Day 42: Main Street [evening]

[high_prosecutor]

The sun was starting to set, and it was with a heavy sigh that Edgeworth stepped out of Twin Pines and out onto the street. The tea had helped, but there was still a sense of worry that he couldn't shake. There was, of course, the entire situation with Franziska, but now both Javert and this new person calling themselves 'Justice' were in the

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[no_ones_son]

[from here]

Sauntering along the main street with Nataku in tow, Jason casually surveyed the people still moving around. None of the shops seemed worth stopping by - even the kitchen knives were kept out of their reach and while the hardware store had plenty of potential weapons there was no way Jason could sneak a crowbar past the nurses. But there were plenty of other options if you were quick and knew what you were doing.

"Change of plans. You ever nabbed someone's wallet?" he asked Nataku idly, voice soft so as not to attract attention while he looked for a suitable candidate among the locals still out and about. He didn't think he would've but the kid had offered to help. And if he hadn't, Jason was willing to show off his other skills too and teach the kid a few tricks while they were at it. This felt like the sort of place where they'd think a cute kids couldn't possibly do anything wrong so it was a good place to start.

It was a shame they couldn't sneak off to break into the houses - there would have to be guns there but the staff were too attentive for that. He'd settle for what he could nab from the locals here. Jason wasn't after cash or anything stupid like that but a mobile phone or even a pocket knife? Those were things he could appreciate.

[stringless_doll]

Nataku trailed along beside Will, watching him as he sized up the people and the stores. It wasn't like he knew what to do aside from the obvious, which was basically 'take useful things and don't be caught doing it.' The best way to learn was to watch someone who knew what he was doing, right? Will didn't look overly pleased with anything he saw.

"No," Nataku replied automatically, voice low and neutral as Jason's but he was grinning a little. "Sorry, I'm the first person they'd suspect." He wasn't exactly inconspicuous no matter what he did. He was bad luck. People liked to avoid that kind of thing and they got suspicious if they couldn't. Well, that and Nataku was well known for pranks.

Actually, this might come in handy. "Can you teach me?"

[no_ones_son]

"Why would anyone suspect you?" The kid stood out with the way he looked - it wasn't exactly normal - but that didn't mean he'd automatically be suspected if something happened. If they were back in Gotham in the places Jason spent his time - Crime Alley and the slums, then sure. People always suspected kids around there 'cause most of them were only looking out for themselves. But not in this sort of town.

"You're young enough and cute enough," he ruffled Nataku's hair tauntingly as he went on, "To get away with anything." And he was willing to learn so why not take advantage of that? It would be a lot more enjoyable than anything else he might do here and if they did get busted Jason would take the heat so he didn't need to worry about getting a kid in trouble.

"First thing to do is pick a target - you don't want someone with nothing worth taking or someone who's too paranoid and will notice something's off before you get away." He waited to see if Nataku would pick any of locals Jason himself had noticed. His teachers had always said people learned best by trying things so what better way to teach than through a hands on lesson?

[stringless_doll]

He was about to answer, but Will was right: people here didn't really have any reason to suspect him. They were so doom---!

"Hey!" Nataku protested, but other than a slightly mortified look of disapproval at Will turning traitor, he didn't seem to mind the hair ruffling all that much. It was like something Kenren would do. Maybe he should introduce them sometime, if they turned out to be a little more alike.

Ok. Back to business. Will had picked the perfect way to get him to learn anything: the hands-on approach. Nataku liked picking up new skills but lectures bored him to tears in no time.

He scanned the crowd around them without trying to hide it at all. There were a few likely ones just going about their business. They had nice clothes and he picked the ones that didn't glance over their shoulders or at the lingering patients. He was about to point one out to Will, but a rather nervous-looking man with various tools in his belt cut across the path and another question occurred to Nataku. "What are we trying to take?"

[no_ones_son]

That was a good question, though he didn't have much of an answer. "Just see what we can get. A mobile phone would be good. A pocket knife, even an MP3 player or wallet might be handy." If he could get a phone he could maybe contact Talia, see what she could dig up about this place - though if they had caught Bruce it wouldn't be that easy to get out no matter what info she got.

Even if they just got a few small items they could barter - maybe someone with the right technical knowledge could use the parts of a phone or MP3 player and he might be able to trade that for getting a dagger made sooner.

And something for Nataku maybe. If he was a meta like Jason thought then he might be having trouble taking care of himself without his powers. And since the kid was willing to help out Jason would owe him. It wasn't like he was looking to get attached or anything though.

"Even little things might be useful to trade to others - I dunno about you but I need to get a weapon made and anything that can get me there faster will be worth it." Hell, with some of the other patients around he wouldn't surprised if even useless stuff like jewellery could be traded for something.

[stringless_doll]

He wasn't sure what an MP3 player was but the rest of the stuff was more-or-less obvious as far as usefulness went. Nataku nodded once and went back to scanning the crowd.

As for weapons... He hadn't really tried to sign up for a weapon yet. When he'd arrived here he hadn't been sure he would want another sword - at least, not right away. No one was going to make him fight and he wasn't all that invested in escaping - but he had started to take the first steps by offering to help Homura. He knew he'd need a sword sooner or later. He thought back to the little scalpels he'd been using against the other taishi that night and grimaced. "Yeah, definitely."

Nataku started to raise his hand to point but stopped himself and turned the motion into a light, most likely unnecessary tug on Will's sleeve. "Ok, what about the guy in the red shirt over there?"

[no_ones_son]

So Jason was going to have to try and negotiate getting weapons made for them both and soon. Actual negotiation too, not the sort involving a gun to some bastard's head which was the sort he preferred. But he'd do whatever it took to get a real weapon and if he was helping a kid take care of himself that might also convince someone to bump him to the head of the queue. He'd have to make sure the kid had the materials that were supposedly needed too, though his friends must have thought to cover that, right?

Following Nataku's gaze when he indicated a target, Jason quickly sized the guy up. Decently dressed, not too old and just wandering around all casual, ignoring the mental patients. "Yeah, he'll do," he replied, grinning at Nataku as he began to wander in the man's direction. "Stick close and watch what I do, then you can try."

As they got approached their mark, Jason started talking cheerfully, all his attention apparently on Nataku. "You never told me where you come from, you know. I've been going on and on about my home and I don't even know- Ooof!" As he ran into the man, Jason stumbled, hands grabbing for anything to stop him falling over - and in the process seeing what he could palm from the target's pocket.

"So sorry about that, I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going! This is a lot different to the city I come from, you know?" Jason did his best to mimic the wide-eyed, not-all-there look he remembered from mad old Jem back in Crime Alley as he spoke to the man. He didn't look at what he'd palmed or make any attempt to leave, chattering on mindlessly until the man began to look uncomfortable and make excuses to leave.

Once the mark had made his escape, Jason steered them away towards a sheltered corner, keeping up the babble and not looking at his hands until he felt safely out of sight.

[stringless_doll]

Nataku trailed along beside him obediently, though Will did most of the chatting all by himself. He thought you'd have to be really sneaky about pickpocketing, just kinda brush by and keep walking, but he watched Will's hands deftly take something out of the man's pocket while he talked. It was probably only obvious to him because he was looking for it. Mostly he just mimicked the odd sort of dazed look on Will's face until the man left.

He injected the occasional appropriate noise or word into the conversation, but once they'd returned to the relative safety of the corner he was sort of relieved to give up on the effort. He didn't have any practice - or much interest - in staged conversations and he wasn't much of a liar.

He tried to peer at whatever Will had gotten with the air of a little kid who'd stopped just short of bouncing impatiently. Something vaguely wrong about all of this nagged at the back of his mind, but he dismissed it. "So what'd you get?"

[no_ones_son]

"Just his wallet," Jason replied, letting Nataku see as he flipped it open to check if there was anything worthwhile inside. A few notes, some coins, a couple of cards... if he had some way of altering the cards they might be useful when it came to breaking out. Same for the money. Otherwise nothing he could use right now but planning for when he did decide to get out was a good idea.

Shoving the wallet in a pocket, he looked around for another potential target, nudging Nataku as he spotted one. "Why don't you try - see what you can get from that woman over there. If we're lucky she might have a phone on her."

Maybe it was a bit harsh, throwing the kid in the deep end like this but there was only so much he could learn from watching. He had to try himself in the end. His age would help him avoid serious consequences if he did get busted.

"I can distract her if you want or you can just go for it. And if they do catch you say I put you up to it, no one'll suspect someone as adorable as you," he said teasingly. One good thing about being stuck as so-called mental patients was they could always argue they were too crazy to know there was something wrong with their little 'game'.