Dragon Soul

Pickpocket

     A business man walked toward his office building. He was on his way to work, happily humming a tune that had popped into his head, thinking about that pay raise he would get today and if it would come with a promotion. Suddenly, a girl looking to be about eighteen bumped right into him. She had short, matted hair and was wearing a black leather jacket and black pants.

     "Any money for the poor," asked the girl, "please? I haven't eaten all morning, and barely got a crumb last night." He dug out a twenty from his pocket and handed it to her smiling.

     "There you go," he replied. Then right after he had said that she gave him the biggest hug imaginable. Then as quick as she had appeared, she disappeared. He paused and looked around. The girl was gone. He couldn't even see a sign to where she had gone. He kept walking. After a while he spotted his favorite bakery where he could get the most amazing cinnamon rolls. He crossed the street and walked into the small shop. "One cinnamon roll please," he asked.

     The man at the the counter handed him a bag. "That'll be four ninety-three please." He dung into his pocket once more to find it was empty. He reached into his other pocket for his wallet. He pulled it out to find that all of his cash was gone.

   "Do you take credit," he asked.

• • •

     A woman on was on her way to meet a friend for lunch when she saw a teenage girl shivering in the early March cold. She had matted black hair and the tips were a fiery orange that made it look as though the tips had been set ablaze. "Excuse mm-me ma -ma'am c-could you lend some sp-spare change to a cold l-little girl," the strange teenager asked.

     "Of course dear," the woman replied, feeling bad for the young girl who must be freezing. She pulled out her wallet and dumped out all her spare change. "Here you go, now go buy a nice winter coat." Pendulum was always freezing in March. The only time it wasn't was during the Dragon Festival. An old legend had said that dragons had once roamed the area were the Pendulum travelers made camp. The Dragon Festival lasted for the warm months of the Terra-formed planet.

     "Thank y-you ma'am," the girl said hastily. She reached out her hand and shook the woman's hand hard and long. "I will cherish this."

     The woman then went on her way to the nice coffee shop where she was to meet her friend. This friend had lived in Pendulum almost her entire life and the woman was still new to the city. As she stepped into the shop she immediately saw her friend had grabbed a booth by the window. The woman waved and the got in line to buy a breakfast sandwich and a cup of hot tea. When she reached the front she pulled out her wallet and found that all she had in it was a ten dollar bill. She was sure that she had at least a fifty and three more fives. None the less, she paid for her meal at sat down across her friend.

     "It would seem as though I've been pick pocketed," she told her friend.

    "Could it have been by a teenage girl with fiery hair," her friend asked.

     "Yes, exactly," the woman answered. "Why, is she well known?"

     "Yes," her friend replied. "Everyone calls her the Dark Thief. She is by far the best pickpocket anyone has ever seen. She probably knows everyone in the city, so she knows who she can ask for money, who she can get rich off of, and who she can just pickpocket. And on top of that as soon as she does, she just disappears. She's a flippin' ninja!