Solo Picking a Pocket or Two

[Phira]

2 Fall 516 AV
Phira laid down right in the center of her room so that the warm mid-morning sunlight shining through the window bathed her. She had taken a small catnap and now was just sitting there wondering about what she would do today. If she had her way she would lay here all day but she needed to go out and make money. Last night wasn't exactly a good night. It was just a bunch of waiting outside of taverns to see if men wanted to buy her for an hour. None did.

So now how to make up for it? She could earn it. Or she could steal it. Earning it would take up a lot of her day, and she would go out tonight and try to hook someone. Slave kelvics that lived here were sought after for what she was offering for a lot cheaper than buying a slave, yet she more people wanted a slave. Why? Why was the same thing more valued over the other? She shook her head, who knew?

Back to her previous question, earn or steal? Earning it would be the 'right' thing to do, but the harder thing to do. She simply didn't have enough energy to do the 'right' thing. Maybe on a less empty stomach some other day, but today wasn't that day. She couldn't waste what little energy she had. Maybe luck would be on her side, and she would find a dropped sm or two. Could she be so lucky? Maybe. Who knew in this world and in this life? Still it was possible, but she wouldn't put all her money (what little she had) on that scenario.

So stealing it was. She didn't like having to steal, but she was so hungry, and people did not hand out charity in this city. She stood and stretched her limbs long. There were many setbacks to stealing, the main one is if she was caught. If caught, usually she would end up with a slap to the cheek or a hard shove to the ground, but she knew she was lucky with those small repercussions. People killed in this city for a lot less than getting pick pocketed, so she had to be super careful who she would take from and super careful how she took it.

She pulled her cloak on and off to the busy market place she went. As people went to and forth, running errands, and trying to get out of the streets as soon as possible made the perfect place to snatch a few coin.

Stepping out and walking towards the market she noticed many people doing what she predicted. People trying to hurry to finish their errands. She stood on the corner trying to pick off people, just as she would if she were trying to hunt for prey.

She set her sights on a young woman looking at a fish stand. Her hair was red like a flame, and her shirt and skirt had smudges of dirt on it. She seemed to be indecisive as she stood in front of the stand for a long few minutes. She ended up purchasing the smaller fish and began walking quickly in her direction. She pushed herself off the wall she was leaning against and began to walk quickly towards the girl, her head down, her hair covering her face. She bumped into the girl who stumbled a bit before catching herself, all the while she put her hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out what ever she could grab within that second.

Both of them walked away from each other, she quickly turned the corner in case the girl found out she was missing something. She opened her palm and found 2 cm and 2 sm. This small change was going to buy her a small meal at The Pig's Foot. "Thank you flame haired girl." she whispered and went back to the busy part of the market place to stalk her next victim.

[Phira]

2 Fall 516 AV
The market was busier than it was before. More stands and more people littered the street. More people to take from and more people to take from her. She walked through the streets, pretending to be interested in one trade or another, all the while looking for her next pocket to pick.

She mentally marked a few, an older man, a young fisherman, a slave...all had a small pouch of money, and all were paying attention to something or another. The older man was following a woman around, unbeknownst to the woman. The fisherman was loading a cart full of barrels of fish, tired and sweat drenched. The slave with a collar around her neck, was carrying a lot of things at once.

The slave should be the first one she should go after. She had no hands to defend against, and she couldn't chase after her, well she could but she wouldn't catch her with two arms full of bags. She breathed in and set her mind on the task. Walk fast, bump into her, search her pockets quick, continue on her way, hopefully...The girl looked to be about the same age, tawny hair that was blowing in the wind, and she seemed to be a little meek and jittery as she jumped at every little thing that touched her.

She was perfect pray. Sure she was a little jittery and could potentially ruin the chance to effectively stick a hand in her pocket, but she seemed to be too in a hurry to get out of the crowded street or had something else on her mind for she didn't seem to notice a lot of things around her. For instance she wasn't the first to try and pick pocket the girl, but the first attempt failed due to a fight breaking out right beside them causing the girl to scurry off.

She pulled her hood up and got on her collision course with the slave. It was hard to maneuver through the crowded streets and still keep on course, but she would manage, if only a little. Her eyes honed in on the girl, as she got closer her heart sped up, the adrenaline pumping through her blood, and then she crashed into the unsuspecting girl. She came in a little too fast, and bumped into the girl a tad little too hard, and made both of them stumble away from each other a bit, causing her to loose any sort of closeness that she needed in order to pull anything out of the girl's pockets.

Well that was a failure. She had to be more careful if she wanted to get anything from any one. She looked around the market place, the only person left from her earlier tracking was the fisherman who was no longer hauling barrels of fish onto a cart, instead was setting up his own little stand. Could she take from him? Maybe a fish if anything, but was it worth the risk?

[Phira]

2 Fall 516 AV
So after one victory and one failure, here she was stalking her last prey for the day. She wasn't quite sure how to go about it. The tired, sweat drenched, fisherman that was setting up his own little table of goods was as quick as a cat...so to speak. She watched him push off the first few thieves, a young boy around the age of 13 with his 2 friends, with ease. The 2 boys provided a cover by playing a game of 'Kick the Ball' around the stand of fish, distracting the fisherman. As the older man yelled and pushed the boys out of the way, the 13 year old boy tried to steal a couple of fish, only for the fisherman to grab the boys wrist and almost threw him away from the stand, "Outta here boy! Next time it's the gallows with you! he threatened as the boy and his friends ran away.

And that was with a distraction, how was she supposed to take from him without one? Maybe she should cut her losses and walk away with what little she had. That thought didn't sit well with her at all. She wasn't a quitter. She shook her head, no! Her mother and father did not bring her up that way! She would have to think of some way to get what she wanted.

She looked down the street and spotted the group of boys from earlier, and quickly put a crummy plan together. But if it worked it could mean dinner for all of them. She quickly went up to the boys and smiled, nodding her head towards the alley way. They simply looked at each other and followed, probably out of mere curiosity.

She looked down at them, "I saw you three earlier try to take from that fisherman. It's too bad he caught you.

The 13 year old pushed out his chest and threw her a mean look, well as mean asa 13 year old boy could muster, "Yeah wass't to you!? he said as if he were a man.

She held back her laughter and just smiled, "Well I want to take from him too. He has more than enough coin for all of us and himself. But I cannot do it all alone. So what do you say we work together? I'll split the earning with you." she coaxed enticingly.

They each looked at each other, and gathered in a huddle to talk it out. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, they were running out of time. Maybe this was a bad idea to get them involved. But she was desperate and too hungry to care about the consequences.

The 'leader' of the group turned back to her and smiled, "Alr'ght. We'll help. But you have to promise we get a cut or we will tell our dads about you. Daggerhands they are and they will make sure you get it if you cross us." he said confidently.

Well that made her think twice about the whole thing, but she supposed it was only a threat if she didn't come through on her word. She nodded and bent down to their level. "Alright, I need you boys to create a distraction, this time I need you to knock some of the fish off the table and taunt him a bit. I just need you to distract him enough to dip a hand in his till. Got it." she explained simply. She knew that no one would let good fish go to waste simply because if fell on the ground. When the fisherman would go and pick up the fish she would quickly and stealthy get in there, take a few coins, and get out before the fisherman even knew what hit him. It was a simple plan but it was the best she could come up with on the fly.

They nodded, and the smallest of the bunch spoke up, "And what if we get caught?"

She stood up straight, "Well don't. Or I'm gonna tell your dads that you couldn't pull off a simple distraction. They're Daggerhands and they'll make sure you get it." she retorted seemingly effectively as they just nodded and scattered off.

About 15 minutes later they were all in position. The boys were close just two stands away across the street, and she was looking at some baskets that the stand right next to the fisherman's was selling. It was now or never. She was going to eat well tonight or poorly tonight depending on how it goes in the next few minutes.

She gave them the signal, and put her left arm in the air and the boys began running and yelling insults at the fisherman for earlier, and outstretched their hands and knocked a good amount of his fish off the table before running two stall away just to stick their tongues out at him and mock him.

"Ya rott'n bastards! I will get ya for this! I swear it! Show yer face around here aga'n I dare ya!" he yelled in anger and went to pick up the fish just as predicted.

Now was her time, the kids did spectacularly, she hoped she could do just as good. She slipped in between the stalls and ducked behind his as to not be seen. She had a good 15 seconds to get in and out with money. She saw his till on a shelf behind his stand and she reached in blindly and grabbed a handful of money. She could hear the fisherman coming closer, as he kicked one of the baskets from the stand next to his earning him a yell from the woman who tended to the basket stand. She hurried and slipped off to the next stand over.

The fisherman noticed the missing money right away and looked over and saw her. Well he saw her cloaked figure lurking behind the next stand over and began yelling some profanities. She didn't waste time looking back and began running away with the kids. They got to the next street over before they all laughed.

She took out her pocket full of coins and counted them, 2 gm, 5 sm, and 7cm. The boys looked and sounded so excited by the amount. And she was to, to be honest. She was so happy it worked out. Now was the time to divvy out the coins. She supposed with all the stealing today that she should do the right thing and give the boys their fair share, even if that meant less for her. At the same time, they didn't seem like they could count very well and she could cheat them out of it.

The looks on their faces got to her though. They were so happy that they could go home to their dads and show them that they too could be great thugs like them...even though she was doubtful if that was the impression she wanted to make on them. She thought about it and decided that she would keep the 2gm and 1 sm, and they got the rest. They seemed happy about that and went on their way.

She almost skipped back to her apartment. She was so excited about the meal she was going to eat tonight. She pulled out her money and added all but enough to buy her meal at The Pig's Foot. It wasn't every day she could add money to her coin purse.

[Aladari Coolwater]

Your grades have been spotted!
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Phira

■ Larceny: 2
■ Tactics: 1
■ Leadership: 1
■ Persuasion: 1
■ Observation: 2

Lores

Lore of Larceny: Picking Off Prey
Lore of Sunberth Gangs: The Daggerhands
Morals: I'm no quitter!
Lore of Pickpocketing : Bump into People
No Charity in Sunberth
Earning Money Takes Too Much Energy
Tactics: Distractions Through Teamwork
Leadership: Act Like You Know What You're Doing
Persuasion: Kids are Easy

Additional Information

Loot: 2 GM, 1 SM

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Comments:

I went ahead and gave you the Mizas this time, but in the future, please try to avoid specifying exactly how much money you were awarded. That's generally something for the grader to decide, based on your efforts or how much they believe is reasonable.

Otherwise, a very cute thread. I loved Phira's interaction with the children, and I'd like to see her explore the young side of her personality.

Don't forget to delete your post in the grading queue, and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me about your grade!

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