I'm a troublemaker, never giving up (Shifty/Open)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

3076.03.09 | Late Morning | WeyrBowl to Cliffside streets and market

“This way!”

K’tar swung around a corner, hearing V'nor following him. Altahyr was pacing the two of them, tongue flapping out to one side, but that had little to do with why they were running.

Who’d’ve thought she’d get that worked up? K’tar thought, grabbing a corner to throw himself around it and into a headlong sprint down the next passageway. One more corner and they’d be outside. Outside where Viarth, with any luck, was waiting.

Just landed.

Good, be ready to take off again, quickly!

There was nothing like running so fast you had trouble breathing to insure that you didn’t speak out loud when talking to your dragon.

“Get back here, you wherries! You deadglows! You tunnelsnakes! Get back here!”

K’tar accelerated, stretching his stride, leaning forward… he slammed into the door with his shoulder and tumbled out into the sunlight. Scrabbling upright, he raced up to Viarth. Sure Viarth wasn’t wearing straps of any sort, they could hang onto the ridges of his back well enough.

He jumped, using Viarth’s extended foreleg as a halfway point, then spun around, bracing himself with one hand on the far side of a ridge, extending a hand towards V'nor.

[shapeshifter]

V'nor was hot on K'tar's heels. His partner in crime and his self were on the chased end of a hot pursuit by a lady.

Their pranks were going to get them one day.


Mine, you really should watch your backs. Getting caught is going to end badly for us one day.


But the thrill, my little Kuroth, that's the fun!

He grabbed K'tar's hand and swung up to the dragon's back.

"Let's get gone, K'tar!" He laughed as he settled in clinging to the dragon's ridges.

He had left Kuroth to sleep, his lazy dragonet wouldn't be finding mischief today...not without his mine anyways. Kuroth felt he was big enough to take care of himself, V'nor feeling he was okay stashed away in their barracks room, piled under comforters in the dark.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

As soon as they were on his back and had a decent grip on his ridges, Viarth sprang into the sky. He went between at the same instant as a lady came running out into the Bowl, still screaming hysterically.

They burst into the air above the outskirts of Cliffside, between the old shack and the market. K’tar laughed. “Did you see her face?” he asked V’nor gleefully as Viarth spiraled down. “You’d think we did something horrible, rather than just making sure she had plenty of warm, furry company.”

As if in answer to that statement, Altahyr, who’d climbed up right before Viarth took off, licked K’tar’s face.

“Gah, you ridiculous canine, not now!” K’tar cried, laughing. There was a slight jarring, and Viarth settled down to the ground. Up ahead, people moved through the market square, giving wide berth to a couple very richly dressed men, probably some of the current ruling council that had taken over after Lord Ser Ralt’s disappearance.

Probably had something to do with it too, the wherries.

[shapeshifter]

V'nor was laughing a loud, "She was so mad, man!" He couldn't help but have tears of enjoyment fill the corners of his eyes as they whisked through the air, warming up from between.

They landed, V'nor dismounted. They were watching as some more pompous men appeared in the square, and of course V'nor got a bright idea. "Bet you won't pick pocket...or at least pull a prank on those gentlemen. Either way, we can't be caught or we'll catch hell from the Weyrleaders." He said, grinning ear to ear, knowing what kind of mess they were going to get themselves into.

This was what he and his comrade lived for...trouble.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar’s answer was a grin. He quickly scanned the crowd.

“’Course I will. Won’t even be that hard.”

K’tar started to stroll forwards at an angle, so that he would enter the market far enough from Viarth as to not be immediately associated with the dragon. Leaning against the side of a building, he casually changed out his shoulder knots for a spare pair, designating a Hold-child from Stormy Plains. Quickly he scanned the crowd, this time at the perimeters of the market.

“See the stables over there?” he asked, pointing. “We can head over there afterward, and take their runners for a quick ride down to the docks, the path’s not the best, but we can do it, and then dump the fish guts all over their tack.”

“Now, about picking their pockets. You go out first, walk around some, get in their way and then run into them. I’ll empty their pockets once they’re distracted. Have you got a spare shoulder knot?”

[shapeshifter]

"Always keepin' one on me." V'nor said, changing out his as well from his Weyrling rank ones to a Hold-folk rank knot.

He then disappeared from his friend, making his way to find his way in front of the pompous men.

He ran into the richest looking, falling flat on his back and scrambling up in the process. The man scowled down at him, "What do you think you are doing, boy?" the man yelled in a gruff voice. V'nor looked at him shyly, "I'm sorry sir, I wasn't paying any attention." He acted cowardly, causing a scene as the men stared down on him, sending curses and hurling insults about his incompetence, giving K'tar plenty of time to react.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar flashed a huge grin at his friend. He followed V’nor out into the crowd, staying just far enough away that it would look like an accident that they reached the pompous gas-sacks at roughly the same time.

As soon as V’nor slammed into the most ostentatious of the two men, K’tar, who’d slipped around until he was between the men and a couple stalls made his move. He smoothly slipped forward, divesting the closest man of not only his belt-pouch, but his really fancy dagger as well.

The second man, the one V’nor had bumped into, was divested of both his belt pouch and, for K’tar’s amusement, a document case from a stomach pouch built into his shirt.

The second divestment might not have been the most well thought out, because the first man noticed something then.

“Hey! You! Thief! Drop it!”

K’tar sprang away, only just barely missing being seized by the man’s reach as he darted between the two stalls and into the houses and streets nearby, making very indirectly for the stables. He deliberately ran through crowded streets, inserting himself into and out of the crowds with skill that he’d thought forgotten since his departure from Stormy Plains.

[shapeshifter]

He watched at K'tar made his moves, trying his best to distract the men.

When he was seen, V'nor ran. He dove in and out of the crowd following the footsteps of his friend, losing sight of the easily winded men.

He arrived at the stables, "Let us get out of here!" V'nor said, grabbing the reigns of a tacked runnerbeast, mounting with grace that most hunters possessed, glancing back at his comrade so they could make their move.

"What did you obtain anyways?" he said, his runnerbeast growing ansy to run under his weight.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar cut the reins holding most of the other runnerbeasts in place, then sprang up into the saddle of the other one of the men’s runnerbeasts (V’nor was on the first). A sense almost of homecoming swept over him at the feel of the runnerbeast shifting under his weight.

“Two pouches, a dagger, and a document case,” he answered, shooting V’nor a quick grin as he sent his newly acquired runner out the stable door.

“Let’s just ride these back!” he shouted, as people pushed themselves back to stay out of the runnerbeasts’ path. He shifted his weight, and with a quick squeeze, sent the high-bred runnerbeast racing down the street.

“You thieving tunnelsnakes!”

K’tar looked up. The two men whose runners they were “borrowing” were directly in front of them, and the distance was closing quickly. He swept his gaze around, and grinned, his eyes narrowing as he took in the bucket of slimy fish coming up on his left. Leaning out of the saddle, he grabbed it as they raced by, then straightened and brought it down on the head of the more ostentatious of the men, thereby dumping the fish all over him.

“You’ll pay for this! I’ll have your hide!”

K’tar’s only response was a laugh. This was life!

[shapeshifter]

V'nor rode off side by side with K'tar. They made a great escape, even greater one when K'tar dumped fish guts all over the man V'nor had bumped into.

A great steal mind you as well.

"Run them harder!" V'nor shouted as his runner sped up, and out of the gates of the Hold they went. Once the Hold was in the distance, V'nor slowed his runner to a walk.

"What kind of documents did we get in the case?" V'nor was curious as to what the man may have had. "What about the pouches?"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar slowed his runner down to a walk beside the one V’nor was riding. The two beasts seemed to be friends, willing to amble along very close to each other. Using his legs to steer, he opened the document case and leafed through it.

“Looks like correspondence mostly. Some tax documents.” K’tar shook the document case to get all the documents back into place, then, still steering his runner with only his legs and seat and with only about half an eye on the road, pulled out the pouches and opened them. They didn’t have anything remarkable, besides a large collection of marks, though in one of them… K’tar gave a delighted laugh.

“The signet!” he crowed. Fishing it out of the pouch, he held it out so V’nor could see it.

[shapeshifter]

"Signet? What do you mean?" V'nor inquired, looking at what his friend was handing him.

"These marks could be put to good use. We don't need em, K'tar. Why don't we find some poor kids or something?" V'nor asked, knowing good and well they being Riders were fully taken care of.

"Those tax documents mean nothing to us either. They would make great kindling." He laughed, pulling back on the reigns some to slow his runner down just a hair. This one seemed to enjoy a trot more than anything.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“Come to think, we don’t really need these runnerbeasts,” K’tar added. “What say you we stick the dagger in the ground, tie them to it, and then get Viarth to take us back to the outskirts of Cliffside?”

His runner trotted a couple steps, then slowed again. K’tar patted the poor thing’s neck. It clearly wanted to stay near V’nor’s runner, which seemingly still had some energy.

“We can leave the pouches, empty of course, and the signet with the runners, and then when we’re back at Cliffside we can redistribute the marks and then head back to the Weyr with Viarth. With any look, Lady I-hate-canines won’t be looking for us by then.”

[shapeshifter]

"Sounds like a plan to me." V'nor said, dismounting his runner.

"I think there will be some happy children and parents. These men were handsomely rich, you gotta think we can't get caught. We should switch our vests for the others and our knots and go in on Viarth as Riders. They can't claim it was us then if we are spotted again." V'nor said, trying to be smart about their return.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar grinned, swinging off of his runner and tying its reins to the dagger he slammed into the roadside.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he said, deliberately echoing V’nor’s earlier statement as he switched his knots out and dumped about half the marks into his own, empty, pouch for easier dispersal. He handed the other half of the marks to V’nor, dropping the emptied pouches on the ground next to the dagger.

“Let’s go meet up with Viarth then,” he said, walking inland, away from the road, Altahyr slowly trailing after.