Fire and the Fox {private}

[Skipper]

This bench was by far the most uncomfortable thing Flicker Wick had ever slept on. She wished she were elsewhere. "A nice cave with a warm candle, " she began aloud to herself, then stopped suddenly.

Flicker sat up with a sigh of resignation. Right. No candles, no bits to make more candles. No bits for food, no bits for a room to stay in. No bits. She took this moment and glanced around, her state of slumber interrupted by her worries. Today's city of choice was Trottingham; the population was just dense enough that there was sure to be something good in these garbage cans and she hadn't been here in quite some time. I shouldn't be recognized.  

She eyed the streets carefully, deciding on her next move. It was just after dusk and there seemed to be nopony around.

Flicker got up slowly, heading towards what seemed to be a small shopping district. With glee, she noticed an old antique shop; her favourite. Most things that got thrown out from those were pieces that the auctioneer found useless or beyond repair, but what he didn't know is that everything has a price, no matter what condition it was in. In fact, it was in an antique's shop trash that she had found her headpiece! She knew deep down that it was probably valuable and somepony had surely lost it in their by mistake, but still, it had been in with the garbage. That made it hers. Or so she told herself every time she caught her reflection  in anything.

The lithe batpony skirted through the shadows to the nearest bin, her long unkempt mane catching in snatches of , making it flicker like fire. Casting another keen eye around the streets, she dug in, rooting almost noiselessly through the trash. 

Nothing.

Onto the next one. 

This continued for a while until she finally came across anything. A broken silver chain. It wasn't much, but it was something. Scrap metal was always worth a few bits, and all she needed was a few bits for some wax pellets and some scent. This would fetch her about 2 candles worth of supplies. And 2 candles meant more bits, and more bits meant more candles ... Until she ran out again. 

In the dim light of the moon, where nopony could see, she hugged the petty chain to her chest, wondering if she could keep on living like this.

[Zeig]

Pearl, definitely pearl.

 

What the other gemstones were though, were anyone's guess. And their guesses weren't nearly as good as his own.

 

They would be a lot easier to identify from up close, also, but Xiphos wasn't quite ready to give himself away just yet. In fact, he was rather surprised the other Aerion hadn't pinpointed him as soon as she come snooping around the place. He hadn't exactly been hiding, per se, more...lounging, on the rooftop of the apartment he'd just been wandering around in. A rather interesting job, that one, who'd asked the White Fox to simply mess with the mind of some romantic competition until it drove him mad, mad enough to drop his amorous advances and focus on figuring out what in the hay was wrong with him. And better yet, he'd been given free reign to do it however he wanted. 

 

The first few nights had amounted to shifting around some furniture, just ever so slightly. Next would come the pilfering of common household items only for them to show up in unexpected places. 

 

But for now, the job was so simple that Xiphos had finished within thirty minutes, and hadn't felt the need to do anything but relax on top of the apartment complex and gaze up at the stars. In fact, his complete and utter stillness is probably why the Aerion had missed him, which worked out just fine for him. He'd even made it a point to get more comfortable on top of the roof, head held upright with one hoof as he unabashedly stared down at the flaming orange mane and tail. 

 

And that was all before he'd caught sight of the glittering gemstones affixed on top of some hairpiece in her mane. What were those, black jade?

 

In truth, the apartment complex was not at all a large one, only two stories above the shops along the bottom floor, and in the still of the night, it didn't take much effort at all to make himself be heard. "You know," Xiphos drawled, still a picture of relaxed nonchalance as he lounged on top of the roof's brick lining, fully laid out along his side, "you won't find much in those. You ought to sneak a peek at the estates and mansions in the countryside. Rich ponies tend to throw out better stuff." 

[Skipper]

If it were any other pony than Flicker, they would have jumped and probably fled. However as nervous and guilt ridden as she was, she was never afraid. It wasn't the first time a voice had cut through the night. Usually "Stop right there!" or "What do you think you're doing!" or "Shoo!"

She turned her head slightly eyeing up the skyline above her. It wasn't difficult to see the pony-shape sprawled out atop the building, but his coat did seem to blend in with the sky behind him, obscuring the finer details. No wonder he had gotten the better of her. 

She turned around fully, sliding the chain into her scruffy saddle bag. "Rich ponies also tend to have better security," she said slowly, staring at the dark blob where the voice had come from. She wondered for a moment if he was a guard, but noted that she couldn't see a glint of armor, or a badge anywhere on his body. Perhaps not.

He did have a point, though. Rich ponies did tend to have a lot more wealth to waste and not really give a second thought for the things they threw away. Maybe she should give it a shot. But was the risk worth it? She was stealthy, sure but maybe not enough so as to get away with scavenging on private estate property. Aah, and if she got caught.. 

"Who are you?" she asked abruptly, wanting to know if this encounter was going to lead to some sort of a confrontation. If it was, she wanted to get it over with now. There was only so much nighttime left in which to gather some more stuff. "And is there anything I can help you with?" she said, her gentle voice dripping with sarcasm. 

She just knew she sounded ridiculous. 

[Zeig]

Oh-ho, so she wasn't one of those mousy little scavenger types. 

 

The ones that startled and scurried into darkness like roaches scattering at the flick of a light switch. They weren't so bad, no, but it was bucking annoying trying to talk to any of them. They got spooked at their own shadows. Ultimately it meant chasing one of them down and slamming them into a wall or down onto a rooftop in order to say hi - and the chase was often just as fun, true - but sometimes he just wanted to talk. 

 

Er wait, no, no. Sometimes he just wanted to steal stuff, there it was. He'd mixed up talking and stealing again.

 

But in any case, no, Firefly wasn't one of those types. Or if she was, she was hiding it very well. The dark grey Aerion only shrugged at her comment on higher security, the thought having never really occurred to him. Security wasn't a problem for him, after all. Well...okay, except in the Verde Manor, because every single time he tried to raid that place, those darn tulips distracted him. So many colors, such an odd shape...it was fun to roll around in their little tulip patch, and so far, he hadn't been caught. Though he had noticed some new fencing around the area a couple of nights back. They probably thought a dog was getting inside their garden and messing everything up, maybe. 

 

...Dogs. Dogs were dumb, and loud. Now a quokka, there was a pet worth keeping. Always so happy to see him.  

 

"No," Xiphos answered the mare's inquiry as blithely as she'd asked it, still not bothering to glide down from his perch, "but I think the real question is, who am I?" She was just...standing there, looking up at him. Didn't look like she was preparing for either fight or flight, so she was either extremely comfortable at the moment or - she was brain dead. Whichever it was, he needed to observe her a little while longer. 

[Zeig]

Oh, she didn't know.

 

That was fine, not many ponies knew, after all. He wasn't even sure if he knew who he was, on a better day.   

 

"Suit yourself," Xiphos shrugged plainly, only a faint hint of a pout in his voice. The interesting pearl-studded pony hadn't turned out nearly as interesting as he had hoped, and on a night that had been as disappointing from start to finish as just about every other recent night, he'd just been so hopeful about a random pony rummaging through trash and castaways for slim pickings. Perhaps something was happening on the other side of town he could potentially fly into...like an underground fighting ring or a burgeoning thief he could take in as a pet. 

 

He'd feed it and take care of it and everything. 

 

But first he'd have to find one, and with one last shrug, Xiphos was off, large wingspan lifting him cleanly off the roof and up into the darkened night sky. Where he was headed was any one's guess - even his own - but the Aerion let the wind drift him off towards the horizon, already lost in daydreams of the moon against silvered, forest green eyes. 

 

[[ Exit ]]