The steady drizzle of rain plastered her brown hair to her face and soaked through most of her layers of clothing, which were thin and worn, patched in several places. She needed new clothes, as well as a bite and a warm drink. She turned down an already dark alleyway, made darker by the dismal night, and being relieved from the brunt of such weather, she lifted her gaze, seeing another figure walking in the opposite direction. She grinned.

Funds…such perfect timing.

She tilted her head down and continued walking, flexing the fingers of her left hand. Passing the figure, she carefully slipped two fingers into the stranger’s coat pocket, and delicately lifted a small purse of coins. Suddenly, she felt her foot catch on a cobblestone and stumbled, dropping her prize with small _italic_clink. Horrified, she paused for the smallest of seconds and tried to keep going.

“Stop where you are!”

Terror rose in her like an icy tide.