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 Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:08 am
  This is a private roleplay between Van [Kurama no Koishi] and Sakngea [audio fiend] . Setting: The night is slightly chilly, and a wind races down the back alley streets, spinning up dust and litter into little clouds of dirt. The stars wink out from behind a veil of clouds, and the underbelly of the City moves at an energetic pace. Vendors and informants; assassins and mercenaries all swarm the black market in hopes of gain some sort of profit by nights end.
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:31 am
His coinpurse felt heavier tonight, much heavier then it had in many nights. Sakn liked this feeling, and it brought a smile to his face as he walked down the alleyways of the city. He had managed to get a hold of some valuable information lately concerning a certain Noble that had led to several other leads, all of which accumulated to the coins now clinking around in his purse.
Sure, some might call him a traitor or backstabber for selling information about nobles, but honestly, Sakngea didn't do it out of spite or hate. Information was information, and no matter what side it was, it meant money. He was no loyal Noble retainer, no marching boy in a fools army. But neither was he a Legion dog, doing tricks at the snap of a finger. He was a man, fighting and doing what needed to be done to protect his family.
And tonight he was a rich man, so the redhead couldn't help but start whistling a little fishing ditty as he walked along. Sakngea still had much information to sell, though most of it was less important; just little things really.
He slipped back into the main flow of the black market shortly after, and ambled along like he had all the time in the world. And perhaps he did, for tonight. The redhead would casually look around as he walked, commenting on the fine skill used to make a pair of small knives, picking them up gently to look them over before setting them down. Of course, he wasn't commenting on them because he wanted them, but because being kind to a craftsman could always earn you a bit of a story or some fresh gossip. So when he smiled at the woman, with her forge-tanned skin and burn-scorched hands, he wasn't surprised when she eagerly started up conversation.
It ended pleasantly, though her information was less then useful. Just stories about a kidnapping right in the midst of a legion family's home and a rumor about the emperor. Sakn logged it away in his mind anyway, because it could be useful later. Everything was useful, he had come to realize. Especially words.
He walked on then, and bought a couple plums of a food vendor; spoke with him lightly about the kidnapping(it was interesting, the nobles were getting braver, perhaps more reckless as well), and learned that it was indeed true. The vendor himself had heard it from a neighboring family friend.
"Burst'd righ' awn in, they did, swear on it. Took some boy or somethin' wit'm. Issa shame, this war. Kidnappin's 'n' killin'. This city's nev'seen this much blood before," the man bemoaned, and Sakn frowned, handed the guy an extra coin for his story and walked off.
That was definitely a damper on his fine night.
He threw himself down on a crate soon after, comfortably pressed against the wall near the crowds but not in them. It was the best way to eavesdrop and listen. And it was also nicer to sit and eat then be jostled around by the crowd. Sakngea took a bit of the plum, and savored the sweetness of it, relaxing against the wall as the hum and murmur of the crowd floated around him.
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:04 pm
A cloaked figure made her way through the back alleys of Lunaria’s black market, one anonymous being among many tonight. She found herself roaming the dark streets quite frequently these days, for as Lunaria sunk deeper into the grips of war, the day markets became less and less valuable to the aspiring fighters. Famous smiths and armor makers had closed their doors to both Legionnaire and Noble alike in fear, but in this market, anything could be bought for a price.
Fitted in deep blue fighters’ gear, the top of her face concealed in shadow, Van drifted toward the end of this particular alley, approaching a rickety table displaying a modest collection of small knives. The old man watching the table looked up at her warily, and Van pulled back her hood for a moment, revealing her face before he nodded and retreated under the table. A moment later, he reappeared with two small cases, both of which he opened to reveal two carefully crafted kerambit. No words were exchanged as Van picked one up, feeling its balance and heft before tossing it into the air in a practiced movement. She issued a curt nod.
Satisfied, the woman replaced the knife and applied the same test to its brother, carefully slashing at empty air when her violet ears picked up a word among the hushed market that was all too familiar—kidnapping. Gripping the kerambit tightly, she tilted her head toward the conversation in the next stall over, straining to hear the woman’s words as she told the story of a Legion kidnapping in the middle of the night.
It was no use—anything she did hear, she had already heard before. When her attention was drawn back to the present, the woman realized that her hands were shaking. Hastily throwing the knife back into the box, Van thrust forward a bag of coins before collecting both boxes and leaving. She purposefully passed the woman as she left, hoping to hear another snippet of the story, but she had long since stopped and was dealing with a client now.
Purple glossed lips set into a mild frown as Van set back the way she had come, more slowly this time as she thought of the implications of the ‘rumor.’ Someone in the upper ranks of the Legion had let the story slip, that her older brother had been kidnapped amidst an ambush on the Au house in the middle of the rainforest. The incident was hushed up, both for the family’s pride and for the well-being of the public... for the sudden kidnapping of a captain would cause many to question the strength of the Emperor. At the very least, they would not give the Nobles that satisfaction.
At least her family name had not come up—it would not do well for her to be the object of scrutiny, or worse, pity, especially while they were trying to solve the matter covertly. The Legionnaire was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hardly noticed when she bumped into a very tall, redheaded Lunarian on her way down the alley.
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