We're running with the shadows of the night (Lark and Haelan)

[havinalark]

The temple was quiet, the only movement being the patrolling of the guards outside. In the dormitories the priests slept peacefully, trusting in the guards to protect the treasures hidden within the deepest sanctuary of the temple.

The guards, unfortunately, are not prepared for the dark shadow that knows exactly where they are patrolling and where their blindspots are, and slips through without them noticing. Nobody expects the soft, barely-there footfalls of the black-clad figure slipping through the darkened temple corridors, and they certainly don't expect someone to be able to pick the lock of the large oak door protecting the inner sanctuary and slip in, ready to do the same to the heavy padlock holding closed the chest that contains the temple's most sacred artefact - a golden statue that somebody has paid the Wing very, very good money to steal.

No, the are not prepared for any of that. Unfortunately, the wing was not prepared for what came next.

The slim redhead was crouched in front of the chest, working carefully at the padlock. As usual Lark was clad in simple black leggings and tunic, baggy enough to hide the femininity of her form, the black hood hiding her hair and a half mask covering her nose and mouth all helping to keep her identity - and gender - a secret. She appeared completely focused on the task at hand, but she had half an ear out for any disturbance, and when she heard a noise she was sweeping her tools into a pouch and disappearing into a shadowy corner, waiting to see who was coming.

Comments

[havinalark]

"Nothing terribly incriminating, I wouldn't worry," she tells him with a smile. In truth she can't remember a lot of detail, she's certainly not been warned away from him or told anything bad so that's good enough for her, as much as she can recall he's mentioned the name in passing when talking about plans or friends. She would ask Arryn for more information, but they're not exactly on the best of terms at the moment. Her smile fades and she wrinkles her nose slightly.

"Nothing worse than being friends with that rat, anyway, but you're not the only person who's made that mistake." she pauses for a moment, conceding that perhaps she's being somewhat too harsh - not to Arryn, but to Haelan "Not that he's necessarily a bad friend to you."

Shaking her head slightly, she crosses the room to the small kitchen-like area in the corner "Are you hungry?"

[bad_thief]

Haelan feels himself relax, if only because now there is a real, live person as a point of reference. And then, like a soap bubble, suddenly it bursts when Lark scowls. Clearly she's not a big fan of Arryn right now. Sure, sometimes he can be a bit much and not all of his jokes are funny, but Haelan has never thought of him as a rat.


"Rat?" He has to know. There's a story there, he knows it. And let's face it, gossip is as good a currency as coins.

He moves, if only because he's still stood just inside the door, and settles on one of the wooden chairs, unwrapping the golden statue and polishing it a bit with the corner of his cloak. It's not the prettiest of things, that's for sure, but it's clearly worth something to someone.

"I... no, I'm fine."

He is hungry. He's always hungry. But he doesn't know if he should fully trust her, she wants the statue, she might poison him, or drug him or something just to get her hands on it. He doesn't want to be suspicious, but at this point it's a survival instinct.

[havinalark]

Lark scowls faintly down at the bread she's currently cutting slices of, but brushes it off with a shake of her head.

"I wouldn't worry about it, he's not going to..." she waves a hand vaguely in the air as she tries to come up with something "turn you in to the city guard or something, in fact he probably wouldn't do anything even remotely objectionable to you," she glances pointedly over her shoulder at him "you don't have the right attributes, if you take my meaning."

She slides into the chair opposite him, bread and cheese in hand, taking a satisfied bite of the fresh bread and falling silent while she eats, her eyes straying to the idol. He seems like a nice guy, but she won't hesitate to double cross him as far as getting the idol goes - she's been hired to retrieve it for her employer, and she will get it to him, even if she has to steal it from somebody else. It's a professional guarantee, the Wing does not fail.

"You sure?" she senses his hesitation, pushing some of the bread across the table towards him.

[bad_thief]

Haelan makes a face. He knows what she's suggesting, and it's hard to believe it of Arryn. But then again, why would she lie about something like that? Something that is just a throw-away part of their conversation. Still, it's not nice, if that's what happened. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Why Arryn would threaten to do that, he doesn't know. He's not sure he does want to know the full story, but he's certain he's not going to see the other young thief in the same way again. You don't threaten to hand someone else over to the guards. You just don't.

The bread is tempting. It looks nice and soft and there doesn't seem to be any green on it at all but... well...

"I shouldn't. I should probably go, really. Have to hand this thing over before it gets too hot to handle, you know?" He says, with a small smile, although frankly this is the hottest thing he's ever stolen and probably will be for a long time. But maybe this is the break he needs. He gets up. He promised to meet his buyer down at the docks before sunrise, and he needs to get a move on if he wants to keep that date.

"I'll leave you to your supper. And maybe I'll see you around."

[havinalark]

"Probably not the kind of thing he brings up in conversation... maybe. I know some guys boast about things like that." she shrugs, oblivious that he seems to have missed what she was implying "I'm sure they'll be very happy together. Or he's moved on already. Either way, I don't care." which of course is why she keeps talking about it. Not bitter at all.

"Of course," she agrees, gaze straying to the idol again. Will she follow him to his meeting, find out who his buyer is and steal it off them? Or get in touch with her underworld contacts, one of them is sure to know who hired him... She decides on the former, though outwardly her only move is to stand and move towards the door.

"See you around, Haelan."

[bad_thief]

Unfortunately, Haelan is not exactly experienced in relationships. Affairs of the heart are really a little beyond him. He's not exactly... suave or handsome or exciting enough for most people to look twice, and there is that baby face. That doesn't do him many favours. So the fact that exactly what has passed between Lark and Arryn has gone straight over his head is to be expected.

But he doesn't stop to ask, he wants to get this idol handed over and collect his big bag of money.

He nods her a goodnight, and slips out into what's left of the night. It's only a few hours to dawn, all the drunks have passed out or made it home, most thieves have called it a night, and the guards are huddled up out of the chill having a smoke. His route to the docks is easy, and when he gets to the proposed meeting place, he hangs back in the shadows of a warehouse, waiting for his contact to show up. He can't much complain they aren't there yet, as he's only just now turned up, but something it making him uneasy.

After an hour, the sky growing lighter and lighter, he really is getting twitchy. Fisherman and dock workers are arriving now, getting on with the business of the day and it's really too busy for him to want to hang around for too much longer. But he does, hanging on until the sun is just over the horizon.

He doesn't know what's happened, but all he can do is slip away, following the alleyways until he goes out near the market. That's getting busy too, the market stalls already up and the first crowds building. Building around the town crier, around parchments, tacked to walls dotted about the place.

"...desecrated our most holy of holies, murdering dutiful temple guards about their business and stole the living embodiment of our god. The Wing, a young man of average height, with fair curls, freckles and a dirty appearance, is wanted dead or alive by Temple officials..." The crier reads, and Haelan feels his stomach sink.

Crash, actually, like a rock through water. He's not the Wing. He's never been wanted dead or alive, and now he can see that the posters depict a not completely inaccurate picture of him. He pulls back into the shadows, head suddenly in his throat, the idol even know wrapped in his cloak in his arms. Would that crowd bother about the or alive part? Would they just want the reward? Haelan doesn't know, but he doesn't want to find out.

His safe house, the little attic above the bakery, is on the other side of town. It means crossing the market, and wild horses couldn't make him do that right now. He has no choice. He turns back on his heel and runs, as fast as he can, back towards Lark's safe house.

[havinalark]

Lark closes the door behind him only to open it a scant few minutes later, scrambling nimbly up the wall of her small home and onto the rooftops, climbing her way higher until she has a good enough vantage point to see where he was heading - then it's short work to dart across the city above him until she's crouched above a balcony, watching him as he waits. Honestly, it's a good job her occupation lends itself to long nights doing very little, because anybody else would have gotten bored sitting there in the cold, pre-dawn darkness waiting for his contact to arrive.

She only waits around forty five minutes, she can already see that he's getting agitated, suggesting the time for the meeting has long since passed, and if she doesn't leave soon she's going to have no time to sleep before she's expected to be at the laundry. Assuming she'll be able to track down the idol some other way, she slips back the way she came, shedding her clothing and sliding into bed almost the second she gets in the door, asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.

She's barely been asleep an hour before the morning light hits her face through the small window high on her wall, and she stirs fitfully, stretching under her blankets with a grumble of dissatisfaction, but she also knows that she has to rise, and she'll have chance to sneak in a cat nap this afternoon, so she yawns widely and forces herself out of bed.

The shapeless tunic and leggings of the night before are exchanged for a more traditional skirt and blouse, hair held back by a scarf

away from her face but flowing loose around her shoulders, and to a passer by she wouldn't look any different to any other maiden on her way to work. Only she isn't on her way to work, because as she opens the door there's Haelan on the other side and she raises a curious eyebrow at him.

"Forget something?"

[bad_thief]

Haelan is a little out of breath, chest rising and falling as he waits for her to let him in. He's pale, and frightened, and while he might normally try not to show it, he's too shaken to pretend otherwise.

"Don't mess about," He hisses, and slips inside before she invites him. He's not staying out there, not for all the gold in the castle coffers. As soon as he's in, he's pushing the door shut. Only then does he relax, slightly, leaning back against it and taking a big breath.

"There's wanted posters all over town. Big ones. That say reward and dead or alive. I'm not going out there again."

[havinalark]

Almost as soon as the words are out of her mouth she realises that there's something more serious going on, and though she was just on her way to work she makes the split second decision to find out what it is. She can always claim she was sick later, this is clearly more important. So she ignores how he invites himself in and closes her door behind him and just waits for him to explain - she doesn't have to wait long.

"Posters? For... for the idol? I wouldn't worry about it, they barely saw either of us." she shrugs, though her tone is at least attempting to be reassuring. She's seen her fair share of wanted posters for her, most of them with little to no description. Even if they had managed to spot him while they were fleeing, his description would match hundreds of people in the city, surely? There was no way the guards would have any more information... it was weird enough that there were posters up already, that was quick, surely they hadn't had enough time to print all they'd need... Haelan must have just seen one and panicked, that must be it.

"We'll just move it on and that'll be the end of it."

[bad_thief]

"I can't just move it." Haelan replies, a little note of panic making his voice go up an octave. She might be cool-headed, she might have had wanted posters up before, but Haelan is a small fry. He's unimportant, he gets by picking pockets and not being recognised. Even if the posters could be a hundred or more people in town, some of the guards know him already. she doesn't understand. Those posters will be the death of him.

"My contact didn't meet up with me. He should have been at the docks! There was no one there!"

Which means he's stuck with the thing. A thing that will get him killed. He's probably dead already, with a price on his head. Getting caught with the idol on him would just be the final nail in his coffin.

"You have it!" He decides suddenly, shoving it into her hands. "It's cursed. But you wanted it, so you have it!"

[havinalark]

For a moment she just doesn't understand his panic, how can somebody get a job this big without having a reputation for it first? And a reputation means experience... but then she thinks about how he was acting the night before, how amateur he seemed, and it wouldn't be the first time a thief had gotten in way over their head. She forces herself to think more charitably and try to calm him down - only before she can really respond he's shoving the idol into her hands. It's a good job she has quick reflexes or she would have dropped the thing, but she manages to grab hold of it before it falls.

"Right, just... breathe a second, alright? Sometimes contacts don't turn up, it happens. Did anybody see you come here? Don't worry about people being stealthy, you'd usually hear a shout and chasing, did anybody chase you?"

[bad_thief]

He tries, taking a breath, a long, deep breath to calm his nerves and stop his heart hammering. He needs to relax, to breathe. After a second or two, he does feel better, but maybe it's because the awful idol is in someone else's hands.

Later he'll feel guilty about that. Lark is a nice girl, or so she seems, she helped him escape. She doesn't deserve any bad luck the thing might cause, but she did want the damn thing. But maybe he shouldn't have just thrown it at her.

"I... No. No one saw me. No one saw me at all." He's sure if they had followed him, chased him, he would have known. He'd just run like a startled cat all the way here.

[havinalark]

"Right, then you can stay here," she says firmly, already moving to the chest at the foot of her bed to shove the idol and her Wing clothes into a bag, she'll attract less attention dressed as she is, at least until she's safely away from her home and she can change and move to the rooftops instead of the streets. She'll take the idol to her contact, get it away from them to start with, and then figure out what to do with him from there.

"I'll get rid of this, you'll be safe here. Help yourself to food, get some sleep, I'll be back in a few hours. Don't leave, if anyone knocks just ignore it, right?"

[bad_thief]

"Are you sure?" He says, nervousness filling him. Sure she knows what she's doing but he can't help feel that she's doing something dangerous, something that might get her into trouble as well. But she's packing things into that bag and seems utterly set on what she's doing.

He won't be able to eat. He won't sleep either. He's certain he'll pace the room until she's back, concerned like a good man should be. He should go with her, to protect her. But if he's a wanted man, and she'll attract less attention if he stays put.

"Be careful?" He says, but she's already out the door.

He sighs, and starts his pacing. For a few minutes anyway, before he collapses in a heap on the chair he sat in last night. He only means to be there for a second, to think things over, but soon he slumps forward, using his arms as a pillow. Within moments he's asleep, stress and exhaustion taking their toll.

[havinalark]

Skirting around the laundry and hoping she doesn't get seen by anyone who knows she should be working, she makes her way a few blocks away from the house and slips into an alleyway to change quickly, then it's just a quick climb up onto the rooftops and she's off. She makes it across the city in a little under half an hour, sliding through the window of one of the larger, more impressive buildings near the castle. She winds up in the study of the person who hired her, placing the idol neatly on the desk and taking a seat there herself, feet up while she waits for him to show.

As Lark is making herself comfortable across town, Arryn is knocking heavily on her door, pacing back and forth. It's only a few seconds after his first knock that he knocks again, calling out "Lark, open up, it's Arryn."

[bad_thief]

Haelan shifts, groaning softly at the banging on the door. He doesn't want to be awake. He's hardly been asleep even twenty minutes, and he was warm and relaxed and everything was good in the world. Now he feels like a man recovering from a hang-over, forced to get up. He's forgotten all about Lark's warning to not open the door, he doesn't even think about keeping quiet as the chair scrapes back along the stone floor and he gets to his feet.

But the noise cuts through him like a knife through butter and he freezes, everything flooding back to him. Last night, escaping through the window, the damn horse that jarred every organ in his body, the identity of the infamous Wing, the pretty red-headed girl, the idol, the wanted posters.

He groans, but it's cut off with his own hand slapping quickly over his mouth, hoping against hope that he's not been heard.

[havinalark]

A light groan, the scrape of a chair, it might not be a lot but it's enough for someone who's listening for it, so only moments after Haelan's covered his mouth there's another banging on the door.

"Lark I can hear you in there, let me in. I just want to talk, right? You can at least hear me out, you owe me that much." His tone is at once pleading and accusatory, and outside he's pacing impatiently, glancing around like he expects nosey neighbours to be hanging out their doors.

"I went to the laundry, they said you hadn't shown up, I know you're there."

[bad_thief]

Haelan would curse, but that would really make it obvious someone was there. He fidgets, for a long moment not sure what to do and then he gives in. He isn't exactly sure what happened with Arryn and Lark, he guesses it was something relationshipy, but Lark wasn't happy and at the time, he'd left it at that.

But Arryn is his mate, and maybe he can just get him to sod off.

He goes to the door, unlatches it, and opens it just an inch.

"What do you want Arryn?" He asks, blinking at the narrow stream of dirty light shining in on his face.

[havinalark]

Arryn stops his pacing and moves to the door as soon as it opens, but the face and voice that greet him are not what he expects, and for a moment he glances around as though he's confused about where he came.

"Haelan? What are you-" he frowns, eyes narrowing suspiciously. From what little he can see, his friend looks rough and tired, like he's had a long, busy night, and his mind immediately jumps to the worst place.

"That little slut." He swears, stepping back with an incredulous look "after all the hassle she gave me!"

[bad_thief]

"Don't call her that!" Haelan bit back, suddenly angry that Arryn would even consider sucH a thing. He's exhausted, and not really good at fighting but part of him wants to hit Arryn on the nose.

"You get out of here Arryn. Before you embarrass yourself more. Go on, bugger off."

If he doesn't than Haelan will rise to the occasion and go out there and whack him. But he'd rather not if he can hep it. Arryn is a bit older but maybe those extra years will make him smart enough to go away.

[havinalark]

Arryn shakes his head slightly, almost despairingly at Haelan's comment, his internal logic deciding that the less experienced boy had been taken in by a pretty face and was too smitten to know any better.

"Haelan, Haelan, Haelan, come on mate," he says, holding up his hands in a conciliatory gesture, tone softer and more friendly "I was just a little surprised is all, she got so offended I'd been sleeping with that hot barmaid from the king's head, but come on, she was taking forever to give it up, what was I supposed to do?" He asks beseechingly, as if Haelan should understand his unfaithfulness.

"Looks like you had better luck though, eh?" He adds with a grin, waggling his eyebrows at the younger boy "all I'm saying is it looks like she got the taste for it, but honestly mate, don't get all uptight about it, she's a good lay but she's not the type you stick around with is she? Probably rope you into marriage and before you know it you've got kids everywhere, those laundry girls are all like that. Get your rocks off but don't get attached alright?" He winks "just follow my lead, mate, I'll steer you right."

[bad_thief]

Haelan's face lights up, bright red from nose to the tips of his ears. He should slam the door, he should, but Arryn was one of the little gang of street rats who saw him right those first few months after he left the orphanage, and he almost feels like he owes him a chance.

But as the other boy continues, Haelan's face contorts with distaste. He's not exactly had many- any girlfriends, and while he's messed around it's not exactly been... it's certainly not what Arryn seems to be suggesting and he's certainly not done that with Lark, or thought about it, or wanted to.

"Shut up!" He almost yelps as Arryn continues, the pink turning a deeper shade of red. "Of course she wouldn't sleep with you if you were banging someone else, you idiot. Treat a lady with a bit of respect!"

Although the barmaid at the King is hot, okay, but that doesn't mean anything.

"Get out of you, okay? She doesn't want you hanging around."

And then he slams the door.

[havinalark]

Arryn scoffs at the reprisal, shaking his head again "mate come on, she ain't a lady," he tries, but the door is slammed in his face before he's even got the words out.

He throws his hands up in annoyance and calls out "look, fine, but when you get over this girly little smitten thing you've got going on you'll see her for the slut she is, come talk to me then okay? Since you're my mate I won't even say I told you so."

[bad_thief]

"Fuck off Arryn!"

Whether or not Arryn will even hear that through the door he doesn't know and part of him doesn't care. He knows this is probably going to come back and bite him in the ass, especially now he recalls that he can't actually denied sleeping with Lark.

He pulls the door open again a moment later, just to add that, but Arryn is already gone. He shuts it again, and moves back to the chair. This time he doesn't bother to put his arms down as a pillow, and just lets his head hit the wood of the table.

He's cursed. The idol cursed him, and this is his life now.

[havinalark]

It's not long after that Lark returns, slamming the door shut behind her with a thunderous look on her face.

"That son of a bitch," she swears, stalking over to the chest and flipping it open with her foot. She dumps a jingling sack in there and then starts stripping off her Wing gear, which she didn't bother changing out of on her way back, without stopping to think she's not actually alone.