Wild Streets - Fall 510 (ALL Beggars, Thieves, Criminals)

[Ash'eny]

Ash'eny found himself retrieving his tool from the ground more than he typically enjoyed doing. In fact, he never liked to drop his tools while trying to pick a lock. Actually, he never liked dropping anything unintentionally, but it was worse when breaking and entering. Ash'eny's mood was slowly becoming foul, which quickly sprung into glee as he heard that sound that even being drunk couldn't mask. He grinned foolishly as he slowly, quietly, and while full of natural ecstasy stepped into the store. Ash'eny was pleased with himself. Ash'eny replaced the door behind him, locking it from the inside (if it didn't require a key). As he turned around, he peered through the darkness of the room, it was difficult to see through the lack of light and the fuzz of alcohol, but he was able to make out various animals. Birds, why the hell were birds here? Ash'eny couldn't, not in his current state at least, comprehend that birds were sold as game here. Shrugging to himself Ash'eny took only a single step further inside, only to be stopped by a guard. Or a fat cat. Ash'eny held his breath as he saw the enormous creature waddle up to him and offer some sort of brief speech in its common tongue. Ash'eny blinked a moment as he allowed his breath to slowly fall from his lips. He was confident after a few moments of peace that the feline had no intention of hurting him, if that were even possible. "Hey there Fat Fur. You mind if I take a look around here?" Ash'eny slowly lowered himself to a crouch, bracing himself against the floor with one hand while he extended the other towards the cat, to actually let the cat sniff him, as if it were a dog. Maybe he'd pet him or her if he or she proved to be friendly and not a demon. He didn't really want to kill anything unnecessarily, that could blow his little hiding place. While he tried to comfort the cat, and his own nerves, he searched the visible areas of the room. He saw the desk, the cat's appearance drew his gaze to that already. The arrows above it, suspended on the wall itself, didn't particularly snag his interest. What use were arrows if you had no bow to shoot them from? A bow, that's something he could either learn to use or sell... probably not here, but somewhere. Some kid would toss a few of his father's hard earned money for a cheap bow for sure. Now, where could he find one?

[Dusk]

Ash'eny As he crouched down, the cat rubbed its face and then the length of its body against his outstreched hand, purring the whole while. It continued the forward motion and rubbed against his knee next, then gave a little chirping meow and heft up onto its back legs with a paw on his knee as if intending to rub its cheek against his. Guard cat extraordinaire. As Ash'eny glanced around the room, he'd see that the side walls held what he was looking for - several bows of all shapes and sizes, from crossbows to the small horse-bows favored by the Drykas to the man-sized longbows used by the archers that guarded the wall. All of them ripe for the taking.

[Ash'eny]

Ash'eny allowed the small feline beast to rub itself all up against his palm, knee, and even stretch up towards his face (though he would not lower his head so that that could kiss, that would be weird). He grinned sheepishly as he continued to stroke the cat for a few moments before standing up slowly, slowly to make sure he didn't collapse or crush the cat under his foot. Ash'eny then stalked slowly across the room, watching the floor as much as the target in mind, since he was aware of domestic cats' abilities for scuttling underneath feet and for making loud and obnoxious shrieked when stepped on. "A clever trap indeed." Ash'eny continued his prowling, attempting to be as silent, as stealthy, and as careful as he could in his alcoholic haze. The cat, though a worry of his for some strange reason, was not his biggest concern. No, it was the slumbering birds. The strange creatures that Ash'eny could not decipher the existence of in this place except to thwart a slightly louder thief than himself. Another clever trap. This store owner was very clever indeed, using domestic animals as natural alarms. Too bad Ash'eny had impressive animal magnetism that even he, prior to this experience, did not know existed. Ash'eny smiled at himself as he reached his hands out. He picked up a weapon he knew to be a crossbow, though his inexperience was vast and the pool of knowledge available, yet missing to the thief, was equally as large. He did not know it at the time, though a bit more observation should have been able to tell him this, but the weapon he chose fell under the classification of light crossbow. Various larger and more vicious versions were only a few feet away, but even if he noticed them, he'd be well aware that something of that size would be difficult to conceal. In fact, the light crossbow would already be a task to get to his home before discovery. Taking the crossbow, he decided to tuck it underneath his arm, and doing the best he could to hide under his cloak, which would help only if someone staring were blind (which would be ironic), in too much of a hurry to care (which would be ideal, but unlikely at this time of night), or if he managed to stay in the darkest of shadows. The third option sounded the best and most reliable. Ash'eny turned to face the door of the shop, though gave a quick scan of the floor for the cat. If he/she was still around and lingering about his heels, he would take another moment to pet the creature, as if to bribe its silence of what had happened. If the cat was nowhere to be seen, or simply lost interest in him, he would move directly to the door, open it only slightly, and peer through the crack to make sure there wasn't an entire legion of knights just waiting to embrace him once he fled.

[Dusk]

Ash'eny The cat was, indeed, still lingering near him, sitting quite daintily on its fat ass and waiting for him to notice her again. The moment he turned his eyes back towards her, she began her rumbling purr once more and padded over to get more of those delicious pettings. She didn't seem to care much that he was a stranger, and that he was here stealing her master's wares. She was a cat, and she wanted to be petted, and he was more than fulfilling that desire. When Ash'eny finally cracked the door open, he would be met with the usual sort of silence that overlay the halls of Stormhold Citadel at this hour - not total silence, for in a city with fifty thousand residents there was always someone out and about, but as quiet as was possible. No knights waiting to catch him, no monsters set to spring upon him when he exited. Just the normal, everyday stone and flickering torchlight that was all some people ever saw of Syliras. OOC NoteIf you can, please give me a quick overview of what Ash does and where he goes from this point on until dawn.

[Ash'eny]

OOCOf course, if Ash'eny needs to be interrupted at all in his plans home, feel free to cut him off or whatever. Ash'eny's brown iris peered through the crack in the door, and what he saw was perhaps the most comforting thing he had experienced all night. Nothing. No knights followed him, no girls trying to bash his brains out with buckets, no dangerous guard cats ready to maul him, or demand further caresses for their silence and cooperation. Ash'eny looked back, the cat was still inside, following closely at his heels, but seemed to be in no hurry to drive him away or bite out his throat. He smirked, feeling quite certain he showed just who was the superior being here. He opened the door, slid out, and carefully shut it behind him. Back on the outside of the store, which wasn't much of an outside at all. It felt strangely more inside being outside than... Ash'eny shook his head, he was losing track of what he was even trying to make sense of. It was all inside. Enough said. Ash'eny lifted his left hand, the one not holding the crossbow under his cloak and behind his back, and messaged his temple lightly. He had to move, to get home, to the Traveler's Row. He could leave the crossbow there, figure out what to do with it later, for now, he had to get there, without drawing too much attention. Ash'eny had lived in Syliras for several seasons now, he knew the streets fairly well. He practically slept in the darker corners and lesser torchlit areas. Ash'eny moved down the street, or hallway, whichever it would have been called, it served both purposes really. Ash'eny would of course, take the fastest route to the Traveler's Row, but should there be any sign of people, especially the impossible-to-mask armor of the Knights stalking around a certain area a little more heavily. It was times like this that he was glad he had a courtyard apartment. It was as Tenner said a while ago. It had easy access. If Ash'eny was fortunate enough to navigate the city, from the Feathered Shaft to his own little home across from the forge, then he would have been able to make it home safe, sound, and successful, without so much as trying to explain his reason for carrying around a bolt-firing weapon in the first place, or why the Feathered Shaft was missing one. Ash'eny's abilities as a straight up liar on the spot weren't quite so hot as his nimble fingers.

[Dusk]

To Grayzdo, Ragnar One-Eye, and Gareth: I have had no response from you in 45 days, and none of you have signed onto the site more recently than 30 days ago. Please consider this your warning - if I do not have a response to my post here within the next five days, I will consider your posts here closed and you will forfeit any seasonal wages for Fall 510AV. To Sasin: I've had no response from you in as long, but you've logged on recently. Please reply, or per the rules of the thread there will be Knights popping into your other threads to collect you.

[Dusk]

Ash'eny Ash'eny made it to his apartment without any further incident, the relative quiet of the evening more of a soothing balm than a nerve-racking silence. He could hear the quiet hiss of the forge through his window, as if the smith had only abandoned his hammering a few moments before, and the wonderful warmth of it enveloped his space and made it extra cozy. He was without trouble, then and all through the evening. Just after dawn, though, he was jolted awake by an echoing, mournful howl, made even more decimating by the way it reverberated off the walls of the citadel's hallways. The baying of a hound, and it bounced and clattered through the air of his district. It seemed that something was following a rather distinct scent, and from the sound of the excited barks and howls, whatever it was knew it was getting close.

[Ash'eny]

Ash'eny snorted loudly as he lifted his head from the floor of his apartment. Directly in front of his gaze was that sinister weapon he had stolen only hours before. He bit his lip lightly, almost certain he was going to regret this. Ash'eny slowly pushed himself off the floor. His arms and legs ached as if he was beaten by a sack of potatoes or an unarmed madman. He grunted, but his ears caught something, a sound. Something that didn't feel like it fit. Ash'eny felt a panicky chill grab his spine and give him a good shaking. Quickly he undressed. Taking off his reversible cloak, his burglar's vest, and wrapping both the crossbow and vest in his cloak, he placed it in the corner of the room behind his bunk, which he failed to reach the previous night. After doing this, Ash'eny was quick to grab his dagger and step outside of his apartment. That noise, a dog of some sort, made him nervous. He never liked animals, though last night told him he was somewhat good with them. Ash'eny closed his apartment door behind him and held his dagger behind his leg, in case there happened to be a knight waiting for him. From there, just standing outside of his door, Ash'eny waited for the canine to either arrive, or leave. Ash'eny's chest pounded heavily though, fearing that this wasn't a hound at all, but some wicked monster that quite literally could tear him limb from limb. Surely the knights would allow that right? Surely the knights heard this racket and were coming to investigate. Surely... surely the dog wasn't with the knights... right? Ash'eny swallowed hard, a lump of nervousness collecting in his throat as he waited. Impatiently waited for whatever to come. He hoped desperately that it wasn't for him, or about him. It just seemed to be too close to last night to be a coincidence though.

[Dusk]

Warning: Hello folks! As it is Winter, I am officially closing this thread. I will continue replying for Ash'eny, but everyone else has officially got no wages for Fall. Also, the Knights now consider you wanted criminals, and will be keeping an eye out for you.

[Dusk]

Ash'eny The baying of the hound had a similar effect on most of the other residents on his hallway - many were looking out their doors, and those who'd been simply walking through the halls now pressed themselves against the wall to clear the way for whatever was coming. Few people seemed panicked, though, so it must not have been any sort of monster. There was just a low murmur of excited gossip. "Who do you think they're chasing?" "Dunno, must have done something though. They don't often bring the hounds out. I don't think I've even heard them in a year or longer." "Here's hoping it doesn't get bloody. This is a nice neighborhood, you know. Hate to find out we've a criminal among us." The whispers continued until the baying drowned them out, becoming louder and more excited. A few moments later, the source of the madness appeared: a huge, wrinkled bloodhound rounded the corner at the far end of the hall and gave another mournful howl. A young woman held his leash, her hair cropped short and dressed in a boy's peasant clothing, and she had a satisfied grin on her face. Behind her was a man dressed in the distinctive armor of the Syliran Knights - and beside him was the proprietor of the Feather and Shaft, Kalvin Wilde. The hound raised his head to sniff once more, then yanked his handler forward and down the hallway - heading straight for Ash'eny.