stars of cctv

Harriet was quick to realise something was missing from her pocket and as her target disappeared around a corner, she grabbed a dagger from her boot and threw it at the man who bumped into her. Well not at time. A warning shot to the mailbox next too him. “Now now, it’s impolite to walk away withou’ introducing yerself.” She cooed sweetly, But despite the sweet tone, there was a dark current lying underneath it. “Stealing from a girl though, low blow, I’m almost impressed - almost.” No she was irritated, and she suspected this was close to how frustrated Bael felt - whoops.

It was the little dink of metal piercing metal that made Hansel turn, glancing to find a fucking dagger sticking out of a post box, and one pissed looking young woman staring back at him. He brought a hand up, pointing to himself. “You’re accusing me of stealing?” he asked, expression innocent as he held his hands up in a gesture expressing innocence. “Not me, lady.” So she had gotten his mark’s wallet. That explained why he hadn’t been able to find it. Interesting.

“You don’t, no. But you do look like someone who would want as little attention aimed at you as possible and swearing around the kids here will bring you unwanted anger from the ‘heroes’“ She pointed out, the anger in his voice was putting her on edge a little but she found the man a little curious with the way he spoke and held himself.

Going back to the Enchanted Forest didn’t sound like fun to Ellie, she would be stuck in Corona once more and would be seperated from the people that she had made friends with in Auradon and in the town, “I think most of the kids here are new ones” she informed him dryly as she ignored the sarcasm sent her way, her father was a very sarcastic man. “But yeah, I’m new here and it’s much better than the Enchanted Forest and the bore that Auradon was”

The kid had a point, as much as he didn’t want to consider it. He didn’t want to draw undue attention, not when people still didn’t really know who he’d been in the Enchanted Forest. His current position as bank clerk afforded him a lot of power in the form of trust; trust that could easily be broken with the wrong move. “And you’re one of these heroes, are you?” he replied with a roll of his eyes. “You saying you think I’m a villain?”

Most of the kids were new. There had been a few, dragged through to the world of Storybrooke - Hansel hadn’t managed to figure out why yet, why some had arrived and why some had been taken to these other realms, but it wasn’t something that interested him to figure out, either. “Finally, someone who gets it,” Hansel added though, still unsure why the girl was continuing to talk to him.

Harriet saw the man in the distance approaching the man she was about to steal from. Not a problem, she would steal and bolt if she needed too; prying eyes always made a hit trickier - trickier but not impossible. She slid up against the man, a sweet apology on her lips as her hand moved inside his jacket pocket, picking his wallet and slipping it inside her own jacket before walking away, not even bothering to look at the other guy as she walked past him, giving him a wider berth than she gave the guy she just stole from.

At the same moment as the girl walked into his mark, Hansel bumped into him from the other side, unclasping and pocketing the man’s watch. A quick swing round as he apologised and he knocked into the girl from before, hands finding a wallet and slipping it out of her coat. It wasn’t his target’s wallet, he knew; he’d seen it at the cashier’s desk in the bank plenty of times and the fabric was different, but it was something to make up for his loss. Quickly, he started walking away, a man clearly busy and late for work, not a thief making good his escape.

“You shouldn’t swear you know, there are a number of impressionable children running around the town” Ellie scolded half heartedly, she had heard worse considering she had grown up with a group of ex-criminals surrounding her so it didn’t really both her but there were others around her that would not be happy with the man if they found out their children had heard such cursing from him.

There was some magic in the town though, she was evidence of that, as was Aspen and a few others she had come across.

“There is some magic here though, but I think a number of people prefer to stay here also”

Hansel gave the teenager a look like she’d grown a third head and he hadn’t figured out where the second was. “Do I look like I give a rat’s ass about some kids hearing me swear? If they didn’t already know it, I’d be surprised.” And their parents... He didn’t really give a damn, not deep down. He’d pretend for appearance’s sake, if it ever came up.

“Yeah? Well, hell, I’m glad to hear it.” He took a moment to size the girl in front of him up, trying to figure out what her game was. After all, she was talking to him and he had no idea who she was, yet she seemed like she was just making conversation. “So, you one of these new kids, are you? Enjoying your new home?” he asked sarcastically.

The one advantage to his new life in this quaint little town was that Hansel didn’t have to steal everything. Having a stable job (that was also chock full of money and, okay, perhaps he’d already started lifting some but no one had noticed) meant he could afford to pay for some things. No more running through bakeries and stealing a fresh loaf, no more swiping apples from carts. No, he could do the mundane Storybrooke thing and actually buy groceries.

Sure, it was a strange novelty, but it was a novelty nonetheless.

Unlike most people, though, Hansel knew he always had to be aware of his surroundings. You never knew when someone would turn against you or try to take your hard-earned stolen goods, so when a woman came into the same aisle as him, he did a quick check. Tall, redhead, somehow familiar looking. He stared a moment too long before he turned away. They’d all been stuck in the curse, after all. That was probably all it was.

Okay, it was time to test how rusty he’d gotten. Hansel disliked the fact he’d been an honest bank clerk for the last twenty eight years for multiple reasons - the main ones being that it meant he’d been freaking honest about anything, and that he’d not practised his pick-pocketing skills in a long time. It was the kind of thing you had to practise over and over again and as a man who had made a living on his ability to whisk away someone’s belongings, it was terrifying to think he might not be as good any more - it was the only thing that had kept him alive over the years. It was downright survival instinct.

Which was why the man ahead of him looked like a perfect target. He remembered him from the curse; the man had more than enough money to look after himself and he wouldn’t have recognised Hansel - he hadn’t been the type to notice other people. 

His only concern was the young woman approaching from the other direction. As long as she didn’t get in his way, things would be golden.

The problem Hansel had faced the most, back in his Enchanted Forest life, was that people didn’t seem to understand that while he’d started stealing out of necessity (he’d been completely abandoned by his older sister, after all, when they were all alone), that he actually enjoyed the very act of theft. It had become a game to him; see what the biggest prize he could steal was, how audacious he could be about it, which big stiff he could ruin with a simple bump and grab (or occasional break in). That didn’t mean he didn’t have his own set of morals, though.

One that included not stealing from gorgeous women.

“Well, you’re not a familiar face,” he greeted the vision of loveliness before him, and a fine specimen she was. Goddess-like, even. He had absolutely no problem approaching her because, well, even if he was rejected? At least he’d tried. “And to whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”