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As Kye lifts the petite bird girl off the cobbled pathway, she sees that the girl stands a few inches short of five feet and was incredibly light. All in all, she could not have weighed more than 50 pounds and each blast of wind catches her feathers and threatens to blow her off Kye's back. However, with some concerted effort and the help of Sophia holding the door open, Kye safely got her back inside the shop.

As she set the bird girl down on the crates, a collective gasp went around the entire shop. All the eyes of the villagers and tourists trapped by the rain were now focused on the two who had just come in. As Sophia fetched the fabric from behind the counter, questioning murmurs began to go up around the shop. After a very pregnant pause, man stepped forward and spoke up. "Um, lady... I don't think you should bring that creature in here. L-look at those talons--I think it could hurt someone."

The bird girl's feet did contain an impressive set of talons. Each one was several inches long and looked to be razor sharp. They definitely gave the impression that she could do some serious damage with those claws if she chose--but the bird girl was still out cold and she didn't stir from where she lay.

The people in the shop gather around the bird girl, keeping a safe distance. After another moment or so, a different man, a tourist, spoke up from among the onlookers. His eyes were wide in realization. "I...I remember now. This...this monster...it's a harpy! They're evil songstresses! They eat people!" Another set of gasps rippled through the shop. People began to back further away from the bird girl. The atmosphere was beginning to get tense.

Jack, Jacky boy, the Jackster! He always referred to himself in such an odd manner, even in his own head. His ploy to steal was becoming ever more elaborate. He would pay a SMALL, but believable, fortune to the bar maid. She would then seduce the man sitting there with bulging pockets, not too much.

More of a subtle tease, because too much teasing could lead to a good throttle in the bedroom at the poor lasses expense! He wanted this to go clean, straight forward, and definitely worth every cent he paid her. He wanted a return on his, otherwise, large investment. She was going in for the targets weak spot: A woman that flaunted her beauty...to him. As she came over with a large tankard of beer, he was already being reeled in.

The foolish man hardly even noticed Jack behind him, mainly due to his illusion charm. He was not quite invisible...more like, he was blending into the background. If one could carefully survey the surroundings, Jack could very well be spotted. But to otherwise drunk patrons, he was a chameleon of the night time bars. As she reached down to hand the man a beer, Jack made his move.

Before he knew it, Jack was already outside with his pouch of money. Not much to be had, but enough to feed and bed himself for a night or two. Although, he needed to find higher areas, better marks, something holding enough to tide him over for at least a month! That way he could better plan his next move. All he was doing these days was getting by with his magic, stealing when needed.

His life was, more or less, floating on by with no purpose. His dreams FAR surpassed his current situation at hand. He wanted wealth, fame, and power to do as he wished. Fairly common for a man in his youth, to want such exorbitant amounts of material goods. He learned these specific skills for JUST that purpose.

Mind you, he did really enjoy going into a large library and reading a good book by the fire. Simple things, menial things that had no real significance to other folks in the world. His real calling was magic, but he was so good at stealing. To his limited knowledge of the world, there was no REAL thieves gatherings or clans that he knew of. If he knew of one, most likely he'd be in it by now trying to make a name for himself.

He could not afford to be with any cast of wizards or sorcerers, as his skills DID NO match up to their standards at his age. He needed far more practice and better teachings of how the inner workings of magic operated. All he knew was Illusion spells, some cantrips dealing with healing or making traps for doors. He was not well versed as he would like to be. He looked down at his stolen pouch of money, realizing he wanted MUCH better...but cared very little to try.

The problem with stealing, is sometimes you get caught. And then, there goes the fun. Jack always knew he was not a great thief, but he wasn't bad at it either. He knew that one day, his luck would run out and something would go wrong during a theft. Today was that day, and it was a full blown mess.

He spent his nights luring drunken fools with beautiful bar maids, at a cost. Traditionally, he used small portions of his growing stash to pay them off, normally to flirt with mildly wealthy gentlemen. Also, these fellows would be quite inebriated at the time. This also tended to work amazingly for him! But sometimes, he ran into little snags along the way.

Either the bar maid was too greedy, and if he didn't pay her enough- she'd narc on him. Or ruin the plan in some small, subtle little way. Another issue was the level of drunkenness the man he targeted was at. This was the most dangerous failure, as the man would already catch on that the bar maid didn't 'really' think he was attractive. This is when interrogation turned to blame, turned to narcing...was not a pretty picture.

This night, Jack hit the trifecta of failures with his targeting. He didn't plan accordingly, he was in a rush, and he did not investigate his target further. He just jumped into the con, not realizing whom he was stealing from. However tonight's target was definitely the wrong man to steal from. He was an off duty guard captain, the guy was literally the worst man to steal from.

This guy was shrewd and knew his way around a beer, as well as a woman. Not to say he was smooth or AT ALL attractive. He just knew what to say only to get her into his chambers. He didn't seem to care for endeavors past that, no long term commitment. He was only into his third beer, nowhere near drunk and hardly even buzzed.

Jack came in and paid off the bar maid prior to the man even drinking. He wanted to plan ahead tonight, little did he know he'd be leaving town due to this man. The bar maid began her ruse, unlucky for Jack...she was beginning to think she was 'under paid' for her services. This was already against Jack anyway, not to mention the guard captain was already suspicious tonight. The bar maid had been eyeing the captain for some time, to break down his suspicious guard.

He already knew something was up, and the bar maid dove in for the attack. She was there for quite some time, whispering things into the mans ear and smiling. Occasionally she would look to Jack, smiling innocently..but all along, playing him into a hole. She was feeding the man intel on Jack, saying what he did and how many times. Details that should have remained confidential with himself and the bar maid.

The man, un-seemingly angry, finished his drink, got up, and proceeded for the door. Jack was not about to try his luck tonight, but he figured the man was none the wiser. As Jack did not attempt any theft during this time, hoping to make the bar maid appear a liar. This didn't work at all in his favor. He felt a large, cold as ice, hand clasp his shoulder.

Jack turned around at the most opportune moment, he managed to see the fist fly at his face that could have ended his life! Jack ducked quickly, and tried to evade any more attempts to his face on behalf of the captains fists. The man didn't speak a word, he just kept swinging, and nearly hitting Jack! Jack could only dodge and hope to make him miss so well, he ends up knocking himself over. Then Jack could use his illusion spell to become a chameleon and sneak out before anyone noticed!

One fist did hit Jack, but it barely grazed his jaw. He knew he had to leave, the man saw his face and was going to remember it. OF ALL the days to not hide his appearance, today was that day. So this man ACTUALLY knew what Jack looked like. Jack decided to think quick, he withdrew his blade, fell down to the ground after the mans next swing, and nicked his leg with his enchanted dagger. The captain felt a sudden strange urge, and he could not move!

Jack slide under the table, cloaked himself momentarily, and scurried out the place unseen. He ran out of town as quick as possible, he managed to keep onto his money. But he would have to later return for the rest that he hid in a dead drop. Hopefully, with luck, no one would find it. His plan fell to pieces, all because of some bad day the bar maid had. Jacky boy was always getting himself into trouble..it was nothing new.

{Exit to Calys Mountains}

¤ Location: Hujan (some shop) ¤
¤ Thoughts: - ¤
¤ OOC: ¤

As the two girls exchange introductions, the harpy groans faintly, but she doesn't move and shows no signs of waking up. As Kye looks her over again, she would realize how incredibly exhausted the bird girl must be. Trying to fly around in that powerful wind with her incredibly light frame must have sapped her of all her strength, and her injuries would have drained her of any potential energy she had left. She will realize it will take at least several hours of rest before the harpy would even have energy to wake up, if not a full night's sleep. The question now is where to take her.

((I'm going to help this along a bit))

The store owner looked for a moment as if he was going to ask the girls if they planned to pay for the fabric, but in the end he just let them go. He must have figured it was worth it just to have the monster gone from his store.

Once the girls wander outside they are immediately drenched by the rain. With the harpy wrapped up in cloth, the wind no longer threatens to catch her feathers and blow her away, making her much easier to carry. Between Kye and Sophia they have no trouble carrying the deceptively light bird girl, though the storm is still miserable.

Sophia and Kye would notice as they walk around looking for a healing center that the streets were completely empty. Apparently they were the only ones crazy enough to be out in this kind of weather. Unfortunately this meant there was no one around to ask for directions. The girls wander around aimlessly for a while in the terrible storm until, by chance, they happen across a building that Kye would recognize as a healing facility--and an upscale one, at that. Two large heavy wooden doors were now the only barriers between them and the help they sought.

With a little effort, Kye is able to make her way to the front desk where she is greeted by a pleasant-looking, middle-aged women in a healer's gown. She bears a kind expression on her face as she looks over Kye. "Oh my poor dear, you're soaked to the bone! With that troubled expression you bear, you must be in need of some assistance. How can the Hujan Healer Society help you? We've had a few injured from the storm come in already Is it something critical?" The woman looks at Kye with motherly concern.