Rob X Punzel ~ Eight!

Becca had never imagined herself turning to a life of crime, but thanks to her hair, there seemed to be no other viable option. Even as she trudged through the slums, the words Chay had needled her with echoed in her mind. She murmured them out loud as justification for what she was about to get herself involved in. 

“No one’s going to hire me now that I've been labeled as a thief.”

Finding herself standing in a dimly lit alley, Becca stared at the actual thief waiting for her, his lean form leaning casually against the rough stone wall as he flipped a silver coin casually into the air. His eyes were sharp, moving over her and taking in every detail before shifting to the surroundings with the practiced ease of someone who had already spent years surviving on the unforgiving streets of the slums. “You look tired.”

“Thanks.” Becca responded flatly, refusing to rise to the obvious bait. “Look, I don't want you to think for a moment that I’m happy about this. I'm only going along with this because-”

“-You have no other choice.” Chay finished for her, swinging his hand up and catching the twirling coin. He pocketed it with a flourish, then shrugged as he nodded at her. “Perfect, you’ll fit right in with all of us. No combat skills, no apprenticeships or job prospects. Usually some family we want to take care of, although some of the guild just has a taste for thieving. There's something about making a plan and executing it perfectly that just hits right. It’s a rush. You’ll see.”

“Sure.” Becca frowned and crossed her arms defensively, “So… what happens now?”

Chay spread his arms wide, “First, I give you a little training, do a little vibey-vibe check to make sure you're cool, then we give you a little test and have you start working on buying your way into the guild. Price of admission is twenty silver, in case you're wondering. Easy there—no need to panic. You just don't get access to the guild house, benefits like a cut of the profits, or other… intangibles, until you're a full member of the guild. It took me nearly three years to become a full member, no one expects you to do it today.” 

“So, I get some training, then you… what? Take all the money I manage to steal until that adds up to twenty silver?” Becca shook her head and almost chose to walk away. “Why wouldn't I just keep what I steal?”

The smile on Chay’s face finally wilted. “Don't know how to tell you this, Goldie. Unaffiliated thieves tend to be caught by the guard every. Single. Time. Yes, it's exactly what you're thinking. We don't need to do the dirty work ourselves, we just make sure the powers that be are clued in when someone’s working in our turf.”

“Got it.” Becca felt the fight go out of her, and her exhaustion threatened to seep in and take over. “Also, my name isn’t Goldie. It’s-”

“Hold up. You should really think about if you want to be known to all the others by your real name. Are you in forever? No? Then maybe think about taking a street name for yourself. Goldie fits you pretty well. Stealing gold, golden hair…”

“I’ll think about it.” 

“Accepting the rules is the first test. Everything else is just a suggestion. Anyway.” Chay clapped his hands and motioned for her to follow him. “We need to know you understand the rules and where you fit into the guild. Right now, you've got an eighty percent tax on all stolen goods. Once you're a full member, that flips, and you only have a twenty percent tax. That'll also pay for food and housing, but the rest is up to you. Full members also get a vote on how we spend the tax we collect, but at the end of the day, the guild master makes the call. What do you know about pickpocketing?”

The rapid shifts in the conversation, combined with her sleepless night, almost caused Becca to miss the question. Only the fact that he patiently waited for an answer clued her in that she was supposed to respond. “I… have no idea. I'm guessing that means stealing out of people's pockets? Wouldn't they notice?”

“Not if you're good at it.” Chay turned and winked at her, holding up the pair of scissors which had been in her pocket at the start of their conversation. He tossed it back to her, and she caught it with a flush of shame coloring her cheeks. “I've been watching you ever since you started hanging out with my brother and sister, and you've got something extra special, don't you, Goldie?”

“I thought I was going to get to decide what to be called?” Her hand unconsciously reached up and pushed her hair out of her face, annoyed at how well the nickname sounded in her mind. “Oh. Yeah… so you know how I actually got in trouble.”

“Yep,” Chay cheerfully responded, staring at her subtly moving hair with avarice glinting in his eyes. “Don't worry, that hair of yours is going to make you a legend in the guild, if you learn how to put it to work. That's what I'm here for.” 

Becca absently reached up and grabbed a strand of her hair. As always, it was faintly glowing and seemed to be trying to calm her down by releasing the subtle fragrance of lavender and lilacs. Her eyes narrowed, and she dropped her hand as if it had been bitten, “I don't fully understand what it's doing or trust that it's not just going to make things worse.”

“Yeah, well, we've all got to work with what we've got. You've got hair that steals from people when you get close enough to them. In the guild, you can absolutely work with that.” Chay tossed an arm around her shoulders as they stepped out of the maze of alleys and onto a main road. “The first lesson I normally teach people is how to be sneaky, stealthy, to go against everything they’ve been taught by the Brute Kingdom. For you? It's going to be a different lesson.”

Nodding slowly, Becca tried to listen intently to everything he told her, though a squeamish part of herself was demanding she push his intrusive arm off of her. The color of her hair changed to a rose gold, and her tresses began smelling like heated metal. “I'm listening.”

“You know, I like you, Becca. With most gals, I have to guess at what they're thinking. But you? There's at least three different obvious signs of how you're feeling.” Chay gave her a little squeeze and stepped away. “For you, the first lesson is how to control the narrative. We just walked out of an alley together, so anyone watching us would think we were sneaking back to smooch out of sight.” 

Her jaw dropped, but the smug thief simply explained, “Know what they weren't thinking? ‘Look, a thief interviewing someone else to see if she would also like to become a thief.’ A simple half-hug and walking for a few steps, and we don't have to say a word—they've already made up their mind as to what we were doing.”

Becca looked around, and now that he had pointed it out, she saw several sets of eyes looking at them with a hint of mirth or even nostalgia shining through before moving on. The smell of metal vanished, an inquisitive orange aroma drifting away from her. Chay noticed and moved closer. “People are going to look at you and see what they expect to see. Most of our members try to be just another face in the crowd.” 

He turned to face her, leaning in close and making her flush as a passerby let out a soft chuckle. “But you? Little miss shiny-shiny smell-good? I'm going to teach you to make them see an innocent, possibly slightly confused girl just wandering around. You'll get them to keep their eyes on you, how your hands are empty and in view at all times. While they’re focused on you and your happy, friendly body language, your hair will be cleaning out their coin purse.”

Ever so slowly nodding, Becca realized this was a skill she’d already been developing during her time at the curio shop. Now, her practice at getting customers to part with their coins would be shifting in a new way, but in general, the same rules applied. She’d still be keeping their mind off how much they were spending, only now they wouldn't be getting a decoration as a souvenir after she’d separated them from their wages.

“Let's start with the basics. We’re going to just walk down the street, chatting casually as friends. By the time we've taken three left turns, I'll have made ten copper. Keep your eyes on me and use your peripheral vision to see how I grab the coins.” Chay didn't bother acknowledging her agreement, simply guiding her through the winding streets of the slums with a casual confidence that spoke of too many years of experience for his age.

The entire time, he kept up a running commentary, instructing her on the finer points of misdirection and overacting—how she could engage people with her eyes, staring them down when they looked at her for too long. He kept having to remind her to hold herself casually as a conscious decision, as Becca kept ducking and squeezing in on herself, as though she expected to be caught for doing something wrong.

“Remember, Goldie, nothing makes people suspicious of you faster than you trying to hide what you're doing. Just make a decision and let your hands, or in this case, your hair, do the work without you even thinking about it. Normally this takes a whole lot of training, but I think…” Chay cut off suddenly, a wide grin spreading across his face. Through gritted teeth, he hurriedly hissed, “Quick, start laughing with me as if I just told you the best joke ever. Right… now!”

Becca let out a half-hearted chuckle, which turned into a more full laugh as he joined in. Moments later, two enormous men in full armor stomped past them, not even sparing the duo a glance as they shoved their way through the crowd. Their laughter died out quickly, her eyes on the mountain of metal that had just stormed past them. “Who were they?”

“That's just the capital guardsman,” Chay quietly scoffed. “Whenever they come into the slums, they wear full plate mail and have their swords out the whole time. Heads up, they’re not shy about cutting through a crowd to get where they want to go a little bit faster. Never let any of them think you’ve stolen something—they'll cut your hand off in passing, or your head if your hand is already missing.”

She could barely gulp, her throat intensely dry at the thought of people being so casually, lethally brutal. Then they were walking again, with Chay using the distraction and fear of actual guard patrols to increase the liberties he took with passersby.

Keeping his gait loose and unassuming, he gestured at some flowers hanging out of a third story window, even as his other hand dipped into the pocket of a distracted merchant in a smooth, fluid motion. If she hadn't been instructed specifically to look at what he was doing, Becca would never have seen the small pouch of coin leave the merchant’s pocket, get emptied into Chay’s, then returned to its original spot with the salesman none the wiser to what had just happened. 

Becca looked at Chay with wide eyes, surprising herself at how impressed she was at seeing his hands moving with incredible speed and dexterity, all the while keeping up the conversation and pointing at other things. 

They didn't move any faster, but after a few steps, he turned to her with a grin. “See? You don't sneak around like a rat. The best thieves are the ones who do their work no matter what the situation is, and I think that list will include you sometime soon. Anyway… this is our stop. Thanks to the kingdom's guards patrolling so efficiently, I made an even higher profit than I expected.”

He showed her a hand stuffed with copper coins and even a single silver which must have been pulled off the merchant. “This is my corner. Everyone in my group can bring their earnings here and drop them off in this pot. See this? Lift the lid, drop in your coin pouch, and it’ll be collected at the end of the night.”

“Couldn't someone else just… follow after me and grab it out?” Becca looked into the large pot. “Looks like no one else put anything in here today. Actually, on that note, how do I get credit for what I drop in?”

“Color-coded bags.” Chay patted his pocket, where he’d pulled his coins from. “Since I figured you were coming, I took the liberty of getting you started with five of your own. In fact, you can make your first deposit right now! Don't forget… eighty percent.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to give me the bags?” Becca looked on in confusion as Chay raised an eyebrow and patted himself once more.

“I already did.” He waited for her to reach into her pocket, only to come out with five cloth bags. “Reverse pickpocketing. Sometimes harder than regular pickpocketing, but not with you. Don't worry, we'll work on that.”

Becca looked at her bags, a slight grimace on her face. “I see my color is gold. So, me choosing what I’d go by was a lie?”

“Come on. Goldie? It’s just too good not to use.” Chay chuckled at her expression as she glared at him. “All of us have nicknames we go by. They change over time, so… maybe someday, you'll even get to pick your own. Or maybe you’ll start to love this one. Anyway, I'll take that first deposit now.” 

“Again, what do…” Becca paused as she realized they’d just been walking through a dense crowd of people. Hopeful, while at the same time full of trepidation, she reached her hand up and ran her fingers through her mid-back length hair. After repeating the motion a few times, she found herself with a double fistful of shiny copper coins—nearly as many as Chay had acquired.

“I noticed it only took the shiniest of coppers, which, if it makes you feel any better, means they came from people with plenty of money.” Chay chuckled as Becca hurriedly packed the coins into the gold-fabric bag and dropped it into the pot. “I mean, how often have you seen someone shine a copper coin if they need to spend it sometime in the near future?”

“Anyway, congrats on making your first deposit to the thieves’ guild. With your donation of twelve copper coins, you only have one thousand, nine-hundred and eighty-eight to go until you become a full member. He pulled the lid off the pot again and motioned for Becca to take a peek inside. “As you can see, no coin pouch remains! Ooooh! Now you know our real secret: we have our own magic in the guild.”

“It's a false bottom that lets it drop into a different container underground, isn't it?” Becca flicked her hair in frustration at Chay’s wide eyes and indignant sputter. “I'm betting putting the lid on causes the bottom to drop out?” 

“No… it’s magic!” Chay laughed nervously, pulling her away from the pot. “Anyway, that's all for today. Once you get about five hundred copper in, or five silver, we’ll work on your next training regimen–moving between districts without getting caught. Now, get out there and make the guild some coin!”