comical scene to watch on the sidelines, though would have been much funnier had the mace actually collided with his head. The commotion settled down almost as quickly as it started, and Casper turned his attention back to the small, possibly undernourished woman in front of him.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Taken aback by the white haired mans statement, it had been the perfect oppurtunity for him to steal a scarf and be on his way.. Looking up at him, the smaller woman considered just leaving the idiot to buy a scarf and be done with him.. But he was distracted, in but a moment Ana had picked a scarf up and reached foward to press it into his belt before jerking her hand away. Backing up, she pointed at him and assumed a mask of horror, mischief, revenge warbled through her eyes as she said in a high pitched voice to the shop keeper and the gaurd "he's stealing from you! And I bet he took that mans purse too!" Still, she moved away from the white haired man, feeling her heart race, jump to an incredible beat as fear filled her mouth, anger, to her ears. Whimsical laughing, purely whispers, inside her mind, true horror filled the small womans mind as she realized what had just happened. Paling under the pressure as the shop keeper shot a look to Casper like a hawk, already agitated he began to yell loudly, the gaurd seemed to chuckle for a moment and then moved towards whitey. Stepping backwards, not once, but twice, and even thrice in fear of being lunged at or being swung at with a mace. Ana deposited herself to the sidelines as best she could, towards the shopkeeper who was obviously still enraged over the previous customer, making threats, cussing, cursing up a storm as the gaurd continued onto Casper. The shopkeeper was already too enraged at losing a customer, perhaps he hadn't stopped to think for a moment that the small girl was the cause of his troubles... What had Ana just caused? Had she meant to create such trouble for a man that was, had been looking for none? One she had just met, to boot. In all honesty, she decided to wait for the storm to end... Maybe there would be no need for running, there was a big, strong, gaurd here after all.. Well, Ana took back that statement, you couldn't judge a book by its cover after all. Though, the entire situation was hilarious in theory, having it happen for real, it was a hoot, but it would mean more enemies, more danger. Ana choked back every feeling to run, while keeping her feet at the ready to sprint away at any given moment.

[Casper]

His attention on the small exchange between guard and penniless client was finally distracted when he felt the light but sudden pressure on his waist as the woman shoved the scarf into his belt and backed away. Stunned, he looked at her in bewildered surprise as she set the shopkeeper's attention towards him with her accusations. "What? She'ss lying!" he said automatically, throwing the scarf she had planted on him to the side. Somehow, he already knew that anything he said would fall on deaf ears. As the guard started advancing toward him with a deliberate gait, Casper gave a moment to shoot the girl a look of pure fury before the guard lifted his mace in the air and swung. He ducked just in time and jumped to the guard's unprotected side, striking him with his fist which sent the man a step back, but not as much as Casper would have needed to be able to unsheathe the Tulwar at his side. To Casper's surprise, instead of swinging his mace again, the guard threw a punch with a speed far superior to that of the mace's and hit him in the chest. The blow knocked him several steps backwards, a sharp pain shooting through his ribs as he took a few moments to steady his footing once again. The guard rose his mace in the air and took no time to lunge at Casper, who barely had time to pull his sword out before the weapon struck his hand. He shouted out in pain as one of the mace's spikes dug into the back of his hand and the sabre fell to the ground with a clash. In an act of desperation, Casper took a wooden display of hats to his side and threw it toward the guard in an effort to slow him down. He ran out of the stall, wondering, if he could just run away from here, the guard would not chase him for very long. However, upon looking behind him, he caught a glimpse of the blonde girl standing beside the merchant like an innocent girl, and he could only feel the rage building up inside him. Seething, Casper suddenly held the resolve that he would not let her get away. He faced the guard who was advancing once more. Thinking fast, he looked around for anything he could use to his advantage. The only thing he noticed was that he was not far from the edge of the platform that held the stall well in elevation from the ground. He waited for the guard to swing again, moving out of the way just in time. He let the guard take the offensive as he got out of the way of the blows, having much more space than inside the stall, waited for the right moment... Then launched a counterattack, applying all his energy as he kicked the man right in the stomach and watched him tumble right over the edge of the platform. He fell ungraciously to the ground below, letting go of his mace mid-air which landed shortly afterward right into his chest. The guard howled in pain, and Casper hoped he would not recover quickly as he returned to the stall. There she was, still acting as innocent as ever. "You petchin' bitch," He hissed, panting, his mind clouded with the thought of vengeance. The merchant himself seemed to be squirming without his precious guard as Casper advanced.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Staring at the gaurd, then to the white haired man.. Ana gave a satsifyed smirk at him as her side was taken and not his. Causing havoc, she should do it more often, the look of anger towards her person made her laugh. Fortuantly she kept it to a snicker and said to the shop keeper, confident that the gaurd would take care of Mr. Whitey "suppose I get an award now for aprehending a thief?" Ana couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth, staring up at the red faced shopkeeper who had sent her a sharp glare. Seeming to inhale, then relax a bit, also too confident that the gaurd could take care of a petty thief "figures yee'd expect something in return," he grumbled darkly as he began to sift through his coin purse. Ana grinned, holding her hand out gently for the coin to be plopped into her hand, she should really do this more often.. Especially when there were easy rewards around "of course, you're welcome by the way" chuckling lightly at him. The shop keeper placed a few coins within her open hand, glowering at her "yeah, yeah, get out of my sight before I change my mind" he growled as a pained howl resonated away from them. Both the real thief and the shop keeper turned their heads simantaneously to look where it had come from, the once irritated man now appeared to be squirmish. Ana stared at whitey in disbelief then fear, he had taken care of a gaurd who was failing to get up and fufill his duties. Stepping backwards, the thief gripped the coin hard before shoving it into her pocket and taking another step back. Tensing her legs, Ana was going to let them explode with life in the other direction of the white haired man. Slowly, she shrugged at him and smiled "not my fault you got caught, haha" casual, calm, remain.. Calm. Wait, shouldn't she be fleeing? The shop keeper looked between Ana and Casper, then towards his gaurd and began to schriek for the useless piece of shyke to get up and do his job, to take out the both of them. Taking out a dagger, the man looked as if he were prepared to defend his shop as well as his life from the man. Holding her hands up, and taking a third step, then another back "e-eh, no-no hard feelings, right?" The confidence once held now within her demeanor had dissipated. Snapping, Anas realization welled inside her mind that this wasn't safe, petch the gaurd, petch the shopkeeper, petch Whitey! Ana ran like all bloody heck when Whitey moved fowards, the other way away from him and his gaurd beating-upness! Through the many makeshift streets of stalls and questionable goods! The chase was on!

[Casper]

He picked up his sword from the ground as he advanced, finding the weight somewhat awkward as he took it in his left hand instead of his right, which was too busy bleeding profusely. Though the one hand was essentially handicapped, Casper imagined that he had enough willpower to ignore the pain when he'd have the chance to strangle the life out the girl. She was backing away now, uttering words that only irritated him further. "Yeah, no hard feelings, when the sscore's ssettled," he said with a grin, happy to see that the smugness she once sported was now gone without a trace. He stopped in front of the shopkeeper, who now held a dagger towards him with trembling hands. Had Casper still had a perfect hand to hold his sabre with, he would have enjoyed cutting the fat man down. Looking back at the girl, he added, "That'll be when you're dead." Just when he said it, the blonde finally came to her senses and broke off in a run. For some irrational reason, it was not something he had expected her to do. He felt that after all the trouble he had gone through with the guard to get back to her, that the hard part was over. It was like she was trying to rub salt in the wound. "Move," he growled to the merchant, who stood frozen in front of him. Then again, the dagger wouldn't do any harm if Casper didn't attack the man specifically, and the girl was already getting away. Grunting, he walked around him and out of the stall, and after the pesky rat into the streets. The market was crowded, and for a moment, Casper lost sight of her, straining his eyes as he scanned the streets. Then he saw, much closer than he had feared, a flash of blonde hair pushing desperately through the herd. Had he time to think about anything more than the satisfaction of seeing her blood on his hands, he would have been relieved that she had not been smart enough to walk at the same pace as the rest of the folk, for it was her disruptive speed that caught his eye. He rushed into the crowd without hesitation, pushing his way through whilst keeping his eye on the signature blonde hair and small frame that set her apart from the rest of the fools.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Shoving through the crowds, Ana was in a hurry to get away from whitey and quickly if she wanted to have a shred of survival. Petch subtly, distance was needed before she could comfortably meld with the crowds if she was going to ever make this escape. The anger in whiteys eyes had been enough to tell Ana that she was dead meat for actions she hadn't meant to perform, though she had felt herself, seen herself doing them on an irritated whim of cruelty. She didn't blame him that he would want to hurt her, possibly even kill, for making him out to be such a fool in front of others, even Ana would have been supremely pissed if someone had done the same to her. No matter, what was done had been done and right now she had to focus on getting farther away from whitey, had to. The cloth covered flesh of walls surrounding her jostled about, pushed her for ramming into them by acident as she made her way through them. Perhaps moving with the flow would have been so much easier than going against it during a chase? Whatever, she glanced over her shoulder and found whitey still following after her, albeit with difficulty. "Petch," she whispered, hissed to herself as her attention was caught upon whitey, causing her to collide with another, not too pretty looking scar face of a male. He grabbed her by the shirt, pulled towards, then pushed her violently, more like threw her to the ground. "Watch w'ar ye'r bloody go'n!" He growled angerly at her as she scrambled to get up and sprint away from him into the brief opening of people. The opening was all she had needed to quickly bring her hood up, whitey, she didn't care and yet did at the same time at knowing where he was. With an exhasperated breath of air, she looked behind her once more, possibly meters away from the scarred face man now. From whitey, ah! No! There he still was "persistant bastard," Ana mumbled sourly under her breath. The small thief began to think quickly, he obviously wasn't going to stop following after her till he caught her. What distraction would she need if she were to ever possibly get away from such a stubborn mule? Flickering her eyes between peoples faces, their hands, the sky, behind her she gave whitey a smile under the cloaks hood- an idea having of formulated just then. Lifting her hand to wave at him, quietly, of course, eyes hidden for the most part but the dark circles still firmly visible, she let the hand fall, reach into her pocket as if mechanically taking out some of the coin within the stolen purse and lunged her hand in the air. The glimmer, flashes of light, coin descended upon the heads of the Sunberthians, dropping on them with clicks and chimes of small impacts to their craniums. It was all Ana needed as the crowds were stunned for a moment, a shout or two cut the air, next there was chaos, mass pandemonium formed as people pushed and shoved to get the freely flung out coin from the sky. Making the perfect escape for the little thief, without ever looking back to whitey, she was moving against them and out of the marauding crowd and sprinting away from her created distraction. If whitey had been able to get past that, well, hopefully he could run fast enough to catch up with her.

[Casper]

It felt like an eternity of wading through through foul-smelling people, wondering when the hell the crowd would end. As long as he could still see that small frame running ahead of him, he had the will to walk through stone if he had to. Anything to get his hands on the petching girl. For a moment, she disappeared behind the frame of a bulky man who was shouting at something that Casper could not see. Then the girls head popped back up into view, much closer now, excitement brewing in his heart as he could imagine catching her more clearly. He tried to make his way through the crowd faster, to no avail. These people weren't too keen on moving aside for him. The girl turned and met his eyes for a moment before she turned away swiftly and ran in the opposite direction. She was much smaller than him, and slipped through the mob more easily, and he hated her for it. He lost sight of her again, expecting it to be a mere moment before he could find her again, but then something happened. It was confusing, to say the least. Gold coins were thrown up into the air, and before he knew it, he was being shoved aside as the already dense mass of people became ever denser. For a moment he thought he would suffocate, or fall over and get trampled. A brief moment of panic had him shove the nearest person over, who fell to the ground, giving Casper room to at least get out of the herd and into more open space. Finally away from the commotion, the streets had thinned out on account of everyone being where the coins had been dropped. He looked all around him, straining his eyes to find the girl. Nowhere. His eyes widened visibly as though it would help him find her, though it clearly didn't work. With a rapidly sinking heart, he jogged in the general direction he had last seen her go, took a side street in some kind of false hope that he would miraculously catch sight of her again. After about five minutes of aimlessly walking, his brain had finally come to accept that she was gone. There was a moment of peace in his mind before it was replaced with a seething rage. "Shyke!" he shouted, his voice rumbling in an echo throughout the empty street. He slammed his foot in the wall, the pain doing a remarkably good job at distracting him from his failure. He looked to his bleeding hand, and tried to apply some pressure on it to stop the blood flow. He inhaled sharply upon touching it but found comfort again once his hand found a good placement on the injury. With a disappointed sigh, he turned around and headed back to the tavern.

[Archelon]

Thread Award "..." And the Results!!!!: Ana : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Larceny 2 Running 3 Observation 1 Lores: The thief that gets away, lives to thief another day. Casper : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Unarmed combat 2 Running 3 Rhetoric 1 Intimidation 1 Lores: The hazards of running into thieves. Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? : Interesting thread Any questions,comments,or concerns please feel free to send me a nice pm.