To spare the wait, our author will tell the story of the thief first. On a cold day in December in The Land of Frost and Shade, with her golden cloak sporting the signature crest of her land, Vriska Serket made her way to the castle. If luck was in her favor (as it usually was), the elected people to chose who would be granted the duty of the royal fashion advisor would examine the designs she had with her, and have no questions. If not, she would be carried to jail due to fraud. Yes, the townswoman had acquired a few of her friend's best designs for applying in the said kingdom, being granted consent for once. It was quite a strain to convince Kanaya, who had a habit of changing her mind. Vriska had to resort to using only subtle mind control, although not proud of it. If her hard work failed to pay off, it was quite likely that Miss Serket would go into a fit of rage. Although, the worries were nonexistent in her mind, only confidence in her manipulative abilities.

Vriska had arrived at the castle in a short amount of time. The walls had a clinquant aura about them, seeing the castle up close was chimerical for anyone outside of it's walls. The cerulean blood gazed upon it with a hint of distaste, not for the castle itself, but for the residents who take refuge there. In the slums of the Land of Frost and Shade, rumors had been floating around about royal members. Quite a bit, actually. The men of the castle were very weak and fragile, which was contemporary to her. The weak never survived in her land, regardless of gender. Vriska could not comprehend why they were alive, much less dwelling in a castle.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (if no one is familiar with this saying, it means the location that we are about to be faced with. In this case, the castle.), the royal advisor was running around in a fretful daze, confirming that Sir John was looking at his finest. He was a very strict and pompous man, although lanky and quite short in size, almost rivaling Sir English. He was the man who made the job posting, and was going to choose wether or not the designer would be adequate to receive the position of a was never one to be trifled with, inspecting everything from inside out, deeming Vriska sure to be caught if he stayed in that place. But, Sir John, being interested on who was going to be introduced to castle life, consistently pestered the advisor, cracking the usual calm demeanor of the man, landing John the duty of allowing the applicant into the castle or not. So, there the boy sat on one side of the table, eagerly awaiting the presence of someone (who was a bit late).

After a few more minutes, the boy began to grow impatient. He knew someone was bound to show up, and not wanting to let them down, he stayed sitting there. But boredom overcame him, and he found that it was impossible for him to sit still without becoming rowdy. Fishing into his pocket, he pulled out a rubber ball, with the substances that made up the ball granting it to bounce. He made a game of throwing the ball against each wall with his eyes closed, and catching it in the palm of his hand. John barely got a few bounces of the ball in, before realizing at one moment it failed to recoil, deciding to crack open an eye. He was faced with Vriska Serket standing there, one hand holding her eye that did not seem to have a black fabric patch over it.

Vriska Serket, unable to see who the culprit was, swatted at the air in a small fit of blind rage. She had a creeping suspicion that whoever had the audacity to preform such a stunt was sporting a large smile, infuriating her all the more. While John did have a smile painted on his face, he was a bit curious as to who this girl was! There were very few exiles on his side of the land, especially not one that looked so similar to a human! The fact was surreal to the boy, often quite oblivious to the past hardships of said exiles, but still caring enough for the accidental strike to the face with a ball.

Ignoring her fury swipes, he chimed in, a bit of worry in his tone, "woah, are you okay? i'm so sorry!" John put on an apologetic smile, trying to suppress a giggle before sitting back down. His speech was less proper than expected, and he seemed downright silly, in a boyish manner. Vriska frowned, stumbling over to the table with the dresses. Post to sitting down on the opposite side of him, she rubbed at her eye, regaining eyesight and tilting her head up. The troll carefully took the dresses off of her arm, smoothing them out across the table. But John, he had a hand cupped over his mouth, giggles escaping every so often. Although it was heard by Vriska, she refused to look up in fear of lashing out. That would get her in more of a predicament than fraud, and she didn't prefer to cause elaborate fiascos that were contrary to her own benefit.

As she did lay the dresses out, John examined her. The horns and gray skin were peculiar enough, but her eye patch that covered her left eye was downright strange to him. he presumed it must have been an accident. John checked his watch, she was quite late, the registered time for an applicant during the interview was almost up. The brief minutes they had left may be enough to perceive the designs, if they were lucky, gather her name. Vriska took the time out of the interview purposely, of course. If she had appeared at the scheduled time for the meeting, her previous faults in Alternia would be unearthed for all residents in the castle to know about. Although the meeting was purposely ephemeral, the designs needed to be examined posthaste.

There the boy sat, a mute stupor about him- perhaps in awe at the intricate designs and arduous work that was most likely put into the ballgowns. He was never one for dresses and formal wear, but nonetheless intrigued him. Although Vriska, having been standing by for quite a long interval, had gotten impatient. Intrusively waving a hand in front of his face, she spoke up, "Excuse me? Are you even awake here? I have shit to do!" At that sentence, John bolted up to attention, a bit of stupefaction on his face. Members of the castle were not usually treated in such a matter, anyone who dared to would be whisked away to the nearest jail cell. This was another validation as to why Vriska looked upon all castle members as haughty, though Sir Egbert was quite the opposite.

Although I, the author, am required to tell you significant details to our heroes and heroins' lives, the show must go on. We must not dawdle on the astonished look on Sir Egbert's face, or childish reasons as to why Vriska hates royalty for long, for we have other business to attend to. I can guarantee that Vriska had been granted the employment she was hoping for, detesting the royal castle a bit less after her encounter with the boy. She had a small infatuation with his boyish ways and naive attitude, he seemed the least pompous of the castle dwellers in her perspective.

No doubt murmurs were heard in the halls as Vriska walked down with her shoulders held high, the source of them the castle workers. She had but only a day to pack up her things before heading into a new occupation. One that normally wouldn't require theft, although she may preform the crime anyway. Next we shall cover Miss Maryam's story, of her adventure in journeying to the opposite palace, of course. For these two actions are crucial for each character's stories to connect, and the major events to unfold.