All that Glitter's (Open)

[rin]

For what seemed like hour's, the wee little Kindermor sat quietly in the tavern of the Roon Stone Inn watching as curious people filed in and out during the long course of the day. He figured he'd get a nice hot meal and some sweet ale before he continuing his wondrous adventure's in this odd place called Roon.

Fortunately for Sliff, he had found the Inn's location from an old dusty map he had come across back at the Shrine. Many room's did the thief explore while he stayed in the strange creepy like castle some twenty miles from the town he was now in. Trinket's and gizmo's beyond the imagination of any Kinder. Precious colorful stone's of all sizes and shape's, it was simply paradise! If he had more room in his side satchel, he wouldn't have hesitated in borrowing the other fabulous treasure's he had come across. He would return back to the Shrine once he lightened his small load and seen a little more of the countryside.

There just happened to be a peddler on the outskirts of town that Sliff run into before entering Rooden. A pleasant plump fellow that agreed upon giving back all the rare and exquisite item's Sliff had borrowed; promising the Kinder that if anyone came by and recognized the good's as their own, the merchant would return the lost object's promptly. Sliff agreed and took the collateral merchandise just for safe keeping and a few other shinny object's when the peddler wasn't looking his way. After all, the merchant wouldn't mind since Sliff would return what he had borrowed as soon as he ran into the hardy fellow on his way back through Rooden.

Sliff reached down to one of his many pouches, retrieving a small jeweled ring that had strange marking's engraved upon the inside of it's inner loop. However, it was the large central stone that drew Sliff's attention. After examining it closer, the kinder slipped it over one of his stubby finger's. A playful smile tugged at his lips as he held it out in front of himself once again admiring it's beauty.

"It's so purttyful and sparkly!" Sliff uttered to himself as the swirling color's inside the rare stone captivated him. He then rubbed the ring vigorously with the him of his cloak hoping the brilliance and luster of it would shine a little more.

"There, now your not all dirty like when I found you in that scary dark place with all those stinky long toothed people...Yup, yup...It's a good thing I came along when I did huh?" The Kinder replied with glee in his voice as if he was carrying on a conversation with the ring it's self.

[Sol Invictus]

"What've you got there, pup?"

Sliff's idle, self-directed chatter had perked the old man's curiosity. Sol approached, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Talking to yourself as you are...it must be something rare or valuable."

[rin]

As soon as the shady looking pale fellow touched Sliff's shoulder, the four foot thief snatched his hand from view and tucked it away in his olive green cloak. The reaction from the wee little Kindermor surprised Sol nonetheless. Anyone else would have been scared stiff, especially the way in which the vampire approached the Kinder. But like all the oddities throughout the known universe, Kinder's were immune to fear due to their whimsical nature's and innate curiosity for the unknown.

"None of your bee's wax mind you!" Sliff retorted as a perturbed scowl crossed his face. However, the Kinder couldn't pass up a good tale when it came his way. So, Sliff invited the strange looking albino skinned man to sit with him while he explained in painful detail how he acquired such a precious item. This would soon prove to be a humbling lesson to the creature of the damned, for it was known fact with the Kinder race...You never start a conversation with a Kinder unless you had hour's on end to listen and the patient's to endure it!

"But you know what? Since your here and stuff, I mind as well tell you ALL about it." The Kinders face lit up with a wide smile as his small frame rocked from side to side with glee.

[Sol Invictus]

Sol takes a seat and slouches in his chair, placing his drink on the table and folding his hands on his stomach, looking for all the world like he could be Sliff's grandfather.

"Really? Go right ahead and tell me how you acquired your unknown item of immeasurable wealth."

[rin]

The wee little Kinder became extremely enthusiastic when Sol graciously inclined to listen to his great adventure. Clapping his hand's together in sheer excitement, Sliff bobbled from side to side with glee as the pale man took his seat. This would soon prove to be a hard lesson learned with the vampyre creature. For it was a well known fact with the Kinder race...One should never entertain a Kinders story unless they had hour's on end to listen and patient's to match it!

The Kinder leaned in slightly to the oaken table as he placed both of his stubby little finger's on the rim of it, gripping it as a serious look crossed his face. The tone of his voice almost became a whisper as he began to speak.

"Well, it all started when I on this big ole ship called the Raptor...At least I think that's what the captain called it when he was talking to himself. And you know what? He even had this dog called "Dog,"... Funny huh?" The Kinder let out a small laugh, then continued on.

"And then we landed and stuff...And when the crazy captain wasn't looking in my direction, I snuck past him and bolted out in a flash...Yup, yup. Good thing the dog called "Dog" ran outta the ship before me, cuz I think he would have smelled me and stuff. So anyway, there I was, all marooned on this hostile planet that I don't even know the name of. Walking for miles and mile's until I spotted this big ole scary looking castle smack dab in the middle of nowhere." The Kinder eye's widened a bit as he recounted to Sol the description of the massive structure he was speaking of.

"It was all dark and creepy, the fog was rolling across the ground. And I felt like I was being watched and stuff, but I knew it was just my imagination playing trick's on me like it always does." Sliff rolled his eye's slowly, knowing how silly he sounded for thinking that.

"Quite unnerving after a while I'll tell ya... I couldn't even see my feet, nope, nope. And you know what." Sliff paused as his big brown eye's became saucer like, inching his way a little closer to the table.

"I went inside...I was sooo dark, well, except for the light the torches were giving off here and there. I looked around and stuff and it was all quite, so I went on in. And you know what happened next? I finally realized after a while that I was walking in circle's!...Oh, I got soo frustrated and stuff...So I remembered what my great, great grand papa told me a long, long time ago...He said, Sliff, if your ever in a place you think you might get lost in...Leave a trail and stuff. So I did...Yup, I laid theses crackers down that I borrowed from his tavern I ran across in Balmyer. And you know what the really good thing about it is? Well, let me tell ya...If I ever ran across the tasty cracker's again and I was really, really hungry. Well, I could just pick'em up and eat them!" Sliff smiled and clapped his hand's once more knowing that Sol would find that clever of him to think of such a thing. However, the somewhat firm but solum look on the iron deficient man's face persuaded the Kinder to continue on. Sliff knew how some people could get when they were all into an exciting story with minor interruptions.

"Oh yes, were was I...Hurmm,...Oh yeah, I was walking....Yup, yup. I walked forever, for miles it seemed. Hallway after hall way until I came across al theses strange looking door's. So, not really knowing what to do, I just picked one." Sliff took a deep breath before he got to the good part of his story.

"So, than I went up to this one particularly big ole door that I picked. Yup, playing the Ennie, Meenie, Mynee, Mo game my brother's, cousin's, friend taught me back home and that's the way I picked it,...Yup...And I thought maybe someone was home cuz I could see the light from the other side shining underneath the crack of the door. I was going to knock and stuff, but I thought it might be rude and stuff if someone was inside trying to sleep. Yeah, I know I'd be mad if I was woke up in the middle of the night." The Kinders bushy brow furrowed a bit, trying to press the point home with Sol.

"Then I remembered something really important right then and there. So I reached deep inside my side pack and pulled out my picking tool's that my brother's, sister's, cousin's aunt bought me for my fifteenth birthday. And in no time at all I was inside...And guess what else? The room inside was stupendous. I never seen such a gargantuan room like that before in my whole entire life!...It was sooo wonderful!" The Kinder gestured with his arm's splay as wide as he could, his tiny voice almost topping out to a shrilled pitch.

"And the best part was no one was really there at all,...Nope, nope. So I looked around and as I did, I found all kind's of interesting treasure's laying around unattended. Can you believe that! I found map's and shinny stuff all over the place. It was a Kinders paradise!...Yeah, so I figured since no one really cared me being there and seeing the place didn't look like it had been lived in for who knows how long,...I just went ahead and gathered up everything that I found that was of value and kept it for myself. But don't worry, I left a little note on the desk in there just in case the person who lived there came home and found all their stuff missing." Sliff finished his sentence with all the sincerity that he could muster at the moment in his wee little voice.

"That's how I came across this wonderful and purttyful ring!" The Kinder exclaimed as he held it up once more for Sol to see; the rare central stone glimmered and swirled in luminescent hue's as the light of the tavern caught it just right.


"Yup, yup...And it's all mine! But the really, really neat thing is...This ring of mine has writing all over it, even on the inside of the band. I can't read the stuff on the outside, but I can read what's on the inside." Sliff looked down briefly at the exquisitely tooled ring, then glanced back to Sol.

"You wanna know what it say's?"...Sliff questioned passionately. However, he gave the answer before Sol could even reply or interject a single word edgewise.

"It say's,...To my dearest love...Alana. Isn't that a silly name? I believe it's an animal's name if ya asked me." The Kinder let out a playful laugh as he examined the ring once more; immediately fascinated by the revolving color's within the large stone and beauty of its craftsmanship that had a slight glow to its engraved metals. As the Kinder paused, Sol knew without a doubt what place the small thief spoke of...It was the Shrine!

Sliff tore his eye's away from the piece of fine jewelry, returning his gaze back to the man across from him. The Kinder took another deep breath before continuing his lengthy story. A tiresome story unfortunately for Sol since there was still three quarter's of it that was still left untold!

[Sol Invictus]

Dark, torches, fog, and Alana...this pup has robbed the Shrine. How he managed it Sol can only guess. But let the boy tell his tale. When he's finished, Sol will kno exactly how he escaped with his treasures, where those treasures are, and will be able to take them back. After all...the wee little Kinder has no clue that he's speaking to a Shrine vampyre.

[rin]

After long hour's of endless tale's, (four hour's to be exact) of the adventure's and the wonderful thing's Sliff acquired over along the way, the Kinder finished. With a tired sigh, Sliff glanced around the Roon Stone Inn with other thing's on his mind.

"Whelp, I guess that does it...All finished...Yup, yup! Now I'm off to adventure some more." Sliff threw up both of his hand's as a wide child like grin crossed his face.

Plopping down to the floor, Sliff turned to Sol before leaving the table that was a good foot taller then he was. A look of sincerity once again returned to the Kinders countenance.

"Thank you mister pale guy...I really, really enjoyed your company,..." Sliff leaned in towards Sol, his word's were low as he spoke.

"...But you really do need to get out in the sunshine more often ya know...Get yourself a tan or something. It's good for ya...Yup, yup." The Kinder finished, turning for the door and giving Sol a pleasant wave good bye.

[Sol Invictus]

Sliff finds himself standing at the door, unable to move, seemingly pinned to thin air by his collar. The old man pulls hard and the wee little Kinder finds himself staring into his own reflection as Sol draws him near to his silver spectacled face.

"Not so fast, pup. The objects you...'borrowed'...the ring especially, will be left with me. You see, we vampyres of the Shrine have a problem with young'uns taking things that don't belong to them!"

He smiles wickedly, exposing his sharp eyeteeth to Sliff.

"You will give over that which you stole, or you will give your life to sustain my existence. What will it be?"

[rin]

As the pale man rudely snatched Sliff up by his petty coat, a load gulp escaped the Kinder mouth. His brown eye's widened as his face came within inches of Sol's own...Sliff couldn't help but to think how bad the man's breath smelt, not to mention a foul temper to boot. When Sol bared his fang's, Sliff knew immediately that the albino man was part of a Kitty Race. More then likely a close relative to Lady Vader he had befriended back on Dathomire.

With one swift movement, the wiry little thief unsheathed the dagger he called "Sting." An extremely painful burning sensation caught Sol off guard as the Sith blade passed easily through his forearm. The magical blade ignited the vampires bright red trench coat as soon as it made contact. Sol had no other choice then to let go of the Kinder who then made a mad dash for the door.

"You bad ole fart you!...You'll never get my stuff!." The Kinder shouted at the top of his lung's before disappearing outside into the sun lit crowd of people that passed by the Roon Stone Inn.

Whatever the pale man meant by this so called Shrine business was beyond the Kinder...Obviously to Sliff, the "Kitty People" were also known for their uncontrollable habitual lie's they spoke when they got mad. But the Kinder wasn't going to stick around and try to explain how lying could rot one's teeth if they didn't stop fibbing.

[Sol Invictus]

Sol clamps a hand around the tear in his coat, snuffing the flames with his bare hand. The little Kinder gives off an odd Force signature. Sol memorizes it and lets him go. He can get Alana's ring back later...when the damned sun isn't out...