[center][h2]Fu Ming[/h2][/center]
[B]Location:[/b] The Faded Lantern

Fu Ming loved a crowd. He loved the noise, the emotional energy, and the sheer power it had. A smile came across his face as he palmed his pigeon's car with a flourish and redirected people's eyes up towards his shoulders as he brought his hand up and added exciting surprising words. This routine had been practiced so much that he barely had to think about it.

Fu loved the crowd and they loved him! He loved it the most when they were watching him. A new crowd always held the promise of something new happening. This was something that Fu's parents never understood. To be honest most people did not understand this. They would rather live in their drab mostly black and white world, with a little color added in. He had power over them and they were giving it to him. They were believing his story and the lie. 

He could feel their need for the climax. So he strings them along just a little more. Weaving the story richer and deeper. This was like foreplay his Master had told him and what got them to throw coins into your hat or on the stage. 

"Hold very still," he asked the pretty redheaded woman that was slightly drunk. redheads always made the reactions just that much bigger. It is even better if the pigeon is one that people wanted to look at. He stepped around behind her positioning himself for the kill. He bent her forward slightly giving the crowd "the money view." He acted like he was pulling the card from her hair letting her feel the card slide against her skin.  A look of shock flashed across her face as he showed her the card. 
She gasped and said, "That is not my card." 
The tension in the crowd broke with the letdown as he showed the card.

Then with two snaps of his hand up and down, the card changed from a red two to a black two. 
"I think your hair might have been tangled in it still," he said drawing applause and laughs from the crowd.
Some three coins into his hat and others shook their head in amazement. 

Two of his other partners had been working the crowd picking pockets. With the Sheriff and the guards arriving, it was time to take the show on the road.  

As he walked down the street he came across [i]the Faded Lantern.[/i] It was a meetup place for folks like him, people with questionable pasts and futures while under cover of a nice tavern. 

His partners slid him his share across the table as the Sheriff walked in. 
Fu did the only thing he could do, he hid. 

Before he could get out, two of the bar escorts dropped a patron into the booth and started to work him over. It could have been quite entertaining if Fu could see the girls and not the man's hairy legs and ankles. Fu slid further under the seat as the man passed gas making the space unbearable. On the other side, he heard a Lord Something and a woman talking about a ship and a treasure and that sounded interesting. He needed to get out of town before the Sheriff had his wanted poster in hand. 

Tomorrow, he would be on that ship..