The illusion of reality, the reality of illusions (Solo)

[Nyahna Sasin]

13th of Winter, 511 AV
Early Morning

Coils lazily uncurling as the sun's rays hit them, the gold and black striped viper lazily raised his head up off the floor, and stared out the window. Slithering over to the bed, he shifted lazily, entire body rearranging until a human lay in place of the snake. Yawning, Sasin grabbed on to the bed post and hauled himself up, before grabbing his clothes and dressing.

"Knife, check. Backpack, check. Money, check. Clothes, check. I am now ready to start a day of doing basically nothing except running from various illusions." He muttered to himself, grinning. "Lovely."

Wandering out of the Wolf's Cave, he found the streets more or less deserted. Heading off in a random direction, he was amused to find that the city changed as much when it was just him as it did with a large crowd. Having spent most of the last week and half just wandering around the city, he was beginning to get used to them, at least as much as was possible with an ever changing city.

Still fascinating though, he decided as he crouched down to pet a two inch tall tiger. How these illusions worked was a mystery to him, and he supposed it was unlikely he would ever understand them.

He sat down in the streets, leant back against a wall, and closed his eyes. Alvadas was an unpredictable place, but there seemed to be some constants and rules. The walls, for instance, and the sanity center, and the Gaping Maw. These three things were the only things that stayed the same, relative to the rest of Mizahar, but they were static. At least, he thought so. If he had a compass, he could be sure.

Opening his eyes, he found himself across from the apothecary. Making a mental note of the building (Always know where to find poison.), Sasin settled back again and closed his eyes. That was the other thing he had learnt. Things didn't change if you focused on them. If your mind started going off on a tangent, however, you'd end up on the other side of the city. It wasn't so much looking as it was really seeing and noticing. It was entirely possible to keep your eyes open and not notice a change, but Sasin found it easier to close his eyes.

Opening his eyes again, he found himself in front of the Bizarre. Getting to his feet, he stretched, left hand slipping into his pocket to pat the small pile of coins inside. His coin purse was, as always, filled with small pebbles, a decoy for any would-be thieves. Following the slowly growing trickle of people, Sasin entered the Bizarre, not sure what to expect.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Mid-morning

Inside, Sasin froze in shock, staring as people moved past him. The inside was massive beyond imagination. There were so many people, so many stalls, so many of everything it overwhelmed him. He shook his head in awe, and moved over to the nearest stall. Jewelry, which would have interested him, normally, but there weren't that many people around the stall. Not enough for a guaranteed get-away. He wandered around the stalls for a few chimes when he saw something that caught his eye.

A set of armor, black and supple. He touched it softly, rubbing it between his fingers. Practically noiseless, compared to what he was using right now."Night leather." The vendor supplied. "Light, flexible, not too weak."

The assassin scoffed. "Not too weak? This looks like it'll rip the minute someone touches it." Even if it did though, he wanted it. He'd been making do with just black clothing so far, which was terrible for stealth. This armor was exactly what he needed.

"It looks like it will, but I can guarantee it won't. It's new as well, just got it in a few days ago." Sasin raised an eyebrow at that. Perhaps it was true, perhaps it wasn't. Sasin certainly didn't know enough about armor or any sort of material to make that sort of judgment. But it looked good enough not to break the second he wore it, at least. "75 gold, and it's yours."

Sasin let his jaw drop. "75 gold? Are you mad? For something that looks like it's going to fall apart in days? I doubt you paid even 30 gold for it. I'll give you 40 for it. Know a friend who could use it." The merchant seemed to see the glint in his eyes, however.

"65 gold, and I'll tell you, I paid much more than 30 gold for it. The only reason I'm willing to let you have it for this price is because I'm leaving in a few days."

Sasin rolled his eyes at that. "I swear, if you hadn't gotten me that horse last year..." he muttered under his breath, to his imaginary friend. He hoped the merchant would lower the price if he appeared not to want it. "60, and not a copper lower." The merchant grumbled at him, but agreed reluctantly. Gold and armor changed hands, and Sasin walked away satisfied. Stowing his new purchase in his pack, he slipped back into the crowd.

He continued wandering, but saw nothing else of interest. He was about to leave (odd, how the exit was always right there) when he ran into a man holding a large pile of cloth. Instinct took over, and Sasin grabbed the man's coin purse with his left hand, while steadying the man with his right. "Alright there? Good." He said as the man scrambled around for his dropped items.

He smirked softly as he wandered out. Old habits died hard, he supposed. And what kind of thief would he be if he didn't take an opportunity when it presented itself?

[Nyahna Sasin]

Noon

Returning to the Cave after a bit more wandering, he dropped off his new purchase, resolving to try it out later. At night, perhaps. He paused for a second, then decided to try his hand at pickpocketing again. He was starting to get the hang of this city, at least a little. Slipping the small ribbon daggers in his pocket and packing another set of clothes, Sasin scowled. It was awfully inconvenient, to have to pack an entire set of clothing just to keep safe. Now, if only it was possible to make alterations to his existing clothes so he wouldn't have to bring disguises every single day.

Tucking that thought into the back of his mind, Sasin slipped back into the streets, and mingled with the crowd. Eyes wandering over the crowd, he was slightly amused to notice that bright clothing would fit in just as much as plain. Even more so, perhaps. Something he should consider, he decided. Later.

Examining the passerbys, he mentally checked them off. This felt familiar. Very familiar. He was back in his element, even if he was in a new city. Too poor, too dangerous looking, maybe him? No, he has a dagger up his sleeve, from the look of it. Maybe.. no, he walks dangerously. Alright, so he wasn't exactly comfortable. Here, more than anywhere else, people could look like nothing much, and turn out to be master swordsmen or something like that. Still, there would be no gain without a little risk. Nodding mentally to himself, he looked around to find himself alone. "Ionudamnit." He muttered to himself. Frowning softly, he cocked his head to the side, listening for the sound on a crowd. When he heard it, he glanced in that direction, then turned the other way and started walking. Soon enough, he was back in the middle of a crowd again.

He took less time choosing his victim this time, going straight for a bulging coin purse after only a cursory look over to makes sure the man wasn't too dangerous looking. He watched the man stop and look around to try to orient himself. Another visitor then, one who seemed very confused. Sasin stepped up just behind and to the left of the man, his right hand pulling out his ribbon dagger, then stepped up as his victim turned to look to the right, slashed the string holding the purse to the man's belt, caught it, and turned as if equally confused, transferring the purse to his left hand in front of him where his victim couldn't see.

Strolling away, he was relieved to see that the man didn't seem to notice the loss. Grinning, Sasin slipped the pouch into his backpack, and wandered off to find some more victims.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Dusk

Unfortunately, his luck today wasn't as good as he had hoped. Sasin had several times spotted a likely target, only for them to slip away in the crowd, and he had twice ended up in a deserted alley when his attention strayed. Still, he had gotten a couple of purses, even if they were disappointingly light. He weaved in and out of the slowly thinning crowd, wandering aimlessly through the city, drinking in the sights, and making plans for the future of his career. He was going to have to change a little, make things more convenient.

Of course, that could all come later. Right now he wanted to try his hand at burglary in a city where the most experienced citizens got lost regularly. Grinning widely to himself, he sped up his pace a little, and soon found the Wolf's Cave again. Waving cheerfully to Micah, and shrugging apologetically to Korin, he went up to his room, where he tossed everything back into place, pulled his clothes off, and slipped into the night leather armor.

While comfortably soft and flexible, Sasin wasn't sure how it would hold up against actual weapons, but he felt so, so very invisible. Putting on his belt and daggers, he slipped his lockpick set in his pocket, grabbed his bag, with thieves' tools inside, and walked out of the Cave, avoiding the Kelvic owners. He didn't want them getting suspicious, and he definitely didn't want Korin thumping him for geting too close to his sister.

Walking through the now empty streets, he examined the houses he passed, watching and waiting for an opportunity. He ignored houses with darkened and lit interiors alike. Darkness just meant sleeping residents, and he did not trust himself not to wake them.

He wandered around for almost a bell before an opportunity presented itself. A door opened up across the street, and Sasin slipped into an alley to watch. A man walked out, fairly young, from the looks of it. He was grinning to himself, and bounced a set of dice in his hand before slipping it in his pocket. Sasin could hear coins jingling as the man walked away, whistling a tune to himself.

He was perfect. A gambling man, young, and from the way he left his purse out in the open for all to see, not too cautious. He probably wasn't married, not at that age, and a cocky gambler would insist on trying to win back his losses. Sasin smirked as the man disappeared around the corner. He would gamble his money away, then come back to a ransacked house. Sasin could almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

Walking up to the door, he pulled his lockpick set out of his pocket. Glancing around to make sure he was alone, he pulled out a rake and torque wrench, and got to work. The rake pushed up two or three of the pins, but the rest stayed down. Changing it for a half diamond, he started working with the remaining pins. The ones at the back went up easily, but the middle and the front pins were stuck. Reducing the torque slightly, he pushed up the stuck pins first, before tackling the ones that had slipped down.

A few moments later, he slipped inside the house, putting the picks back in his pocket. As he thought, it was deserted. Hoping to hit a few more houses before the end of the night, Sasin immediately went for the obvious target: The bedroom. Inside, he pulled a sheet off the bed, put it on the floor, and began ransacking. Opening drawers, he briefly shuffled through clothes, taking a few pieces that he thought might fetch a good price, and tossed them on the sheet. The bottom drawer held a few books on card game. He took that as well. In the wardrobe, hidden behind the clothes, a small, locked, metal box that rattled when he picked it up. He just stowed the whole thing in his bag. Under the bed, a chest secured with a padlock. Not bothering with subtlety this time, he took from his bag the thieves' tools kit, grabbed the hammer and wedge, and pried off the hinges. Forcing the chest open, he found a small bag of Mizas, and some jewelry. Dumping it all on the sheet as well, he shoved it back under the bed.

Glancing around the room, he decided he had enough, and grabbed the corners of the sheet, bundling up its contents, and, tying a knot on the top to avoid any spillage, put the whole thing into his bag. Leaving the bedroom, he made his way to the front door, grabbing a few things that caught his intrest, and swore as he heard two people, obviously drunk, from the way they were talking, stumbling towards the door. He turned, and ran back into the bedroom, looking for the window. It was locked, and a bit too small for him to get through quickly. He could do it, of course, but ran the risk of being seen.

He could hear the man fumbling with the key. His time was running out. Thinking quickly, he slipped his bag off, and swung it at the window, smashing it loudly, thanking the gods that he had put the metal box at the bottom. He rushed back to the door, crouching beside it, listening to the man and his companion. "What was that?"A woman's voiced asked.

Ionu and Yshul help me please let them investigate please let them investigate petchpetchpetch if they don't... His frantic prayer paid off, and he heard two of them run around to find the source of the noise. He flung open the door when he heard them round the corner, and ran like Rhysol himself was chasing him.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Midnight

By the time Sasin finally made it back to the Cave, he was exhausted. He had been dodging around corners and doubling back, far more than had been necessary. "That" He hissed to himself "was not smart." He continued grumbling as he made his way up into his room, ignoring the few guests still up. Inside, he tossed his bag down on the floor, pulled off his armor, and flung himself onto the bed.

That had been disastrous. He shook his head irritably. No, it hadn’t been disastrous, far from it. He’d simply gotten careless for the last part, assuming the man would be out of the house longer than he actually was. He’d have to be more careful in the future, have an escape plan ready in the event that he couldn’t just walk out the front door. He doubted they had seen his face, doubted they’d be able to say anything about him except that he had been wearing black, but he’d gotten lucky that time. Next time, he might not be so fortunate.

Sasin sighed. Well, there was nothing for him to do now. He had no desire to go out that night, and after that incident, he doubted he’d be able to sleep.

Well, there was something. He shifted back into his dhani form, and slithered off the bed. Grabbing his bag, he opened it and pulled out the books inside. Lighting a candle, he coiled up in a corner of the room and began to read.

[Bedlam]

Thread Completed!

Nyahna Sasin

Experience:
2 Observation
2 Negotiation
3 Larceny

Lores:
A Spirited Bargain
A Sweep Gone South

Notes:

Your character has pick-pocketed four gold mizas worth in total.

If you have any problems with the rating, be sure to send me a tell saying what they are.