Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

Chapter 2: Complaints

Pale moonlight glinted off the cobblestone streets of Marr's Pass as three figures ambled down the darkened main street. The moved in a stealthy group until the eldest of the three spotted a barrel that seemed... special. Signaling to his moogle companion the two silently snuck away from their young leader.

Upon reaching the barrel the old man realized why he had been so drawn to it. The oaken container fairly reeked of striped apples.

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Bal Dat had been leader of the Striped Bandits for some time now. He was used to looking over his shoulder and finding his partners in crime missing, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

The cunning young Selkie had been nearly in front of his prize before he noticed his companion's absence. Turning on his heel and retracing his steps he found them. His old friend Meh Gaj sat on the ground and their loyal and crafty moogle Artemicion floated in a lazy circle above an open barrel. Both were absorbed in their task of stuffing their faces with as many apples as possible.

Bal's stomach rumbled as he watched the two, but he pushed his thoughts of 'Save some for me' aside and took up his fearless leader persona. "Look at you two! Pigging out like goblins on a helpless caravan... Did you forget why we're here?"

"Yeah, yeah, but I don't see why we need the crystal in the first place" Artemicion said, pausing to nibble on an apple, "We already have a crystal of our own, and it's not like we can move this one by ourselves, kupo."

"Besides, I thought we promised we would never kill. Wouldn't people be hurt if we stole their town crystal?" Meh protested, supporting his moogle pal. They hadn't liked this plan when Bal had suggested it, and they didn't like it now. It seemed low; it required conduct that was totally against the code of thieves. (Anything that belongs to others actually belongs to us.)

"We already discussed this, we're not going to take it anywhere. We don't have to carry it and no one will be hurt, so you can stop worrying. We just have to scare them a bit, and then we'll have all the gil and striped apples we could want."

"But Bal, we already have all the apples we need right here." Meh pointed to the barrel and the pile of apple cores at his feet.

Bal groaned. That old coot could be so frustrating sometimes, what with his logic and practicality. He wasn't really cut out for the bandit life. Sure, he knew that stolen food always tasted better and stolen gold shined brighter, but he didn't get that it was all about the risk. (And the greed, don't forget greed)

Yes, they could have taken the single barrel of apples and fled into the night. They'd never be caught and they'd have a nice little feast. But Bal had a plan. A daring scheme that would net them several thousand gil and at least 10 times as many apples as were in that barrel.

"Come on." Bal said with a sigh, "We've got to stay on-task." Sauntering back towards the crystal he pulled a few large vials of toad oil from his pack along with a bolt of white silk, confident that behind him his partners were doing the same.

A/N: Hey looky! I actually looked up the names this time. And I would like to apologize to Artemicion for running him down with my wagon. I'm sorry, but 100,000+ gil was too much to give up, even to see the end of your story. At least you got to live your dream.