The hooded man awoke with a stretch then pulled himself off the armchair. He picked up the loose floorboard and retrieved his spoils from the previous night. It was then he heard the creek of the stairs and turned to see a young man with messy brown hair coming down the stairs.
He wore a tank top beneath his brown waistcoat, trousers and boots of a similar colour along with a pair of long gloves. A pair of goggles hung around his neck.
He watched the young man stop at the bottom of the stairs as he stretched and yawned. He quickly noticed he was being watched, "good morning Right"
"Mornin' Archie, ya sleep well?"
Archie nodded as he made his way over to the messy workstation. A small white owl flew down the stairs and landed on the small perch. She puffed up her feathers as she got comfortable.
"Mornin' Snowy" Right said, Snowy hooted from her preach.
Right turned his attention back to the stairs to see Sven now standing there. His shirt now under a brown apron and tucked neatly into his trousers. He had a pair of brown gloves and boots on although his hair was still a bit of a mess.
"Mornin' Sven"
"Morning big brother… morning Archie" he yawned then made his way over to Snowy, "morning Snowy"
Snowy hooted then fluttered onto Sven's shoulder, landing on it and nuzzling his cheek, "love you too" he giggled as he made his way to the kitchen. He took out a few berries and some bread then sat at the table, placing the berries down. Snowy hooted happily then fluttered onto the table and begun to eat.
"Welcome Snowy, enjoy" Sven smiled then turned his attention to Right, "how was your 'walk'"
"My 'walk' was good, found some wee gems on my way back" Right grinned
"And no one saw you… right?" Sven asked, looking concerned.
"No one saw me, don't worry Sven"
"That's fine then, the last thing we need are the King's Knights kicking down our door"
The door then flung open and a man with blonde and pink tipped hair stood in the doorway. His top hat, ladder glasses, cape, tank top, netted fingerless gloves, trousers and boots were all pink.
"Hey guys, what's up?!" the strange man asked.
Right grinned then sprung into action, grabbing the oddly dressed male and pinning them to the ground.
"Hey Righty~ Nice morning, huh?" he chirped, unfazed by Right's actions.
Right sighed, "Randy, it's you… did anyone see you?"
"Course not, Righty~"
"Good, what are you doing here anyway? Didn't you have some hoity toity thing with your dad the day?"
"I ditched, he was too busy drooling over the countess to notice. Besides, I came to see my best buddies and to tell you of news from town, if you get off me first"
"Oh… right… news from town?" Right got off Randy and helped his eccentric friend back up onto his feet.
Randy fixed his hat and glasses as he followed Right inside, "yeah, something about a break in at the castle?"
Sven suddenly bolted over and stood beside Randy, "You said no one saw you!" he snapped.
Right chuckled, "well no one else saw me. A break in at the castle you say?" he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah… you okay?" Randy asked, rather concerned.
"Aye… I'm fine. Didn't get owned by a frying pan at the back of the head last night" Right sheepishly replied.
Randy and Sven looked at each other. Sven looked confused while Randy was trying his best not to laugh.
"What? It's not funny! I got owned by the Prince!" Right snapped.
"You, the self proclaimed King of Thieves, got owned by the Prince?!" Randy burst out in a fit of laughter.
"Since when did the Prince own a frying pan?" Sven asked, still very much confused.
"Hell would I know! But I'm gonna teach him a lesson tonight" Right proclaimed.
"Unless you plan to pull a frying pan out of your ass, I do not see what kind of lesson you can teach him" Sven stated.
"I dunno... er… let thieves steal your shit?" Randy said, "you said the weirdest things, Sven"
"YOU TWO AREN'T HELPLING! I'M GONNA TEACH HIM WITH MY DAGGER IN HIS BACK!" Right yelled, causing the two to flinch.
"You… want to kill him? Over a frying pan?" Sven asked, even more confused.
"Then again you don't know the full story" Randy pointed out as he tried to calm Right down.
"Of course not, I don't wanna kill him over a stupid frying pan… wait, what do you mean full story?" Right asked Randy.
Randy sighed, thankful Right had calmed down, even a little. "Yeah, something about a threatening letter. Can't say much else…" he looked over at Archie who had become eerily silent ever since he had arrived, "you okay Archie?"
Archie looked at Randy in awe, he always looked this way whenever their strangely dressed friend came to visit. He looked at Randy dreamily until he heard them address him by name, snapping him back to reality.
Randy tilted his head, "are you okay? Or are you thinking of you airship?"
Sven looked over at Archie, he didn't quiet understand what was going on. He preferred to study Alchemy, so much easier than whatever was going on Archie's head. Not that he wanted to know.
"M-my airship? Oh yeah, my airship, the one I'm gonna build someday. I'm very much thinking about my airship and nothing else" Archie giggled nervously.
"Threatening letter? I didn't see any letter, I mean what letter?" Right asked.
"First off, you admitted to being in the Prince's room so no playing dumb. Secondly, its some rumour the Prince received a threat note, some guy wanting to kill him and the King. Possibly to take over the Kingdom or something, could be why he was so jumpy" Randy explained, "sadly that's all I know, father interrupted my conversation with the servants. Something about its being too unsightly for one of my noble birth to be friendly with those beneath me. He'd have a heart attack if he saw me with you guys"
"That doesn't explain the frying pan" Sven pointed out.
"Aye, that does explain a lot but, like Sven said, it doesn't explain the frying pan"
Randy shrugged, "it's small and easy to wield, took you off guard"
Sven sighed and made his way out back.
"Aye, it did" Right nodded, then noticed Sven leaving, "where are you going?"
"I am going to check on Bess then I am going to my alchemy. At least that makes sense" Sven stated.
Right sighed, "okay, don't you want to see what I got?"
Sven stopped at the door, "I will once I've given Bess her apple" and with that he headed out into the back garden.
"Alright Sven" Right opened up his leather pouch and dumped the contents onto the table.
Randy looked at Right's haul of coins and small jewels. Right looked over the gold and silver coins proudly. The small jewels glittered in the pile as Right looked chuffed with himself, despite the frying pan incident. He held up one of the jewels to the light, it was the same colour as Reginald's eyes. He suddenly found he couldn't stop thinking about him.
Randy watched Right admire the small sapphire. To him it looked as though his friend was possessed by the small jewel, that or he was calculating how many pints it could buy him down at the pub.
Right was mesmerised by the sapphire's beauty. He soon noticed Randy starring at him then turned to look at him, "what?"
"Nothing" Randy said.
Sven grabbed an apple from the tree on his was to Bess' makeshift stable. He saw Bess eating some hay, he picked up her brush on the way in. The brown Clydesdale horse neighs at Sven as soon as she saw him, she was happy to see her boy. Bess happily stood still as Sven gave her a brushed down before giving her the apple.
"Good Bess~ I hope you enjoyed your apple~" Sven said happily, earning him a nuzzle from the horse, "right, I have to see what big brother wanted to show me then I have studying to do"
Sven headed back into the house where he saw Archie once again in his strange, if not somewhat creepy, trance. He turned his attention away from his friend and back over to Right and Randy.
"So what did you want to show me, big brother?" Sven asked.
"I got a few silver and gold coins, and look at these jewels. Aren't they amazing?" Right chuckled with delight, very much chuffed with himself.
Sven walked over to have a closer look. He picked up a small ruby from the pile and held it up, "it's the same colour as your eyes"
Right watched Sven admire the small ruby, "oh aye, your right, they do look like my eyes. Why don't you keep that one, Sven? Think of it as a gift for being the best little brother I have ever had"
Sven gave Right a hug, "thank you big brother~"
It didn't take Sven long to forget how Right obtain the jewel. He just seemed happy to have been given a gift.
"Your welcome little brother" Right hugged his little brother back, "it's true, you are the best little brother I have" he held him close, making Sven smile. He had always felt safe in Right's arms.
"Awww, Righty being nice to baby bro~" Randy cooed
"What? Sven has been through alot and I need to protect him" Right told his friend.
"With your mussels and his brains, you two make the best bro combo" Randy said.
Right rubbed his face in Sven's blonde hair, "yeah, you got that right"
Snowy flew over to Sven and landed on his shoulder. She puffed up as she settled down. Right let Sven go the clapped his hands together.
"Who's up for a few pints at the tavern?" Right asked
"I guess I have time to go" Sven carefully placed the ruby in the pocket of his apron.
"I'll go~" Randy sang, "what about you, Archie?"
"Huh?" Archie snapped back out of another trance, "oh, I'll come too"
Right smiled and nodded. He headed out with his boys and they made their way to the local tavern. Right kept an eye on Sven as they walked through the streets, making sure no one caused him any trouble. Archie walked behind Randy, watching him make random chit chat with Right. As they got closer to the tavern, Sven saw someone and ran off ahead to greet them. He stopped in front of a rather large, muscular man.
"Good morning Sven, how are you?" the large man ruffled his hair.
"I'm doing okay Big Tong" Sven replied. He never understood why people had this tendency to ruffle his hair, it's just something he's gotten use to.
"That's great" Big Tong looked up to see the rest of the group, "good morning Right, Archie and… Randy? Wasn't expecting you here"
"Hey Big Tong, how's things? Did you hear what happened at the castle?" Randy asked.
"Yes, I did hear what happened at the castle. A thief broke into the Prince's chamber and got owned by a frying pan. Who gets owned by a frying pan?" Big Torn chuckled.
"Thief? Frying pan? All I heard was an intruder had broken in and ended up in the Prince's chamber" Randy stated, trying to act as though he had no idea who the intruder was, "guess you get more info than I do"
"Yes, intruder was what I meant to say"
"Right…" Randy wasn't too sure, it was clear to him Big Tong knew more than he was letting on, "hey we were just heading to the tavern. Wanna come or are you too busy?"
Big Tong looked at the time, "I'll come for a few drinks"
Randy let out a little cheer as they headed into the tavern.
