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Post by Drake on May 3, 2013 20:14:22 GMT -5
The sun was shining on a nice summer afternoon and Frances Drake was spending some time walking around the market. The man liked to keep a finger on the pulse of the city and he found the market to be a generally fair place to do that. At the market, the thief could see shop owners going about their business, struggling or making a profit. He could see many citizens and tourists from every walk in life walking, talking, and spending money or even just looking at wares they wish they could spend more money on. There were good people and bad at the market at all times the man found, and more often than not there were good deeds and bad being done if one was perceptive enough to notice.
There was always a great number of people and things to take interest in, so Frances Drake spent a good deal of time just wandering around on a regular basis. The thief could get intel there for work, watching unguilded petty thieves do their deeds, or simply enjoy the day. He never knew which or what combination of the two would highlight his time there, but he never failed to find the place interesting. This day, the man walked a couple laps around the market without talking to anyone, then took a seat on the edge of the fountain in the middle of town square and watched, his hands each gripping the concrete fountain.
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Post by Melanie on May 3, 2013 20:49:20 GMT -5
The sun was up, she was skipping through the crowd and though she had no money she didn’t care. She had gotten her treat already. Her Father had just given her a new dress and that was what she was doing today. She was wearing her new dress and happily skipping through the crowds of people.
When she came to the fountain she noticed a man sitting on the edge and her skipping ceased and she turned.
“Hi.” She said to the man. “Nice enough weather we're having wouldn't you agree?” She asked as she came over and sat next to him.
She didn't sit too close as to be friendly or anything. Just close enough to make conversation. She wasn't always the best at socializing, almost awkward at times but she had been working on it and this guy looked to be nice enough as people go. Of course she could be wrong, she'd been wrong before.
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Post by Drake on May 4, 2013 4:28:20 GMT -5
Drake turned his head to look at this girl who seemed to be speaking to him. He didn't recognize her and had done nothing to solicit the conversation. He wasn't opposed to chatter, but always had to think things through. The girl seemed sweet and innocent, though her greeting seemed awkward and forced. As far as the thief knew, he was in good standing with the assassins, so baring some unknown plot, this girl wasn't one of theirs putting on an act. Unless she was a spy. If she was a spy she could belong to any of several organizations, including his own, sent from the capitol to check in on them.
All together though, Drake hadn't determined any probable cause to think this girl had any anterior motives and decided within the moment it had taken to size her up – eyeing her up and down – that she was likely just some awkward girl looking for chit chat. Once decided, Drake turned his lips to smile as he offered the girl a nod. “I would have to agree,” he answered and stretched out his hand in greetings. “name's Drake.”
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Post by Melanie on May 4, 2013 13:08:42 GMT -5
She hoped she hadn't been to forward. Being from among te poorest people in the city, she didn’t get to socialize outside her own family too much. It had only been since she became an adult had she even been allowed to walk along and get some freedom during the day. Instead of having her entire day on chore details, that's what her little brother was for now.
She smiled warmly when he answered her and clasped his hand with her own. “Melanie” She replied.
It was always amazing to her how big a mans hand was, they seemed to devour her own. She used to spend a lot of time pressing her hands up against her fathers just to see if they’d gown more to be like his, they never did of course. She wasn't really sure wheat to say next, she really was bad at this stuff. It wasn't that she wanted to be shy or anything, she really did want to talk with people, but living on that secluded farm she just wasn't inclined to know much about the city in general.
“So, what's there to do around here?” She then asked.
A good question from her point of view. She didn't know the city too well, he looked old enough to have been there done that and so it made perfect sense to ask him.
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Post by Drake on May 4, 2013 14:30:57 GMT -5
“Oh there's lots to do around here, depending on your flavour.” Drake looked out over the market and all the people wandering about in it – most of them with certain things to do. He had noticed the pretty little dress this girl was wearing – it seemed the sort of thing common girls would wear to feel pretty and well. It really did look good on her; she was a cute girl, but still he assessed that baring some act, she was as lowly as any others. If she didn't know the area though, she may be new in town, lending credence to suspicion, or not. “A lot of them cost money,” he continued and then glanced back at the girl, “and still others don't.”
Regardless of the girl's innocence, the best course of practice seemed to Drake to be to proceed as if she was – innocent that is. “A lot of folks like to just walk around and look at things.” He started to elaborate on his unhelpfully generic answer, having determined that the things to do that didn't cost money would be the ones she would want to hear. “The market here has enough trinkets and wares to amuse some people for hours a day.” he concluded that suggestion glancing out over the crowd. “Others, like me, like to watch.” Drake smiled a little as he continued his response. “I find people to be all manner of interesting – mostly a very different sort in public than in private.” The thief's commentary had two goals; first to simply relate a bit of himself into the conversation, and also to gauge the girl's interest. If she was a spy he may be able to weed her out and if she wasn't, he may be able to make her one - witting or not.
“Pretty girl in a pretty dress.” He started his next suggestion with a compliment – a little charm never hurt any endeavour. “You would like the lake.” Drake continued with a smile, “It's pretty safe by day and in the sun like this, it's real pleasant for sure. You new here Melanie?”
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Post by Melanie on May 4, 2013 15:04:42 GMT -5
Window shopping she knew well, that was something someone of her station did a lot. She couldn't afford almost all the things she looked at but it sure was nice to admire them and think about owning one or two things, someday. Of course she couldn't see that happening anytime in the near future but it was always nice to dream.
“Thank you.” She replied to his compliment as she smoothed down the front of her dress and looked up to give him a bright smile. “Just got it today. My dad likes to give me things when he can.” She finished with an even brighter smile. Her father meant a lot to her and it showed in the bright proud smile she had just given him.
“So, people watching, is that really that interesting?” She asked. “I mean, I never really thought about it before, but I s'pose it could be interesting enough.” She went on as she looked out about the crowds of people hustling this way and that. “Now the lake, I've been there lots of times but only for gathering water or watering my horse when I get a chance to ride her.” She finished. “show me more of what you're talkin' about with the people watching thing, I think I might actually like that.” She added and then looked up at him with expectation.
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Post by Drake on May 5, 2013 18:45:14 GMT -5
“Oh yes.” Drake replied about how interesting people watching could be. He had smiled at the girl's comments about her father, glad the flattery had worked and also genuinely happy for her – There were plenty of people like Drake himself who hadn't had such favourable experiences with their fathers. He didn't say anything more on the subject, as too much of a good thing could go wrong if it seemed too forced.
“Take this young man for example.” The thief looked up at a teen aged boy roughly twenty feet from their position and pointed. “He's been following that girl across the square.” Drake moved his finger to point at the girl in question. She was pretty and looked about fifteen, much like the boy. “A few times now, he's almost approached her but he shy's away every time he gets close, and ducks behind someone when ever she looks back as if the girl couldn't see him.” Drake faced Melanie again shortly. “He's awful at skulking and she's seen him twice now, doesn't mind.” He looked back up the the two in time to see the girl spot her pursuer a third time and smile as she turned around. “She knows the dangers in men as well as any pretty young girl – you know what I mean – but she's completely unthreatened. Clearly she knows the boy, and she wants him to approach her. The girl has even slowed to match his pace now for the third time. They're both low born like us, so there's no interfering etiquette. I'd say we're looking at budding young love.” He finished his first example looking back at Melanie with a smile.
“Or look at that man in the rugged tan tunic, shopping for wares at the carts.” Again, the thief pointed at the man in question about thirty feet from them. “He walks with a limp, but every time he'd distracted by conversation he walks with a healthy gait. The limp is a fake, as is his station. His shoes are solid, and the back of his neck is clean despite what i imagine to be his intentionally dirtied face. All together, the man seems to be pretending to be poorer than he is, bargaining for sympathy from merchants.”
Drake turned his gaze then upon another man, further away but well within sight. He was near the corner to main street and looked like he was hiding something. The thief lost his smile as he explained this next one. “And that man there,” he started, pointing him out to Melanie, “is shuffling around in circles between the crowd, picking peoples' pockets.” Drake didn't know the man he was looking at, so he obviously wasn't one of his and therefore not sanctioned by the guild. “He's nervous, and not very good.” The veteran thief commented, then struck a smile again. “The city guards have clearly noticed him too.” Drake finished by pointing out two guards moving toward the man's position.
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Post by Melanie on May 5, 2013 19:31:40 GMT -5
Melanies eyes followed his finger as he showed her the way to whom it was he was talking about. It hadn't taken her but a second to find the exact mark and then marks. She smiled at the two as they played at cat and mouse through the square. She wanted to ask why it was that the boy didn’t just walk up to the girl and tell her how he felt, but then she kinda figured he was just that, shy.
Her eyes now followed his lead toward the man in question. She noticed his limp and instantly picked up on the fact that he limped and then didn't more often than she thought he should. Someone else must have noticed this. Of that she was certain. She frowned slightly and was about to make a comment but was immediately distracted by the third person in question and her frown continued. She noticed Drake seemed to have a distaste for this third man more so than the second but then that was a point she'd have to disagree with him on. In her mind the second man was even worse than the third. At least the third guy wasn't pretending to be something he wasn't. This was all well and good, and she felt that Drake should see it that way too. She had no way of knowing the true reason behind why Drake frowned more so at the third, but she disagreed with the frown all the same.
“Well at least the pick pocket isn't pretending to be something he's not and stealing prices right out from under merchants who can't see through his guise.” She huffed. “That other guy is on his way to being caught, but what of the wealthier man. What punishment will he receive for being a penny pincher at the cost of the merchants.” She went on, her passion for that second man showing greatly. “don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving a penny and know full well the value of such a thing, but I would never think to take from others to save that penny.” She continued, her eyes now turning back to watch the wretch she has already grown to despise through his actions.
She tore her eyes away from the man and looked over at Drake. “We work hard for what we have to sell at these type markets and it just erks me to see something like that. We expect the occasional thievery, but usually aren't bothered as there isn't much profit off cabbage and potatoes.” She told him.
She then moved her eyes about the square, wanting to take her mind off that man for the moment. She would make mental note of him of course; just so she could warn others to look out for it. Her eyes began sweeping the crowd almost methodically. Stopping every now and again as something would catch her sight that was odd. She laughed as a boy bumped into a pole because he wasn't looking where he was going. She saw a little boy slip and scrape his knee on the cobbled street, his mother too busy talking to someone to even notice. IT took total stranger to bring it to her attention; Melanie frowned on this and then, she saw something very odd.
“Over there...” She then pointed to their right. “The guy in the hood, next to the alley entrance, what do you suppose that's all about?” She asked.
To their right and clear across the square was a man clothed in what would seem to be assassin's gear. He wore a hood and gloves, tan in color. The hood was large enough to hide his features, but no so long you couldn't tell it was a he, seemed to be camouflaged against the building he was leaning against but Melanie spotted him
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Post by Drake on May 6, 2013 1:22:34 GMT -5
Drake was about to rebut the girl's argument about their pretender versus pick pocket, and then she pointed out a new mark. “Well spotted, Melanie.” He commended the girl and took an instant to think. “That man could have any of a variety of things going on. On the surface, you might assume assassin.” The master thief began to explain his thoughts. “But with a little deeper thought, you'd have to ask yourself why an assassin would dress the way you'd expect an assassin to dress.” Drake glanced at Melanie before looking back at the man in question. “That said, he could be if he's young which he doesn't seem to be, or is trying to make an impression on his mark, or to remind people they're around.” Drake considered a lot of factors at all times when watching any mark, and this one left a lot of variables unsolved.
“I could also wonder about a mage of sorts.” He started into more options for the cloaked man's explanation. “Many are secretive and try not to be recognized by others. Moreover, necromancers have a low tolerance for sunlight, thought they'd have little reason to be here today. Any man of importance may also try to move about unrecognized, to only get the chance to be free of guards and ceremony for a while. All together we have too little information to tell, so he's worth watching a while.” Drake hoped to tell if the girl would pick up some critical thinking and continue along the process he laid out for deductive perception.
“In the mean time,” The thief returned to a previous topic, “That man there though dishonest, is as fair as any merchant.” He pointed back at the not so poor man discussed earlier. “Any time a shopper haggles, and any time a merchant makes a deal or doesn't one is taking money from the other. The difference between that and our pick pocket is that haggling is two sided – the crook's victims are helpless, where the merchant could hold his price.” Drake looked back at the girl, but continued to keep a corner of his eye on the hooded man they hadn't finished discussing. “If the merchant stands on his price, he's taking money from the customer and if he's talked into a bargain, the customer has taken the money from him. The price of a ware is a choice agreed upon by both sides, and think how it's so made up. Who's to say really what a ware is worth? but the pickpocket takes giving nothing in return, and with no input from the other side.
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Post by Melanie on May 6, 2013 1:41:59 GMT -5
Drake gave the girl a few things to think on and think she would. She could see his point where it came to haggling, “But what of his possibly garnering a lower price from a less than wealthy merchant who would just be giving that lower price because he feels sympathy for the man?” She started. “I mean, merchants will do that ya know. If they feel a person honestly can't afford what is for sale, say it is indeed as simple as an apple, they will often times give said item away for nothing.” She shrugged and let it settle there for the time being, her mind wondering back to the fellow with the hood.
“No, I don't think he's a Mage.” She said as her eyes scrutinized the man. “He carries too many weapons on his person.” She said with confidence. “All the Mages I've seen come through the farmers market outside town never have much in the way of weapons. Of course there are always exception to the rule I suppose.” She moved on. “I could see some sort of noble perhaps not wanting to be noticed by the general public, but my question is to the why he would try and camouflage himself in that manner.” She then continued. “Its hot out here, I just don't see why anyone might want to put themselves through all that without real good reason.” She finished and continued to watch the man.
She could see glints of a hilt here or there on his person and she could see that the heat really wasn't or didn't seem to bother him at all. Of course that could be because he wasn't allowing it to do so.
“Who ever he is, he sure doesn't move much.” She laughed. “Perhaps he's a puppet.” She declared and laughed slightly at her own frustrated joke about his non-movement.
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Post by Drake on May 7, 2013 4:41:14 GMT -5
“Well if the merchant gives a better price to one man than another, for sake of his station the merchant is robbing the other.” Drake responded, turning his eyes straight at the girl as he spoke before looking back up at the suspicious hooded man. “For one man to charge according to wealth is as bad as another man who pays according to his own. Anyone who buys or sells is a victim and a villain to the same crime as the next.”
In that moment and just as Drake actively stared at the hooded man against the far wall, the man was no longer there. A chilling sensation came across the leader of thieves, and he knew in an instant who the man was. “That man is no puppet,” Drake told the girl at his side. “and he is no concern of yours.”
His tune about what had been a mystery a moment before had changed in the most drastic of manners. “I suggest you pay him no mind.” Drake looked Melanie hard in the eyes, and couldn't be more serious about what he said. “And if you see him again, you should walk away.”
As seasoned a thief as Frances Drake had been, he couldn't help but feel threatened by who he knew that man to be. The gloves and the cloak were so common a theme, and the knives and armour were so overplayed, he hadn't thought before of the most glaring of signs. The man they watched was no simple mortal man, he was no mere mage or assassin of men. The man they watched was from whom the stories came. He came and went in plain sight unseen, but made himself seen to the leader of thieves.
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Post by Melanie on May 7, 2013 5:32:08 GMT -5
Melanie sat quietly and listened to his argument over who was right and who was wrong and decided that maybe he had a point after all. To this, she gave a smile and sighed all at the same time. She had never looked at it like that before. She was really beginning to like this man and was glad she'd decided to forgo her usual timidness and actually speak to someone.
Suddenly Drakes mood change, it was like being hit in the head with a rock where there were no rocks to be thrown. She near jumped at his tone and felt as though she'd just been scolded by her own father for something she hadn't even done yet.
“Oh.. ok then.” She replied rather timidly. “If, I see him again though, would you want to know about it?” She asked then. Her eyes now straining to keep from looking over where the figure had stood. “I mean, I won't go looking but if, you know, if.” She wanted to make it perfectly clear that she would do as Drake had told her. There was no mistaking the fact that Drake had decided he knew who this other man was and as well that he had no particulate love of the man in question and that, for some reason, made her a bit edgy about the guy too.
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Post by Drake on May 9, 2013 19:12:03 GMT -5
Drake hesitated for a mere instant as he thought of the girl's response. “Yes.” he answered firmly, his eyes having never parted from hers. “If you see him again you seek me out. Understand that the man we saw is seen only by who he wishes to see him. In this case I'm sure it was my attention he sought, but if he looks to be seen by you it can not be good.” He meant his warning to be simple and stern, and hoped the timid girl had well understood.
The veteran leader of thieves was certain by then the man they'd watched was the renowned thief legend, King Seebo MalCali from Karador. The man was known and feared by every thief, and many even outside of their station. The ominous mystery the man kept about him was his identifier to all thieves who needn’t know their king's face. It was also tirelessly frightening, when one considered the things everyone knew that man could do, let alone the ones the stories hinted that he could.
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Post by Melanie on May 9, 2013 19:22:12 GMT -5
His last words of the man that seemed to have Drake so unhinged would be wanting to be seen by the likes of her for some reason was a frightening thought of its own. She'd never done anything that she knew to bring attention to herself, but maybe that was her failing.
“Will do then.” She simply stated and then tore her gaze away from his and looked out over the crowd, thought her mind was too filled for any real looking, she just wanted a change of thought. Their talk about this character had truly unsettled her. Of course she'd get over it, not as if it was going to haunt her for an eternity or anything, she knew there were 'not so good' people out there.
“How do I find you if I do see him again?” She asked then, just realizing she had no clue as to how to get hold of this man if she wanted to.
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Post by Drake on May 9, 2013 19:40:53 GMT -5
The girl's question had seemed obvious, but Drake had taken it for granted until she asked. He wasn't used to having that type of discussion with people who didn't realize who he was. “You need only ask about me, and I'll find you soon enough.” The answer he gave was cryptic, he realized as it occurred to him again she didn't know who he was. The master thief couldn't really give a clearer answer. There was obviously no mark of the guild it's members wore to identify them or they'd all have been caught long ago. He could only trust that his eyes and ears about the city would get the message across if the girl were to ask a few questions, really to anyone.
“In the mean time, that shop there sells great frozen treats.” Drake pointed one of the shops in the solid structures at the edge of the square. “I assume you like those, so you should treat yourself to one and meet someone more fun than me.” The man winked at her as he made the suggestion, trying to get her mind off of the darker subject they had just discussed. He knew too that the girl wouldn't be one to afford a treat, but ensured there were a few coins where there had not been before; in her lower left pocket.
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