ORIGIN

Thief had not been up to a whole lot of thievery lately and that just wouldn't do! They had been flitting about from here to there, not really coming across many things they would consider worth stealing, or any gembounds worth stealing from. They dipped down to drink from the river, also taking the opportunity to investigate the area, such as shinies that may be hidden in the water. But it was shallow, and concealed nothing that they deemed worth keeping. As they made their way through the tunnel, it was not long before they stumbled upon the Wisteria Grove, eyes catching sight of a small den within one of the trees. Time to check it out! But wait- before they did, it was important to have a disguise. Just in case there was someone there.

There really aren't much things around to help with a disguise, just the river, and the trees. They roll around in the water to make their fur a bit stickier, then roll around in the petals to try and get them to stick to their fur. But water is not known for its adhesive properties, leaving Thief looking like a very wet cat with clumps of fur sticking out in all directions. Ah well.

It is okay not to have a disguise. If they're fast, they can get in and out without anyone looking anyways. If there even is anyone there. Thief enters the den to investigate what it might hold.

Thief paused, eyes darting around the den to pick out any trace of movement. Finding none, they follow the pathway, taking care not to touch anything. It's clear that someone still lived here, which meant they had to be careful not to tip off whoever it was. The impulse to snatch everything in sight was nearly irresistible. Thief was already calculating how many trips back to their stash it would take to transport everything here to there. They would steal the most valuable things first, but not so much that whoever it was would notice it missing. It would have to be a gradual process. Being part-cat meant Thief was pretty light on their feet, managing to cause minimal disturbance despite their wings.

The pieces of gems were shiny and much to their liking, and so were some of the flowers (seems they had an eye for pretty things). But above all, it was the peculiar doll-like items that piqued their interest the most. They had no idea what they were supposed to represent, but they seemed valuable. For someone who had a major lack of guilt in stealing things, Thief almost felt bad for taking something that someone must have spent some time on. Look, it was different stealing something that someone had merely stolen from something else or taken from somewhere. Gemstones existed in many places, as did flowers. But dolls like this... Thief shook their head. Clear that thought.

Taking just one wouldn't hurt. They finally decided upon one of smaller dolls, trying to grasp it firmly in their jaw and slowing dragging it out of the den without disturbing anything.

@Thief

Thief froze, eyes wide open and ears folded back in that deer-in-the-headlights look, except this would be more accurately named a Thief-caught-stealing look. They slowly dropped the doll, opening and closing their mouth as they tried to formulate a response. This being sure was bigger than them by a noticeable amount, even if they weren't very big to begin with. But Thief was very much not scared, and being part-cat, assumed that they could probably win the fight if one were to occur.

They cleared their throat, trying to go for a deep voice indicative of someone who was potentially very powerful and not at all to be messed with. "Play! Yes, I want to play with it. I am very good. At playing." But instead their voice cracked ended up fluctuating between very deep and extremely high pitched as they spoke, giving instead the impression of someone who was trying to sing and very much failing at doing so.

Borrow it? Thief's tail twitched. Tempting. It was tempting to say yes and 'borrow' the doll and never come back with it. But being in the actual presence of someone who owned all these things made the potential theft seem all the more personal. Not to mention, there was the mention of a dad, and Thief had no idea how powerful this potential dad figure could be. If they stole this doll, would Meissa bring her dad to track them down?

"Borrow! Right, uh-" their voice cracked and Thief ditched their pathetic attempts at a fake voice for their normal one which was still a bit more on the higher side of things. And high enough that it didn't quite fit a, well, black demon-looking cat. They continued as if nothing at all had happened, "Who is your dad?" They weren't going to borrow this doll unless borrow was equivalent to a successful heist, in which case it was necessary to know the potential danger of this Meissa's dad.

"My name is Thief. But not because I'm a thief. My dad gave me the name because I am not a Thief." This was an utter lie in more ways than one, but they figured that Meissa was happy and naive enough that she wouldn't call them out on it. This was where they probably should've stopped, but they kept on talking to fill up the awkwardness building up inside. "Just like you're named Meissa because you are not Meissa. See? Names are the opposite of what they actually mean. It's very smart. My dad is very smart. Maybe your dad can meet my dad. Do you think that would be fun? I think that would be fun. We can bring the dolls and play... with both our dads..." And here Thief shut up and felt just about ready to disappear into nothingness because the awkwardness of their words was hitting them even harder after it left their mouth.