Maleki had awoken late. As was common when he was off job. But today the caravans were looking to leave before the governor of this town got tired of their presence. Luckily, it wasn't too late, judging by where the sun hung in the sky when he looked out into the streets. Plenty of time for him to get himself dressed and get down stairs before things began to start as far as he is concerned. Slowly, he began to scavenge through his room looking for where his things disappeared to. His pants were the first thing to be found, more or less just stepped in and pulled up. The rest... not so easily found. His shirt was under his mattress, boots behind the wash basin, chest piece in the busted trunk, and so on. His blades were the last thing he grabbed from where they hung on the headboard, quickly looping the sheathe onto his belt and heading for the door.<br/><br/>The Mocking Bee was a shit stain, but it was comfortable and welcoming for people of his line of work. At night it would get rowdy, and it always seemed like a new group of ladies would wander around every week or so, but the booze was passable and it was better than one of the literal holes in the ground that could be found in other towns. He was... content here. Scanning the crowd, he easily spotted the people he was there to meet. Him and his friends -a term used loosely- had a tradition. Before they went off on jobs, they would celebrate then. Just in case one of them didn't come back. Just so they could all have that drink together without one getting pissy on the other side that they were left out. Maleki didn't believe that shit, but he went along with it. It sometimes meant a free drink or three, so he was in no hurry to turn down the tradition.<br/><br/>The group had taken up a table close to the bar but off of the main aisle from the door to the bar. Close enough to jump in if a fight happened, but far enough away that they wouldn't have their drinks spilled on them if someone went tumbling. And Maleki simply took the last remaining chair and waved for a drink from the bar. It'd get there eventually, but more pressing was what jobs everyone would be taking. There were four or five caravans in town that were getting ready to leave. Some were generally heading in the same direction to re-stock, others were pushing on elsewhere to try to sell more. It was all a game of risk and reward to mercenaries. Caravans that were going further from their resupply point would have more coin and were more likely to get hit, but at the same time, those that were heading back already would not be paying as much for the protection. Maleki and his comrades were deducing who would take what so everyone would be happy with their pay. Having mercs fight just before application was something that they wanted to avoid. Less due to the possible charges brought against them and more because it kept them fresh for if something went wrong.<br/><br/>What the group wasn't expecting was someone to come to them. Maleki wasn't prepared for him to be called out alone. A glance was given in the direction that the touch and voice came from. The woman before him was pretty, for sure. A face he didn't recognize in these parts. Nothing sparked inside his brain at her face, aside from misinterpreting where her apprehension was coming from. He rolled his eyes and took his drink as it arrived.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">"I don't have the coin for you, go find someone else,"</span>Maleki said, taking a long pull from his drink, completely dismissing what he could only assume was one of the new women who seemed to show up to ply a certain trade or drain some poor mercenary of their coin.