Quote:
While the Holiday is all about giving, you've just witnessed someone taking. In the middle of a crowded shopping mall, you just saw someone blatantly pickpocket someone else--or maybe, they tried to pickpocket you? You've got a few options--turn a blind eye, inform the victim, chase the thief--anything you feel is right. But still, you've got to do something.
The mall was as crowded as you'd expect on a weekend a few weeks before Christmas. People rushing about, crowded almost shoulder to shoulder in places, while holiday music poured from the speakers overhead. Mothers tugged children along behind them, fathers pushed strollers. The storefronts had been decked out to the nines with tinsel and lights and greenery, in the hopes of drawing the throngs of people in to browse and purchase their wares. In the center of the mall, Santa sat enthroned in all his wintery glory, a line of impatient kids and parents stretching down the hall from the piles of fake snow and presents.
None of that interested Matthew, and for the most part, he stuck to the walls, weaving his way around and through the throngs. A lot of people gave him space, his punk attire and forbidding scowl warning them away, but most were simply too invested in their own concerns to pay him much mind. He'd knocked shoulders with a few and they'd earned a glare from him before he disappeared back into the ******** it to the first store on his list today was proving to be more of a challenge than he'd thought it would be and it took time ot wade through the people. Part way there, he caught a glimpse of someone cutting across the stream of people, sweeping in front of her him close enough to make him pull up ******** watch where you're going, dumbass..." Matthew growled under his breath as he watched the stranger slipping between people. He assumed it was a guy, from the build and the way he moved, but it was hard to see a lot of his face with the baseball cap he wore pulled down to shade his eyes. His jacket was large and formless, lumpy even, and as the teen watched, he saw his hand dart out to dip into the purse hanging from a woman's shoulder as she chatted with her friend. It was smoothly done, retrieving her wallet and sliding it into his own pocket as he moved away. Matthew frowned as he watched it, and without actually thinking about it, he changed his path to the store to one following the pick pocket instead.
He had no real idea what he was going to do with the guy once he caught him, but he wasn't thinking that far ahead. It just annoyed him to see it going on right in front of his nose... stealing someone's money right before Christmas. He knew the pain of a tight budget... and how it would feel to lose that to someone's sticky fingers.
Their paths took them down a floor and out the front doors. His target didn't seem to notice him, but with all the people, it was probably hard to catch one person following you. It took a moment for Matthew to disappear around the corner into the cold shadow of the building, magic wrapping around him to change his form and bring the usual wash of power. His toe-less boots thunked down on the roof of the thief's car just as he reached for the handle and Fulgurite had a smirking sort of smile on his face as he reached for the man in turn. He left him there, unconcious in the snow by his car, as he pocketed the energy orb he'd collected from it. The woman's wallet he pocketed as well, but that would have to wait on being returned until he had dealt with the orb. Shopping was something of a bust tonight and Fulgurite jumped to the roof to head home. He'd have to come back another night, and hopefully then there wouldn't be someone making a nuisance of themselves.
Word Count: 630
