[zapdragon555]

In all his life, never once did Sagun Mullur ever think that he'd be getting out of jail on anything even remotely related to 'good behavior.' Parole was fine and good, except now he had to worry about getting his own meals again, which wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be. And staying in that little hovel of a house was just depressing, especially after Mahavira moved out and went on to better things. 'Better' was relative, considering he just moved to a richer part of town to try to steal a couple of decent things, then skip out and run somewhere else, but it was greener pastures than Sagun was experiencing right then.

Hands in his pockets, the young man paused and glanced up at one of the dozens of little hills he'd passed on his walk. There weren't many houses around this area, and most of them were abandoned and worthless, but this one was really something else. It looked like there'd been a fire of some sort, and it was a shame, too, considering how pretty the house looked to have been.

Sagun glanced over his shoulder, as though someone would be following him out in this neck of the woods, then looked back at the house. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to just take a look, even.

He walked up to the wreckage, peering curiously at it. The bottom floor still seemed somewhat fine, but the upper floors were completely wrecked beyond repair. He sniffed and tugged his collar up to try to block the ashen smell, and stepped inside as quietly as he could out of instinct. Sure, no one was probably there--but force of habit kept him stealthy and quiet regardless.

[Kitsumi]

The sleeping figure on the couch near the middle of the room was almost unnoticeable. Bundled beneath piles of clothing and blankets, it was easy to mistake him for part of the pile if you weren't looking closely. Darko was completely still - even the rising and falling of his chest failed to move the pile of items on top of him.

One arm appeared from beneath the mass of items, dangling off the couch. A couple of feet away from the hand was a ring, probably dropped sometime during the man's slumber. He had fallen asleep holding it close, but now it was free from his grasp - temptingly available yet dangerously close to its rightful owner.

As the intruder entered the house, Darko let out a quiet groan and rolled from his stomach onto his back, shifting the pile on the couch. The hand that had dangled over now rested on his chest. Other than his initial movement, the man gave no sign of waking. He fell silent again, still too engrossed in his dreaming to be bothered by the stranger entering his dilapidated home.

//I hope this is okay. For some reason I had trouble writing this first post for Darko, haha

[zapdragon555]

((No problem at all! I totally feel that haha. xD First posts are always weird.))

Managing to get into the house without completely wrecking things was a challenge, but Sagun figured it out after a little while. He had to be careful of the possibility of squatters--but really, who would sleep here? The smoke smell alone would be enough to drive anyone out. At first, it didn't seem like anyone was inside, but some sort of innate instinct buried deep in Sagun's psyche seemed to warn him otherwise.

It wasn't long before his suspicions were confirmed. The movement from the pile of ragged blankets on the couch startled him enough to draw in a quiet, sharp breath through his nose, every muscle in his body freezing for the time being. He waited, eyes locked on the figure, as curiosity slowly began to replace fear. So there was someone here. Maybe they'd already taken all the good stuff, he thought, figuring it might be best to just get out of there.

But then something sparkling caught his eye. A tiny glint of light bouncing off something minuscule on the floor--but not minuscule enough to escape the eye of a thief. Sagun crept closer on silent toes, eyeing the little object until he could see it was none other than a wedding ring. He could practically see dollar signs behind his eyes--he hadn't found something this good in awhile. Of course, it would all depend on the cut of the gem, the age, any engravings... oh, who cared! He was gonna snatch it if it killed him. Sagun bent down, staring hard at the figure on the couch as his hand hovered above the ring, barely closing his fingers around the prize as he watched the man's face with breathless anticipation.

[Kitsumi]

The property's sole surviving resident was too caught up in his own dreaming to take notice of the thief drawing ever so close to him. At least in his dreams, he could find peace...or perhaps not. His dreams were already becoming a dark place, all shadows and smoke and flames licking at his body. The sounds were muffled, but he could just barely hear the piercing screams of his family as they burnt alive.

With a jolt, Darko awoke. He sat straight up, breathing loudly as his hand clutched his chest. His dream was already fading, memories lost in the land of consciousness. But something was still amiss. As his hand rested over his heart, a sad attempt to still it's rapid beating, he felt a thin chain...and nothing more. The ring that normally rested at the end of the chain was gone. Both hands searching the area around him, Darko turned to check the floor, and finally noticed the intruder.

"Hey!" He began struggling to his feet, pushing the mounds of clothing and blankets to the floor. He couldn't see what was in the man's hand, but he was almost positive that it was his mother's ring. "That's mine," he said, advancing slowly. "If you give it back now, we won't have any trouble." He held his hand out expectantly. "Just give me back the ring, and leave."

[zapdragon555]

He'd almost had it. Damn it, he'd almost had it! Sagun uttered a curse under his breath as the person in the bed shot up, and he knew he'd made a mistake in doing so. Suddenly their eyes were locked, and he was backing away fast, knowing damn well he could make a break for it, but this guy could be armed. That, and he really didn't want to go back to jail.

He stared for a split second, ring still pressed into his palm. This could seriously give him the financial boost he needed to get out of that town. This guy just left the ring on the floor. Mother's ring? Bullshit--Sagun was half thinking the guy was a squatter who had just found the ring and wanted to sell it off, too. Yeah, that had to be it. Sagun's brain clung to this thought and promptly spun him around, his legs carrying him in a mad dash towards the door tripping and stumbling over rubble as he tried to make it to the crumbling doorframe outside.