Reflection 3

This week we're working on getting a solid rough cut. We reshot a scene, and intend to put that into the rough cut since we decided the first try wasn't good enough. Nico is going to be editing at home, though with significant input from the group. We already outlined multiple times what we want in the film, what shots we want, what extra film features we may want to add in editing, but now Nico has to put all of the edits in. I have faith that he can get it done in time, since we chose him for editor since he is a talented editor. He's bringing in rough cuts as he goes so that we can see where our movie is each time and make sure that we as a group still agree on the direction it is taking.

Weekly Reflection #2

Our film is still progressing well. It is filmed and uploaded.
 This week we choose some music pieces from the ones Briana found. We selected three pieces that we all agreed upon and think will fit well. We also really laid out the order of our shots, though we did not lay them into Final Cut since Nico is going to do that at home.
 I'm really pleased with the cinematography, and I think we had some really fitting music chosen.
Maddie and I also made the poster, which was then revised by Briana and Nico. I think it turned out well. We downloaded some really interesting fonts for the title and the names. We still need to finalize a title though. We've been brainstorming title ideas this week, but we have yet to pick one we can all agree upon.
Next week we will continue to edit, maybe find more music if we think we need it, figure out a title, work on the title slide (since I think we intend to make a fancier title slide). In regards to editing we need to make sure that we select good insert and cutaway shots, since as of now though we have good coverage of all the scenes, we haven't gotten to putting in all the inserts and cutaways that we've shot.
Next week will be a challenge. Most of our group will be unable to come after school due to extracurricular commitments, since Sophie, Nico and Briana all have School of Rock and Maddie and I have extremely rigorous practices to prepare for the Stotesbury. Maddie and I will both probably be absent for Thursdays class because of a regatta in Philadelphia that we have to travel to, and we will all miss Tuesday because of the NSL AP.

CAP Hollywood Reflection

Our film is progressing well. We’ve had some challenges with coordinating schedules, since Maddie and I have crew almost every day, and Nico, Briana and Sophie have School of Rock for most of the days we could get out of crew. We were able to film, and that went relatively well. Unfortunately, since we had so many issues with coordination, Maddie and I had to act in the movie. Though we are the right ages for the parts, neither of us are particularly good actors. We did many takes though, so hopefully we will be able to find takes in which we were able to act well enough.

 I acted in the movie. As we went through the takes, I helped to select the takes that were good. I also helped to put the clips in order. Since I wrote it, I was better able to make sure that the progression was natural to the flow of the story. I also worked with Sophie and Briana to figure out what type of music we wanted for the arguing scene. 

Next week we need to actually find specific music for the movie, get our rough cut done, and film the scene in the park.

Picture from: Camera at Openclipart.com

More Writing!

This is a little snippet of the most recent piece I've been working on. To put it in context, the two main characters, Tess and Grayson are a shape shifter and a mind reader respectively, in a world where mind readers are distrusted and shape shifters are outright hated. In this passage, they've recently met when Tess' village was razed and pillaged by a group of pirates who did the same to Grayson' village. They're going to the courts of Lord Henry, a local nobleman to ask for permission to cross the border into Ardos, with whom their country, Althrance, has had closed borders with since a recent war. They intend to use Tess' ability to shape shift to manipulate him.

“Gods,” Tess muttered as the sheer height of Lord Henry’s hold came into perspective. Even in the rain that was pattering down, it was magnificent. Tess barely believed it was only a day from her town. Henry’s hold rose from down in a valley, but that did little to mask the height of the building. It was all light colored stone, except for the stained glass windows in the attached chapel. The squat buildings surrounding the hold, but still within its walls were a mix of stone and wood, but none half as grand as the stone building at the end of the road Tess and Grayson were making their way down. No one but Tess seemed impressed by the building. But the largest building Tess had ever seen was only three stories, and was a thin, unimpressive gray stone building.

So, despite the rain, Tess had her hood pushed halfway off of her head and was gaping at the building, until Grayson pulled it down low onto her head. She glared at him reproachfully, but no remorse passed across his face.

“They’ll get suspicious,” Grayson warned, looking around surreptitiously at the city watch men that periodically crossed the pairs path. When three watchmen passed, Grayson tugged his hood low over his eyes.

“Don’t like mind readers. Noticed I’m tall. Think I am one,” Grayson said when the trio tightened their grips on their halberds almost imperceptibly as he and Tess passed.

“Maybe they think that because you are one?”

“Guess so. Doesn’t make sense. Mastyri control half of Althrance and mind readers are still making them nervous. Humans,” he said with distaste.

“Worse if they knew what you were,” Grayson said, giving Tess and unreadable sidelong glance.

“But I don’t intend for any of them to find out, do you? Speaking of which, when do you want me to change? It should probably be soon if we don’t want too much suspicion. I can’t exactly be doing it inside Lord Henry’s complex,” Tess said, looking at the buildings beginning to crop up with increasing frequency to either side of them as they neared the hold.

“Need to be close enough that I can read him. Figure out what Lord Henry wants to see.”

“Hey, but we also need to be far enough away that I don’t get seen shifting,” Tess said, again nervously glancing at Grayson, then at the guards. She couldn’t trust Grayson to guard her if she was caught. He’d probably turn her over in return for a reward he could use to help kill the pirates. She didn’t even know that that wasn’t his entire plan in bringing her to Lord Henry. She looked at him again, but when his gold eyes shifted over, she looked away suddenly at one of the watchmen. Grayson frowned.

“Stop that. Suspicious that you keep looking at them.”

“Hey, you’re not one look away from being executed. I know what happens to shifters in… well, everywhere. And I don’t want to get hung. Or beheaded. Or apparently dragged apart by wild dogs, if you believe the rumors from Thalten.”

“Mostly not true.”

“Mostly? Wonderful.”

“Sometimes you people don’t get killed. Sometimes you just kept in some Lord’s hold,  or some nobleman’s castle.”

“Oh, because slavery is so much better. Can we just get this over with?” Tess asked, as the road began a dangerous slope down towards the hold.

“Found him. Alright. This way,” Grayson said. He took one of Tess’s arms. He roughly pulled her to the side and into a narrow alley with no outlet between two low stone buildings. Grayson stood, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the few people who walked by. He cut quite a menacing figure, almost seven feet tall, one hand resting lightly on his battle axe.

“Brunette, brown almond eyes, skinny and short. Feminine face,” Grayson called back, “Can you do that?”

“I can do whatever I want to do as long as it’s vaguely human.”

Tess turned her back to Grayson to stare at a crack in the wall at the end of the alley. She pulled an image into her mind of a fisher’s daughter she met at a market once, until it occupied her mind. She shuddered, like a swimmer who’d just climbed out of icy water. The grey curtain of smoke began to form, swirling in haphazard edits around her, reaching towards but never brushing the walls. She cursed quietly, making the profanities into almost a prayer of pain as her tall body jammed itself into a petite frame, but when the smoke cleared, her face was calm and entirely different.

“Does this look about right?” Tess asked, straightening out the maroon dress she now wore. It wasn’t the one the fisher’s daughter had been wearing. That’d been brown and rough and coarse. She figured if she was going to impress a Lord, it’d be better to be in a tight fitted silk red dress, with a gold belt wrapped just under her ribs. She fiddled with the clasp of the belt, then ran her hands down either side of the her face, from cheekbone to chin then back up again. Grayson turned to look at her. His face was stony. It’d gone a bit pale, or as pale as a Mastyri’s skin could go when he saw her entirely changed form, but he quickly forced away his emotions and nodded once curtly. Even though his surprise was gone, he hadn't bothered to hide his distaste, or the lingering look of fear that hung around in his eyes.

“Did I get it wrong, or are you just freaked out that I’m a shifter? Afraid I’m going to kill you and steal your face?” Tess said, flashing a grin she knew would be cheeky on her new face. Grayson turned and stalked into the street, but she still heard him mutter under his voice.

“That’s crossed my mind. Yours too.”

I intended to write another NaNo this month with the plot involved in the above writing, but unfortunately I was way too busy. So this plot will have to wait until another time, I guess.

Another Little Piece

Here's another section of that piece.

I debated going through the city gate or climbing the wall again. Climbing would clear my head. But I didn't particularly want to talk to Richard. Not only that, I wasn't sure if he was on duty, and I'd rather not get hauled off to a holding cell today. So I chose the gate.The dirt trail around the city led me to it. It was a huge set of dark wooden doors with riveted and rusted metal crossbars. Every morning there was a steady stream of people moving in and out of the city, monitored loosely by the guards leaning idly against either side of the doorway. 

I pushed through the crowd, keeping one hand protectively on the loot I had. Just because I was a pickpocket didn't mean I was immune to being pick pocketed. I headed through some filthy alleys, across a couple buildings when I saw brawls spilling into the streets, since I wasn't in much of a mood to brawl, and down a few foul smelling streets. I wound up in front of a small shop with a faded sign that proclaimed “Porter's” from where is hung askew over the door. This shop had a wild assortment of wares sitting in the window from half filled bottles of alcohol to porcelain dolls with matted hair and torn dresses. I opened the door, and a broken bell gave a half hearted ring.

"We aren't open,” I heard a muffled voice say from the back room.

"Porter, it's me. Cal. I got some nobles,” I said, running my finger through the thick dust on the counter.

"Nobles?" I could hear the interest in his voice.

"Girls.”

"Oh. Jewels, I assume.”

"Yes, Porter. Now if you want to buy any of it, you're gonna have to come out from back there.” I rolled my eyes. The sun had only been up for a few hours, but Porter was probably already tipsy. 

After a few moments of silence, he came out. The smell of alcohol confirmed my suspicions. Good. I could always get him to pay more when he was drunk. His short stocky frame was dirtied, perfectly matching his store. I dropped the goods on his counter. He stalked forward, eyeing the jewelry. He feigned disinterest, but I could see greed, and the sort of clever cunning he hid. I held fast onto the handle of my dagger. I didn't want him stealing anything. He had before.

He ran his hands through the various pieces of jewelry, and looked over the purses.

"Rubies? You haven't brought those in since Lance died.” The blood rushed in my ears and I winced. I restrained myself from using the dagger I gripped in my hand. This filthy man wasn't good enough to even say Lance's name. But I hesitated after reminding myself that he was the only pawnbroker who would buy from me. Even among thieves and the pawnbrokers we dealt with, I'd made some enemies.

"Do you want the stuff or not?" I asked, starting to collect the jewelry from the counter. He stopped me almost immediately, as I knew he would.

" I'll have to think about it,” he said. I could barely keep from laughing. We did this dance every time I tried to sell to him. I knew he'd say yes. But he'd  try to push the price of the jewelry down first, and I’d have to argue with him until we got to a reasonable price.

Half an hour later, I emerged from his store, with a deep frown. He hadn't paid me nearly enough for any of it. 

Now, I was making my way out of the Rim, headed towards one of the highest quality inns in the entire city. As I passed into the inner circle of the city, I got some strange looks. People from the Rim usually didn’t mix with the low nobles that lived in the inner circle. The nobles here were rich enough not to live in the squalid Rim, but not important enough to live in the court.

The closer I came to the castle the nicer people dressed, the cleaner the building became and the more glares and grimaces I got. I had always thought that the best part of the city was the knights wing, and practice grounds. The castle had appeals, but seemed to pristine to appeal to me. I loved to climb up to a large crack in the wall around the knight’s training ground and watch them practice. Lance had showed me the crack when I was young.

Even though most people grew out of watching the knights as they got steady jobs or apprenticeships, I never had. As a very young child I was absolutely sure Lance and I would be knights together. But as I grew, I learned this could never be true. Only the nobles or extremely rich could be even considered to be a squire. And you definitely had to be at least a low noble to get anywhere near the higher ranks.

 I started off down the main road. I kept myself from pick pocketing about five people who bumped right into me. I wanted to get to inn as quickly as possible. 

 I approached the Blue Moon Inn where Tom worked. It was bright, clean and crowded. This is where rich people who weren’t quite important enough to get a room in the castle went when they visited. This was the best hotel in the city. I swerved from the entrance, down the rocky pathway to the stables. When I got there, Tom was deep in conversation with a nicely dressed noble. Tom was a few inches taller than the noble, who wasn’t that short himself. But unlike the noble, Tom was slim and wiry and had dark hair. The noble was stout and had thinning grey hair. Tom was showing the man something about a horse's hoof. The man nodded, and left through the back door toward the inn. Tom began to lead the horse back towards the stable. He turned and saw me standing in the door way.

"Cal!" He smiled.

"Hey, Tom. You still taking care of the fancy nobles fancy fat horses?"  I asked, patting one of the horses on the shoulder. It whinnied angrily and stomped.

"You still out stealing anything that’s not nailed down?" Tom shook his head and petted the horse’s nose until it calmed. I laughed.

"So. How's it going?"

"Pretty well. Gotten anything good recently?" Tom asked.

"Some jewelry.”

"Nobles?” Tom asked, his facing darkening when I nodded, “Cal, you know that it is a stupid idea to steal from nobles. You won't get a mark half decent for a month. Besides, Porter always pays too little for women’s jewelry.”

"You think I knew they were? I’m not stupid. And maybe if you'd help me, Porter wouldn't be able to push me down as much,” I said, scuffing the tip of my boot on the side of one of the stable doors.

"Cal...”

"I know, I know. You have a steady paying job. Alright. Alright," I said, waving away the expression on Tom's face.

"Now why'd you swing by? I know you don't like coming up to the inn," Tom said, leaning back against one of the walls.

"I may have gotten in a bit of a fight with the boys. Mostly Tony."

"Cal, I told you Tony was a bad idea. The guy is heartless. But what do you need me for?" Tom asked.

"I need somewhere to sleep for the next few days. While I find a new den," I said.

"And what do you expect me to do? I have an extra cot, but Bertha knows you stole the silver from the Blue Moon last year. She barely lets you get near the stable. You stay with me, and she might kill you," Tom said, rolling his eyes.

I'd forgotten about Bertha. It'd been a while since I'd stolen that silver. But I didn't doubt that the innkeeper would remember. Maybe Tom was right. It might be a bad idea to stay with him. Damn.

We both looked up immediately when the doors flew open. For a second I worried it'd be Bertha. But it was only a knight on a limping horse. I sat aside on one of the rickety wooden chairs in the stable while Tom rushed forward to do his job. I expected the knight to head off to the inn, but instead he grabbed another chair and pulled it up next to mine. 

That's all for today. On a related note, Camp Nanowrimo is happening this April, and I hope to participate (assuming I can come up with a half decent idea by then), so that's what you'll see here in April, and maybe some prewriting in March.

This is just a continuation of what I posted last week.

Two hours later, the sun was rising and I was heading home. The only people I'd seen were some dirt poor street urchins fighting over some crumbling scraps of bread and an old man hobbling by with a crudely carved cane. I hopped from roof to roof, until I came to a gap that was just too long for me to leap across. There, I stopped and began to count the sections of the city wall. There, eighth from the wide wooden gates. I got down from the roof, and began to jog in the direction of the tall stone wall. I got to the eighth section and started to climb up the uneven stony wall. The voices of the guards posted there flowed over the side. I flipped over the wall into their look out spot. The all jumped up, toppling their table. They drew their knives, and for a moment, I feared that I had chosen the wrong lookout spot.

"Cal? Is that you? You have to be more careful. We almost gutted you,” one of the guards said. He stuck out his hand, and yanked me to my feet.

The other guards still seemed wary.

"It's just Cal.” He led me over to a light. It burned my maladjusted eyes.

"Hey Richard,” I said, blinking rapidly.

"So, you get a lot today?" Richard asked.

I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, glancing at the other guards. Richard followed my eyes.

"Oh, these boys? They're all from the Rim too. They ain't gonna turn you in any time soon,” he said, gesturing to them.

Now the guards were setting their table back up.

"You want to play some cards? We just started a new game,” Richard asked, flashing the stack of red backed cards he held.

"Uh...No. I got some stuff I have to drop off in the hole before I head back to the shack.”

Richard nodded slowly.

"Well. See you soon then,” he said.

I pushed my damp hair out of my eyes and left the outpost. I swung my legs over the wall, and started climbing down the other side of the wall. A tightly packed forest stood outside the city walls.

I could hear Richard talking to the other men.

"He never stops to play cards anymore. I'm surprised he's still thieving. I mean, after Lance... it was hard for him. He wouldn’t even talk to me for a while. Lance was all the family that kid had, after his mom died and his dad ran off… "

After squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I hopped off the wall. I landed in a bush. I disentangled myself from the prickling branches and rolled out of it. I stood for a moment, rubbing the pommel of my dagger. Then I set off towards the east. The route  involved a deer trail, crossing a creek and pushing through some thorn bushes. Finally I came to a large uneven rock. Bracing myself, I shoved against it until it shifted enough to reveal a hole underneath. I wrapped everything I’d gotten that night in a burlap sack I pulled from the hole, and tossed it all in. After shifting the rock back, I made my way back to the wall and crossed without incident.

My eyes were heavy by the time I’d woven my way to the street the shack I lived in was on. I slipped down the thin alleyway until I reached a wooden shack nestled between two crumbling stone structures. I pulled aside the set of crudely nailed planks that’d been fashioned into a door and slipped into the dark building. I kicked a lumpy body and Auggie growled at my before rolling over. I toed my way between Auggie and Tony until I came to an empty pile of blankets. I slipped into it, trying to shift my way away from the rock that stubbornly stayed under my back. Regardless, it was only a few minutes before I slipped seamlessly into sleep.

"What'd you get last night, Cal?" Tony asked, once the sun had risen and the boys crammed into the shack began to awake.

I paused for a moment. Tony was cold. He'd cut his last partners throat when a big job went wrong and his partner got nabbed by the guards and Tony thought he might talk. I wasn't about to tell him I'd gotten a big payday, or I might not keep it or my life long enough to spend it.

"Nothing much really. Some jewelry. Nothing big. Gonna stop by Porter's and unload some of it," I said, stretching the best that I could in the cramped shack.

"Not what I heard. I heard you hit it big last night with some noble girls," Tony said, "Got some jewelry. You know how this works, don't you? You hit it big, you share."

"But I didn't, so I won't," I said.

"I heard the same as Tony," Auggie said, looking over with a chill stare.

"Don't think you can cut us out," Pete said, positioning himself in front of the door. I looked nervously between the three boys. Auggie seemed uncertain. But Tony was sure, and Pete was too stupid to do anything but follow Tony. I knew that much. He was sure, and he was going to take it from me, or just beat me until he'd gotten what he thought he was owed. It didn't matter that we all held back our spoils half of the time. We were a pack of thieves in the loosest sense of it. We lived together, and did big jobs together. When we split, it was on those jobs. No one split on muggings. But no one else ever mugged any nobles. 

So, in a split second, I decided I had to get out. I shoved Tony back, so that he rammed into one of the walls, making the entire rickety shack shake. I shouldered past Pete and ran out into the street. I looked to the right, where a group was forming around a man performing a raunchy comedy show atop a stack of boxes. I sprinted in that direction, losing myself in the crowd before Pete and Tony could even stumble out of our shack.

Well. I was done there. Tony, Pete and Auggie were the second group I'd run with after Lance and Tom. But Lance and Tom were family, or like family at least. All the other thieves I'd worked with wouldn't hesitate for a second if they thought killing me would make them a profit. 

I sighed as I shouldered my way through the crowd. I'd have to sell all of the things I'd stolen to Porter today. I wasn't sure if Tony or Pete or Auggie knew where my stash was. And I couldn't risk them taking anything before I could move it. So I'd have to sell it off to Porter. But Porter wouldn't pay me half as much as the stuff was worth. It was hot, and newly so. And the more he figured I wanted it off my hands, the less he'd pay for it. But I'd still be able to make a tidy sum. 

I stepped out of the crowd and onto the main road down the city. It led all the way up to the castle on the hill, and all the way down past the Rim to the city gates. Market stalls lined the road, and there was always a loud bustle on it, and a few carts and horses to dodge. 

And maybe I could use that to pay for somewhere new to live. There were other thieves shacks around the Rim, but I didn't want to get hasty going in with a new group. I made up my mind then. I'd see if Tom could lodge me in his room above the stable where he worked. If not, I'd just have to spend some of the money I'd get for the jewelry to pay for a bed for a night or two. If I picked one of the seedier inns in the Rim it shouldn't cost too much, I thought as I walked through the huge gates of the city and turned east. But first I had to sell off the jewelry to Porter.

As I walked back towards the city gate after gathering my loot from the hole, I felt something jolting against my leg, deep in my pocket. I stuck my hand in slowly, hoping it was not what I knew it to be. I pulled it out, and the chain clattered against itself. Rubies. I didn't want it anywhere near me. I wanted to fling it out into the woods where I'd never have to see it again. The bracelet sifted through my hands slowly. But I caught it. I did need the money. But, rubies? Why did the bracelet have to be made of rubies? I shivered and rubbed the single ruby set into the pommel of the dagger at my hip. It had been worn down and dirtied by my hands for two years now. It was barely recognizable.

I'll probably keep posting this piece as I work on it, so there will probably be more next week. But that's all for today.

And, We're Back!

It's been a while since I've done anything for this blog and a while since I've written (excluding the English short story, since that's for school), so I figured kill two birds with one stone.
So here you go. This is an excerpt from a little project I've recently gotten back to working on. It's a fantasy story, set in a medieval type world, and the main character is a thief named Cal. That's about all you really need to know to understand what follows.

My worn down boot’s treads were beginning to slip down the side of the unusually steep roof I was perched upon. It didn’t help that it had rained earlier. I grabbed onto the rough shingles to steady myself as I waited for someone to pass. I'd already gotten a coin purse from a trader, but he didn't have enough on him that I could quit for the night and still afford to eat tomorrow. The sounds bouncing through the alley below told me it wouldn’t be long. Footsteps, nervous voices and a bobbing light came around the corner before the girls did. My eyes widened just barely. No one in their right mind would be that loud in an alley this deep into the Rim. Then again, not everyone in the Rim was in their right mind. But when I saw the girls, I figured they must be more stupid than crazy. One girl, with dark hair and dark eyes that somehow seemed to be flashing even though the alley was just barely lit with moonlight, looked up for a moment, and I flattened to the roof, though I knew there was no way she could see my black silhouette against the black sky.

Wasn’t often I got marks this easy. Wasn’t often I got this lucky. But given everything that'd happened, maybe I deserved some luck.

“Come on, I just want to get to the shop and back before Dad notices I’m missing,” the dark haired girl said. The set of redheaded twins tailing behind her murmured quietly, looking nervously into every alley they passed. They were smart to do so, because every alley they past had a seedy bar or a den of thieves or at least a violent drunk waiting for someone as vulnerable as they were. But the dark haired girl stayed calm, eyes locked ahead.

As the girls came closer, I saw that they were wearing flashy jewelry. Every time they turned their heads, the moon light caught something around their neck or round their wrists or in their hair. For a second, I entertained the thought that the jewelry was real, which would make me quite a bit of money, but I knew that only nobles would have that much real jewelry. And no noble was dumb enough to come this far out into the Rim this late. They’d be asking to be robbed.

The swish of girls’ dresses was right below me as I leapt from the rooftop. Unfortunately, the one story jump hadn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. My knees buckled and I winced. Still, despite my less than graceful landing, the girls in front of my tore the oily night with piercing screams. They could be heard for blocks around, they were in the Rim. It'd take more than a few blocks for their screams to reach anyone who cared. I slid my knife from its sheath and held it up. The sheath was rough leather, but the blade was bright and carefully honed.

"Quiet, please ladies. I don't really want to hurt you. I just want your money. And any jewels please.” As always, I tried my best to keep them calm. I wanted them frightened enough that they’d give me what I wanted, but not so much they’d try to be violent. I didn’t have the time or the inclination to hurt them.

The set of redheaded twins were just staring at me, mouths wide open. My eyes flitted over them to the dark haired girl. She wasn't scared, or ready to give up anything. She stood there, glaring intensely at me with her flashing dark eyes.

I ignored her and turned to the twins. I raised the tip of my knife just slightly and held out my hand.

Their reaction was immediate. Both of them yelped, and pulled their jewelry from around their necks. Their red hair tumbled to their shoulders as they practically flung their hair pieces at me.

"Now you,” I said, turning towards the glaring girl.

She slowly pulled out her purse and threw it to me. I caught it with one hand. Then she reached for the clasp of the ruby necklace she was wearing. I froze and flinched back. Not enough to give the girls an advantage, which I was sure they wouldn’t have taken if I’d given it to them, but enough to get from her reach.

"Not that.”

"What?" she said, looking up from the necklaces tiny clasp.

"I...I don't want that. You can keep it,” I said, backing up slightly again.

Disbelief, then just a glimmer of relief crossed her face, but neither so much as to banish the fear in her eyes.

"Well. I'm done here. Thank you, ladies,” I said. I bowed just barely at the waist, with a sarcastic grin, then sprinted off into the fog. Though I doubted they would actually follow. No one ever did.

Once I was about two blocks away, I stopped and skidded into an alleyway. A drunk was slumped against one of the grimy walls; he looked too far gone to give me any trouble. I pulled out the bundle of purses. They were all made of smooth leather, and seemed expensive. I smiled; maybe that stupid pawnbroker would like them.

But when I tipped out the coins into my own purse I was surprised. It was much more than most people carried. Panic rising in my throat, I pulled the jewelry from my pocket and examined in the flickering light coming from between cracked teeth of glass in the window behind me. The gems looked too real. I lifted one of the redhead’s earrings to the light and groaned. Real gold.

 Those girls were high nobles. I swore loudly at my own stupidity. The drunk stirred slightly. I should’ve seen they were nobles before I jumped down. I may have gotten away with robbing a low noble, but once one high noble was robbed, all of the nobles were on high alert for at least a month. Which would probably mean some pretty hard times coming up for me. I glanced quickly through the jewelry. I separated one bracelet from another, and a chill ran up my spine. The second bracelet of one of the twins had small rubies hanging from it. I almost dropped it. I rubbed the pommel of my dagger with my other hand, and held the bracelet at arm’s length watching the faint torchlight play through the facets of it. I couldn’t decide what to do with it. I shoved it deep into my pocket, trying not to feel it pressing into my leg. Then using a small pipe on the side of the alley, I swung myself back onto the roof tops. Maybe I'd be able to find someone else before the sun rose. 

Well, that's all for today. I'll probably post more of this story next week.