After her "bath" Faye at least felt she wouldn't draw anymore attention towards herself due to her dirty appearance. Though, she still hoped to find a place to actually give herself a thorough cleaning, it wasn't the first thing on her list. The day was still young and Faye didn't feel like sleeping yet, so she began wandering the city near the inn. The district of the city she found herself in wasn't the cleanest. Back in Jolis this was referred to the mud district because everything seemed to be covered in mud.
This was definitely a slums of sorts. She saw some people playing some sort of dive game in an alley, one of the spectators was armored like a guard.
The people seemed friendly enough, they kept mostly to themselves and those they knew. No one was overly friendly toward Faye, but no one was a jerk either.
There were a small number of stalls selling foods; fruits, vegetables, breads, smoked and salted meats... Over across the road, she saw a small set up of an old woman with a small child. As she approached she found they were unsuccessfully selling little trinkets. Most were wooden and looked to be hand carved. They weren't carved very good and most people passed by the pair without so much as a look. Still, Faye approached to look over the wares.
"How much?" She asked while nodding toward a small raven figurine that seemed if a much better quality than the others. The older woman jumped as if surprised someone was looking at their wares.
Upon closer inspection, Faye found the woman's eyes milky with cateracts, it was unlikely she could see what Faye was asking about. Before Faye could describe the figurine she wanted, however, the old woman spoke in a raspy voice.
"Small ones are a copper piece, medium are two copper and large are three..." her voice was shaky and the way she spoke left the listener wondering if she was done or had more to say. She pointed to the figures to her left, that were larger than others, then the middle portion which were slightly smaller, then the right side, which were even smaller.
Faye waited a few moments before answering. "Alrighty, I'll take this one. She pulled out three copper from her bag and paid the woman. The old woman's hands shook terribly as she accepted the coins. Faye hesitated before leaving. Finally, she reached into her purse once again and pulled out another copper. She slipped it to the small child with a smile. The little girl looked up with wide eyes as she accepted the copper piece. Faye gave a sshhing motion before giving her a wink and leaving.
Although she had almost no money, Faye wasn't like those two, she didn't need to eat. Technically the little trinket was only a copper piece. She wanted to give the two a bit more, but she knew that most people didn't want charity. Especially when they were like those two, clearly trying to work for their coin.
She wasn't sure how long she was gonna be in this city, but she figured while she was there she'd try to look out for that kid. Being poor in a city could be pretty rough, and it looked like that old woman wasn't long for the world....
Faye sighed as she looked over the small raven. It was dirty, but seemed to have a silver paint color under the grime. It was delicately made...now that she looked at it, it seemed really well made. If she'd paid more attention when she'd picked it out, she would have insisted on giving them a silver piece instead...
She tucked the little bird away as she hummed to herself. This wasn't a habit she usually had, but she'd picked it up from Ryder while traveling with him. Luckily, that was the only thing she picked up, as Faye was fairly certain Ryder was of the shady variety. Given how they met, it was a pretty solid theory.
She walked through the city watching the people around her. The best way to learn about a place was to look at it less fortunate habitants.
"Stop!"
Faye heard a childish voice coming from her side. She back stepped a few paces to peer down an alley she'd already passed. There, she saw a young boy who's hair was being gripped by a man. Another man stood by jeering.
She swiftly turned dow the alley.
"You think you can steal from who ever and no one will ever do anything about it?" The man jerked the kids head back with his hair. The kid cried out in pain.
Faye felt her heartbeat quicken as she approached the three. She wasn't sure what she planned to do, but she couldn't leave the kid to whatever fate these two scum bags decided was fair.
"Hey!" She called out to get their attention.
'Why did I do that...why am I doing this...fuckkkkk.'
The man standing by had already looked up when she started to approach. The other man didn't even glance towards her as he continued to grip the kids hair.
"Why do you want to bush yourself with this here urchin? Just keep walking like everyone else, girly." The man that was holding the kids hair spoke while the other started to pull out a dagger.
'This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid...'
"What he take?"
The man with the kid laughed as the other looked to him and started laughing as well.
"Doesn't matter. It's the fact that he tried. Now, fuck off, bitch, alright?" The man talked as if he were doing her a favor by telling her to fuck off.
Faye grit her teeth and pulled out her sword.
"If I don't?"
The man finally looked at her. She felt his eyes slowly roll over her form. It felt wrong and greasy. Like he was slapping her with seaweed instead of just looking. She couldn't keep her face from scrunching up in disgust as she clicked his tongue.
"Alright, you wanna take on this kids debt? That's fine by me." He smiled, cause the gold tooth in front to gleam in the low light offered in the alley they stood. The man behind him made the first move.