Jin mustered up all the scraps of self-discipline he had to gather himself; the thief's reaction was funny, sure, but it was just another guaranteed success. Once he grabbed the pouch, there was really no way it could have gone wrong. He had at least enough dignity not to lose himself over a small-scale trick like that. So with a deep breath, he returned to the market streets, his nimble mind immediately went to work acquiring targets and devising ways he wreak his mischief. [i]Too easy... too boring... did that last month...[/i] But then he caught wind of something that shattered the monotonous gears of routine that his life had fallen into. It was a scent that was quite familiar to him, but out of place here all the same. It appeared as though one of his kin had decided to pay a visit to the same town. 

He fell into the crowd of people, for once acting discretely. Whether or not his kin realized it or even cared, Jin was now enraptured by this game of hide and seek that circumstance and his imagination had conspired to construct. Whoever found the other first was the winner. Shuffling along with a crowd of "very busy" humans, he took another deep breath, trying to find the source of the scent, but all the people about and the food being served diluted the odor; it was there, no doubt, but it was too faint to pinpoint. He stopped sniffing lest he look suspicious. He needed a way to identify his kin without exposing himself. He had been spending so much time among humans that he had nearly forgotten how to deal with his own brethren. He swiftly began eliminating candidates in his quest to identify his fellow fox. He could tell from the scent that it wasn't anybody in the immediate crowd he was standing in; it wouldn't be any any of the merchants, nor was it likely to be any of the people having personal conversations with them; it wouldn't be a mother and child; it wouldn't be a pair of adults talking about their home life; could be one of the young couples he saw walking the street... then again, nobody looked as infatuated as a fox could make them and their appearances were woefully average.

By this process, Jin had narrowed it down to about a dozen or so candidates as he circled about the marketplace, even asking questions about the dull merchandise to look inconspicuous. He was 100% confident in his deductive speculation, and he was also 100% certain that his kin was as actively engaged in -- though without a doubt not as skilled at -- the game as he was. He just needed a surefire way to test whether  each candidate was a fox or not. "If you're not going to buy anything, then please make room for the paying customers," a merchant barked. "Actually," Jin replied, holding a mirror but careful not to let anyone see his foxy reflection, "I'll take this." His plans were in motion.

Jin sought out a poor looking boy running about the streets and lured him to the side with a flash of gold. "I need you to do a little job for me, but pay attention. I need you to go up to each of these people and show them this mirror." He described each of his candidates, but made no gestures towards them that would blow his cover, among them was a well-to-do woman holding a rather nice parasol. "Now listen carefully, you need to make each of them look into the mirror. Say something like 'I want to give to to my mom as a present, do you think she'll like it?' Once you've done that for everybody I mentioned, come back to me and you'll get your gold." He then handed the boy the mirror and sent him off to do his work. Jin's snare was set; now he just had to see if any of his candidates were afraid of mirrors...