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The black cat thief.
A dark cat, grey eyes, brown cloak, army boots, and a habit of stealing. Cats in the Rivernest Society are often considered merchants or tradespeople.
Cats, dogs that were of merchant origin. They don't associate themselves with lower castes of society as it is taboo among them. There were also cases of breaking that taboo.
The dark cat broke that taboo.
And that's not the only particular thing about him.
There are often stories about him—the thief with no money, the thief with no name or identity, a dark creature that was scarily calm and collected in every situation.
The history books are filled with wild stories about him.
His past was also often discussed.
Nobody remembered his beginnings as a child of a merchant cat clan, who was burned by that life from a young age. He was part of the Reiss family, a poor merchant family near the Watergates of Rivernest. A central location that is located to protect the city from raiders or pirates of the sea. He was mothered by the great Aunt Ressie and his mother Steph.
His name was Katten. Katten Reiss was a lonely child. Playing alone and keeping it all to himself.
Maids often comment when that child comes outside. 'Odd for him to come outside!' or the usual odd glances.
At a young age, he often loved to sing, dance, and even draw. He was talented, he made people jealous of his gifts- They muttered 'Only because he was born in a better position than us'
People of lower status wanted him to fall into a hole of despair. And people of higher status didn't want him to rise like a dragon.
He loved the image of a red dragon as a child, often wondering if the city was built by dragons, run by demons, and maintained by the merchants.
That child was then burned by envy from the outside which turned one day into hatred and a crime.
He was just a boy when his aunt died. Assassinated, the police force (the royal guarde guild) didn't do anything, he, that day grew disillusioned with the world as he became mature enough to understand.
Nightmares haunted him, that they would come for him.
He grew reckless every night, pondering, wondering helplessly if he was the next target; He was to die too. Scared, he ran away from home. With only a bag and some clothes, he ran and ran and then ran.
To this day he didn't meet his mother again.
He stole to live, he lived on the bottom to realize, he was now a real person. They didn't envy him that poor boy. They have stopped trying to kill him.
He wondered... sometimes, if by chance, he met his mother.
That was how he became a thief cat.
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Booze. Drunk dragonoids celebrating their off-days.
A hooded individual, who laid with his head on the finely made red dragon wood counter of the bartender, who poured drinks non-stop.
A look outside. He had been thinking.
The night was clear, the clouds passed peacefully as the moon rose to prominence. The workers outside the building packed their equipment to leave work to tend to their families.
He had been wondering...
The drunken air to breathe, the bar of the traveler's guild; was a quiet place with quiet jobs. People often want to leave their 'dirty laundry' here. Despite that, there were also just customers of the bar and a tall dark drunken cat. His clothes were tattered from the last encounter.
When can he finally rest down?
They often liked to fight back, so he was left with bruises frequently.
He was drunk with a cup in his hand. Intoxicated with poison in his stomach. He bought himself booze and a place to stay for a while, after all, he had no place to stay.
He often slept on the street.
'What happened to that dragonoid?' He thought while sipping his death from a cup. (That's literally the name of the drink.)
Then after the door snapped in two, the cat who had liquored him eyed them. Decorated guards appeared, and the same dragonoid from earlier was there to pester the cat.
He judged. Trouble.
"Is that the cat, you wanted us to catch?", one of the guards, with the face of a dog and a spear in hand. "This black cat has been running rampage since I can remember training at the royal academy.", the other one muttered to the dog guard.
Rampage... Him? Him!
Katten bitterly chuckled and rose to stand. "I am not on a rampage. I am just doing things my own way."
Rage... Hatred at the guards was justified but the girl. The thief snarked and revealed his claws. The bartender meanwhile evacuated with his customers.
Oh, that girl. "You told them."
The dragonoid replied; She was shocked by his hatred-filled eyes. "...You stole my purse. What did you expect me to do, lay it down? Give up?"
...
The dog guard had enough of that small talk; he tackled the thief himself. His heavy equipment, which was the essence of their honor as guards, was weighing on the tall cat to the ground with no way to get up.
He growled and bit his mouth, puffed his chest to make air.
It was getting hard for him to breathe as the second guard decided to jump him as well. Katten's mind started to gear up and conclude a plan while the red Dragonoid watched in horror. She had never witnessed violence like this, and it made her feel odd—guilty even.
...If he dies, it's her fault.
Katten... had nothing to lose so he used a smoke bomb.
His loose grey eyes watched them while it was harder and harder.
Afterward, both guards heard an abnormal sound, like someone was taking a bubble bath. Katten could only grin as he slowly lost consciousness.
If he dies...
But to Katten's dismay, the dragonoid intervened and threw the guards off him.
It's my fault.
The smoke bomb blew both the cat and the dragon up. The smoke was quick... The dragonoid was initially perplexed as grey clouds emerged from the cat's body.
Katten tried to explain to her-
Katten muttered with a dead grin. "You fucking idiot."
But in the end, he was defeated by exhaustion.
In all the chaos, all the while, the kitchen staff forgot while they were evacuating the scene to turn off the stoves.
Fire rose and engulfed the shoddy building.
The smoke bomb became a real bomb.
The makeshift ceiling collapsed.
Destruction of property and the subsequently of life. Katten was unconscious to witness what was about to happen. Anomalously the dragonoid knew when the smoke and fire came, she survived but what about the others?
It was so hard to respire for her, grey in her mouth, it's like a sickness. She coughed and rummaged after people...
She only found one.
Him.
Him.
Him.
?
Where were the others? But it was too late the fires were spreading and she had to get him out. She did this. She caused death. She... had to own up to it now. On her back, she laid him; He was quickly weakened by the grey stuff that came out his mouth every time he opened or closed.
Katten said weakly. "Fly." His claws loosely held onto the scales of the dragon.
"I can't fly!" The young red dragonoid screamed to the black thief with tears, as she admitted that she couldn't fly. She ran with him on her back to get to the door. "Fly..." Katten lost in thought as he grabbed her by the head. "You dragons... I am always impressed when I see one."
"All the things built..."
"Fly..."
Fly...
Fly..
Fly.
Fly
She finally let go and flew. The thief smiled because he knew she was a special one. They were finally free and now Katten let go and let the ground take him but she, the dragonoid, caught him. "Why did you believe in me?" She asked him while he was completely out of it. The cat had been through it all.
She had never flown before, all her peers did when they were children. She actually can fly now. Somberly she realized. The thief believed more in her than her own parents did.
Why?
"I don't know." Katten, the black thief answered truthfully while not giving the awareness of what that meant to her. She sat down on the ground in front of a burning building she lit on fire. (She didn't know that she was partly responsible for that.)
Why...?
"My life was in your arms." He elaborated and motioned his hand circularly with a broken smile. The silence between them manifested after the comments of the cat, at first, she slowly loosened her grip on him. Letting him escape.
But he didn't leave.
Why...
He just stayed with her.
"What's your name, thief?" Katten's shook a little as his grey eyes wandered again. He masked often what he truly felt at moments like this. The cat was often a loner, he didn't let many people close. He didn't let many people see his mask break.
He didn't feel like that with her. He sensed he could loosen up and let that facade wither away.
The softness of his fur on her scales rubbed her the wrong way but something about him was different. He never judged.
He just...
He saw through her act today.
He just was quiet.
"Katten." His name, she had someone believe in her even if the circumstances were... not ideal.
It discerned like a new start.
"Agnar." Her name sparked a smile on him. It made him feel things. It made him trust- Her naivety in a thief. Haha.
He rolled his tongue and slowly leaned away from her to sit down; And relaxed.
He felt guilty for what he did.
"I like that name. Sounds fiery." He attempted to banter. Her awkward laugh at that was making him chuckle too.
'Agnar was her name...', Katten noted mentally.
"Katten isn't also a bad name." She replied, hitting his arm too hard. He winced, yes, then dusted himself off and got up.
A part of him was mad at himself.
Katten sighed, reached into his pockets, and threw the purse on the ground, he silently left her again.
He hurt a good person.
"Will I ever see you again?"
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