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Date Posted: 22:47:51 11/11/01 Sun
Author: Rowan Silvertree
Subject: How may I worship thee?
In reply to: Ravin Rue 's message, "The life of a thief" on 13:32:19 11/09/01 Fri

Rowan was so excited to hear Ravin finally speak about being a thief that he could barely sit still. But he knew his hyperness tended to make other people view him as immature, so he did his best to remain calm. “You were born with your feet kicking and your mouth running”, his mother used to tease him when he was younger. “You could scarcely wait for your sister to be out so you could have your own first go at the world!

He found himself nodding enthusiastically the minute Ravin began. Of course, thieves didn’t like full moons. He knew that! You didn’t have to go to Thieves-Are-Us Boarding School to figure that much out! Never mind that he’d been caught under the accusing white glare of a full moon numerous times himself. Could he help it if sometimes the urge to take on a job made him push common sense along the wayside? And some of those clients had promised such wealthy sums if he only did the deed properly, and they always set a time limit, the lousy jerks! He couldn’t sit around going hungry and chewing on his tongue while waiting for the new moon to rise.

The part about sneaking around in darkness really got him excited. Wouldn’t Ravin be pleasantly surprised to see how Rowan could sink into the shadows at a moment’s whim! The pale silver runes tattooed all over his body had been placed there for darker, shado purposes, but he’d learned just as quickly to use them as a thief, as well. Generally, the runes were invisible to the naked eye, only flashing momentarily into visibility when he called on the magic within himself to do such tricks as folding the shadows or silencing his feet so that it seemed he walked upon air.

Rowan wasn’t even fazed by the reference to the “highbrowed snits” Ravin liked to pick pocket, disguising himself as a noble, of all things. In Rowan’s opinion, there was nothing particularly special about being nobly born, except that you could afford nicer clothes than some of your friends, and tease them when they still had to pull out last year’s fashions. Of course, he’d always been generous with his wealth, helping his less financially secure friends and cousins out of tight spots when they needed assistance, and even donating large sums of money to charities and lower city organizations---anonymously, of course, so his parents wouldn’t find out and chastise himself for “disrupting the social system.”

His head was still filled with dashing images of Ravin flying across rooftops and posing as a noble dandy while he eyed the diamond necklace fastened around his partner’s white throat, when the man in question actually stood up and nabbed his attention.

“Huh?” he said, jerking out of his glamorous daydream to give Ravin a confused look. He glanced then at his sister, who looked none too happy, especially after those comments about the wealthy, but he ignored her reaction. By his standards, Ravin was one very cool guy!

“Did I hear you say there was a liquor cabinet in the kitchen?” the thief was saying, looking as though he was already experiencing some balance problems. “I seem to be in dire need of a fresh bottle of whiskey.”

Rowan grinned, starting to feel a little airy-headed himself as he leapt to his feet and followed Ravin into the kitchens. A thousand things were flying through his mind, all sorts of comments and questions he wanted to ask his companion in regards to being a thief, but it was difficult trying to focus on just one thought for very long.

“That was just great!” he finally said, not realizing he sounded like a twelve-year-old boy as opposed to a grown man in his mid-twenties. He hopped a little as they ducked through the swinging doors of the kitchens, feeling more spirited than he would have thought possible, considering Tia’s complete and utter adoration of Corum all of a sudden. Such a thing wounded his little heart to no end.

“I want to be just like you, Ravin Rue!” he laughed, his words ending in a slight hiccup as he stared at the man striding beside him with slight admiration. “I mean, well…” He shrugged, finally realizing how goofy that sounded. “I aspire to be at your level of excellence one day.”

He grinned proudly, happy with his rewording, since he decided it at least made him sound more mature.

“Actually,” he added hastily, “There was this one time, when I was like, um, twenty one or so, and I had this great big job to do. I mean, there were like these guards, you know, really big scary human guards, and I had to slip past about twenty of ‘em and steal this piece for a painter who said it’d been sold illegally on the market against his will or whatever…anyway, it was insane, I swear, I had to sneak through this underground thingie and…Oh man!”

This one was even better, he thought enthusiastically. “There was this other time, about, say, two years ago, I think it was, when I had to plant this letter on the ambassador from El Qui…” His hand suddenly flew over his mouth. “Oops! I’m not supposed to really say anything about that... Oh...well,” He dropped his hand and laughed sheepishly. “Guess it doesn’t matter anyway, since, you know, you’re not from there or whatever. But…oh, oh! And there was this time when…”

He trailed off, wondering if he was starting to sound like a fool again. “Well…never mind that. What'd we come in here for, anyway?” He pulled at a piece of his hair, glancing at Ravin before recalling, his eyes lighting up once he remembered. “Oh yeah! Whiskey. I think it was over here someplace…”

He led him over to the liquor cabinet situated in the back of the kitchen, behind the spit fires, and withdrew a couple bottles, tossing the first one to Ravin. “Check the year on that one,” he commented, squinting at his own before shaking his head. “I dunno the significance of the dates on this world, and I think that last batch we had was kinda icky, if you ask me.”

“So anyway,” he continued, popping the lid off his own bottle anyway, still caught up in his earlier excitement over being in the company of a real thief. “About that being a thief thing…got any words of advice for someone who might be willing to learn from a master? I mean, not for me,” he laughed, pressing a hand to his chest, “Naturally. But for someone like…um…” Think, think, think, think… “Tia! Yeah, Tia’s just starting out, you know, and she wanted to get a few pointers, just in case she was ever in a tight spot or something.” He grinned, taking a long swallow from the whiskey. “Well, you know what I mean. You know how it is.”

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