The Theif of Crystal Square [OPEN]

[peony]

The night set pleasantly on the city like a warm welcoming blanket. A thin misty fog swayed about the lampposts making each like a glowing fuzzy orb. There was a quaint silence that left a hypnotic impression as the lightly dancing orbs guided the eyes up towards the moon. Truly it was a peaceful night.

Along the streets store vendors went through their paces: closing up shop, checking inventory, and sweeping the floors for the following day's rush. A few citizens walked along every path, some couples enjoying the scenery of the gardens at night, some making a few final purchases while others simply on their way home from a long day's work.

No one paid much attention to the single swaying paper floating in the breeze, its edges worn and tired of a long age spent braving the weather. A single figure adorned it's surface, drawn in the scratchy inked lines of one who knew not of what he or she drew. below it a claim:

R E W A R D

It was spelled out in large print with the amount of 100,000 Gald gracing the bottom. There was a brief description that effectively used a large number of words to say what they already had with the image; nothing at all. The flier rested upon a nearby street corner, its voyage finished just outside a dimly lit alley behind a number of tailors, where a lone hand picked it from its new home.

Almost every corner seemed decorated with the poorly crafted papers, the woman noticed with a smirk. She lent back against a wall to examine that particular one in hand as her smile only widened.

"The Thief of Crystal Square?" She giggled, both at the new ambiguous nickname she had consequently earned for herself and the price of her "possible" arrest. They'd listed a record of all her previous exploits from robbing the bakery to cleaning every pocket during a recent fair... for which she had performed a quick acrobatic act disguised as a circus clown.

But her mind wandered elsewhere as she slid the paper into a bag, a little souvenir if you would. She was less concerned about what she'd recently done, no, she was busy formulating her next little act.

All she'd need was a "plaything".

[fujiko]

As a guard he strolled the streets of Kessho, what else would he be? His steps weren’t silent for he wasn’t sneaking about like some mouse, he was merely on patrol, however they were not loud. He was light on his feet he felt that protecting this city was impotent and took it seriously he took care of a major problems all the time though the bounties didn’t normal concern him unless people were getting hurt, that would be where he came in, to kill. Perhaps none of the other men cared for dirtying their hands, however this man didn’t seem to mind.

Of course there were rumors surrounding the reason this 2nd General might not care about spilling blood, though he didn’t care to listen to so many preposterous claims, they grew old fast and he grew to just ignore and except them paying no more attention really.

Though tonight there was defiantly something on his mind, the other guardsmen realized it right away after so much time they became more aware of his moods, he was normally silent and collected but stern and somewhat commanding, but as was his role as a soldier. However tonight his hand was gripped around the scabbard of his blade that was latched onto his belt. under his cloak, though he was not ready to draw it, he seemed rather restless since that morning, not jumpy really, just seemed bothered by something though no one else could figure out what this might have been.

Walking on though the night he finely looked up out of his thoughts, he seemed to be in the Crystal Square. He finely took his hand from his sword and relaxed them by his sides with a small sigh realizing he most likely freaked out a few towns people on his little stroll. He brought a hand up to his head and brushed it backwards his hair back and gave a heavy sigh walking over to sit in the bench elbows on his knees.

[peony]

Taking a perch upon a nearby roof, the girl examined the area for a little fun for the night. There wasn't much to be seen. A few shop owners closing up, a couple or two seeing the sights a moment before heading home. They seemed like petty scams really, no challenge or no profit. But then her eyes came upon a lone guardsman.

Peony was familiar with this one. She'd seen him a number of times throughout the city before, though it was unlikely he'd know of her attention. One of the few tricks of the trade was both knowing to pick out the guards from a crowd...

...and keeping a safe distance from them as well.

She had become well acquainted with most of the little daily habits of a majority of the truly active guards by now. After-all she hadn't earned that new title adorning the walls of every corner in a single day, and if one wants to last long in this line of "work" they needed to be familiar with the obstacles.

She couldn't recall a name if she'd ever heard one but this particular guard seemed oddly off-put from his usual demeanor. Perhaps it was just one of those days for him she thought idly as she leaned back towards the shingled roof. Her glowing red eyes were now staring straight up at the hinted moon, graced by a few clouds that seemed to hold it in place. The misty evening had already made her clothing a touch heavier on her frame, a quick pickpocket run seemed fruitless already.

But then a toothy grin spread across her face as she giggled to herself.

"Oh! But now THERE'S an idea!~"

All it would take was a quick change of clothes, not that it would hurt to have something lighter for a quick get away just in case. She had donned the attire of a cute little shop keeper wearing a green dress and matching hat (hiding away anything that could easily be identifiable as off) and an apron that was a little musty from use. A perfect little disguise if she said so herself, but now she needed to convince everyone else so too.

And so, dressed up a another everyday shop owner, Peony strode right up to the guard and broke one of her own personal rules... speaking in a whispered and hesitant tone.

"uh...h-hi?"

[fujiko]

Sure he loved this city and would protect her with his life, the guardsmen rested his elbows on his knees and chin in his hand his eyes closed it was pretty silent out despite the faint blowing of the wind and crickets and the faint sounds of distant guardsmen walking in their armor, however he liked those sounds. It was relaxing out here, just what he needed for his nerves right now, he drew in a deep pleasant breath of the fresh nightly air and then exhaled just as relaxed.

He didn’t let to many things bother him, so why now? He drew in a deep breath. Alright enough feeling sorry for himself! He suddenly stood up about to march off elsewhere, however there was a young woman now approaching him. What did she want? Not may people liked speaking with him, perhaps he was imposing, or maybe just not the easiest person to talk to on any emotion level. He blinked a few times at this strange girl she seemed to be some kind of shop keeper and defiantly the type of dress seen around here, though he didn’t suspect her really, maybe because he suspected everything? Ah no getting paranoid again……

He swallowed snapping himself to reality and watched her walk up to him then finely she spoke rather shyly, most guards would jump at the opportunity to help a woman in distress. However he seemed more calm about the situation. “Hello” he finely spoke back trying to make his voice warm rather then its usual almost cold. “can I help you?” he asked calmly.

[OOC-Sorry this post isn’t that long]

[peony]

Peony's little act was only just beginning. It wasn't hard to generate tears over something, but to make them believable, that needed actual displeasure. All it required was an unpleasant thought, and she already knew exactly what would work. She done it so many times now, her mind wandered seamlessly to the same idea she always used for this trick and in an instant it was already working.

"I... I was... cleaning... cleaning the shop..." Her voice was already cracking and squeaking as the tears started to form and trickle down her flushing cheeks. She personally always hated feeling upset, who didn't, and making herself upset wasn't any better. But if it worked, then it worked.

"...They stole it... m-my ring.... my matching r-ring...."

With a quivering hand she reached into her pocket and held out a ring, cradled gently in the palm of her hand. The single ring alone was clearly worth a fortune in itself as it held five precious stones, each one a rarity in a neat little arrangement of smaller red, yellow, green, and blue stones around the center white, all held within a silver band.

But there was a little more than just the color of the stones. A light trickle of blood lined the creases of her palm, pooling near the edges of the small circlet. It was flowing down her arm from a rather deep, albeit small, wound that was certainly fresh and recent. And it certainly was, because she'd just recently made the cut herself before starting their chat. Her free hand clasped at the injury as she started shaking, her breathing becoming short and hindered.

"I... I c-ca... I... I r-really... really need... help...."

Her tears were now flowing down freely and her words became jumbled, broken, cut harshly by the hic's and sobs of an emotional d**n broken away. Her grip closed tighter around the wound as the blood began to paint the sleeve of her green dress in a deep black.

"pl...p-plea.......please...?"

[fujiko]

Even though he wasn’t the type to take advantage of a woman in need he still couldn’t kept but feel badly for her, this woman she seemed rather upset, though something felt off, he just couldn’t place it yet.. He watched her closely her every movement however he remained relaxed and appeared not to be watching her to observantly. He frowned at her words then looked to the trinket she showed him, a ring, so it was a matching set then?

The Blood was a bit more to look at though he frowned and offered his hand. “alright let me help you with that wound first” he stated calmly and watched her still. “I can look at it” he stated and nodded towards the bench, perhaps he was a bit naive but who wouldn’t help a woman whom cries? Though it didn’t really tug at his heartstrings like it may some people. He arranged his sword to the back of his belt as he brushed his cloak out of his way. “Explain to me what happened please, and who took it” he stated calmly, boy he didn’t get in any rush did he? Or at least not emotionally, but nothing ever did come from panicking.

He started to ponder what might had happened though it was beyond him at the time being thusly all he could do was hear her story then judge it from there hopefully this wasn’t some sick joke, if someone took it from her he woud try to help her get it back, or if he lost interest he would have someone else help her hunt for it, but the least he could do was hear her out and look at her wound.