This was an exciting day for each urchin in the family, the guise was all part of it, dressing the part was essentially and really the reason for the trip. The 6 gnome children were concealed in an alley with their only chaperon, the aunt who's lair was acting as home base for this operation, Aunt Norien.
Aunt Norien was an older Gnome, struggling to cling to the childish youthful competition that the race was known for. In her youth, she was a great beauty often acting as the family's honey pot for luring and blackmailing officials and even a noble or two. That was many years ago now and it showed in the wrinkles and lines that defined her bright yellow eyes and still full lips. Her hair lost its sheen and was now brilliant white, dampened by the green and blue scarfs she wore in and through the braids and buns. She had a patterned dress with chains of diamonds and triangles in fun exaggerated bright colors. All the color was part of the plan, it would all draw the eye and allow the collected nieces and nephews to cut purses and collect wallets and pieces from passersby.
This street had several likely targets and even some of its own urchins, that the others could blend in with and gather news from. A urchin is an urchin's only friend after all and playing the part allowed the gnomes to complete their quotas and get the points they would need to move on to more specialized work.
The crime family was called the Vortex Sneak, a singular name, but it covered the entire family (even if that secret had been given away a while ago). It was tradition that kept it; however, the Vortex Sneak had been responsible for crimes all over the Diamondlands and in the present time was the largest operating crime family outside the Club. Today was special for two members in the family, in particular. It was Koren’s first day as an official member, a practicing thief!
Koren nervously hopped from one foot to another, he had turned six years old a mere three days before while on the road to his aunt’s lair. They had finally finished the last of the cake last night and this was the day that Koren had truly waited for. Today he would just be shadowing an older boy and staying near to Aunt Norien then he really liked, but it did not quell his excitement. He wore a loose shirt, torn pants and sack slippers secured with tan stips of string. It was actually very close to the pajamas he liked to spend most days in, lounging with his brothers and sisters on rainy days back in Inkwell Mines HQ for the Vortex Sneak’s founding family.
“... We have two new members, Diggle and Koren. You stay close to me at first. Alphey will collect you when it is your turn to shadow. Stick to each of us like glue, I am not coming to find you if you get left behind. Remember what to do if you lose your way?” Aunt Norien looked at Diggle and Koren pointedly. Koren always made fun of her sharp nose and it always led the way into every room. Now it was like he was string into a terrifying terror bird or other large beaked predator.
Diggle piped up before Koren, He was slightly chubby and had always been an overachiever if it meant he got more snacks, “We move back to an alley and into a shoot. We will be collected there. There are supplies in there and we can be comfortable till the end of the day. Can I go there if I get tired too?” Koren looked at him skeptical, You're so lazy, he thought to himself.
“You can I guess, but we will be out here all day, and from the nature of the door, you can go in but not back out without a token of the family, and you two will not get that for weeks.” Norien answered and seemed a bit annoyed by the presumption of the question.she flashed her pin that acted as her own token. It was a gold coin showing an image of a storm and tornado that almost seemed to dance in the shine of the pin.
“In any case, spending the day in the nook is not what we want to tell your parents about your first day in the family business.” She added before motioning them all forward and everyone darted into the streets disappearing into the emerging and tired crowd.
The next couple hours were mainly informative, Aunt Norien quizzes both new boys with memorization games. Things like “How Many scarves did you see and what color were they” and “There was a group of women just now, how many were blonde and what were the other hair colors” were the main conversations as the people streamed by and Aunt Norien ran her stand selling bead bracelets and accessories.
The shop's merchandise was a mix of mundane and actual worthless junk in the forms of charms, bracelets and chains. They all looked nice, but were a mix of lifted goods from other towns and created pieces by the children in the crime family. It was not made to get any real traffic or profit, it was a front for the urchins in the crowd to use in their purse cutting and completing their quotas.
Koren was excited and answered the questions with a growing yearning to get to his shadowing, it was after the noon break that he got that chance. Lunch was simple, just an apple and half a sandwich, Koren like drinking the flavored water more. His aunt always put some crisp mint leaf and dried lemon peel into her jug giving the refreshing drink a cool feeling despite really only being lukewarm.
Alphey appeared as if from nowhere and motioned him to the other end of the alley. This street was less populated. The street they had been working on all day was on the outside of the merchants and guilder quarters of this part of the capital. Shoppers used that road to get from the opening of one shop or another buying groceries or other supplies. This back area was more like a freight-way for transporting the stock of each store, large carts filled with crates and barrels were being unloaded by burley larger races and supervising Dwarfs were watching it all with a critical eye.
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Dwarfs were often shroud and calculating business men, Koren supposed that is why they were put in charge of the continent and rule of the capital and the owned mines on the Diamondlands. He had really only had a couple scared encounters with the race, a swirly convenience store owning dwarf had chased him and his older sister from a store after catching them filling their pockets with sweets and flavored drinks. Since then he had always had a slight fear of the bearded and burly little men.
“Okay so it is a lot trafficked here, but that can make it easier as the people are more distracted by work. How much practice have you had moving casually and cutting purses?” Alphey asked quietly and conversationally.
Koren wanted to impress, Alphey was first born to a rather high ranking uncle in the crime family. Koren’s Uncle Horman was a funny and affable gnome who won many people's favor with gifts that showed loyalty. Koren had been at his 3rd wedding last year and still played with the awesome party favor games that had been given to guests.
“I have had a good amount of training in each, but I haven't done any live practice yet.” He told the Alphy rushing through the second part.
Alphy smiled, “Show me your casual walk, do a lap around here not getting in anyone's way and staying away from notice and you pass. Your task once I give to a signal is to swipe one of the manifest logs from the cuppy on the cart. You see it?” He pointed to a small section of the cart’s frame that had either been removed or a slot added holding sleeves of documents.
Koren looked confused, “Why are we taking paper when there are more valuable coins?”
“Well the manifest tells us what is on the cart and we can then recognize boxes and goods from the code. We can send in a team tonight to procure specific supplies and get the right things.” Alphy told him.
Korens eyes grew wide as he gained understanding, “That is some smart stealing.”
“The best kind,” Alphey smiled back and motioned him to the street, “now git out there.”
Koren looked around as he had been doing all morning, it was mainly workers, but there was an oddity. A group of Human children played loudly down the street near a cart, but out of the way of the workers. They must have been a group younger than class age and so had accompanied a parent to work. There were three boys and two small girls, the former were wrestling in pairs while the girls built some small dough homes from water and clay. Koren decided this was a good place to act in his station and work with his small frame, so he approached the boys acting nervous.
He gave the boys simple code names in his head, it was easy as they all had different colors or a lack of hair. The bald one and the black haired boy were struggling and grappling in a tangled mess on the ground while the blond boy stood above cheering on one or the other based on who was winning. They were young, probably 4-5 years old and definitely humans, gnomes mature slightly earlier than humans despite constantly being the height of a child or teenager they gain mature features much later, usually in their 60’s or even 70’s. Koren was the equal of a ten year old human in development, but he looked to be the same age as the human children which was 4 or 5.
The children were not fighting over a disagreement or with any anger, it seemed like more of some sort of game to them. That was just fine with Koren, he started cheering with the blonde kid as the tangle of limbs and the dust from the fight kicked up. After a couple minutes he positioned himself to see Alphey, who was nodding in approval. The blonde kid was seemingly just happy that they had a fourth for the game and after a few moments the two on the floor rolled away from each other and Koren figured it was his and the blonde boy’s turn.
Grapple wrestling is an art that is both simple and intensely complex. Koren had brothers and they all wrestle often enough for Koren to feel like he had some experience to draw on. Watching two people fighting for advantage and holds seemed simple as a spectator, but in practice it was more grueling.
The blonde was bulkier than he had seemed just cheering and calling for one or the other of his friends. Gnomes generally had smaller arms and legs and so Koren knew he would not be a match in that department. Winning was not the best plan, he figured it might be easier to lose to complete his goal.
He twisted as the blonde kid went for him and was able to get behind the youth. Koren wrapped the boy and tried to heave him to the side and the ground, the boy it seemed knew this trick. The Blonde jumped into the heave and Koren found himself pinned under him, the fall knocking the wind from him and releasing the grip he had. He might have to remember that move for later.
The boy twisted like a fish in arms and was sitting atop Koren in an instant, he went to complete some complicated hold on Koren’s arm. In an instant Koren was pushing back up, fighting not to give up an arm in the struggle. The contest was like this for a short time, neither giving the other an inch and just Koren found that the wrestling was fun and playful despite the occasional rough areas where the boy would twist his skin or he would grind against the rough ground.
During the entire time he would occasionally check for the sign from Alphey, who still sat in the shadow of the alley. The signal came during a hold executed by the blonde boy where Koren was on his stomach with an arm wretched up his back. Alphy gave a nod and a waving signal and Koren began to tap and call, ‘Uncle! Uncle!” Then the boy let him up congratulating and allowing him to get to his feet.
As Koren got to his feet he took a moment to swipe a manifest from the cubby and stealthfully put it in a hidden pocket in the back of his shirt. “Sorry, I heard my mom call me! That was fun, see you later!” and he ran off waving to the boys as they got to their next match. He entered the alley once the boys were fully not aware of him and met Alphey.
“Very good job, that was clever. Did you lose on purpose too?” Alphey smiled, but patted him on the back and took the offered manifest from Koren’s proffered hand. “This looks good, you might actually get to do that trick again. There is another group up this way we should hit. Are you up to doing that again?”
Koren nodded and they continued, for the next two hours he wrestled with another group. Joked with a couple little girls to get close to manifests and did whatever he could to get the manifests from the cubbys. It was a fantastic first day working with the family and he returned home that night feeling like he had contributed and learned many important lessons for the family business.