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To Catch a Thief (download txt version)


Coalclaw. A bustling city of a million souls. Year after year, it expands, filling its island home with more and more people and places. In recent years, the people have taken to expanding out over the water... and in this domain, thousands of stories are woven every day. Some are major, some are minor. But every day, a new page in each story is written.

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TO CATCH A THIEF

A work of Furbidden Realms fiction.

Pretentious preamble to the smut by Talen Lee

Rest of it by Talen Lee.

Gratuitous Smut proofreading by people who don't want to be named.

--

Reylan tilted an ear, sauntering along one of the many busy streets of Coalclaw. Night was falling, and its approach signalled a thinning out of the crowds as the 'normal' folk went back to their homes... and the folk of the night came out to play.

It was a strange hour, in his mind. There were far too many people in the crowds who thought they were night people, when they were very much not. Take her, for example. He cast his eye over the young jackal femme in the midst of the crowd. Black dress, midriff top, heavy makeup and jewelry. Thought of herself as a wild child of the night. Probably collapsed after twenty seconds in private with an open bottle of liquor - or an open-minded licker.

What about that one? Thinks of himself as a tough man, a dangerous sort. He's seen the night, he thinks, embraced it and blah blah blee blah. Carries a penknife and thinks he's scary because he wears black. God, they're tiring, the ferret mused.

Of course, he was no better. Roaming the streets late at night, chatting up random strangers, enjoying his fair share of bad alcohol and easy fights. The thing was, ultimately, Reylan was good at it. Ultimately, as a man of cities - heh! - Reylan knew one thing for sure. Learning was the lifeblood of mortality; they could philosophise all they want, but really, the capacity of mortals to learn was their ultimate strength.

Like that fellow over - Hang on.

Reylan was jostled by a figure in the crowd. Schoolgirl's uniform, white shirt, tugged down low to flaunt her bra; not her cleavage, the girl wasn't old enough to really have much worth showing off up front - barely more than a handful, if she was lucky. All this deduction was performed in the short moment it took for him to look down her left hand resting on his chest as she steadied herself from the jostle, to her right that was attempting to slip his wallet from his pocket.

Then, she was gone, wallet with her.

Reylan almost sighed in frustration. He wasn't against the theft - after all, the wallet was empty. It was more the blatant and poorly-done job she'd made of the theft. Flaunting cleavage that she didn't even have? What if Reylan had a thing for boys? Wouldn't have distracted him in the slightest. As it was, the girl hardly had much to show in the first place.

Time to go get m'wallet back, the Ferret mused.

Slipping his hands in his pockets, Reylan turned and changed his path. Working on part deduction, part intuition, he picked his way through the crowds, following the weaving motions of this supposed thief.

--

It wasn't a hard matter to find the girl. She was even leaving a trail of confused marks; some were patting for their wallets, some hadn't even noticed the theft yet. To some, it was just a crowd, but Reylan had seen many like these - the girl was leaving a wake like an injured whale. Ferrety feet followed through the market square, towards residential areas - was she honestly going on a pickpocket spree on the way home? No, she couldn't be quite /that/ amateurish, could she?

As the last hawker's voice faded in Reylan's ears and he puttered along the street, gas lanterns beginning to light. The thief nodded glumly. Seems she was indeed that amateurish. Flats and apartments began to claim the sides of the roads as he followed, the sidewalks broader, carts less common on these roads. Without many people to watch, the girl's trail was running slightly cold - until with a flash of red hair, it became entirely clear.

She was leaning against a wall by an alleyway mouth, one of the many that led between these apartments. Bottle-red hair fell over her shoulder as she dusted off her leg, muttering annoyed curses. Mud stained her formerly-white socks - she even had them pulled up to the knee, for crying out loud - and attempting to brush them clean without actually touching any mud. Slung over her shoulder was a school bag, the straps untied.

Either content that her socks were as clean as they could get without actually being cleaned or tired of trying, the young cat-girl stepped into the darkness of the alleyway without even sparing a look over her shoulder.

Good grief. She doesn't even watch her back.

Once darkness wrapped around Reylan - ahh, familiar, warming darkness - instincts kicked in. Details sharpened in his eyes, and he took his first good look at the perpetrator of this most heinous of misdeeds. She was young - surely not much more than a hundred and twenty sextets - and not naturally a redhead. She wore her school uniform - but the skirt was hiked up higher than normal, the shirt worn as a midriff... really, she looked the sort who was obsessed with pushing rules as far as she could get away with.

Well.

Time to see what she was made of.

"Y'know, lass, even thieves 'ave rules."

Stopped. Dead. Still.

Really, Reylan wasn't surprised. After all - it was a dark alley, she was young, and he was male, talking to her in a low voice from behind. She had every right to be scared. Once he elaborated though, he'd be downright annoyed if she wasn't completely terrified. He paused for just a moment, before he opened his mouth to continue - but she surprised him by reacting first.

"Who are you?" she demanded, whirling around, tousled red hair falling about wildly. Gauging by the way she looked in the darkness, she'd been focusing on the light at the other end of the alleyway - her eyes were far from properly adjusted. Reylan was barely three feet away, and she couldn't even see him. Another chuckle, a step to the side... and he continued.

"Someone better at what you're doin' than ye are, lass." He stepped closer, giving her something to focus on, his hand reaching over her shoulder to catch her by her school tie from behind, swinging her around to pin her to the wall without actually touching her. "And someone who's easily annoyed."

He expected, honestly, fear. He expected her to burst into tears, try a sob story, maybe weave a lie about a dying relative, and promise to never do it again. It wasn't the theft that bothered him. It was /sloppy/ theft that grated on Reylan. But what he got wasn't what he expected.

"Leggo, gramps, or I swear I'll-"

"Gramps?" Reylan paused, taken slightly aback, ignoring the rest of her impotent threatning. "Gramps? Good grief, lass, don't ye 'ave any perspective on what's going on?" He looked down at her feet, dangling a few inches off the ground as he held her by her uniform.

"You can't do anything to me - you haven't got any proof I stole those wallets-"

Reylan put his face into his open palm. "Lass... If I were a copper, that'd be dam' close to a /confession/, you dam' fool. Did I mention wallets? Did I?"

Sullen silence.

"Good grief. Now, then. D'ye have a name?"

More sullen silence.

Reylan pinched the bridge of his nose, an ear twitching irritatedly. She was plucky, he'd give her that. But really, there was no point as a thief to simply throw false bravado in the face of legitimate threats. When the time came, you had to bend over and take your beats and quit trying to get out of it. If nothing else, you got to keep some pride, as opposed to situations like this. He looked over his hand at the girl, who was blushing, even as she shot him daggers with her eyes.

"Fine, then." The ferret swung her over from one alley wall to the next, the impact knocking the wind out of her, even as he kicked aside a long crate, knocking it from a standing position to lying flat along the ground, barely higher than a park bench. "If we're gunna be truculent - y're word for the day, now - we're gunna do it right." With that, the ferret sat down, the girl squirming and struggling in his hand.

"Hey, what th'hell are you doing, you sicko?! You can't do-"

Reylan zoned her out for a moment as he set his feet on the ground, and with well-faked practiced ease, lay the girl over his lap, relinquishing her necktie and placing his other hand on the small of her back. "/Truculent/. Meanin' expressin' bitter opposition, lass. Now... first things first, the rules of bein' a thief."

Reylan composed himself for a moment, giving the girl a moment to stop kicking and squirming. She didn't take the opportunity, and he raised his right knee to lift her feet further from the ground, so her flailing was less inconvenient. "Fine, lass, if y'want t'be difficult. Now, repeat af'er me. Th'first rule of bein' a thief!" He raised his voice sharply, steamrolling over her continued protests as he brought his palm down, fingers together on her rounded rear. The dull smack was too quiet to echo too impressively, but it had a sudden muting effect on the girl - whose face, Reylan expected, was frozen in a rictus of disbelief. "Thou shalt pick thy freakin' marks!" He paused for a moment, listening. "I dun' /hear/ you!" the ferret intoned, even as he raised his hand. Down it came again, and with it that repeated decree: "Thou shalt pick thy marks!"

That second hit only brought a gasp of mixed pain and disbelief. The third, no sound at all, even as Reylan repeated his edict. No great surprise - if he didn't miss his guess, she was likely biting her lip to keep from making noise. The next blow however, drew a gasp - and Reylan once more repeated the rule; "Thou shalt pick thy marks! Now /say/ it!" he demanded, his hand drawing back for another strike.

"Y-you should pick..." It was a stuttered gasp, reluctant and hesitant. Reylan waited for a spare second, when the girl paused, trailing off, then brought down his hand. With a squawk, she kicked her legs and attempted to squirm away from the hand, even as she cried out, "You should pick your marks! Y-you should pick your marks!"

Reylan nodded, then raised a hand, systematically cracking all his knuckles. "Good, lass - seems we /can/ be taught, nae? Took you long enough, though, dinnae it?" With his right hand, he grabbed the hem of her too-short skirt, flipping it up over the small of her back - "Oh, shut up, it's nothin' y'weren't flaunting t'half of Coalclaw ten minutes ago anyway, lass" - and placing his hand over her rear, setting a mental course for his hand. "Now. The second rule of bein' a thief! Thou shalt respect thy betters!"

This time, the slap was louder, echoing subtly off the walls of the alleyway. Plain though they were, the schoolgirl's panties weren't nearly as good a muffler as her skirt had proved to be. "We're gunna be 'ere all day if ye dinnae learn this. Thou shalt," Slap! "-respect thy betters!"

Now, the gasps were being accompianied by whimpers. She was clearly being more affected by this than she wanted to be, and each shocked gasp was being accompianied by a moan of pain. Reylan brought his hand down once more, spanking her in earnest as he lectured her on the rules of being a proper thief; "Y'might have nae known I was a thief. But y'bloody well should have been able to tell!" Another hard, open palm on the girl's pert rear. "Now, /say/ it - 'Thou shalt respect thy betters!"

This time, the choked gasp, the reluctant response, was through a lump in the girl's throat; it showed in her voice. She was on the verge of tears, but still being defiant. "Sh-show me one of my betters and I'll let you knoOW!"

Reylan brought down his hand again, the sharp swat interrupting her. "Now, lass, tha's nae going to end this particular shade o' torment any faster." He raised his hand again, sighing as he brought it down, hard on the girl's backside. "Now, repeat after me!"

"I s-shall respect my betters!" The girl called out, a sob in her voice choked back as she gasped for breath, and Reylan leaned back to see tears welling in the corner of her eyes, her cheeks completely red. "Th-the second rule of being a thief is to respect your betters!"

Reylan nodded, then mused for a moment, before grabbing the top of the girl's underwear and tugging it down in a swift movement, exposing her rear to the air. Already pink thanks to his earlier motions, Reylan rested his hand on her bare backside, and gave a low rumble in his throat, indicating for her to listen. "Finally... the most important rule of bein' a thief..." he raised his hand, "Thou shalt not get caught!"

Down came the hand, in a ringing slap, and the sound echoed off the walls - followed by her almost-instantaneous yelp of pain. He listened for a scant moment, waiting to hear her repeat his words - then shook his head as he drew back his hand for another slap. She was going to learn eventually. Down it came again. "Lass, if you'll recall the situation, you're 'ere because y'didn' follow these rules, so," SLAP! "It'd really behoove ye t'pay attention - now, the third rule?" Down came his hand. Reylan abandoned his measured pace, simply paddling the girl with his hand as he waited to hear her respond.

"D-don't get caught!"

It was gasped out, over the sharp sound of Reylan reddening the girl's behind. She was choking back tears at this point, kicking her legs as she attempted to squirm out of his grip. "T-the three rules are pick your marks, respect your - Ah! - betters, and don't get caught!" The words torrented out in a rush, even as Reylan raised his hand again, ready to lay another blow onto the girl's behind. "A-ahnd... and... um, I'm sorry!"

Reylan held still, leaning back against the alley wall, letting the girl compose herself for a moment, relaxing his hold at her back. After a moment of sniffling, the young schoolgirl slid out of his lap, mumbling quietly. She didn't run or flee, which indicated that the second rule had gotten through to her. Reylan leaned forward, looking her in the eyes, even as she avoided his gaze, snuffling as she tugged up her underwear and settled her clothes back in place.

"S'lass, th'name's Reylan." He nodded to her. "And yours?"

"Cyrilla," the girl murmured, even as she wiped her cheeks dry with the back of her hand. "S-sorry about the wallet..." she swallowed. "I'll return it..."

Reylan leaned back, laughing aloud. "Nae, lass. Y'took it, fair and square. And it's empty, anyway. Nae - the important thing 'ere's the lesson. Y'know the rules, now; all y'have to do is apply 'em, 'kay?" He raised an eyebrow, resting his hand on his knee even while he scrutinised the embarassed girl's features. "Now don't go gettin' y'rself caught so dam' easily..." the ferret grinned, standing up as he picked up the girl's bag and tossed it to her waiting arms.

As Reylan left the alleyway, he looked up at the flickering city lights. Yeah, it was the capacity of people to /learn/ that made them so impressive. Even if those lessons sometimes needed to be drilled in in... embarassing ways.

--

Ever at home in the markets of Coalclaw, Reylan happens across a young thief trying to make her mark. Naturally, he turns out to be a tougher mark than she can handle.

First things first, an unknown benefactor - well, unknown to YOU, probably, - is responsible for giving me a lot of help on this piece. Not normally my thing, but I felt the challenge of writing a scenario that was simultaneously subtle erotica while not explicitly appealing to me was an interesting one to take up. Also, we designed the Realms to achieve this very purpose - to have characters, and a setting, appropriate to work with for the purpose of writing and creating smut - so I'm quite proud of how the piece has turned out, overall.

I hope you enjoyed, and for those of you that read this far and didn't, let me know why at talen at dodo dot com dot au. Though, honestly, be warned, I am quite likely to ignore criticism I don't think is particularly warranted. After all, if you mail me and claim that it was a good fic except it shouldn't have been a spanking fic, then I'm going to wonder exactly how you dress yourself each morning.

Author(s): Talen Lee | Form: Narrative | Date Added: 2006-01-01 | Rating: Suspect

Character(s): Reylan, Cyrillia

Tags: spanking, punishment

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