Thief's wages

[Eternity]

Vhalar 9 722

Many seasons had passed since Eternity started to dabble in small time thievery. It hadn’t been as easy a path as she’d thought it’d be but somehow, she had managed to skirt any major consequences of her hobby turned job. This was attributed to Eternity’s care in not committing any large thefts which was attributed to her lack of drive. Up to this point she stole only to fund her average lifestyle so there was no need to take on unnecessary risk. She’d realized that she’d gotten rather good at stealing. She thought about times she’d nearly got caught and smirked as she walked amongst the crowds of the marketplace. She thought about how she rarely worried about getting caught anymore. She finally felt confident which was great for her self-esteem and more importantly, her finances.

Her thin, gloved fingers subtly felt the pockets of people she passed by. She still wasn’t great at figuring out exactly what was in their pockets just by touch and pickpocketing in crowds was still a new form of making money for her. She could only feel around for brief moments without raising suspicion. Often times all she could manage was a single tap against a thigh or a quick cup of the waist. What she really was after was coins since they were the easiest to put to good use. They were also the easiest for her to detect. It was hard to mistake the jingle of coins or the feeling of her hand pressing against tiny pieces of metal. Other objects were hard to make out and the few times that she did decide to steal them she usually ended up with junk.

“Yes!” She thought as her fingers felt a collection of small objects that, to her, felt like coins. She pushed her hand deep into the pocket and felt surprise when her fingers curled around something that didn’t feel like coins. Curiosity forced her to pull the objects out and glance at them.

“Marbles?” she thought. She dropped them to the floor where they would quickly be lost in the crowd. Then she shook her head. This was why it was important to be able to detect coins with just a touch. At least she’d learned what marbles feel like and hopefully wouldn’t make that mistake again. Her quest for money would continue.

Eternity pushed forward in the crowd and felt pockets as she passed by. This time she made sure to move her fingers in an arc to see if that would help her discern the shape of smaller objects. Of course, there would be no immediate improvement in her detection abilities but she would keep practicing throughout the day.

The people around her seemed to be none the wiser. They just went about their day and wished that the flow of traffic would move a little faster. The usual. Eternity didn’t even know where she would end up because she was focused more on pockets rather than where she was going. She would find pockets full of coins here and there, though she wasn’t brave enough to go for many coins at once. She’d decided that morning that she would only snatch a few coins at a time so that she would avoid getting caught. She was eager to see how her plan would work out and it seemed to have worked well so far. The downside was that she had to steal from a lot more people than usual and Eternity just hoped that this didn’t cause her to attract unwanted attention.

Eternity had a small collection of coins in her pocket before long. She couldn’t tell how much they were worth without looking at them so she decided to slip off into an alley. She’d only planned on staying for a bit but fate had other plans for her. As she counted up the coins, some other people in the alley took notice. Had she not been so focused on her winnings she might have noticed them walking towards her. Before she’d finished counting, Eternity was shoved forcefully into a wall. She did her best to hold onto the coins in her hand but the coins went flying. The few coins that she did manage to hold onto were slapped forcefully from her hands. The sounds of coins clinking to the ground went unheard by anyone who might care that a woman was getting robbed.

Eternity stood there against the wall with a shocked look on her face. She looked side to side and noticed that she was effectively alone with this small group. Their skin had a blue tinge to it and their clothes had a very “criminal” vibe. It finally sunk in that she was getting robbed. Or rather, she had just been robbed. Now she was just lingering around awkwardly when she should have taken off into the crowd.

“Get out of here!” hissed the assumed leader of the group. He stood taller than the rest and cracked his knuckles aggressively. “Do it or you’ll be sorry. Make a peep and I’ll break that face of yours!” His two lackeys scrambled around on the floor, picking up the coins.

Eternity looked for a moment like she wanted to argue or even fight, but then she realized that she didn’t really stand a chance. Her one trip to the gym and few hours of practice with her dagger were unlikely to allow her to win against three people at once. Three people that had probably gathered a good deal of experience in alleyway scrapes. A chill ran down the woman’s spine and she shivered nervously. "I need this money for my family. They'll starve without it!" She said. Her lie was obvious because she thought it up as the words came out of her mouth. She couldn't even hold eye contact with them let alone think straight. She realized that nobody was believing her and if they did, they didn't care. So, she ran back to the crowd and soon after she walked into a pub.

The shaken woman took a seat in the corner and rummaged through her pockets. She felt lucky to have gotten away with her few lockpicking tools and a grand total of four coins that she’d somehow missed when she’d scooped coins from her pocket earlier. She took a deep sigh and laced her hands behind her head before leaning back against the wall. She noticed that her back hurt just a tad from hitting the wall earlier. She grumbled and slammed her foot against the leg of the table in anger.

She let her anger fester for ten minutes or so then she went back to that alleyway to confront the thieves. When she arrived she couldn’t recognize anyone that she saw. The thieves had gone. The only evidence that the robbery even happened was a coin on the floor that she happened to spot when she crouched down to look for any that the thieves had missed. She didn’t know why she came back here. She never got such a temper except when someone robbed her. It had only happened a few times before and both times she had felt so troubled that she felt compelled to get revenge. Violent revenge. She’d never followed through before and that was only because she never put the time in to properly learn how to handle a weapon. She knew she couldn’t fight those thieves but at the very least she could give them a piece of her mind and storm off with some dignity. Alas, she couldn’t find any trace of them even after asking around.

About an hour had passed since the incident and Eternity had finally calmed down. She realized that she needed to go steal some more because she was still short on what she would need to feed herself for the coming days. Thankfully this was a relatively simple endeavor and because she still had some coins from earlier she didn’t have to work for very long. Finally, she could go on home.

Eternity wanted to wind down her long day by taking a nice relaxing walk around the neighborhood. It was already evening and the moon light was incredibly refreshing. She’d missed it since it’d been so long since she’d got to properly enjoy it. She wasn’t the only one who felt this way. There were a mix of people out and about who minded their own business but would give sideways glances at each other.

Every other step the woman took was accompanied with a jingle of coins. Her right pocket contained most of her earnings for the day that she hadn’t spent on food. She was self-conscious about the sound and she was a little scared that someone might be out to rob her, again. She kept to herself mostly and wondered where she even was. She’d gotten so distracted by the beauty of the night that she’d gotten lost. That was never a good sign for a woman. She did her best to remain aware of her surroundings and protect herself, even going so far as to keep a hand wrapped around the handle of a dagger that was sheathed at her waist. She remained vigilant until she popped out of an alley and into an area she recognized.

“Thank goodness,” she sighed as a familiar fountain came into view. This meant she wasn’t all that far from her home and she could relax a little. There would be enough foot traffic around here to deter obvious criminals. It wouldn’t be long before she made it home, safe and sound.

[Fate]

Your Review

Eternity

Overview

Hello Eternity. Eternity is certainly growing from her childhood thieving trials. This was an interesting thread as she tries to collect funds for the coming trials. I do appreciate that you play that it is only a few coins and nothing big enough for her to make a score off of a few pick pockets. The inclusion of a more skilled group was a nice addition as well. I would also include Larceny on this list as it is the primary skill to pick pocketing. Thank you for the Read. Fate

Points

XP: 10
Renown: 0

Consequence:

Eternity’s spending afternoons checking pockets hasn’t gone unnoticed. Rumor has begun to spread that there is either a pickpocket on the lose or a pervert. Either way the guards have been notified. With this event the popularity of pants with pockets is being questioned as more people are going to purses they can hang around their necks.

Knowledge

Played to skill level

Tactics: Steal a little bit at a time to avoid detection
Detection: Feeling by touch to help discern shape of object
Larceny: 2
Deception: 1
Stealth: Adjusting gait to reduce the jingling of coins

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