Name: Lady Karin Brooks

Age: 19

Background: The daughter of Lord Brooks, a fairly well-off noble with his own fief, Karin lives with her mother and two younger siblings at an old manor in the suburbs.

Personality: Karin is nosy and adventurous, but quite naive. She has lived a sheltered life, and while her personality is fairly tomboyish, she is still a bit fragile in nature. In fact, she has been diagnosed with Bipolar Personality Disorder and takes medication for it.

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Name: Tannim
Age: Actual age unknown. Appears to be 17 - 20
Height: 5'10"
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue

Background: Tannim suffers from amnesia, so he knows nothing of who he is, how old he is, where he was born, or anything else taking place in his life prior to a few months ago. The first thing he remembers is waking up under a tree on a large hill overlooking a near-by town. No one in the town seems to know him, nor do they seem to want to have anything to do with him. As a result, Tannim has had to take up the profession of being a thief in order to acquire food and clothing. As can be imagined, the townsfolk didn't take kindly to his decision and ran him out of town. Now he travels from place to place, looking for answers to his unknown past and prime targets to generate funds for his travels.

Notes of Interest: There are two cats that follow Tannim wherever he goes. The white cat is named Fantasy, while the black cat answers to Fiction. On an odd note, Tannim seems to understand what the cats are saying, while everybody else hears nothing more than the typical "meows". Needless to say, Tannim earns several odd stares and whispers whenever he talks with the cats. On top of that, Tannim's own health seems to directly affect both cats. When he is sick or tired, so are the cats.

Karin was bored. It was not the sort of bored that a person generally felt on a day to day basis. That sort of boredom could be cured by mindless activities--watching TV, playing a game... And not so mindless activities like reading a book or sketching a picture. But the boredom Karin felt could not be satiated by these sort of activities. Rather, the boredom bordered on restlessness and misery; a sort of madness that ate away at the mind until the person went mad. Honestly, she had been somewhat imprisoned in her own home for two reasons: a) she was the daughter of an important subject of the King's--Lord Brooks, who had his own fief, and as such was highly protective of his eldest daughter, and b) Karin had Bipolar Disorder, and had issues interacting amiably around people in general due to her mood swings. While she was taking medication for it, the moods could not be controlled as often as her family would like; and small things could set her off, like a slightly rude suggestion or dropping something.. She could become altogether an unpleasant person.

Needless to say, this sort of confinement did nothing to ease her apparent insanity. Karin found herself wasting away in her room day after day hoping from sort of excitement. She imagined aliens coming down to abduct her. She envisioned sorcerers visiting her father and claiming her as their apprentice. Karin even conceived of some sort of angel, coming down from the heavens to tell her the will of the gods and make her the Messiah to the people of the kingdom. But no; none of things ever happened. And Karin feared that her desperation for excitement would eventually drive her to do something stupid, like run away from home. She sighed angrily and began to scribble fervently on a piece of paper as though it would ease her exasperation.

Just outside of the city, along main road leading up to the gates, was a horse-drawn wagon. It's cargo consisted of bags of flour as well as some bushels of wheat. Also in the cargo area were a male and two cats. They weren't a part of the original cargo, though. They were picked up as hitchhikers by the kind, old trader that was guiding the horse along the path to this particular town. The male hitchhiker, Tannim, was lazily laying in the wagon and staring up at the passing clouds in the sky while the two cats were each curled up against his sides, taking a nap. Tannim had no real destination in mind at the time the old trader happened by the previous afternoon. He was just tired of walking along the road and wanted a ride to whatever destination the first traveler that happened by was headed to.

Granted, there were other forms of transportation that could have gotten Tannim to any number of destinations a lot quicker, and most likely more comfortably, than an old horse-drawn wagon. There were automobiles, but it was rare enough to see those outside of any city or town. They were pretty expensive, so only the wealthy had one to begin with, and they typically didn't use them for travel from city to city. Then there were trains. A nice, comfortable, quick form of travel. But also expensive. One tended to pay for comfortable travel. Besides, cats weren't allowed on trains. Not unless you put them in cages and checked them as cargo. Tannim wasn't about to do that to Fiction and Fantasy. And then there were the airships. High speed. Extreme comfort. And very, very expensive. Tannim wasn't even going to start thinking about how much security there was on an airship, either.

The old trader called out to Tannim as they were approaching the gates of the city. Tannim sat up and turned to look ahead of the horse pulling the wagon and smiled. The city looked pretty large. Big cities were always a plus in his mind. There were bound to be plenty of prime targets here, and maybe even some answers or clues to some of his questions. In any case, Tannim hopped out of the wagon, followed by the two cats who had been napping until he sat up and jostled them. He then walked around to the side of the wagon by the old trader and tossed a small, leather, draw-string pouch to him. The pouch "clinked" when the old trader caught it. The trader knew what was in the pouch from the sound it made and the way the contents shifted in his grasp, but he opened it to look inside anyway. Sure enough, there were several silver coins inside. The trader closed the pouch and was going to hand it back to Tannim, refusing any payment for giving a simple lift. But, by the time he looked back up, Tannim and the two cats were nowhere to be seen.

Once through the city gates, Tannim started wandering aimlessly around town with the two cats in tow. He walked along several streets, seeming to take in the sights as any tourist would. But, in actuality, he was searching for possible targets. At least to start. Later, he might check the local pubs, poking around for information. He would worry about finding someplace to stay for the night later. It was still early in the day so far, being roughly mid-morning.

After a while of frantic scribbling, Karin experienced a dull pang of hunger in her stomach. Her doctor once told her that when the stomach did not have something inside it to digest, it would begin to eat away at itself; at the layers of mucus coating the inside walls. In the case of impoverished people who often starved to death, hunger became painful as the layers of mucus were slowly worn down to nothing and the stomach actually started to eat itself. Karin threw down her pen and hastened towards her wardrobe to change from her nightclothes into something suitable for the public eye. She would be damned if she would eat her own stomach! In the large armoir she had a variety of fancy dresses gifted to her by her father, Lord Brooks. While Karin's personality was quite mannish, she enjoyed donning velvet, silk, lace, and frills. She had plenty of colors to choose from--for every dress she had sets of gloves, shoes, bags, jewelry, and hats/other hair ornaments. Some were a single color, others a couple of colors. Others still were multicolored. As her moods changed, so would her desire for a certain color; indeed, Karin never had the same favorite color for long. Today, because she felt so frustrated, she selected a dark purple gown with short, puffy sleeves. The skirts bubbled out from the waist. The hem was trimmed with white crocheted lace, as were the edges of her sleeves.

Karin accessorized the dress using white pantyhose, shiny black Mary Janes with heels, matching white crochet gloves, and a purple fabric rose clip in her hair. She retreated into the bathroom to pat on some powder foundation and dust her eyelids with a deep violet shadow. "There," she breathed. Rather than smiling at her reflection, the girl scowled and flung her make-up set onto the bathroom floor. There was a large bang followed by the sound of scattering plastic items as the object connected with the tile. She left it there, broken with her make-up littering the ground, and turned from the room with a harrumph of disdain. Her last action before exiting the chamber was to snatch up her handbag and sling it over her shoulder. It was not as though she expected to leave the house. But with so little opportunities to actually dress up and attend luncheons or dinner parties, Karin made it a point to stir up excitement in her own home. Beyond the door a maid held her hands over her mouth, aghast, perhaps wondering from the sound if Karin had destroyed a lamp on purpose again. Karin paid her no mind, disappearing down the ornate hallway with a skip in her step.

The interior of the manor was quite well-furnished. Antiques everywhere--lamps, carpeting, paintings, chandeliers. All wood was a sort of attractive dark mahogany. Most paintings were portraits of family members long since passed. They stood together around a woman sitting in a chair, or by the desk with a hand on the window. Dull, Karin, thought, but she appreciated the painters' attention to detail. The ceilings were lit with a line of small crystal chandeliers wired in to the manor's electric system. Altogether the house was four floors high, with an average of twelve rooms per floor (not including bathrooms). A visitor would marvel at the building, but Karin only saw it as a dungeon with which to bar her in for eternity. She walked to the end of the hallway, at which lay twisting stairwell that led down from her floor (the fourth floor) down to the third, second, and first floors. The dining room was on the first floor where guests were generally entertained. That floor had a grand reception hall, parlor, library, sitting room, the kitchen towards the back end, and the dining room off of the kitchen... Aside from several other small rooms with furnishing wedged in between them all.

Karin's family was sitting down to brunch, in between breakfast and lunch, since none of those rose early enough for breakfast. Karin's mother Laura was middle-aged but still very beautiful. She wore a consistently haughty expression on her porcelain face, and fine clothes. Karin's younger siblings were an annoying, ruddy-faced boy aged at ten named Mikail and a twelve-year old dimwit sister Chloe. Mikail was cruelly pinching Samantha on the arm and she was squealing him to stop. At the head of the table, Lord Samuel Brooks perused a newspaper over a cup of coffee. The table was capable of seating many people but had been shortened to seat only the Brooks household. The servants swarmed around them, setting out fresh fruit, bread, pancakes, eggs, and meats. One servant refilled Lord Brooks' coffee. Karin was not met with any acknowledgment as she sat herself in the seat she most often took at the table; beside her mother. This was the norm. After all, she was the one who belonged in an asylum; the shame of the family. Karin piled a couple of pancakes on her plate, doused them in syrup, and then reached for the eggs with her fork.

As Tannim and the two cats wandered the streets of the city, they happened along several grocer stalls lining the edges of one of the streets. Just across the street was a large park with lush grass, bushes, and trees. There were several people buying items from the stalls, probably gathering items to snack on while relaxing in the park. As Tannim and the cats were passing through the open market, the female white cat called out.

"M~e~o~w~! <Tannim, I'm hungry! Can't we get something to eat?>"

Tannim stopped and grimaced. He was afraid of this. The scents of food were mixing in the air and were even starting to make his own stomach grumble for sustenance. He turned and look at the two cats, both of which were in the midst of wearing their most pitiful, pleading expressions on their faces. The male black cat chimed in with the other.

"M~r~o~w~! <Yeah! C'mon, Tannim! We haven't had anything to eat yet today! You've got to be hungry, too!>"

Tannim sighed and shook his head back and forth. He was indeed hungry, but he wanted to check the city out and find some possible targets first. Then he was planning on getting some food for himself and the cats while he mentally thought about which target would be the best to try for tonight. He wouldn't get anywhere by ignoring their pleas for food, though. Even so, he spoke to them in hushed tones to try to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

"Aw, come on, you two. Can't you wait just a few more minutes? I want to check this place out first."

Fantasy, the female white cat, seemed to sulk and didn't respond to Tannim's question. Fiction, the male black cat, wasn't going to remain quiet, though.

"M~e~r~o~w~!! <But, we're hungry!! We can't concentrate if our stomachs are grumbling at us for food!>"

Tannim sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat. There was no point in arguing with a cat. The cat would always win.

"Fine, fine. I'll go get us some food. You two wait here, ok?"

The moods and expressions of both cats seemed to brighten immediately as Tannim stood up and made his way over to a couple of stalls. He returned a little while later with a loaf of bread, a few apples, a couple of fish, and a couple of bottles of cold water. Both cats followed him as he walked past them and headed to a nearby bench situated near the entrance of the park. Tannim reached into a pack that he was carrying with him to produce a few bowls, which would be used for the cats' meals and their water dish. He placed the two fish into separate bowls and set them down on the ground for the cats. The third bowl was filled with one of the bottles of water and set down by the other two bowls. Now that they had their meal dished out, the two cats set about the task of emptying the bowls and filling their stomachs. Tannim sat back on the bench and ate away at the loaf of bread and the apples while washing the food down with the other bottle of water.

After they ate their meals, it was back to work. Tannim and the two cats walked down random streets while looking from house to house. It was when they happened along a particularly large house, by far the biggest house that they had seen so far in this city, that they stopped and stared in open astonishment. This house had four floors to it, obviously with several rooms on each floor. Surly there were valuables in this house. It was big enough to serve as a hotel in any of the smaller towns they had visited previously. Anybody who owned a house this large had to be very wealthy. Without looking away from the house, Tannim spoke to the cats.

"Guys, I think we just found our target..."

For the most part the Brooks family ate in silence. The Lord continued to read his newspaper. As far as people were concerned, the man was not the most talkative individual of individuals. He was a hard business man and a loyal subject to the king. He knew quite a lot about warfare, managing a lot of the arms supplying for the kingdom. However, Laura, had no purpose in the family other than the role of trophy wife. She had been one of the most beautiful noblewomen of the kingdom in her time (and still so), and Samuel Brooks had attained her despite her reputation as an Ice Queen (to say the least). Karin never heard the story of how he managed to do this, or even if the two of them fell in love. It might have been a marriage of convenience, for all she knew. Only the servants' gossip yielded information, for Karin's parents were tight-lipped in her presence.

As for the siblings, well... Mikail was a terror and enjoyed pulling pranks on both of his older sisters. Rats in their beds, peanut butter in their shoes. Just a series of unpleasantness that neither of the girls particularly liked. He was also spoiled to death being the youngest and was likely to take over the family fortune when he came of age, as neither of the girls were eligible after they were married off. Karin got along fairly well with Chloe. They were both female, had a liking for fancy clothes and make-up, and enjoyed talking about the young men who came to visit. Or rather, used to visit. Before it became known that Karin Brooks had... Social problems. Unlike Karin, however, Chloe had no interest in creative or intellectual pursuits. Also a beauty even at her young age, Karin thought it was pretty evident that she would eventually be a trophy wife like their mother and would never amount to anything more than that.

Karin had different plans. She wanted to either be a museum curator or an explorer. Or, like in the daydreams she enjoyed entertaining, the apprentice to a sorcerer. It was a highly-respected profession that only the most intelligent of students could aspire to attain. There were several well-known sorcerers in the kingdom, but they only took on two apprentices at a time. And Karin was fairly certain that none of them had openings, unless there was a secret sorcerer out there that kept himself from public scrutiny. As for other dreams, unfortunately, her parents did not share in them. Like Chloe Karin needed to be married off to a wealthy young man of suitable class, or she if she continued to frighten them all off as she had been doing and passed the marriageable age, she would end up in an asylum for her disorder. Admittedly the girl did not want to end up in an asylum continuously imprisoned and tortured for the rest of her painful existence. But she also did not want to be married to a shallow-minded dandy boy.

The silence was getting on Karin's nerves, so she thought that she would try to initiate some discussion at the table. Mainly about the next time she would be allowed to go outdoors or visit town.

"Father?"

Lord Brooks did not look up from his newspaper. He flipped to the next page, skimming down it for something of interest, with one of his dark brows arched.

"Yes, Karin?"

"I was wondering. I have not gone into town for a while. Do you think it would be possible for me to take a carriage in with perhaps the governess and Chloe?"

Chloe perked up noticeably, not even bothered by the fact Mikail was sneaking some of her food onto his plate.

"Oh, father, please let us go!" She was practically bouncing in her chair.

"Your sister is not well enough to go into town," Samuel Brooks replied. He lifted his gaze, but only to regard Karin's sister. He would not look at Karin directly when he spoke, as though she was not present in the room.

"But father, my medicine works," Karin pleaded. "I can control myself, please."

"No, you must stay here where we can keep an eye on you. And that is final."

Karin's heart gave a painful squeeze in her chest, and all the sudden her insides raged with fury. The mood within her had changed abruptly, and she knew that to give into it would prove her father correct. So even fuming and on the verge of hysterical tears, Karin forced herself to finish the pancakes and eggs before quietly retiring back to her room. Once there, she tore a pillow to shreds.

Tannim and the two felines gawked at the house for a few more moments. Finally, a smile played across the man's face as he nodded a couple of times, as if he had just reached a decision. This had to be the perfect heist. If they played their cards right, Tannim and the cats could probably snatch some really valuable jewelry and other trinkets to earn a pretty tidy sum of coins. Not just copper or silver coins, but gold coins. That would cover their travel expenses for quite a while. But, who lived in such a grand house. Tannim couldn't even remember the last time he had seen a house so big. As he continued to wonder about that, a peddler happened by pulling a cart of wares behind him. Certainly this person would know some information about this place.

"Hello there, sir. I was wondering if you could tell me who lives in this grand manor here?"

The peddler stopped and looked from Tannim to the house and back again.

"You don't look familiar, so you must be a traveler. This house belongs to the lord of this city. Lord Brooks."

Tannim nodded and thanked the peddler for the information. Then he called out to the two cats who were still looking at the house.

"Fantasy! Fiction! Come on, it's time to go!"

The two cats turned their attention away from the house and trotted over to Tannim as he turned his back to the house and started walking down the street again. As he walked, he thought to himself that the house they had just seen would definitely be the perfect target. The lord of the city, eh? Oh, there would be jewelry and trinkets galore in that place. Now he just needed to find a place to stay for the night and waste some time until nightfall.

Tannim continued walking along until he reached the area with the park again. In the city square, near the main entrance of the park, there were several places of business. Jewelry stores, clothing stores, restaurants, a pub, and a hotel. Tannim stopped in front of the main entrance to the park. He looked down at the cats and spoke softly to them.

"You two wait at that bench there. I'm going to go get us a room, then I'll meet you back at that bench."

The cats meowed that they understood and went straight to the bench that Tannim had indicated, then Tannim went to the hotel. He felt bad for having to make them wait for him while he went to get a room, but most hotels, especially ones located in cities, didn't allow "pets" in the rooms. So it was easier for him to just get a room and then open the window in the room so the cats could get in that way.

After getting a room on the second floor, Tannim went to the room and opened the window like he normally did. Then he returned to the park and found the two cats waiting patiently for his return. He pointed the room out to them and headed back to the room through the building's entrance while the cats made their way up to the room from the outside. Once they were all in the room and the door was locked from the inside, all three laid on the bed and fell asleep. They wouldn't wake up again until night had fallen.

The day ended...Gradually. Rather, time inched by. It seemed as though every moment Karin glanced at the clock, only two minutes had passed. She supposed it was because of the maddening boredom that ceased to end. She merely laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling, still fully-clothed. There had been no point dressing up, as usual, but still she relished do it. If only to feel some sense of purpose in her otherwise meaningless, humdrum existence. She contemplating calling in her sister to play cards with her, or perhaps Chess. But Chess required too much thought and was mentally frustrating. Cars she could handle, she thought. There was a contraption the the left of her bed, and intercom of sorts, with numbered dials. The numbers represented different rooms in the household, and with it she could simply choose a dial, press the large green button, and talk into a speaker. She could call her sister without leaving the room. Now, if Chloe would come and play cards... That was another story entirely.

Karin crawled across her bed, punching the dial numbered 32. There was a faint beep, and a tone that followed. Karin pressed down the green button and spoke hesitantly into the speaker. "Chloe, can you hear me, over?" A click and some white noise. Finally, another click, and then a voice. "Hi, Karin! I can hear you! Over!" Bzzzpt. Karin pressed her button down again. "I was wondering if you wanted to come up and play cards with me. There is nothing to do. Over." Bzzzpt. "Okay! That sounds good to me. Shall I bring a deck?" Bzzzpt. "You forgot to say over. And yes. Over." Bzzzpt. "Oh, sorry, Karin! I forget sometimes. But you know, it's so annoying to say it again and again. I'll be up in a minute! ...Over."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, Karin heard the slam of a door, and the sound of running footsteps stamping the ground outside. Her doorknob turned, and the door swung open, revealing her younger sister Chloe. Chloe held up a boxed deck of cards, and rushed over the her sister's bedside. She climbed on top of the bed next to Karin and opened the box. "What do you want to play? I would think a flat surface would better for cards, so they won't slide around everywhere. But I don't want to sit on the floor, and I know you don't want to, either. I suppose we'll have to make do with the bed." Karin nodded slowly. She was thinking about what game to play. One that did not take too much effort or mental activity that could perturb her and exasperate her volatile mood swings.

"How about War?" Karin asked. Chloe blinked at her sister twice. "I forget which one that is." Karin took the cards from Chloe and shuffled the cards expertly, by bending them in a downward arch, and then an upward one. She repeated the process several times, to make sure that they cards were randomized correctly and would not be recognizable to Chloe from whatever it was she did with them last. "It's an easy game," Karin replied with a little smile. "All you do is shuffle and then deal out the entire deck in half." She did so, diving the cards into two smaller piles face-down on top of one another. Chloe gathered up her cards and patted them together, but before she could turn them face up to look at them, Karin stopped her. "You're not allowed to look at them." Chloe shrugged. "What next?" Karin said, "We slap the cards down face-up at the same time, and whoever has the higher card gets to keep the cards that were just played. We do it until all our hand is gone. And the person with the most cards won at the end wins the entire game."

The two sisters played the card game for the next two hours. Chloe won 75% of the matches, to Karin's dismay. But she was able to keep her calm throughout without throwing a fit. After they got bored, her sister took herself and the cards back to her room on the third floor. Karin sketched birds for a while, then read a book. She went downstairs for dinner around 7pm, and had roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and peas. She came back upstairs to red some more until bed time. Around eleven pm, she changed out of her dress into a light blue sleeveless nightgown also trimmed with lace. She washed her face, removing the make-up, brushed her teeth, and returned to her bed to wiggle underneath the comforter. Perhaps her dreams would be more interesting tonight....

Midnight. The Witching Hour. This was the time when most people were fast asleep in bed, deep in their dreams. This was also the best time for a thief to make his move. Tannim, Fantasy, and Fiction were outside the large manor that they saw earlier in the day. There seemed to be some lights lit in a few of the rooms, but not very many. Probably servants who were finishing their chores before going to bed. No matter, Tannim and the cats would just avoid those rooms.

The first order of business would be finding a way into the manor. There would surly be some open windows here and there for letting the cool night breeze into the manor, so that would probably be the best way in. Of course, nobody in their right mind would leave any windows open on the first floor. The thought that as long as they only opened windows on the higher floors, they'd be safe from intruders. Then again, they couldn't be more wrong. As long as there was a decent-sized tree near an open window, or a lattice to use as a ladder up to a balcony, or even a drain pipe, a thief could reach open windows on higher floors. The main thing that mattered at the moment was finding an open window. After locating one, finding a way up to it would be a small matter. Tannim turned to the two felines and spoke softly to them.

"Ok, you two. Find a way inside."

Both cats instantly ran off to find different trees to climb up to the upper levels and find a way inside as Tannim had instructed. Meanwhile, Tannim waited for their return while keeping a weary eye out for anybody out for a late-night stroll. Moments later, both cats returned to inform him of what they had found. Fiction was the first to tell Tannim what he saw.

"meow. <There is one open window on the fourth floor, and two on the third floor on the west side.>"

Then it was Fantasy's turn to divulge her information.

"mew. <I found one open window on the third floor, and three on the second on the east side.>"

Tannim nodded at what he heard.

"Ok. Most places like this will have the servants on the lower floors and the family members on the upper floors. We can assume that, if this place holds true to that pattern, the most likelihood of finding some valuable loot would be on the top floor. That's our target. Let's go."

Tannim and the two cats moved over to the west side of the manor and scaled the tree up to the open window on the fourth floor and quietly slipped inside.

Karin dreamed about one of her favorite books--Arsene Lupin, the Gentleman Thief. It was a French series of short stories written in response to the popularity of Sherlock Holmes around the 19th century. Lupin was the perfect thief; he could outsmart any detective, disguise himself, escape any situation... And on top of it all, he never hurt anyone on purpose. He never killed. He was young and handsome and all the women adored him.

In her dream, Karin was at a dinner party, and afterward, a ball. She wore a long black ball gown, satin, with a sheen. It trailed behind her. She had flowers plaited in her short brown her. She looked ravishing. All the young men wanted to dance with her, but she simply fanned herself and pretended to be disinterested in their advances. Everyone wore masks in the room, including Karin. It was impossible to tell who was who. A gentleman came up to her. He had short dirty blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. He donned a dashing, confident smile. His garb? A top hat and white gloves, and a dark dress jacket with coat tails over a white blouse and black trousers. He asked her to dance. For some reason, Karin accepted.

After dancing for several songs, the young man excused himself. Karin felt disappointed in her dream, pleading with him to stay and asking if he would ever see her again. He said he would come for her in the night to steal her away from her father. Her father was vastly wealthy, but the greatest treasure he had, the man said, was Karin. The man ran away, leaving her standing in the middle of the dance floor entirely bewildered. Just then, a woman screamed that her pearls had been stolen. Lupin had been there at the party, and had robbed several guests of their belongings without their knowledge. Karin frantically searched her person for the locket she had been given by a friend as a child. It was gone. Lupin had been her dancing partner. She felt enraged, used, and more. She danced with many other men that night, as if doing so would be suitable revenge against the famous thief.

Lots of other strange things happened in the dream. Her father heard of the thief attending the party and forbade Karin from leaving her room. Days later he received a note telling him that he most precious jewel would be taken away. Her father had an enormous diamond in the safe hidden in his study. He hired guards to watch the safe day and night to prevent the burglary. Karin stayed in her room and wept, a prisoner like Rapunzel in her high tower. She fell asleep to the sound of her own sobbing. A bird in a cage chirped in the corner of the chamber. A sudden sound of shattering glass...

Karin was awakened by the sound of something hitting the floor. A quiet sound, of feet on the wood, by her window. She jolted up, sitting in bed as though someone had pinched her into consciousness...And was alarmed to see the silhouette of someone somewhat hunched over, attempting to sneak by the front of her bed. Her first instinct was to scream as loud as she could to alert the other members of the household, or to dial her fathers room and yell into the speaker for help. But with the memory of the dream still fresh in her mind, it dawned on her that the figure in her room might be a thief. And she was fatigued enough to think it might actually be Lupin, even though he was fictional and lived at least two centuries prior to now. "Who are you?" she asked the shadow sleepily.

Tannim froze when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head to the side to look directly at the person who had just sat up in their bed. This late at night, this person should have been sound asleep. He knew he hadn't made enough noise to wake most people up. This person must have either just recently gone to bed and hadn't had a chance to enter a deep sleep yet, or they were a very light sleeper. Maybe if he didn't move, they would think that they were having some sort of dream and would go back to sleep. When Tannim heard the sleepy female's voice inquiring who he was, he grimaced. So much for that notion.

Tannim took a quick look around the room, taking note of the situation. The lights were turned off, so there wasn't any good visibility. The bedroom door was closed, so the cats wouldn't be able to get out of the room other than through the window they had just came through. This heist wasn't going to work unless he could get the woman to go back to sleep, which was unlikely. Tannim clicked his tongue, signaling to the cats that this mission was a failure and was called off. The cats knew the signal and leaped out the window back to the tree they had climbed up to get to this room. Meanwhile, Tannim slowly backed away from the bed and towards the window himself.

"Now, just stay calm. You don't have anything to worry about. I didn't come here to hurt you or anything."

Just a few more steps and Tannim would be at the window. From there, he'd be able to make his escape out the window and down the tree. Surly, the cats had already made it down the tree by now and were making their way to a set of bushes near the street to wait for him to catch up to them. And since the lights were turned off in this room, so there's no way this woman would know what he looked like. If he could just make it out the window, he'd get away clean.

The intruder was backing towards the window again. If it was indeed a thief, as Karin assumed, perhaps her waking up had spoiled their chances of stealing anything after all. Now they simply wanted to make a get-away before their identity was jeopardized. But if the thief was Lupin, like Karin's tired mind suggested, she wanted to see their face. She wanted to know what the master thief looked like. Naturally, the girl reached across her nightstand and, with a faint click, lit the lamp. Though somewhat dim, it produced a sufficient amount of light for the girl to see the thief's face. Her foremost impression was his age--boyish in his face, yet tall enough to be at most twenty. It was difficult to say. But she placed him between his late teens and early adulthood. Apart from that, he was quite easy on the eyes. He dressed in strange, dark clothing. His hair was light brown, longish and choppy in cut...Messy, perhaps. He had striking blue eyes. He did not look like the Lupin in her dream save for those eyes. Karin was disappointed. But she had to say something before the boy ran away.

"Oh, don't worry," she said, yawning against the back of her hand. "I'm not going to tell on you. It's nice to see another human being for once." She cocked her head to the side, wondering if perhaps he'd been simply moving through her room to get to another part of the house, or if he had planned on going though her things and taking something. Karin had lots of jewelry. No money to speak of (her father kept it all the the safe downstairs), but she had lots of necklaces and bracelets that would yield a hefty sum if the thief took them to a pawn broker. "Back off from the window. If you try to leave, I will scream. I already know what you look like. I'm good at drawing, too." She snatched up a sketchbook, also on the nightstand, and flipped through it, showing the boy some of her pictures. "If the police question me, I will be able to produce a likeness that will not fail."

She shrugged her shoulders. "You have two options, really. Kill me, or talk to me. Are you a thief? I like thieves. I read a book about an amazing thief and I was hoping that you might be him. I guess you are not. What is your name?" She slipped out from underneath the comforter, crawling across her bedspread towards him. When she reached the foot of the bed, she sat back on her haunches. "My name is Karin, by the way. I'm one of Lord Brooks' children. He keeps me in here, all the time." It must have been odd for the stranger to have this girl talking to him despite that he was a criminal. Even more so for she did not know whether he was to be trusted or how much of an honorable man he might be. Still, who could blame her? She probably thought she was yet dreaming, and never had visitors other than her siblings. It may have been a welcome change, particularly after the boredom of the previous day.

Tannim grunted and squinted his eyes when the woman turned a lamp on. Granted, the light wasn't that bright, but it was bright enough to give him a brief blinding when turned on. He put his hand up to try to shield his eyes from the offending light for a few moments until they had a chance to adjust from the suddenly vanquished darkness. When his eyes adjusted, he put his hand down and looked at the woman on the bed. She was looking straight at him as if she were judging his features. Tannim swore under his breath. This wasn't good.

He arched an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly to the side when she nonchalantly told him that she wasn't going to turn him in, despite him being a stranger who suddenly appeared in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Surely this wasn't something she was used to, was it? Highly doubtful. Then she pulled the sketchbook out and ordered him to stay away from the window. Was she threatening him? This earned her another arched eyebrow. But, he moved a couple of steps away from the window anyway.

Then this young woman, Tannim assumed she was in her late teens, started bombarding him with questions quicker than he could ever hope to answer, one on top of another. He opened his mouth to try to at least answer some of her questions, and then she moved out from under the covers and started crawling towards him on all fours. The sight of her moving like that made every thought fly right out of his head for some reason. It might have simply been the way her body was moving. Then again, it could have had something to do with the way she was dressed. Granted, she was wearing clothes. Well, more like a really long night shirt. But, the fabric of that shirt wasn't doing much to hide her body. It seemed to be really thin, and it almost seemed see-through. She was pretty. Really pretty. She didn't even need to wear make-up. Was this what was referred to as "natural beauty"? And then there were her brown eyes, which were captivating. And, to top it off, was her slender figure. Somehow, this young woman really appealed to him. Finally, Tannim regained enough of his composure to try to answer her questions.

"I'm not going to kill you. Yes, I'm a thief. Nothing more, nothing less. My name is Tannim."

If Karin had any sense or modesty, she would cover herself up. Her current stance on the bed would have been consider lewd and improper for a young lady of her social standing; particularly in the presence of a stranger. And this stranger so happened to be a young man and a potentially dangerous criminal. He assured her that he would not kill her, but his face suggested that he was uncomfortable looking at her. It was difficult to discern from the lighting in the room, but Karin swore she almost saw a flash of coloring pass over his features. A blush, perhaps? It made her conscious of her body, but she did not let it show. It would be odd to suddenly grab the blanket and wrap it around her figure. Rather, she played off her actions as merely confidence in herself and her appearance. As though she was proud of what she had and was not afraid to display it. Besides, the young man was handsome in his own way. Why not let him look? However, the girl was annoyed by how little he had said to her. He must not have been very socially adept, either. Like her.

Of course, her issues caused her to talk more than was needed, rather than less. Karin was hardly shy. Odd, yes. Irritating. But not shy. "Come now, why don't you sit down, Tannim," she said, beckoning to a velvet chair in the corner. Once seating she could keep a better eye on him and make sure he didn't leave or do anything brash. She was close to the intercom. She could make it to the emergency button faster than he could do anything else. "That's an interesting name," she added, thinking about what else she ought to say and ask the man. She could space out her words and questions so that he had time to answer. She was curious about his profession, and his adventures. Thieves had to have a lot of adventures, didn't they.

"Are you a famous thief?" Karin asked after a time, sliding further down the bed so that her legs dangled over the sides and she was seated upright. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide with wonder and rapture. "Do you have a lot of adventures? I wish I could. I am sick, you see. Not physically, no. But mentally. I am bipolar." She nodded as-a-matter-of-factly. "So be careful what you say. I might have a mood swing and throw the lamp at you." She informed him of the possibility as though it were the most orthodox thing in the world for a girl to do.

Tannim tore his eyes away from Karin's captivating form long enough to look over at the chair that she indicated. It did indeed look comfortable, but he wasn't too sure about idly taking a seat on the opposite side of the room as the window. Fiction and Fantasy were undoubtedly still waiting for him outside, wondering what was taking him so long to meet them. Tannim looked back over at Karin and saw from her eyes that she wasn't about to take "no" for an answer.

Finally, he gave in and moved over to the chair as she commented on his name being interesting. Just how should he reply to that? Why did he even tell her his name in the first place? It's the first time he had told anybody his name.

"Uhh...thank you? It's the only thing I can truly call mine."

Tannim sat in the chair and turned his attention back to Karin in time to see her shift her position. But, the way she changed her position caused the hem of her nightshirt to roll up her thighs since her feet never touched the floor. This seemed to be turning into a precarious situation. Granted, Tannim didn't mind the view this was causing in the least. He didn't mind the previous view, either. It was just that he was unaccustomed to these situations. He had never really sat down and talked to anybody like this. Not that he could remember, anyway.

"Mmm, I can't truly say that I'm famous. I mean, it'd make my job pretty difficult if everybody knew who I was. I travel a lot, but I don't know if you could actually call it an adventure. More like a quest, I'd say."

When she mentioned her illness, this caused Tannim to knit his eyebrows in wonder. Mental sickness? Bipolar? Threatening to possibly throw a lamp at him based on his words? It sounded complicated. Didn't she mention earlier that she was kept inside all the time?

"Wait a minute... So you're saying that you never leave this house?"

Karin smiled smugly as the thief Tannim seated himself as she requested in the chair. He appeared to be in a hurry, awkwardly glancing at the window before doing so. Was someone waiting for him? Maybe in a get away car? Oh, so many possibilities! She felt a thrill at the fact she now had a young man in her room without her parents' knowledge. It was the sort of rebellion against them and their bloody rules that she longed for and craved. Now she finally had someone interesting to talk to and interrogate! The intensity of her current emotions towards the situation hinted at the fact the sedating effect of her medication had started to wear off, so she had to take care with what she said and did. As did the boy. But she had fairly warned him of her condition, had she not? It was the nicest thing she could do for the stranger, apart from dumping her jewelry into a sack for him like a Halloween grab bag. But she would only do that if it the man pleased her enough with his answers.

As it was, she was not particularly impressed by his standing. Not famous? Lupin was a famous thief and he had no job conducting his business of theft. Police and detectives tried to prevent him from doing so, but he always outsmarted them. He was clever and intelligent. So it should not matter if people knew about you or not, as long as you were skilled. But Karin figured that Tannim was not the best thief in the world, otherwise he would have not been so dismayed by her seeing him. Lupin would have seduced her and swept her off her feet. Then he would have stolen all her valuables from her right under her nose. Simple. She had half a mind to explain these things to Tannim, but she decided against it. She hardly knew him well enough to lecture him about how to do his job. But a better word caught her fancy...

"A quest?" she echoed, arching a thin brow. "What sort of quest is it? I enjoy quests! Well, not that I have ever had them. But it seems as though it might be nice to. I am sure you know what I mean. Yes, I am kept inside the majority of the time, and as such am very bored and desperate for some excitement." Which was partially why she was so happy to see Tannim, even if he was a criminal. "My father does not think me fit for the general public." She sighed. "If I do not get married to one of the useless louses he invites over now and then, he will send me to an asylum. Is that not terrible, Tannim?"

Tannim was amazed by how much her eyes lit up at the word "quest". He supposed he could understand her interest in quests and adventures, if she was indeed as sheltered as she had told him. A simple walk around the city would probably be an adventure for her. He actually felt sorry for her in that respect. She certainly seemed to be in enough control of her mental faculties to be able to mingle with other people outdoors. Of course, he hadn't been talking to her very long, either. Only about 10 or 15 minutes so far.

"Well, I'm on a quest to find my past. Or at least my memories of my past. For some reason, I don't remember anything before a couple of months ago. Where I was born, where I lived, who my friends and family were, what I liked, what I didn't like, nothing. The first memory I have is waking up under a tree near a town. The only thing I really remembered was that my name is Tannim."

Tannim shrugged matter-of-factly as he spoke. He didn't think anybody would find that sort of quest very interesting. Or his lack of memory, for that matter. Who would find someone not being able to remember their past of any interest? It certainly didn't make for a lot of conversation, anyway.

When Karin told him about the "marriage or asylum" choice, Tannim tilted his head and furrowed his brow yet again. So her father was trying to control who she married by telling her that she'd go to an asylum if she didn't? That didn't sound like a good way of going about that. At least not for the woman getting married. Was that how all marriages were decided? If it was, Tannim was certainly glad that he wasn't a woman.

"Wow, that doesn't sound fair at all. You have my condolences."

Amnesia! It was like a revelation from the heavens. Oh, finally she had found someone who could identify with her predicament! Karin had a mental disorder that alienated her from the rest of society. Similarly, this boy could not recall anything about his past two months prior to now. He had no friends, no one to talk to, and as such turned to thieving as a means, she supposed, to acquire funding for his travels. His quest was to regain his memories, figure out where he belonged and what had happened to him... Run into someone who knew him or had been searching for him, too! It was so romantic, somehow... Straight out of a passage from a book. And how would that be, to finally find what you have been questing for? How would the boy's face light up when he knew who he was and all the lost memories came flooding back to him? Not like Karin, who was set in her fate. She only had medications that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. She would never find a cure for her illness.

To be quite frank, she had no intention of marrying anyone, or going to an asylum. She loathed all the men who father introduced her to, some of them middle-aged and dull. The young ones were shallow and impetuous. And they could not put up with her dominate personality. Were all women supposed to be submissive and weak and cater to their husbands' every whim? Well, not her. Even if her father managed to ship her off to an asylum, she would give the doctors hell. She would have to be sedated at all hours of the day, and wear a straight jacket. And they would put her in a padded room. Oh, how comfy a padded room sounded... And it would be fun trying to get out of the straight jacket. Much more so than playing cards with her sister or sketching birds. She really wanted to see what happened with Tannim and his memories, though. It would be epically interesting to be in his presence when he discovered his past--WAIT, THAT'S IT!

"I KNOW!" Karin cried, on the edge of her seat. Literally. "You can take me with you! That way I can fund your trip... I have lots of jewelry we can sell off. And you can still steal stuff or maybe train me to as well... And then I don't have to marry anyone or go to an asylum!" She brought a fist down on her other flat, open palm. "I'm a genius. It's the perfect solution to this whole mess." She stood up and walked over to her window, glancing up. On the fourth floor, it was a long way down. Tannim must have used the tree to scale the walls... She saw no sign of a rope. The girl wondered if she would be able to climb down the massive tree. All she had were dresses--no pants. Nothing suitable for climbing. But she was determined to leave with the thief at any cost. "You'll have to help me get down, though."

If the chair Tannim was sitting wasn't nestled in the corner of the room, he probably would have tilted it over backward at Karin's sudden outburst. As it was, her voice had been so loud that he was sure that someone must have heard her when she yelled. He watched the door, waiting for somebody to arrive and pound on her door, trying to break it off the hinges to make sure she was alright. Oddly enough, though, nobody came. Maybe the walls were thicker and deadened sound more efficiently than he had originally thought?

Then Karin's words registered in his mind. Take her with him? Granted, having funds available for the journey sounded good. And he didn't mind having her around with him to see and talk to on a daily basis. But, teach her how to be a thief? He understood that she was sheltered, and he didn't agree with the whole "marriage or asylum" thing. But was she really that desperate for freedom and adventure that she'd be willing to just escape from this manor to join somebody she didn't even know? Somebody who would take her heaven only knows where and, for all she knew, possibly commit unspeakable acts against her? Was she that trusting, that desperate, or had she even thought about that in the first place?

"Is that something you're absolutely sure about? I mean, there's no telling where we'd end up. And I seriously doubt we'd ever come back to this city again. I understand that you don't agree with your father's wishes, but what about the rest of your family? Your mom or your siblings? Can you just up and leave them behind without a second thought?"

While he gave her a moment to think it over, he thought about how he would get her down to ground level if she was insistent on joining him. First thing was first, she'd need to change her clothes. It wouldn't do to have her wear her nightshirt until they could get somewhere to get her some different clothes. Since Karin was the daughter of the lord of this city, pretty much everybody in the city should know what she looks like. That would rule out staying in the city until morning. If she was going to come with him, they'd need to leave the city almost immediately. Otherwise, they'd be running too high of a risk of getting captured by the authorities before getting the chance to leave.

Karin did not even have to contemplate leaving her family. Her father was protective of her, but only in a possessive sense. It was just some sort of property that he could sell off, like a horse, to the highest bidder. Her mother Laura was ashamed of her, and never spoke to her unless she needed to. Karin had been raised by servants, nursemaids, and governesses her entire life. Her brother hated her and could care less if she existed. The servants would finally get some peace and quiet without having to clean up after her outbursts. The only one who might miss her was her sister Chloe. But Chloe did not have much of a brain, and once she got older and eligible for marriage, she would be attending parties right and left. She would not have time to spend with Karin even if Karin stayed behind. What perplexed Karin was the ease with which the thief had agreed to her coming along, despite the fact she was a well-known nobleman's daughter and obviously mentally impaired.

It is probably my face, she reasoned. Men were predictable. As long as a girl was pretty, they would put up with anything. It irritated her most of the time, but t proved a blessing in this particular situation. She would rather the boy not waste her time arguing and attempting to talk her out of it. "No," she said. "My family hates me, except for my younger sister. But all she cares about is boys anyway. She won't notice my absence after a while." Karin went to her wardrobe to search for something modest... A dark gray dress, still lacy. But at least the extravagant colors would not give her away. She need not pack anything else, because she could easily purchase more clothing and whatnot in another town.

She did, however, take out a black coat for the cold, and pocketed her pillbox. She had about a months worth of medication in there, which she needed, or she would soon drive Tannim crazy. "Allow me to change," Karin said as she disappeared. But she left the bathroom door open a crack lest the thief decide to try and tiptoe past her and leave her behind in the old manor after all. "And don't try to escape while I'm in here," she said as she pulled her nightgown over her head. "I can see you if you walk by." Within a couple of minutes (and some make-up and brushing of her short hair), Karin was ready to go. She stood by the open window with her hands resting on her hips in a rebellious manner. "Okay, Tannim! Tell me what to do!"

Tannim wondered to himself if this was really a good idea. But, Karin was determined to go along and it didn't seem likely that he would be able to talk her out of it. He walked over to the window and looked at the huge tree just outside. The branches were thick and sturdy at this level. They'd easily support the weight of himself and Karin. But the branches were too far apart for the woman to try to climb down in a dress. Plus, the branches only extended down to roughly the floor level of the second floor. Which meant that they'd have to drop down to the ground from there, unless they slid down the trunk.

"I guess the easiest way would be for you to ride down on my back."

Tannim squatted down a bit so Karin would be able to wrap her arms around his shoulders and wrap her legs around his waist. This position would allow him full movement of his arms and legs so he could still climb down the tree. Once she climbed on and was holding onto him securely, he climbed out the window and onto the nearest tree branch. The branch creaked a bit under the combined weight of the two, but it held strong and didn't give way. Satisfied that the tree was indeed as strong as he surmised, Tannim started the trek down towards the ground. Climbing down the tree proved to take longer than climbing up had, but this only seemed natural in his mind. He had Karin riding on his back, so he needed to take care not to move in a way that would hurt her or cause her to lose her grip and fall off. One branch after another, Tannim climbed downward until he made it down to the last branch. He hung from that branch and looked down below, seeing that his feet were dangling roughly four feet from the ground. That wasn't so bad. He released his grip on the branch and dropped the short distance to the ground, flexing his legs to absorb the impact.

Tannim squatted down again so Karin could climb off of his back. Then, once she was standing on the ground herself, he took her hand and ran towards the street. He didn't run so fast that Karin wouldn't be able to keep up while wearing the dress, but they were moving at a much faster pace than simply walking. It wouldn't be good for anybody in the house to see them outside, so they needed to get out of the sight of the house as quickly as they could.

Fantasy and Fiction, who had been waiting patiently for Tannim's return, started running along side as he reached the street with Karin. Both cats were looking at the woman dubiously, but they weren't going to say anything right now. That would have to wait until they had safely made their getaway.

((Sorry for the shortness. I made do with what time I had.))

Before leaving, Karin realized she had forgotten the jewelry, so she bade Tannim wait just a moment longer. She located a plain bag and dumped all the valuables she owned into it, hoping that they would fetch a high enough price to provide for a good portion of their travels together. This task complete, she returned to the window. At first, Karin was reticent to climb onto the stranger's back. But he made a good point. She would most assuredly not be able to climb down the tree on her own. Sure enough, the thief cleared the obstacle with little to no trouble, despite having to carry the girl as well. She was impressed with his skill, which she had doubted in light of his little renown/infamy. But as they made it to solid ground, outside of the manor and beside the first floor, Karin experienced an intense thrill at her freedom. She gazed across the grounds, realizing that she was now outside. The girl took a deep breath, reveling in the crispness of the air and the openness of the space... No claustrophobia. She was like a bird who had fled from its cage--finally!

Karin did not have much time to bask in these feelings, however, because the thief was already running with her across the grass...In the direction of the main gate which met with their driveway... And the actual street leading into the city. They would have to make it to a new city come morning, because by that time she would be discovered as missing and the entire town would be in an uproar in it. "You managed to steal something precious from Lord Brooks after all," Karin whispered to Tannim with a large grin as they ran. She may have even surprised the boy with the length of her strides, despite the dress. The girl was ecstatic about being able to stretch her legs after so many months of being cooped up--the joy of actual physical activity was unrivaled in her eyes.

Karin confessed she was confused, however, by the two cats waiting for Tannim by the fence, which they climbed over to get into the actual street. The noble's daughter managed to get in four words, "What's with the cats?" before she found herself being dragged along by the arm once more. The pair apparently had no time to lose.

Tannim didn't hear Karin's whisper as they were running, but he was indeed impressed with how well she was keeping up, even while wearing the dress. Granted, he knew nothing about how difficult it would be to move in such attire, but he assumed it wouldn't be easy to move at a quick pace. When she asked him about the cats, Tannim didn't look to see what she was talking about. He didn't need to since he already knew which cats she was referring to. He didn't break his pace while he answered her, either.

"They're my partners. Sorry about the running. Just a little longer until we're out of sight of the house, then we can slow down."

True to his word, Tannim stopped running and released his grip on Karin's hand once he could no longer see the manor. They still needed to get out of town as quickly as possible, but they could slow their pace down to a walk now. Before he could take a single step, though, both Fantasy and Fiction cut right in front of him. They apparently weren't happy and felt it was time to find out what was going on. The biggest problem was that both cats were trying to talk to him at the same time.

Mew! Meow! <What the hell's going on, Tannim? We were worried sick about you being gone so long!>

Mrow! Merow! <Why the hell did you bring her?? Are we kidnappers now??>

Tannim held both his hands up, as if that was somehow going to defend him against their onslaught of questioning.

Hold on, you two. Just calm down for a second and let me explain. She wanted to come along with us by her own decision. Besides, she brought some stuff along to help pay for our journey for a while.

Fantasy quieted down a bit after the explanation and turned her blue eyes towards Karin once more. This time, she noticed the bag that the woman was holding. The white feline moved closer to Karin and hesitantly reached out to paw at the bag. She wanted to see inside the bag, but she was also afraid that the young woman might swing the bag at her. Fiction, on the other hand, wasn't quite satisfied yet. The only thing that concerned him at the moment was that there was an unknown person in their midst. He didn't know this person and wasn't quite sure that he wanted to know her yet.

M~r~o~w~! <I don't give a rat's ass if she brought a few trinkets! That isn't the point here! We're a TEAM!! We're supposed to discuss these things before making decisions!!>

Tannim knew that Fiction had a point, but the black cat didn't know what all had transpired in Karin's bedroom, either. The cat didn't know what she had been through. How cooped up she felt. How desperate she was to get out of there. If he knew all that, Fiction probably wouldn't be throwing this big of a stink right now.