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Post by Set on Jul 3, 2017 10:01:07 GMT
Set had a job to do, but he really didn’t want to do it.
For months, almost a year now, Set had been apprenticed to a master in the city named Fulkore. The man was brutal with his teachings, but the shifter had been so much better off with his life than when he was on the streets struggling to survive for just one day. He wasn’t as skinny and put on a ton of weight, but he still was not exactly healthy with his still life-controlling addiction to heprinsal. He was so dependent on it, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to fully get away from it. Being apprenticed had helped him a little bit with his addiction, but it mostly helped with his level of skills and aptitude to be successful with something. His reflexes had increased, as had his confidence, but not by much. Set was still a coward at heart and was known to run away from any tricky situations. Hell, he wasn’t fond of Fulkore’s fighting lessons, especially since Set was shit at them.
That precious night, the man had told Set to go steal from a middle-class jewelry merchant within a bazaar commonly known to the locals as Hound Peak. It was called such for its increased number of hound activity. Many of them liked to go there during their spare time, as it was one of the few bazaars in a middle class area that had food for purchase, water wells, and even a low-key brothel to the side. It had a little bit of everything, and somehow Set was to by-pass everyone to steal some expensive jewelry.
That was why he was out in the middle of the day, scouting out the area. It was a hot day, but the overcast sky gave some nice cover to the shifter and the other denizens that were overheating. He was not walking through the crowds of the streets in his human form though. He was taught to not scount with his normal face if possible, so that if anyone there during the day saw him at night, Set would not be recognized so easily. That was why he was in his jackal half-form.
Set hardly drew attention to himself. He was in an area where many, many shifter slaves worked or moved through. There were always varieties of them, some in the their half forms, but most in their true forms. For scouting, Set was acting the part of a slave in his half form, which was quite grotesque up close.
His head was completely canine and shaped like that of a jackal’s. His snout was long and narrow, and most of his canine teeth were exposed and visible. His ears were long and pointed and his eyes were an endless black void. All of his body was black with patches of black fur. Most of it was just black skin, some of which look liked it was decaying. His fingers and toes were elongated, almost skeletal in appearance, and had sharp clear claws at their ends. He had no tail and his legs were plantigrade like normal humans.
Most people out of the areas of poverty detested seeing slaves naked, especially any that were not from a brothel of any sort. Set was therefore wearing a rugged skirt that hung far down past his knees, just barely hanging above the dirty cobblestone floors. He wore no shoes since slaves could normally not afford such things, nor did he had a shirt or anything else for that matter.
Feeling like he fit the part, Set pushed his way into the crowded bazaar area and stopped. He moved over to the side of the crowd and stood on a tiny, empty upside down crate to look over the heads of all the people. For now, he acted like he was lost and trying to find his way.
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Post by Keziah on Jul 4, 2017 7:06:36 GMT
The bazaar was crowded and uncomfortably hot. The sun blazed down on it from above, high and fierce in the noonday sky, and the crowd was thick with all manner of people. There were a lot from the middle-class - merchants, crafters, store owners, browsing the market stalls or seated in the much sought after scraps of shade alongside buildings or created by scrappy shrubs in heavy clay pots. There were plenty from the lower classes too, though, including a huge number of slaves. It was a loud, busy and bustling place, and it was here Keziah came to wile away a few free hours.
The Human teenager was in the City in the company of the Daemon Campion because he wanted a tattoo. They were only staying a few days - long enough for the tattoo to heal a little before they headed back to the savannah. Because she was disinterested in hanging around and watching as the tattooist needled ink into the Daemon’s skin most of Keziah’s days were her own, and she was particularly interested in visiting her old haunts. She didn’t have a lot of close friends - few street rats did - but she had all manner of connections with various members of rough city crowds. It was worth visiting some of them, because even if she planned on travelling with Campion a while longer yet, there was every chance she’d be back on these streets sooner or later. Sometimes survival depended on knowing who to trade help with when the going got tough, as it always did in this hellhole.
She was still wearing clothes more befitting the savannah than the city, though the blazing heat of the afternoon and the mix of the crowd meant she didn’t stand out. Tan pants, made from some lightweight material, were slung low on narrow hips. A stained and torn white tank top showed the flat plane of her stomach above the waistband, and she wore heavy boots on her feet. It was too hot for anything else - her back and warmer clothes had been left with Campion while she spent the day in the city. With her hair now cut short in a ragged pixie style, a simple hunting knife strapped to her hip, and though still thin looking a lot less like a walking skeleton than she had when she’d left the city for the first time some months ago, Keziah no longer seemed the vulnerable child she had been for so long. She was still at risk in a lot of ways, and her life was still hard, but she’d crept a little further from the brink.
The smell of cooking meat made her mouth water as she wandered through the crowd. She had no coin yet, but grasped tightly in one hand were several animal skins. She’d learned to hunt, just a little, while out on the savannah with Campion. The skins were not terribly high quality but Keziah thought she could still get a few copper for them. Enough for some food, and maybe even a little extra to stash away with the coin she was slowly, methodically saving for a bow. She shouldered her way through to each stall she passed, looking for a vendor who might be interested in animal skins. Someone who made clothing, maybe. Before she found one, though, she suddenly spotted a very unexpected but very familiar Shifter in the crowd.
Keziah would know Set’s half form anywhere. An undead jackal-like creature was pretty hard to forget, and although he fit in well with the other Shifters in their half forms, she recognised him at once. Letting out a squeak of surprise the teenager shoved people aside as she fought her way to him. When she reached him, standing above the crowd on a small box, she hooked her fingers into the waist of his skirt to yank him down to the ground.
“Set!” She exclaimed, around about the same time she threw her arms around his neck, almost bouncing with excitement.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re still alive!”
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Post by Set on Jul 4, 2017 7:29:21 GMT
A few people were beginning to give Set some suspicious or disgusted glares as he briefly got a general idea of what the area looked like from a taller perspective. Now that he had a better idea of the area, he needed to blend in and pretend to be doing slave things so that he could get all the details down and find the jeweler's shop. After that, he’d somehow need to scout out the jewler’s shop for ever little detail. Finding a weak point in the building where the materials were stored was key and could make his job easier.
Just before he could step off the box however, he heard a familiar voice call his name and he was pulled down to the floor by a friendly face. Instinctualy his whole body stiffened when Kez hugged him. Set was not used to much human contact, and the only contact he’d had recently was minor beatings from Fulkore himself. The man was an ass, but Set was still grateful for the more successful life he was leading.
After a brief moment, he tried to relax and awkwardly hugged Keziah back. The grin across his face was more menacing looking than actual happiness, but he couldn’t help it. It’d been ages since he saw his friend and he just knew she was still alive somewhere out there. She was way tougher than him and much better at surviving on her own.
Set let her go and took a step back. He was still grinning, displaying the sharp canines in his mouth, when he excitedly exclaimed, “Yeah, I’m still kicking. Barely.” There were no words he could exclaim at how ecstatic he was about seeing her. She looked so much better than when he last saw her, roughly around a year ago. She didn’t look as skinny and well…she looked like she’d aged a little bit. And damn, was she pretty. He always had a small crush on her, but he was way too awkward and afraid to act on it, or even think much about it either.
“But holy shit, Kez! What are the chances of running into you.” He felt a little awkward hugging her in his half-form, so he quickly shifted back to his full human form. Set was still skinny himself, but not nearly as bad as he used to be. His skin was pale and his brown hair was a mess, but he didn’t really care. Set completely forgot that he was supposed to remain completely incognito too.
This time when he hugged her again, it was much less awkward while he held her tight for just a second and pushed himself away from the hug while still holding onto her shoulders with the grin still on his face. “How have you been? What have you been doing? Where did you go? Where’s your dragon thingy? Are you still on the streets?” Last he knew, Kez did what she needed to do to survive, which included prostitution. Set never judged her on what she did, but he had always been sad that she had to go through something like that in order to just survive. He made himself pause with the questions since there were so many, but he couldn’t help himself! The only friend he’d ever had was standing right in front of him after such a long, long time.
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Post by Keziah on Jul 6, 2017 8:38:02 GMT
The fact that Set might be busy on a job didn't really register for Keziah. Swept up in the excitement of seeing the jackal Shifter again for the first time in months, especially because they'd both been in fairly precarious conditions last time they'd been together and there had been no guarantee either or both of them would survive, she charged over to him with hardly a second thought. She'd always been impulsive, so this was not particularly out of character for her as a whole.
Set's awkwardness was also no barrier to her - brash, confident, she was bubbly enough for the both of them. She was beaming when she released Set from her overenthusiastic embrace.
"Better than barely. You're lookin' way better'n the last time I saw you, no doubt." Okay, so he still looked kind of rough, especially in his half form which was menacing by anyone's standards, but when she'd roped him into stealing with her on the streets that time he'd been a stone's throw from starving, not to mention strung out. She grinned even wider when Set shifted back to his Human form - his being a Shifter didn't bother her in the slightest, but she preferred him like this.
"That's better," she smiled, cupping his face briefly in both hands.
"Your half form is wicked cool but kind of also an ugly mug." She winked.
"I know, absolutely nuts. Can't believe I spotted you in this crowd." Of all of the markets in the whole city, it was a minor miracle they'd ended up in the same one at the same time. Especially since Keziah was only around for a few days. She laughed at his barrage of questions, grabbing his hand even as he was still speaking. Without bothering to ask nicely Keziah dragged Set out of the main crowd, jostling her way through the throng to elbow her way into one of the few spots of shade.
"I've been good, y'know? Better than before. I hooked up with this Daemon called Campion, been hikin' all over the savannah with him. He's been teachin' me some tricks n' things, how to hunt. I suck, but I'm learning." Keziah held up the armful of animal skins she was still hoping to sell.
"Nie's here, up on a roof somewhere nearby. She'll be keepin' an eye on me but she don't come down into the streets until night, n'only when it's quiet. And...I dunno, sorta? I still don't got anywhere to live, but I'm gonna stick with Campion a while longer yet. We're heading back to the savannah in a few days."
Keziah leaned against the wall of the building whose sliver of shade they had found, hands in her pockets and green eyes studying Set's face for a moment. He really did look better. She thought he was probably still a total druggie, but even so he'd put on weight.
"What about you, though? You still workin' for that gang or whatever it is?"
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Post by Set on Jul 7, 2017 8:08:21 GMT
Honestly, Set had no desire to talk about himself. He felt he was so uninteresting compared to Kez, and with that came his endless questions and curiosity. There was so much he wanted to know with not enough time, so to hell with himself! She was way more important than him. Set laughed at her comment after his shift. She always did seem to have a ‘humans are number one’ attitude, but without parading it around or in his face. That and Kez didn’t seem to mind him being a shifter at all, which was really all he cared about.
He flinched slightly when Kez reached out to his face, a natural reaction from the beatings his master would give him. Though awkward and extremely red in the face, he relaxed when all she did was cup his face in her hands. Set stumbled with his words. “Oh er…uh..Ouch. I see you still pull punches er…no???,” Gods he was such a dumbass. He frowned after playing the words back in his mind and realizing he’d mix them up bad. Stupid.
Again his face flushed bright red when she grabbed his hand. His hand in hers felt so warm and comforting, a feeling he couldn’t describe. Even that small bit of contact left a tingling sensation up his arm and warmed his chest. Though he knew he liked her, the concept of showing interest and responding or communicating about it was completely foreign to Set. Happily he let her drag him out of the mass of people and to a nice shady spot away from too many prying eyes. He found himself still holding onto her hand even after they stopped and, awkwardly, he pulled it away pretending he hadn’t kept holding it.
Thankfully there was no odd silence as she talked about her life and what had been going on. She spoke of some teacher guy that was a daemon, and he scowled at that. He didn’t trust daemons. Well, Set didn’t trust anyone, but daemons were so unpredictable with an extra serving of dangerous. Either way, it was Kez’s life. Just like she wouldn’t dictate how he should live his, he wouldn’t do to her. Still, part of him was a teeny bit jealous. It sounded like she traveled a bit outside of the City, while Set felt he would eternally be stuck in it.
Even so, he continued to smile and be happy for his only friend. Impressed by the pelts she showed, he commented, “Damn. Don’t gotta rely on shitty pigeons or rats anymore it seems like.” He didn’t have to either, and that in itself felt like a cause for celebration. Hooray for not having to eat the animal equivalence of garbage anymore!
As he spoke, his eyes would occasionally break away from hers. It was so unreal and unsettling in a good way to see her. When he did lock his eyes to hers, he found himself almost stuck with his words and lost in thought. So he would not just stop talking while staring at her all weird-like, Set would shift his eyes and focus on something else momentarily before returning them to hers. “The daemon though….he’s not a dick, is he?” He wondered what she’d been learning besides hunting. Set’s shoulders slumped a little when Keziah said she’d be leaving in a few days, but what did he expect? She wasn’t one to let herself be tied down in one place. Set was still excited for her, if not a bit sad for himself at the same time.
“You still have Nie? How big is she now?” His eyes grew large and Set grinned. Gently, he grabbed Kez’s shoulders and excitedly asked, “Holy shit, can you fucking ride her yet?! That’d be badass!” Course he was afraid of big animals, just like he was afraid of…well…pretty much everything.
Now it seemed like he had to talk about himself. He realized how close his face was to hers when he grabbed her shoulders, so he let go and coughed uncomfortably. Before it could get awkward, he responded. “No, not anymore. I was with them a long time after we last saw each other. Fucking hated it. I left and..well…” Set shifted his weight and awkwardly crossed one arm across his waist and scratched his head while looking at the ground. “I sorta almost died. As a matter of fact, I would have died. I o.d’ed really bad and was just about to go out when this guy saved me.” The story was long and complex, even Set didn’t understand it fully. “This guy, Fulkore. Apparently he saw me tryin’ to steal things and was impressed since I had no professional training. So when I about died, he decided to help me and train me. Said he wanted me to ‘continue his legacy’, whatever the fuck that means.”
Remembering that he wasn’t completely poor anymore, he quickly dug around in a pocket and pulled out a few coppers. Set grinned. “I got just enough to get some sweets if ya wanna go get some with me!” Job completely forgotten about for the moment, Set never offered to share coin with anyone. Kez was worth it though, and sweets were a delicacy to him.
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Post by Keziah on Jul 8, 2017 7:45:24 GMT
Keziah smiled at Set's stuttering. Cute, he was nervous. He hadn't been like this last time they'd been together, but then he'd been in such bad shape he was almost like a different person altogether now. Keziah didn't know quite what to make of it - she'd slept with men, plenty of them, but she'd never formed any kind of real emotional connection to them. Even the ones that hadn't paid her in coin had always been good for something else - food, drugs, a warm bed. Sometimes she had sort of liked them but there had always been business with the sex. Her connection with Set felt different to that. Keziah hadn't really had friends before, but she thought maybe Set was one.
"Oh, I still eat my fair share of pigeons. Easier t'catch than a lotta other stuff." She didn't want to give Set the idea she was in a different world to him, because it quite simply wasn't true. Keziah felt like she was teetering on the edge of something, walking a narrow line between a new, better future and her old life of hardship on the streets. She was dipping a toe into both here and there, trying to get to the point where leaping into the new life wasn't quite so likely to lead to disaster. It would be oh so easy to end up back here for good, and maybe that was what was right for her. Keziah was living day to day at the moment, seeing what life threw at her, taking opportunities where they came. She might not be quite like she was before, but she wasn't out of the woods yet either.
"Nah, he's not a dick. He can be pretty scary, y'know what Daemons are like. But he's actually pretty cool. He's helped me out a lot and he don't ask for nothin' much in return." There weren't many people like that in the world, in Keziah's experience.
"Course Nie's still with me! She's way bigger than when you last saw her. Can't ride her yet but the way she's been growin' maybe another half a year n' I can try." Set was right, it would be badass when it finally happened. She knew Nie was looking forward to it, and there was something about the idea of soaring above the world that tugged at something visceral, deep inside. Keziah had an avian influence and while she didn't know it intellectually, this was the tug of her affinity.
She listened with interest as Set described his life now, head tilted slightly to one side, leaning into Set's shoulder with a kind of easy familiarity she hadn't possessed last time they were together. She was suspicious of the man Set described, Fulkore - she hadn't missed the way Set flinched when she raised her hand, could see the evidence of old bruises on his face. But at least he was out of the goddamned gang, which she'd been sure would get him killed.
"Sure Set, let's do it," she smiled and linked her arm through his.
"What are you doin' in this market anyways? Am I draggin' you away from a job you're meant to be doin'? I don't wanna get you in trouble with your boss or nothin'."
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Post by Set on Jul 9, 2017 6:21:27 GMT
“Ha, yeah I guess I still eat them too from time to time. I get better food since I make more money, but I dunno. Been catching those stupid ass birds for so long and been so used to their taste, it kind of helps remind me I’m still myself and not some new person I don’t recognize even with my apprenticeship, ya know?” Set wasn’t even fully sure of what was to come the further he got away from living on the streets. He’d always be controlled by the hallucinogenic plant, Heprinsal, but slowly he was doing less and less of what he used to do. It did give him some comfort to hear that Kez still did some of the same things too, even if her life was changing too.
Part of him was glad to hear that the daemon had been treating her well, but the other part of him still felt uneasy about it. “Just…be careful, yeah?” Not like he needed to remind her. He felt a bit self-conscious about saying it though and avoided her eyes she should could not see the continuing beam of red that was on his face. That and, well, he was a little jealous that the daemon got to spend more time with Kez than Set did.
Part of him felt himself tensing up as she leaned into him, but he realized it was warm and relaxing. Set liked the feeling of her close to him and he found himself grinning like an idiot. Whoops. He was a little let down that Nie wasn’t big enough to ride. “Not like she’d let me ride her anyways, right? She only ever seemed to like and trust you.” There was no envy in his statement, just a matter-of-fact tone. Set had not been around Nie very much and only saw her when she was small.
Glad that she accepted his invitation, Set took the lead with their hands still interlocked back out into the plaza. There was a permanent sweets shop there he’d wanted to go to for some time, but never really found any reason to till now. Kez did remind him that he had a job and he cursed at himself. So much for not showing his face. It was too late to regret it.
“Yeah, I am kind of on a job. Or…er…sort of. I’m doing recona-…reconi….what’s it called. Fuck, I don’t know.” With his free hand, he scratched his head in frustration. Gods, he was so dumb! “I’m scoutin’ the area,” he finally managed to come up with. “Checkin’ for weaknesses in a jewelry shop. Watchin’ people, picking out hounds and following their routes, that sort of thing.” He shrugged at the mention of making his boss mad at him. Worst he could do was throw him back out on the streets. “I’ll take my chances. You could always help me too, if ya want. Part of my training n’ stuff is to find people I work good with.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “ Common, it’ll be like old times! I'm doin' the heist tonight.”
As promised, he brought her to the sweets shop. It was just a tiny little place that could barely fit more than a few customers in at a time. Protected by a window and out on display were the best damn looking sweets he ever saw. There were apples covered in some sort of brown, sugary thing. Carmel, he believed it was called? There were also some great, hot looking baked goods like biscuits, bread, and small pastries shaped like bowls and mashed fruit in the middle. There as more than that too, but Set was too busy pushing past a few people with Keziah to make his way inside.
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Post by Keziah on Jul 12, 2017 6:07:25 GMT
Keziah thought back and her and Campion’s most recent raid and smiled. ‘Careful’ and ‘Campion’ weren’t words that really went together in her head. For a Daemon Campion was pretty calm and balanced, but he still liked to take risks and travelling with him came with its fair share of trouble. Still, she nodded, if only to reassure Set.
“I will, don’t worry. Oh man, it was so cool though, our last raid we hit up these people with these crazy dog things. Campion said they were called hyenas. Nearly got eaten by one but didn’t, and I’m calling it a win since the damn thing was pretty keen on eating me. Really, though, Campion isn’t as bad as most Daemons. He doesn’t go around throwing himself into danger without thinking about it first at least.” Keziah wasn’t even aware how much she was waxing lyrical about her newest friend, but although she hadn’t said as much, she thought of Campion as an unusually cool big brother.
There was nothing intimate about their relationship, though they had grown fairly close.
“I have no idea, you’d have to ask her,” Keziah replied to Set’s question about riding Nie with a shrug. Most people who interacted with Nie understandably automatically treated her like an animal, albeit a particularly smart one. Nie, though, was no more an animal than Keziah was. The feathered dragon was not only sentient but probably more intelligent than most people, a consummate problem-solver and excellent at assessing situations quickly and accurately. She was also extremely opinionated, and Keziah wouldn’t dream of answering on her behalf about anything.
“She’s started talking to Campion. She might talk to you too, if we get a chance to see her later.” Nie wouldn’t come down into the streets until after dark these days. When she had been the size of a large dog she had drawn a lot of attention, still, but had been small and unobtrusive enough to not stick out too much. Now, though, she was larger than a big cat, and as she was getting taller - if she arched her neck her jaw could rest on Keziah’s shoulder now - she was more obtrusive and didn’t like the attention she got. Despite the glossy raven dark feathers on her wings she looked reptilian enough to be identified as a kind of dragon and people were always interested in dragons.
“A heist!” Keziah said this in a stage whisper, glancing at Set and looking impressed.
“That sounds awesome, actually. Like you’re a real professional thief or somethin’. And yeah! I totally want to help!” Keziah had nothing in particular to do in the city - they were visiting for Campion to get a tattoo - so finding a bit of a project or adventure to spend her time on was an unexpected bonus. Keziah had done her fair share of thieving but calling anything she’d done in the past a heist would be stretching it a bit far, so at worse it’d be a fun adventure and at best she might brush up on her skills or learn something new. She followed Set inside, still daydreaming about what an actual jewellery heist might involve, but the smell of the luxuries in the shop brought her back to earth.
“Cute place.” Keziah picked out a heart-shaped sweet on a stick, dark red in colour. Cherry? She hadn’t had sweets since she was a child, before her father had lost his business and she’d wound up on the streets.
“I’ll take this, and then I’m buyin’ the savoury part of our lunch, right? I’ve got a little coin too these days, mostly stolen in raids.” And she still had to sell her skins, not to forget that. The few copper in a pouch on her hip were for spending, but anything she made on skins was to be saved for a bow.
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Post by Set on Jul 12, 2017 6:54:42 GMT
Set knew nothing about this Campion. He first assumption as Kez talked about him was that they had a thing, and that made him so jealous to a point he didn’t recognize. But as she continued to talk about him, he realized that maybe he was overreacting. Maybe the daemon guy was just helping her out or something. Though the intensity of jealousy dissipated, there was still the original, lingering envy that he got to see her more often. Still, at least she seemed happy, and that was all that mattered to Set.
When it came to Nie, Set wasn’t used to thinking as any animals as sentient. The very idea that he’d have to ask the dragon just seemed…odd, but he really liked her! She was so elegant even at the young age he met her, and so pretty too. Even if it did seem weird, he made a mental note to make sure to ask her. At the notion that she could speak to him, there was a twinkle of excitement in his dull yellow eyes. He squeezed her hand. “Wait, she spoke to someone else?! That’s fucking amazing.” Gods, it’d be cool to hear her! Even if living on the streets had forced him to mature and grow up at a faster rate than most, he was still a teenager at heart.
It felt good that she was still up for helping him, but he felt forced to hush her. It was just out of paranoia for anyone in earshot. The last thing he needed was to be arrested before even starting it. He didn’t mention anything more while they were inside the small sweets store. It was a little cramped and the lady watching them with weary eyes seemed to be listening to everything they were saying. Set found himself frowning, immediately loathing her. It seemed like things would never change. He was perfectly willing to pay for the food, but now he was debating about it.
Set picked out a stick of solid, raspberry flavored honey. “Deal,” he responded to Kez. Jackals ate many things and really enjoyed anything sweet, so it was within his shifter diet. Without even making eye contact with the bitch of the store, he shoved two coins on a table top and hurriedly walked out with Kez, not letting go of her hand.
Once they were outside he let out a deep breath he was holding in. He stuck the honey stick in his mouth and happily started working on it. “Okay so I’m not even close to a professional thief. In fact, I probably suck ass at it. But I’m just starting out with easy stuff for now.” It warmed his heart to have heard the praise about what he was doing, especially from his only friend. He gave a mischievous, toothy grin. “You’ll have to deal with my ugly mug again though. I was going to do the heist as a human, but uh..well…” He grew a little red in the cheeks and stumbled over his words. “Too many people have seen my face now, so I’ll need to play the ‘shifter slave’ part. I ain’t doing it till tonight, but I need to do some scouting and shit. Probably should get some sleep before too.”
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Post by Keziah on Jul 16, 2017 5:29:04 GMT
Keziah nodded.
"She makes her own choices 'bout that kinda thing. It freaks Campion out, actually, the whole telepathic voice in the head thing." She didn't miss the tension in the store, either, but chose not to remark on that. She remembered this whole experience well - being treated like a criminal automatically, store owners openly unhappy about her presence in their store. Keziah wasn't wearing the low cut dresses that marked her as a whore these days, but knew she still came off as a street rat. The light tan pants, gathered just below the knee, were not proper attire for a Human girl and she didn't have the excuse of being a Shifter. The tank top she wore was dusty, torn, and showed her arms and stomach. The store owner took Set's coin, but didn't look happy about it. Keziah found it easier to ignore than Set did now she had one foot out of this world, but she still bristled silently at the insult.
"Oh come on, easy stuff? Jewellery was always way outta my reach, I think you're being a little modest." She shoved the Shifter playfully as they left the store, keeping her voice low so it threaded into the muttering of the crowd and stayed distinct only to Set. Even if he had the help of some kind of master or trainer, she knew he'd made some kind of progress in this world. He might still be trapped here, somewhat more than she was, but he was a step further from the lowest point too. She was happy for him, really; she'd half expected she might not ever see the Jackal Shifter again when she'd left.
As they passed a stall selling cooked meats Keziah passed over a few copper for chunks of shredded chicken, cooked in some kind of salty sticky glaze and served with rice. It came in two rough paper bowls and she handed Set his before picking a place in the crowded bazaar to sit. A breeze had come up while they were in the sweet shop and although it wasn't much, it felt good on sweaty skin. Keziah ate in silence for a moment, still accustomed to scoffing her food faster than was polite, then glanced back at Set.
"Cool. I'll hang with you for the rest of the afternoon then? I could nap during the worst of this damn heat. Where're you livin', these days? This boss give you a roof over your head or you still on the streets?"
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Post by Set on Jul 17, 2017 5:51:56 GMT
Set didn’t comment on it, but the daemon sounded like a little bitch to him if he couldn’t handle a voice in his head. His intention was not to insult Kez, nor to question what she was thinking since it really wasn’t his place to say anything. Set was just….very concerned for her. She was his only friend, and also the only person he’d ever trusted. Even if he’d been apprenticed for close to a year now, he still did not completely trust Fulkore.
The honey treat was quickly finished and replaced by, what he considered, a savory dish of chicken and rice. It beat pigeon meat any day. He’d already started picking at what he could once both his hands were free. The meat was the most delectable and good part. He much preferred meat over something like rice, and it was so damn good while it lasted. By the time they found a place to sit, he’d already eaten all the chicken. “Emf net beewing merdest,” he tried to say with a mouth full of food.
It was interesting how things had changed for both of them. Back when they first met, Set would have scarfed the food down like a rabid animal. He was starving once upon a time, and restraint with food was hard to do. Now, though there was always a lingering hunger or craving for food (which was also a sign of withdrawal from Heprinsal), he had a lot more self control. Set slowly picked at the rice and ate it, grateful and feeling blessed that he was able to have a nice meal with his favorite person.
A roof over Set’s head sounded great. Or, well, a permanent one. Maybe with the way he was going, that’d be possibly someday. He’d never be able to own something great, but part of him wondered if he could ever save up enough to go to Shifter Island, away from all the negativity and hate towards his species. It seemed like a long time away for something like that though. He scarfed down the last of his food and sighed with the content feeling of being full.
“Kind of? Not really. I mean when I’m not doin’ shit like this, I stay at his lil’ hovel thing he calls home. But most nights I can at least get a comfy bed in an inn. I think I got just enough to cover both of us. You bought some chicken, I can getchya a nice nap.” He smiled warmly at her, dull yellow eyes shining with just a bit of enthusiasm. It was the least he could do, really. “We still got most of the day. And I uh, need to deal with my withdrawals a while before tonight too.” Heprinsal was a hallucinogenic herb that could be smoked or ingested, and nowadays Set preferred to smoke it. If he did it before sleeping, he wouldn’t have to deal with the hallucinations and could just sleep off most of the effects. Without the drug though, he’d be miserable during the heist with intense hunger pains, cramps, and excruciating headaches that could affect his job.
Part of him felt kind of guilty for admitting it out loud to Kez that he was still on the drug, but Set would die without it. Another part of him realized that the reason he liked her so much, was that even if she didn’t like something, Kez wasn’t one to tell others how to live their lives. “So plan: Act like we’re just nosy lil’ fuckers that want to window shop for things, but really we’re just checkin’ out the area. Go get some sleep, then take shit.” It seemed like a solid one to him, even if it still felt a little weird to have to plan things out now.
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Post by Keziah on Jul 20, 2017 8:14:03 GMT
A casual afternoon had turned into a truly pleasant diversion, with the possibility of adventure later, and as Keziah leaned back against the rough stone wall and ate she took a moment to appreciate this rare moment of complete happiness. The stress of staying alive when you were only a few short steps from disaster was hardly ever really gone; it had become such an everyday emotion that it almost felt weird to be without it. But her stomach was full, she'd found Set again despite the low odds, she was going back to the savannah and getting off the streets again in a few days. For once, just once, the gnawing worry was gone. It would be back soon enough - her life was often still hard, still fraught with danger and mischance - but it was enough to gain this sweet relief even for a little while.
"You can just do whatever ya need to do, like you would if I weren't here. I'll tag along for company and the fun of it." She gave him a winning smile before licking sticky sauce from her fingers. She was hardly going to judge the Shifter for his drug use - it wasn't that long ago she'd been trading sex for drugs herself. It'd been a while since she'd indulged, but Keziah knew perfectly well that it was luck and not good judgment that had meant she'd escaped addiction but Set hadn't. She wasn't even at all sure she wouldn't dabble again, given the chance, although now she so desperately wanted a bow that she had more motivation to save her coin than she'd ever managed to have before. Regardless, she had absolutely no reaction to what Set seemed to think was a shameful admission. She knew all about that world, and wasn't so far from being in it herself.
"Excellent plan," she agreed with a nod, mischievous glint in her eye. Set was a lot more fun now, with that tiny extra scrap of confidence he seemed to have nurtured. Last time she'd seen him she'd practically had to force him to steal some food, now here he was jauntily talking about nicking jewellery, which no matter what he said was pretty impressive in Keziah's book. She'd never stolen anything she couldn't directly use herself - presumably his boss was in charge of cashing the goods in via selling or whatever, but it was still a big improvement on the skills he'd had last time she'd spent any time with him.
"Okay, master thief. Show me how this skulking window shopping deal goes down."
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Post by Set on Jul 21, 2017 18:43:07 GMT
As Set suspected, Keziah didn’t look down on him for what he needed to do. A big part of him wished he could turn back time and just decide to not try the intoxicating herb hallucinogen, but he was far too gone now to fix it. Truth be told, it probably wasn’t very healthy for his body either, hence his still skinny near emaciation appearance. He wondered if it would be what killed him in the future, and he then asked himself if he’d even live to be that old. “Ya know,” he found himself saying, eyes cast down at the floor. “I tried to stop usin’ it. I really did but I think I’m too dug in now and I’d die without it.” Set tried to keep his tone in a matter-of-fact way, but there was a hint of fear in there as well as sadness. “Funny how that works since I’m sure this shit is gunna kill me in the end too.” He couldn’t afford a healer to try and detox him, and the idea of using magic to help didn’t even occur to him.
He stood up and dropped the that held the rice and chicken and kicked it off to the side. Set had no regard for cleanliness in the streets of the city, so littering meant little to him. Raising his arms above his head he stretched as far up as he could, then bent backwards a little, then forward. With a sigh of relief, he rolled his eyes at Kez and offered his hand to help her get up. “I’m not a master thief, Kez. More like…..a sleazy kleptomaniac.” The only reason he knew that word was because his boss used it to describe Set. He had to ask what it meant when he first heard it.
“It’s real simple. Your job is to help me just look like a part of this boring ass crowd, yeah? We’ll start on the far side of the plaza and just look at the things there. I think there’s a food vendor and a dye vendor. We just look at things, act like we really want ‘em but are too poor to get ‘em,” which was for the most part true, but that was besides the point. “Then we slowly make our way to the jewelry store. Once we get kinda close, we stop, grab a snack again or somethin’.” The point was to just act like some really, really optimistic slaves or people in poverty at best. People would be watching them especially careful at first, but the longer they acted consistently in the plaza, the less the vendors would pay them any heed. There would always be condescending and paranoid eyes watching their movements, which was why it was important to not just go straight for the jewelry building.
“Then we go on over to the window with all the nice lookin’, expensive jewelry and look in the window. Both of us need to for it ta be genuine. I’ll be scopin’ out what I can of the inside.” Gods, he hoped they didn’t have any animals. He hadn’t considered that and, truth be told, Set was still really shitty at any form of fighting. “Once I’m done I’ll pull ya away, we’ll blend in with the crowd a bit and then sneak out an alley and head to the back so I can check that out too. THEN we can go nap.” The whole process would take a few hours at least, but they’d have plenty of time to rest before doing the heist.
He smiled at Kez, feeling his heart nearly beat out of his chest. It was from fear mainly. Set was still, at heart, very cowardly and afraid of everything. It was also excitement too since he was able to do more than just beg on the streets. And to top it all off, his closest friend was there with him. "So really, ya just gotta act like you normally do with me."
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Post by Keziah on Jul 22, 2017 8:05:37 GMT
Keziah leaned into Set a little, jostling shoulders with him playfully. Her tone, when she replied, was serious though.
"Or maybe you just keep learnin' to deal with it, and you live your life and die of somethin' really fuckin' boring like old age." She smiled, refusing to give in to his negativity. If Set didn't believe in himself, she'd cover the both of them. As she sat there, bathed in sunshine with a full stomach and something like happiness, Keziah realised she didn't want to lose her friend. So Set was just going to have to keep trucking on, as far as she was concerned.
She allowed herself to be helped to her feet, still grinning, the seriousness melting away. It was too hot to stay serious, and they were too young and had too much to look forward to. She liked the sound of their afternoon, and if teenagers were good at anything it was short-term thinking at the expense of the long-term. The rest could sort itself out later.
"No, you ain't a master thief. Yet." Mischievous, she linked her arm through his.
"But you gotta start somewhere, right? I wanna come back here in a few years and visit you on your pile of jewels and money in some fancy-ass house." Okay, so who knew what Set would actually do. This kind of planning was more like wild dreaming for people like them - so much like wild dreaming that despite her teasing Keziah had no plans like this for herself either. To think like that, really seriously think like that, was to flirt with such serious disappointment it could threaten your ability to get out of bed in the morning. And, when you needed to spend your days hunting down things to eat or starve, losing motivation was a killer. Keziah knew only a few days or weeks in advance, had her sight set on only the next small goal. They all lived that way, really. Set had started himself on a path, though. Maybe it would take him somewhere, one day.
"Reckon I can manage that. Maybe actually find someone who'll buy these skins, really sell the act, right?" At Set's direction she began to weave through the crowd, still arm in arm. Casually, though - shoppers exploring a market, too poor to really buy much but maybe looking to sell. It was an easy enough thing to act, since it wasn't so far from the truth.
"We're just...hanging out. Killin' time. Sounds fine to me." A quick smile, cheeky and playful, and then she was in character. Or, really, just being herself. It wasn't so hard to pretend she liked looking at the stalls, perusing the wares - she did. Even though she couldn't buy much the colour, noise and crowd of the city was still home, and being home wasn't so bad.
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Post by Set on Jul 30, 2017 21:42:48 GMT
Kez’s understanding of Set’s drug problem was the exact reason why he liked her so much, even admired her. She was such a strong individual, but did not seem to hold herself above him because of that. Even he was fully aware of being rather unskillful, cowardly, and just weak, and yet she still liked to be around him. His attitude perked up a lot, though his face was a little pink from her leaning into him. It was a mix of not being used to contact from other people, as well as his overall slowly developing feelings for the human girl.
Negativity fading away, he laughed at her jest of his future wealth. It was a dream, sure, one that most gutter rats had when stuck on the street. Hell, it was a dream many low or middle class folk in the City would have, but Set wasn’t sure he’d ever raise that bar so high. “Uh yeah, right. A shifter ownin’ a nice house in the city? I don’t think that’d work.” And he had no idea what else there was out there, besides hearing about the Shifter Island by other, very high shifters. A lot of them dreamed to go there, away from the burdening rule of humans, but Set was not nearly so ambitious. Despite the mistreatment of shifters, he had no ill feelings towards any whole set of species. Keziah was a prime example that not all humans acted like jerks to shifters. “More like I get a shit ton of jewels and money, give them to you, and then YOU get the big house and I’ll just stick to ya like glue.” Was it realistic? Probably not. Although his master, Fulkore, seemed to be doing fairly decent for himself.
Acting the part of just friendly teenagers was hardly an act, even if there was an underlying reason for them doing so. It was so different now, where Set had the confidence to walk in public arm-in-arm with Kez, looking at all the pretty doo-dahs and things that people were desperately trying to sell. The crowd was bustling and constantly moving, but the two of them were nearly invisible. The middle class folk were all too busy with their own lives, their own experiences to pay attention to two individuals well below the poverty line. Set admired a blacksmith’s booth, where the man was trying to get people to buy them as he claimed they were filled with magic of luck and prosperity. Another vendor sold freshly cut meats of cows, deer, and other exotic things Set had never heard of before. Of course anytime he or Kez stopped to look, they vendors watched them with disdain and uncertainty.
As Kez tried to sell her furs though, Set was scoping out the area, noticing every little nook and cranny, every alley that could be a potential escape route were something to go horribly wrong. Their progress was slow as they made their way through the multitude of vendors, people, and shops, but slowly they were making progress to their destination. In that time, their chatter was filled with smiles and laughter, something Set wasn’t familiar with, but realized he loved more than anything he’d possibly enjoyed in his lifetime. It was nice to feel like a kid with Kez for once, since the two of them had to learn to grow up so fast at such a young age.
Occasionally, a set of Hounds would patrol through the area with grim expressions, seeking anything to make a scene for any form of excuse. Any time he’d see them, Set’s whole body would grow tense from his true-form’s instincts to flee, but still he continued to smile and pretend to be invisible with Kez. It was important to make note of their routine though, so later he’d be able to avoid them.
“Er sorry,” he muttered to Kez, realizing his arm link had tightened a lot from initially seeing the hounds, to the point where he’d been squeezing her arm with his. “Hounds still scare the shit outta me. Seems like they just get shittier and shittier. Always lookin’ for an excuse to beat someone.” His arm loosened as he calmed down some.
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