When No One Knows Your Face

Once he had slipped their way back out into the cool of the night he strolled along, no destination in mind but a list of things he needed and a vague idea of which district was the shopping district. None of the minor stores would be open at this hour, but he wasn't aiming for those. The plan was to go to a commercial store and take three things: some clothes to sleep in, some clothes for the next two days, and some food. He'd need to put some thought into what he wore to what was essentially a very fancy dinner party hosted by one of the bigger criminal organizations. He would not need to think about what he wore out in the streets for the next two days, as it was liable to get torn apart or stolen. The shopping district was probably more into the heart of the upper districts so you had to go through more places and look at more things before you spent your money.

And for the most part he was right, go him! District 2 was where all of the more expensive shops were housed, while 3 and 4 were where you could get things for cheaper. District 1 was where all the non shopping buildings were housed, like law firms and other major corporations. They went prowling around in D4, looking for cheap shit they could get dirty without feeling bad about it, but high enough quality that he could blend in with the people who would be moving around in D2. In the end he found some nice clothes, black cargo pants and really nice steel toe boots from a military surplus store, a black turtleneck crop top that was outside on one of the clearance racks, and a watch from a pawn shop. Satisfied with their haul, they hauled ass back to cupcake's place, taking residence in a room on the top floor so it would be easier to dip if anyone happened to come by looking for the woman while he was asleep.

Surprisingly no one came in the two days he was there, only the wind and the various rodents also in the residence keeping him company as he meditated to get a better explanation and handle of his abilities. This meant that he was starting to get hungry though, so he was thankful when the third day rolled around. He had learned a lot while he was alone, that included what would and would not be acceptable to wear to a rather large gathering of people who would most undoubtedly be armed. Unluckily, for them or the people hosting and running the dinner they didn't know, he didn't quite care enough to keep himself from getting shot by wearing his chosen outfit.

His Hatien was a piece of traditional clothing he had picked up while out one day. The seller was trying to get rid of all their stuff from the motherland, and he didn't mind owning stuff from Morlea that looked good. He had a small collection of them now, no one wanting to have any more unnecessary connections to their falling and shameful empire than their looks already gave them. He would never wear it carelessly around the city, as quite a lot of people here had had family that lost something in the war, and the mother land had never done anything for them.

Oustlem, meaning new beginnings in Morelan, was a place as far removed from the motherland as you could get while being from the motherland. It was on the continent of Zazaria, and with two oceans and several mountain ranges between Zazaria and Nwaiwa, the continent which Morlea was on, making it as far as possible from Morlea distance wise as it could be too. The culture they had started to build was also different from mother land culture, if still in its infancy due to being a rather young establishment. Over time others had drifted here and made it not just a city of refugees, but a place of freedom. Any one who wanted a new beginning came to Oustlem, making it rather large, and rather diverse, something the motherland could not say it was. The empire was small, able to be moved across in two days by car. At this point in its history it was less of an empire and more of a relic.

He kept his Hetian not because he wanted anything to do with the mother land either, but because it looked rather nice on him. The co, the flowy swishy skirt that was made of voile with silk pants underneath, was nice against his skin. The pants didn't hug too tight, in fact, they were loose everywhere except the ankles and waist. The reila, the inner top piece, was put on like a robe, right over left and never the other way, not unless you were trying to say something you didn't mean. His was white to match the grey with black feather art of his co, so he was rather happy that the outer piece, the neba, was black. The neba was put on exactly like the reila, with just the barest piece of the reila peeking over the top of the neba. His neba was to'che, meaning it stopped just above his wrist instead of at his shoulder, to'cho, or going over his hands, to'cha, so that he could put his wrist guards on comfortably. Once the Hetian was all the way on, he got to work doing up the ties that kept everything in place. His belt was as black as his top, fastened over all his clothes to keep the reila and neba from coming open. There were the ties for his wrist guards, also red because he adored the color, ties that went over his shoulders and across his back, more for aesthetic than anything, and a ribbon he thought looked nice that he was gonna do his hair up with.

His hair fought him the whole way through, because even though it was rather straight, only the very slightest of waves being present, he had never learned to do more with it than braid it back so that enemies couldn't snatch him up with it. The style he was aiming for wasn't overly complex, but it was more than his usual ponytail or braid. It involved leaving most of his hair down, only two braids connecting to make one in much the same way a crown would look adding anything to make it a style. The problem was sectioning and keeping his hair from falling all over the place since it was just him and a mirror, so by the time he was done, he had three hours to make his way to the location of the dinner. This wouldn't be a problem if he had a car, but the occasional odd jobs he did and the weird security car dealerships had prevented him from owning one at this very moment in time.

The walk was mostly peaceful, no one seeing him and then harassing him over the "pride with which he wore his shameful clothes". They strolled along until they hit the bridge, and then they put to use the ability which they had gotten the most control over, shadow step. The only downside was that he had a major headache from the blood rush of walking on the underside of a bridge, but he got to keep his peace for the moment so it wasn't that bad. He rechecked the invite for the address as he walked, noticing that he was headed for D1. Seeing that he was making good time and at this rate would be early, he stopped off at one of the bigger stores to grab some eyeliner, stage make up was after all, important to any good performance. Once he was done he resumed his travels, debating finding dinner for the night before or after finding a job. Maybe he could eat, no that would be a bad idea, then no one would hire his services.

The walk ended with him in an alley way across the street from a rather large hotel, bouncers at the doors checking invites. It also ended with him coming to two conclusions: he was not going to eat anyone at this dinner, yet, and what his business strategy was, as he had not even a single leg to stand on with these people, and no one would hire him without proof of ability. He cased the building from where he was standing, clocking all places of entry and how heavily they were guarded. The front was the second most guarded, the roof taking first place, and they could see a few patrols moving around in the windows on every floor, so all in all, pretty tight security. That would just make this all the more fun really.

Xinyi was at a disadvantage here. He takes the life force of the things he eats and turns them into energy for Ailbe to power his more prominent stealth abilities, and it had been two day since he had eaten. Ailbe says this wouldn't be a problem in the future, but since their merge was rather recent and he had been asleep for so long, they'd have to eat more frequently. His earlier use of shadow step drained quite a bit of what was left of their reserve, so that eliminated using it again to walk the building while blended with the shadows. That meant abilities of similar caliber were also off the table, so that left him with a grand total of two usable abilities. Ability one was traceless, basically invisibility but you weren't invisible and all it takes is you drawing too much attention to yourself to get caught. The second was fog but that was useless in this instance since it would alert everyone to his presence. Xinyi was suddenly struck with a rather magnificent idea. He activated fog a little ways away from himself next to a younger person talking to their friends, and enveloped them in it, causing them to scream and drawing the guards attention, setting them on alert in that direction, but not moving them, good. That would keep their attention as he cast traceless and slipped by them, keeping his invite firmly in his pocket for later.

The first thing they did upon entering was find a place to sit. They chose a rather cozy alcove higher up on the wall. It gave a lovely view of the ball room where the event was being held. It also gave a wonderful view of the refreshment table, one of the spots most everyone would visit tonight before the main part of the night started. Xinyi debated stopping at the table, purely to see if he could still eat the things there, but was ultimately distracted by the scents and sights in the room. He debated the pros and cons of using some of his stronger stealth abilities when he saw all the gorgeous jewelry some of these people were wearing, but there were more cons than pros so he settled to just watch the light of the chandelier glint off of their expensive little trinkets. He lamented the fact that he decided to sneak in here only because he forgot to swipe a program for the night in his excitement. He had always been rather impatient and with the adage of not knowing what time things were supposed to happen, he started to squirm. In oder to off set this, he closed his eyes and put a bit more power into his ears, eavesdropping on the rest of the room. Most of it was new and helpful but uninteresting information; who was making the most, who was good for what jobs, shit like that. It would help him know who and who not to approach during his job hunting, and who wouldn't be missed should he choose to indulge a little in some of the rather nice smells he could find.

He only stopped when the lights went down and the lights on the state at the front of the room came on. This was the queue he had been waiting for all night, and he was so excited for the entertainment to start. Of course, he would not be staying for the show.

The entire dinner party was a cover for the meeting that would be taking place during the entertainment portion of the night. He was actually a little late, wanting to garner as little attention as possible until he could find his opportunity. He slipped down from his seat and made his way down the halls and to room 732, the room in which the meeting would be taking place. He slipped the invite out and slotted it into the keycard swipe, watching as the red light turned green before opening the door softly and slipping inside, to find the room empty. Well, the sitting room anyway, there was one person in the kitchen with their back turned to Xinyi, which they were grateful for. They slipped down the hall and into one of the rooms beside the one where the meeting was being held, and then they sat back as they listened in through the vents. It was mostly reforging alliances and making new business deals at the point he started listening, boring stuff that interested Xinyi not even a bit. It took a whole thirty minutes for his opportunity to present itself, in the form of a common enemy that everyone in the room shared, which meant that they couldn't send any of their own men, else they ran the risk of being found out and sent to jail.

This moment usually would have called for an over the top appearing from nowhere entrance, but his hunger had grown worse over the course of the night, so he opted for just using the door instead. It still got him delicious looks of surprise, anger, and confusion though, so he wasn't too sad about them not getting to see his needless displays of power.

" Heard you were looking to make someone…cease? No that's not the right word, what was it? D something? Die! That's the fucking word. Heard you were looking to make someone one dead bitch, and I happen to be in the market for a job!"

His common was a little rusty, what with him both not having a conversation with anyone in a while and him barely learning it as a kid so he could talk with some of the others at the orphanage. Him talking to himself seemed to have set quite a few of the people in the room on edge though, so he counted that as a win. The ones that didn't look like they were gonna burst a blood vessel looked skeptical of him, pondering what made him think they would give him such a delicate and serious job. That made him smile, because it meant they were thinking about it, and that it was his time to shine.

" I'm not too expensive, and I can guarantee no one will find the body or link it back to you. After all, no one has ever found any of my other victims," here he added a vicious smile, the type that made your skin fizz and the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. The type of smile that gave the illusion of having far too many teeth, far too much tongue.

" I'll even throw on a bonus kill for free if you hire me. Though when I collect my payment at the end of the job I won't be making contact with any of you. I'll leave the drop off location in one of your offices, I'll even give you a bone as confirmation!"

He had them hooked when he said he wouldn't take their money till the end of the job, he knew it. They watched as all the eyes in the room looked him over, accessing him and his potential to take down their target and get confirmation back to them. They must have liked what they saw because they walked out of that room with a promise of three things. 1, a promise of dinner, 2, a promise of money, and 3, a promise of leftovers.

The location was given to him on a piece of paper, and it wasn't in the city. He stopped by one of the open libraries to use a computer so he could look up a map, and by foot his target was three days away. By plane it was 1 hour and 30 minutes. If he could figure out how to summon his wings before midnight he could be there, done, and back all before the sun even rose. He made his way out of the building and into one of the alleys before finding a building with a flat roof to perch upon. Meditation was easier when he was holding still.

" I Already Told Ya, It Ain't That Hard. You're Trying Too Hard, Chill A Little."

So he decided to take that advice to heart, and he threw himself off the building he was sitting on. If shooting himself didn't work, then if he failed and hit the pavement, he would eventually get back up. And he did! Over, and over, and over, and over, and over again! In the end he didn't get it before midnight, but he was pretty close at 01:03! The flight wasn't smooth either, more than once he nearly dropped out of the sky while getting the hang of his extra limbs, but it only added about 15 minutes to his travel so in the end he was still making good time.

Sneaking in was disappointingly easy, virtually no guards anywhere. The target was sound asleep, a peaceful look on their face. They didn't smell particularly good, but they smelled clean at least, so that was good. Not a plus, but good. It wasn't a sweet smell, not savory either, more salt than anything really. Like sea salt and garlic over rice, not something they had ever tried before, but he'd be willing, and so they tucked into the night's meal. It wasn't as filling as cupcake had been, but it would hold him over till he could get another job. Ailbe thanked him and then they headed back to the city.

They didn't collect their money immediately, letting the news of his target's disappearance make its rounds for a few days before leaving the exchange point location on a piece of paper in one of his client's offices. Of course, he was not so naive as to think that a no name nobody like him would get such a big job, and they trust him not to blab. They were not surprised when instead of their money, they got riddled with bullets and thrown into the ocean at the port. He let himself be caught, shot, and disposed of as they wished, but he wanted his money, and he was still so terribly hungry.

Mr. Ozaki, the first client to whom he left the note, was mysteriously found missing two days after making contact with their hired hitman. Another note was left to a Mrs. Nebeki, different time and location, but this time, there was also a bone used as a paper weight. It was a very clear warning, but it didn't seem to catch, as the same thing happened again. Mr. Summers was next on the list, two bones and a note, no dice. Mr. Klein seemed to have his head screwed on right and a sense of self preservation as the note and three bones appeared in his office, and a suitcase with the cash, taken from the last three and his own bank account, appeared at the location on the note. Mr. Klein kept his head and his bones, and was rewarded with a single feather, a token of peace now that his debts had been paid. This is how Zhong Xinyi came to be known as the adept assassin and information gatherer, Silent Death.

He was rather proud of the moniker, and the meals it had provided him. It made him sound cooler than he was too, as he didn't do much after crawling his way out of the harbor each time they dumped his body, just made himself some lunch, was all.