Wondering again, though briefly, what the boss had been thinking to send her out to pick up the materials needed to replenish their stock of glam, Claire kept an eye out for the Iron Police. Unlike her, they stood out in the bustle of the crowd, especially with the wide space that usually surrounded them in their ferrous armor. Whether or not that was just the Fae trying to distance themselves from the metal Claire didn’t know. All she knew was that they were easy to spot, which allowed her plenty of time to busy herself with a button on her shirt or a ragged strap on her shoe so that her hair wouldn’t be seen. And that was, quite frankly, enough for her.

Of course, being inconspicuous had its own disadvantages as well. For one, being smaller than just about everyone in the crowd meant that getting bumped into was usually painful and resulted in her being knocked down in some manner. As if on cue, a man dressed in garish clothing with bells on his feet ran into her, sending her to her knees as he continued skipping through the crowd, most people avoiding him rather nervously. Grumbling under her breath as she got back to her feet, Claire brushed herself off and resumed walking. [i]Just another day living in the Blight,[/i] she thought rather glumly as she narrowly avoided the slightly swaying arm of a massive troll.

“My dear, Preicampere!” a familiar voice suddenly said from behind, a firm hand clapping down on her shoulder in a gentle, friendly way. “Off on a shopping spree this fine morning?” The speaker appeared like a splash of color against a sea of gray, his clothing of red and gold contrasting sharply with those around him, including Claire. Despite the gaiety of his appearance in such a bleak and downtrodden area, no one else seemed to pay him any heed.

Shaking her head a little to clear away the remnants of the surprise his appearance had given her, Claire crumpled up the list in her hand and turned down the alley she needed. Not surprisingly, the man followed with a hurt expression on his face at her cold attitude towards him. “Get lost, Lucius,” she replied, giving him a glare over her shoulder to drive the point home. It was more a ritual gesture than anything, however, as Claire knew that that wouldn’t dissuade him from sticking around and continuing to be a nuisance for a little while longer.

“You wound me!” he replied with his hand held to his heart as if he had been struck by a projectile from one of the firearms the Iron Police carried on them, which only elicited a rolling of the eyes from Claire. “Why don’t you ever want to talk to me? Having one-sided conversations all the time is a rather boring way to pass the time.”
Turning around to let him know that she would be more than willing to chat if he would show up when they were alone, the words died on her lips as she realized that he was gone. Muttering a curse under her breath about his rudeness, she continued down the alley towards her destination, avoiding the puddles of muck and piles of filth as best she could.

After a couple of turns and traveling down alleys that were more or less the same as the first one, Claire arrived at a small little tent-like structure constructed of ragged black cloth as the alley opened up just a little bit more on either side. While the place was certainly out of the way, it was good for finding suspicious goods due to the fact that the Iron Police rarely came down those alleys unless they had a specific reason to. 

Giving it no more thought, Claire walked up to the entrance of the structure and stomped her left foot three times: one short, two long. “Come in,” came the instruction after a brief pause, the voice rough and high. Without hesitation, Claire walked up to the flap covering the entrance and ducked inside. A dim, flickering alchemist lamp swung gently over a table, behind which was an older gnome woman wearing a tattered cap of brown wool over her head and a black shawl of similar quality around her shoulders.
Upon seeing Claire, she squinted behind the cracked glasses that sat on her nose, appearing a bit shocked to see the former. Unsure of what to do, Claire awkwardly shuffled her feet at the entrance until the woman motioned for her to sit down, apparently satisfied with what she saw. “What can I help you with?” the woman asked, grabbing a cup of… something and taking a loud sip of it while she waited for an answer.

“Well, uh, I’m here to pick up some supplies,” Claire replied, handing the list to the woman over the small table between them. “Normally Adin sends someone else, but they were ‘tied up’ today and so he sent me.” The woman’s eyes lit up when she heard the name of Claire’s boss, nodding in understanding. Holding a finger up, the woman slipped out the back for a few minutes and returned with everything that was on the list. Carefully, the woman put the containers into a woven sack, though she didn’t hand it over immediately. It took Claire a little while to realize that the woman was holding her hand out and moving it rather emphatically. Apologizing, Claire gave the money her boss had given her for the purchase to the woman and was given her bag in return, allowing her to leave and begin making her way to her last destination: a bar of some sort that Adin had told her to stay at for a few days; something about needing her to help him seal a deal or something.

Once outside, Claire pulled out a little bottle of blue-green liquid and opened it, the sweetly sour aroma of glam filling the air. With a deep breath, she put the bottle to her lips and downed it all, the rich taste filling her mouth like cotton while warmth seemed to settle in her stomach. The dose would take a few minutes to fully enter her system, which is why she took it at least a half hour before she absolutely needed to. It was much safer that way. Giving the feeling no more thought, she began the trek towards the bar, once again making sure to avoid the muck and filth of the Blight.