arcanarumlogs | And you don't have to make a sound

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And you don't have to make a sound

Who:Kesley and anyone outside
When: After the shops close
Where: Outside either the Ace of Wands, Ace of Swords, or the Ace of Pentacles. Take your pick, she's hitting them all.
What: Kesley's going shopping. With her Five Fingers discount. By which I mean stealing.
Warnings: None so far

Kesley had tried to get what she wanted the legal way. She really had. But the people (at least she thought they were people, they looked like them at least) who ran the stores seemed to be very convinced that the only clothes she should be wearing were ones like those harlequin robes she'd shown up in, nevermind that she'd seen plenty of practical clothes on the racks, ones that would have fit her even, especially now that she was a bit taller and broader than usual. And the weapons shop had been even worse, that son of a bitch wouldn't even sell her a dagger, let alone the crossbow that she'd spotted in the corner.

And so she had turned to crime, out of pure necessity really. That night after the shops had closed she snuck into first one store and then the other, loading up on everything her greedy little heart could desire. Which wasn't a whole lot, she wasn't stealing to sell it later after all, just for her own use. Some clothes that were normal colors instead of looking like she belonged to a fair, and some actual weapons, a crossbow with quarrels and a set of throwing daggers. She almost grabbed the sword, but it was a bit big. She'd come back for it later.

Last but not least she went and grabbed some things from the grocery store that the shop lady hadn't wanted her to get either. She wasn't even sure why, at this point it was just because she was annoyed and wanted to annoy the obnoxious shop lady who kept suggesting cheese and candy. She didn't even like cheese.

And so, bags of loot bulging, Kesley headed back to her house, really quite happy with herself and eager to get back and try out her new things.

[OOC:Feel free to run into her anywhere you'd like!]

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It was not uncommon for Minato to take a late evening walk. He'd gotten into the habit long before he'd returned to Iwatodai and had the necessity of going out at night to deal with assorted errands, and even though he was in a new place, this habit wasn't going away any time soon. Thus, the evening found him strolling along near the shops district - a route deliberately chosen to ensure that he encountered as few people as possible. If he couldn't have headphones and his music, then at least he could have relative quiet.

... or so he thought. He was soon proven quite wrong as he saw someone else coming out of one of the stores and turning down the road towards him. Minato paused, frowning a little as he realized said person was not one of the strange shopkeepers and that said person looked a little encumbered. On the one hand instinct told him to just keep on walking because if she were doing a little late-night shopping, that wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't quite suppress his curiosity (or the desire to ask her if she had a sword or a baseball bat or something that was a useful weapon when he wasn't sporting fangs and claws). So he continued to watch her, hands shoved into his pockets and tail flicking back and forth. ... what, you expected him to say hello? Nah, he was more prone to letting others make the first move.

Years and years of having to be on the lookout for anyone that might see her and try to steal whatever it was that she had just stolen (a much more likely occurrence in Five Fingers than being turned over to the Watch) meant that Kesley was aware of Minato watching her very early on. At least that City Watch idea seemed to have fallen through, and besides, he didn't seem so intent on stopping her as he was watching her. Her common sense shouted at her to keep going, that if he wasn't going to stop her that she should ignore him and keep going. But then again she had to wonder just why he was watching her, make sure that he was at least mostly harmless.

So she paused, one hand holding tight to the sack and the other resting on a long knife that she'd taken a fancy to and stuck into her belt. She wasn't going to attack, but her natural suspicion of anyone meant that she wasn't about to trust that he wouldn't.

"Lovely night ain't it?"

He shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets, though he took note of her hand on what looked to be a knife. He hadn't had a life of living on the streets, but a decade of people watching and the past year of spending his nights fighting supernatural monsters born from human emotion had certainly done a lot to hone his observational skills. That said, he had no hostile intent himself, so he remained as he was.

"I suppose so. For walking and for -- shopping." His expression didn't change, but his eyes flicked momentarily to her sack.

While the fact that Kesley had no idea what he had in his pockets made her nervous, Minato at least seemed relaxed enough that she could be reasonably sure that he wasn't going to try anything. Reasonably sure. She still had her hand on the knife, because this would be a wonderful time for her instincts to be wrong, but she did at least seem to relax.

"Yeah, the shops have got some really great after hours sales sometimes." She shrugged. "Surprised more people don't do their shopping at this time a day."

"Well, it's a little hard to ask salespeople questions when their shops are closed, and I'm sure they make it difficult to get in to keep out any but the most determined shoppers, though I'm sure the discount probably nice enough to make up for it," he returned dryly.

Kesley just kind of laughs at that one and shrugs. "Good thing I'm one of those determined types then. Might be I can do some lifting for ones that ain't as determined. For a fee, maybe a favor." It's warily made, but she means it, she can't have been the only one that was being denied the things she wanted because the shopkeepers were dense.

He lifts his eyebrows at that. Or well, at least one eyebrow - his bangs make it a little hard to tell if he's lifting both, not that it really matters. "... if you're reselling normal pants, I think you'll make a killing."

Though he wonders if wandering around in stolen things might turn out badly. The rules of this place - or at least the rules of the rulers of this place - are as of yet unclear to him. Still... he knows a few people rather desperate for more normal (at least for them) clothes.

A grin nearly splits Kesley's face and she lifts one leg, showing off her own, new and much darker trousers. "You're tellin' me. Got sick of running around like some kind of mummer during Captain's Rest. I'm sure there's plenty here that'd appreciate the ability to have the same thing, don't you?" Kesley couldn't care less about any sort of law, and if asked she was perfectly ready to say to most anyone that she'd found them or hell, even sewed them herself. No harm in that, right? It was a stupid rule anyway, like hell was she going to run around in the stupid clothes she'd shown up in all the time.

He smiles a little bit right back. "I do. I would be one of them, but the tail is bound to make pants inconvenient." Which is why he hasn't been too bothered by the silk robe of sorts he has on, especially as he did manage to convince the shop that pockets were a good idea, though they had thoroughly disagreed with any other request he'd made.

Kesley shrugged "Just cut a hole in the back wherever your tail comes out. Shouldn't be too hard. She'd go nuts if she had to run around in something like that, but she'd always enjoyed having some freedom of movement.

"Did they even give you any hose to wear under it? Seems a little drafty..." Was he even wearing underwear? She was almost curious enough to check, but not that curious.

The problem was that due to the diameter of the tail and where it came out, unless he wore pants that had a pretty high waist or came awkwardly low, the hole would cut right through the waistband, which made getting pants to stay up a little problematic. Furthermore, because of the fins on it, it would be pretty hard to fit through a small hole anyway. But rather than bothering to explain all that, he just shrugged right back, flexing the caudal fin a little as the tail flicked slowly back and forth, though he gave her a flat look at the latter question, guessing where her mind was going.

"No. But I do have underwear."

Yeah, with a tail like he was sporting it would definitely be easier to just avoid the whole thing somehow. Which meant that instead of modifying an existing pair of pants you might have to just make an entire new set, which was not Kesley's forte. Maybe if Mags had been there she could have made a set of clothes for the blue haired boy, but as it was he would just have to make do with the robe or find someone that could fix up some pants for him.

Kesley just laughed at that flat look and shrugged. "Hey, I didn't ask." But oh yes, she had wondered.

"You implied," Minato remarked, lifting his eyebrows at her though otherwise retaining his poker face. But then a thoughtful look came over him, as his eyes shifted to her knife again. "Clothing aside, how hard was getting into the weapons shop?"

Kesley shrugged in response to the question. "Guess that all depends on how much experience you have breakin' into somethin' like this. I wouldn't call it easy, especially for someone as hasn't done no roofwork before. They don't really want no one cabbagin' their goods, you know?"

"How hard was it for you?"

He'd very seldom had occasion to break in anywhere, and those few occasions he had, he'd never had to climb on any rooftops. So maybe if he wanted something the shops wouldn't give him, it seemed best to ask the expert...

... though he did find himself blinking at her ways of phrasing things. Cabbaging? He got what she meant, but... well, he'd never come across that slang before.

"Well, they ain't got any of the mechanickal security I'm used too, so it was all just regular old locks. Not too hard for me, but I've been doin' this sorta lay for awhile." She might sound a little smug, but then again she'd been thieving one thing or another since she was old enough to snatch a piece of fruit from a cart and run like hell to make sure she'd have a meal. It just progressed from there.

And yeah, Minato, just sort of roll with the slang. And be happy that she's not speaking actual Five Cant, or he wouldn't get her meaning for more than one word out of five.

That's what whatever magical translator function exists in this place is for, right? Surely it could handle Five Cant. Maybe. Perhaps it's best not to test this sort of thing.

Minato nods and imagines that whatever smugness he hears in her tone is probably not too unmerited, given the loot she is carrying with her at the moment. "Did they have much in the way of swords lying around?"

There may be some things that even magic can't handle.

She thinks for a moment and then nods "Yeah, there were a few. Couple rapiers, a broadsword or two, they even had some of those long curvy ones, whatchcallit, scimitars? Had a greatsword too, but that chunk of iron was bigger than I was. You in the market?"

For everything else, there's Master Car-- wait.

"I might be. In the curved blades, did you see any katana?" He'll take a rapier or a broadsword, if he can't get his hands on a katana, but he'd prefer a katana, as it's the sort of sword he's most comfortable with. Hell, he'd even take a spear or something else, but really, a sword seems most straightforward and preferable.

"Katana? Don't think I know what kinda sword that'd be. They had scimitars, some cutlasses, and a shorter version of them claymores the Nyss use. Not sure if they got what you're askin' for though." They are in there though, Minato, don't worry. Kesley just isn't sure what kind of sword a katana might be. Darned Western-based fantasy worlds with no Japanese equivalent.

"Hmm."

Minato fishes around in his pocket and pulls out a small pad of paper and a pencil. He's made it a habit to carry a pencil and paper with him for a while, and now is no exception. But he makes two quick sketches of what a katana looks like, both sheathed and unsheathed, and then he holds it out for her to see in the dim light.

"A katana looks more or less like that. It's generally about this long." And he gestures to show her.

She takes a look at it and runs over her mental inventory before finally nodding. "Yeah, they got that in there. I can make another trip in a couple days and get one for you. It wears on ya, not bein' able to protect yourself when you're used to it, don't it?"

It had made Kesley wary at least. She hadn't liked not having any sort of weapons or her lockpicks or her old clothes. But she could deal with it now that she had some knives at least.

"Thank you. ... let me know what you want in payment, and I'll see what I can do. And... it does."

Not that he made a habit of carrying a sword around in public, but when exploring a monster-filled tower, some sort of weapon had been vital, and even if he'd picked up how to make use of other things (including his fists, an extremely durable deck brush and a bus stop sign), a katana remained his favorite. Though, if he were honest, what he really wanted to use to defend himself here were his personas, but he'd found himself unable to reach them or even really sense them much since arriving here, so a sword would have to do.

"I'll have to think about it, diff'rent place, not used to doin' work in a place like this." And by 'like this' she means without fences and a black market or even much like an economy at all. It's hard to fence things when you're not sure what the going market value for what you're fencing is after all.

He nods, because even if he's not that familiar with fences or a black market, he does think it's hard to judge the exact value of things here - or even what they might need in the future. "A raincheck, then."

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And you don't have to make a sound

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