46th of Ash, 4622
With the midnight air quivering and the dial of time ticking ever so slowly through the season of Ash, Riches continue to grow & the scurrying street rats roam about, waiting for what opportunities remains and can be plundered underneath the noses of the rich & the poor.
The Alistian thief makes a living through the act of stealing various places & often randomising his marks to further his experience as a professional thief & make his patterns more elusive for investigators to track. Jared takes a moment to ponder on the roof of a random person’s home; It is a beautiful night in the petty scoundrel’s opinion.
One of Jared's many habits was fiddling around with various baubles and trinkets that he would often carry on his person as ways to cherish memories or fond over multiple moments in his life. Such an item was the broken arrowhead which was converted into a loosely-fitted leather bracelet as a token from the time he received a wound from a failed attempt at stealing at an Entente’s manor.
The memory itself was a blur to him as all he could remember was how he managed to infiltrate the guarded home, darting from cover to cover whilst people were making their way to the manor and making an attempted climb into the second-story of the Entente’s home before suddenly having his hemp rope caught alight and needing to escape the scene—receiving an arrow to his right hand before vanishing into the night and following it up by visiting a healer a few days later to check if his condition had worsened or if it was fine on recovering on its own.
Reminiscing the past brings comfort to the nightfallen thief as memories are one of the true comforts that one could hold onto & the bane of their existence depending on how a person thinks about their experiences in life.
Dilly-dallying a bit too much on his memories; his perception of reality returns as a chunky owl smashes right into his face, his amber eyes catching only streaks of greyish brown hues as the damn strix flounders about on the thief’s face.
“Oh, for fuck sake….”
Jared immediately grabbed the owl’s body; to his surprise, it was mainly comprised of plumage, but he managed to get a soft hold on the avian creature to pry it off his face as its wings battered the thief’s half-covered face. With bits of down & pennaceous feathers that stick right out of the alistian’s charcoal & slightly curly hair as if he just came out of a haystack.
Only then did the amber-eyed thief realise that there was a small rolled-up parchment strapped to the greyish brown tawny owl’s leg.
“Huh… What do we have here?”
Taking a moment to remove the contents of the tawny owl’s leg, it was only then Jared obtained another round of wing battering as the owl makes off into the distance for a brief moment before smashing its face into a nearby window which causes the thief to let out a snort which he immediately covers his mouth as he tries to calm his nerves down.
After recollecting his moment of laughter, the petty rogue wipes a tear off the corner of his eye as he opens the parchment and begins to read the contents of the letters. His honey-coloured gaze takes a minute to digest what information this tiny piece of parchment holds, and for a moment, the thief can’t help but sweat & the back of his neck crawls for a moment.
"Well… this is awkward; a thief being invited to a Soirèe is a rather novel thing, no less a commoner as well…."
The thief couldn't help but ponder who may have sent this letter. A potential client or a foe is laying a trap, either way. Whoever this person is, knows what he looks like, and that is an issue in itself as the thin veil of anonymity that Jared treasures so much have been taken, which was something the thief could not abide by.
Taking a moment to look at the contents of the letter again, the Nightfallen vagabond was hoping to find any details he could use to discover who the messenger was but with very little information. But, unfortunately, there was nothing he could gather. The only possible thing he could think of was the ball happening in Mid-season of Ash that was being noted by a collection of letters exchanged by an upper-class merchant Jared had stolen from a few months prior.
"Seems like I need to do some shopping, can't walk up to a party looking like a rat that lived off the streets…."
As harsh as Jared was about his appearance, He could not deny that, like with most societies that rule the majority. Appearance meant everything, from displays of power to status and placement in the cruel world.
He recalled that a few stores sold exquisite clothing that Jared would hardly purchase due to the frivolous nature that outwardly displays status amongst the crowd & ignoring the power of blending into the crowd of many unassuming faces.
The thief takes a moment to warm up his legs before standing up & cracking his shoulders.
"The night isn't getting younger, and an upgrade to the poor street larcenist's wardrobe is needed."
Jared quickly navigated the City of Monuments through the Thieves' Highway & backend streets to avoid main patrol routes that most guards would follow unless private investigators or people sought those with less than ideal skills in a public setting.
Vaulting over small obstacles such as the many crates and barrels & sliding through the gaps between rubble & gates that the nimble thief could reach. Finally, a mark was decided; a relatively small yet elegant boutique that sold an array of clothing, patterns & fabrics that the thief seemed to enjoy.
Take advantage of every opportunity to try something new. The alistian thief begins his clandestine operations by surveying the surrounding patrol patterns & marking notable flaws or gaps within the route before assessing modes of entry into the establishment from which his grimy little fingers could reach.
It was time to break into multiple stores and collect whatever was necessary to show up at a soiree, while Jared himself didn’t know much about what would be acceptable at a masquerade. Nevertheless, a few ideas simmer up from the depths of his overactive mind.
Upon reaching his first mark, a simple haberdasher located in the centre of the downtown area within the City of Monuments, the security around the downtown area tends to be patrolled by pairs of guards from Jared recall. Donning his Obscura cloak & shrouding his face by Devising the surrounding ambient light to create a thin veil of shadow to make registering his face more difficult if he were to be spotted.
Making his way over to the backway of the shop, the thief gets to work picking apart the lock with his standard tools and slightly manipulating the Umbralplasm that he carries underneath his cloak during thievery operations. Most locks in the downtown area were common, with the various pins needing to be set in place, but when locks become more complicated, the usage of Umbralplasm becomes more apparent.
When he would manipulate the organic black mass in a variety of manners, from thin, black branches that extend out of the floating orbs to manifesting floating flat hexagon discs that he could manipulate into becoming a make-shift, saw or even make this disc twist upon themselves and create a spike from the centre of the disc that could be used to pierce stubborn defences before outright stealing what items he believed was suited for an entente ball & taking any things of values that he could eventually pawn off to sustain his lifestyle, much to the dismay of others.
As Jared continues to wander from store to store, taking various bits of garments and attempting to match up multiple articles of clothing and accessories. The thief takes a moment to gaze up into the moonlit sky, which is covered by cirrus clouds & glimmering stars; inspiring the idea of adding a celestial touch to his fashion choice as black & purple often was associated with the season of Ash but with little time to prepare the clothing that he borrowed*.
The thief had two more nights to prepare to collect any other essential items & to help him blend into this party that he was invited to; However, the nightfallen mage was indeed quite nervous about the event as there were so many variables that he could not account for nor was he in familiar territory. To say that he was outside his comfort zone is an understatement, but a new experience will help Jared foster better insight into how the Entente functions and possibly find better ways to avoid their ire.
“Alright, Jared, you got two more nights to get everything ready…. Probably will stick out like a sore thumb, but as long as I can keep to myself and not draw in much attention, I might be able to get out of this without raising many problems….”
