Snippet #2329477

As Ayden moved past people, his eyes glanced up at the sun, a slight frown appearing on his face. It was lower than he thought it was, he mused. Well he could always sneak into the inn, he thought idly as he leaned against a pole supporting a vending stand. Taking an unoccupied room would be easy enough, once he found one. Or not, if he was caught climbing into the window of an occupied room. His eyes flickered over to the vending stand nearby, full of different delicacies. Some looked rather greasy, but he didn't mind. Food was food, and was particularly interesting if it came from another culture. He licked his slightly chapped lips as he gazed at a pastry, with its side split and showing a meaty filling. As he stared at it, he wondered whether it was the same filled pastries he used to eat back in Zeniatar. But as the thought about eating it entered his mind, he remembered he had no gold in his pockets. He let out a sigh as his gaze shifted back to the sky, before looking at the crowd.

Having made his decision, he watched the individuals moving through the crowd. He ignored those who seemed poorly dressed, and focused on those whose clothing was extremely extravagant. There weren't too many of these individuals, but there were enough, and as Ayden realized, there was one next to a vending stand. His sky blue eyes dropped down to a brown money pouch belonging to the person, the individual in question a large robust man with long flowing robes over a thoroughly decorated tunic. Seeing the man examining the wares, Ayden took his time, leaning further into the pole as he stared. Instead of actually going up to the man, he tried making the coins come to him. What if he applied the same theory of willing fire to appear, or willing that everyone cease movement, to willing the bag over?

He went from idly wishing, to commanding the bag to appear in his hand. But neither happened, and after a while Ayden began to grow frustrated with the idea. He was reasonably sure it would work, but his stomach was now growling and distracting him. Finally he pushed off the pole and began weaving his way through the crowd, moving over to the stall. As it happened, the man was busy buying a large cut of meat. But he wasn't satisfied with the set price, and was feverishly haggling with the vendor. As if he didn't have enough money, Ayden thought with a smirk. The two were seemingly about to come to blows as Ayden neared, before a shriek echoed through the busy marketplace. Ayden was momentarily distracted as he looked about, before he found the source of the disturbance. His eyes rolled as he spotted a short hooded figure, female from what he could tell, being scolded by the same woman who's items he had been handling just moments before. He watched idly as the woman nearly screamed, before throwing the strange device at her.

Seeing the rich man move away from the stall with his arms full of pig roast, Ayden's hands left his pockets as he moved after. He hardly needed any distraction to lift the man's pouch, however, for a moment later the shrieking female vendor had practically screamed to the entire street that this hooded figure had the "Black Chills". The mere words seemed to freeze everyone in their tracks, as the entire population seemed to be staring directly at her. Everyone except Ayden, who had little idea of what they spoke of, and was more intent on the money pouch. Removing his pocket knife, he cleaned sliced the leather straps holding the pouch before sliding it under his jacket. With everyone focused on the hooded figure, Ayden slipped away without anyone noticing, moving to an unoccupied portion of the street.

With the initial shock of the presence of the strange hooded figure having passed, the townsfolk continued about their business. However anywhere the hooded figure walked, the streets emptied as the people gave an unnecessarily wide berth. As he watched her hurry towards the inn, he couldn't help but smirk at the incident. From what he could tell, everyone thought she had some strange disease, and she had used it to get her way at the vendor. An ingenious way to get something for free, but would have been better used on something much more expensive, no matter how intriguing the shiny box had been. Especially now that everyone was avoiding her.

With her gone from the streets, she along with the incident was gone from his mind. The sun was now even closer to the horizon, reminding him of the need for shelter. It wouldn't do to sleep on the ground here, not with bandits roaming the streets at night. His head turned to look over his shoulder, gazing back at the farm house he had left, and his pursuers. No doubt they would be coming here later, he thought with a frown. He would have to move on soon.

As he neared the inn, he could see the same hooded figure moving away from the building, the crowds making way for her as usual. A slight smile appeared on his face as the figure hurried close to him, and he leaned against a pole supporting another building, not bothering to hurry away with the rest. After all, she had only been pretending to have some strange disease, right?

"That was a bad move," he said idly, his voice hinting that he knew something, his blue eyes full of amusement as he looked towards her. "It's a nice way to not pay for something, but doesn't help much in the long run."