Ashton ended up napping sometime after he laid down on the bed. When he woke up, he ran his hand down his face before getting up and heading towards the bag on the table. He moved everything but the bag off the table and then dumped the contents of the bag onto it. Necklaces, jewels, rings, bracelets, earrings, coins, hair clips and adornments. And then the hairpin from that odd noble girl. He held it in his hand and looked it over. It caught his attention a lot more than other things he’s taken before. He sighed and pocketed it away before putting everything away. After he got everything away, he grabbed a looser fitting shirt that was almost like a blouse with ties at the top, a different pair of brown pants that were significantly darker then his current ones, and a ribbon thing. He stepped out of his room with the clothes in hand and searched for a bathroom so he could clean up a bit. He found one at the end of the hall and stepped in, bolting the door shut behind him. After he got all cleaned up and changed into the clothes that he had brought with him, he pulled out his knife and used it to carefully shave some spots. He hadn’t shaved that morning, far too focused on robbing whoever crossed the path that day. When he was done he slid his knife back away and moved the hairpin so it was between his shirt and the ribbon like thing around his waist.

When he went downstairs, the boy from earlier seemed to instantly recognize him before he could put his hood up. “Wait! It’s you! The Ashton guy the royal guards are searching for!” The boy sounded excited as he spoke, forcing Ashton to turn around with a plastered grin. He noticed quickly that the boy had a wanted poster with his face on it in front of him. “Great…” Ashton thought to himself. “Yep! That’s me. I really can’t stay right now ok? I’ve kinda got plans for the night.” Ashton said, trying to let the guy down easily while making it known that he really didn’t feel like talking at the moment. The guy must have been oblivious to his tone or really didn’t care because he kept going on and on. “Oh! Are you going to go on another cool heist?!” Ashton just forced a smile at this before answering the guy. “Yeah…And I’m gonna miss my window if I don’t leave now so bye.” Ashton said before stepping out of the inn and making his way to the festival before the boy could trap him there at the inn all night. He put his cloak on as he quickly made his way to wherever the festival was happening. “Why am I even stretching out my neck for this noble girl?… Whatever the reason, she better be right about the guards not checking faces or I’m gonna have to sneak in.” He muttered to himself as he slid through the darkening night.

As he got closer to where the festival was, he heard music and laughter and chatter before he saw the light. He ended up having to sneak in and the lights hurt his eyes a bit as he emerged from the dark alley, arm up to block some of the light as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. He wasn’t entirely sure what the festival was, but it reminded him of a carnival or a circus with all the games, food, and shopping stalls around the area.

Ashton had stayed by the alley, a little overwhelmed by everything that was there as he watched it all. He must have not been paying as much attention as he should have and the feeling of someone crashing into him snapped him right out of it. He didn’t really look at who the girl was, but his hands reached out instinctively to ghost her waist to steady her and to catch her in case she fell. He quickly threw on a charming yet concerned smile and voice, before checking to see if the girl was alright. “Are you ok?” He looked in the direction the girl had run from to see if she was being chased by anyone. It would certainly explain why she hadn’t paid attention to where she was going and ran into him. “Either someone was attempting to steal from her, trying to catch her because she stole something which is somewhat unlikely because of her attire, or someone was trying to catch her for other reasons. He looked out at the crowd for a little longer just in case before looking down at her. The material of the girl’s dress felt nice, much nicer than what a commoner could afford unless they saved up for years. At the same time though, most commoners couldn’t afford a corset or the design of the dress that she had on. He looked her over to see if he could at least figure out what class she was from, before his eyes landed on the familiar necklace around her neck. The same one he had given Lottie. Ashton sighed, passing it off as a relieved one. “We really need to stop meeting like this Lottie. It’ll start making me think I’m actually important to someone that’s not a kid.” He lightly teased, laughing a bit. “In all seriousness though, are you ok? You weren’t being chased or anything?” He questioned her sounding a lot softer and tender, more real, than he had since they met.

“You didn’t hurt me. Don’t worry.” Ashton said, not fully processing what she said about being chased before it did process and his hands sliding away from her. “I’m not going to get in trouble with anyone if I’m caught with you if you're really being chased right?” He said, sounding a little worried but teasing her a bit before looking around. He noticed a wanted poster with his face on it, on a wall next to them and he shifted a little to block it from view. As much as he liked boasting about his travels, he wanted a moment to just breathe and not be known as a thief that comes and goes as he pleases. Like an actual person and not just an inked face on some paper with numbers. Something Lottie seemed to understand/ Maybe that’s why he came to the festival. Was because of her. “If so I might have to leave.” He said, still continuing to tease her, a small grin on his face. Ashton looked over at the festival with all the dancing and laughter, talking and fun before walking forward and stepping out of the alley a bit. He turned sideways and offered his hand again as he spoke. “This is a festival right? So why stay in the dark corners of some dirty old alley. Let’s go have some fun. Maybe dance a little later in the night?” He noticed that as he spoke, the grin that was on his face turned into a genuine smile. As he stood there, it seemed like half of his face was shadowed while his upper half was almost lit up by the festival lights.

“I’d hate to get thrown in jail already.” Ashton said, passing it off as a joke. As they weaved through the crowd, he stayed alert. He noticed a booth that looked like it had stuffed animals and a game. He paused and made his way over towards it. “Want to test your skills?” Ashton asked Lottie, pulling out some coins and keeping them in his hand. When he got closer to the booth, he noticed it was darts. “Throw some darts, win a prize! Step right up!” A middle aged looking guy called in an attempt to draw people to his booth. Ashton moved closer and noticed a sign with shaky handwriting on it. 5 gold for 3 darts, 10 gold for 8 darts, 15 gold for 12 darts. He looked at the money he had brought with him, counting only 10 pieces of gold. He sighed but then gave the man the gold. The man thanked him and went to go put the coins away, hobbling back with a slight limp on his left side. The man handed him the darts and Ashton nodded his head in thanks. He extended one of his hands out, holding four darts, to Lottie. “Wanna try?”