The bustle of the city never really ended. If anything, it lulled for a period of an evening, when the day shift of mostly upstanding citizens turned in for the night and the evening shift of mostly disreputable people turned out to get on with their nefarious twilight business. What interaction there was between the to seemed limited to dealings in pubs, brothels, and in back alleys where particularly pointed arguments and financial transactions were conducted, not necessarily voluntarily.
The twilight suited him just fine.
The figure moved through the streets of one of the rougher parts of the city, near the Shallows but not necessarily in them. He stood out, in a way; it was difficult to pull off the menacing black shadow motif convincingly, and he did not. Black leather trousers, vest, vambraces, and boots stood out, but what really drew the eye was the black hood pulled up an over the figures head. It was too easy to dismiss it as someone trying to be edgy, to put forth a false air of danger. The hilts of the comically large daggers the stranger wore on his hips seemed to fit into the picture nicely. No thief worth their salt would dress so, and only some idiot kid pretending at being an assassin or some tough bounty hunter would dress in that manner.
It drew too much attention, and made one look a fool.
And that, more or less, summed up Tian. He looked like a fool, acted like one sometimes. He carried himself with an easiness that seemed like it might be partly feigned, if not outright false, but it never dispelled the notion of ineffectual prowess that he wore wrapped tightly around himself. Like now.
The man was whistling loudly and off key, some old ditty that had likely not been heard in a long, long time. He had hands thrust into pockets as he went along, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Anyone who went along so blithely unaware in this part of Alliria at any time of the day was liable to end up floating face down in one of the sloughs back in the Shallows, or else in an alley somewhere minus their clothes, their money, and their wits - assuming they'd ever had any of the latter to begin with. Doing so with the sun firmly behind the horizon and the stars waking up overhead was almost asking to be suicided by someone.
And the thing about large cities? There is always someone willing to make sure the gene pool stayed relatively clear of idiots.
If whistling along as though he hadn't a care in the world wasn't stupid enough, though, the man turned into a narrow alley between crumbling buildings much to the delight of the pair who had been following him at a distance for the last fifteen minutes. They grinned to one another as he vanished into the gloom of the alley, then slid in behind him.
The alley was a dead end, and their quarry was standing there, looking at the wall in front of him and scratching his head when they came to block the way out.
"Oi, what we got here?"
The fellow turned around quickly as though startled, and shook his head. "A dead end," the man replied, shaking his head. "'ere now, you gents wouldn't happen to be able to help me find the apothecary round here, would you?"
They turned and looked to each other, and grinned. One was a tall fellow with more scars on his exposed flesh than normal tissue; he looked down on the fellow before them with a false grin. "Oi, aye, we do that," he replied, elbowing his partner who was of average height and build. "Ent very far, neither, is it Jack?"
"Nae, nae, 's just a little bit further on down the street, 'tis." He looked to his companion with that same friendly-seeming grin that never reached his eyes. "If you need some'un t'show ya the way, why...I reckon we could take a break from our busy even'n an' help ya."
"You'd do that for me?" The nameless stranger radiated something that felt very much like a smile. Both of the thieves noted that they could not see this man's face, but then with the idiot putting himself into an alley and being friendly thus far, they didn't attribute that, or anything else about him, as being particularly dangerous. "I reckon I could prolly toss a coin or two your way for your trouble; the damned apothecary wants a small fortune for the stuff they sell, but I do not think they will miss a coin here or there," he confided to them.
The man in the back of the alley watched greed do its work.
"Right, we dun need any money to show a fellow man how to get somewhere, 'specially when its just round the corner," the tall one, clearly the brains (whic hwas stretching things a bit). "Perhaps we should get to it?"
And that was how Tian ended up walking through dark streets with a tall fellow - a local thug, known by many that lived there to be nothing but trouble - in front, leading the way to their den and not an apothecary of which there had never been one near here, while his mate followed in the rear, wondering if it was time to just knife this idiot, take his things, and scarper off or not.
It was a good thing for Tian that neither of them could see the self-satisfied smirk on his shadowed face.
The twilight suited him just fine.
The figure moved through the streets of one of the rougher parts of the city, near the Shallows but not necessarily in them. He stood out, in a way; it was difficult to pull off the menacing black shadow motif convincingly, and he did not. Black leather trousers, vest, vambraces, and boots stood out, but what really drew the eye was the black hood pulled up an over the figures head. It was too easy to dismiss it as someone trying to be edgy, to put forth a false air of danger. The hilts of the comically large daggers the stranger wore on his hips seemed to fit into the picture nicely. No thief worth their salt would dress so, and only some idiot kid pretending at being an assassin or some tough bounty hunter would dress in that manner.
It drew too much attention, and made one look a fool.
And that, more or less, summed up Tian. He looked like a fool, acted like one sometimes. He carried himself with an easiness that seemed like it might be partly feigned, if not outright false, but it never dispelled the notion of ineffectual prowess that he wore wrapped tightly around himself. Like now.
The man was whistling loudly and off key, some old ditty that had likely not been heard in a long, long time. He had hands thrust into pockets as he went along, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Anyone who went along so blithely unaware in this part of Alliria at any time of the day was liable to end up floating face down in one of the sloughs back in the Shallows, or else in an alley somewhere minus their clothes, their money, and their wits - assuming they'd ever had any of the latter to begin with. Doing so with the sun firmly behind the horizon and the stars waking up overhead was almost asking to be suicided by someone.
And the thing about large cities? There is always someone willing to make sure the gene pool stayed relatively clear of idiots.
If whistling along as though he hadn't a care in the world wasn't stupid enough, though, the man turned into a narrow alley between crumbling buildings much to the delight of the pair who had been following him at a distance for the last fifteen minutes. They grinned to one another as he vanished into the gloom of the alley, then slid in behind him.
The alley was a dead end, and their quarry was standing there, looking at the wall in front of him and scratching his head when they came to block the way out.
"Oi, what we got here?"
The fellow turned around quickly as though startled, and shook his head. "A dead end," the man replied, shaking his head. "'ere now, you gents wouldn't happen to be able to help me find the apothecary round here, would you?"
They turned and looked to each other, and grinned. One was a tall fellow with more scars on his exposed flesh than normal tissue; he looked down on the fellow before them with a false grin. "Oi, aye, we do that," he replied, elbowing his partner who was of average height and build. "Ent very far, neither, is it Jack?"
"Nae, nae, 's just a little bit further on down the street, 'tis." He looked to his companion with that same friendly-seeming grin that never reached his eyes. "If you need some'un t'show ya the way, why...I reckon we could take a break from our busy even'n an' help ya."
"You'd do that for me?" The nameless stranger radiated something that felt very much like a smile. Both of the thieves noted that they could not see this man's face, but then with the idiot putting himself into an alley and being friendly thus far, they didn't attribute that, or anything else about him, as being particularly dangerous. "I reckon I could prolly toss a coin or two your way for your trouble; the damned apothecary wants a small fortune for the stuff they sell, but I do not think they will miss a coin here or there," he confided to them.
The man in the back of the alley watched greed do its work.
"Right, we dun need any money to show a fellow man how to get somewhere, 'specially when its just round the corner," the tall one, clearly the brains (whic hwas stretching things a bit). "Perhaps we should get to it?"
And that was how Tian ended up walking through dark streets with a tall fellow - a local thug, known by many that lived there to be nothing but trouble - in front, leading the way to their den and not an apothecary of which there had never been one near here, while his mate followed in the rear, wondering if it was time to just knife this idiot, take his things, and scarper off or not.
It was a good thing for Tian that neither of them could see the self-satisfied smirk on his shadowed face.
