[center][color=fff200][h2]Atticus[/h2]

Eastern Outskirts, Rauru[/color]
[img]http://pre12.deviantart.net/b26e/th/pre/i/2013/336/d/e/stranger_in_town_by_arisuonpaa-d6whlgr.jpg[/img][/center]

[color=fff200]"I hope they don't want to talk to us. The guards always act so suspicious around me,"[/color] sighed Atticus, pulling his hood further over his head to look a little more inconspicuous. He sat cross-legged on an ornate square of rug, fiddling with his boomerang absently. Having developed an acute awareness of the weapon's weight and balancing points, the Subrosian vagrant often took to spinning the thing and flipping it end to end when he felt bored, or anxious, or in this case, both. A pair of guards stood across the way talking to the eastern gate's stablemaster, and Atticus knew that the way they kept glancing over in his direction meant bad news.

"It's their job to be suspicious. Never mind the fact that we both know the suspicion is [i]entirely justified[/i] in your case," scoffed his friend, a deku scrub, resting inside an exotic looking blue deku flower rooted nearby. Unlike the row of five business scrubs rooted right outside the gate (lying in wait to ambush outgoing travelers and sell them food, water, lantern oil, firewood, and other supplies at an inflated price), this old crusty shrub was covered in [url=http://zeldawiki.org/Mad_Scrub]red and orange leaves[/url], signifying that it had been raised as a wild Mad Scrub rather than as a civilized merchant. Despite looking savage, the old scrub appeared quite calm and tranquil, lazily reclining in his flower and smoking a long pipe filled with bitter-smelling herbs.

[color=fff200]"Fair point. Although I don't like the wording of 'in your case' when we're both a part of the same racket, Barako,"[/color] he admitted, with a slight chuckle. [color=fff200]"I'm sure you warrant a fair bit of suspicion yourself with those illegal infused potions of yours,"[/color] Atticus smirked, with a slight shrug. [color=fff200]"Let's not forget that the group of bandits who gets you your forbidden ingredients just happens to pay me as an informant. We're both vital cogs in the same big suspicious criminal machine, you see?"[/color]

"Nonsense. I just want to bring my medicine to the people of this land, and if the Captain says I can't buy the ingredients legally, I'll buy them illegally. If he says I can't sell my wares inside the village, then fine, I'll sell them outside the village," he ranted, puffing on his pipe a little more vigorously as he got worked up. "That's more noble than just snitching on poor defenseless travelers in exchange for handouts, I think. You're not helping anyone but yourself," he pointed out, sternly. Atticus answered with another shrug and chuckle.

[color=fff200]"Pardon me? I help plenty of travelers who [i]wisely[/i] choose to compensate me for my services. It's the ones that don't request my help that end up defenseless, which makes it a rather [i]unwise[/i] choice in effect,"[/color] replied the Subrosian, shaking his head in sarcasm-laden fake disappointment. [color=fff200]"If nothing else, I can assure you the travelers I snitch on are anything but poor. After all, they wouldn't be worth stealing from otherwise,"[/color] he chuckled. Barako found the comment to be far less funny and merely ignored his hooded co-conspirator, grumbling to himself between puffs on his pipe.

Atticus perked up as the first potential customer in hours emerged from the eastern gate. It appeared to be a young woman in a strange white robe. Atticus had never seen anyone dressed like this before; mages and the arcane arts were not practiced or supported in Subrosia, where the primary focus was on mining, smithing, and dancing. The only magicians Atticus knew of were the coven of Wizzrobes that dwelt in the cursed [url=http://zeldawiki.org/Sword_%26_Shield_Maze]Sword and Shield Labyrinth[/url] at the base of the grand volcano, and they were reputed as dark beings wielding evil hexes and demon magic. He guessed that she must be a cleric of some kind, perhaps an acolyte of the weird Labrynnan religion they practiced here in this foreign land. Such folk were often kind and welcomed company on their travels, and what's more, they were known to pay handsomely. Atticus approached unassumingly, trying his best not to appear imposing despite sticking out like a sore thumb amongst his surroundings.

[color=fff200]"Pardon me, miss. Are you headed for Lynna City today? On your way to visit the Maku Shrine, perhaps?"[/color] he asked politely, obviously in reference to the girl's strange clothing. [color=fff200]"I happen to be a reliable trail guide and I can escort you there, for a fee. If you've heard about the incident with that poor knight then you know the roads out there can get pretty dangerous for a woman out all by herself,"[/color] he noted, rather matter-of-factly. His voice was strangely raspy and his accent undoubtedly foreign, unlike any kind Syna had heard. The most odd part about talking to a Subrosian was that you can only read their emotions from their glowing white eyes; they had no perceptible moving mouth, and all manner of speech and expression seemed to originate from somewhere within the darkness of that blue hood.