Caught with her shoe out!

Following along the alleyways, more and more people started to appear. From the lonely alleyways in which Ava was completely alone, and could hardly find another soul, eventually she found herself walking both behind and besides other people and before long she found herself in a marketplace of sorts. Looking around, Ava couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable at the number of people nearby, but was relieved to see that there were many paths to enter and exit, leaving it just about impossible to corner anyone here.

Stepping forward, Ava couldn't help but look around in interest at the various commodities on sale, which ranged from simple things like bread and foodstuff to slightly more complicated things like knives, blades, and an assortment of 'life changing' powders and smokes. Before long, Ava found a small stall that just sold dark cloaks and masks near where she had entered the market and walked up to make a purchase.

Looking at the smallest dark cloaks which still ended up being a few sizes too large for her, Ava couldn't help but feel slightly peeved but could only buy it in the end. Looking at the collection of masks, Ava couldn't help but find her eyes drawn to a mask that looked like a whale. She had heard of these legendary creatures living out in the Ocean, but Shattered Creek Village, and even Yarnold Town was so far away that she doubted she would ever be able to see such a thing. Looking at the soft blue and white curves, Ava gave it one or two more reluctant glances before turning her eyes onto a dull wooden mask with almost no defining features other then the fact that it was ugly and twice as common, and likely cheap, as any other mask.

Pointing out the mask and cloak, Ava looked at the cat masked salesman behind the stall and asked, "How much?"

Looking at the two items Ava had chosen to purchase, the cat masked salesman paused for a moment before saying, "Twenty Coppers."

Squinting, Ava looked at the Cat face and said, "Give me a real price."

For a moment, the Cat Mask stared back at Ava blankly, but Ava could practically feel the eye roll under the mask as the owner tried to figure out if this child in front of him was seriously bargaining, or if she had simply been instructed to say a set of words by her parents before purchasing anything. Suddenly, seeing a slight flash of mental in Ava's palm, the Cat Face replied, "Twelve coppers."

Giving the Cat Mask a long hard look, Ava turned around and started to leave.

After Ava was about five feet away, the Cat Mask finally called out, "Eight coppers, and you can have the whale mask you were looking at."

Turning around, Ava walked back to the stall and looked at the whale mask longingly for a second before shaking her head. "Five copper, I'll take the wooden mask."

Thinking for a second, the Cat Mask nodded and reached out to grab the two items, while Ava took off her left shoe picked out five dirty and slightly wet copper pieces out, leaving two measly copper pieces remaining in the shoe before putting her shoe back on. Reaching out her hand with the five coppers in it, Ava waited for a moment before raising her eyebrows and gesturing with her head at the Cat Mask who hadn't reached out their hand to receive the coppers.

After a moment, the Cat Mask reluctantly reached out a palm to receive the money, while handing over the dark cloak and the mask at the same time. Stepping away, Ava walked for a little while until she was out of eye's reach before darting into a nearby alleyway and walking until there were no longer any people around her and putting on the robe and mask. Although she would still be somewhat identifiable due to her size, the cloak and mask were common enough that they couldn't be considered defining traits.

After putting on the cloak, she reached under her shirt and pulled out the pouch that contained 90% of her savings, with the other 10% being sewn into her shirt, and dug around until she managed to find five more coppers before stringing up the pouch and hiding it back under her shirt and taking off her shoe and putting the five coppers in.

Although this wasn't a very pleasant method, and would leave some sores on her feet if she used it for too long, it was much better then revealing her wealth. She would much prefer people to think that she only had a few extra coppers on hand, and that they were dirty as opposed to thinking she was rich and easy to rob.

Anyways, it wasn't like she was the one who had to use the dirty coppers afterwards.

As she was about to turn around and return to the marketplace, Ava froze and quickly spun around realizing that there was someone behind her. Standing about ten feet away, leaning against a doorway that was slightly concealed by the turn of the alleyway, a lady with messy red hair and a revealing outfit that was only slightly concealed by a loosely fit cloak was staring at Ava with interest while pinching a rolled up cigarette between two fingers.

Seeing Ava look over, the lady waved her free hand and greeted, "Hey there little beauty, wanna spend some silvers at my place? I promise you'll like it, haha."

Glaring, Ava gave the lady a look over before turning around and taking two steps away before quickly turning back towards the lady and sprinting at her, a slight metallic sheen hidden in her right hand.

Surprised, the lady only had time to put one arm in front of her to defend herself as Ava jumped at her and pinned her down. Struggling, the lady tried to push Ava off of her before stopping after feeling a slight pain in her neck.

Staring down at the lady with the eyes of a ferocious beast, Ava's eyes gleamed a dangerous light as she calculated the best course of action.