A dangerous game [ locked to bladeinthecrowd]

[starterkid]

Ten had been testing herself. There was a whole city in the Nexus. To her it didn't fit what she knew of cities. Oxen helping to drag carts and filth she didn't want to identfy on the ground. It didn't quite bother her though because she was testing her agilty by running and jumping from roof top to roof top. It was easy due to how close together

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[starterkid]

Ten was running on a bit of adrenaline right now. She could just take her time and sneak on through but she wasn't. She should know better. Not slipping through the crowd was giving her away. She knew it.

So she slowed and began to slip and dodge. She could feel others watching her though. Not Altair though. She slipped through an ally way and waited before quickly springing up and taking to the shadows. She blended very well. Only a well trained eye would see her.

The five men below would not see her. She watched them and waiting carefully controlling her breathing. When they left Ten made the choice to go up and start darting among the shadows the roofs would give her.

She didn't want her game to just end. She wanted to test and try things in a place where it couldn't hurt anything. It was likely though that she would get scolded for giving her position in the crowd below away earlier. She wouldn't mind. Just use it to remind herself to be careful.

But now she's curled into a shadow and using the roof to hide so she can watch the next spot she found to watch. A public fountain.

The social dynamics were very interesting to her. But the way the men and women interacted was strange. At least to her they were strange.

[bladeinthecrowd]

Altaïr had no trouble concealing himself in the corner's bend, ducking into shadow even before Ten herself completely disappeared. He watched her eye the crowd below her, analyzing the men walking beneath her. She was good, but he had simply been doing this longer. And he had another advantage, too: the area, while not his own world, was so very similar and therefore seemingly familiar to him.

When the girl moved off to take to the rooftops once more, the Assassin wondered how long he should keep up this game as he quickly found another spot to climb up and then tracked his way back to her. He seemed content to let it play out forever at this rate. He kept a close eye on her from above--why was it that hardly anyone ever thought to look up?--on a perch hanging precariously over the market area she watched. He glanced at the fountain and then back to her. He kept a keen eye on her, apparently content so long as she kept still.

[starterkid]

Ten would be a little grumpy he had been able to follow her. She might question him about it latter. But now her eyes are darting back and fourth trying to understand why people were doing what they did.

She moved to get up to a higher vantage point and saw him. An eyebrow goes up in interest. She peers carefully then gives him a nod before dashing off like a tiny monkey. Well a monkey that sticks to the shadows.

This normally would end with her finding a new hiding spot. But she mis-steped and ended up on a pile of hay with a horse staring at her. She gives a started noise when the horse moves over and playfully head butts her.

"Stop that," she tried to order then groans when the stolen robes get tugged at. Great the giant beast wants attention. She would rather be up on the next roof. But the beast is in her FACE.

[bladeinthecrowd]

Shaking his head, Altaïr leapt off his perch and easily took chase. His steps, leaps and bounds, careful balancing acts, and wall climbing seemed for natural to be unnatural. Eventually he came up to the spot where she mis-stepped and teeter-totted on the edge of the building slightly as he peered down at her.

The sight that greeted his eyes was amusing to him. If he were the type to laugh out loud, he would have right then. But he wasn't, so instead she simply watched her with the ghost of a smile on one side of his lips, before that too vanished like smoke on the wind.

He took his time climbing down to the ground; he could obviously tell she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She didn't seem to like the beastie nosing her playfully.

Altaïr walked up to the horse calmly and slowly. He grabbed its loose halter and patted its head affectionately as he huddled in close to its head, letting it smell him. He gently backed it away from Ten as he continued to pet it, and only afterwards glanced down at the young girl.

[starterkid]

.Ten had no idea how to react to him. Everything in her told her to flee. That he could be an enemy. He might hurt her. That he could be up to any number of things. But logic won out because she knew he was better than her.

When she gets up she lets her back press against the wall after she gets off the pile of hay that broke her fall. Though her eyes keep darting around listening for anyone approaching as well as looking.

Finally she dips her head somewhat respectfully. "Thank you." She isn't quite so sure she'll push back the hood. Even though he would have caught sight of the lower half of her face.

and her hair is sticking out a bit right now. In fact right now she isn't sure how to react. She feels cornered. He caught her playing the only way she knew how

[bladeinthecrowd]

Altaїr nods in response. He has nothing really to say and he continues to pet the horse affectionately.

The Assassin racks his mind for something intelligent to say. He decides to stick to business. "You're not from a place like this," he says simply to start off.

[starterkid]

"No," Ten admits. For one she doesn't live in the Nexus. And she also isn't from a place remotely like this either.

In fact her own life style is very stale compared to this environment. The Nexus sadly has infinitely more life to it than the place Ten comes from. "I wanted to...explore this portion of the Nexus. The differences here intrigued me but I cannot bring myself to walk the streets of this place. It is too...different."

[bladeinthecrowd]

Altaїr nodded absently to show he was listening even though he stared off past the horse he was still facing, only once glancing back at her to catch a glimpse of the current expression on her face. He patted the horse one final time and then released it from his grip. He steered it around in the other direction and watched vaguely as it walked off slowly to find another place to graze.

He turned his attention to Ten. "I see." He paused for a moment to gather his words. "You're from a more 'modern' time, aren't you?" And the word "modern" was said with an accent that hinted at disdain. The Assassin looked directly in her eyes and spoke carefully. "Walking the streets would bring much less attention to yourself considering the manner in which you run recklessly a top the buildings. If your going to play up there, be more discreet. Some of us have business to attend to up there." Nevermind the fact that he wasn't actually in his own world.

[starterkid]

Ten coughs like a teenager caught trying to sneak out with their Dad's sports car. She even has that expression on her face.

"I didn't think I was that noticeable sir. I just needed to get away from the base for a short while and thought I'd...take advantage of the Nexus." She's one of those who can come and go as she pleases. It's not a bad thing. But Ten doesn't really look like a soldier. Plus there's that whole thing with her being a young woman. Just barely an adult.

[bladeinthecrowd]

His eyes flash dangerously. "Not that noticeable? What of the guards that chased you? You call that discreet? No. And I followed a lot longer than they. If you were somewhere else in the Nexus this behavior probably wouldn't be noticed. But you're not--you're in a part similar to my own world, and you cannot trapeze around as you wish without consequence."

Altaїr took a moment to breath, calming himself into his usual stoic state. The Assassin's voice stayed precariously low even as he continued. "You're not nearly as good at this as you think. Not by my standards."