It's not a crime if no one sees you [Social | Echo]

Hmm, interesting.

Echo was reclined on top of the railing of a stone staircase at the edge of the market, hood thrown back and one leg dangling off the side, as she toyed and played with one of her daggers. At least, she had been until she spotted something much, much more interesting. Or rather, someone. Farther in the market, in front of an open-air shop, stood one of the weirdest looking guys she had seen for some time. Not super tall (for once) but pale skin, crazy hair, and a pretty cool mask that covered his lower face…yeah, that was odd. But that was not the most interesting part about him. The most interesting part was that, as a former thief herself, the tabaxi could tell when someone was staking out a joint to rob. Though, the kid was also just doing a pretty poor job of hiding it too. His skin glistened in the winter sun just a little much for someone with honest intentions and his walk was stiff and uncertain, but as Echo continued to watch he did end up approaching what looked to be a weaponsmith.

Huh, would the kid actually do it?

The boy was met with a gray-haired man, arms crossed, and even from where she sat the treasure hunter could see the bulging lines along his arms and neck. Maybe not the best target, but the point was not to get caught in the first place, right? Maybe the guy figured that big and muscly meant slow. Pretty reasonable. It looked as if the two were now talking. Echo sheathed her dagger and turned so that she was now sitting toward the pair, both legs lightly kicking against the stone wall. The shopkeeper moved around to fetch something. Oh, good one! Distractions were always a great way of getting some extra time to run. Now, would the kid go for one of the spears lying against the wall? Or maybe something smaller and more practical to steal, like a dagger or even a coin pouch left behind by an eager customer? Or…

…a sword that was chained in place?

Echo could almost hear the loud clang of metal against metal and visibly winced. No, not that! Sure enough, the burly man working the store turned at once and shouted something at the boy, his face growing bright red and his hands reaching for an axe that lay at the foot of his counter. To the boy’s credit, he ran fast. Like, really fast. Damn. Echo blinked once and the pale guy was gone, her eyes scanning the crowd for a little while before they just barely caught him dipping out from around a group of shoppers and into a side alley. The shopkeeper by now had abandoned his stand and was roaming the market for any sign of the would-be-thief, glinting axe in tow, but was soon enough approached by a pair of guards. The man shouted a few somethings at them but, evidently, they seemed much more concerned with the waving around of a weapon than his own lamentations, as they soon sent the man back to his store empty handed. Hmm.

Sketchy planning and abysmal execution, but…pretty decent getaway. Nice.

Her curiosity now firmly fixated on the stranger, Echo pulled up her hood and pushed off from the railing, landing at its base with a little skip before melting into the crowd. She had to find out who this guy was. The tabaxi quickly made her way around the market, one eye open for the shopkeeper (he was safely leaning against his stand and muttering to himself), the other open for any guards (they still seemed more concerned with the shopkeeper and his murderous haze), and keeping her form as much within the shadows as she could. Reaching the alleyway soon enough, Echo glanced once over her shoulder before sliding in.

“Hi!”

Spotting the stranger almost immediately (okay, you probably should not cut your escape that short?), Echo gave him a little wave and checked the mouth of the alley one last time. It seemed like no one had noticed them there. Good. Pulling her hood down she then leaned against the wall opposite to him.

“So…that was, like, a pretty good try! But also really, really bad at the same time. I take it you, uh, don’t do much stealing, huh?”

What in the Cat Lord’s name was he doing?

Echo stifled a giggle with her hand. The way the stranger squirmed at the sound of her voice, quickly stammered out a few deflecting questions of his own, and then moved to casually lean against the wall of the alley in the least casual way possible…it was kind of adorable! He was trying soooo hard to look innocent. He was failing miserably at it, as far as the tabaxi was concerned, but, like, two thumbs up for effort! Kid had some real pep.

“Oh? Then either you’ve got one heck of an exercise routine, or you really need to work on your people skills.”

The tabaxi grinned, leaned forward a bit, and pointed a clawed finger at the boy’s chest.

“Listen, I might be pretty new here, but these eyes can spot a thief from a mile away! What you tried to do just now was nothing less than a good ol’ snatch and grab.”

Echo frowned.

“Though maybe you took the whole ‘grab’ part a little too seriously. You’re supposed to steal the thing too, y’know, not just…grab it?”

Huh. That was actually kind of confusing.

“But that’s okay! Because instead of some nasty, mean guard, you get-“

Her grin returning, the treasure hunter jumped a little in place and threw open her arms.

“-me! The name’s Echo, and I’m gonna teach you how to take something that isn’t yours and not end up in jail!”

Uh huh.

Echo nodded at everything the kid said but her grin only grew wider. The blush would have been hint enough but, like, that was training for the arena? Really? The tabaxi leaned her back against the alley wall and clicked her tongue, looking the stranger up and down. He was even worse at lying than he was at stealing! With his big size, muscly muscles, and sick as heck mask the arena bit was probably true; maybe he even needed more stamina or whatever. But, honestly? Grabbing at random things in the market and then running away from an axe swinging lunatic shopkeeper and the city guard seemed, like, the exact opposite of a healthy workout. Cute story, though.

The tabaxi giggled again, this time out loud, when the now visibly frustrated boy finally shouted that he was not a thief. Even more so when he mentioned getting his hand stuck instead. Suuuuure thing, kid. Echo also get her “hand stuck” more than once back in Baldur’s Gate, but at least she made sure it got stuck to pickable things! Not actual chained in place objects. Echo reached up and gave him a quick pat on the side of his arm. She had a lot of work to do here.

A lot.

“That’s true! You’re not!”

The treasure hunter kicked one leg up against the wall and pointed.

“Not yet, anyway. Like…I get it! If I called myself a thief after that performance? I would be sooooo embarrassed too. You’re lucky you didn’t end up in jail! Or dead. That guy seemed seriously insane. Really. Even had a scary big axe and all.”

Echo frowned and peeked at the end of the alley. Honestly though, she hoped the big guy had calmed down by now and was back at his stall. The last thing they needed was a suspicious and lowkey murderous merchant interrupting her little impromptu lesson. Learning and dying never really went well together.

The treasure hunter returned her attention to the kid with a gleam back in her eyes.

“But once we’re done, you’ll be able to call yourself a thief all day and every day! That’s an Echo guarantee! So whaddaya say?”

Echo held out her hand. She also gave a small smile and cocked her head, her tail flicking against the stone behind her. The kid’s anger and nervousness and the weird eye blink squint thing going on were not completely lost on her. Like…he tried to steal something, that was absolutely without a doubt. But! She knew from her own experience how much a failed attempt could rattle someone.

“And worst case? We have a little fun. Maybe even get back at that nasty brute.”

Wait, really?

“It’s, like, uh, my guarantee! I’m Echo. Echo in the Valley. I introduced myself, like, literally not even a few minutes ago.”

Cat Lord, they were off to a great start here! It was like that one time she had tried to make a deal with a goblin while treasure hunting, but all the thing did was try to stab her a bunch of times. At least the kid was thankfully not doing that. Yet, anyway. Echo frowned though as she waited for him to shake her hand. And waited. And waited some more. And then waited even longer as her tail lashed at the brickwork behind her. Was he, like, actually going to leave her hanging like this?

Rude!

The tabaxi let out a sharp hum, closed her fingers into a fist, and then shook it once before playfully punching the stranger on his shoulder. She gave him a pointed look.

“Right. Go team.”

Echo’s grin was quick to return, though, and she cocked her head to the side as she tapped a claw against her chin.

“What, and give away the surprise? That’s no fun!”

Ha! Nice try, buddy! She knew how teaching worked. She had to, like, keep most everything a secret until the last possible moment and then test him on how fast he could think on his feet. Or…something like that. Echo had never really, actually taught someone anything before! Well...she did try to teach Wisp how to sing once, but that ended less than good.

It was bad.

“Let’s just say that I might have a little plan which involves getting him kicked out of the market for good.”

The tabaxi dislodged herself from the stone wall and pulled her hood back on. She then tightened her scarf, motioned for her new student to follow, and began to move toward the alleyway entrance.

“Lesson one on being a good thief: dig your claws into any and every opportunity and exploit the heck out of them! Like, say, the fact that the market guard is none too happy with our mutual friend right now.”

Reaching the edge of the shadows which blackened the alley, Echo crouched down and looked out across the market. The bustle was still as bustling as ever and, with a pleased purr, the treasure hunter noticed that big burly brute guy was back at his stall and already haggling with another customer. His axe was nowhere to be seen, either. Her ears flattened. Unfortunately, the pair of guards from earlier were still watching him as well. That was good and bad. Maybe more bad though given what she was working with here.

Echo looked back toward the stranger and grinned.

“Oh! By the way, what’s your name?”

She rubbed the back of her neck.

“Just in case I gotta, uh, yell for you to run or something.”

Echo felt the stranger grab onto her shoulder and inhaled sharply. There was certainly some strength behind the touch - he did have some pretty big muscles after all - but it was far from being hard enough to hurt her. It was just unexpected. So much so that the tabaxi flinched as the fur on her neck bristled, and her hand twitched close to one of the daggers strapped to the outside of her thighs. Echo caught herself and stopped the instinctive motion, though. As much as she disliked being handled by strangers, least of all from behind her back, and as much as experience made her cautious, the kid hardly seemed aggressive. Or even angry. She looked back again. More concerned, really, which was, like, super valid given everything!

She still slid her body enough to the side to brush off his hand.

“Uh, sure! I guess. Just remember – if you hear someone scream 'Mask Kid!' that you start booking it into the nearest alley, okay?”

Echo did raise an eye at that, though. It was all a little suspicious. Granted, he was a really bad thief, so maybe the kid had just managed to get himself into plenty of trouble before she found him. Maybe he even had a whooooole list of enemies in the city already. That would be kind of tragic, honestly. And probably bad for his overall health and wellbeing. Not much she could do about that right now!

The treasure hunter shrugged at his next question.

“Kinda? Like…I’ve seen him here before. Never bothered to buy anything of his, though.”

Which was probably a good thing! Who knew how easy it was to set a guy like that off? Tell the wrong joke, ask about a price, or just look at him funny and, for all she knew, he would be off swinging and chopping and slicing away. Still, it was odd that the kid would even ask. Echo peeked out from the alley, checked to make sure that no one had spotted them crouching there yet, and looked back.

“Why? You wanna, like, throw a brick with his name on it or something? We don’t really have time to be carving rocks, kid.”

The treasure hunter pulled her hood down lower.

“In fact, thiefing lesson number two: don’t stay in one place for too long. The longer we sit here the more likely it is that someone is going to take an interest in the two weirdos crouching in an alleyway.”