Success!

It was rare that Sebastien was ever tasked with going into town for supplies for work's sake. Usually they came in on carts and only had to be loaded into the supply sheds. That didn't mean he avoided the pleasant hustle and bustle of the marketplace, however. It was pleasant to be out amongst people and to be a peer, an honest working man. Once he had been a beggar and coming to the marketplace was a chore, one that usually ended with more than a little bruised ego. Now? Now he loved to see new faces, meet new people, and generally gather information about the world at large.

Today was a rare schedule; he was off in the morning, working only an evening shift and the usual night watch. The young beast charmer had decided to go into town for a decent breakfast and maybe some less-perishable food to keep on the compound for when walking to market was too much after a long day. Besides, he always grabbed a dried this or that to treat his little perzi friend. Her latest litter had grown old enough to strike out on their own and so she came to visit him more often, yowling at his window until he let her in.

He paid no mind to the heated discussion taking part in the square. He heard something about a hypothetical battle, but it wasn't his business. Sebastien went to a food vendors' area and began to look over the menu while the man worked over a cooking fire just behind the stand. He made his decision and met the vendor's eyes, so the pudgy older man wiped his hands off on his apron and approached.

"What can I get for ya?" the shopkeep asked. Sebastien opened his mouth to answer, but a scream tore his attention away. It had been a woman, shrill and surprised, and being who he was his first instinct was that some intimidating animal had broke from its master or else wandered in wild. It hadn't been a playful squeal, but a real frightened sound. Whether or not anyone was in actual danger wasn't immediately apparent. Even the vendor craned his neck to see.

Across the plaza were two young men around his age, embroiled in a fistfight. The scream must have come from a startled witness as several of them stood around, some shouting for the men to stop and some just wavering in uncertainty. Sebastien was sure he heard at least one man egging the pair on. It was all so unnecessary. It always was. He decided to step in, considering one of the men had a clear upper-hand and had pinned the other to the pavement. Currently the stronger of the two was beating the other in the face.

"Hey!" Sebastien shouted, moving toward the group. Nobody listened, predictably. He shouldered witnesses aside as politely as possible and leaned in, grabbing the man on top by the shirt and lifting him.

"Get off 'im!"

Rather that being a reasonable sort of man, the adrenaline-high attacker wheeled around and reeled back, socking Sebastien across the face. The impact was audible, the discomfort immediate, but the pain hadn't quite set in. In that fraction of a second, months and years worth of suppressed frustrations and natural stresses gathered up in Sebastian's chest, escaped to his fist, and sent it flying into his attacker's jaw. He felt the impact and watched with ambivalence as the man went down. He sighed again and shook his head. Entirely unnecessary, but things like that happened. He'd lived on the streets for a while, he knew it did. He had also learned how to stop it.

He returned to the vendor then, letting the rest of the audience assist the victims of blows to the body and ego. The soreness of a coming bruise was settling in.

"Sorry about that. Could I get a dried fish and an order of dumplings?"

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