There is a long tradition of ridiculous precious gems in heist fiction.  For example, the Muppets had to deal with the Baseball Diamond. In this case, there is The Double Diamond.  A diamond, with another diamond inside it.

  That's not what a certain man dressed in a passable imitation of ninja is here for tonight.  The downside of fabulous artifacts, increased security.  The upshot, less attention is paid to everywhere else.

  Modern art is always odd.  Like, there are all those soup can paintings.  Joe has removed a replica Chef Boyardee can carved from amber.  Now he just has to leave.  Easy right?

  Why is the narrative even asking that.

Because the narrative is setting up the poor PCs for adventure!

Emerald is here as well, also wearing a ninja-style outfit as cat-burglars tend to. Though she was stealing a different piece of art. In this case, a tribal mask (think Majora's Mask). Everything was going as planned, except the part where some rat was nibbling at a wire.

Emerald and Joe were doing flawless. But as the 3' short fox peeks around a corner only to look up and see Joe looking down at her, the rat elsewhere finishes chewing, causing the alarm to go off. Emerald's heart stops, both at the sight of another thief, and the sound of the alarm. A little puppy yelp escapes her.

  Joe's initial thoughts on seeing a... well, that's kind of short.  Okay, his SECOND thoughts are being glad this isn't as awkward as it could have been, as it doesn't seem they came after the same artsy stuff.

  Unfortunately, unlike 'no, I want to steal that!' disputes, alarms can not be settled with Rock Paper Scissors.

  "...Yeah, we should probably get farther away from the main exhibit now."  Why can't the entire museum be covered in skylights?  No consideration for escape route conveniences.

  Meanwhile, Sunglasses Mc NightGuard grabs two tasers.  "Let's ROCK AND ROLL" and kicks open the unlocked door of his security booth.

Emerald would feel sorry for the badass night guard if not for the fact she feels MORE sorry for herself and thus, will head off with Joe, clearly running at speeds that keep up with the guy twice her height. Convenient! "No argument." she says quietly.

Seems both Emmy and Joe are headed in the same direction. Emerald comments, "If we both are thinking to go this route, what are the chances the guards here will think of this route also?"

  "Half and halfish, Main exhibit is farther from this way than the others.  But paranoid logic could have people checking here because of that.  If you had a better way out I could actually fit through that'd be great."  Joe is always tempted to just leave through main entrances, as silly as that would be.  He heard a guy got caught when the statue they were stealing got wedged in a revolving door.

  Meanwhile, NIGHT GUARD dive rolls over a 'Please Do Not Touch The Display' and stops in an Action Pose. "Surprise Criminals!...  Wait, the diamonds still here... IT MUST BE A FAKE! Clever bastards! Well I'm MORE clever than Clever!"  That rambling done, he backflips over the sign and starts running in the direction Joe and Emerald went.

  Meanwhile, a THIRD criminal about to climb down through the skylight sees this, and thinks he should just go home. so he does.

Emerald considers a moment. "This way!" she runs off in the direction of the women's restroom. Once inside, she points out the restroom has windows, normally out of reach, but if she were hoisted, she could get out and then lower a rope.

Given enough time, Emmy or Joe could climb and exit anything. But time is exactly what they DON'T have, so teamwork ftw!

  Restrooms!  Required for sanity (and sanitary) reasons, the ultimate structural weakness.  Joe wishes he thought of that in the first place.

  "To think, if you were just that much smaller I could have probably thrown you up there." Note to self, next time, don't be a cheapskate and skip grappling hook guns.  He flips over a trash barrel for added height benefits when giving Emerald a Boost.

  Meanwhile, NIGHT GUARD reaches the restooms.  "Catburglars are girls! There for they would think I'd never follow them into the Ladies room.  But I'm onto them, they know I know and went to the MENS room!"  Action Door kick!  "Eat tasers crime!"  "AAARG"  "Ah geez, sorry Larry."  Poor Larry the Night Janitor.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:57, Thu 05 Apr 2012.

Emerald winces. "Sounds like the guard is next door and overzealous." she says quietly. Boost is go, before opening the window with her tools. Then quickly, she climbs through and lowers a rope as promised, securing the other end quickly.

  Joe has a MacGuyver moment, as he yanks open the handsoap dispenser... then yanks open another one cause that first one was empty, and carefully (getting soap on your hands when you need to climb would be DUMB) punches a hole in the top of the soap pouch with a knife and tosses it at the door.

  That done, he starts climbing on up.  Right as NIGHT GUARD jumpkicks the door open. "Stop breaking the law asshoalaaagh! landed! on! Keys!"  And when you are a janitor or security guard, that's a LOT of keys.

"Sorry! Hope you feel better!" Emerald cries out to the fallen guard as she waits for Joe to climb up and out before running away with him. "Right on the keys..." she comments.

  "Feeling guilty beats being found guilty.  I don't think my getaway is very suited for you, so it's either split up of hope yours can handle two."

  Hanging out in a nearby utility tunnel for 24 hours, then leaving with a stashed folding bike dressed as stereotypical bike nut prooobably wasn't room for two.

Emerald is grateful for the teamwork and says, "Meet tomorrow under the Sycamore Bridge at noon?"

  "Make that day after tomorrow and we should be good, I'm sure you could use a little extra time to take care of things yourself."  Besides, when it comes to timeskips, what's an extra day?

  Time Drive Activation button is ready for Fox to push.

Fast forward is GO! Emerald shows up under Sycamore Bridge, backpack slung over one shoulder. She has a frilly blue dress on, smiling and wagging her tail. Two days ago, Joe couldn't see the fox's face (just her eyes). Today? Full effect of shorty pants short fox lady.

  Joe meanwhile has pulled from his 'stock blonde edition Darkthorne' file.  We wouldn't place big odds against Mutations Joe ending up a professional thief later down the line, just look at who he hangs out with there too.

  "I don't suppose you invite guys you just met under bridges often?"

Emerald giggles. "Nope. Don't suppose you say that line to every girl you meet either."

  "Only the ones who invite me under bridges.  So, that makes twice now, and the first time was to help push a car out of snow."

  Joe shrugs,  "Anyways, nice to meet you.  I'm Joe."

Emerald grins. "Hiya! Nice t'meetchya. I'm Emerald. And I wanted to meet here to thank you for the help the other night. Not sure how to properly thank you besides offering assistance on your next job..."

  "Well that's kind of you.  I'll keep you in mind, this sort of thing isn't exactly something I do on a regular basis.  Though as much as help is nice, less people involved means less people caught if something goes wrong."

  He considers for a moment, then says "Though I wouldn't say no to an oversized pretzel." My, such high standards.

Emerald says, "Oversized pretzel it is." she begins heading off towards the food square.

  Follows after the short fuzzy fox felon.  "I don't suppose you have other things you do in your spare time, aside from what we dealt with the other night?"

Emerald looks over and up at Joe. "I sing... I study ancient cultures... aaand that's about it. You?"

  "I own a bike shop, so that's probably even less exciting unless you often fall asleep when studying."  Well okay, some customers take it very personally when Joe confirms that yes, he drives to work.

Emerald says, "After we pick up the pretzel, what say we go to your shop and I'll sing for you?"

  "Not someplace I had ever expected to have my own private singing performance in, but I'm not exactly gonna say no either."

  Oh hey, pretzle.  Oh hey, heading to mentioned bike shop.

Emerald was sure to get herself some water while getting the pretzel. Once at the bike shop, she has a look around. "What got you into bikes?"

  Joe shrugs, "Mostly just business and timing.  No bike shops were in this general vicinity, people who take it incredibly seriously and the stacks of accessories that come with that to sell.  Not to mention the people who just want a bike.  Plus no "Real" qualifications needed compared to like a garage or something."

  How touching and enthusiastic a story.

  "Probably a lot easier than singing, even just as a hobby."  Putting a bike together is easy, unless it's Christmas eve then suddenly all competence vanishes.  Enjoy your new bike son!...  Once the snow and ice are gone in several months.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Thu 05 Apr 2012.

Emerald says, "Well let's see... what to sing."

She proceeds to sing Enya's "Only Time"

"Who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows, only time
And who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose, only time

Who can say why your heart sighs
As your love flies, only time
And who can say why your heart cries
When your love lies, only time

Who can say when the roads meet
That love might be in your heart
And who can say when the day sleeps
If the night keeps all your heart

Night keeps all your heart

Who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose, only time
And who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows only time

Who knows - only time
Who knows - only time"

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI )

  It seems Time's main competitor is Road Maps, if that song is to be believed.

  Joe smiles, "I think I prefer your version, thank you Emerald."

Emerald grins. "Thanks! So what did you pick up on the night we met? I brought my souvenir..." she takes off her backpack and pats it.

  Joe smiles slightly, "Only one other stolen object that wasn't the one you took.  Not that such an object is in my possession of course."  Valid statement, as the Amber Chef Boyardee is now on it's way back to Sweeden in the possession of certain Not A Muppet At All Chef.

  "In it for the history more than the personal gains I assume then?"

Emerald pulls out the mask she lifted. "Well... not always. I do what I do for various reasons. But your guess was correct this time. According to the legends of the people this mask belonged to, it granted its wearer all kinds of power, not the least of which was the ability to control celestial occurrences."

  "Aurora borealis for a personal light show good.  Slamming the moon into Detroit bad.  I guess not all fancy artifacts are in old temples with still functioning traps." Crossbows built to last!

  "So what happened to the origional owners in the long run?"

Emerald smiles sadly as she stares at the mask. "Nobody knows. The people just... seemed to suddenly stop existing, as far as archaeological records are concerned." she then looks up from the mask, putting it back into her backpack. "If I may... what are *your* reasons for lifting what you did?"

  "In that sort of situation, getting paid to give it to someone who wants it enough.  In both cases someone who thinks they deserve it more gets it, but in my case that's some slow business months through winter covered for.  No grand story behind the other object, it's just Art."