Thief Lords {OPEN}

[High's .Valentine.]

Looting had never been one of Cooper’s proud habits.

Nor has being honest ever an asset of Cooper’s. However, we must not diverge from the fact that Beast’s Castle was currently under attack. By a copper hair, pale skinned thief decked out in a flashy green cloak and his partner in crime. Cooper was possibly the most inconspicuous thief of the century. Not. Following right after him was a man of equal flamboyancy. Fake dyed red hair, wide legged pants, black vest with golden buttons, and an obtusely annoying bothersome Venetian bird mask with a protruding beak that jabs about everything in front of it.

Cooper was quick to comment on that when he jumped for the fourth time as something poked him in the back. You’d think, for someone who wears the damn thing for almost 24/7, he would have developed some kind of depth perception by now.

“WILL YOU TAKE THAT OFF??” Cooper whispered/screamed hoarsely, grabbing the wooden beak of the mask and giving it a good shake. The man under the mask gave a squeak as his face was tossed around.

“Stop it!” Compared to the nasally mischief of the copper head’s voice, Crovo’s own cords were light and flighty, hardly rooted to anything heavy. “You’re gonna tear it right off!”

“Maybe that is MY intention!” Cooper hissed, shoving the beak down and thrust his dangerous green eyes into the other’s eyes. From the shadows of the mask, a pair of darker green eyes peered up at his companion’s light green pupils.

“I have a defect.” Crovo replied calmly, despite the harrowing glare. Cooper rolled his eyes. “Defect my ass.”

The man suddenly stopped and glanced behind him, looking quite amused for a few seconds. Obviously, he had not expected anything to disturb them.

“It’s...an empty castle, right?”

“That’s what they say.”

Something rustled from the depths of the corridor they were standing in. Something heavy enough that even the padded carpet lining the hallway could not mute.

“Well, they’re about as unreliable as you are, Liar Liar…”

“I don’t appreciate that nickname.”

“Like I care. Now get behind that suite of armor and take the damn mask off.”

They were still a fair ways off from the source of the sound, and Cooper was skilled in the art of silence. Grabbing the bird brain, he thanked Crovo for his habit of not wearing shoes and shooed him behind a suite of armor, taking care that the beak of his doesn’t clang against the armor.

The two hid behind the armor with baited breath, daggers at the ready.

[/blockquote]

[Jun]

Castles. Treasure. The Usual.

“Are you kidding me?”

Adelle held herself back from making any noise of her own. After all, she had made enough noise by nearly tripping over what appeared to be a rock on the ground. It certainly wasn’t a loud sound, no, but that wasn’t the point. You see, when in an empty, echo-heavy area like this, even the tiniest sound gave away that there were someone here.

Scratch that. Not an empty castle.

This place was known as the “Beast’s Castle”, so Adelle was under the impression that said Beast lived somewhere in this castle. To be known simply as “Beast” and to live alone in a world the Heartless had access to gave the impression that this was one powerful warrior.

And Adelle wasn’t big on the whole “fighting” thing. She wasn’t here to fight the Beast to prove her strength like some other youth may have been. No, she had different intentions.

In her eyes, no castle was complete without treasure.

And really, that was enough to bring her here. Plus she hadn’t visited this world yet, so Luso might be here. Though she was beginning to wonder if Luso had simply made it home to begin with and never set out to another world. Being the hyperactive adventurer that he was, Adelle doubted it. And being the scatterbrain he was, she could also see him winding up in other worlds with no sense of direction.

“Why am I looking for that idiot again?”

Adelle left the rock alone, frustrated that it had even been here in the first place(though with a master called “Beast”, she should be happy this place was not in total ruins) and continued forward as silently as possible.

More importantly, she could have sworn she heard something move shortly after her. Something rather quiet, but still something. Perhaps it was the Beast, planning a sneak attack?

Somehow she didn’t think so. Adelle imagined the Beast as someone a lot louder. So what awaited her?

Heartless?

“Those little guys are pretty sneaky. But they aren’t too smart. I’m sure I can catch them by surprise if I need to.”

Whatever it was, they were certainly being quiet. Even more so now, as they probably knew she had heard them.

Adelle summoned up her Tiptaptwo knife into her right hand and held it hidden in her coat. The shadow of the Chirijaden would have given her away a little earlier, and she needed every last second to get the drop on someone this sneaky.

“Too bad for them I’m no stranger to stealth. Minus that stupid rock...”

The room she peered into next had armor suits inside. Armor suits that a little Heartless could easily hide inside, waiting in ambush.

Keeping herself behind a wall in the room before it, she made sure to hold her breath and wait. If something was inside, she would hear it stirring.

So long as they moved within a minute or two. It wasn’t like she could hold her breath forever.

[OOC: I kind of feel like I made too many posts today, but this thread just looks too perfect for Adelle]

[High's .Valentine.]

“Addy, come back!” a valiant suit of armor wielding a sword and an shield hissed as something pink and fluffy hopped out from behind it, peeping as it rustled its feathers. Another armor, fearsomely carrying an axe groaned. From behind the shield bearing armor a bird sprung forth after the pink fluff, red, black, gold and white, a tropical fauna with a large wooden beak. Grabbing the fluff, the bird froze on the spot, realizing it had revealed its presence.

Grumbling something about incompetence and circus freaks, Cooper glanced around for their unwelcomed friend, hoping to see some kind of movement.

“Crovo!” Cooper growled, hoping the man wouldn’t do something stupid. Crovo remained unmoving, as if time had suddenly froze him on the spot. From behind the mask, his dark green eyes darted rapidly around his limited field of vision, hyped up for danger of any kind. Too bad his skinny frame could do very little against whatever beast that inhabits this palace. Very much like a deer caught in the headlights, the Bird Man was so animal like even when in danger.

So high strung was the Red Crow that he didn’t notice when the pink fluff dubbed Addy, actually a very small and chubby bird in the comical spherical shape, escaped once again from his hand and fluttered towards the doorway where she had heard some light breathing the others had not.

She landed in the hall and peered up at their hidden opponent.

“Hey! Hey!” Crovo called after his companion, realizing that she had once again escaped from him, and chased after her. The copper head companion sneaked behind him, dagger at the ready. Though he might as well have given up on any kind of stealth with the way the Crow was dashing about, making enough noise to stir up the dead inhabitants of this place. If not for the prospect that two can carry more than one, Cooper would have rather gone solo.

It was going to be up to him to figure out how to get out of here. Though he was slightly suspicious with the way Addy was treating their unwelcomed guest. He was just waiting for the bird to be gobbled up. Presumably an empty castle, there must be some heartless running around the place. What dark gloomy, long abandoned mansion doesn’t have its fair share of nasties? Cooper’s life had never been easy enough that just running into an empty castle, grabbing sparkling items and running had ever happened.

“Who’s there?” Cooper grumbled at the figure behind the wall.

[/blockquote]

[Jun]

Not Quite What She Expected...

It seemed she wouldn't need to hold her breath long.

Seemingly within seconds, the room beside her erupted in noise. Well, perhaps "erupted" wasn't quite the right word, but it certainly worked when something that loud comes from somewhere so previously quiet.

Metal clanging...no doubt the armor suits. Maybe her prey bumped into them.

Hushed talking. And not gibberish either. No Heartless in that case.

And as Adelle heard some much clearer words (like someone calling out), she met her first form of life in the castle.

...a bird.

A rather round bird too. It reminded her of a miniature version of Klesta from back home, except that this one seemed to actually be cute. And pink.

"This little guy can't be a Heartless." Adelle decided, still not moving from her spot as the bird continued to stare up at her. This bird wasn't even afraid. Weren't birds supposed to be scared of cats?

Apparently she wasn't quite "cat" enough.

The point was, this bird here didn't appear to be a threat. But it didn't look like it had run in fear from whatever else was in that room, so that meant none of the others were Heartless. And somehow she doubted the Beast would have a pet bird.

"Who's there?"

Yeah, that certainly didn't sound like a Beast. More like just another human.

Most likely someone she wouldn't have to hide from. After all, it sounded like a male.

And in Adelle's eyes, the match ended right there. It would be her win, of course.

With her free hand (one was obviously still concealing her knife), she petted the bird before walking into the open to see who else awaited her.

There were two others. One was certainly a human. A little taller then most humans Adelle has met, but a human nonetheless.

The other...well, it was possible he was the Beast with a face like that. In which case the rumors were greatly exaggerated. Wait...was that a mask? Why was he wearing a mask? The more normal human looked to be a thief, so perhaps this birdbrain was one too? If so, he certainly wasn't disguising himself well with a mask like that...

"I suppose I shouldn't have expected manners from someone I find in a place like this. You do realize you're supposed to introduce yourself before asking a lady's name, don't you?" Adelle said, not at all stopping any of her immense confidence from leaking into her words.

Maybe she could just scare these two away and go on her treasure hunt as usual.