Chapter 2E: Partners In Crime

Year 17

“Annah, I know how to pick a fucking lock, will you stop bitching? This is for your benefit. Are you even paying attention?” you say.
“Yes, I’m fucking paying attention. I’m just getting bored and you’re taking too fucking long. If I wanted that experience I’d just suck your dick.” Annah replies.
“Ha fucking ha. There. Got it.”
“Finally. Hey you asshole! Why the hell did you slap my hand?” Annah says, hitting you back.
“Because if you were paying attention, you’d see there’s a blade trap almost well hidden in the roof of the safe. Had I not been here, you’d be giving me hand jobs with your left hand rather than your right in your foreseeable future.”
“You won’t be getting ANY sort of job if you continue to abuse me!”
“Continue to…nevermind. Let me just disarm this and we can get the fuck out of here. And pay attention to what I’m doing!”

So much for Annah changing when she got to Klyton. You sometimes think you’ve gotten to her and she’ll stop bitching so much, but it’s always just temporary. You really miss working with your sister.

While Annah has certainly improved some of her skills she’s ultimately just too damn impatient and lazy for all this and despite her bitching about being the “distraction” during some of your jobs, she relies on it a lot.

You figured showing her the more practical and direct aspects of the job, she’d be more appreciative, but this character flaw of bitching non-stop is making you rethink this too.

You get the strong impression that she’d rather not help you at all and just would rather reap the benefits. Which at this point might at least be easier on you since you’d be able to work in peace, though if that was the case, why the hell would you need to give her any of it? You’d be better off alone and keep everything.

After swiftly disarming the trap, you grab the valuables inside which consists mainly of gold coins and couple pieces of expensive looking jewelry. Not a bad haul. Annah picked a good home to break into even if you would have liked a little more time to case the place first.

Having gotten your loot, the pair of you leave as fast as possible. You both stop temporarily just before you get back to your neighborhood.

“Hold on, let’s be careful. Don’t really feel like stumbling into any Bloody Talons right now, especially with this stash.” You say.
“I thought they were the Crimson Talons.” Annah says.
“I dunno, I think that was their old name. Heard something about a change in leadership and apparently the new leader is some sort of psycho. Nearly got into it with a few of them two days ago saying that I better not be working on their turf. Which apparently is practically most of the city according to them.”
“Well if we moved to a better neighborhood, we wouldn’t have to sneak about like this and I don’t like living at the Welcome Mat, there are a bunch of whores, drunks, and dregs of the city that live there.”
“The Welcome Mat is a shitty place I agree, but we’re less likely to draw attention there. I mean we’re a young couple with no visible means of support. Granted the asshole who runs the place is always bitching about his rent, but given that he’s selling booze without a license in his basement and got whores living in his hotel he’s not likely to turn us in. I mean there is also the militia to worry about and it feels like they’ve been increasing their own patrols in response to the Bloody Talons.”
“Pfft, nobody is going to care what we might be doing as long as we’re paying the coin to live wherever we’re choosing to live at and dressing the part”
“Maybe, but I prefer that we also save a little of our coin because, who knows when we might need it for a bribe or to get the hell out of Klyton one day.”
“What’s the point of stealing shit, if we’re not going to have fun with it?! I’m tired of eating low class food and never getting to wear any of the shinies we take. If I wanted that life, I would have stayed in Teckleville.”
“Look, we’ll talk about this later when we’re not out in the open potentially…”
“Well what do we have here?” A voice exclaims.

You and Annah both turn around to see three men bigger than you. Not by much, but certain enough that three of them are more than you’d be able to handle with just a short sword. In fact you recognize them as the ones that you were just telling Annah about.

“Hey, I know you! You’re that shithead we spoke to earlier this week about not working on our turf. What the fuck are you doing here?” one of them says recognizing you as well.
“Not working on your turf obviously. I’m not doing anything except…going off with this whore.” You say
“WHAT?!” Annah exclaims completely fucking up your excuse.
“Hey paid your price, I’m not giving you another coin!” you remark trying to salvage the situation, but Annah is being uncooperative tonight.
“I’m not a fucking whore, I had enough of being called that in Teckleville! And I’m not going to pretend to be one, just because you’re scared of these three assholes.”

The two Bloody Talons are more amused than angry, but they haven’t lost interest.

“Nice try shithead. Now obviously since you tried to fucking lie to us, you HAVE been working on our turf. However, hand over what’s in your pack now and you and your stupid bitch MIGHT walk away unscathed.” The talkative one says.
“Stupid bitch? You’re the ones in a dumb ass gang probably giving half of your shit to your boss. I’d say you’re the stupid bitches here.” Annah replies.

Going to be one of those nights…

“Don’t think I won’t beat the shit out of you AFTER I’m done beating the shit out of your boyfriend here, you mouthy bitch.” the talkative Talon warns.
“Oh I can think of better things to do with her mouth.” Another says.
“Yeah…you might be right. Maybe we’ll be taking something else along with what’s in your pack.”
“You fuckers and your Halfling dicks aren’t going to do shit! Now get the fuck out of here, before my boyfriend pulls out his pistol!”

You have no firearm of any kind, but unlike Annah, you know when to take advantage of a cue. So you immediately reach into your clothing, which causes the Bloody Talons to immediately run from your position like idiots.

Which is when you take the opportunity to grab Annah’s hand and run the hell out of there as fast as you can.

“HEY HE DOESN’T HAVE A GUN!” you hear one of the geniuses shout, but you and Annah don’t look back or stop until you get to the safety of the Welcome Mat and even then you go straight to your room.

You lock the door immediately and then you finally speak.

“Annah, what the fuck is wrong with you?! We could have been killed!” you exclaim.
“I know, that’s why I got us out of that situation by bluffing that you had a gun. I’d think you’d be grateful that I’m so quick on my feet.”

You nearly have no words…

“Grateful?! I could have gotten us out of that situation a lot easier if you’d just gone along with the whore story!” you say.
“And I said I’m not a fucking whore and I’m not going to pretend to be one either! Besides, they weren’t buying that story anyway. My way worked!” Annah replies.
“Yeah, and what if they had been a little braver and called the bluff OR shit, one of them had a flintlock of their own?”
“Pfft, they’re cowardly gutter scum at heart that’s why they rove in packs and are part of a bullshit gang and did you see how they were dressed? Fucking rags, no way they could even afford a firearm.”

You might as well be talking to a brick wall.

While you’re trying not to get frothing mad and think of a calm way to explain that now thanks to Annah, you definitely will have the Bloody Talons on your asses, Annah has moved on to taking your pack and emptying the contents on the bed and going through them.

You notice she’s putting aside a lot of the contents next to herself.

“What’re you doing?” you ask.
“I’m taking my share. I figure since I saved our asses tonight, that entitles me to a lot more.”
“Saved our asses? I repeat, you nearly got us fucking killed! And on top of that, I had to prevent you from getting your hand chopped off because you were trying to grab shit before checking for traps!”
“Why don’t you want me to have nice things?”
“What?”
“You don’t want me to have nice things! You don’t want me to try to improve my self. You want to keep me dressed in rags, looking like shit and generally being miserable.”
“Annah, okay THAT is not even true. I don’t have any control over how you…”
“Are you afraid if I start feeling good about myself I’ll start looking for someone better?”
“Now you’re just being melodramatic and ridiculous.”
“And there you go dismissing my feelings again!”
“Annah, if you’re so unhappy and dissatisfied with me, then why are you still around? I mean I’m not twisting your arm and holding you here.”
“So I’m an inconvenience to you? I’m starting to wonder if you really love me at all.”

You think about your next words and the possible consequences, but then you do it anyway, because you’ve had it.

“I’m starting to wonder too, given all the shit you put me through on a daily basis!”

Annah’s eyes widen.

“Be very careful with your next words to me.” Annah warns.
“Fuck that, I’ve tried everything with you and nothing fucking works! You are content on just berating me day in day out! When you aren’t bitching about what I’m doing, you’re finding new stuff to nag me about! I thought maybe things would be different here between us, but I guess not. So since you can’t seem to let go, I’ll do all the work as usual…”

At this point you start grabbing all the loot on the bed and putting it into a nearby bag. Then you go to where you keep your “savings” and take some of that out and throw that into the bag as well. You then thrust the bag of valuables into Annah’s hand.

“Wha…what are you doing?” Annah asks.
“Giving you what you obviously need. Hope you find someone better.” You say and start pushing Annah towards the door who is resisting the whole time.
“Hey! Tha…That’s it? Just like that and you’re just fucking kicking me out?! What about the rest of my clothes and belongings?!”
“You got more than enough coin to buy all the nice things you ever wanted, and I know you have just enough skill to get by. It’s been fun and I’ll always remember the good times. Bye Annah.” You say and you shove Annah out the door.

You expect Annah to bang on the door or at least yell at you, maybe even cry, but that doesn’t happen. You just hear her footsteps walking off.

Things between the two of you were always volatile, probably for the best that this ended now. You always thought it would Annah that would eventually leave though; you guess maybe she just needed a little extra shove.

Without much else to do and this being a bit of an exhausting event, you go to sleep. When you wake up its midday and feeling refreshed.

“Annah, are you…oh right.” You say remembering she’s not here, which still seems odd. You sort of figured that maybe she’d sneak back in or something.

Going to be a little weird without her around you think, but life goes on. After all you didn’t expect her to come with you in the first place.

You move on to pondering what your plans are today. While you gave most of the stash to Annah, you can easily live on what you have left for a month before you even need to go out again.

You figure you’ll ponder your long-term goals after getting something to eat. You take some of your coin and exit your room.

As you’re trying to leave the inn, you bump into Randi, the red headed whore that lives in the building. Better than that drunk Joachim priest Virgil asking for a donation again you suppose.

“Hey handsome, what’s going on?” she asks a bit flirtatiously.
“Nothing, just going to get some food.” you reply.
“I see. Where’s your girlfriend?”
“Hell if I know, we’re not together any more.”
“Is that right? Well, you looking for some company then?”
“Eh, I wasn’t planning on it…”
“Oh come on, let me satisfy your other appetites. I’ll even give you a discount for your broken heart.” Randi says thrusting her chest out and moving in closer to you.

You look at Randi who, as far as whores go isn’t exactly top tier, though it looks like she’s put a little more effort into her job today.

Normally you probably wouldn’t give Randi a second look, but it’s not like you have anything better to do and she’s probably going to be cheaper than a girl at an established brothel.
> You decline her invitation
Maybe you’re no longer with Annah, but if you’re going to start fucking whores, you could still do better than Randi.

“No thanks, I’m good.” You say.
“Hm, I understand. Still holding a candle for her huh? Y’know, anytime I saw you two together she was bitching at you. If you ask me, you seem like you’re better off anyway.” Randi says.
“Well nobody asked you Randi, look just leave me alone, you aren’t selling anything I’m interested in.”

Randi now looks offended.

“Oh fuck you asshole. You think you’re better than me? Your girlfriend obviously didn’t think so since she wised up and left your ass.” Randi says.
“I broke up with her, you presumptuous whore.” You say as she walks away waving a dismissing hand back at you.

You leave the Welcome Mat and go get yourself some food and then spend the rest of the day seeking out new burglary opportunities. Normally you would have spent the rest of the day doing the whole distract and con jobs with Annah, but without her around now, you’re content on focusing no longer having to directly deal with people.

You spend the next few weeks working by yourself and generally getting by. You’ve manage to nearly build up what you gave to Annah.

During this time you’re also mainly avoiding the Bloody Talons (along with the Klyton Militia) who are a little more aware of you now thanks to that night Annah mouthed off to them. Fucking Annah…

While you’ve generally been having a fine time without her constant bitching, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t still think about her. She was fun in a lot of physical ways, it was just about everything else she did that made her less fun.

You’re still a little surprised that she hasn’t popped up again on your doorstep. You thought maybe she would have by now. The fact that she hasn’t does give you a little concern that maybe the Bloody Talons got a hold of her (or some similar fate) but if something bad has befallen her, there’s not much you can do about it and it’s certainly not your fault.

Then again you did throw her out…

“Bah, stop thinking about her. You’re better off. She probably went back home a lot richer than I am right now.” You mutter to yourself.

As you’re trying to put the thoughts of your ex out of your mind, you start wondering about the possibility of leaving Klyton yourself after you acquire a little more.

Besides the Bloody Talons potentially giving you grief, they’ve also been terrorizing the city with their actions, which means the Klyton Militia has been cracking down harder on everything.

Part of you wonders if maybe you should just move on from this city, but you really loathe the idea of travelling again and you aren’t sure where you’d go. Hessla maybe?

While you’re pondering your possible future you bump into Virgil as you’re stepping in the Welcome Mat.

“Heeeeey youngster! (hic!) You got any spare….coppers fer the faith?” Virgil asks.

The odor of Virgil’s rancid breath hits you full force. You immediately cover your nose and mouth.

You thought the followers of Joachim were supposed to be into purity and restraint. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Joachim was the god of alcohol and hopeless drunks based on this guy’s behavior and actions.

“Shit, Virgil. When the hell was the last time you washed? You fucking smell worse than a troll’s ass. Granted I’ve never smelled a troll’s ass, but I think it’s a safe bet you smell worse than one.” You say.
“Guess again. Hahahahahahaha! (hic) So can ya spare a copper?”
“No and I told you to stop bothering me Virgil! Don’t you have a collection box you can pilfer booze money from?” you shout.
“Yeah…but no…but I got some (hic) news…”
“Yeah, I already know about Joachim’s blessed light. You tried to tell me about it the first time I came here and you nearly threw up on me in the process.”
“I did? Geez, sorry son…but this is different! (hic) Some…somebody…”
“Somebody what?”
“Somebody was lookin’ fer ya.”

Well that peaked your interest.

“Oh?” you answer.
“Yeah…(hic) Yeah, this big guy. I mean not like ogre big, but just human big ya know? Old guy too. (hic) I mean not as old as that asshole who own this place, but probably around my age.” Virgil says.
“Well that’s still fucking old then, aren’t you like seventy?”
“Fuck you. I’ll have you know I’m in my forties…I think…yeah…”
“Okay, so big guy in his forties was looking for me. What did he want?”

Of course NOW Virgil decides to be uncooperative.

“No! No! Fuck you, I’m not tellin’ you shit now. (hic) Who…who…what do you think I am some kinda asshole fer you to abuse? Callin’ me seventy fuckin’ years old. I oughta kick yer ass in the name of Joachim! Yer lucky I’m a man of faith…(hic)”

At this point Virgil mumbles and stumbles away still mumbling and swearing.

You suppose you could always ask him again later when he’s feeling less feisty. He will have likely forgotten all about your so-called insult later, of course he probably will have forgotten about the guy looking for you too.

As you head back to your room, you ponder who he could have been talking about. Your dad? Dad’s not a big guy though and you honestly doubt if he would bother to come look for you.

Might have been one of those Bloody Talon assholes, though honestly you’re a bit surprised that they haven’t shown up here before.

Other than those possibilities, you’re drawing a blank of who might be looking for you. It’s a little concerning though.

You’ll just remain alert and keep an eye out this guy looking for you. Remain on your guard too, since you still don’t know if this man means you harm or not. Hopefully Virgil can tell you something later.

For now though you decide to get some sleep after your long night of thievery. As your lids get heavier, you think on where you could ply your trade with a little more ease and a lot more loot. The rich areas are well patrolled, the government district is well patrolled, the merchant district is well patrolled and has Bloody Talons running about, and the poor areas are definitely Bloody Talon territory and the folks don’t have shit.

It suddenly occurs to you that you’ve never really tried the university district of the city. Might be worth a look, after all it should be filled with stupid rich kids not aware of their surroundings and the Talons don’t seem to go running around there, so there might be less heat overall.

You wake up midday. After getting yourself ready for today’s endeavors, you knock on Virgil’s door, but there is no answer. He’s either still asleep or he’s out collecting donations for Joachim. Probably the latter considering you didn’t contribute to his booze fund.

You leave the Welcome Mat Inn, though a little more cautiously than usual. Nobody seems to be approaching or giving you suspicious looks though. Still, wishing to keep a low profile, you stick to the back streets as much as possible and eventually when you get to the better part of town, you catch a coach for your remaining trip to the university. By the time you arrive, the day is beginning to end, but you soon find that the university is still fairly active.

After a few hours of just scouting and walking around, it’s much like you figured. A lot of scholarly types with their noses in books and rich kids that do a lot of partying. The dorms have security, but oddly not as much as one might think.

You find that despite being dressed in your lower class clothing, nobody is really giving you a second glance. It might be due to your youth though; you probably just look like a struggling student. Wasn’t like your dad was exactly rich when he attended this place either.

It occurs to you how strange it is to be at the university at all. You never thought you’d ever “attend” your dad’s old place of higher learning. You’re sure at one time he had hopes you would, but it probably wasn’t under these circumstances.

As you’re having these inner reflections, you see a group of people hanging around laughing and generally having their attention focused on a little black and white curly haired dog, which is enjoying the attention.

What gains your attention however is you recognize one of these people. It’s Annah!

Her hair is fixed up and she’s dressed like she’s the daughter of some rich nobleman. Looks like she put all that loot you gave her and indeed bought herself something nice and apparently she’s bought a dog as well. You never knew she wanted one of those.

Annah hasn’t seen you, but that’s probably because she’s busy picking everyone’s pockets while they’re all distracted and laughing. Or rather she’s trying to, the problem is the dog moves around enough that people are constantly changing the direction of where they’re looking.

You shake your head and move towards the group.

“Excuse me, I’m new here and I’m looking for the medical school.” You say.

Annah’s eyes instantly go wide and then they narrow with a “Get the fuck out of here.” look. Meanwhile her little dog has also seen you and unlike with everyone else, it has decided to growl and give a little bark before running behind someone’s leg.

“Oh, sure it’s just past those buildings over there.” Someone answers.
“Over there? I just came from over there and I didn’t see it.” You reply.
“No, over to the west. There’s a big statue. You can’t miss it.”
“The big statue with the sword? I was over that way too and still didn’t see it.”
“No, that’s on the east side, I’m talking about the west side. There’s a statue of a physician wearing a plague mask.”
“Can’t say I’ve seen that. Where did you say it was again?”
“The west side! The west!”
“Okay, calm down! I was just asking where the medical school is and you’re giving me directions to a statue.”
“I’m not give….argh.”
“Here let me try…” a girl says stepping in to explain.

You manage to keep up this idiot charade for quite awhile completely exasperating the entire group to the point where several of them are calling you a retard and don’t know how the hell you’re even breathing, let alone getting in this university.

Meanwhile Annah realizes what you’re doing and manages to easily pick everyone’s pockets while they’re focused on you. She then takes off with her dog.

“Oh wait, I’m supposed to go to the school of magic, not medicine. Duh. Apologies.” You say trying not to laugh while everyone calls you names.

As you walk away you decide to call it a night. While you didn’t really engage in any lucrative opportunities yourself, you’re sort of glad to learn that Annah is alive and well. You suppose you do miss her a bit.

In any case, you decide that the university district might be the place to start plying your trade since the militia patrols are infrequent and the Bloody Talon assholes aren’t around here.

Of course that might mean bumping into Annah again so that’s definitely a potential drawback, but it’s still a big place and she doesn’t have some claim on it. You’ll try to stay out of her way though if you happen to see her.

Over the next few days you start making your routine visits to the university. You find it particularly easy to just go into the dorms and start pilfering things. These students have more money than a sense of security it seems. And the actual university security must be everyone that tried out for the Klyton militia and failed miserably.

After a week of looting the male dorms you decide to change it up and move on to the female dorms. You’ll have to be more stealthy considering you can’t just wander about as freely in there, but you’ve been doing this long enough now that you’re confident that you shouldn’t have too many problems.

Fortunately there are always a lot of parties going on and this weekend there is a big one that everyone is supposed to be excited to go to, so you figure that’s the best time to strike.

After some stealthy moves you get in and begin rummaging through empty rooms. You’re doing fairly well until you get to your fifth room and as you’re going through one of the drawers you suddenly hear a little growl.

“I KNEW you were fucking stalking me! Get out! Get the fuck out of my room!” Annah suddenly shouts and hits you in the head with a shoe. You have no idea where she was hiding, you thought you were pretty observant and careful.

“Ow! Your room?” you say and begin blocking her attacks.
“Yes! This is my fucking room! Checkers attack!” Annah commands and you feel her fluffy hound viciously bite you on the ankle.
“Fuck! Little shit!” you say and kick the beast off of you causing it to yelp and hide behind Annah though still growling.
“You fucking asshole! You kicked my dog!”
“You told it to attack me! And how the hell is this your room, since when are you in college?”
“What’s it to you? What? You didn’t think I could make it on my own did you?”
“Well…”
“You didn’t! I knew it! You’ve never supported me! Well as you can see I’m doing just fine without you, better in fact!”
“Oh sure, that’s why I had to help you last week distracting those idiots you were trying to pick pocket.”
“I was doing just fine with that! So why the fuck are you here anyway? You trying to get back with me? Because if you are, that ship has sailed a long time ago the moment you threw me out! Now stop stalking me and get out before I call security!”
> You try to explain yourself
As usual Annah’s overreacting and you just need to calm her down.

“Annah, if you could just calm down a fucking second, I’m not fucking stalking you! I happen to…” you start to say before she interrupts.
“HELP THERE’S A RAPIST IN MY ROOM! HELP! HELP!” Annah screams.
“Annah! Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Annah doesn’t stop screaming though and then her dog starts barking again. This causes you to try to shut her up by grabbing her, but this just makes things worse as she begins to struggle and hit you while continuing to scream. Then on top of that, her dog bites your leg again.

Realizing that she’s in no mood to listen to reason and is just determined to get you out of here, you release her and shake her mutt off your leg and turn to leave. Before you get out the door though she throws something at you which hits you in the head pretty hard.

“Fuck.” You utter and stumble out the door.
“I hope I cracked your fucking skull RAPIST!” Annah continues to shout.

You stagger as fast as you can out of the dorm, but thanks to the blow to your head, you’re feeling pretty dizzy. Annah’s shouting also drew the attention of the few others that were currently in the dorm. The fact that she screamed rape doesn’t help as now every other woman in the place is screaming too.

You don’t get far from the dorm when security shows up. Any other time security isn’t a problem around here, but when several women are screaming rapist they come heavy.

A gunshot is heard as you’re trying to flee causing you to instinctively duck, though due to your dizziness, you end up tripping and falling.

You manage to get back up and then another gunshot rings out. This one unfortunately hitting you in the back. You fall back down to the ground and don’t get up again.

If you were still alive, you probably wouldn’t have found it surprising that Annah cried over you for weeks apologizing that she got you killed.