“I think we earned our escape, so it's time for them to do the same.” Xiubao stood near the unconscious guards, a thin metal band with keys hanging from it linked over the tip of her finger. Nevermind that she'd also taken the opportunity to lighten the other contents of the guards' pockets, which were safely tucked away inside her jacket. When exactly she'd stopped to rob the men was somewhat unclear between the antics of prisoners and former prisoners alike.

With a casual toss, the keys clattered to the ground in front of the brothers' cell. Not right to them, of course, but just out of reach. Her smile was equally teasing. “Another peep from you two and I'm taking those with me. That, or the guards will come running to see what all this fuss is about.”

She turned then, flicking her hair over her left shoulder. “Would you three kindly wait a moment? I promise to impress again, but I can't have anyone running off with swords brandished or getting us out of here is going to be more difficult than I can help you with.” With all the perky hustle of a business woman, she headed back to the cleaning closet and returned with an odd black box in one hand and a silvered cane in the other.

“Just follow after me quietly, yes? We'll take a look at what we're dealing with and I'll show you how the whole covert escape is supposed to go.” Slipping like a shadow through the door, Xiubao made her way down the alley formed form the prison and its neighbor and peeked into the awaiting marketplace. It wasn't a surprise more guards hadn't been alerted from the ruckus—they really were enjoying themselves. She saw pairs and groups scattered around the various stalls, either gorging themselves on wine and booze or trying their luck with whatever unfortunate woman happened to be running errands during their evening revelry.

[i]Easy.[/i] Xiubao knelt and settled her case down onto the ground. After opening it up and fiddling with its hidden pockets, she popped a few small, strange cylinders into her hand and tied them together with a straw-like string. Finishing that, she abandoned her case entirely and strode into the marketplace. Her stride was easy but fast as she made her way over to a vatai and his spit.

The fellow was busy haggling with guards, and lucky for her, neither party was particularly happy with the exchange. As anyone could imagine, the guards insisted on a discount for their services and the vendor in turn insisted they were forcing extortion on a man who worked an honest living. Meanwhile, the okonomiyaki cooling on his counter next to the grill was getting cold. She [i]really[/i] had to rectify that.

Xiubao pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve and began stuffing as many of the flat pastries in as she could, always with her eyes on the vendor and the surrounding marketplace. With the cloth still steaming, she tied it up and set it aside—the next task she had in mind was one she wasn't too pleased with. Stealing was fine, but startling the innocent fellow quite as much as she was about to just wasn't nice on top of it.

The strange cylinders from earlier popped out of her hand. She slipped the long string into the crevice of the grill until it caught aflame, then walked away as quickly as she could without actually running. There was merely seconds for her to take cover in a crowd before the powder did its job, each cylinder firing off with a bright trail of blue sparks and whistling loud enough to hurt her ears. All eyes turned toward the food stall, the guards startled from their drunken stupor enough to brandish swords and investigate.

That was her chance. She went to a post where two horses had been tied, their former guards finally gone. It was a cinch to work their reigns loose, and with the same hurried grace of earlier, she made her way back to the alleyway. “Boys! It's now or never!”