Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
View
19th of May, 1883

Guilt

by Maelie Arsenault

Fox was out early in the evening. Scouting the south ward to see if she could catch Leonessa’s gang coming out of wherever they were hiding in the city. She heard plates smashing and shouting from a nearby tenement and went to look.
 
Through the windows of Nel’s apartment, she watched the enforcers smash Nel’s places. Awkward shouting about her sister, Nel throwing pouches of her hard-earned gold to them, then the more painful process of taking stock of what had just happened. Fox sat down on the edge of a nearby roof, watching Nel stand in her apartment by herself while the enforcers joked to each other on the way out.
 
“Pathetic… why are so many people in this Steyfano forsaken organization pathetic losers.” She muttered as her eyes followed them down the road. “This stupid organization thinks Steyfano is their patron? More like Tanith.”

She turned her attention back to the window where she watched Nel stand amidst the destruction of her home, not sure what to do next for a moment. She wanted to jump down, slip through the window, and help her friend… but then she watched her expression as she cleaned up, the emotions pouring out of her in what she thought was solitude.
 
“If I go down there, she’ll wipe her tears and act like everything is okay.” So, Fox sat there and let Nel have her space to pour out the emotions of everything being decidedly not-okay. After she’d cleaned a bit, Nel headed out to take the children for supper. Fox stayed seated, staring through the window.
 
‘I’m… a part of this.’ She thought as she watched Nel’s slumped shoulders turn the corner. ‘But… I’m not like them. Am I? Is this… this is why Victor looked at me like that. I’m dangerous. I’m a thief. I take things from people.’ And for once, Fox felt a twinge of guilt. Her uncle and aunt had always balanced between them their thefts and their charities, but the girl they had taken in had recklessly charged forward into that world, always too many steps ahead to really learn the lessons.
 
Over the last few months, something had been scratching at the back of her mind. A sense of selfishness that came when the adrenaline and satisfaction of a job well done waned, and wealth was what was left. It’s why she spent it so fast, and yet, there was always more. Fox stole so much and so often that Maelie and Sareena could afford almost any luxury money could buy. But… there was something missing…
 
Everyone talked about charity for the South. There was money poised to help people, but Fox knew it’d never be enough… because none of this was about money. It was about power and control. Her heists had specifically avoided those kinds of targets, being about finesse and challenge. Power… that was what her mother had dealt in.
 
She shook her head and looked at the darkening sky. ‘Shit, that’s gonna bug me all night now…’ She trotted off across the rooftops, doing her best to stay focused on her hunt… but now with one more distracting thought lodged in her mind.

Continue reading...

  1. The Last Rule
    November 27th, 1882, - Novandria
  2. The Den
  3. Am I losing?
  4. A Close Call
  5. Plans
  6. New Toys
  7. Mistakes were made
  8. Too close to home
  9. Not like you.
  10. This City is Mine.
    February 6th, 1883
  11. Aimless?
    March 5, 1883 - Novandria
  12. The Game Begins
    February 13th, 1883
  13. Too much like You
    March 13, 1883
  14. Safer in Shadows
    April 3, 1883
  15. New Beginnings
    April 7th, 1883
  16. Ready to Run
    April 17th, 1883
  17. Home
    April 25, 1883
  18. Can you steal a heart?
    May 8th, 1883
  19. Trouble
    11th of May, 1883
  20. Heartbreak
    14th of May, 1883
  21. Hunter or Prey?
    16th of May, 1883
  22. Guilt
    19th of May, 1883
  23. Untrustworthy
    21st of May, 1883
  24. Why am I like this?
    25th of May, 1883
  25. Worthy
    8th of June, 1883
  26. The One She Left Behind
    13th June, 1883
  27. Annnd it's back...
    July 1st, 1883
  28. Learning to Fly
    July 4th, 1883
  29. Thrill of the Hunt
    July 29th, 1883
  30. From the Embers
    21st of August, 1883 // 1867
  31. Mother Knows Best
    16th of September, 1883
  32. A Snake, a Star, and a Fox
    25th of September, 1883, Novandria
  33. It wasn't him.
    28th of September, 1883, Novandria
  34. The New Blade
    13th of September, 1883
  35. Something Good
    October 31, 1883 - Novandria
  36. The wound that won't close
    18th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  37. Promise
    25th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  38. Fallen through the cracks
    6th of January, 1884 - Novandria
  39. Day to Night
    7th of January, 1884
  40. What's Left to the Shadows
    22nd of January, 1884, Novandria
  41. The World without Colour
    18th of February, 1884, Bellancourt, Montaigne,
  42. Seventeen Roofs
    26th of February, Novandria, Eisen
  43. Crossing the Board
    4th of March, 1884, Novandria, Eisen
  44. New Freedom
    May 4th, 1884
  45. Saved
    5th of May, 1884/16th of July, 1858

Find your way!

Resources

WHO WE ARE

LEGAL

Get the news

Listen to our Podcast

Our Allies

Dungeon Fog
Gold Ennie 2019 for Best Digital Aid
by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.042 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 00:53, Nov 15 2024