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Description

The sun shone down on the cobbled streets of the grand city of Rome.  All around Wynn people walked slowly through their day seeming not to be in a rush to get anywhere, which was perfect for Wynn.  She was in the town square for one reason and one reason only.  To survive.   Half of her life had taken place in this town square and that was the only half she could remember.  Everything past the age of eight she could remember quite well but anything from her birth to her eighth birthday she could not remember no matter how hard she focused on it.

So she just didn't anymore.  Wynn found it to be more effective for her trade this way.  She could focus easier and didn't have to worry what had happened to make her forget half of her life.   She wasn't that worried about what had happened either.  One of two things had to have happened to her, either she was traumatized into forgetting everything in which case she didn't want to remember or she had gotten a knock on the head and she had lost all of her precious memories.  Delving into the depths of her mind was just too much for her at this point in life, only sixteen, no parents to take care of her and living on the streets of Rome wasn't a walk in the park for any of you who think it might be.

Her mind came out of its' self-enveloped state just as her prey walked out of the Amphitheatre.  Her eyes narrowed under the darkness of her black robes' hood as she focused on the official like a predator ready to pounce at her soon to be "dinner".  The ends of her thin lips curled as she watched, her emerald green eyes never once being distracted as the retinas within them grasping at every detail of the official's wardrobe and of the surroundings, trying to figure out how to use them to her advantage.

With his clumsy pair of sandals which his rather large, fat feet drooped out of, and his toga candida which showed off his largely unproportioned body, showcasing the large stomach and chest.  She held in a small chuckle as she watched him along the side of the amphitheatre, his curly, brown and poorly groomed hair blowing as a gently breeze blew through the square.   A small pouch clung to his belt and bounced along with every uneven step the man took, producing a small chorus of jingles that caught Wynn's keen ears.

"Well this should be a piece of cake."  She whispered to herself, not worried about anybody hearing her whispers from the safe darkness of the alley in which she was hiding.  Her sharp green eyes focused back on the man's pouch, watching it with a cool calmness from across the square.  This is perfect she thought as the man turned and started walking, unknown to the trouble that lay ahead, through the square right towards where she was standing.  It was almost too perfect of a setup for her.

With a whoosh Wynn leapt from the safety of the shadows into the burning sunlight that shone down on the faces in the busy square.  Her black cloak gave her a few uneasy glares at first but soon she was bounding through the square, directly towards the man gaining the glares of all of those around her.  She didn't dislike all of the attention she always got when she did her job but sometimes she did wish that it was easier to keep her identity a secret.  With the royal guards becoming a more popular job each day she knew there would be more of them around and most of them didn't want to lose their jobs.  Even some of her former partners had retreated to the royal guard for employment which bothered her.  Our people don't do things like that.  They go retreating to the other side just to keep their stomachs filled and pockets full.  They make me sick. We just don't do that. She thought with increasing anger as she pushed an unsuspecting lass out of the way and down onto the hard cobblestone ground.

Her mind sharpened itself once again, focusing on her prey as she continued to grow closer and closer, the official still unsuspecting as she plowed through the bodies of women, men and children.  She fully knew what this successful job would mean to her tonight.  It would mean a full stomach and maybe even a good flyer to sleep under for the night.  Quite possibly even a night in a stack of hay in a stable she thought to herself, watching the pouch of coins bounce on the official's waist.

"Almost there, only a few more feet…" She said as she let out a small breath, her legs hastily bringing her up to the official but just as she reached out to grasp the pouch the fat official turned away from her, the pouch almost leaping into Wynn's hands.  Her heightened reflexes, which years of living off of others money and food had given her, let her grasp the pouch and rip it off of the man's belt.  Not missing a beat she bounded down the street which the official had been going down at first, not turning to see if he was following or not.   At this moment she didn't really care.  Adrenaline pounded through her veins heightening her senses and endurance even more than it had been.  Wynn had always loved a good chase, the tightening in her stomach at the thought of being caught, the pulse of her heart as it pumped adrenaline-filled blood through her body to fuel her limbs.  Her eyes scanned the surrounding buildings for any guards or good-willed citizens, who could be just as annoying to her as guards could, but found none.

Something was wrong with this situation.

There couldn't have been this amount of time in a crowded public square without guards.  Dammit.  She thought to herself, her eyes scanning her surroundings hastily.  This is just wrong.  This has to be a trap!  No.  Calm down Wynn.  You're just being paranoid; you probably just missed a few of them hiding back in a corner in the square.  Yeah, that's it.  Just being too paranoid.  Just as she finished that thought she felt a tug under the bridge of her foot, pulling up at her heel.  Just as she looked down she saw a flash of autumn leaves moving around on the ground, letting loose a torrent of rope which wrapped around her body tightly, enveloping her in a rough, rope cage.  She let out a yelp as the cage wrapped her body into a tight ball and suspended her a few feet above the ground.  Her head spun and throbbed from the movement but eventually she opened her eyes, a moan of pain rushing out of her lips.

"Well this isn't the most comfortable position to be in at the moment…"  She said with her usual good humour.  Her mind spun and spun in circles trying to think of a way out of her prison just as she heard the sounds of boots on stone, and a lot of boots at that.  She tried to use her body weight to spin the prison around to get a look at her pursuers but to her surprise no one stood there.  The street was now empty and eerily silent.  Her eyes stared at the corner from which the sounds seemed to be coming from but nothing came around.  Before she could turn around again to try and release herself she was falling through the air towards the ground but not by her own doing.

She found her hood getting pulled off by the rushing air as she feel, revealing her auburn hair and face to the world around her.  The cobblestone ground grew closer as she fell but before her young face could be buried into the unrelenting ground she found herself caught, a pair of arms circled around her torso, steadying her fall.

"Whoa." She said, blinking away the rush of blurriness from her eyes as she tried to focus on her captor. "Let go of me you pervert!" She yelled, trying to seem like an innocent little girl in case it was just an uninformed citizen that had accidentally let her out of the trap.

"Well, that's quite the thanks I get for saving your sorry behind from being caught by the royal guard." Whispered a calming voice from the body that held her.  The blurriness finally fled from her eyes as she caught her first glimpse of her self-proclaimed savior.

His dark, dirty hair was parted in the front and was being whipped back and forth with the rising breeze.  It had a slight sheen to it in the shape of a halo which gave him the presence of an angel.  He was wearing dirty, hole-ridden clothes that had obviously seen better days.   His face was slightly dirtied but had a tough calmness to the features.  His nose was a little misshapen as if it had been broken at some point in his life and he had a small scar leading off the right edge of his lip which gave him a hardened look to his face in contrast to the calmness of the rest of his face.  He was peering down at her as if she were crazy and his bronze eyes held a sense of impatience.

"Oh crap the guards…"  She said out loud, turning her attention away from the young man holding her to survey the direction that the sound was coming from again.  This time she could see the shadows as they approached the corner of the building that held Wynn from view.  She swore under her breath and pushed off of the young man's chest.  Now is not the time for meeting new people she thought to herself, the rattling of awkward, metallic armour came closer and closer, echoing off of the walls of the houses surrounding them.

The young man seemed to sense her uneasiness and reached out to grab her hand, yanking her hard into a dark and damp alleyway.  The smell of rat feces and undisposed garbage filled her nose and made her choke and cough as they ran through the darkness, filling her eyes with salty tears.  The rattling and clanking continued getting louder in her ears but she couldn't tell if it was the small amount of space within the alleyway or if they were actually following them.  She just had to trust her savior to get her out of this mess and she really didn't want to trust anybody she had just met but he was her only chance out of the difficult position she had gotten herself into.

She just had to trust this stranger.  This stranger who had saved her life just a moment ago but in her life as a thief she never knew who to trust.

Wynn managed to pry her eyes open just in time to see the name "The Gorge - Tavern and brothel" in bold letters on a rotting piece of wood.  She was about to protest against going inside a tavern until she heard the shrill scratch of a sword coming out of a leather sheathe that she had heard a huge amount of times before.  That sound alone pressed her into the tavern and brothel with this stranger who she didn't know the intentions of.   If not for those sounds of metal on leather she would have most likely taken her chances with the rest of the alleyway but she proceeded to follow in the young man's footsteps, warily walking into the tavern, the voice in the back of her mind telling her all the while not to go in.

Description

The sun shone down on the cobbled streets of the grand city of Rome.  All around Wynn people walked slowly through their day seeming not to be in a rush to get anywhere, which was perfect for Wynn.  She was in the town square for one reason and one reason only.  To survive.   Half of her life had taken place in this town square and that was the only half she could remember.  Everything past the age of eight she could remember quite well but anything from her birth to her eighth birthday she could not remember no matter how hard she focused on it.

So she just didn't anymore.  Wynn found it to be more effective for her trade this way.  She could focus easier and didn't have to worry what had happened to make her forget half of her life.   She wasn't that worried about what had happened either.  One of two things had to have happened to her, either she was traumatized into forgetting everything in which case she didn't want to remember or she had gotten a knock on the head and she had lost all of her precious memories.  Delving into the depths of her mind was just too much for her at this point in life, only sixteen, no parents to take care of her and living on the streets of Rome wasn't a walk in the park for any of you who think it might be.

Her mind came out of its' self-enveloped state just as her prey walked out of the Amphitheatre.  Her eyes narrowed under the darkness of her black robes' hood as she focused on the official like a predator ready to pounce at her soon to be "dinner".  The ends of her thin lips curled as she watched, her emerald green eyes never once being distracted as the retinas within them grasping at every detail of the official's wardrobe and of the surroundings, trying to figure out how to use them to her advantage.

With his clumsy pair of sandals which his rather large, fat feet drooped out of, and his toga candida which showed off his largely unproportioned body, showcasing the large stomach and chest.  She held in a small chuckle as she watched him along the side of the amphitheatre, his curly, brown and poorly groomed hair blowing as a gently breeze blew through the square.   A small pouch clung to his belt and bounced along with every uneven step the man took, producing a small chorus of jingles that caught Wynn's keen ears.

"Well this should be a piece of cake."  She whispered to herself, not worried about anybody hearing her whispers from the safe darkness of the alley in which she was hiding.  Her sharp green eyes focused back on the man's pouch, watching it with a cool calmness from across the square.  This is perfect she thought as the man turned and started walking, unknown to the trouble that lay ahead, through the square right towards where she was standing.  It was almost too perfect of a setup for her.

With a whoosh Wynn leapt from the safety of the shadows into the burning sunlight that shone down on the faces in the busy square.  Her black cloak gave her a few uneasy glares at first but soon she was bounding through the square, directly towards the man gaining the glares of all of those around her.  She didn't dislike all of the attention she always got when she did her job but sometimes she did wish that it was easier to keep her identity a secret.  With the royal guards becoming a more popular job each day she knew there would be more of them around and most of them didn't want to lose their jobs.  Even some of her former partners had retreated to the royal guard for employment which bothered her.  Our people don't do things like that.  They go retreating to the other side just to keep their stomachs filled and pockets full.  They make me sick. We just don't do that. She thought with increasing anger as she pushed an unsuspecting lass out of the way and down onto the hard cobblestone ground.

Her mind sharpened itself once again, focusing on her prey as she continued to grow closer and closer, the official still unsuspecting as she plowed through the bodies of women, men and children.  She fully knew what this successful job would mean to her tonight.  It would mean a full stomach and maybe even a good flyer to sleep under for the night.  Quite possibly even a night in a stack of hay in a stable she thought to herself, watching the pouch of coins bounce on the official's waist.

"Almost there, only a few more feet…" She said as she let out a small breath, her legs hastily bringing her up to the official but just as she reached out to grasp the pouch the fat official turned away from her, the pouch almost leaping into Wynn's hands.  Her heightened reflexes, which years of living off of others money and food had given her, let her grasp the pouch and rip it off of the man's belt.  Not missing a beat she bounded down the street which the official had been going down at first, not turning to see if he was following or not.   At this moment she didn't really care.  Adrenaline pounded through her veins heightening her senses and endurance even more than it had been.  Wynn had always loved a good chase, the tightening in her stomach at the thought of being caught, the pulse of her heart as it pumped adrenaline-filled blood through her body to fuel her limbs.  Her eyes scanned the surrounding buildings for any guards or good-willed citizens, who could be just as annoying to her as guards could, but found none.

Something was wrong with this situation.

There couldn't have been this amount of time in a crowded public square without guards.  Dammit.  She thought to herself, her eyes scanning her surroundings hastily.  This is just wrong.  This has to be a trap!  No.  Calm down Wynn.  You're just being paranoid; you probably just missed a few of them hiding back in a corner in the square.  Yeah, that's it.  Just being too paranoid.  Just as she finished that thought she felt a tug under the bridge of her foot, pulling up at her heel.  Just as she looked down she saw a flash of autumn leaves moving around on the ground, letting loose a torrent of rope which wrapped around her body tightly, enveloping her in a rough, rope cage.  She let out a yelp as the cage wrapped her body into a tight ball and suspended her a few feet above the ground.  Her head spun and throbbed from the movement but eventually she opened her eyes, a moan of pain rushing out of her lips.

"Well this isn't the most comfortable position to be in at the moment…"  She said with her usual good humour.  Her mind spun and spun in circles trying to think of a way out of her prison just as she heard the sounds of boots on stone, and a lot of boots at that.  She tried to use her body weight to spin the prison around to get a look at her pursuers but to her surprise no one stood there.  The street was now empty and eerily silent.  Her eyes stared at the corner from which the sounds seemed to be coming from but nothing came around.  Before she could turn around again to try and release herself she was falling through the air towards the ground but not by her own doing.

She found her hood getting pulled off by the rushing air as she feel, revealing her auburn hair and face to the world around her.  The cobblestone ground grew closer as she fell but before her young face could be buried into the unrelenting ground she found herself caught, a pair of arms circled around her torso, steadying her fall.

"Whoa." She said, blinking away the rush of blurriness from her eyes as she tried to focus on her captor. "Let go of me you pervert!" She yelled, trying to seem like an innocent little girl in case it was just an uninformed citizen that had accidentally let her out of the trap.

"Well, that's quite the thanks I get for saving your sorry behind from being caught by the royal guard." Whispered a calming voice from the body that held her.  The blurriness finally fled from her eyes as she caught her first glimpse of her self-proclaimed savior.

His dark, dirty hair was parted in the front and was being whipped back and forth with the rising breeze.  It had a slight sheen to it in the shape of a halo which gave him the presence of an angel.  He was wearing dirty, hole-ridden clothes that had obviously seen better days.   His face was slightly dirtied but had a tough calmness to the features.  His nose was a little misshapen as if it had been broken at some point in his life and he had a small scar leading off the right edge of his lip which gave him a hardened look to his face in contrast to the calmness of the rest of his face.  He was peering down at her as if she were crazy and his bronze eyes held a sense of impatience.

"Oh crap the guards…"  She said out loud, turning her attention away from the young man holding her to survey the direction that the sound was coming from again.  This time she could see the shadows as they approached the corner of the building that held Wynn from view.  She swore under her breath and pushed off of the young man's chest.  Now is not the time for meeting new people she thought to herself, the rattling of awkward, metallic armour came closer and closer, echoing off of the walls of the houses surrounding them.

The young man seemed to sense her uneasiness and reached out to grab her hand, yanking her hard into a dark and damp alleyway.  The smell of rat feces and undisposed garbage filled her nose and made her choke and cough as they ran through the darkness, filling her eyes with salty tears.  The rattling and clanking continued getting louder in her ears but she couldn't tell if it was the small amount of space within the alleyway or if they were actually following them.  She just had to trust her savior to get her out of this mess and she really didn't want to trust anybody she had just met but he was her only chance out of the difficult position she had gotten herself into.

She just had to trust this stranger.  This stranger who had saved her life just a moment ago but in her life as a thief she never knew who to trust.

Wynn managed to pry her eyes open just in time to see the name "The Gorge - Tavern and brothel" in bold letters on a rotting piece of wood.  She was about to protest against going inside a tavern until she heard the shrill scratch of a sword coming out of a leather sheathe that she had heard a huge amount of times before.  That sound alone pressed her into the tavern and brothel with this stranger who she didn't know the intentions of.   If not for those sounds of metal on leather she would have most likely taken her chances with the rest of the alleyway but she proceeded to follow in the young man's footsteps, warily walking into the tavern, the voice in the back of her mind telling her all the while not to go in.