(Open)New Thief, New City

[shadowmask]

Only for a moment did her eyes look away, and that was to gather just a quick glance at two men passing by. Just out of pure habit, she was subconsciously gathering the routes and timings the guards of the castle walked. Such things came in handy when one was stealing or killing someone of noble blood. After that swift moment, her eyes came back to the two, though was more so on Luke. He seemed to be the most potential threat. Even now she could see anger rising in his eyes while his friend, who seemed to be more logical than physical in his actions, was mostly silent.

"Apologise?" ShadowMask had to laugh at that. "Boy," She said with extra emphases to add to the insult. "...Do you really think he deserves my appology? For speaking the truth?" With that she turned away, deciding that the boy was no threat and rather boring as well. She, in actuality, hated the aspects of a normal life. Working all day, sleeping all night, same to same every year. That life did not suit her in the least. No, she hated that life style, so perhaps that was what was leading her to taunt them so much. Or, most likely, it was the fact that the two were reminding her far too much of someone she wanted to forget. ShadowMask allways believe the past should be left where it is, so remembering was not something that she particularly enjoyed.

Perhaps now would be a good time to enroll herself in some thievery. Not many expect a missing purse while eating.


((Ah, so you get your muse and I loose mine completely...coincidence? ^-^))

[Luke Scarlett]

Jake was quietly telling Luke that he didn't have to defend him, but Luke dismissed the protest with a tiny shake of his head and a squaring of his shoulders. He was sick of being told by people like the Sheriff and this woman that what they did every day was worthless. So far Jake had been pretty adamant that they let things drop and avoid confrontation and Luke briefly wondered if he was always this passive. He'd never noticed it before, but they'd never really been in a situation that required standing up to somebody.

Maybe Luke was being overly confrontational, he certainly wasn't always this quick to jump into a fight. Perhaps they were both just dealing with the stress they'd been under in different ways. He physically flinched as ShadowMask called him 'boy'. He was no child any more, he was sixteen, almost seventeen, he had a job and he had coped just fine on the mission with the gang. Luke narrowed his eyes at her, anger only rising as she denied Jake his apology.

For a moment he was torn between staying with Jake and going after her, then Luke made up his mind and set off after her. Anger boiling that she had insulted them both and then turned her back as though he was no threat. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, holding him back, and he twirled to face Jake, still tensed with pent up rage he shrugged out of the touch. By the time he'd glanced behind him again ShadowMask had gone.

"What did you do that for?" He snapped, irritated. "Now I'll never find her." Luke glared sullenly at Jake, momentarily forgetting that he was trying not to give his friend a hard time because he was under enough pressure. The worry about Emma had been chased out his mind too, all urgency to reach the apothecary lost under his need to lash out at something. He kicked at the barrel ShadowMask had been sitting on not moments before and ignored the pain in his foot as it connected with the wood sharply.

[jakeplatt]

Jake bit his lip as Shadowmask refused to apologise. He knew Luke was bound to do something rash after she'd insulted him again. Although somehow, even in the midst of his fear, he mentally corrected the thief’s grammar. Perhaps he was getting hysterical, but he nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all. The whole situation was beginning to feel like an out of body experience, and he half hoped that if he closed his eyes, he might wake up back in his bed, at home, and find none of this had happened.

The thought of being in bed brought his mind back to the task at hand - he was meant to be getting help for Emma, she was the one who was actually bedridden. He wasn't supposed to be getting into arguments with unsavoury characters. He'd gotten the purse back, that was what mattered. It wasn't important that she'd slighted his honour or belittled him - what did he care about empty insults when his sister could be dieing?

Thankfully, after her little speech, Shadowmask turned and walked away. Jake was so relieved that he almost failed to act when Luke made to go after her. "Leave it, Luke, it doesn't matter" He said wearily, for what felt like the hundredth time, reaching out and catching his friends arm. He suddenly felt very tired, and wanted to get back to the farm as soon as he could.

Luke, however, seemed to have other plans.

Jake couldn't help but feel hurt at Luke's harsh words, but thanks to the stress of what had just happened, that hurt soon turned to anger "For god's sake, Luke. Can you not get it into your stubborn head that it just doesn’t matter? Some things are more important than your stupid pride, like Emma's life, for one. Can't you just grow up?" And with that he turned and walked the opposite way, finally heading for the apothecary. He was already feeling bad for what he'd said - he knew the jab at Luke's maturity would have hit his friend badly, and it hadn't escaped his notice how under-confident the boy could be. But he had to see to Emma. As much as he didn't want to fall out with Luke, her life came first.

[Luke Scarlett]

It seemed that finally Jake had reached the end of his tether. Jake, who had almost endless patience, who'd sat through all of ShadowMask's taunting without getting riled up, had finally snapped. Luke's eyes flew to Jake's face as he spoke, each word that his friend said twisting horribly in his gut. He wanted to argue, interrupt, shout at Jake and tell him he was wrong. He didn't care that it would make a scene, that he was supposed to be keeping a low profile in case one of the guards recognised him, all he wanted was to hurt Jake back.

Then Jake had turned his back and walked away. Luke was still frozen in place and he felt tears prickling in his eyes. He wiped at them with his sleeve, sniffing furiously to try and get himself under control. He glanced down at the barrel he'd lashed out at before and kicked at it again, wincing as he managed to connect with it in exactly the same spot in his foot as before. It was probably going to bruise, Luke found that he didn't really care.

He looked back at the crowd just in time to see the back of Jake's head disappear into a group of people. Luke took a deep shuddering breath, shoved his hands into his pockets and set off after his friend. He was still angry and hurt, but Jake was hurt too and undoubtedly sick with worry about Emma. He could easily storm off and leave, return to work tomorrow when he'd had the night to think it over. Then he thought about how ShadowMask had nearly taken Jake's purse from him and he couldn't quite bring himself to abandon his friend.

Luke followed at a distance, scowl fixed in place on his face, and watched as Jake bought the medicine he needed. Once they were both on the road out of the market he hurried to catch up. Guilt had really set in, making him hang his head despondently as he fell into step beside Jake. He didn't say anything and couldn't even muster up the courage to look at his friend, in case he saw that Jake was still angry.

[jakeplatt]

Jake was aware of Luke following him as he entered the apothecary’s, but was too angry to say anything. He didn’t think he trusted his mouth to let out coherent words anyway, it’d probably end up as a scream, or he wouldn’t even say anything at all, just punch Luke in the face and be done with it. Jake wasn’t a violent person; the only things he hit with his arrows were trees, if he was lucky - or his own foot if he wasn‘t - and he didn’t think he’d ever actually punched anyone before. But this was different, this wasn’t the sort of anger he’d felt before. Of course there was the run-of-the-mill annoyance at how petty Luke had been acting, but that would never have ordinarily been enough to make Jake snap. There was something underlying, something that made Jake want to have a physical impact on Luke like he‘d never wanted to have on anyone else before. He didn’t doubt the stress of his life, everything that had happened and was happening was part of it, but it didn’t feel like he had a grasp on the whole picture. He mentally shook himself and tried to stop his hands from trembling as he handed over the money to the apothecary in exchange for the drugs he hoped would heal his sister.

It was only when they were on the road home that Jake softened, feeling touched by Luke’s silent apology as the younger boy caught up with him and they fell into step together. Stealing a sidelong glance at him, Jake noticed Luke’s nose was read and his eyes puffy, and suddenly felt extremely guilty. Following Luke’s non-verbal lead, he slipped his arm round his friend’s shoulder and continued walking, hoping that would good enough to patch up any tears in their fragile relationship.

[Luke Scarlett]

Luke flinched as he felt the touch of Jake's arm across his shoulder. He'd half expected the man to throw a punch and so he was jumpy and on edge. He relaxed a little when the arm settled into place and he realised that Jake wasn't going to try to pull him into a headlock and throttle him. His shoulders were still tense though, guilt and regret making it impossible for Luke to lose the hunched posture and accept Jake's gesture.

Was this forgiveness? Was Jake ready forget the brash way he'd acted and selfish way he'd let ShadowMask rile him up so much that he forgot the big picture? His friend had been right, he needed to grow up. Luke felt tears well up in his eyes again, his shoulders trembled with the effort of keeping his tears under control. Crying now would just show that he really was nothing more than a child. "Jake, I-" He managed quietly, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground for fear his friend spotted the unshed tears. "I'm sorry, I was an idiot."

Luke couldn't bring himself to say anything more. He'd never been very good at apologising, the stubborn qualities that all Scarletts seemed to possess made it hard for them to back down and admit when they were wrong. Even when he'd argued with his brother and father it had always been them who came to him first, possibly because he was the youngest, the baby of the family. This time though guilt was forcing him to make the first move, even if he failed miserably and making up for his mistakes while trying.

That niggling guilt was eating away at his gut again. He didn't deserve Jake as a friend anyway. The reason he'd run all the way here was because he was worried that Emma's condition had worsened and then he'd lied and said he thought she was stable enough. He couldn't just let them amble back to the farm, they needed to hurry. Jake would probably go back to hating him again when he admitted it, but he would never forgive himself if there was the chance that Emma died because he wanted a few moments with Jake as his friend.

"Jake, we should hurry back to Emma." He shrugged the arm from his shoulders and grabbed his friends wrist, tugging him forward a couple of paces and breaking into a quick jog. Maybe Jake wouldn't ask, maybe he would be able to get them home quickly without another fight. He didn't think he could face the possibility that Jake would be angry at him again, that they would go back to fighting.

[jakeplatt]

Jake felt Luke flinch as he put his arm round him, and worried that the gesture had been inappropriate. He wasn't sure what, but he knew something had gone one between the two of them at the Knighton Silver Arrow Competition - he'd been drunk and done something stupid, as he generally did after drinking. He had a feeling he aught to swear of alcohol, it obviously didn’t agree with him. And Luke had acted strangely for a while afterwards. Whatever had happened, it hadn't been good, and he didn’t want to risk their friendship by doing something else stupid.

Jake considered retracting his arm for a moment, but then worried that Luke would think he hadn't actually forgiven him, or something like that. He was still dithering when his friends voice brought him back to reality. Having coped with the aftermath of two family deaths, Jake knew the sound of someone holding back tears, and stopped in his tracks "C'm'ere" he said softly, pulling Luke into a quick hug. He realised a moment later that yet again it might not have been the most appropriate of gestures. It was fine for him to do something like that with Emma, she was family and, more importantly, didn‘t have any masculinity to undermine. Even though her and Luke were almost the same age, he didn't think treating them in the same way would be the best of ideas.

Jake let go of the younger boy quickly, blushing a little at Luke's comment about Emma. Evidently he wanted to get away as quickly as possible. Jake made a mental note not to hug him again - he didn't cope with awkward situations well at the best of times, it was even worse when it was someone he didn't want to be awkward around "Right" He replied nonchalantly, trying to ignore the feel of Luke’s hand on his wrist as he followed behind.

[Luke Scarlett]

The last thing Luke expected was for Jake to hug him. He allowed himself to be pulled momentarily into the embrace, more out of shock than anything else, but didn't trust himself to move in case the tears that he was trying so hard to control slipped past. If he cried Jake would never think of him as anything other than a child that needed comforting every five minutes. He didn't deserve this kindness from his friend anyway, he'd lied about Emma and was still deceiving Jake now. Every second he spent with Jake's comforting arm around his shoulders only amplified the guilt he felt.

Still it was tempting to just sink into the hug, let Jake carry the burden for a while. Standing so close he could feel the heat of Jake's body and he only had to let his head drop and inch or so and it would be resting on his friend's shoulder. He'd be able to bury his head into the crook of Jake's neck and smell that earthy scent with the hint of hay and cows that reminded him of the farm. Luke resisted though, feeling even worse that it seemed like he was shunning Jake, and then snapped out of it, pulling his friend along in the direction of his home.

Jake's agreement sounded weak and unconvincing even to Luke who was notorious for being oblivious to the more subtle hints people dropped in conversation. He instantly felt even more guilty, his friend was probably feeling bad for seeming to forget about his sister's need when really it was all Luke's fault. He allowed his grip to slip downwards until his fingers were curled around Jake's palm and squeezed a little in reassurance, as much for himself as anything. The small smile he shot over his shoulder was wobbly at best.

(OOC: Short as hell, but finally done!)

[jakeplatt]

In spite of his fears for their friendship, Jake felt somewhat comforted when he felt Luke grip his hand. Maybe the farmhand didn’t feel as awkward around him as Jake thought he did. The way Luke smiled didn’t quite ring true, though, and he couldn’t help but feel another spurt of worry. He told himself it was probably just his anxiety for Emma manifesting itself in other ways, but some how, he didn’t quite believe himself. He could feel his palm getting hot in Luke’s, and he was blushing again. Something wasn’t quite right.

Thankfully, he was saved having to think about it any further as the next moment they rounded the corner that marked the final stretch to the farm. He dropped Luke’s hand almost gratefully and slipped his hand into the pocket of his tunic to retrieve the medicine he’d bought from the apothecary. The old man had told him it needed to be put in water, and then drunk down in one. Fingering the vial nervously, Jake trotted up to the farmhouse door, overtaking Luke and doing his best to shut out the questions that came bubbling up when he thought about the younger man.

As soon as he entered the house he could tell something wasn’t right. He could hear a faint moaning coming from Emma’s room, and the smell of sickness had spread into the kitchen. Breaking into a run, he burst into his sisters room, finding her tangled in the bed sheets, her eyes shut and sweat pouring down her forehead. Even for someone with no medical experience, he could tell her fever had peaked, and couldn’t help but let out a cry himself.

“Jake?” She croaked. It seemed his outburst had roused his sister slightly, and he scrambled towards her, kneeling down to her level so he could brush the hair from her face “It’s okay, I’m here” He murmured, the words choking him “It was so dark” She whispered, her voice horse “I thought I’d never wake up” By then the tears were flowing freely down Jakes cheeks, and he kept hushing and murmuring words of comfort at his sister, completely forgetting about Luke.

[Luke Scarlett]

The farm came into view as they rounded a corner and an abject sense of dread settled itself in Luke's stomach. He had no way of knowing what condition Emma would be in when they arrived. The guilt he that he may have been the cause of a worsening of her sickness was nothing compared to the sudden fear he had that she may in fact be dead. Jake would not be able to deal with such a blow, Luke was certain having to bury the last remaining member of his family would be too much for Jake to bear.

Jake dropped his hand and Luke had to remind himself that it wasn't because his friend had discovered his treachery, it was because he needed to reach for the medicine that the whole trip to the market had been in aid of in the first place. He fell back a few steps, trailing after with not nearly as much urgency as he'd managed on the last stretch of their journey back to the farm. His head hung guiltily now that Jake was no longer watching him and he scuffed a toe uncertainly in the dirt before stepping over the threshold into the cool kitchen.

Relief flooded through Luke when he heard the faint moan coming from Emma's room, he knew he should not be so pleased that she was suffering, but the sound confirmed that she was indeed alive which allowed a small part of his guilt to be washed away. He followed Jake to her room, hovering in the doorway as he watched the two of them together. Seeing the way Jake doted on her only bolstered the guilt that he could have put Emma's life in any danger at all.

Luke watched the Platt siblings for a few moments more, blinking furiously to try and combat the way his eyes were welling up. Once he realised Jake was totally absorbed he slunk away, telling himself that the two of them would want to be alone. He went back to his tasks on the farm, completing the chores with none of his usual enthusiasm and finishing his friend's work too so that Jake would not have to leave his little sister's side for the rest of the day. It wasn't nearly enough to make him feel better about his earlier blunder.