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The cape was, she thought, a blessing and a curse at the same time. A rich violet that few people could afford, pinned at one shoulder with an ornate silver Sword pin, it marked her status clearly even in a crowd, left her standing out like a beacon. It meant that half the people got out of her way, with either nervous looks or brief twitches of smiles. A moment of peace -- except that the other half approached with small concerns, with complains against their neighbors, with rumors that had come down through the grape vine...

It grated at Rosalie, sometimes. She was good at the search and rescue, was good at clearing up brawls and fights and arguments, even at making decisions when it came to serious complaints. She was not good at dealing with the worried young people, with minor squabbles that people should deal with on their own, with wide-eyed questions from ignorant peasants --

So. She hid in the act of browsing, shoulders drawn up under that cloak and head tipped down to study a display of gloves. Most of her was considering taking in the rest of the rounds quickly and retreating home -- or stripping off the cloak and doing it quietly, unnoticed...

The Swords weren't exactly a rarity on the streets -- but neither were they exactly an every day occurrence. They had a tendency of gathering where trouble might be brewing, of sensing oncoming danger before it came, or perhaps just perceiving the shift in emotion and attitude that prefaced a fight, or a theft, or a crazed on loon on the corner ranting about the Spirits.

Since Kodi herself didn't tend to make trouble [at least, not the kind that required legal action], her interaction with the Red Cloaks was probably minimal, and that with the Purple Cloaks -- the Second Swords, like poor Rosalie here -- were probably even fewer. Let, then, her eyes travel upward, over the ornate pin holding Rosalie's cape in place, to take in the decidedly feminine features, clashing with the masculine shape of her shirt and pants, the short-cropped dark hair, the very serious eyes, the hint of a frown --

She wasn't angry, exactly, as her hand shot out to catch Kodi's elbow, but she did take a moment to check her pocket, her pouch, more than passingly familiar with the ways of pickpockets who used a little bump like that to clean you out. Her eyes raked over the girl, exploring and then dismissing, to some degree, as lacking the kind of iron will it would take to try to rob someone as well armed as Rosalie was.

"Slow down." Her voice was warm, soft, not the ringing tone she'd use in the field. Rosalie shrugged under her cloak, still frowning.

If Kodi had placed Rosalie's rank above Noble out loud, she might well have gotten a laugh in reply. Rosalie's own view on the position was clear: something to be done with her that got her out of sight, that kept her quiet and distracted and out of her father's hair. And it worked. She'd taken to the position easily, thoughtlessly, and spent most of her days trying to forget the fine heated quarters of her childhood.

In contrast, the stuttering and quiet panic in Kodi's face and body language made her frown and go quiet, gloved fingers still curled around the girl's elbow to keep her from dashing off and Rosalie's chin hiked up a bit. As Swords went, she wasn't the most imposing one out there -- short and stick straight, out of uniform most people wouldn't have given her a second look. And that, of course, was what the purple cloak was there for.

"...everything alright?" The words came slowly, carefully, Rosalie's eyes gone toward calculating as she looked the girl over. Squirrelish behavior usually implied someone had done something wrong...

Rosalie huffed out a breath, fingers shifting around Kodi's wrist and eyes flicking around them for a moment before she let go. So. Maybe this one didn't have the guts to be a pick-pocket anyway, considering the high points of color on her cheeks and the helpless bubbling of her voice out of her throat. The girl freed, she smoothed gloved fingertips together in a fidgety way, strands of fine dark hair cutting across her line of vision.

"He won't die if you slow down a pace." Not this time, anyway. Not at this time of year, while the fish were still hopping and the worst of the chill faded away. She shook her head, still frowning, but her attention starting to wander away.

"Rosalie Costigan." It came with a frown, not a friendly smile, no dip of a bow. She tipped her head to look down her nose at Kodi, to consider the nervous girl, the fidgeting, the flush. Behind her, the merchant was fidgety, about as unhappy as Kodi was. No one wanted a Purple Cloak standing outside their shop, stopping traffic, scaring off potential business...

"...did you need something?" And this was about as much as she was willing to do, when it came to small talk.