Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The Thief and the Fox (1x1 Closed RP)

She finally felt Kitsu relax "Aww, aren't you cute?" Ophelia giggled, "Don't worry. That's how its always like when doing things for the first time: you're never sure and you get this awkward feeling when you do it. I got scolded by my parents when I first started stealing. It's to be expected. You learn to view things as bad based on your parents teachings." She sighed deeply, breathing in the fresh morning air. "What were your parents like? How old are you anyways?"

Kitsu was silent for a moment, thinking. She had never known if she had any family. And to be honest, she wasn't sure how old she was... in human years to be exact. The only person she thought of as a parent, was the old man... and only because she had listened to him teach his wisdom to Fallon -- but not to her.

"I don't remember my parents," she finally said. And then she hesitated, not really knowing how to answer the second question. "I'm not sure how old I am, either. I think I'm... how old are you?"

"What? Were you raised by wolves and kicked out at the age of two or something? Honestly..." she kicked the horse to pick up its pace as it was slowing down, "Though I probably shouldn't be saying that since I'm not too sure about my age either. Ever since I left my home, I only kept track of things that I thought really mattered. My age wasn't one of them. Heck I could be over sixty years old and I wouldn't even know it. But... thinking back on the number of times I nearly froze to death during the cold seasons... I'd say I'm around my 20s. Oh dear has it been that long already?" She idly ran a calloused hand over her own cheek, feeling for wrinkles. "Maybe more around 18. 19 at the latest! I'm sure of it."

"I-I think I'm around that as well," she said, wondering if that was a good age. She would count the winters as well... but it was hard to do so while fearing for your life on the back of a speeding horse. And besides, counting that would be far less than what she looked. So she would just stick with 18 or 19. "Did you really leave home at an early age?" She wondered why someone would do such a thing. Ophelia had kind of given her a hint at her life before, but she still didn't understand.

"It was a mutual agreement," Ophelia said, looking over her shoulder with a smile, "Well, an eventual mutual agreement. I decided I didn't need them after they decided they'd rather do without me. Though it took me a few days, weeks maybe, to learn how to live out here on my own but here I am. Have you ever experienced hunting? On your own on for the first time? Roughest first few weeks of my life."

There came a fork on the road with a rather large rock in between the road and the water's edge and a sign labeling each path. The left path that followed the river into the forest was labeled Corwen and the right path labeled Nuverine Gulch went further out into the plains. She slowed the horse to a stop by the water's edge to rest and she hopped off. "We'll stop here. Seems like a good spot to have a proper breakfast," she said, pulling the horse out of view behind the rock. A small circle campfire laid unused, possibly for a few days but luckily there was still some usable firewood resting against the rock. She opened one of the packs strapped to the horse's saddle and fished out some tinder and a small skillet. "The only eggs we got are the ones you have so we'll have to share. Be a dear and start a fire?" Ophelia tossed the tinder into the empty circle of stones.

Kitsu hopped off the horse, and went to the campfire site. She looked down at the tinder for a long moment, and then looked back toward Ophelia. She wasn't sure how exactly to use this to make a fire. To be honest, she hadn't ever made a fire; she had never needed to. She picked it up, studied it for a moment, and decided to stack some of the good firewood into the circle. She would make things a little easier for herself, and she sat the tinder aside. Now what did the old man say again? Oh, right.

She touched one piece of wood, and for a moment, the blue gem around her neck glowed, and the wood sparked with a little flame. She gave a little smile, glad she had remembered what the old man had taught.

Ophelia turned around, carrying the flint in her hands but stopped when she saw a small flame had already started. "Oh, good, you got it started. Hm." she noticed the girl didn't have anything on hand to really start the fire but shrugged it off like nothing. "I guess you won't be needing the flint." She turned back to the horse and put the flint back where she found it.

"Alright," Ophelia said, getting down on her knees to blow at the fire, "how do you like your eggs? You got four so it'll be two for me, two for you." There weren't any stands around to hold the skillet over the fire so she just had it sit over the burning wood, keeping it steady with her left hand while breaking two eggs on it with her right hand.

"It doesn't matter," Kitsu said, watching the girl with interest. She had seen people cook before, but hadn't seen it up close. And it was rather interesting. She would always like to know for future reference. She went, and took the bread that she managed to carry as well, and brought it over to the fire, munching on it while waiting. "Thanks for doing all this. Even though it was difficult."

"Now who said anything about it being difficult?" Ophelia said with a grin, "That, back there, was easy. Now that I have a companion, I feel everything else will be easier as well." She pulled the skillet out of the fire when the eggs finished, set it in front of Kitsu and handed her a fork. "You can eat first. I'll need the skillet for my two. Anyways, like I was saying, I think having a companion around will make things a lot easier." She rubbed her chin, examining the girl in thought. The furs definitely gave her a sort of regal feel if not exotic. The cute face and naive personality would possibly play a part in future plans if Kitsu was going to be around Ophelia for a while. She'd have to test it out in the near future, though. "Stick with me long enough and it'll be pretty much a routine thing. Why, sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing something wrong until someone confronts me about it."

Kitsu grinned a little and ate the eggs she had been given. When her mouth wasn't full of food, she spoke. "I can try and be your conscience then." She thought she was being helpful, and didn't quite catch on to Ophelia's true intentions. When she finished the eggs, she gave the skillet back to the other girl and then continued to munch on her bread.

"Yeah, my conscience. I could use one of those," she laughed as she started cooking her half. Of course she knew Kitsu meant well but the sound of it only reminded her of her parents and how they were. She cooked and ate her share and when all was said and done she stood up. "Well, before we start this journey I think we should freshen up. I probably reek!" Without saying much else, she threw off her clothes and ran to the river until it was up to her belly. "C'mon, Kitsu! The water's freezing!" She said, splashing the water towards the other girl.

Kitsu blushed, being a bit embarrassed at what Ophelia had just done. But she had never been in a situation like this, and the thief seemed quite comfortable with it. So she could only assume that this was normal among people. She stood, hesitating for a moment, before she pulled her hair over her shoulder, and unbraided it. Once she smoothed out her hair, she reached behind herself, untying her robe from the back and letting it fall, as well as her red sleeves. She kept her gem though, safe around her neck.

She made her way to the water, after a quick check around them, to make sure there wasn't anyone else watching. She wasn't the fondest of water, but she did like to be clean. She met Ophelia where she was, water just to her belly, before she dove under, getting her hair wet. She surfaced again, her hair clinging to her head, and revealing her cheeks just a bit more, showing the small three lines on each side.

"It is cold...." Kitsu said, almost whining, as she crouched low, deciding that the water would be a great help to conceal herself.

"That's the best part!" she said falling back and letting the cold waters wash over her. She stood again, unable to handle the cold and waded over towards Kitsu. "Don't be so embarrassed. It's not like I'm seeing anything new. See, look here," she motioned at a rather large burn scar that covered the right side of her hip and continued on to her upper back. "Bitten by an ember snake and the poison managed to crawl that far up my back before I finished making the antidote. It was like my body was on fire the whole time I was mixing the concoction." She then bent down, looking more closely at Kitsu who seemed rather flustered about everything that was going on. "What's with those whisker like marks on your face? Have they always been there before? Don't think I really noticed until now."

The snake bite sounded rather terrible, and Kitsu was glad that she had not run across anything like that before, and hoped that she never would. But she looked up when Ophelia mentioned the markings on her face. Yes, that was a problem that she had been trying to fix, but it was rather hard. So, she had always done her best to keep those covered up with her hair. Of course, it had been dark when she had met Ophelia, so it wasn't surprising that she hadn't noticed before.

"Ah, yes, I have always had those," she said quietly, and averted her eyes from the girl in front of her. She was so close, and she just felt a bit awkward, not ever having been this close to another human before.

"Hm. Well if there's no fancy story behind them then there's not much else to be said." Ophelia went back to washing herself. She had just begun to get used to the cold when she saw movement not too far from where they bathed in the river. Approaching from the forest path was a single male merchant riding a wagon being hauled by a mule. Ophelia didn't say anything to warn Kitsu, taking her time to bathe before the merchant got close enough to spot them. It was then that Ophelia quickly stood out of the water and ran off to put on what counted in decency before grabbing all of Kitsu's clothes and running off with it down the road, making sure to be scene by the merchant and causing quite a scene. She disappeared into the tall grass of the plains as the merchant approached their campsite.

Kitsu watched in confusion, as Ophelia took off out of the water. For a moment, she thought the girl had been touched by something, or seen something in the water. And as she went to leave the water as well... she noticed Ophelia taking off with her clothing as well.

"Ah... uh! Ophelia!" she called out, almost chasing her down, at least until she saw the man coming down the rode. She immediately turned back, and dove into the water. She surfaced, and watched the man, hoping he hadn't seen her.

The merchant didn't see Kitsu at first but saw a black-haired woman, still dripping wet, scamper across the road with a handful of clothes before disappearing into the thick grass. Curious as to what she was up to, he traced her steps back to the rivers edge where he saw another woman, naked, in the water. It was easy to put the pieces together and brought his wagon over to the edge of the water.

"Ex-excuse me!" he said, shielding his eyes as he got off the wagon and walked to the waters edge. "I'm sorry! But I seem to have noticed someone has run off with your clothes! I uh-" he stammered and tried his best not to look, stealing only quick glances every now and then as he dug through his things for some clothes.

The entire time, Ophelia was laughing at the scene. She hung the clothes up on a lone tree close to the road and when the merchant turned back to Kitsu with new clothes, she snuck into the wagon and began searching the place for anything of real value.

This might have gone so much better if the man had only continued on his way, not paying her any mind. But he had approached her... and the priceless look on Kitsu's face as she attempted to cover herself, becoming more and more flustered might have been more than worth it. She watched the man through tearful eyes, and looked to the clothes he had brought her.

"Th-Thank you..." she said, very quietly. She pointed for him to set the clothes down, and hoped he would continue the gentleman way of not looking at her as she would leave the water and dress into the clothes he would provide.

The merchant looked when he felt necessary and laid the clothes out for her where she asked. "Are you alright, young lady? Did they take anything else of value? If you want I'm on my way over to a small tavern not far from here and I can give you a ride there. Maybe get some help from the town guard?"

Ophelia was listening the entire time and determined tht the merchant was very much distracted with Kitsu. There should be enough time to pick the lock to a chest she found stowed under the pile of furs at the front of the wagon. She started her work, inserting the picks and feeling out the tumblers as she struggled to turn the lock. One by one the tumblers fell into place and after a good minute the lock turned, revealing a stack of fine silk clothes with silver rings sitting on top of them. She took the rings and stuffed them in her pocket before rolling the silk clothes around her arm and shutting the chest. Ophelia then hopped out of the wagon and dove back into the tall grass, with her loot as she waited for the merchant to finish up with Kitsu.

"You can keep the clothes. I got plenty more in the back. Just try to stay away from crossroads next time, alright? Thats an ideal spot for bandits and thieves to attack especially if you're alone."

Kitsu dressed in the clothes, and then looked to the man when he offered her a ride. She almost wanted to say yes, thinking Ophelia had abandoned her, but then she shook her head. "No, thank you, sir. I was just caught off guard by a woman being a thief. I've learned my lesson, and will be more careful now." She bowed her head just slightly, to thank him for helping her.

Though, she did hope that Ophelia was going to return, and she was merely playing a trick on her. Either way, she was really embarrassed about the whole situation.