A Hard Day's Thievery (Verena)

[Daring Jo Lockwood]

The old estate had seen better days. Whichever family had previously owned the old mansion may have taken good care of it, but Jo could not say for certain. As it stood now, the structure was intact, but noticeably out of care of the servants that had once worked so hard on it's maintenance.

Still, Daring Jo Lockwood was more than happy to take up residence in the old home. She had rather enjoyed using the big, empty space. There were plenty of rooms for her to store all of the stolen items she wanted to hold on to. Paintings, gold, jewels and anything else she had ever come across in her travels.

And now, she sat in what was once a drawing room, with a rather large bag of goodies. Gold coins and necklaces spilled out on to the ground as Jo began to sort it all out. There had been a number of rather fascinating treasures she had picked up, today.

Among them was a rather curious statue. A statue of a woman. How curious. Jo smirked as she balanced it by the base on the palm of her hand.

"How lovely!" she grinned, "I wonder just who you're supposed to be..."

[Verena Von'Hilen]

Ages and ages had passed since the diety had gone into a deep hibernation. Yet her statue was still intact, the flawless cutting of her figure and cloak had survived the passage of time as if it had only been a few days, save for the dust she had built up during this time. Like anyone else who slept, she had been unconscious and could not hear the world around her. That is why it was odd when she heard something.

"How lovely! I wonder who you you're suppose to be...."

Verena had heard something, which meant it was about time for her to release herself from her statue form. Is....it......time? Her groggy thoughts came. Her senses were still dulled for her long sleep.

"I......am....." A voice came from seemingly no where. The words sounded detatched and ethereal. Verena was not yet ready to speak just yet, she would most likely have to wait for her body to completely wake up. For now she would simply rest within the hands of this thief, while she gained the energy to break the statue.

[Daring Jo Lockwood]

Jo was wondering where to put the statue. On the nightstand by her bed? No, that wouldn't do. Anyplace near her bed was not a good spot for items of value. Always liable to get knocked over during the rare occasions she actually did bring a guest home.

Perhaps above the fireplace? It could look very lovely there. But, she would need something else to compliment the statue. Rising to her feet, the highway robber side-stepped her other ill-gotten gains and was about to the set the statue down when she heard a voice.

Whirling around, her maroon eyes scanned her immediate surroundings. Hearing voices in what should be an empty house was not a very good thing, considering her line of work.

"Now, I can't be loosing my mind. That's still as sharp as ever!" she said, a smirk growing on her face, "Which means...I have a visitor! A visitor in my humble home! Oh, now you must simply show your face...If I'm going to entertain you, I might as well see you, yes?"

[Verena Von'Hilen]

More started to come back to Verena. She was starting to see, though it was blurry. She let out a few sigh like noises, as the entire world came into focus once more for the protective diety.

"Y...you're......hands." Verena forced out. Feeling was the next sense for Verena to regain. The feeling of fingers wrapped around her small statue was obvious. Her sight improved and she saw the form of the female that held her. With her eyes back she felt awake enough to start cracking her miniature form.

The statue started off with small cracks, but with each second that passed the cracks grew wider and longer. Soon the statue crumbled with in the hands of the thief, which was followed by a bright glow of a blinding white light. Now floating in front of the thief was a small girl with pale white skin and wrapped within a red cloak, the hood not draped over her face as it normally was.

Verena's eyes were closed and her body started a slow fall to the ground. Here eyes were twitching slightly as if to say she was still asleep. Since she was only freshly awake, the diety was still very weak and was likely to collapse onto the ground.

[Daring Jo Lockwood]

Another series of sounds and then that voice again. Jo, quirked an eyebrow as she stared down at the statue. Something had mentioned her hands and now the statue was cracking. That was hardly an ordinary reaction. Nor was the light that was emanating from it.

And then, before she could even utter another syllable, a very pretty young woman was before her, in her drawing room. It was a rare occasion for Daring Jo to be found speechless and this certainly qualified as one such occasion.

But, that was not to say she was slow to act. At the first hint that the woman would no longer be maintaining an upright position, Jo was off in a flash to keep her from a nasty collision with the ground, below.

"My, my...this is turning out to be a better day, than I thought!" she grinned, scooping up the cloaked woman in her arms and setting her down on the couch. She knelt by the woman's side and took a closer look at her guest, "How could such a fine woman fit in such a tiny statue?"

[Verena Von'Hilen]

As Verena was set on onto the couch, her eyes opened up revealing the yellow color that lay beneath. She stared at Jo for brief second, before grabbing her cloaks hood and pulling it over her face. She propped herself up and sat there. She needed to regain her composure fast since she had no clue where she was.

"H..hello." she said waving off the question that had been offered to her. "How...How long have I been sleeping?" she asked, concern filling her voice. Everything in the room looked different to the things she was use to seeing. Everything was in a different style than what she remembered.

She attempted to stand, she needed to see more. Verena needed to see more of the world, she needed to see everything that had changed. Was the woman she loved still alive? Was she around here somewhere? There so many thing that she wanted to know, and see. However the world had different plans. As soon as she was on her feet her knees gave way, and her body fell toward Jo. She was still not her usual self.

[Daring Jo Lockwood]

Jo broke out into a wide smile when she saw the strange woman open her eyes. But, then she scrambled for her cloak and attempted to stand. That did not meet up with much success.

The Daring Lady was back up to her full height as the woman was once more falling into her arms.

"You know, love, as much as I enjoy you coming back into my arms, you might want to take it easy, for a little while." she said and led her back to the couch, "Now, as to your question. I'm afraid I can't quite help you as I don't know when you first fell asleep. Assuming, of course, that becoming little statuettes is typical of you falling asleep. In which case, all I can guess is that it's been for some time."

She sat down next to her and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, the strangest thing she had ever stolen. Not that she was having any regrets about it. In fact, Jo wished that more of the items she procured would change into pretty ladies once she got them back to her home.