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Post by Malcolm on Aug 16, 2020 20:49:50 GMT -6
Having a protege was a mixed blessing. Malcolm knew this well. After all, he had been in such a position himself, once upon a time. He was also under no illusions regarding the motivations of his new charge, though he doubted it would go quite the way his own apprenticeship did: with a knife in the back of his mentor, once the time was right. Well. Yoru might kill him yet, but it wouldn't be with a knife. A needle through the eye, perhaps; something more appropriate for his size. But as of yet, that was a long way off. Unfortunately, what Malcolm had to contend with now was mostly the nuisance of having a tiny charge always underfoot. "What are we doing today, sir? Are we headed off to the market again?" Yoru greeted him bright and early, while Malcolm was still nursing his first coffee of the day. 1
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 16, 2020 20:54:10 GMT -6
Malcolm could only give him a grunt in reply. Not that that would satisfy the boy; Malcolm had learned already that Yoru didn't need much to keep himself going. He continued to chatter at length about all sorts of things until Malcolm had imbibed enough caffeine to render him verbal, at which point he flashed Yoru a dazzling smile and said, "My dear student, if you speak any louder about my business, our neighbors will hear. And then I'll have no choice but to turn you into the authorities."
"Ah," said Yoru, eyes widening. Then he grinned. "Sorry, sir. My lips are sealed." And he was as good as his word, at least on topics of a more sensitive nature. He found plenty else to talk about anyway, make no mistake.
Malcolm resisted the urge to sigh. Well, at least Yoru was trying, he supposed.
"Say," he said, interrupting the tangent Yoru had just begun. "What say you to a little change of pace?"
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 16, 2020 20:58:36 GMT -6
Yoru brightened. "Anything!" he said. "Are we going on---" and here his voice dropped to a whisper, "--- a real heist now, sir? Or maybe a bit of espionage?" The way his eyes gleamed made Malcolm tired in spite of the coffee. No, he was rather rethinking the resemblance to himself that he had seen in the boy, however briefly, on the day that Malcolm agreed to take him in.
But there was a time and place for curtness. A diet of only cruelty never did turn out the best pawns. "Nothing of the sort," he said to Yoru. "We'll be paying the quest board a visit."
"The quest board?" For a moment, confusion flitted across Yoru's features. But then he nodded, as if he understood.
Though, of course, whether he actually did was up for debate. The boy's instinct was always to bluff, and Malcolm hadn't quite cured him of it yet.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 16, 2020 21:01:48 GMT -6
"Yes. One can't build one's reputation on under the table dealings only. There has to be a table to deal under, no?" Malcolm rose from the table, and began the process of getting dressed. He liked to look his best, even on days when he wasn't dealing with anyone of particular note. Clothes make the man, and all that. Pulling on his gloves, he smiled at Yoru. "Besides which, a man is never in a position where he can't use a few more connections. And people from all walks of life in the city make use of the board, do they not?"
Now he saw real clarity dawning in Yoru's eyes. It didn't surprise him that the boy hadn't thought of such things. He was a lowly pickpocket when Malcolm had first run into him, and based on what he had said, Malcolm knew that he had probably been working alone.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 16, 2020 21:05:18 GMT -6
Living hand to mouth like that didn't leave a child much room for considering his options, much less what it took to move up. That was something Malcolm knew all too well. "Come," he said, slipping on his shoes at the door. Yoru darted to his side, and together the two of them set off for the quest board as Malcolm had planned. ----- The job was not quite what Malcolm had expected, but he certainly considered it a good opportunity. He hadn't been lying about making connections, and it was doubly important for him because he was still relatively new in the city. The twins who ran the Dusty Scroll were established men of good repute, and having them in his proverbial debt could only be a good thing. And if Malcolm could learn a bit more about the black market situation here in the city while he was at it... Well. 5
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 17, 2020 20:45:44 GMT -6
He hadn't really been expecting much, but it felt as if a gift had fallen into his lap. Though maybe he was getting ahead of himself; this was still just an opportunity, a lead to follow up on. It was up to him to turn it into something more concrete. He smiled at the twins and bid them a pleasant farewell, with Yoru mimicking some of what he had done; and then man and Harachiu set off together for the docks.
The docks themselves were just as bustling as the shopping district, but Malcolm hadn't often had any occasion to come here. He wasn't a complete stranger to its existence, but it hadn't been a focal point for him. The city he had grown up in had been land-locked; indeed, the whole country had been, though sometimes trade still moved by rivers and lakes. Even so, there had not been a port anywhere near the capital.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 17, 2020 20:50:14 GMT -6
Suffice to say that he felt rather out of his element in a place like this. If it was merely a matter of imports and exports, he was familiar enough with those such areas, but there was a distinctive culture unique to sailors that he was not fluent enough to trust himself to broach. Malcolm had been working long enough to understand the kind of distrust leveled at those not considered part of an in-group, and how much easier it was to come off the wrong way if you didn't have a way to align yourself with such folk.
In short, it hadn't been worth his time - or at least not with the risks, and with his skill set. Better to never have spoken to someone than to leave them with a bad impression, which they might then pass on.
And yet, now, here he was, with Yoru waiting eagerly at his side.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 17, 2020 20:58:38 GMT -6
But maybe he could put this situation - and his new protege - to some use. Turning to Yoru, Malcolm said, "What do you think is the most important part of fulfilling this request?"
Yoru thought about it for a moment, frowning slightly. "Hmm... Finding out how the books got stolen?"
Malcolm arched a brow at Yoru. "And why is that?" he said, not betraying whether or not this was the answer he was looking for.
"Umm... We can learn from them, if we ever need to do something similar. Or we can find hints about how big they are, how much pull they've got..." Yoru was clearly thinking hard; it was written all over his face. They'd have to work on that, but the art of lying smoothly and lying well took time to learn. As it was, Malcolm was pleasantly surprised with the answer that Yoru had managed to come up with.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 17, 2020 21:07:25 GMT -6
It wasn't the answer Malcolm had been looking for, but the justifications that he gave weren't unreasonable, and given Yoru's relative inexperience, had frankly been more than Malcolm had expected him to come up with. At least he had a brain, and he was using it. That spoke well of him, even if he was rather too excitable as he was now.
"Not bad," he said. Yoru looked up at Malcolm, a wide grin breaking out across his tiny features. But before he could get too far ahead of himself, Malcolm went on. "You're not wrong, but the most important aspect of the request will be gathering our information. I suppose that encompasses finding out how the items were stolen, if we manage to uncover those details, but without information, there isn't much we can do, is there?"
Yoru's eyes widened for a moment, before he nodded quickly in understanding.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 17, 2020 21:11:12 GMT -6
Malcolm smiled. "And so, this is the perfect opportunity for you to get some practice in. Go on. Find out what you can about the missing shipment."
Again, Yoru nodded. "I'll do my best, sir!" he said. Malcolm nodded back, and Yoru flew off. Malcolm waited until some distance had opened up between them, then followed in his wake, maintaining that space so Yoru wouldn't know he was being tailed. Very well, so he was sending the boy to do his dirty work for him, but Yoru hadn't actually proven that he could be entrusted with this sort of thing. Once Malcolm had a better idea of Yoru's abilities, he might leave the boy to the tasks he was good at without watching over him, but for now Malcolm decided he had best keep an eye on Yoru.
Well, that, and the fact that he didn't know if the boy would run into any trouble.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 18, 2020 19:48:42 GMT -6
He was small, even if he was quick, and even regular human-sized boys were easy pickings if someone wanted to give them a hard time. Malcolm wanted Yoru to be able to be useful without being watched over, but he was also not going to send someone to their death if he could help it, so until he knew more or less what the outlook was for a Harachiu asking questions around town, he wasn't going to let Yoru go about it genuinely unsupervised.
And if Yoru picked up on the fact that he was being followed, then Malcolm will have found out that the boy knew how to detect, and possibly to shake, a tail. Otherwise Malcolm would have to teach him eventually, but he wasn't going to expend more effort than he had to, and a part of that was finding out what Yoru had already learned on his own.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 18, 2020 19:54:54 GMT -6
But for better or for worse, Yoru never cottoned on to the fact that Malcolm was following him. He went about asking around, and while some people brushed him off, others did stop to talk to him; and many of that number even looked upon him kindly. Malcolm privately felt that this was owing at least in part to his own work in cleaning up the boy. No associate of his, underling or otherwise, was going to go around in dirty shabby clothing if Malcolm could help it; it was one of the first things he had rectified about Yoru's situation. After all, his own reputation was on the line here, and never let it be said that Malcolm allowed anything sloppy in terms of presentation.
Now that work was paying off. Yoru looked like a respectable child out and about on a legitimate errand, and people were treating him accordingly.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 18, 2020 20:02:03 GMT -6
In fact, Yoru was striking up conversations with people who probably wouldn't have been as comfortable talking to someone like Malcolm. Malcolm had anticipated this, of course, and it was one of the more useful prospects of having Yoru on board. Children had a reputation for innocence, and were much less likely to be viewed with suspicion. And if they were caught, a child - especially a pretty child, who knew what they were doing - could tug on the heartstrings of their would-be punishers and get off lightly.
It wouldn't work with others who were savvy on the ways of the underworld, of course. They were all reading from the same playbook, more or less. But for the majority of people, at least, it was true to some extent.
The only trouble was that Malcolm couldn't linger close enough to hear what was being said, by Yoru or by the people he spoke to.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 18, 2020 20:16:32 GMT -6
Thus he didn't know whether Yoru was asking the right questions, or whether he was getting anything useful out of the people he had spoken to. But then, Malcolm wasn't in a particular rush, despite the fact that the owners of the Dusty Scroll had seemed a bit pressed when Malcolm had met with them. This wasn't, he felt, the sort of job that ought to be rushed. Overplay your hand, and you risked tipping off your enemies, or making new ones in the process. Malcolm had no desire to do either; and in the meantime it was a good opportunity for Yoru to stretch his wings a little.
At length, Yoru seemed as though he was wrapping up with his investigation, so Malcolm made his way back to the area where they had first 'split up'. It didn't take Yoru very long to reappear, fluttering up to Malcolm as soon as he spotted him.
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Post by Malcolm on Aug 18, 2020 20:20:21 GMT -6
"Good news?" said Malcolm, arching a brow at Yoru. The boy seemed eager enough to reconvene, so Malcolm anticipated that he had gotten something, at least. Whether the information he had was actually any good was another story, but if he had come slinking back like a dog who expected to be reprimanded, then there was little enough hope at all that he had accomplished anything.
"I asked a few different questions," Yoru said. "Not all to the same folks, either." That was promising, so far. Yoru didn't explain, but Malcolm knew that it was to minimize the splash he caused here, so to speak. If a rash of people suddenly started talking about a Harachiu wandering around the docks asking for a particular thing, then it was that much easier for word of that to reach the wrong ears, or stick in the wrong minds.
"Go on," Malcolm said with a nod.
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