Closed Peoplewatching

[Watu]

12th of Fall 524AV

Watu did not understand this city, it had been a fair amount of time, the criminals wondering the streets, his habit of watching others seemed natural here, but it was the reaction of prey not a predator, or mere curiosity, it seemed that the people here had some kind of sense of fear, it made sense, he supposed, none of them had any supreme advantage over the others, aside from their skill with a blade or their way with words, humans all had similar features, similar baselines, it was what they chose to do that intrigued him, made him watch, how odd that these creatures that made up this city would perish before they reached his age, it was an odd thought to be among so many people that seemed to absorb so much more of their lives than his kind did. The light of the sun had beat down from above and the smell of the bodies around suffused the air. Today he was walking the marketplace, and as of now he was observing a slaver showing of their wares, it was odd to him that they sold of those of their own kind with such freedom, enslaving other species showed dominance, superiority, but your own species being enslaved and sold like a product made his mind turn. His mind wandered as he turned away. There was dissatisfaction in his thoughts as he thought that it wasn't likely he would see one of his own kind around aside from in one of these cages and he went to go find something that bothered him less, surely something interesting would be going on in the marketplace.

[Nayato]

12th Day of Fall, 524 AV

Nayato stood in front of a makeshift cobblers stall that had been erected among many others in the Castle Commons Marketplace.

The cobblers stall itself was nothing special. It was just a table set up under a beige canvas that acted as the stalls back wall curtain and overhanging roof to shade those under it from the sun. The Chaktawe’s obsidian eyes glanced to the left of it to view a merchant selling mostly carrots and potatoes. His eyes locked with the dirty looking merchant who quickly diverted their gaze away to not get involved with him. Nayato did not mean to scare the man, but he was clearly close to the man while dressed like he was ready for a fight.

Nayato's well-worn leather armor had darkened from years of use which fit him snugly over his long sleeved linen shirt. The leather breastplate itself was covered in scuffs and scratches telling the tales of past training. Both of his forearms were encased in leather vambraces, but only his left arm had a metal buckler shield strapped to it. He held his shortbow in his left hand which Nayato felt might have also aided in the merchant not wanting to look at him.

He held an arrow in his right hand that he had drawn from the quiver which hung from the back of his right hip. A khopesh acted as a counterbalance where it was sheathed on his left hip and carried a hatchet tucked into the back of his belt.

Nayato's head swayed to the other direction like a watchful bird as he took notice of a leatherworker’s stall to that side. The woman running the stall just turned her back to Nayato to remain blissfully ignorant while working on her craft.

“Where the PETCH is Lenny!”

The words were spoken with intensity through clinched teeth which caused Nayato to shift his attention back to the Cobbler in front of him. The Cobbler was in her late sixties with graying hair. The only noticeable thing about the old Cobbler was her finely pointed yellow shoes.

The angry girl was hardly older than sixteen years of age but she held the older human woman by the neck among a pile of scattered footwear that had been knocked to the ground off of the table.

"I don't know! I thought he paid his rent"

The old woman said through gasps while being choked by the young girl who was similarly dressed in her own set of leather armor with a shortsword in her free hand. The Cobbler held up a bag filled with what looked to be scrap metal coins.

"Nilo. Zeltivan Nilo. It's all I have! Take it, I'll pay for him!"

Nayato nocked the end of the arrow to the sting of his bow before he whistled a chirp at the old woman to get her attention. Lilly, the young blonde dragoon raider, also glanced towards him.

"Only one question flew your way. It's feathers danced all the way to your ears. They whispered of your son Lenny. It did not ask for your money. Our Marshal has told us that your son always happens to be away from his noticeably empty private apartment when others came by the Sunset Quarters to collect his reasonably priced rent. And now here we are." He raised the bow up without drawing the string to aim at her.

The old woman felt a mix of emotions as the members of the Sun's Birth chose not to rob her of her money. She was happy to keep her hard earned coin, yet sad about needing to betray her son. "He... he went over to Tall Johnny's about two bells ago."

Nayato locked eyes with Lilly since they had a new lead on their target.

"Aey, momma!"

A voice called out from someone approaching the stall from behind.

Nayato's eyes glanced up to look at the stalls back curtain as his brow raised.

"Yer'not gonna believe this. The dice loved me. Pething, Ovek's luck kissed me on the mouth and it was with all of his tongue. Now I can get those Knife pricks...."

The old Cobbler woman was about to scream when Lilly tightened her grip on her throat to keep her silent.

Nayato gripped the fletching of the arrow with his index, middle, and ring fingers to pull the string back until his fingers reached the anchor point against his jawline. He aimed at the center of the stall because he waited to see which side the man would appear.

A bald headed human wearing dark brown trousers and a blue vest over a dirty short sleeved shirt peeked half his body around the left side of the canvas into the stall.

...off my back."

Lenny's eyes locked with Lily's which caused him to pause and Nayato shifted his shortbow towards him.

The hand grabbing his mother by the throat was the same hand that had Lilly's Sun's Birth brand on the back of it which gave away that he was not dealing with the Daggerhands.

It was Lenny's love for his mother which caused him to stare at Lilly for a blink of a moment longer than he should have which gave Nayato a few seconds to aim at the only leg that was visible to him.

Nayato took note of the dagger on the man's left hip and the purse; of what he assumed to be gold miza; in the man's left hand.

Nayato relaxed his fingers to let the arrow slide through them as it launched toward Lenny with swish of air. The arrowhead collided with Lenny to embed itself four inches into his quadricep.

The man stumbled backwards with a scream as he vanished from sight behind the curtain of the stall. Even with the injury he sustained the man's heavy footfalls could be heard stomping away as he ran for his life.

Lilly threw the old woman to the side with growl. "He's running!" She yelled at Nayato as she ran off after Lenny.

"They always do." Nayato said in a huff as he took off in a sprint after them down an aisle of stalls.

The chase was on.

Word Count: 1034

[Watu]

As he traveled the market but a minute later he had found his answer, arriving in time only to see a man loudly bragging about winnings. Considering the things he went through the other day simply having a bag of Miza’s on him this fellow likely wasn't very bright by his assessment. He had no idea who this Ovek fellow was but they clearly meant something to this man. He wondered if this Ovek had paid the man to kiss him and that was why he was so happy. Perhaps that was his employment, something Watu should heavily consider if he was going to remain in the city, but as the thought crossed his mind his spectating eyes caught something change on the strangers face, recognition of something that seemed to irritate him, or scare him, he was not sure but it certainly had replaced his earlier joy. A blink, he missed it but the cry of pain was unmistakable and then he saw the wound, he hadn't seen it but he had been shot by someone straight out of his line of sight, and ran, directly towards where Watu was watching from, and he wasn't able to move in time, analyzing the situation as if he wasn't here may not be smart in this city, although slowed Watu only barely managed to avoid the hit as the man barreled away from his assailant, perhaps the so called “Knife pricks” he had mentioned moments before he was shot. “Out of my way!” Watu growled as he moved aside but there were two people pursuing the stranger, a woman and a man, and he honestly couldn't blame the stranger for being rude, he followed the chase, assuming it wouldn't take much time before the man was caught and he wanted to know what the hell was going to come from this, he was careful to not appear hostile to either of the parties involved.