Birds of a Feather (Open)

It didn't take long for Teek to finish clearing the rest of the main showroom, but he wasn't quite done yet. It wasn't uncommon for jewelers to keep some of their more expensive items hidden away in back store rooms or private offices, usually locked away, why not take a little extra time to sweep the backrooms, the really tedious part of the job was behind him after all. Ever so stealthily, Teek would make his way towards the nearby hallway leading to the back rooms of the building. The first was indeed a store room, but one filled with junk rather than anything valuable, old furniture and cases mostly, with a few other odds and ends stuck here and there. The next door led to the basement, a no go obviously, that left the staircase at the end of the hall and a final door across from it. Oddly enough, the door to the last room hadn't been closed, Teek barely gave it a passing thought though, the man had merely forgotten to shut it before retiring for the night. And so he would continue to silently move along, quickly rounding the corner and slipping into the room.

Too quickly in fact, so quickly that by the time it registered in his mind that he was not alone in the downstairs portion of the building, he'd already smashed right into the person, whom had apparently been leaving and crouched over lightly as he was. Their heads would collide with a sickening thud noise, Teek crashing backwards with a cry as pain shot through his head, stars filling his vision. He and the other person had made a terrible clatter, and moments later one could hear a commotion going on upstairs, the clear voice of a man shouting downstairs, followed by the creak of said man descending them. If that wasn't bad enough, one could hear the sound of a blade being taken from it's sheath. Teek didn't bother trying to figure out who he'd run into, or why they were there, in fact he didn't say anything at all to the person, rather he'd immediately scramble to his feet and make for the backdoor. The Argonian had no intentions of squaring off with the owner of the store, things could get messy and any patrolling guards outside could easily hear the commotion, as their patrol routine took them right past the front doors. Running was still an option however, even though the job might have been botched, there was still a good chance Teek could slip away, the items he'd boosted from the main room would still fetch quite a hefty sum, enough to be worth the effort anyways. He'd have to be quick though, he could already hear the muffled voice of the man's wife upstairs yelling for the guards off the balcony, and Teek wouldn't have long before a few of them came running.

Teek's escape would be roughly cut short before he could even clear the building. As the reptilian reached out for the handle of the door, eager to yank it open and disappear into the city, it would fling open and smash him right in the snout, as if an aching head wasn't bad enough. He was caught off guard enough, and hit hard enough, to be knocked backwards though, fortunately the only thing that had been knocked out were his senses for a moment. The daze gave the two guards more than enough time to pounce on him though. Unlike his fellow thief however, Teek wouldn't try to fight back or escape, better to be taken away in manacles then get a sword through the gullet. As Teek was hauled to his feet, he'd actually get to see the person he'd ran into, not to mention hear them. Obviously an Altmer woman, and a rather mouthy one from the sounds of it. The two guards that had busted through the front to nab her were all to happy to rough her up for her trouble though, even going so far as to shackle her wrists behind her, where as Teek's wrists would be shackled in front of him, the Argonian remaining silent as he and the elf were roughly escorted from the building, the owner yelling all the while. A patrol must have literally been mere yards away when all the commotion occurred, no way two of Anvil's finest could have made it to the back door to cut off his retreat that fast otherwise, a botched situation compounded by bad luck in the end. Probably a good thing honestly, the owner seemed more inclined to just gut them on the spot rather than try to catch them alive...

Teek actually had taken notice of the elf's glare his way before they got moving, as if the whole thing had been his fault, the reptilian shared no such anger towards her however, in all honesty he found it a little humorous, what were the chances two thieves would target the same business on the same night at around the same time? He'd had many unusual things happen to him on jobs before, but this scenario was a first.

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It didn't take long for the group of guards to get their two new prisoners back to the castle dungeons. The pair's weapons had been confiscated on the spot, now in the bowels of the small prison, the guards would take the liberty of stripping the two of everything else on their person, including their clothing. If the search had gotten any more invasive, it would have progressed to the 'cavity' variety, fortunately it hadn't gotten that far, but the pair would endure the embarrassment of being stripped to their skivvies before being given some rather well worn sack-cloth clothing. Once the pair was redressed, their gear and the stolen goods locked away as 'evidence', they'd of course be interrogated. Nothing extravagant, the usual series of questions you'd receive when you got pinched, with a bit of roughing up if you didn't cooperate. It wasn't Teek's first time answering these questions, though it had been awhile since he'd been in this situation. Of course the reptilian would give them false information as far as his name and place of residence went, though he provided believable substitutes and would cooperate without complaint for the duration of the entire process, something the Altmer woman maybe wasn't so likely to do. Once their captors had collected all the information they desired, the pair would be herded together to hallway containing the actual cells. As they walked down the corridor, they'd be able to clearly see a few of the other dungeon's denizens. Some were like them, rather fresh looking by all accounts, others looked like they hadn't been out in years. Teek knew that once the total value of all the stolen goods they'd snatched was tallied up, they'd be getting a hefty sentence, but the Argonian had no intentions of serving any time.

The guards escorting them would eventually come to a stop outside of an empty cell, at which point Teek and the elf would promptly be shoved inside, the iron gate being closed behind them and locked before the guards went on their way, not even bothering to remove the pair's shackles, though a bit earlier they'd at least re-restrained the elf's wrists in front of her. The cell itself was as dingy as one could expect in a dungeon, musty and small, nothing in it but a pile of straw and an old blanket in one corner, and a bucket in the other. Teek would let out a light sigh as he regarded the manacles on his wrists with a frown, the iron chains linking one cuff to the other rattling lightly in the process. After a few moments though, the reptilian's gaze would shift over to his cell mate, and oddly enough a smile would creep across his snout. "So...meet new people this way very often?" Clearly a poor attempt at a joke, Teek wouldn't have been surprised to find the woman still angry at him, hopefully she was calm enough to not try and strangle him with her restraints though.

Teek had found the woman's antics thoroughly entertaining, but his smile would quickly falter when he got a good look at her face in the dim light from a nearby torch outside the cell. Quite the shiner she'd received for her attitude, and the Argonian was willing to bet she'd have a few other bruises on her person in a few days. While he genuinely felt sorry for her, and believed such force against a restrained woman, even a mouthy one, was entirely uncalled for, she had done it to herself in many respects. Teek had complied promptly to every command he'd been given, never offering any protest, verbal or otherwise. For his trouble, he hadn't been mistreated too badly, besides the usual down talking he received for being a 'dirty thief' of course, then again she was a High Elf in Imperial territory... Her mistreatment could also have stemmed from her racial origins, if to a lesser extent than her lip, couldn't be helped now however.

Teek also couldn't help but notice this Altmer had a few features that weren't often seen among her kind, her red hair and paler skin being the most prominent, she also didn't strike him as being quite as lithe as most Altmer women were, though she was far from being bulky by any stretch of the word, very easy on the eyes despite her differences from the average Altmer. Even her voice had it's own unique accent to it, clearly discernible as she replied to his little comment. "I'll admit, I didn't anticipate one of the risks I'd have to be on the lookout for tonight would be running into a 'coworker'. This was a first for me." The reptilians smile would return, and he'd shrug mildly to her observations. "I've called the moldy straw of a jail cell 'bed' many a night in my life, but the last time I was locked up was many years ago. Before today I liked to think I was a bit too skilled to be caught anymore, fate wished to issue me a reminder it would seem. I suppose it's good to be brought back down to Nirn once in awhile though, getting an ego in this line of work is never a good thing." Teek would sigh lightly and rub behind one of his horns, his gaze shifting out beyond their cell for a few moments before shifting it back to his cellmate, his smile returning. "Anyways, my name is Teek, and while I wish it were under better circumstances, it is no less a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mrs...?" The Argonian would bow politely as he introduced himself, just because he was clad in glorified rags and in a grimy cell didn't mean he had to give up common courtesy and good mannerisms.

Once properly introduced (provided she would do the same, whether with a fake name or a variation of her real one as he had), Teek would promptly have a seat on the floor, his back to the wall of the cell.  "So, if you don't mind me being nosy, are you with the Guild or freelance?"

Teek would smirk at the elf's shared desire to keep their identities fairly vague. "A pleasure, Cass." Her comment on some acquaintances of hers needing a lesson like this would get a chuckle from the reptilian, though like any gentleman, he wouldn't pry as to whom in particular she may have been talking about. It wasn't entirely impossible that they weren't acquainted with the same people, especially if she did a lot of business with the Guild. As far as jail treatments went, the Argonian had to agree with his cellmate, this wasn't all that bad, they had bedding and a bucket which is more than some Imperial jails and prisons had, not to mention they hadn't broken anything on either of them, her black eye was pretty mild considering what all the guards could get away with within these walls. "Never been trussed up like that, worst I ever endured was a metal collar and a bit of chain connected to the wall. It was a bit to tight and by the time they took it off a week later it had left a nasty rubbing, took another week for that to fully heal." Teek found Cass's rather complicated reply to a what he would have believed was a simple yes or no question to be quite humorous, but would avoid doing little more than smirking, if only not to agitate her anymore than she already was given the situation. "I see." Was all the reptilian would say in response before the question was turned around and directed at him, which he would nod lightly to. "They arrange most of my work yes, though from time to time I do an independent job, tonight was one such attempt." Unfortunately for Teek, this meant that the Guild didn't know where he was, and since he didn't have enough gold to even attempt to grease the palms that needed greasing, he'd be stuck here for at least after he could get a letter sent out, if he could get one sent out any time soon. This may have not been a problem if there wasn't going to be a full moon in 3 days...

Cass's follow up question regarding the guards rooting through their gear would get a mild shrug from the Argonian. "I'd be surprised if they didn't put it off for a few hours, if not waiting for the day shift to take over and do it themselves. I'll stick around till the shift change at least, it should be quite easy to slip away then. I thought they were going to get a little to 'friendly' and find my holdout..." With a smirk, the Argonian would shift his jaw around a bit, clearly doing something with his tongue before the end of a lockpick would poke out from between his lips, Teek would then promptly slurp it back in and stash it away once more. It certainly wasn't the most comfortable place to hold a pointy piece of metal, but it was an effective hiding spot at least, it wasn't as if the guards would be too keen on sticking their hands in a mouth full of sharp teeth to check it in detail. "Carrying something they might wish to have a word with you over?" Teek would inquire rhetorically.

To her comment about wishing to be an Argonian, Teek would merely smile and shrug noncommittally "Well, we can't all be perfect unfortunately." Teasing of course, he may have had an ego at times, but it wasn't really that inflated. As Cass went on to mention she'd likely get a beating for whatever it was that was in her possession, it got Teek all the more curious about what exactly it was. Of course he wouldn't ask, as with so many things, it wasn't any of his business and would have likely come off as a bit rude. If he had to guess, he'd have bet it was something relating to the Thalmor, that would have been an easy way to earn the ire of an Imperial, or rather a jail full of them. That being said, Teek wouldn't have believed her if she'd told him she was a Thalmor agent, since when would those high and mighty elves 'stoop' to common thievery after all? Come to find out it was something she'd stolen, and Teek was more likely to believe that, if the item or items in question were indeed related to the Thalmor, Cass had boosted them. Teek personally tried to avoid any jobs that involved the Thalmor, whether they were on the receiving end of his skill set or his benefactors. Truthfully, it made him more paranoid when they were backing him, as he always feared a proverbial (and literal for that matter) dagger in the back, or lightning bolt up his arse when he'd completed the job. Realistically, being in the thieves guild afforded a solid deal of protection, but a good thief was always wary and on guard.

The Argonian found himself smirking as the elf weaved her little spell and unlocked one of her manacles, a handy bit of magic that must have been, if he'd been more interested in magic he may have tried to pick up more than what few spells he knew, but as it stood his other non-magical talents filled the gap just fine. "Manacles are a good start, but do you know enough to unlock cell doors or evidence chests?" Teek wouldn't have been surprised if she could unlock their cell door, but he'd have been most impressed if her lock-busting magic was strong enough to crack more complex locks, such as those most often found on evidence chests, even he often took several minutes to crack those open.