[ P ] what's yours is mine

It was slim pickings in the mainland and the thief knew better than to keep targeting the same areas. Like a hunter sometimes a pickpocket needed to travel a little further to find where prey was plentiful. He was eager to avoid making the redwoods a known criminal hotspot so he only stole from there when he was desperate. The imps patrolled through his home often enough to make him wary of being caught. It had been a close enough call with that one eyed wolf who intended to join up with the army.

There was sparse tree coverage in the rolling hills of Edinburgh. Something that made Colburn feel uncomfortably conscious that anyone who looked close enough could see the darker shape moving in the night. The moon was a glowing orb in the night sky that bathed the ground in a silvery light and followed him around like a searchlight.

He stumbled upon a crumbling mound of stones placed together to form some sort of crude shelter. Cautiously he poked his head inside the strange stone construction and nosed around in the dusty ruins. His ears pricked upon hearing someone else moving around inside. Did they live here? Either way he didn’t intend to leave empty pawed and he hoped it was dark enough to hide his presence. A glint of shiny silver attracted the thief like a magpie and he skulked over to a small round object. It was piled up on top of other assorted objects, but none of them held his attention quite like this. He placed a paw on it and was surprised when another paw swooped down to claim it at the same time.

code by wallflower & art by ashon

moon flower

The lands surrounding Edinburgh were delightful, in their own way. Where the tall, close-knit weave of trees of the Arboretum made her feel safe and secure, the rolling hills and plains of Edinburgh made her feel free. Here she could run and run until her lungs burned and still there would be space to run some more. Of course, Echo never went anywhere just for the scenery. The outskirts of Edinburgh also happened to be a surprisingly good spot for hidden ruins too, and that was the only reason she'd ventured out into the exposed area.

She'd spent some time in the city during the afternoon trying to trade and sell what little bits she'd had carried on her person; some plants and herbs, a few shiny bits from her other excursions. It hadn't been much but she'd managed to get herself an easy dinner. The people there were alright. Good stock, she supposed. Hard working. But it was also not devoid of those pesky Royalists so she didn't dawdle for long.

Now, when the moon was at its peak, Echo found herself in another abandoned ruin. Often she wondered what kind of wolf would be able to make such strange shelters - perhaps they weren't wolf at all? Whatever they were, whatever they had been, she was glad what they had left behind was at least useful to her.

There was a shuffling within the structure and her ear twitched idly, thinking it to be nothing more than a rat or squirrel, her attention draw instead to something shiny. The moonlight hit it as its gentle beam shone down from the broken rafters, and Echo knew that she wanted it.

Her dark body slithered within the shadows as she approached and she reach out with her paw to scoop it towards her, but was startled when another paw appeared from the darkness to claim the shiny thing.

Echo stared, taken aback at the, what seemed to be, sudden appearance of the stranger. She squinted at - him? - because it seemed the only reason she could actually see him was due to the silvery light filtering in from the broken ceiling, catching the stranger's eyes and making them shine. He was... very black. It was a little unnerving. Was he some sort of ghost?

It didn't matter, Echo decided. Ghost or not, that shiny thing was hers, and so she handled this situation with the usual elegance and eloquence as she handled all situations in her life.

"Back off, shadow boy," she pulled her lips back to reveal her teeth, puffing out her fur to make her small stature seem a little bigger than it really was. "I saw it first!"

code by claerie

In the dark it was hard to tell who called dibs first, but to a thief everything was his. Even a shiny trinket that could not fill his empty belly. He was drawn to the gleaming silver like one might be enthralled by a diamond. It was pretty and he wanted it. Void-like eyes glared at the woman seeking to steal his treasure from him. He could see the whites of her fangs bared at him, fur fluffed out to make her appear threatening. Back off, shadow boy. she warned him. Shadow boy? The name earned a snicker, ebony lips twitching with amusement. She was half right, depending on who you asked Colburn was known by the alias Shadow. Don't got your name on it, Blueberry, he pointed out, regardless of the fact that he didn't know her name nor could he read it if it was engraved.

Colburn sized up his opponent, considering the likelihood of a fight. He wasn't much of a fighter. He was an opportunistic thief who tried to run away with his prize before the first punch was thrown. It often ended up with him getting beaten and with nothing to show for it. An underfed runt like him was hardly a threat to a much larger healthier wolf. Luckily for him Blueberry was small too so maybe he had a chance of taking home the shiny.

I saw it before you saw it first. So nyeh, he remarked and stuck his black tongue out at her.

Art by Ashon