Hmm. Serena's going to be a much harder target.
Serena doesn't live alone, work alone, or even walk alone. She lives in a city, with dozens of people around, and she works as a guard. Not a city guard, but a guard at a marketplace, watching stands for interlopers and thefts. Avoiding her gaze proved impossible, and she's spotted the bird several times each day.
Nor does she live alone. She shares an apartment with a partner, sleeping together and living together. What's more is that the partner tends to arrive home sooner, and such gets there first. Hiding there might be possible, but there are only three-and a half rooms in what is really a fairly cramped apartment for humans. With people on all sides, and one properly secured window, even getting into the rather plain wooden building would be hard.
The only real alone time is the morning trip into the market, but she's armed and armoured during the walk, and there are dozens of people starting work at the same time, so she's in the middle of a crowd. During the market hours there are plenty of people going around, the merchants, customers, ordinary people walking around.. really big crowd. The stands are fairly permanent and solid, but the overall effect is wall-to-wall people, limiting what can be done.
Stealing a few things should be doable, but what would help? And would it be better to just buy things? I don't want to get chased away or attacked on sight.
Lunchtime doesn't look much better, either. She's not alone then, either retrieving food she keeps stashed in a stall, buying a meal from a stall owner, or taking a meal at a nearby place with friends. No helmet, but she keeps her weapons right there and doesn't take off the full armour either.
Not that it would matter. If I can't wake someone up by scratching at their eyelids, I can't beat someone up with my wings. I'll need to use something else.
The market as a whole is well built up and developed. There's a central fountain. There are lots of overhead lines, many that hold up signs, tent lines, flags, banners, laundry, lanterns.. The buildings around are old and two or three stories tall, made of stone, wood, and brick. Most of them are adjoined, but not all of them are owned by the same person. Many have second or even third-story entrances with external staircases to let people get up there without disturbing the downstairs neighbours. Some are all put together into what are essentially single very long buildings, divided into dozens of subunits. Others are single buildings, with alleys and space around them on all sides. There are even some which are arches over alleys, places where buildings have grown out towards each other like some kind of urban variation on a forest canopy.
There are animals, too. Horses. Donkeys. Mules. Other draft animals that don't match the ones from the old world, bear-like or goat-like ones. A few of the tiny flying creatures, smaller than the bird and too dumb to be any help. Rats are here too, perhaps because this is a real city and not a small town. There are sewers, and drains and grates are about the place. And a fair number of free-range children, running around and sometimes causing problems. There isn't too much theft, but it doesn't take the bird too long to spot some happening. The guards, Serena included, discourage this with blows and whistles, but they aren't perfect. Still, they catch about half of it and that seems to keep it at a fairly low level, with several thefts a day happening to a market of over fifty stall holders.
Sixty-three today. Or thereabouts. There doesn't seem to be any one fixed number.
As for the stalls themselves, there's quite the variety. Trinkets, small items like cups, plates and cutlery, woven cloth of various kinds, metals, both in formed pieces and as scrap waste, a banker, offering ingots, scales, and paying people for precious metals and dust. Household tools, like hammers, saws, and files. Heavier tools like vices, sledges, and smooth, lathed bars. Magical tools, including firestarters, signal lights, noisemakers, and alarms. Clothing, both cheap and fine. Food, both cooked and fresh ingredients. The list goes on and on.
Hmm. I think I've got an idea. At the end of the day, there aren't that many problems which can't be solved by setting things on fire.
Hmm. Serena's going to be a much harder target.
Serena doesn't live alone, work alone, or even walk alone. She lives in a city, with dozens of people around, and she works as a guard. Not a city guard, but a guard at a marketplace, watching stands for interlopers and thefts. Avoiding her gaze proved impossible, and she's spotted the bird several times each day.
Nor does she live alone. She shares an apartment with a partner, sleeping together and living together. What's more is that the partner tends to arrive home sooner, and such gets there first. Hiding there might be possible, but there are only three-and a half rooms in what is really a fairly cramped apartment for humans. With people on all sides, and one properly secured window, even getting into the rather plain wooden building would be hard.
The only real alone time is the morning trip into the market, but she's armed and armoured during the walk, and there are dozens of people starting work at the same time, so she's in the middle of a crowd. During the market hours there are plenty of people going around, the merchants, customers, ordinary people walking around.. really big crowd. The stands are fairly permanent and solid, but the overall effect is wall-to-wall people, limiting what can be done.
Stealing a few things should be doable, but what would help? And would it be better to just buy things? I don't want to get chased away or attacked on sight.
Lunchtime doesn't look much better, either. She's not alone then, either retrieving food she keeps stashed in a stall, buying a meal from a stall owner, or taking a meal at a nearby place with friends. No helmet, but she keeps her weapons right there and doesn't take off the full armour either.
Not that it would matter. If I can't wake someone up by scratching at their eyelids, I can't beat someone up with my wings. I'll need to use something else.
The market as a whole is well built up and developed. There's a central fountain. There are lots of overhead lines, many that hold up signs, tent lines, flags, banners, laundry, lanterns.. The buildings around are old and two or three stories tall, made of stone, wood, and brick. Most of them are adjoined, but not all of them are owned by the same person. Many have second or even third-story entrances with external staircases to let people get up there without disturbing the downstairs neighbours. Some are all put together into what are essentially single very long buildings, divided into dozens of subunits. Others are single buildings, with alleys and space around them on all sides. There are even some which are arches over alleys, places where buildings have grown out towards each other like some kind of urban variation on a forest canopy.
There are animals, too. Horses. Donkeys. Mules. Other draft animals that don't match the ones from the old world, bear-like or goat-like ones. A few of the tiny flying creatures, smaller than the bird and too dumb to be any help. Rats are here too, perhaps because this is a real city and not a small town. There are sewers, and drains and grates are about the place. And a fair number of free-range children, running around and sometimes causing problems. There isn't too much theft, but it doesn't take the bird too long to spot some happening. The guards, Serena included, discourage this with blows and whistles, but they aren't perfect. Still, they catch about half of it and that seems to keep it at a fairly low level, with several thefts a day happening to a market of over fifty stall holders.
Sixty-three today. Or thereabouts. There doesn't seem to be any one fixed number.
As for the stalls themselves, there's quite the variety. Trinkets, small items like cups, plates and cutlery, woven cloth of various kinds, metals, both in formed pieces and as scrap waste, a banker, offering ingots, scales, and paying people for precious metals and dust. Household tools, like hammers, saws, and files. Heavier tools like vices, sledges, and smooth, lathed bars. Magical tools, including firestarters, signal lights, noisemakers, and alarms. Clothing, both cheap and fine. Food, both cooked and fresh ingredients. The list goes on and on.
Hmm. I think I've got an idea. At the end of the day, there aren't that many problems which can't be solved by setting things on fire.
