It was times like this where he realized just how much Hiromi saw him as a baby.  From the time he’d first met her when he was, for all intents and purposes, a much smaller person…all the way to the present when he was an inch away from clearing six feet.  Despite the hours upon hours of training in childhood and the even more aggressive training when she became his guardian, she still insisted on keeping him out of harm’s way.  Well then what was the point?  

He knew why, he just hated to admit it: he was different from her.  Despite their blood relation the two couldn’t have been more different: she was a vampire, he was a human; she had enough psionic and magick in her to take down ten men at once or more…he was fast and strong for his age; she had been in the business of killing since she was his age, he’d yet to slit a man’s throat.  Weak, fragile, these were the words that she’d always think when she saw him even if he was on a piling of dead men, covered in their blood.

With a sigh he continued to trail his client from afar.  When they’d seen that he was fifteen they were eager to take him up on his offer as children were less of a threat to the average person…but when they’d finally gotten a good look at him, tall, strong muscle, and a stoic face, well needless to say they’d started to second guess their choice.  It would have been better to walk with them and keep close for immediate action, but it’d be far too obvious what he was if things were done that way.

So instead he kept a good twenty paces back, luckily being as tall as he was made it easier to keep track of the woman he was hired to protect without being too obvious.  This close to palace guards though, he thought it was a bit of overkill to hire a bodyguard, but he reminded himself that she was someone’s daughter and there were hardly any lengths that a parent wouldn’t stretch to in order to keep their offspring safe.  He wanted to talk to her, get to know her possibly, but after today it was unlikely the two would ever see one another again, much less be friends.  He was lacking in that department: mothers didn’t exactly want their teenage sons or daughters going to a tayuu house to see a friend.

Normally he didn’t mind being alone, he was used to it and it kept people from asking questions: “Where did the scars on your arms come from?” “Do the burns on your back hurt?” “You’re not really fifteen are you…?”  Yes, being alone was much easier.  But it made days like this go by even slower…how long was she going to want to shop?

Ernest watched the lady from a rooftop, doing her best not to be seen. She hated it when she had to steal, but her survival was more important than some rich lady keeping all of her wealth. And anyway, she had learned from experience that rich people rarely kept all of their money in one place.

She studied the woman's path carefully before jumping down into the street, sliding her way past the crowds until she was almost touching the lady. 

She sighed inwardly. It was too bad, really, that she has to steal to feed herself. Someday, she thought, I will find a place where I don't have to do this. 

Stop daydreaming, Ernest, she told herself. She glanced around and found the lady again.

Not without regret, she grabbed for the lady's purse.

Just when he thought the day was going to end as dully as it had begun he noticed something: he wasn’t the only person watching his charge.  His eyebrows furrowed, eyes narrowed, trying to focus on them and follow their line of sight and when he did it landed right on the young woman.  And her personal bag.  Without the usual courtesy he used when moving through a crowd of people, he wove through; arching and side stepping to keep from bumping into people as much as he could until he was but two steps away.  Both of their hands grabbed her purse at the same time and his eyes narrowed more in light irritation.  Despite himself, there was a spark of interest: after all, this was the most interesting thing to happen to him all day.
 
The lady gasped and drew back, nearly tripping over her feet but he moved his other arm out to stabilize her.  His grip on the purse didn’t dwindle, if anything his fingers tightened.  Really all this meant was a simple thief, possibly your everyday pickpocket, but they’d wanted to steal from his client and he couldn’t let that happen.  Unfortunately not everyone was exposed to this world, and his charge screamed at the mere sight of the girl that had tried to rob her.  His eyes widened, his grip loosening for just a second as he looked back at her.
 

(( OOC:  Feel free to have your character snatch the purse while he’s distracted and run, we can have a chase scene!  >:3 ))

The one thing Ernest had not expected was that the tall man would have noticed or cared about what she was doing. But he had, and for a moment there they both were before the lady screamed, and his grip loosened slightly. Ernest needed no second invitation. She grabbed the purse and ran, desperately hoping to get up to the rooftops before the man could catch her.

In that slight moment of distraction he’d failed.  The purse was pulled from his hand and he quickly looked back, eyes widening and then narrowing in frustration, “Hey!!”  His jaw locked, torn in two directions: to chase the girl or stay with the lady.  For all he knew this could be a trick to get him away from her…his gut told him it wasn’t, but he wasn’t paid to make a decision based on chance.  Gripping her wrist he pulled her with him less gently than he probably should have until he was face to face with a palace guard.  He explained quickly and left them both behind him with confused glances as he raced off.

With any luck the girl hadn’t gotten too far.  People parted ahead of him, some with disinterested looks, others with glares of irritation and he knew exactly the path she had taken.  Unfortunately his height and build made it a much more annoying weave through but years under the apprenticeship of a vampire taught him grace one wouldn’t have expected from him.  She was moving towards the buildings, The rooves!, he thought.  If she made it to them before he could then she might be lost, but at least they wouldn’t have a sea of people between them.

At what felt like the last possible second his fingers gripped the tail of her shirt and jerked her back.  It was all he could do to make sure the two didn’t tumble, but he wasn’t letting the bit of fabric go.  He didn’t want to waste any more time than he had with leaving his client behind and his voice was a bit…harsher than he would have liked, but urgency did that unfortunately, “If you’re working for someone I suggest you say so now!  After you return what you stole.”  His eyes narrowed on her’s, jaw locking as he awaited her reply.

Just as she reached the edge of the street, Ernest felt a sharp tug on the back of her shirt, pulling her back. That man! He'd chased her. She had really been hoping to avoid conflict today, but that didn't seem to be an option.

"If you're working for someone," he snapped, "I suggest you say so now. After you return what you stole."

"Stole?" asked Ernest with slightly-forced cheerful smile. "How can you be sure I stole anything. Maybe she stole from me, and I'm collecting my dues." She was bluffing, but he wasn't to know that. Although, he was impressively competent. "Why do you care, anyway," she added, glaring at him for emphasis.

His eyes halved down, one eyebrow arching.  Even if there was a chance that was true, her tone gave her away.  All he had to do was stay quiet before her glare shook off her previous claim even more.  Honestly he would have smiled if he didn’t have to stay so serious…it wouldn’t exactly look good to be smiling with the person who had just stolen from his client.  He didn’t let her shirt go, but he did outstretch his other arm, palm up for the purse, “I care because I was hired to protect her.  And right about now that includes her possessions.”
 
He looked away from her, up to the roof and then back down, “You don’t work for anyone do you?”  Highly unlikely, but still he could never be too careful.  With a sigh his grip on her shirt eased, letting her go but not moving away from her should she try and dart off again, “Is it simply money that you need?”  Not that he wanted to reward someone that had just tried to steal, but he understood desperation and she didn’t seem like a horrible person, just young.  Well, not that he could really speak seeing as he was still in his teenage years, but still.

Ernest studied the man in front of her, considering his questions. She had never cared for being questioned - it showed too much she wanted to keep hidden. Nonetheless, she figured he had a reason to be asking her. The question, for her, was whether she should bother to lie. 

Noting that he had let go of her shirt, she slid back a few inches, keeping a careful eye on him. She wasn't sure she trusted him, but it seemed like there was little point in lying to him - he had called her last bluff with relative ease. 

"I'm working alone," she said. "And why would I be stealing someone's purse if I didn't need money?" She glared at him again. "Do you really think I'm that awful of a person?"

He crossed his arms lightly across his chest, not moving a muscle as she stepped back from him though his eyes never left hers.  Well, she claimed to be working alone and seeing as she was getting snippier the longer this went on it was more likely than not that she was telling the truth: easily seen emotion was usually a revealing sign of honesty.  Then again, defensiveness at being questioned could also point to trying to hide something.  Whatever the reason, he had his lady’s purse now and that’s all he really needed at the end of the day.
 
Though he did arch an eyebrow to what he was sure was a rhetorical question but he answered anyways, “Seeing as I don’t know you and all I do know of you is that you’ve stolen, I can’t really say if you’re a horrible person or not.” Nevermind, maybe it was smarter to keep from giving her anything at all.  Sighing, he looked back towards the direction he had run from, knowing that he needed to get back to her as soon as he could.  Before he did though, he looked back at the would be thief, “I know it’s not exactly fun to do it, but you could always ask for help instead of stealing.” Of course he didn’t know her life or what she may have gone through…his life had taken a turn for the better the over the last few years and at times forgot that not everyone else was so lucky.
 
Despite what her past was, he dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of gold coins and outstretched his arm towards her, his eyes now calmer though still just as guarded, “Just try not to steal anymore tonight if you can help it.  The guards are alerted and will likely be doing a much better job now than before.  Snatching a bag off of a woman so close to the palace isn’t exactly an easy feat so I commend you on that much.” One corner of his lips turned up in a small side smile, but it was brief.

Ernest just stood there staring for almost a full minute before grabbing the coins. Why was he helping her? She didn't know, but she wasn't about to ask. She had learned that people didn't usually like questions - at least she didn't. 

She turned around and leapt up to the wall, climbing toward the rooftop. But she didn't notice, at least until she was nearly at the top, the scroll that slipped from her bag. She spun around, hoping to get it back before anyone saw it - although she could not read it, she was sure somebody could, and if they did, there went her last hope. 

((OOC: The scroll she dropped is a map, showing the location of an island her uncle left her. Feel free to have your character grab and read it, but be forewarned - Ernest won't relinquish it easily…))