Home is Safety
"Iaros!" The angry shopkeeper yelled. "Get back here with that bread!"
"Catch me if you can! Come on! I'm getting away!" Epsilon giggled and teased.
Ha! I steal from her like every other week! I don't think she'll ever catch up to me! He thought smugly. The small Aarakocra raced through the alleyway, past the stands of various types of produce. Score! A whole loaf of bread! Epsilon mentally cheered. He looked behind him to see the shopkeeper chasing him. It was time for him to make his amazing escape. He looked up at the very cloudy sky that was sure to provide good cover and smirked. He sent a quick chirp of thanks to whichever god out there that was supposedly in charge of rain and weather. He was just about to spread his wings and lift his feathers up to prepare for takeoff before something shiny and glittering caught his eye. Epsilon took a chance and slowed down to glance behind him and see if the shopkeeper was still there. With his enhanced sight, he saw her angry fist waving up in the air a few yards away. He coyly waved back, deciding that the taunt was a stupid idea after he had done it. Instead he turned sharply towards the nearest alley way, stopping at a stall cluttered with what were apparently "Ocean Treasures''. He searched for the shiny thing he had seen earlier. It happened to be a small auger seashell carved out of sea glass. It was the size of his fist and sat at the edge of the table slightly away from the other products on the stand. Perfect, he thought and smirked, it's just asking to be stolen.
"Woah, so shiny!" He whispers to himself when the seashell catches the light of one of the lamps. It was virtually useless in terms of survival, but for some reason, he felt drawn to it. He snatched the shell in his talons and looked up sharply. It seemed the shopkeeper actually wasn't that big of an idiot and had realized he threw her off his trail. She had turned and was quickly closing the gap between them. Epsilon flinched and quickly snapped his wings open. A single, powerful flap of his wings and fwoosh! He shot up into the sky and began the journey back to Safety, his home. Cloudy days were the best days to steal on. The clouds made excellent cover. He could hear the shopkeeper yelling his name in a fit of rage. Epsilon swiftly made a sharp left and descended behind the buildings out of sight. Lightly landing on the ground in an alley, he looked around for anybody that might have seen him. Epsilon whistled in relief and shook out his feathers to calm himself. Walking to the nearest sewer lid and pulling it off, he descended down into the sewer systems confidently. It was a lot easier moving around undetected by entering the sewers. He always moved using the sewers, so he knew them like the back of his hand. Quietly, he made his way through the labyrinth of alleys and tunnels that made up the city sewers. Left, left, right, left… until he got to his destination. Climbing up and pushing the lid open, he arrived at an abandoned room that had been blocked off by a small shop. The previous owners covered it and blocked it off so well that when they sold it, you'd never be able to tell it was there. Of course, the former owners, an elderly couple, never mentioned this to the new owner. It was the perfect home for a street urchin. No one knew it existed except him, his sister, and the old couple who had long moved away.
Epsilon scanned Safety quietly. To him and his sister, the little room was perfect. They had covered the walls with cushioning made out of foam they collected to make the area feel more cozy, and to prevent the cold from slipping into the room. They had stolen some flint, steel, and a small lamp that hung in the corner, though it mostly remained unlit since the two preferred the dark. In one corner of the room there was a small box for food, and another one for non-food items in the corner directly across from that one. It was mostly full of trinkets and tools like the shell Epsilon had just stolen. The rest of the room was filled with pillows, blankets, furs, and any other soft things they could find. To anyone else, it would have looked like a huge, unkept, fluffy mess. But any decent Aarakocra would find it a sufficient nest at the very least. The two siblings had tried their hardest to make it look like the original one they lived in with their flock. Epsilon took the towel and brush from the small bucket of water that laid outside their nest and cleaned himself off. After, he took the towel that was hanging outside and dried himself off, before hanging it up again to dry. After getting clean, he silently entered the nest to see his sister shuffling through the box of non-food items which they called 'The Box of Shiny Things'. He made an abrupt noise of questioning and she grabbed a small dagger, whipped around and stood up, brandishing it threateningly.
"Ah! What are you doing?" Epsilon asked, right as he was being thrown to the ground, a blade against his throat. Well, now how did we get here? He was too stunned to speak. It didn't take long for his sister to realize that he wasn't a stranger and actually her idiotic brother. She moved the knife from his neck and stood up.
"Are you insane? Why would you sneak up on me like that?" Efiar said while helping her brother up.
"I'm naturally silent so I tend to sneak around, you know. What do you want me to do about it?" Epsilon replied in a mock whiny voice, before flopping onto a pile of pillows and blankets. Efiar rolled her eyes as she went to close the door that Epsilon left wide open. She stuffed her knife back into her pocket laid down next to her brother.
"What did you steal today? Anything good?" she questioned while closing her eyes shut. Sometimes she wished they didn't have to steal just to survive. Actually, make that, every second of each day she wished they didn't have to steal. It became their way of life a little too easily. It felt like only yesterday when they were playing with the rest of the kids in their flock. But those memories were long gone and getting hung over them was useless. She heard some rustling before hearing her brother say
"tada". Efiar opened her eyes to Epsilon waving 2 loaves of bread in her face. "You're a little too good at this, I hate that you're better than me at it" she responded before grabbing both loaves, throwing 1 into the food box and splitting the other to share with her brother. "I'll go fetch more water," Epsilon said after finishing half of the loaf. He started to stand up until Efiar grabbed him and pulled him down. She patted his chest before getting up and dusting the crumbs off herself.
"You already got us food, I'll go get the water" she stated as she pointed at epsilon to sit down. In all honesty, she didn't trust Epsilon to come back without a broken arm, even if it was something as simple as getting water. Epsilon watches as his sister walks out the door before getting up again and heading to the store box. He dug for a little before pulling out a dagger and heading out. He headed to a small alley and hid on a small ledge. Although the ledge was small, it was high enough so that if someone entered the alley, they wouldn't be able to see what was on it. Epsilon quietly waited as he watched the alley below. For a long time nothing happened. Some people entered and others left but besides that nothing else happened. Epsilon started to close his eyes when suddenly a crashing noise came from below him in the alley. Epsilon crept over the edge of the ledge and looked below him.
"You look gorgeous sweetheart, why don't you come and play with me and my friends " the loud, drunk, and balding, waste of space called James shouted at the lady he had dragged into the alley with his even more useless friends. The woman, terrified, started screaming at the top of her lungs, but the people who heard turned a blind eye. Epsilon couldn't blame them. James Lukedum was the count of the area and was known for being corrupt. If any one talked back, he would have them arrested and tortured. Count Lukedum always abused his power and no one dared to stop him from doing so. Well, there was one person who did. And that one singular person was the one and only, reckless and bold, sneaky and sly, Epsilon Iaros. Epsilon shook his wings a bit before jumping down from the ledge and landing right on top of count Lukedum.
"Do you not know anything that's not how you treat a lady" he said as he trampled on the count a little more. The woman ran out of the alley way and was soon out of sight leaving epsilon, the nasty count, and the nasty count's friends to have a standoff. The count's friends, surprised by epsilon's sudden entrance, had taken a step back. Mr. Reckless then took the time to count how many people there were. 1,2,3…7,8. Hmmm maybe I should have counted them before jumping down. Epsilon thought to himself as he stepped off the count. Welp no going back now. The first guy swung at him. Epsilon swiftly dodged before hitting him back causing him to fall in pain. Seeing one guy fall, three others turned and ran from the alley. Either to get help or to save themselves, Epsilon didn't care. He lunged forward and continued to attack the 3 men still standing. Luckily none of them knew how to fight so the fight ended quickly. After causing everyone in the alley to roll around in pain, Epsilon gracefully made his way home. Of course he made sure to make it so no one saw where he had gone, but even so someone managed to see. Not on purpose. They just happen to notice a sneaky figure make its way towards the building and go inside. It also happens that just at that moment, they happen to see a wanted poster for a thief with the figure's face on it. But what was the most shocking part was that this someone just smiled and went on with their day as if nothing had happened. Like they didn't just see a highly wanted criminal go home. What a peculiar person.
As Epsilon made his way into the room he noticed the water had been refilled. He wasn't that dirty so he simply used the dry towel to dust himself off not wanting to make the newly refilled water too dirty too fast. Efiar was sitting in the corner drawing on her sketchbook. She looked up briefly as epsilon entered the room but didn't say anything. Efiar didn't oppose epsilon's trips to beat up count Lukedum, but she also didn't support it since it was bringing unwanted attention. Unlike epsilon who people knew by name and face for being a wanted thief, Efiar was skilled at stealing without others noticing. Sometimes it would take days for the people she stole from to notice that they were robbed. She was like a shadow that crept around unnoticed. Epsilon couldn't help but be noticed, he was just a little too clumsy but he was incredibly fast to make up for it. He flopped next to Efiar and took a glance at what she was drawing. It was, once again, a drawing of their home in the mountains like always.