"Once a thief, forever a thief!" (1x1 with Mickey Adaptus)

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

Both batponies looked at him with some concern, but the colt stopped choking before they decided to do something about it. Gold simply pointed a fork at her brother and said flatly: "Language."

Second shrugged as he munched on a nother cut, and his ears perked slightly at he colt's question. He did, however, wait for his sister's slight nod before answering. "Well... bank robberies are high risk and sooo cliche. And really,how many of our kin may live in here, huh? It's not that easy to dress up as a pegasus to hide our identity. Nah, we don't do anything flashy like bank heists." Gold cut in. "we are more subtle, and wait after each hit for the storm to die out. Like that Museum we met in - we knew there was good money for a specific exhibit, and had a buyer before the heist. Now we do our day job for a while until the Police investigation slows down, and another good offer comes our way."

Second Wind took the lead now. "Our business allows us to manage on some basic level, thenight job is for savings mostly. So it's not like we have to do it, but it;s good money, and everypony sleeps better knowing they have a safety net of cash, right?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack nodded.

"I actually used to know a pony who participated in a big bank heist, of course, compared to you 2 their subtility was rather bad."

"But then again they were not much the type for sneaking, they were more of the direct approach, taking hostages while one of them tries to empty the vault."

He then sighed.

"But to keep the story short, they managed to succeed and escape, tough one of them made a bit of a blunder and got arrested, Celestia knows how charges he got after that attempt." he said.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

The twins nodded, and Gold looked with a hint of concern. "Those were your friends? Family?  Bank heists rarely succeed in the long run. Eventually they get caught. And risking lives of innocent ponies is just wrong. That's why we hit only in the night - we know the risk but want to avoid any collateral damage."

Second Wind was halfway through his slice. "That, and we feel better in the dark. Helps hide our identity too. I once tried to make pads for our hoofboots to lump the blame on griffons but... couldn't get the claws right. They didn't scratch the floor like real ones."

His sister snorted, amused. "He used to come up with ridiculous ideas like that all the time when we started out. Most didn't work anyway,  but it was fun to watch him tinker."

The stallion shrugged. "Somepony has to be the techpony in this business.  I also tinker with locks, make improvements and all, to get more bits legally."

The mare nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, Jack, I'll get a doc for you tomorrow. Obe that doesn't ask unnecessary questions."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"It was somepony I met on the streets, he is pretty well known in the underworlds of this city. He offers work to anypony who is poor or in a similar situation.

"Because I was at the time homeless and had no money, I was desperate, so I took one of his jobs. But when I was trying to fulfil mine, my cargo was somehow sabotaged, and as you can already guess he blamed me for being so careless, and he demanded that i pay for the damages that he suffered in order to compensate the money. I had been able to get amount a fair amount of bits, but that was far from enough. Trying to sneak into that museum was more or less a desperate attempt where I tried to get enough bits together in order to pay back my debt, and even have lots to spare." he said.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

The bats looked at each other, then at Jack. The mare was, as usual, first to speak. "SSooo... you're in debt to a criminal. Any idea which gang he's from? We're in Scarlet Scorpion territory, and, as you may probably guess, we're members. They couldn't pass the opportunity to gain access to certified locksmiths, heheh."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack was thinking for a second.

"To be honest I am not sure in wich gang he is from, it's understandable that only the higher ups would know of wich one he is part of, if somepony like me where to find that out, it would put a pretty big dent in his reputation." Jack said.

"Tough for reasons I don't know, the information that he was part of a bank heist spread among us like a wildfire, those who worked for him seemed to get this info the fastest. Tough i know for certain he hasn't been arrested yet."

"And to be honest, I don't know much about the gangs myself." he said with a nervous laugh.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

Second Wind shrugged. "Stuff happens. All it takes is one loudmouth. But I get you'll have enough to pay him up now?  Cause we can't afford him barging in here to collect from us by extension, for example."

Gold Rush looked at the wall and simply said. "Lots of cleaning afterwards..."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Well, i don't have enough to pay him back, yet. But I doubt he could even find me, it's the reason why I am wearing that cloak all the time."

Jack gave a big sigh.

"But I wouldn't be surprised if he had hired someone to the steal the cargo from me, and then it would turn out that buyer was not real, it would only benefit him. Come to think of it, he would probably be doing that to most of his workers, desperate for some quick bits only to get robbed afterwards. But this coming from the same pony who had organised a bank heist, so it wouldn't surprise me." he said as he was eating.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

The bats nodded solemnly. Nothing new to them really. The mare tisked. "It's one way to start your own group, yeah. Not pretty but unfortunately, it works. Even if you bring the whole sum it doesn't mean he'll let it go, I'm afraid. So how much do you need?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"He demanded the price of 1200 bits, it is something I could have never been able to gather that amount back then. Tough i should be able to gatter enough soon."

"Atleast i think i can, it would depend if he would demand even more because so much time has already expired, so i will just have to hope i guess." Jack said with a sigh.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

Second Wind whistled. "Quite a sum if I may say so. Especially for a colt with no income... Say, this isn't really my business but, stealing stuff isn't the best career possible so... ever thought what you wanted to do when you're older?"

His sister seconded that. "Yeah, you could learn a trade or something else that gives you legal income. Any ideas on what could that be? One day you'll pay that debt and it's good to have a long term plan you know."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack thought for a moment.

"To be honest that is a rather good question, I never thought of my future because I was expecting to still have that street live until that very day."

"I mean, I never had a proper education, only learned some things from a couple of ponies I met before. The cops in Manehatten are always being wary of me, especially with my whole pickpocketing thing I used to do before."

He scratched his chin with his hoof.

"It's perhaps something i have to think about, tough i have no idea what kind of job i could accomplish with my current status, stealing is the only thing i have been good at as far as i know, even if I don't have a cutie mark for that, i still have this 3rd sense for it, or so I believe." he said.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

As the siblings listened, Second Wind helped himself to another cut Ifof pizza,  which was met with a sideways glance from his sister. Like she wanted to remind him not to eat it all. He just shrugged, so Gold Rush decided to continue the conversation.  "That... doesn't sound too good.  You still have like, ten years before reaching adulthood so it's not like you can't change your life for the better. I guess we can act as your... fake family members for a while, but only if you make some effort to get yourself together and start working on becoming a proper citizen of Equestria. I'd hate to know I allowed you to end up in some back alley with a stab wound, but I can't risk our lives either."

She took a glance at her brother who,  despite being preoccupied with his plate,  was in fact paying close attention to her little speech. He nodded slightly, and she continued, leaning towards the colt.

"So here are my terms: you can stay with us and we'll provide you with all a house should have.  No more nights Celestia knows where, and stealing food. But, I expect you to think about your future, and act on those thoughts. We're no teachers, but we can at least try to help you fill some gaps in your education, and if you want, we can show you the ropes of locksmithing.  For legal means, as it will be official, in order to give you trade rights after your course is complete. Or we can help you get into some other legal line of work if you're interested."

Now her brother took over, seeing Gold paused to gather her thoughts. "I guess we could lend you the rest of the debt, just to close that case, buuut we're not exactly charity. So I guess you should pay us, but in your own pace and not a single bit over the sum we ponied up." He shrugged. "Guess since there's slim chances you'll get paid for learning honest jobs, we could either wait till you do, or maybe there will be some low risk gigs from the stealing department. But I'll be dammed if I try to make you steal to pay us back. That wouldn't be fair at all."

Gold Rush finished mulling over her thoughts. "I know it's a bit much, and very sudden, so I don't expect an answer right away.  Sleep on it, we can wait for an answer. Now I guess we should pick up the pace, or this pizza will get cold. Or Second eats it all."

The stallion made a face of mock surprise, but said nothing.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

@Raven Rawne

Jack nodded

"I will think about it, might take a while since this is not exactly a simple question, my future depends on it."

He chuckled at Gold Rush's last remark.

"Don't worry, I am full. Though it might be best if I head to bed early, still a bit tired of Today's event." He said with a yawn.

'Especially after that embarrassing mistake, i made with the cops.' he thought.

[Raven Rawne 1,381]

@Mickey Adaptus

The mare simply nodded. "Alright, fine by me. Second will get you a blanket and a pillow, so you can make yourself comfortable on the couch. I guess we'll just wrap it up here and get some shuteye too."

As she mentioned her brother,  he looked up from his plate and, somewhat resigned, stood up and went to one of the wardrobes to fetch the aforementioned things. "Yup, got it all in here. I'll put it on the couch for you Jack. The lights are kinda dim anyway so I guess it won't bother you too much as we finish up here."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

@Raven Rawne

Jack nodded.

He then walked up to Second Wind and whispered in his ear.

"Thanks for not mentioning that embarrassing mistake of mine, it was not something i was proud of." he whispered with a smile.