[Santo - Marketplace]

[walk_ins]

[ master post]Portions of the marketplace are covered. The vast majority of it isn't

Comments

[walk_ins]

The market's bright and noisy, and Shepard may or may not hear the first low hiss directed at her.

"Pssst. Hey, lady."

[walk_ins]

The speaker's standing half-hidden behind the back of a tentlike stall selling preserves. It's a skinny teenaged boy, with dark hair falling into his eyes; his smile manages to be both insolent and servile.

"You want to buy some dokhen, lady?"

[walk_ins]

The boy spreads his hands. "Fàngxīn, 's the real thing, pure prime. Guarantee. Good price."

[walk_ins]

He gives her a what are you talking about? look.

"I said dokhen, lady. Tabac?" He puts a hand to his mouth and mimes drawing on a pipe.

[walk_ins]

His eyes widen a little, and he tenses warily.

"I got license."

[walk_ins]

He looks at her with naked distrust.

"You got to tell, if you are. 'S the law." Scornful.

[walk_ins]

The servility is mostly gone from his smile. (The insolence isn't.)

"You couldn't prove nothing."

[walk_ins]

He shrugs, and shakes his head. "Whatever, lady."

What he's selling actually isn't illegal -- high-quality tobacco, sold clandestinely to avoid paying the tariffs.

Which is a perfectly fine way to make a living, as far as he's concerned.