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Change by Knight(Traveler&AparinaAkumu)

She took a seat and smiled gently, before waving her hand. "No thank you, I nibble on some bread when I go in the kitchen. I have a roll I bought it's on a plate for me," she smiled. She giggled a bit when he admitted to wanting to know about rumors. "Well," she began, "they aren't circulating very far. The only reason I'm informed is because people who get helped by that girl you chase know me. They think I know her, but honestly..." she looked at the table, thinking about herself a moment.

"Honestly...we're very different people. I barely know her at all," she admitted, before smiling a bit and looking to him. "The last town she was in, for instance, the king is still a king. She never takes enough to miss, just enough to notice. She gives it away to people, a few of the men in the bar the other night kept asking me about her. Her name is Corbin, but other than that I can't tell you much about her."

"From what I heard, you're interested in capturing her...being a guard, I don't think you'd get much help from anyone. There's an entire village a few miles out who only live because of what she gives them. I lived there before I moved here," she explained. She giggled a bit and added, "About you, however, all I've heard is you're determined to catch her. Last night someone said you almost jumped off a roof to follow her..."
 
He studied her with dark grey eyes as she told him a little bit about the thief. "Corbin. That's... a boy's name? She has a boy's name?" He watched the petite waitress as she thought things over, and he thought that she seemed pretty confident. "So... hat town she helps, is she from there too? You seem to know a lot about her; no one even knew her name.... but you seem to know her motives and her ways pretty well."

Derek cleared his throat. "That sounded accusatory - what I mean is, you know a lot about what she's doing. Like that she gives the stolen goods to help people, but surely there are better ways to help people then to break the king's law? She could lose her hand for the thefts, or worse. Is it worth the risk to her just for a few coins and trinkets?"

He would listen to what she said, and then he thought it was only fair to share information as she had. "If I can cath this thief, this "Corbin", then I have a good chance of regaining my knighthood. It's the only way I can see ever owning land of my own nad leaving the city. Without land I'm just a mercenary, and that's no way to raise a family or to spend one's final years."
 
She listened to his rebuttals, then hummed. "You're married?" she seemed surprised at that, not leading on that she knew he lived alone. She smiled a bit though and added, "The people she helps were eating dirt with leaves on it a couple years ago. Now, the women can buy some bread and fish for their children. I think she believes it's worth it." She sighed though, and listened to why he was so interested.

"Well, I do know one thing. The last man who locked her up was attacked by a wolf the same night, and she broke out. No sign of where she went, all they found was a raven feather in the cell," she explained softly. She looked around a bit, before saying, "I think she's cursed or something. Mystic, magic something. Whenever they lock her up, she's always gone by morning."
 
"What?" Derek recoiled at her initial question. "Married? No - no. Not yet." He frowned. "Just... one day... I want a family." He pressed his lips together and listened as she described the help the thief had done for the people, and then to the waitress' theories of wh00at was happening to Corbin.

"Perhaps she is cursed, but what she is doing... this 'help' she thinks she is giving them, is only imprisoning the poor to her generosity." He held a hand up t0o still her protest or questions as he took another drink of his ale. "Hear me out. The people were hungry beforehand, yes? They struggled to find food. Now, this thief, Corbin, is giving them money to buy food. They don't have to find their own way to eat and survive, beca0use she is giving them food. Soon they will come to expect it, and if she stops, they will blame her for their hunger. She should be teaching0 them how to grow gardens, rai0se chickens... how to earn their own coin or find their own way. She's turning them into slaves."

He shook his head. "She might mean well but she is still breaking the king's law. I have to bring her in."
 
Annika nodded and listened. She was smiling and nodded. Teaching them? That would work, but she'd have to take things to give them to start them off. She began to plan things and when he finished she nodded.

"Well, I wish I could help you. I don't know where she is. Like I said, I don't know her that well," she explained with a small smile as she looked to the window to estimate the time. "I'll have to be back to work soon. You're welcome to stay and we can continue later, but I'll just be on my way home. Though, I did meet Corbin, once," she said, slowly with a smile. "She teaches everybody something. Usually it's self defense," she explained with a smile. "That's what she taught some of the girls in the village she helps. She taught them how to disarm someone with a knife, and where the veins are and how to avoid them. For a theif, she sounds rather gentle to me..." she said thoughtfully before getting up and waving. With an 'excuse me' she went back to work.
 
Again, his attention was caught when she mentioned that she had met Corbin once. His eyes nearly sharpened in his excitement at the thought of catching the thief, and the physiological response was a slight release of pheromones and endorphins. His breathing slowed, demonstrating focus and rapt attention as he listened to what the thief had done.

Taught the girls? To fight? This was an unexpected twist. Derek's eyes narrowed slightly. He nodded at Annika as she had to get up and go back to work. As he nursed his drink over the next hour he considered her last words.

For a thief, she sounds rather gentle to me... He had to agree. In the two encounters he had with the nimble girl she had never attempted to hurt him, only to run away in almost a playful way. He stared off into the distance and seemed to go into a light trance as he went over every movement the enigmatic woman had made. To the casual observer he might have looked like some simple drunk, sitting there with his hand on his mug. In truth he was thoroughly examining the evidence of each time he had seen his prey.

Derek didn't notice time passing by; so when it was time for Annika to be released from her job, he was still sitting there just as she left him.
 
Annika had noticed him sitting there, he looked drunk. When she was released from work, she walked over and asked, "Need a refill? Or an escort?" She smiled a bit, handing him a glass of water. "You look drunk," she told him with a small giggle.

"I'm on my way out, I'll see you around I suppose," she told him before leaving. She didn't know if he'd be behind her, so she ducked around the side of the building and changed into a cat. She then began her way back to his house to wait for him. Was it creepy? Yes. Did it worry her? A little.

He did seem like a good guy, and she wanted to get to know him. Tomorrow, she had off work and she wondered if she could pull off being in his home an entire day as a cat, or if he'd have to go back to work. She'd follow him anyway. It was strange. She was interested in him, however wanted to observe him almost as a scientific experiment rather than anything else. Not stalk his each and every movement, just get an idea of what he did and who he was.
 
The sound of the glass touching the wooden table brought Derek's eyes into focus. Or was it Beorn's? For just a moment his eyes looked nearly primal as he looked at her, but they quickly took on their humanity and he seemed to snap out of whatever spell he was under. "I was..." He was about to say 'waiting on you', but she giggled cutely and then she told him she was leaving. He watched her walk out for a moment, noting without trying to that her hips swayed interestingly, then shaking his head and standing.

"Well shit." He left the tip that had been intended for Annika and then drank the water she had brought before walking out as well. A quick glance up and down the street revealed no clue where the waitress had gone, so he walked back to his house as he reconsidered the information she had shared with him.

Perhaps he would take his next night off and scour the rooftops for Corbin. He'd be without his chain mail, which would make it more easy to leap from roof to roof and scale the walls, and if he didn't have his bright guards' tabard on then he'd be harder to see. He briefly considered trying to convince the thief to stop stealing, rather than turning her over to the bastard-run prison, but he dismissed the idea. He needed the promotion, and she had broken the law. The two ran hand-in-hand and were not things that could be changed.

Soon he found himself about to climb the short staircase that led to the landing outside his front door. He had eaten dinner/breakfast and made a single beer last the rest of Annika's shift, and now it was time to consider what to do with the rest of his early morning and the day ahead. Perhaps he'd take a nap and then visit the docks for word from his brother, or maybe he'd take a walk out of the city... Derek shook his head. He needed a nap. That was the first thing.
 
Annika, as a cat, was already sitting outside his home. She was curled up into a fluffy ball outside the door, and when he approached she sat up and mreowed. She began to purr and walked over to his feet, rubbing against him. He had called her ungrateful that morning, but she was back again.

As soon as he opened the door, she darted inside. She rubbed against the walls as she walked and then trotted into his bedroom, getting a running start to jump onto his bed. She kneaded the bed as she curled up and laid down.

She felt slightly guilty, intruding like that, but she needed to know what this man was about. Afterall, she had to keep helping those people until they could take care of themselves. Which was difficult, the land wasn't very fertile and the fish were usually all caught by the boats. Most of the livestock died by themselves of illness or lack of food. It wasn't a good location, but she could try a few more times.
 
The brisk walk back to his loft did more to wake him up than to tire him, and by the time he saw he cat, who he had come to call "Cat" because he wasn't a very creative man, he was wide awake. Derek smiled at the feline and let her into his apartment, then he chuckled slightly and poured himself a glass of water.

He had a couple of bars placed across his doorways, and some unusual straps hanging from the ceiling. Once he was done with his water he warmed up before taking off his shirt, and then began to do some body weight exercises. It also helped him to clear his mind and stay sharp. By the time he was finished doing his exercises he had become covered in a sheen of sweat that accentuated every line on his body.

Derek walked over to the large sink in his bathroom, not thinking anything amiss about stripping in front of the cat, and ran water into the bath. He had earned a cool soak in the tub. He reached over his head and stretched, the lines of his muscles knotting hard and defined as he moved, and then stepped into the tub and sank down with a contented sigh. His large hands cupped the cool liquid and he washed his face and then sank beneath the surface to wet his entire body before sitting up again. He laid his head against the tub side and closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the way he felt and the feeling of rich, oxygenated blood flowing through his veins.



Example of exercises
 
She wondered about the strange things, and jumped up to try and bat at them. However, in this form she was too small and quickly climbed onto the bed again once he had returned. Without a care he just tossed his shirt off and there were those muscles of his again. She was purring before, but it became less difficult to sustain once she watched him working out.

She trotted over to him as he walked away from the room and into another. He disrobed, and she got more than a few good glimpses at his body--his entire body. She felt so dirty watching him, and actually sprinted back into his bedroom to curl up on the bed and cover her face.

Observe him for skill not pleasure...pervert, she scolded herself before wondering if girls were ever really perverts. They were sexualized in men's eyes and society, why shouldn't they be expected to stare every so often...but she shook those thoughts from her mind and just tried to sleep a bit. She was just there to find out more about him. She was just getting more insight to use in her journey...or that's what she kept telling herself.
 
The smell of good soap wafted through the apartment as Derek scrubbed down and washed off. Then he dried himself and covered his lower half before taking the dirty clothes he had and using the bath to wash the items off. These he wrung to dry and then hung over the bars and straps in his room, allowing them to dry off in the apartment rather than paying someone else to do his laundry. He swept the small space, mopped the floor (again using the bath water), and then, once all the cleaning was done, he drained the tub.

Afterwards he dressed completely in grey cotton pants and a pale blue shirt. He started a small fire in his oven and heated water for coffee and cooked up a few eggs. Almost as an after thought he set a few spoons on a small plate and put this on the floor for the cat, then set a saucer of clean water on the floor as well before sitting at his small table to eat a meal.

"Annika. Corbin. Annika..." He went over the names, his mouth forming perfect syllables as he committed them to memory. Derek glanced over at the cat. "And what about you? Do you have a name, or shall I just call you "Cat"?"
 
She watched each movement. City guard must not be a very well paying job...she watched him reuse the bath water a couple times before finally draining the tub. Once that was done, however, she took a bit before she followed him into the kitchen. She sniffed the food before she tried it, letting her tail rest on the ground next to her as she ate up the food.

He said both the names she used, and she looked up to him as she licked around her mouth for any that might be there instead of awaiting to be eaten on the plate still. He wanted to call her Cat? Not a very creative name, but it would do for this little observation period.

She continued to eat, purring loudly and rubbing against his legs once she was done. She didn't wolf it down, she just ate it as normally as any cat would. Her black and white fur was rather clean though, she couldn't be a stray. Thanks to her good hygiene as a human her fur stays cleaned too.
 
He watched her daintily eat her food, her manners extremely proper and feminine despite the fact that she had no utensils and was forced to eat with her mouth alone. Derek smiled as he watched the pretty black and white feline on his kitchen floor.

"No... you're not just any cat, are you? You're a princess - turned into a cat by some jealous step-mother witch from a far away land. She's cursed you to roam the city as a cat because you grew up to be prettier than she, and this was the only way she could get you out of her castle. So princess, what's your name?" He leaned his chin on a closed hand as he watched her. "Sabina? No, maybe something prettier. "Elisa. Princess Elisa." He smiled at his story.

As the cat was finishing up her meal he cleaned the kitchen and then finished dressing. He wanted to walk to the river today, to see the sky and the trees, to feel the soft breeze away from the stifling heat of the city and the constant noise. He went over to the cat and lifted her up in his arms, petting her softly and admiring her coat. "Your Highness, I'm going to go for a walk now, so you have to go and do whatever kitty thing you do when you're not here. Stay away from the dogs," he cautioned, "and hopefully I'll see you again soon." He nuzzled her softly before setting her down near the door and strapping his sword belt around his slim waist. "And if not... I suppose I can't blame you. Eggs make for a mean meal when you have juicy mice and birds to compare it to."
 
She purred as she ate and listened to him. Such a nice story. Once she was finished and he had cleaned up he was getting ready to leave. To her surprise, he had gently lifted her and nuzzled her as explaining his plans. She purred, it felt nice. He wanted her to come back? He has a soft spot doesn't he...

Once on the ground again, she rubbed against his legs for a while before she began to walk off. Only after he had began leaving, as if she had said 'see you in a bit' and went out to get some groceries before she'd return. However, the curiosity got the best of her and once out of sight she changed into a raven and perched on a rooftop to follow him.

A princess changed into a cat...well, no Princess but...she thought as she listened to the story over and over in her head. It was so sweet...she had to mentally shake herself. He was Scarface, he wanted to capture her and turn her in. She wondered how bad that would be though and decided to follow him to work the next few nights. She had a strict non-profit rule about her theft, but she could always cut her hours at the bar and then take the extra silver to cover her rent for the month. After all, it wouldn't be too much and as long as she didn't keep any extra it would be alright. She had to rationalize this, since she knows she steals but she had never kept what she stole before.
 
He watched the feline walk off, noting the graceful sway of her body. Cats were always so pristine, unless of course they were kittens, then they were sometimes goofy. He locked his door and then walked down to the main pathways. The city was beginning to wake up, and merchants were setting up their carts or opening their shops. Women were down at the well gathering water and sharing gossip, and young children ran through the streets playing tag or running errands for their parents.

Derek walked between two tall buildings and turned towards the West Gate, his thoughts on getting out of the city for a few hours. His passage was noted, though, by a trio of men who were part of a band of miscreants known as the Blades. Shifty glances were exchanged between them, and then they began to shadow the off-duty guard. Their hands reached for hidden knives and cudgels, intent on wrecking havoc on the man who had arrested them in the past or thrown them out of brothels for being too rough.

The guard was thinking about Annika, though, and her story about having met the thief. He didn't notice the increased attention from the Blades. Would it be possible for her to set up a meeting with the woman? Or... could he use her to trap Corbin? Surely the waitress wouldn't willingly do such a thing - it seemed like she almost admired the law-breaker. But maybe he could glean enough information from her to set up a trap of his own.
 
She began her following just perching, but as he didn't stop she flew high above him. Where was he going? She was beyond curious, for more than just professional reasons. Annika followed him for a while, in the air, then watched as he just meandered on past a gang of men.

She knew them, and watched as they followed him. She noted his lack of attention and flew down, materializing as Corbin in an alleyway. She walked a bit behind the gang following him. This time, her outfit was a bit more revealing. Her leather bandages were wrapped tighter yet on her chest they made a low v-shape and revealed a decent enough amount of cleavage. She didn't look the same in the daytime, in fact only Scarface would probably recognize her, but it wasn't likely.

No, she felt rather safe actually from being discovered. He had only seen her at a distance, her hair back and her body mostly blended into the darkness. Today, in morning light, she appeared like any bandit really just sensual, and her flat black hair covered half of her pale face. She followed the gang close enough to appear one of them, but far enough where they wouldn't notice. She wanted to see if they'd do anything.
 
One darted around a small city block to intercept the off-duty guard at the other end of the alley, while his buddies prepared to accost the seemingly lone man. They were too focused on Beorn to notice Corbin, and Beorn had turned off his inner alarm for danger when he took off his guard tabard. To him, he was a different person when he wasn't on duty, but to the ruffians he was the same person who had arrested them.

Derek paused when the bandit stepped out in front of him, tapping the flat of a fat dagger against his grubby palm.

"Well... if it ain't Mister Scar. You're not so hoity-toity without your snappy uniform on, are you?" The bandit grinned, revealing a row of rotted teeth marred by dark splotches of food stuck between them.

Derek recoiled at the scent of his breath. "Jake Feathers. How nice of you..." He glanced around and saw the two others closing in, "...and your friends, to drop by." His body was still relaxed, as if they were merely there to discuss the weather. None of them would have approached him on their own, but in a pack they thought that they had the upper hand. Cowards ran in packs, after all. Like a murder of crows.

Jake's friends closed in, surrounding the guard. The bandit was taking courage in his numbers. "We's got a score ta settle with you, Scar. One that needs payin' in blood." He grinned wider, his beady eyes growing bright in bloodlust. His buddies murmured their agreement and began to circle the guard, who still stood as if he didn't have a care in the world as far as the fight was going.

"I think you've miscounted, Friend." Derek answered in a casual voice. "You've paid your debt for the last time you were arrested. I don't need your blood."

Jake snarled when one of his friends snickered, and charged at Derek with his knife drawn. The guard stepped to the side and snapped Jake's wrist up in his hand, twisting it about so that the knife was dropped from the sheer pain of the position, and then shoved the bandit away.

"Don't be a fool, Jake." Derek kept the other two men in his view as he addressed their leader. "Neither of us wants to ruin such a lovely day with your arrest."

The other men looked angry. It was just a matter of moments before they attacked as well.
 
Corbin had scaled a rooftop a while back, and was on the edge of the building right above the men. She was laying there, grinning as she watched. As funny as it was, she sighed and cooed, "Jake-y! You and your boys are barking up the wrong tree!" She stepped off the roof, temporarily catching herself on a window ledge before dropping to the ground. She smiled and walked up to the man, easily disarming him as she stood next to Scarface.

"See, this man has a bounty for me. I'm his key back up. Therefore," she moved the dagger to his neck, "I think I should ruin his day." She smiled and looked at the three, her face right next to Beorn as she whispered, "I'll take the lackeys. You're a guard but today just disarm, distance and climb Scarface." She looked into his eyes with one of hers before she threw her knife, getting Jake right on the shoulder and slicing his shirt as she stepped from Derek and kicked the lackey in the gut. She quickly had his knife in hand and kicked him back further. She used that launch over to the other one, taking his knife as he tried to stab her and using it to pin his collar to a barrel.

The other man had grabbed her, but she only took a moment to flip herself over, head butting him before easily scaling a wall. She didn't run, she waited to see if Scarface needed any help.
 
Derek wasn't sure what this new addition was about. He was momentarily distracted by the sensual allure of the woman. Her dark hair and the revealing cut of her clothing distracted him enough for her to get close.

Then the dagger was at his neck and he froze.

Shit. This was Corbin? This was her! His eyes widened slightly, taking in the way her face looked and the way she was dressed. Before she had always been in the dark or moving too fast for him to get a good look at her, but now she was there in her full glory.

And it was glorious.

He had just a moment to digest her whispered words before she flew into action, stabbing Jake and disarming the others. She didn't need his help, it seemed, and now that he saw her knife skills he had no doubt that she chose not to hurt him when he pursued her. He took a moment to knock aside the short sword Jake was raising, despite his injured shoulder, and scatter it across the alley so that it wasn't going to be useful to the rogue in the near future. Then he vaulted up the wall after the thief, using his strength and the adrenaline of seeing his target in the full light of the sun.

Derek saw her watching him, though he wasn't sure if it was to make sure he got away or simply to amuse herself at his plight. He heard the soft buzz of a tense string being loosed behind him and he turned just in time to avoid being shot by an errant cross bow bolt. Then, his mind silently cursing himself for being caught by the bandits, he sprinted after Corbin.
 
Corbin had darted off soon after he was darting, and when she noticed one of the bandits climbing up she looked around. She smiled and grabbed Derek's arm, pulling him down with her as she slipped down into a window. She waved, hurrying to manuever silently through the floor before out another window on another side of the building and slipping down into the streets.

She continued to lead Derek through almost a maze of empty floors until she peeked to the rooftops in time to see the bandits climbing down and arguing over whose fault it was they lost them. Once they were down, she waved Derek up and took her seat against a chimney pipe, blowing her hair up but keeping it over one eye.

"And I'm the idiot," she mumbled as she pointed, "You better not cuff me right now! I just saved you from those idiots. I thought a city guard would be better than let a gang surround him." She leaned back and sighed, just fully sitting. She was out of breath, having the adrenaline rush wasn't as fun when it was danger and not running a muck with Scarface. She didn't even realize she had used an almost gutter accent but good english.
 
He followed her across rooftops and through windows, watching her in the daylight gave him new appreciation for the thief he had been tracking in the night. She was amazingly limber and strong. Amazingly she was also light on her feet.

He climbed he last eave and set himself low, laying on the slanted rooftop but propped up on an elbow to watch Corbin. "I'm not going to cuff you - I'm off duty. Besides, I don't carry my handcuffs with me on my days off." He spread his hands, palms up, to show her that they were empty. "Why'd you help me if you knew that I'm after you? That was a stupid thing to do, I'd say. Now I know what you look like and you're that much closer to being brought in for your thievery."

Derek took a careful look at her. Her dark hair covering her face, the paleness of her skin... she certainly looked like she belonged in the night. "I wasn't in any danger with them anyway," he scoffed. "Those three are lucky if they can find their way to their dicks to piss against the wall. And they're likely to miss the wall." He noted her accent change and the way she blew her hair up over her eye, as if it irritated her that it was there.

"Corbin. You have to let me take you in. Right now the charges are low; you've only stolen a few things of true worth, and the penalty will be light. But if you continue this you're going to steal the wrong thing. I've seen people hanged for thievery. You don't want to die like that. You won't help anyone by dying."
 
She listened to him, smiling a bit as she leaned back. "Yeah, maybe it was. And don't go acting all tough! Whoever heard of a guard letting his guard down?" she retorted with a smirk. She kept her hair in front of half her face, knowing that someone who spent time with her as Annika would know that she wasn't too different looking if they saw her whole face.

She hummed a bit and thought about what he said. She then smiled a little and asked, "What would they do if you turned me in, and then I vanished?" She brought her knees up to her chest and leaned her arms on them, pointing a finger at him. "Would they kill you? Or demote you again?" She smiled a bit as she stood up. "If you check with Durwich's prison records it'll say I was eaten by a wolf."
 
Derek leaned back and rolled his eyes at her taunt. "I let my guard down because I was thinking. Of you." He turned his head so that he could look at her out of the corner of his eye. She was half-covered in her hair, which was a bit irritating because it kept him from seeing her completely. He wondered why she wore her hair like that. Did she, too, have a scar that she didn't want anyone to see? Or were all her scars internal?

He shook his head when she asked if they would demote him if she vanished after being turned in. "I didn't get demoted for doing my job poorly," he explained, figuring that any street thief worth her salt would eventually hear the rumors about him. She already knew one of his many nicknames, though Scarface wasn't too hard to guess.

"I was demoted for raping Princess Alana. They could have hung me, but the king took mercy on me because of my previous service, and because he knew that his daughter was lying." He eyed her intensely. "So tell me... how did you escape in Durwich? You obviously weren't eaten by a wolf."
 
She beamed as he asked about her, and she already knew why he was demoted. She watched him a moment, before deciding to wave him off. "Tomorrow night I'll let you take me in. However, I can assure you I'll be out long before morning." She smiled and waved her hands in front of her. "I'm magic. You could never understand being a mere mortal," she said, before scoffing as she stifled a laugh.

In truth, her ability was partially transferable. She could change him if she was touching him, and give him enough power to temporarily change himself if she had enough energy. A few cups of coffee really.

"Anyway, I best be off Beorn. I have things to do, people to meet, so I wish you luck in your travels. I might not have your back next time your guard is down," she told him, dropping and kicking over to him a knife she had stolen from the three bandits before she stepped back off the roof. She didn't bother her stunts, she turned into a raven and perched on the window below the roof edge.
 
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