A/N: Yes, I'm rewriting HJ. Like Ame, I really think I could have done a whole lot better—but mind you, when I say rewritten, I mean rewritten. Erase any of the facts from the original HJ; not many of them stay here. Even the rules from my profile might be abolished. Anyway, I hope you think I've improved.
The way Hanso tells time here is different. With hindsight, it was kind of odd for Brynn and Hanso to write in exactly the same style, so I am now changing it. Hanso still writes month-by-month, but only when something interests him. I'm using that Hanso is trained to be a thief and knows how to pay attention to things as an excuse for him remembering a lot of details and dialogue. Plus, he's Brightvalean.
I'm not sure when I can update. My honest answer is 'when I can', but to give you a clearer view, maybe every two weeks on Friday, okay?
Disclaimer: Written (again!) with the permission of Amethyst3232. All her OCs are hers, and all my OCs are mine, but all of 'em crop up in both at some points. Hanso has yet to steal the rights of TNT for me, so Neopets is not mine, either.
The Month of Sleeping
Entry 1: Journal
If you're wondering why a thief even needs a journal, your guess is as good as mine.
But my mom insisted and, well, even full-fledged thieves like me gotta listen their mothers. She says she doesn't want me to grow up ignorant, like some of the members of the Thieves' Guild. I think I know who she meant. Scar-faced guys, with yellow teeth and very pointy claws? Yeah, I'd rather not be like them either. That doesn't mean I didn't put up a fight.
"But Mom," I whined, doing my best pouty face. I'm seven, so it still mostly works; unluckily for me, she wasn't paying attention. Her head was bent, studying the novel on her lap. "What's the point? If you want to let me practice letters and stuff, I can always read more books or whatever. I like that." Dad always said I took after her in being a bookworm.
"You can read all you want, sweetheart." She turned a page. "But you're still doing the journal."
"Why?"
"Recording your experiences on paper can help you remember the lessons you've learned, and benefit from them." Mom likes using long words sometimes. Even to kids.
"I can't remember half the stuff that happens during the day," I grumbled. She snorted. A good thief remembers everything important, and I was raised by two of the best. I quickly changed tactics. "'Sides, I'm gonna get all the spelling and grammar wrong."
"You're Brightvalean, Hanso. You're a natural."
She looked up me for the first time, a small smile on her face. Mom's a Xweetok, with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She's really pretty when she smiles like that. "Besides, I thought you'd rather do this than copy something out for me. I'm not making you write every day."
"You're not?" I thought that was what journals were for.
"Nope. You can write whenever something interesting happens. Think you can do that for me?"
I thought about that for a moment. Up till now, my life has been pretty boring, though I was sure hoping that would change. "Okay."
All in all, it's not such a bad deal. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want. Better than real school, at least. I've heard they even give out homework. Homework. Who does that anymore?
Entry 2: The Thieves' Guild
You can sign up for the Thieves' Guild when your seven years old. It was the end of the Month of Celebrating by the time Mom finally agreed to let me join. Since I'm officially starting tomorrow, I think this might be important. Might as well write it down.
I'd been complaining about it for two whole months since my birthday, and Mom had been looking tenser and tenser. Finally, at dinner time she snapped at me to shut up. I'd blinked at her in shock. Mom rarely ever lost her cool like that, and I stopped talking at once. Dad told me to go to my room, which, like all the rooms in our little house, is practically the size of a closet. I obeyed him. But he didn't say I couldn't leave the door open just a smidge to eavesdrop.
"Lizzy," I heard him say. I imagined him wrapping his arms around Mom's shoulders and giving her a look. Dad – who, like me, is an Ixi – had mastered the art of making a grown-up pouty face that gets Mom to agree to practically anything. But I had a feeling this argument was going to be a bit harder to win than the most. "You know, he does have a point. He's eligible to get into the Thieves' Guild now."
"He's too young," she said stubbornly.
"I was younger than him when I joined."
"Are we actually sentencing him to a life of crime?"
A sigh. "Lizzy, we're both thieves. He knows that. The guards know that. The townspeople's kids know that. It's not like we could tarnish his reputation even further, and besides, that seems to be what he wants."
"He's seven, Peter! He thinks stealing is exciting! What if, along the line, he wants to do something else but he can't because he's never learned how and everyone in the kingdom wants to arrest him?"
"You're right. We should apprentice him to a librarian." I stared at the doorknob in horror.
Mom's reluctant chuckle comforted me some. "I don't think he'd like that very much."
"Right again, Lizzy. Do you know why?"
"He's too adventurous." There's a half-affectionate, half-frustrated tone in her voice. The former got me hoping. "I suppose your argument is that whether or not we were thieves, he'd never settle for a sit-down job anyway." She groaned. "But I still think seven years old is rather young to decide his entire future."
"He'll never stay still in a normal school, Lizzy. And think of how his classmates would treat a boy whose parents might rob their families."
On and on they went. At one point I was starting to nod off, but I quickly snapped back to my senses. I couldn't take a nap when my future was at stake! If worst came to worst, I was planning to pretend to cry. Not sure if that would've worked, though. My parents can usually see right through me.
Finally, I heard someone kick the table. Mom. "You don't have to remind me, Peter. I know some people can be prejudiced." She almost spits out the last word.
"I know, I know. I'm just saying, he'd never fit in."
"I don't want him to be raised without options. He needs to at least learn some regular subjects."
"You could always home-school him a bit. You've been doing that practically since he was born."
"I have, haven't I?" She was coming around; I knew it.
"And Hanso's resourceful," Dad said cheerfully. I could tell he was charming her, and I was glad I had my door closed. "If, in the future, he really wants to do something else, he's not going to let anything stop him." Mom sighs again, a defeated one this time, and I know I'm finally going to join the Thieves' Guild.
"I should probably blame you for this," I heard Mom say.
"Excuse me?" Dad asked, amused. "What did I do?"
"He inherited too much of your 'adventurous spirit'."
A laugh. "And yours."
Entry 3: First Day
The first day of training is pretty interesting, I guess, and Mom probably expects me to write about it.
Joining the Thieves' Guild is kinda difficult if you're an outsider. I mean, they can't just let anyone in. Petty criminals who don't know what they're doing at all are kicked out before they can even try to nick a neopoint. You have to be really, really good.
It's a different thing for the children of the members of the Thieves' Guild or recruits. We're in if we want to be, and we get some training besides. I wasn't sure how that worked until today—all I knew was that the adult recruits were separated from the kids. I can understand that. Must be pretty embarrassing to study with children who're less than half their age.
The moment I finally walked through the door of the Thieves' Guild was scary.
Half the men – most of them the scar-faced ones I was talking about before – looked up when I entered, eyeing me suspiciously. I was glad Mom insisted I hold her hand, though I didn't tell her that. She led me a huge maze of corridors, and I made sure to keep track of the path. She stopped at the entrance of a small room. "Well," she said, in a strangely choked voice, "this is it."
"Yep." I looked down.
"I suppose you don't want to be seen with me?"
"Well, it would be kind of embarrassing."
"Don't sugar-coat it, honey."
We both smirked. She gave me a kiss on the forehead, reminded me that she'd come to pick me up and under no circumstances was I to go to the Guild Hall alone, and then left. I walked in.
The first thing I noticed about my teacher – a Kyrii called Master Voleur – was that he was so young. Like, just-out-of-your-teens young. Then I noticed he had long red hair that waved loose around his shoulders. Then I noticed his earring. His earring. That was so cool. I wanted to ask him immediately where he got it, but I figured that Mom would probably lose it if I got my ears pierced, so I held my tongue.
Besides me, there were four other kids in the room. The first one that got my attention was the Bruce. There's no real way you can look like a thief, besides being scruffy and poor – in fact, the less you look like the thief the better – but this guy just didn't seem criminal material. He was small and slightly chubby, with huge round spectacles over his eyes. His expression seemed as if he smelled something bad. Maybe he thought there was going to be homework.
The next two were obviously Wocky twins, even if one was a girl and one was a guy. They both had brown hair and eyes the colour of dark chocolate. They even had matching leather jackets—though while the boy wore another shade of brown, the girl's seemed like pure cream. I wondered how in Neopia was she going to keep it clean. Despite their close resemblance, I kinda got different vibes from them. The guy had his back straight and looked intimidating. The girl sort of squeezed next to her brother, as if she was sticking with him for comfort. She looked almost scared.
But she smiled back when I gave her a grin.
The fourth, I didn't even notice until I literally bumped into her. She blended so well in the background, with her being a black Acara wearing black clothes. Just like a shadow. "Ow!" she snapped when I tripped on her. "Watch it!"
"Sorry," I said sheepishly.
She looked at me up and down, her steely grey eyes intimidating. I gulped. A frown appeared on her face, and she quickly turned back to the teacher. Something told me she didn't like what she saw.
"Right!" the teacher finally said. "Class. Um, welcome to the Thieves' Guild. I'm Master Voleur, and I'm you trainer."
"We already know that," the Bruce said dryly.
Master Voleur looked crushed. I glared at the Bruce, but he paid no mind. At least our trainer recovered fast. "Like you've probably guessed, I'm kinda new to the whole teaching business. Not that this is a teaching thing. We don't even have a classroom. Like you probably already know." He spared a glance at the Bruce, but moved on. "Most of the time, you'll spend your days going around the streets and observing the thieves and guards already there. Pick up tips. See what works. When you feel ready enough, go ahead and try it out for yourself."
"What will you do?" the Bruce asked rudely.
He held up his hands. "I'm more of your guide than your teacher, really. I'm here if you want to ask some questions. Once and a while, we will have to gather 'round so I can teach you some basic skills, but that's about it."
"Are we going to the marketplace today?" The Bruce questioned.
Master Voleur frowned. "No."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"Um." He looked around helplessly, cornered. It was clear he didn't think this through.
"Maybe you should show us around, sir," a voice said. The Wocky girl. I grinned at her again, and she offered up another hesitant smile. "I mean, most of us have already looked around already"- not me, Mom was hell-bent in keeping me away from the Guild for as long as possible -"but it'd be nice to get an official tour, right?"
"Of course!" Master Voleur jumped at the chance. "Right. Our headquarters for this Thieves' Guild is in a system of caves, as I'm sure you're aware of." Another glance at the Bruce. "Because of this, we have a lot more room than we need; but we've managed to use the space that we have wisely. Come on." We followed him out.
He began identifying rooms, pointing at one hall as a place where people who can't afford a home stay, and one room being a simulation for escape training. He even pointed out a small arena – impressive – so we could practice fighting, which all thieves were required to learn. He skimmed through a tiny store, a meeting place, and a medical room. I noticed the Bruce's eyes lingered on the last one a little.
Once, we skipped a doorway entirely. Thinking he forgot it, I asked, "What's in there?"
Our trainer frowned. He looked at the room as if it held a sad memory. "It's the Death Room."
"The what now?" My parents never said anything about killing people!
"A memorial room," the Acara girl, the one who I bumped into earlier, elaborated. "That's just a nickname."
"Memorial? What's the memorial for?"
She blinked. "A long time ago, the Guild was split into two factions—one that supported Galem Darkhand, and one that supported Kanrik. At one point, there was a four-way struggle between the Bringer of the Night – long story – the Boris, and the two sides of the Thieves' Guild. A lot of people died. The Guild Leader, Kanrik, had their names written up there as a kind of monument." She arched an eyebrow at me questioningly, but didn't say anything. Didn't matter. From the slightly weary looks of everyone else in the room, it was obvious that they've already heard this story.
I blame Mom.
"That's not all, though," she said, after a pause. "They also wrote names of the people there that got killed by guards."
"Wait, what?"
"It doesn't happen anymore," Master Voleur said, hurrying us away from the room. "Guards mostly limit themselves to locking us up now."
"Doesn't stop them from being cruel," the Acara girl muttered.
"Not all of them," I felt the need to pipe up. She snorted, and I frown. "It's true."
"What, and you were all buddy-buddy with one?"
"Well…she's really more my parents' friend than mine. She is a grown-up." Summer Vines, her name was; a yellow Zafara with bright green eyes. I remember I used to love playing with her. Everyone was gaping at me now, but once I started, I thought I might as well continue. "She used to come over sometimes, and my parents would let her watch me when they were busy," I explained.
She really was nice. Don't know what happened to her lately, though—a few years back, she simply stopped coming on visits. I remember once asking Dad why. He'd stiffened and said she was somewhere else, I guess on an overseas trip or something. She's probably back by now, but maybe she's busy.
The Acara girl stared at me for one minute. Then she rolled her eyes. "I don't believe you."
"What? But-"
"Guards are fanatic zealots who use the law so that they could bully people of the kingdom," she told me. "They want to hurt people and not get arrested for it. Worse than some of the thugs in our Guild, I think; at least they're not hypocrites."
"Hey, wait a second. Not all of them are like that."
"Oh, and I suppose your imaginary friend is different?"
"She's not imaginary! She's real." Even to me, that sounded weak.
"Or you're just an attention-seeking brat," she stated calmly.
I saw red. I wanted to punch her – at the moment, I didn't really care about the rule of not hitting girls – but Master Voleur grabbed my shoulder. I began struggling. "Stop," he ordered. His voice sounded so firm and commanding that I froze. He eyed the two of us warily. "Are you actually going to fight on whether guards are evil or not?" That was one way of putting it. Made us sound really stupid. Naturally, we didn't answer.
"Miss Halvard, Mr Laron is correct," Master Voleur said after a while. "Not all guards are evil. Some are like that, yes, but so are many thieves. Don't judge them." Again neither of us answered. He glared at us. "I've half a mind to call your parents."
My mouth felt dry. Mom would kill me if she knew, and Dad would be disappointed. Even the Acara's eyes widened twice their size.
"Sir, I don't think you need to do that," said the Wocky girl nervously. "It's just the first day. And they didn't really do anything, right?"
Master Voleur's eyes narrowed. "Just this once," he said, "I let this go." Probably because the Wocky helped him out earlier. I owe her one.
The Acara girl glowered at me for the rest of the meeting.
When it was finally over, Master Voleur instructed us to come back there tomorrow so he could explain a few more things to us. Apparently, he made lesson plans during our tour. He chatted to us a little longer, and said that he was glad to be our trainer. He was blatantly lying. I looked back from the doorway once and saw him slumped against the wall, looking utterly relieved that his first teaching session was finished.
Just as I was exiting the room, I saw the twins going off on their own. I caught up to them. "Hey!"
They both froze. "Hey," the girl said to me back. She smiled first this time.
"Um. Hi. I'm Hanso Laron. Thanks for sticking up to me," I told her. I didn't really know what to say to her brother. "I would've been dead for sure if you didn't, so, yeah." I didn't have that much experience talking to other kids. Again, it was because of my over-protective Mom. Thinking that a simple thank-you wasn't enough, I dug into my pocket, finding two lollipops. I offered it to them. "Want it?"
Maybe I shouldn't have done that.
Their eyes immediately darted to the candy, staring at them like they were some kind of treasure. I was about to hold them out when the twins both backed away. "We mustn't. We mustn't. We mustn't," the girl chanted, her back pressed against the wall and taking deep breaths.
I blinked. "Uh…"
"Put it away!" her brother barked. It was the first time I heard him speak. I hastily stuffed it back in my pocket, and they both visibly relaxed. "Trust us," he said. "You do not want us to eat candy."
"Sorry." I had no idea why sweets upset them so much – maybe some kind of allergy? – but I didn't want to upset them. The girl did help me, after all.
She laughed a little. "Not your fault, I guess." She twirled a strand of her hair that fell out from her ponytail. "I'm Juliet Capulet," she said, introducing herself. She gestured towards her brother. "And this is Julius."
I focused back on her name. "Wait, Juliet Capulet? Like-"
"Yeah. Like the play." She put her hands on her hips. "Just so you know, I'm not in any immediate danger of killing myself for true love."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said, smirking at her.
"Sorry I was a little nervous earlier. I…um, I tend to get jumpy. Especially because of what happened last year."
"Which was?"
Her brother, Julius, frowned. "You really don't know?"
"No. My mom's kind of protective of me," I grumbled. "She didn't want me to learn anything about the Thieves' Guild before now."
"I'm not gonna say, if you don't mind," Juliet said, nervous again. "It wasn't a happy experience."
"Okay…" I paused for a moment. "So you've been around the Guild before?"
"Practically lived here," she confirmed. "Our family's pretty high up in the Council."
"Do you know any of the others?"
The twins looked at each other. "We know about Razor Medici," she informed me. Her brother stayed silent. I guess she did most of the talking for them, despite her being the less calm one. "That's the Bruce earlier."
"The guy who tormented Master Voleur?"
Even Julius chuckled. Juliet continued. "Um, yeah. Rumour has it that he doesn't really want to be here. Rather go off and study medicine, apparently. There was a whole fight of it last winter, and his mother won." And now we're stuck with him.
"And the other girl? The one who wants to kill me?"
"She doesn't want to kill you," Juliet assured me. "Maybe just beat you up or something."
"Gee, that's a real comfort."
Her lips twitch upwards, but she fights to keep her smile down this time. "We've never seen her before, either—which is weird, since we at least know most of the kids who're here."
"Probably another case of an overprotective parent," I said.
"And yet," Julius mused, catching my attention, "she knows a lot about the Guild more than a lot of newbies do. Just thinking out loud," he said. "I guess she could've always read it up or something, though I don't know what kind of book that has any information on the Guild that hasn't been burned."
I'm going to have to hide my journal.
"We can always ask her," Juliet reasoned.
"Somehow, I don't think she's the sharing type," I said.
Juliet shrugged. "Then the one thing we really know for sure is that her name is Kayley Halvard. She introduced herself before you got there."
"Uh-huh. Right." I shake my head. "To sum things up, in my first day of training I've found out I'm really ignorant of thief stuff, annoyed a guy who doesn't want to be here, irritated a teacher and almost got into trouble with my parents, and made an enemy of a scary Acara girl." I sighed with a realization. "Most of the class hates me."
Just then, a lady called after them. Julius immediately sprinted away, like it was automatic. Juliet gave me one last smile before she left. "Not all of us, Hanso."
