As Chai made his way to the Witch's Brew, he was whistling softly. Things were looking up, or so he thought. It felt like the string of bad luck had, perhaps, passed for the rogue. He didn't let his guard down. Then again, he never let his guard down. That meant weakness and vulnerability, and that meant an opening that people <i>like him</i> could exploit. As they say, you can't con a conman. Anyway, upon a quick investigation, the only one manning the shop right now was the fluttery being that hooted warningly at him from the register. "Hey, buddy. Remember me?" With a cheeky, nonchalant grin, Chai reached to try and give the owl a reassuring scritch on the neck, ready to jerk his hand away if the owl intended to take it from him. To his surprise, the gesture was accepted, and when Chai went to pull away the bird nipped at him for more. So he shrugged and gave a few scratches to Hallow's neck before finally he was allowed to pull away and he went about his business. It looked like the runestone business already had someone set up, and he wouldn't cut into that guy's territory. If he really was some kind of wizard as Chai thought might be the case that would certainly be a bad idea, anyway. The thief casually browsed the tarot decks instead. He picked up two, but held them as if they were one in a very careful way, as though he were just examining the one. That way if he decided to pocket one it wouldn't be so easily noticed if he was careful (and he was always careful, always). In all truthfulness, his intention wasn't necessarily to shoplift from the Witch's Brew from the get-go. He had spoke with one of the shopkeepers recently and gotten some vague answer about some mysterious security system, but whatever the case, he wasn't afraid of it. Bad call. And, hey... what did they expect? Sure, the setup was a bit too perfect, but he'd handled obnoxious stings before and he just was not honest enough to leave his money for the product on the counter. Maybe if it was a charity fundraiser for the homeless, or something along those lines. A quick glance about was given for any obvious cameras before with a quick maneuver one of the deck of cards into the pocket of his pants. And that was the instant something snapped in the atmosphere. Chai felt it even before it actually happened. He had indeed set something off. He heard a good deal of fluttering and hooting from the owl at the register but suddenly he felt <i>knocked</i> into nothing particular. For a solid instant there was nothing, and before he could even begin to try and make sense of the nothing there was light again. But he wasn't where he had been. He was at the door of the shop and once more, before there was time to register what was nothing, like some supernatural bar bouncer, <i>something</i> knocked him right out of the store. The youth flew a couple feet that made for a painful and awkward landing whereupon he skidded on his hip and backside... thankfully, the jacket eased some of the pain of that landing although there some scraps on the meat of his palms, and he barely noticed as he stared in shock at the shop that had literally -- on its own -- tossed him out on his ass. Then, with a soft groan, he just flopped back onto the ground. So much for his luck changing.