( The Story Starts Here!)
"I see you do not believe me," Sleazar laughed, not at all bothered. "I would expect nothing less from such obviously intelligent and clever ladies. But you will at least give me a chance?" He clapped his hands, cutting off an answer so he could barrel ahead. "I can see you are not sisters, though you do share a bond."
The crowd ooh'd while Raina suppressed a sigh. Even Aislynn knew he was being purposefully vague, trying to tease out a reaction from either of them. It was one of her mother's favorite tricks. Nothing was more mysterious and alluring than a lady who knew one innately. Star-crossed.
"Very impressive," Raina said politely, relaxing her stance marginally. The performer seemed harmless, just trying to put on a show and make some coin. However, despite the more casual stance, she still kept herself firmly in place between him and Aislynn.
"Isn't it a marvelous ability?" He brushed his vibrantly colored, but poorly-cut shirt off. "Ah, but what is this I see now? It seems a shadow of sadness hangs over the air."
Aislynn bit her lip, try as she might to not react at all. Raina stared calmly.
"Ah! My lady, tell me it is not true that this sadness comes from you?" Sleazar locked his gaze onto Aislynn, scanning up and down swiftly. "It cannot be~!"
Aislynn grit her teeth, trying to prepare for some horrible guess of his to be taken as truth by the crowd. It should not have any impact on her, as they would be leaving tomorrow, but Aislynn did not like to be lied about.
"A lady with such marvelous figure should not be sad! Indeed, I would have to say you measure at 34-26-33 no?"
Aislynn's eyes widened in surprise as her face burned.
"Oh~? You are surprised!" Sleazar grinned now, launching in for the true strike. "Why so? I suspect many men are quite intimate with that figure of yours--"
A blurr of movement. Aislynn had been so focused on the myriad of eyes on her - trying to gauge the truth of the measurements - that the sudden rush of cloth and light weight armor blind sided her.
Raina launched forward with surprising speed, throwing her fist upward and caught the man right under his smug jaw. The force of the blow knocked him straight up into the air, and he even left his boots on the ground. Her expression was still calm, though now stern, ignoring the gasps from the crowd.
"I was amused before," she said, standing over him after he hit the ground. "But that was just much too far. You could be a bit more eloquent with your leering. If you were even half so intuitive as you were claiming, you would have seen that coming."
"Of course, I did see this coming," Zalgus' voice came from behind Aislynn, who flipped around. He stood with one arm folded over his ribs, elbow resting on it so he could push his glasses up the bridge of his nose with one finger.
Another gasp and chattering raced through the crowd, and some murmurs kicked up, inquiring, betting, that this was all part of the show. Zalgus' pose certainly seemed a bit dramatic, and a wind passed by - perfectly timed - to ruffle his hair and play with the hem of his long coat. He took a few steps forward, coming alongside the still blushing Aislynn, and smirked at the prone man.
"It seems you made a very grievous error, picking my lovely sister and our dear friend as marks," he said. A stark hush went out in the area, just the snaps of torches and fires left. "Very valiant attempt at what is known as a cold read, if you had been just a bit more subtle you would not have provoked my sister's ire. However..."
He paused to let the tension rise, knowing the majority of the crowd were eager to see where this went. Aislynn's restlessness was permeating through their thoughts, coloring their emotions. Zalgus smiled confidentially, pretending to not notice the few giggles from girls that were triggered in the crowd.
"Now it is my turn."
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