Tales From The Lost World

Strike & Cyclone

A thief's charm: Strike and Cyclone's story

She was walking down a busy street in a town north of the palace to visit her younger sister. She had a hatching day gift, a glittering braclet, for Downpour. Strike had forgotten about Downpour's 14th hatching day and felt bad, so she decided to visit.
The dragoness had decided to live in this crowded town instead of the palace, for reason that Strike didn't understand. The royal sisters were like complete opposites, Downpour loved talking with other dragons and gossiping while Strike preferred to hide away in the palace and avoid social interaction if at all possible.
She was inspecting the braclet, making sure that there was no dirt on it, when she accidentally ran slapbang into another Stormwing.
"Hey, watch it!" Strike stood back up and snapped at him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Didn't see you there, you know." He stood back up and grabbed the braclet, which had fallen onto the ground. He wiped it clean and handed it back to her. "A true beauty you have right there."
"Yep, and it's for my sister." she snatched the jewel out of his talon and dusted herself off.
"So you wouldn't mind if I, say, took- another look at it?" He said hopefully, his eyes constantly following the braclet with a greedy, almost hungry look in his eyes.
"I would mind, actually. Is that what you do for a living, steal from others?" She tucked the shiny object away from his searching eyes.
"Well, I never had anyone to care for me, so in order to live, yes. I'm wary enough to not hunt in the forest, and it's even more dangerous outside of the Stormwing territory. I have no money, and no one is willing to hire the guy that steals everything. So yeah, I have to be a thief in order to live." He shrugged. "I've been doing this for fifteen years, I'm not about to stop unless someone magically has a solution, y'know."
"Oh... well, if you ever need food, I can get it for you, so that you don't have to steal..." Strike said slowly.
"That would be fantastic! Where should I meet you, and when?" He seemed to get excited at the idea.
I really didn't think this through, did I? Strike thought. "Uhhh... maybe at the back of the palace? Around this time?"
"Sounds great! In the meantime, you should go deliver this to your sister." He handed her the bracelet, which she swore had been in her talon just a moment ago. This guy wasn't kidding around, he was a good thief. But an honest one. "By the way, the name's Cyclone. I'll be seeing you later." He winked and was off like a flash.
"My social interaction skills are clearly very rusty. What a strange guy, though." she shook her head and walked towards her destination. Might as well keep my promise to meet with him again, I'm not gonna break a promise like that.

The Next Day

Strike was walking through the market, looking for a dragonet-sized necklace. She found a beautiful golden chain necklace with a small lightning bolt engraved in the blue pendant. She loved it, and was sure that little Sonic would too. She bought the necklace and left the store, immediately hearing a thump behind her.
"What the hell?!" She jumped in surprise as Cyclone grinned behind her.
"Pretty sneaky, aren't I? What's it this time?" He said with a very smug face that made Strike want to slap him.
"You again? I thought you'd leave me alone after yesterday." She rolled her eyes and carefully hid the necklace in a bag strapped to her chest.
"Well, I was just in the neighborhood and saw you checking out some jewelry stores, I decided to stop by and say hi, is that too much? I was just saying hello, acknowledging that we both exist in this world-"
"So you're stalking me, that's it? You're stalking me."
"No, not really, no." He stammered, trying not to sound like a creep.
"Because that's what it sounds like. Go away, and I guess I'll see you later today."
"Fine, whatever. Later."

Two Weeks Later

Cyclone, as usual, was chilling on the roof of someone's store and watching the streets below for anything he could steal with his smooth moves. Once again, he saw Strike walking through, but she looked slightly more pissed off than the other times that he'd seen her. So he decided to leave her alone today. Probably for the best.
He looked further up the street, watching a small glint on the ground. Something had been dropped, and no one noticed it. Before he was about to leap down, though, he checked to make sure that no one was looking in his direction. And there was this young dragon, couldn't be more than ten years old, clearly staring at Strike. Cyclone didn't know why, but that pissed him off.
He completely lost interest in the jewel on the ground and dropped down next to the dragon in question.
Strike heard a small thud, and, expecting Cyclone to have landed right behind her, spun around with a small growl. Instead, she saw him looting the unconscious body of a young Stormwing. She ran over to him, with mixed emotions on her face, but mostly the expression of WTF.
Cyclone looked up and saw Strike, giving her a small smile before continuing.
"Wha- why? What's this about?" She was both impressed that someone his size could so quickly knock someone unconscious and furious that he had randomly attacked someone.
"Oh, um. Well, he was clearly checking you out. And I thought that that was pretty messed up." He explained, unaware that he had attracted the dragoness's attention, hoping that he was convincing enough.
"I mean... I appreciate it, but why?"
He mocked hurt. "Because I have respect for women? What do you think I am, a monster?"
Strike shrugged. "Well..." She watched his face and laughed. "I'm kidding!"
He sighed in relief. "You should get going to... wherever you're going. I'll keep hiding on rooftops and watching for loose change... and the occasional creep I need to knock out." He said, flashing her a grin and leaping back up onto the roof.

One Month Later

Strike was waiting at their usual spot, worried for Cyclone. He wasn't usually late, and definitely was never this late. Finally, he landed, panting. He looked at his clenched talon in horror, then back up at Strike. Not only had his greedy mind broken his promise to stop stealing, but he was in waaaaay too much trouble now.
Strike saw the look on his face and frowned. "You broke your promise, didn't you?"
"Yes, I know, I did, but this is sooooooo much worse. You don't understand." He was near tears, handing the item in his talon to Strike. She looked at it for a moment. A pretty expensive diamond armband. She recognized it, but didn't say anything until she noticed the inscription on the inside.
"Happy 46th hatching day, Mother." She read. "Signed by Princess Downpour."
After a long pause, she looked up. "You stole from the queen?! And got away with it?!" Strike burst out, unsure which one was more surprising.
"It wasn't me! I didn't want to! My thieving instinct did it! Please, trust me, I didn't want this!" He was clearly having a breakdown, so Strike decided to step up and calm him down.
"As far as I'm concerned, the biggest problem is that you ran away with it. As long as you return it, everything will be fine."
"Nononononono, you don't understand. It's not that simple. If I return it, I'll get caught and most likely killed, and if I keep it they'll either hunt me down or put a bounty on my head! The entire royal family is going to hate me for this!"
He still doesn't know I'm a princess. "That's not true. No one's going to hate you. You just give the armband back, and I'll convince the queen to let you go."
"And how do you expect that to work?"