Trouble in the markets

[Arthurius Vallance]

 Arthurius loitered through the markets, not paying attention for much as he passed through the rows of gleaming weapons and armours, they were not anything that particularly interested him, he wasnt interested in the fine craftsmanship of the goods around him in all honesty. He was in the hunt for goods now, he'd managed to get a loan for a decent amount of money from the caravan and he would need to spend it wisely in order to get back what he would need to pay back the loan.

 Arthurius stopped occasionally at some supplies stalls to examine the goods, but found that most of what was around here was of a quality far to low to actually create anything that could be considered decent from them.

he sighed deeply, well this trip appeared to have been wasted as there was not anything he could see particularly that caught his fancy.

[Deleted]

Gabriel was standing in the shadows. Curiously watching over the ordinary civilians, who he envied and hated, to see which ones could be worth any value. As always he had chosen the same spot. Just to the side of a pillar of a building that was unknown to him where he had a good view of this part of the market, but was hard to see as the shadow of the sunlight was upon him.
Then someone caught his eye. He saw a man wearing a dragon head on his shoulder. Gabriel had to get closer. As he crept closer he realised the mans eyes were not quite right, row different colours. He thought to himself, I will just see if he hangs around any longer and keep my eye on him. He looks to be a very good target

[Arthurius Vallance]

Arthurius was becoming bored of this market rather quickly, there was literally nothing here that could entertain the fledgeling alchemist as all of the ingredients he could possibly have around him he still only counted them as mediocre at the very best and horrifying at the worst.

Now that he had some money in his pockets though he felt much more secure, his financial state was slightly better and could only really go up from here, now that he had the capital he needed he could quite quickly expand should be wish to, he had needed the start up money but if he invested that wisely then surely he'd be reaping back this money tenfold. But of course for that to work he needed to be making money, something which was as of yet elusive, he had just hoarded what he had waiting for the chance to find something worth spending it on.

This market was just another let down in a long string of places he'd tried to shop at, none of them could provide him with the kind of equipment he needed nor the training that he sought, it seemed that no one wanted to take on an apprentice or even a basic worker in the field in which he was trying to train. What alchemists there were preferred to keep what they had created, and it's recipe to themselves so that they could carry on monopolising, so none wanted to take on any help incase their recipe's were stolen, yet Arthurius was not looking for that sort of chance, only to get some more experience and possibly a teacher or mentor to help him.

Placing a rather over-ripe dragonfruit back on it's stall Arthurius shook his head and murmured curses under his breath, how hard was it to realise that once a dragonfruit was left for to long it's properties were severely diminished and were useless to everyone, not just to someone with his skills, it wasn't even useful as a restorative by that point.

Arthurius stood there, hand on hip and head slightly bowed, what had the world come to when a man couldn't even find a dragonfruit that was ripened to the correct degree.

[Deleted]

Gabriel was still watching the man. God he was over at the worst stall in the whole market. There dragon fruits were always over ripened and were useless. Gabriel found his chance when the strange man stood still in the crowd. He had done this millions of times before and it was just the normal thing for now.

He moved in for the steal. The crowd was tightly together so the odd push and shove was normal, good, the perfect conditions. Gabriel slowly crept through the crowd towards the man doing final checks too see if the man was dangerous. Gabriel looked at the mans clothes now. A bit lower down than his shoulder, his pockets. He had four. Two front,two back, simple calculations to solve which pocket would be the most rewarding. First one, flat but weighted down. Second one, empty by the looks. Third, big bulge but not very heavy. While the forth looked about median size and weighted.

Gabriel came up right behind the man and prepared too "accidentally" trip up and fall onto the man to have a snatch at his prize.

[Arthurius Vallance]

Not a thing was going right for him, if he couldn't find something, and soon, then he wouldn't be able to begin work and begin raising the money to repay his loan, and then things could get really bad really fast. He had heard stories of how these things ended, and although they had probably been heavily exaggerated, even if only a tenth of those stories was true then he really didn't want to not pay this back.

People around him were brushing past him, some heavier than others, but he had barely noticed, so obsessed he was with finding the supplies he required, one hand fingered the money in a pocket at his waist, probably not the most street smart thing he could do in a crowded market but he just needed the reassurance that it was there, that money right now was quite literally his life. If he lost it he would be over. 

Arthurius began looking for the telltale smoke that would allow him to determine where a blacksmith could be found, he would need tools if he were to carry on or look to go into any more advanced works, and a blacksmith was usually the only place you could go to get decent tools if you wanted to make sure they were made properly by skilled smiths. From his pocket Arthurius produced a few coins, surely tools wouldn't cost him that much, he needed to retain as much of the money as he could meaning he'd probably have to strike a fair few bargains and haggle a lot.

Just as he was setting off towards the blacksmith a young woman came tumbling into him, tripping over on something and literally falling into his arms, outstretched more to defend himself than to catch her, he just hadn't wanted anything to heavy falling on him so had put his arms out instinctively and instead ended up with a woman in his hands. What exactly had happened he couldn't see as he had no idea what she could have tripped over, but somehow she had and he now had her. Letting go of the woman he looked at her strangely for a few seconds, nothing particularly special to him, although he had very little taste for women anyway, but at the very least he should probably apologise...or say something...or just walk off. Realising that the last was not really an actual option considering how badly it'd probably go down he began talking. "Err,sorry? i mean i guess it's not really my fault but sorry anyway?."

[Deleted]

Gabriel put on his girl voice that he had perfected over his years. He could tell just by how the man had said sorry that he thought he was of the opposing gender and thought he should keep it that way to look innocent. After he had tripped and put his hand quickly into the mans pocket he had pulled out some of the contents and out it into his pocket, knowing it was money as soon as he grasped it.

The man had catches her gently, and after they stared into each other's eyes for a second. His, even though strange with the two colours, attracted him and he only broke her gaze when he broke it. He hoped he hadn't given anything away. "I'm so sorry, I'm very clumsy always falling over, I'm so sorry but thank you for catching me. I must be off now my husband is waiting for me...thank you again." He have him a peck on the cheek and then turned away from the man and walked into the mass crowd.

As he walked away he could only be thinking how much money he could of earned in that one man. What was someone with this much money walking around in the normal market with no bodyguards doing. Well at least she got the money first before some other pathetic snatcher got it. Now what would she spend it on though, defiantly not those over ripened dragonfruits

[Arthurius Vallance]

The woman quickly left him after apologising for her mistakes, it was odd, she'd seemed as if she was in a fair bit of a hurry to get away from him although he couldn't be completely sure.

As he watched the woman walk off, a confused expression on his face, he decided to buy an over-ripened dragonfruit, it was the best that he was going to get with the current resources and availability of those resources, he would be hard pressed to actually be able to find much better without finding it himself and that could take him days of work which he couldn't afford, he needed to get himself moving more.

Sliding a hand down into his pocket to grasp his money it was met with nothing, not money, just air in his pocket, where had his money gone. Frantically pulling out the pocket to check inside as well as looking for where all of his coins could have gone. It hadn't been much but it had been all he had so losing it was losing his life.

And then he remembered, the only person who'd been close up to him, who'd been near enough to him to get it. That woman. Arthurius saw red for several seconds before giving chase, bursting away from the spot he'd been standing in and after the woman. "Going back to your husband my arse!!" Arthurius shouted after her as he gave chase.

[Deleted]

As Gabriel looked back he saw the man going over to the dragonsfruit stall. Wow, he must have been stupider than he had thought. He carried on walking through the crowd knowing if the man relised the money missing he could easily find him in the market, he needed to get off the street. An alleyway was up ahead, normally deserted but should sometimes home a few homeless, who were pretty nice at most times, or thieves, waiting for a target just like Gabriel was, if he got there she would be safe.

Then, making him jump out of his skin he heard a shout "Going back to your husband my arse!!" Dam, he knows. Gaberiel quickly looked around and saw a big group of people around a market stall selling potions, and an idea came to his head. He jogged over there and quickly pushed into crowd and towards the counter. As he got to the front he quickly jumped over the counter and ducked behind it saying to the older looking, fragile woman who was running the stall. "Please my ex-husband is chasing me, he keeps following me even though I'm married now. Please let me hide here, he has a big dragon head on his shoulder and two different colour eyes."

Hoping the man wouldn't be able to find him or he would be in a lot of trouble. He stayed ducked down hopeing the woman would believe and help him with the fake story he had given her.Well only time would tell if he would be caught, he had heard very bad things about what happens to homeless thieves when they are caught

[Arthurius Vallance]

Arthurius was seeing red, a haze had descended over his vision as he charged through the crowds after thief, avoiding people as much as he could but still occasionally brushing up against someone or hit them with his shoulder slightly, but all in all he was slowly catching up to her as he seemed to be a fair bit faster than this would be thief. 

But then she did something that would be rather clever, she ducked straight into a crowd of people, for all he knew she could hasve ran straight through or she could have just hid in them. The crowd had congregated around a stall run by an older woman, it was a stall he was unfamiliar with but he ploughed on and gently pushed his way into the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled the entire time for the thief in hopes of actually getting his money back.

Pushing his way into the middle where the stall owner was he spun on the spot with a worried look on his face for several seconds, scanning the crowd for that face that was burned into his retina. "Have you seen a woman run past here, she's just stolen my money, i really need to get it back or it wont end well for me, have you seen her!!!" He said frantically.  Now another man would have felt pathetic for saying that but for him it wasn't a problem, all he cared about was the fact that the money that had just been taken from him was his only hope of starting up his alchemical work. 

[Deleted]

Oh god, the man was right above Gabriel. What was he suppost to do. He looked up to the women of the stall, still just going on with her daily business. Gabriel's breathing was heavy, this was the closest he had ever came to being caught, well he wasn't out of the heat yet. The corset was restricting his breathing a bit so it was quieter.

Gabriel looked up a bit to just see the man again without him seeing her. He looked livid, like he would kill the whole army just to get him. Maybe if he handed the money back he would be fine with it, but could he make it away without being caught. He couldn't do jail time, he could barely live on the outside, let alone being in jail. From what he had heard it was a horrible place.

The man had guts though shouting out in the middle of the market about being robbed, most would of felt pathetic and degraded knowing they had been robbed, but he was different, something wasn't right. The only thing Gabriel knew for sure, was that this man was furious, he would just wait for a bit behind the stall, hoping he would go search somewhere else.

[Arthurius Vallance]

Arthurius could not even fathom why this had to happen to him now, it was ridiculous that just as things were starting to look up they should take up a pace like this and suddenly he was back to where he had started, if not slightly worse due to the debt looming over his head like a dark cloud.

Arthurius had his hands clamped into fists, his knuckles were white and his nails were digging into his palms so hard they were close to drawing blood, where on earth had she gone, the old woman just looked at him and shrugged...so bloody useful she seemed to be.

Arthurius placed both his arms onto the stall in a slightly threatening manner in hope of forcing the owner to tell him, but she seemed relatively unfazed by this. She was probably used to intimidation and worse if she'd ran a market stall for any decent amount of time.

But then he caught a glimpse of black cloth, could it be? Leaning further over into the stall he cold see more of the fabric. It was her, reaching out a grasping hand he went to grab on to her dress and hold on to her, but he fell just short and overbalanced, ending up bent over the stall for several seconds in his disorientated and unbalanced position.

[Deleted]

The man was still looming around. Surely he would not see Gabriel and would just walk away. Gabriel was really worrying now, this man would not go away. He thought through his options. He could run, there was an alleyway up ahead that even if he caught Gabriel they were out of site and they could come to a agreement to hopefully not make him go to jail. He could hide, hoping he goes away but if he was caught there could be bad punishments, but he may not find him.

As Gabriel sat there thinking this through he heard a thump from the top of the stall. The man had put his arms down on the stall. Looking more angry every second, then as Gabriel was looking up he saw two arms come over the edge of the counter and try to grab at her but came just short of him. The man had seen him, dam, it looks like running would have to be the answer after all for Gabriel.

Gabriel quickly combat rolled away from the stall so he was defiantly out of the mans reach, then started to get into a sprint, he knew he had an advantage as the man looked off balence after his lunge for Gabriel. Gabriel sprinted towards the alleyway pushing people out of the way, and as he passed by the over-ripened dragonfruit stall he kicked out on of the legs spreading all the useless dragonfruits over the pathway, that should slow down the man he though, and to be honest they were useless and just ripping off the viligers anyway.

As he got to the alleyway he skidded to a stop and looked down to make sure no one was there, then ducked into it and sat there next to a dumpster hoping the man wouldn't come this way and if he did then he wouldn't see Gabriel behind the dumpster

[Arthurius Vallance]

Arthurius was hung over the edge of the stall still, caught off balance and in a very vulnerable position should the thief turn out to be violent, but luckily in his defenceless state he was left alone apart from strange looks from the crowd around who by this point were wondering what was actually going on. 

Shaking his head wildly to clear it up Arthurius pushed himself off of the counter and looked at where the thief was...or rather had been considering she appeared to have cleared the scene with extreme speed. Pulling himself onto the stall he stood up on the thing, hoping it could take his weight whilst he frantically scanned the surrounding area. His eyes like a hawk searching for it's prey as he looked for the woman who was causing him all of this stress.

Again he caught a glimpse of her weaving through the crowd and heading into an alleyway, she was trying to make a break for it down a side street, launching himself off the stall he sprinted towards her once again, head down and arms pumping with a speed born of desperation as he tried to catch the woman, heading into the alleyway a second after her. 

But she had dissapeared, where she had gone he had absolutely no clue, it was as if she had vanished, he ran forwards a few more steps before realising that this alleyway was to long for her to have gone the whole way, he doubled back behind himself and looked, where she had before been concealed by a bin from this view he could quite easily see her, Arthurius reached down as if to grab hold of her by the hem of her dress, hopefully he'd finally caught her. "GIVE IT BACK" He screamed in her face as he was so close to achieving his goal.

[Deleted]

Gabriel was scared, he didn't want to be caught. Not now, not ever. This man was furious, he sat there heavily breathing, wow he was tired. This was one of his most exciting steals for a while, but the scariest.

Gabriel heard the man before he saw him. He must be standing there in the alleyways looking down it. Foot steps, he was walking down the alleyway. Gabriel stopped breathing as he passed his hiding spot. The man had passed him. Gabriel was safe. He had done it, but then he turned around. Gabriel was busted. He reached down and grabbed Gabriel's dress, Gabriel had no control now.

"GIVE IT BACK" he shouted at Gabriel. Gabriel was shocked for a second, he had finally been caught in the act. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I will give you it all back. Just I am a poor, homeless person. Please don't alert the officials" Gabriel gave the man his best puppy eyes face he could, and hoped that he would take pitty on him as he dug all the money out of his pocket and held it out in his hand for the man too take back.

[Arthurius Vallance]

Now that he had the woman in his hands he felt no need to be angry, e found it hard to be angry at her now that he was this close to getting his hard loaned cash back, and as soon as she dug it out of her pockets he instantly snached it up and began counting it right there and then in front of her to make sure that all of it was definitely there and she didn't have some secreted away somewhere.

He listened to her sob story but did he really care? No not really, he didnt. Se had stolen his money, he had caught her, by all rights he should turn her in, he was well within both his rights and the law to just do so and then forget abut her, but it might be worth hearing her ideas first, then if he didnt like them he'd drag her to the guards himself.

Keeping a tight hold in her hand that was likely to hurt he posed his question "And give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you in, what can you do for me that'd make it worth my while not to?"