A Thiefs Tale (open and always accepting) NEEDS PEOPLE!!!!!!

[CR Kyrie]

Ranuu made sure to grab his hat as he left the pub. As he opened the door, it groaned with age and let in some of the cool night air. The smoky haze that covered the pub blew inward with the light breeze, and then returned to its normal foggy nature as the door once again closed out the air. "What the hell was that guy's problem?" the bartender asked one of the patrons, still extremely confused about whatever had just happened.

Oh, how Ranuu loved the night. He took a deep breath of air, and felt as it filled him with energy. It wasn't painful anymore, feeling his canines sharpen and extend into fangs, or how his eyes began to glow just a bit, more gold than they'd been even a moment before. He listened, and his sensitive hearing was able to catch the girl talking to herself, not 100 meters away. Fantastic.

He kept following her, putting his hands in the pockets of his chainmail leggings and whistled to himself. It would be fun to see what the girl was looking for and, well, if worse came to worse, they weren't in Felicite, so the 'honor among thieves' deal was out the window.  

[infinite_personalities101]

The paranoia never left her alone. "The feeling of being watched" seemed to follow her like a plague. She kept looking over her shoulder. Evelyn quickened her pace. She looked back again and thought she saw someone, looking back, she was right. Who is that? It's not Wizard..... She thought to herself. She decided to test the follower. She ran, as fast as she could. If he was following her, he'd follow pursuit and speed up as well.  

[CR Kyrie]

Ranuu watched her start running. This was usually the part in horror movies where the 'evil' pursuer gives chase, leading both attacker and victim on a long and winding road until the helpless girl trips over her own stupidity, breaks the heel off of her shoe, and screams as the man does whatever he does, be it with axe or shotgun.

The thing about movies was that they didn't really give much option to the truth. One of the first things that Claudius taught Ranuu was how to meld himself with the night. It was a very basic skill to master as a vampire, and yet it seemed so rare in films these days. Oh, but the ancient Daywalker did love to Shadowmeld. In fact, it was a great way to catch up to people that expected running.

He took a quick right into an alley, and disappeared entirely into the shadows. Immediately, he stepped out of an alley somewhere in front of the girl, who would more than likely run into him if she were looking backward. Lighting a cigarette with a disturbing calm demeanor, he raised his eyes to look at her, two golden lights shining out from under his hat. Those, along with the lit cigarette, probably added to the horror feel of the situation. Dark night, empty streets, bars. It was brilliant. Sometimes, the vampire astounded even himself.

"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing running like that?" Ranuu said, holding his cigarette for a moment and exhaling a small cloud of smoke, which circled around him and upward into the clouds.  

[infinite_personalities101]

The stranger was no longer there. Huh...I guess he wasn't---- "OOF!" Evelyn fell backwards when she hit something in the middle of the road. "What the---Ah!" She jumped up and removed her staff from her back, and held it in a defensive position. The stranger was the one that had jumped into her way. "Who are you? Why are you following me? What do you...wait a minute! How did you get in front of me? No one has ever been able to run faster than me before...what gives! You were behind me...but you didn't run did you? Then how..." Evelyn continued on like this for a few minutes, trying to figure out what happened. She forgot the stranger was even there.  

[CR Kyrie]

Ranuu let the girl ramble on about whatever was on her mind for a few minutes, absent-mindedly puffing his cigarette. He allowed her to hold her staff as if she was going to fight him, but didn't reach for his own sword. If she tried anything, she wouldn't get very far. . . probably. There was always the possibility that she wasn't human, and actually some sort of demonspawn. That wouldn't be pretty.

After a few moments, however, he threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, putting the slight glow out with the dark leather of his boot. "Actually," he interrupted her, "I don't like to run very much at all. So I used a little technique I learned a long time ago. I don't have much time, though. Why, exactly, were you running?"  

[infinite_personalities101]

"But I suppose..Huh, wha- Oh!" She remembered he was there. "I was running because I wanted to see if you were following me, mister creepy follower of people person! And I was right! Why were you following me anyway? If you're looking for money then that sucks for you cause I'm broke..again..stupid drunk...." She mumbled to herself.  

[CR Kyrie]

The girl was deeply disappointing Ranuu. He had hoped for some level of fear to be shown, even expected it, and yet she seemed totally defiant to him. She even expected him to be a mugger! Please, if he'd wanted her money, he'd have had it by now. Still, he didn't let any of that emotion show. Not that it would, considering that his face was totally darkened by the night and brim of the hat, except for the glowing eyes.

He remembered her now; he'd seen her around Felicite now and then. Of course, in the dark, with no light to identify him by, it was doubtful she'd even find him in the least familiar. They'd never spoken, after all. Not that he'd want to talk to her all that much, considering how often she rambled and mumbled. Sure, he did that sometimes, but dammit, he was allowed to in his old age.

Thought-rambling was allowed, too. "I don't want your money, girl. To be completely honest, I'm in a competition to find something quite precious, and I was curious whether you might have any clues as to its location. Of course, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about."

It was a gambit, putting that much information out, and Ranuu hadn't lived so long by taking risks. It was stupid, and he should be more cautious, but he figured he could take anything that might be coming his way.  

[infinite_personalities101]

Evelyn looked at him angirly. "Look stranger, I do know what you're talking about, as a matter of fact I'm looking for it too. I thought I knew where the Heart was, I thought it was here, but it's not. Turns out it was the wrong guy, and I don't appreciate rude people, so if you don't mind, I have directions to get!" She stomped off to the tavern only three buildings down. "Oh! And by the way I'm not stupid, you can stop talking to me like I'm five!" She turned towards him with a look a dislike.  

[CR Kyrie]

Ranuu wasn't an easy person to annoy. In fact, the many centuries that he'd been on the Earth had taught him a patience that few could match. He'd meditated under lotus trees during the Japanese spring. He'd been at the Ford Theater on April 14th, 1865. Hell, the vampire had listened to one of John Kerry's speeches! That required more patience than anything.

But this cheeky little girl was starting to annoy him. The vampire's eyes glowed brighter, even as he wondered why she hadn't noticed the oddity in that. When she turned to look back at him, with the look of anger, she would notice that he himself had tilted his head back, letting the moonlight glitter off his fangs. They weren't ridiculous, but they were obvious. And they should warn some people off. "Girl," he said, allowing his old accent to drip back into his words, "you do not know with who you toy. If you wish to compete with me, you'll find yourself sorely outmatched."

Sure, his cockiness was getting in the way, but that might add to the moment. After all, he just wanted her to be afraid of him.  

[infinite_personalities101]

Evelyn saw his fangs of course, she wasn't afraid of them or of him. She had dealt with jerks like him for years. There were a lot of things she was afraid of, people weren't one of them. Even psychotic show-offs. "I'm not competeing, fangs, I'm looking for it to help whoever else is looking for it. I have no desire to deal with being the leader." She still wasn't afraid of him and the glowing eyes and fangs didn't bother her either. "And quit showing off with your black magic, it's not going to scare me." Evelyn demanded.  

[CR Kyrie]

"Alright then," Ranuu responded. He was tired of this incessant foolishness; the girl must have a death wish! She was far too crazy for him to want to be around, much less team up with. Not that he needed a team mate.

"If that's what you want, we'll see what happens."

The vampire turned, took a step into the nearest shadow, and disappeared. He was tired of this, and was more certain than ever that he was the leader Felicite needed.

((Haha, I'm considering just making him a foil for Evelyn, who shows up every now and then. That's certainly how he developed.))  

[infinite_personalities101]

Evelyn had to admit, the disappearing into shadows was a bit unnerving, and only confirmed her, now, completely rational fear of the dark. She turned heel, and ran faster than before to the tavern. She didn't care if he saw. Once inside she found the stupid drunk from before, and apparently, he remembered her. "Hey! It's the *hiccup* beer, lady *hiccup*!" He called. Stupid men....

It was an agonizing thirty minutes. The drunk continually babled on about nothing. She did it too, but not like this. She didn't hiccup. During the entire stupid conversation her wandering thoughts continued to return to the stranger from earlier. What was his problem? .....I wonder what spell he used to make his canines grow and eyes glow like that...maybe Wizard will know...... She smacked the drunks hand away...again...he had been trying to make a 'move' the entire time. She was getting impatient. "Look! Do you know how to get to the ocean or not?" "Of course, *hiccup*, I just follow my *hiccup* map-" as he said this, he pulled the map from his coat pocket and held it up. He was too drunk to even bother pick-pocketing, so she took it. Evelyn ran out of the bar and into open fresh air. She was so glad to be out of there, she did several cart-wheels back to the inn where Wizard was waiting.

((Hehe, this should be interesting then. ^^))  

[CR Kyrie]

Children were naive. Not that Evelyn was a child, but then again, everyone was a child in the eyes of a 700-year-old man. She surely didn't believe that he would have given up that easily, did she? The vampire had disappeared into the shadows by blending into the darkness, not transporting himself elsewhere. He took off his hat and cape, entering the tavern behind her as a poor man just wanting some time out of the cold.

He found himself a seat somewhere near her, and listened in on the conversation that she had with the old drunk. A long ramble annoyed her, but she seemed to get what she wanted in the end. The old man didn't. His hands had a mind of their own, but the girl must be able to read it, because she was able to slap them away at every attempt. It was impressive to see.

"Sir, may I help you?" A man who worked at the tavern approached Ranuu, causing him to realize he'd just been hanging around the entire time, and hadn't done much to further his acting job. He looked back to see if the girl and the drunk had seen it; they hadn't acknowledged it if they did. Good.[/color

"Can you spare some food? I'm so hungry,"he adopted a poor and pitiful character, even coughing at the end of the sentence.

It seemed to work. The man gave him a disgusted look and wandered away, off to bother some other patron who might actually pay for something. As long as Ranuu didn't disturb anyone, the waiter couldn't legally kick him out. Soliciting wasn't against the law here. It was about this time that the girl snatched a rolled-up piece of paper from the drunk and ran off.

Slipping up beside him, Ranuu adopted yet another character, that of a drunk human. "Tha' broad made off with yer s**t! Y'can't let 'er do that!"

"Nah, is fine. She's a b***h anyway. Leav'er 'lone. Whatever. She'll drown in the ocean anyway."

"Th' ocean? What does th' ocean have ter do wit' anything?"

"Thas where she's gooooin. I jus foller my map ta get thar."

The man continued on, beginning to ramble. Apparently, he was now drunken buddies with Ranuu's newest character, though Ranuu didn't share that feeling. He let him go on for a while, about women and their evils, and how all of them should just be gathered up into one spot and slapped until they came to their senses. Then they would, allegedly, take their rightful place in the kitchen, serving hard-working men like him.

Eventually, Ranuu tired of the man, and slid a dagger into his side. The man was so wasted that he wouldn't even notice that he was bleeding until he passed out, and that would cause a panic. Nobody would even remember Ranuu. He slipped out quietly, regained his items, and returned to the original inn, where he returned to the mohawked-bartender. "Got that tea yet, my good man?"  

[infinite_personalities101]

Evelyn was at the inn where wizard was supposed to meet her later. Not expecting him to be back yet, she wandered around aimlessly, in the lobby. The group of men were still in the corner, like before, they still gave her an eerie feeling. She wasn't paying attention to any of the people, more of the building itself and was spacing out. She leaned against the railing near the stairs, and looked at the opposite wall and let her mind wander. Her thoughts kept returning to the stranger.  

[PendragonX9]

After stowing the provisions and gear that he had bought John headed down to the common room. Spotting Evelyn he walked over to her "so you find out that we need to head east yet?"