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Post by Quan Tian Meng on Dec 3, 2009 15:24:24 GMT -8
Ah the period before lunch time. Such a wonderful time. Kid's pockets held wallets brimming with cash. It was one of the busiest times of the day for Quan. Why? Because it was an active time. A time where money was out more often then not, without being spent just quite yet. It was one of the best times of the day for a pickpocket as thievery came easier in the time where there were more resources. This was good for Quan seeing as if he didn't pickpocket he didn't eat. This was not a just some illegal hobby, it was a livelihood. Not having ate since lunch yesterday Quan wanted to have a good haul today. He had thought that he would be good until it started raining last night and he needed to get a hotel room at one of those cheap motels. Sure it cost him two meals but it was better then having hypothermia. You win some you lose some.
Quan wandered through the halls lifting wallets off of people with skill that was rarely seen. He bumped into a kid using the contact to lift the wallet from the pocket with out notice. Quan didn't even half to utter a sorry as the hall was crowded enough so that a bump here of there was expected. Upon taking the wallet Quan would take out all the cash and then drop the wallet on the ground. That kid had thirty on him. Quan would quickly shove the money in his pocket and hit another kid and do the same money/ wallet drop. If one were to be following him, looking down on the hallway they would notice a line of empty wallets on the floor.
He meant to be as quick and efficient as possible which he was able to do so it was a plus that he was moving so quickly. Today was being kind as he was able to find the people with wallets that weren't well hidden. Usually it was tough to find people with wallets that were visible so Quan could steal without looking suspicious. As he thought of that he sighed. If he had a partner this would be so much easier as ideally pickpocketing was a two plus man job. One person to locate and pick out marks and one person to actually steal. Of course it was more efficient to have a couple of people in the group but two was more ideal then one. He couldn't help but to think of an old friend, though he would quickly shake his head, dismissing that thought. Today was a good exception to the one person rule though or so he had to hope.
Quan stopped at the end of the hall, leaning up against the wall as the halls started to clear up. He pulled the money out of his pocked and began to count it up. The final count came to $302. It was a good score for so little work Quan had to admit. There were times where he'd have to steal from sun up to sun down to get half of this. May be it was because thes kids didn't carry plastic as much as the adults? who knew? Quan counted up the money and then put it into his pocket with a smile. Little did he know that there was someone who had watched him in his extracurricular activites...
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Post by seishounohana on Dec 10, 2009 0:54:53 GMT -8
Emily was making her way back to the classroom after a little post-lunch detour to the school clinic. Just this morning, several idiots managed to pull some pipes out of the janitor's closet and use them to bash it against a teacher, who basically kicked both their asses into random fits of vomiting serosanguinous fluid. Emily had to cover for Layla while she was handling one of her Biology classes. It was just fascinating how less of a student she was becoming; and more of a teacher...
... She should really consider talking to the School Supervisor, huh?
Passing through the hallways, she more or less noted heard several whispers about missing wallets and some petty cash lying about their pockets...
Emily instinctively checked her own; her money was still there. Thank god. Well, not like it was anything significant to begin with.
Though, this all reminded her of one young man she knew from a bit back--
Then her eyes fell onto a student in the corner, counting some money. Some focus and a little investigation more or less made her see it's worth; a significant amount for a high schooler to bring along, and his clothes didn't give away the aura of being fanatically rich...
"That enough for you?" She said, noting the money on Quan's hands. She wasn't exactly implying anything, but more or less she was interested in finding out exactly what was behind this guy's suspicious behavior.
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Post by Quan Tian Meng on Dec 10, 2009 6:59:24 GMT -8
"That enough for you?"
"Duibuqi?/Excuse me?" Quan asked in his Beijing accent, confused look on his face. It was the fall back language. The one that got him out of trouble a lot of the time. Funny thing in this country, you pretend you didn't know the language and people left you alone. They forgave you for more. They assumed that you were lost and that you held no threat. Quan had used this on countless occasions to get out of trouble. He hoped that this time it would do the same for him. He did not particularly want to make a name for himself either way in this school. He just wanted to get by with as little trouble as possible.
That was an interesting question though, was the money enough? To be simple, yes, a little more complicated, no. It was enough because it would buy Quan his next few meals but in the end it would not be enough. Quan knew this to be true but he did not think on it. It would imply looking to the future. That was a luxury Quan didn't have. He only really had the time to look in advance by about a day or maybe even two. Much if the time he was behind, whatever that meant. Most of the time he had just barely made his last meal's cost or he had just been fortunate enough to get a chap room in a sleazy motel for the night to get out of the rain, which of course was what happened last night. That was a fluke though. Generally he looked for some area to sleep under that was low to no traffic and was fully covered. That was where it was at. Free and he didn't have to go out looking for said motel. A fair trade in his humble thieves' opinion.
Though he was rather interested at the moment on whether this girl would take the bait and leave him alone, or not...
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Post by seishounohana on Dec 17, 2009 0:19:34 GMT -8
"Duibuqi?/Excuse me?" Emily blinked. Chinese guy? Being quite multilingual, Emily found herself able to understand what this guy said; though she did hope that he wouldn't take the conversation to a more advanced level, because Emily wasn't too fluent in Mandarin as compared to her privately-tutored German and Czech.
"Wo shuo na di chien gou ma? " she asked, folding her arms across her chest. There was no escape for this kid on her question.
Seriously though, how would a chinese guy who didn't know a bit of english end up in a public high school? Would that mean it's useless all considering the fact that the school's lessons were in English?
Just the way Emily's mind worked around things.
...
Something smelled fishy.
Very phishy fishy.
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Post by Quan Tian Meng on Dec 17, 2009 0:46:48 GMT -8
Oh, well, damn. That had honestly caught him off guard. He didn't expect anyone in this school to know his language. Well by anyone he certainly didn't expect students to do know. He figured he could slide by without that, by faking it so people would leave him the hell alone. Apparently not. The surprise on his face was not really something that he could hide to well off the bat. The genuine moment of the person understanding him well was, surprising. Of all the languages for students to know in this country that was certainly one of the few. Why? Because as far as second languages go Mandarin was one of the most difficult for the native English speaker to pickup. The languages were worlds apart. Sure the accent and tones were a little shaky but it was still an accomplishment. A surprise certainly but it cleared quickly from his face. "Yī duàn shí jiān, (For awhile)," Quan replied not bothering to switch back to English. It was an honest answer. The money would be able to last him a good few meals, maybe even get him out of the elements for awhile, get a slums apartment, only to get kicked out at the next time of payment. Who knew? He certainly didn't money for him generally went as fast as it came. No, not out of wasteful spending but simply because he had things to get, things to replace. In fact he could do with a new pair of shoes. Maybe one of them fancy pairs with the cash, no not the cheap knock off fashion ones but a pair that would last him for quite awhile. That was always a good thing. He had a lot of potential uses for the money. He would spend it as the expenses came up. For now he put the money in his pocket... OOC: no dictionary but yay google translate for giving me the one measure word i needed  |
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Post by seishounohana on Jan 1, 2010 9:43:09 GMT -8
For a while, huh? That was a particularly suspicious response, especially if someone is pretending to own that money. Quite a safe answer, but shallow.
Emily sighed, looking at him up and down for a few seconds. This girl had seen quite a bit of people with lots of money, and it wasn't often High Schoolers earned that much.
That is... given other circumstances would be plausible, but a decent salary such as the one he was holding would have gotten him further in the clothes department.
Emily makes quick assumptions but---
"[That was a hefty amount. I figure you have a good job?]" Emily said, looking away slyly with a smile on her face. "[... but your clothes say otherwise. Faded colors say that it could've been washed every day, which also say you might not have any other clothing. So, answer me something, Friend.]"
She turned to him, a smile on her face as if nothing was wrong. It was all a matter of control and patience on her part, and Emily figured it was best to approach this guy the way that she did. Emily didn't want to tolerate the possibility that this guy might have stolen things from their schoolmates, but she figured she could also offer him the benefit of the doubt.
"[... Where in God's name did you get that money?]"
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Post by Quan Tian Meng on Jan 1, 2010 10:08:58 GMT -8
Assumptions, funny things really. They were quick judgments, based on intuition. When they were wrong they made you look like a fool, but when they were spot on, well you looked intelligent. A double edged sword. In this case this girl's assumption happened to be right. He had in fact stolen from his "classmates". But she didn't have to know that, not yet. Though she already knew didn't she? Through her questions Quan was quick to pick up on the fact that she thought he was stealing. It really wasn't hard to figure out from her questioning. Her "he had a good job comment" followed by the clothing comment. It made her curious. And Quan saw the connection she had made.
He had seen the questioning because for being indirect she was very direct now wasn't she? She was either trying to deny the assumption or hide it. Of which Quan wasn't sure. It made little difference to him at that point other then the fact that she had made it. The fact that she had made it was important as past experience would dictate that he needed to be careful, and of course look for escape routes. To get out of here before something unfavorable happened. But for now he had two options really. Try and misdirect her, stalling for time and an opportunity to get away or "fess up". Sometimes the truth, the direct truth was the best option. Why? Because no one expected it. And surprising someone, was of course a good way to put them off balance and gain the upperhand.
"Duì yú bèi jiàn jiē nǐ xiāng dāng zhí jiē de， shì ba?/For being indirect you're fairly direct, huh?" Quan asked. Yeah, he was taking the direct truth approach, "Dàn nǐ shì zhèng què de./But you are correct."
Quan chuckled,
"Funny really," switching to english, a Bostonian accent actually(familiar maybe?), "You Cali kids are rich. Makes things easier."
Quan flashed a grin. Switching back to English fluently? Perhaps he would catch her off guard. Time to wait and find out...
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Post by seishounohana on Jan 15, 2010 1:27:36 GMT -8
Assumption? In Emily's mind, it was more of... a hypothesis.
She had data, she had clues to work with and she formulated a possible answer to the mind that was formulated in her mind. In the end, he admitted to the crime. It wasn't exactly surprising, if one were to think in this way: "why hide it if it's already been caught?" Why prolong the agony, when you could just make it absolutely painful. Which was quite correct, as the boy quickly proceeding to implying that Californian teenagers had a load of money off them.
Emily on one end, could admit that she was well off. What? She shouldn't exactly deny that she was generally earning quite a bit in her little spurts of work in the hospital and at the Maid Cafe two blocks across from her apartment, but that's how things are.
The only thing that surprised her would be him suddenly speaking English so fluently; and with an accent that slightly made her feel... eerie. Kinda like she had heard something similiar, or something along that line a while ago. Couldn't exactly point a finger at it but---
Emily smirked.
"Rich? Or working hard?" She said, "Oh, and before you decide on switching languages once more, I'm fluent in at least eight languages --- excluding English. Don't even bother."
Fluent? Well, She was pushing it. She was only fluent as far as conversational language was concerned. Obsession and having a few friends around who were willing to teach her their native languages.
Sighing, Emily would cross her arms. Though she was not willing to let this man get away with this, she was also not willing to not help him; she was a kind person like that. "Why do you need that much money?" She said, "If you tell me what you need, I can help you."
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