Tom knelt by a locked door on a empty dark street. Before him was his thief kit, spread out and in the little pockets were lock picks, trap disarming tools, and other things thief would need. He picked up a lock pick, and put it into the lock then glanced to both sides, making sure no one was coming, then went to work to unlock the door. It was taking a while, seeing as Tom was not a complete expert yet, but he was learning fast. As he worked, a Furfur peeked out of a pouch, and jumped out, landing in front of Thomas, and started making little growling like noises.

The vampire looked at the Furfur, and smiled. He paused in what he was doing and took out a piece of candy, and gave it to the little puff of fur, and it somehow devoured the hard candy. Smirking, Tom went back to his pick locking. Then he heard it. The joyous sound of a door unlocked. It made a little click sound, and he pulled out the lock pick, and put it back, then grabbed his thieves tools, and stuffed it into his bag. He glanced about again, but the street stayed empty.

He opened the door, and as he strode in, he bent over, picking up the Furfur, then closed the door behind him. Tonight was already turning out to be successful.

A light flipped on. "Sloppy, sloppy, little amateur," said a very smug Mikael as he watched the thief's covert attempts at being sneaky. He smiled. "Though I can't fault you for being quick," he said with a smile. "That much you've got down pat," he said.

He shook his head. "But you're not near smooth enough for what you need," he said. "Here's an option for you. Unlock that door, and we leave, and I don't report you. AND I might even get you a chance at better pickings than what you'd likely find in a city house," he said with a grin.

Of course, he was offering this amateur a chance to join his guild, fledgling as it was. But it was still there. All they lacked was a proper caravan. He waited to see what this man would do in response to his offer.

The voice took the rogue completely by surprise. He twisted around and stared at the man there. Who was this man? Why wasn't he calling the guards already? Tom watched the man cautiously. Tom's Furfur peeked out between his gloved fingers. He took a slight step towards the door, his right hand edged towards one of his fighting knives.

The man was offering something. Better pickings. What was the price? Tom was good at finding his own things, he's found a few good things in Taras, even if it was just a city house. He had to leave the house now. He glanced around the room, and sighed silently. Tonight was a disaster. He looked towards the man again.

"Who are you?" Was all he could think of to really say. Tom was never in a position like this, normally it was just a commoner who finds him, but it always calls for the guards, but this one wasn't. He wasn't a commoner.

"Until I can be sure I can trust you, just call me Rin. And before you panic, get your hand away from your knives. If I wanted to turn you in, you'd be caught by now," he said with a smile.

"Besides. I don't much fancy going to prison myself. I've got family to take care of, after all," he said, perching rather precariously but comfortably on a table.

"You see, I don't know if you've heard of the Carnival of Gypsies, but I... Well, I know the power behind the guild. I'm a part of it. And of course, because of how we work, we have MUCH better pickings than you could hope to find in a city house. After all..."

He smiled. "Everything we steal is untraceable, or easily sold as a replica." He shook his head. "Now then. Since I've shown I'm not going to turn you in, why don't you tell me your name?"

Tom watched this... Rin talk. The vampire stayed silent, dark eyes staring emotionless at the man. He didn't like to be called a amateur or that he did a sloppy job, and he hated how he couldn't be trusted enough, but he didn't really care right now. He was caught in the act, not a good thing for a thief thats been stealing for... how many years now? He couldn't remember, numbers were pointless little things.

Carnival of Gypsies. He had not heard of them before, after all, he hasn't been here long. It sounded a little strange, almost like they would have cats too... he didn't like that. And gypsies, they were odd people. He looked at the man and just got it that he was a gypsy person. Strange. They entertained and stole. Tom like the stealing part, not so much the entertaining. Of course though, he was interested in the Carnival of Gypsies, he was curious in a lot of things.

"Now then. Since I've shown I'm not going to turn you in, why don't you tell me your name?"

"My names Thomas, I'm called Tom to most." He said. Even though before the man had said he could get his hand away from his fight knives, he still didn't, it was a comfort to know they were right near his grasp. He was about to turn to hopefully leave before getting caught by the owners of this place, but something was walking around his legs, and made him trip. Before Tom could regain his balance, he saw what it was, and fell to the floor. It was a cat. His grasp became tighter around the Furfur in his left hand, and he cringed away from the cat as it hissed at him. It was quite clear that he was freaked out by the cat, more so then when he was taken by surprise by the man.

Mikael hissed at the cat, and it looked up at him. He began to hiss and spit, and the cat backed off, glowering at him, but backing off willingly.

"There you go. Must be the owner of the house's cat." He shrugged. "If you can't abide cats, though, I don't know if there'll be a place for you among the caravan. You see, we're animal people, we love animals." He shook his head. "But I'm sure I could work something out with the leader," he said.

He was shading the truth, hiding the fact that he was the leader himself, but that was something that he didn't just give out until he knew he could trust people. He smiled. "If you're interested, I'll see what the leader says, and let you know whether he says you can join or not."

Tom stared at the cat, still frightened, but was relieved when it turned its attention to Rin and started backing off. It was sort of strange to see a elf do that, but, at least the cat was leaving. He stood up when the cat was gone, and look relieved, and opened his left hand, the Furfur's eyes looking around wildly. Tom stroked its fur, then he stuffed the odd creature back into a pouch, and returned his attention to Rin. He shook his head.

"I don't have problem with animals... its just... cats." He said. If someone told him they were demons, he would believe that, even if he was part demon and knew they weren't, he just hated cats, they were freaky creatures, especially when they tried to eat his Furfur.

"If you're interested, I'll see what the leader says, and let you know whether he says you can join or not."

He looked at Rin, his black eyes somewhat curious.

"I am interested. But I'd rather not join something when I barely have no idea what it is." He said. He walked towards another room, but stopped at the doorway, and saw stairs in the other room, and thought he saw light coming down. He stepped away from the doorway, and turned towards the door. "We should go."

But Mikael had already seen the light coming down the stares a split second before Thomas did, and was already on the move, unlocking the door. "Then let's go. I know of a more comfortable place we can continue this conversation." He gestured, and then headed out the open door, a small hawk winging down off the roof as he stepped out to land on his shoulder.

Once Thomas was out, he closed the door. "Don't lock it," he said, and beckoned. "We have to hurry, and get out of sight," he said.

He led the way out of the city, to a train of wagons, and waved to one of the other people wandering around. He led the way up to the first wagon, and led the way inside. "Welcome to my home," he said, gesturing expansively. His whole demeanor seemed to change, and he gestured to one of the low chairs. "Sit. Now then. You're interested in joining MY guild, are you?" he said, revealing the secret at last.

Thomas quickly followed after Rin, and closed the door, and left it unlocked, like the man said. Tom thought it was careless thing to do, but at least it wasn't his idea. He continued to follow the man out of the city, but still didn't rust him, he could be leading Tom into a trap for all he knew, but still, he followed. This man seemed to underestimate Thomas. The vampire wasn't trained to entertain and steal, he was trained to hide in shadows and steal.

He wasn't sure he wanted to join the guild, after all, they were gypsies, he had nothing wrong with them of course, Tom just didn't see himself always entertaining just to steal little goods, but he followed the man towards the wagons, figuring it would be good to learn some more things about Imythess and its secrets.

He stepped into the first wagon, and glanced at the things inside, then walked to the chair, feet making very little noise as he walked to it. He then sat down, and looked over at Rin.

"Sit. Now then. You're interested in joining MY guild, are you?"

His guild? Tom supposed that cleared a few things up, but whether it was his guild or not, he still didn't know enough about it to even think about deciding to join.

"Like I said, I'm not interested in joining something I know nothing about." He said calmly.

He smiled. "Very good answer. We are the Carnival of Gypsies. There are three groups of people in this Carnival. One group does strictly entertaining and scoping. My lovely soon to be betrothed is of that group." He smiled wistfully, and then shook his head.

"Then there is the group that both entertains and steals. That's the group I am in. I'm not above entertaining to distract so that the third group, the 'appropriaters', can get where they need to," he said, stepping over to a large chest, flipping the catch and opening it.

Within was the largest amount of gold that one had ever seen, along with some silver and copper. He smiled. "This is just one week's worth of 'performances'," he said, giving an example of how much they could make. "Most of what we make goes back out, buying supplies and such."

He smiled. "What doesn't, is split up amongst the members to use as they see fit."

He listened closely as the man explained much of it, about the three groups. Sounds interesting, just not any of the entertaining, the "appropriators" sounded much better then all of them, but if he joined, would he even find a place among the groups? When the man opened the chest, Thomas gaped with awe. He sat at the edge of his chair, and stared at the gold. Sure, it wasn't as big as a dragons hoard, but, it was still a lot, anyone who had it would be rich for life. And only a weeks worth? He couldn't imagine how much they would get in a year.

He reached out a hand to touch the gold, but retracted it quickly, before he could touch it. Thomas was greedy, and he knew it, if he even tried to touch a piece he would try to steal it, it was how he was. He sees something worth taking, and its almost impossible to stop him. He averted his eyes away from the gold, and looked at Rin again.

"How can you get that much by just entertaining and stealing?" He asked. He could barely believe that was just a weeks worth.

How he wanted to join now, just to get his hands on more gold, but he couldn't see himself among them, he was a demon, well, half-demon, and a bloodthirsty vampire, how could he fit in? Especially live among them, among humans and elves, fresh blood... His eyes seemed to change slightly, to a dark red at the thought of blood, but the color didn't stay long, as he tried to shift his thoughts away from blood.

Mikael's eyes lidded over slightly, and he stared at the man. "It's rather simple, really. We set up as close to the center of a town or city as we can, and then we perform. We've got people who are extremely good at stealing, and manage to make off with entire purses. Not just a few gold, either. We're talking merchants, magnates, and such."

He smiled. "As for your interest, any... issues you might have... we can make special provisions for them, if you wish," he said, guessing that there was something that was stopping him from accepting right off.

He smiled, setting his hawk on its perch to the side of the chest. Suddenly, a streak of fur shot out from beside the chest, and twined itself around his legs. He stooped, with a laugh, and picked up a jet black house cat. "Hello Moriah," he said, stroking the cat's ears.

After a few minutes, he set the cat down, and turned back to Thomas. "So. What do you say? You interested?" he said, as the cat padded out of the wagon, completely ignoring Thomas's FurFur. "And don't worry. Moriah doesn't like FurFurs. So she won't be a danger."

Thomas listened to Rin again, but his eyes strayed to the gold. If he joined, he would get plenty, he got lots anyway, but this, would be more. He felt so torn right now. Lots of gold, but also, lots of blood. He looked up at Rin again with what he said next.

"As for your interest, any... issues you might have... we can make special provisions for them, if you wish,"

Tom laughed slightly, and sort of nervously. "Amazing how you guess right." He said, and stretched slightly. "I'm not your ordinary rogue, Rin. I look like a little elf, but I'm not, sure I'm part but still. I'm a vampire, me and lots of fresh blood doesn't do so well together." He would have spoke more, if he hadn't seen the cat. Tom stared at it, eyes wide with fear. Whether the cat hated Furfur's or not, there was still Tom there, afraid of all cats.

When the cat was gone, Tom stood up.

"I'm thinking... maybe yes. But I doubt there could be a real place for me here. I'm a rogue, I like to mainly work alone, and because of my vampirism. If I join, I can't dedicate my life to this guild all the time. I'll need time to think about it." He said, and shook his head lightly. "Like I've said, I'm a rogue, I can't just trust someone instantly I meet in one night and in the same hour get invited to join a guild and have everyone expect me to say yes."

He looked at the gold once more, then glanced towards the exit, then back at Rin.

"When I know the answer, I believe I'll know where to find you. Won't be hard for me."