Judy
As Joss wormed his way through a window, he had to reflect — there was one good thing about nobles. Nobles went on vacations from one home to another sometimes — particularly when the weather became particularly frigid and miserable — and this left one property vacant and ripe for robbery. In the case of this minor Lord, the man was known for being one never to cross — he'd been known to have his servants arrested for any perceived slight, and for particular violence towards lower classes who made a slip of etiquette and offended him. This did not leave the boy in much confidence to his prospects if he were somehow caught — he'd gone to efforts to cover his tracks through the snow most of the way here. The idea, of course, was to not get caught.

Admittedly, the place had been tricky to get into — but he had been able to budge one of the locks on a window, and as he clambered in, closed it behind him again. The boy moved slowly through the empty manor; he knew better than to ransack each and every valuable he saw. He'd never fit it all in his pack, for one — but it was best to take things he could fence easily.

Or things he really, really didn't want the Lord of the manor to have anymore. 

As the boy crept through the parlour, low to the ground lest someone somehow see his silhouette in a window, he didn't spot any such thing, though he did spot some exceedingly expensive clocks, furniture, baubles, statuettes... But as he passed into a side room, he spotted a set of silver candlesticks, and moved to put them into his satchel.
April
There was barely a sound as the thief dropped silently into the back of the estate, staying crouched for a long moment to make absolutely sure there was no one around, before getting up and darting for the back wall, and somehow managing to spider climb up it, till she was level with the 2nd floor.

Emiko had been keeping an eye on this particular noble for a while, and after coming to the conclusion that simply pickpocketing the guy wasn't going to be enough, considering all the shit he did, she had decided to have a bit more fun with him, that started with learning where he lived.

Of course, almost immediately after learning this, and studying the house so that she could plan, the thief had gotten kicked out of the inn she had been staying at, for being 'drunk and disorderly', because, while completely sober, she had beat down a trio of men after their leader had tried to get grabby with her. So she had needed a few days to find a new place to stay.

But finally, she was back here, and slightly disappointed that there was no one home, empty houses being a little bit less fun to sneak around in. But still, she jostled the window gently, frowning slightly as it stayed shut, and spidering her way to the next window, while making sure the light behind her was twisted in such a way that all any outside observer would see, was the wall, and not the female.

It took checking a few windows before Emiko found one that wasn't locked, quietly slipping into what looked to be a guest bedroom, shutting the window behind her, and stretching out her fingers gratefully, glad that her hunch was still right, and the 2nd floor windows were far less frequently checked than those that were lower.

After giving herself that moment, the thief slipped out of the room, and took a glance around the hall, before proceeding to quickly check behind every door. She wasn't after expensive looking trinkets, since they were both difficult to sell, and liable to get people in trouble.

No, she was looking for something better
Judy
Joss frowned. Looking up — he was certain, for a moment, that he'd heard a faint noise. Jaw tense, he took the runner from the table he'd found the candlesticks upon, to wrap them in so they did not make noise hitting eachother in his satchel. He stayed very still for a while — before a second noise punctuated the silence.

The growling of his own belly.

He sighed, and would begin to move again, now convinced that the first slight sound he'd heard had probably been himself as well. And the scrawny boy began to move again through the manor, hoping against hope to find coin. There was little chance he felt he'd find food in this empty place — and even if he did, stealing only food from a man such as this seemed to be... Underkill. He began to mount the staircase.
April
Each door the thief had checked hadn't been open for more than a moment, it being long enough for her to determine that she wasn't going to find much in the room, before the door was closed, and she was moving on.

However, one door near the stairs was open a moment longer, Emiko slipping in and shutting the door behind her. She had found a study, it being one of the few places people were inclined to leave money. That, bedrooms, and sometimes even rooms just for miscellaneous.

She immediately narrows in on one corner of the room, starting a methodical search for anywhere that coin might be stored.
Judy
A gasp of shock escaped Joss, a moment before he covered his own mouth with his hand in horror — he had *Seen* Someone open a door, slip in and shut it again behind him. He wasn't alone here! The figure he'd seen hadn't *Looked* Like a servant of the house, but he couldn't be completely certain. Perhaps a groundskeeper — yet, why were they being so quiet? And he'd been certain he was alone on the ground floor, too! — now an interesting set of possibilities came to him, and the unwashed boy crept up, eyes wide, to the door that had been closed, trying to open it just enough to peer in and to see what was happening within.
April
Being completely sure the house was empty, Emiko wasn't paying too much attention to other sounds, especially after finding a small locked chest at the back of one of the bookshelves in the study.

She pulled the chest from its hiding place, and placed it on a nearby desk, studying the lock for a moment, then pulling a small piece of folded leather from one of the pouches on her belt, opening it up to pull a pair of lockpicks out of it, so she could start working on unlocking the chest.
Judy
The boy stared. It took him some moments to be sure of what he was seeing — but the lockpicks had him certain. He hadn't been the only thief with the idea of going through this place.

It made sense; if he'd gotten wind of the Lord of the manor's vacation, surely others had. But this left the question of just what to *Do* About it. He had not got along with other vagrants so far, after all — fights after spots or scraps of food were common, and not every criminal was of the same mind. She might well consider this *Her* Heist just as he considered it his, and the idea of having to flee without anything did not appeal to him. He had the candlesticks, though... And it had been weeks since he'd really talked to anyone, save to be told to move along, get out, and the like.

In the end he spoke, quietly, in a voice raspy with disuse and uncultured. "... Room fer one more?"
April
A knife was suddenly in Emiko's hand as soon as the voice was heard, and the only reason it hadn't been thrown is because she had seen the source of the voice before sending the blade towards it, the lockpicks still hanging from the keyhole in the chest.

"Ain't yer a little young t' be wanderin around a stranger's house, kid" She asks, in an accent that might be considered Australian, if such a place existed. And despite the fact that she hadn't actually thrown the knife, it was still being held in a way that suggested it could be thrown in an instant
Judy
The boy flinched, and at once ducked behind the door, at the sight of the knife that she seemed ready to throw. He was scrawny, pale, dirty — well, he looked like a street rat that had been placed rather inexplicably into a fine and utterly abandoned household. "I mean — that ain't really th'point, point is I am an' so are you, an' I don' think neither of us is hopin' t'leave empty-handed, innit?" Trying to reason with her, voice a little shaky, as he pulled out his own knife, preparing for the likelihood that this woman might attack him in defense of what she was unlocking.
April
Emiko frowned slightly, her unusually bright amber eyes staring at Joss through the darkness for a long moment, before she huffs, and the knife disappears back under her top 

"Put that away, if I was gonna fight ya, ya'd have a knife stickin outta yer shoulder already" She practically growls, shaking her head as she crouches back down to resume picking the chest's lock.
Judy
Yet the stranger was giving no indication as to whether she intended to share the spoils — and the boy didn't blame her, even as he sheathed his own knife. He couldn't be the only one struggling, after all, and thieves were not typically known for their generosity. Still hiding behind the door: "How's this — I uhh. I get th'other rooms on this floor, you get wotever's in that chest?" He was pretty sure it was coin — what he was after — but he very literally couldn't afford to be picky.
April
There was a long silence, then the chest gave a small click as the thief twisted the picks slightly, pulling them out and returning them to the leather folder, before she looked at the kid again, with her amber eyes that almost looked as though they were glowing.

 "Whaddya doin this fer kid?" She asks, resting a hand on the lid of the chest, the other on her hip
Judy
The boy peeked round the door again, warily, that he might actually see who he was talking to: "... I ain't workin' fer no one, if that's wot y'mean. Jus' hungry, an' th'git wot lives here kin afford th'loss. If he even notices. Look, you up forra deal or not... I kin get outta here, jus' don' wanna leave empty-handed." He caught a glimpse of the eyes, and shivered — they reminded him briefly of something hard to place yet frightening.
April
There's a sigh, and Emiko shakes her head "Not what I meant. I wanna know what got ya t' start stealin. Like, what, yer tryin t' feed yer family, or ya all alone, doin it fer fun, what? Why's a 12, 14, year old kid breakin inter empty houses, insteada learnin a trade, or however that goes" She says, watching him carefully
Judy
Joss *Stared*. Was another thief *Lecturing* Him on doing the same thing she was? "... Bloody hell. Look, I'm alone, an' I ain't dumb enough to apprentice no more. Tried that. Ain't makin' that mistake again." Explaining the situation with his family was tricky — so he just *Didn't*. "Wot's it matter t'you anyway? Ain't like yer so gainfully employed yerself." As he gestured to the chest she'd been opening. "Do I need to get outta here or not?"
April
Her amber eyes narrow "That's cause I didn't exactly get a chance t' do anythin else kid. But just cause I got stuck livin like this, don't mean I'm ok with seein kids doin th' same shit. 'Specially when they don't know what they're doin'" She growls

Emiko turns back to the chest and opens it up, taking a quick glance at the contents. There's a jingling of coins as the thief rummages about for a bit, pulling something out, and closing the lid of the chest, locking it again with a few quick prods with another lockpick. She returns the leather folder to its spot and picks the chest up, walking over to the door, and Joss, her other hand thrusting a heavy coin purse to him.

She leans in as she does this, staring the white haired boy in the eyes "Do yerself a favour, and put this t'wards findin actual work, yer still young enough that someone might actually be willin t' teach ya. Cause trust me when I say ya got lucky here. Most in yer position woulda tried t' stab me in th' back rather than talk, and most in mine probably woulda just thrown th' knife. Ya ain't cut out fer this kid, don't get killed tryin"
Judy
Joss' jaw set tight as she noted he didn't know what he was doing — though it was partially true. He'd stolen before, a fair handful of times, and never been caught — but he'd never run into another thief targeting the same place before, either. And he *Hadn't* Known what to do in that situation, after all. But as she thrust the purse of coins into his chest and stared down his dark eyes, the boy seemed obstinate. 

"I ain't payin' no one to beat th'shit outta me. I'll take this over goin' back to that any day. An' you jus' proved that maybe I done *Righ'* By tryin' to talk. Coz from where I stand, we're both standin' fine."
April
Emiko frowns, and takes a moment to lean down, putting her face a few inches away from his, her bright yellow eyes staring directly into his dark ones "Like I said, yer got *Lucky*. Try it again, ya'll likely end up hurt, or dead, an' even if ya try t' stab em in th' back, they might still be better than you. This ain't a world fer stupid kids that think they know better, but hey, if kickin yer ass is what'll teach ya a lesson, I'd be happy t' do so" She growls in his face, before giving a grin that suggests she's way too eager to follow through with her threat