Outer Olympus

Outer Olympus: Chapter 23

In the hidden corridors of the Magistrate's mansion, Geode, Taroh, and Rune had been moving from shadow to shadow, doing their best to avoid attention as they completed their phases of the heist. It was risky work, but work they were good at; Viola, on the other hand, had a different tactic.

On the marble floors that housed the bustling party, Viola Venice wanted to be looked at.

Her disguise was in a way, a cutting indictment of the high fashion industry; none of these guests could tell at a glance that her beautiful blue dress was not some million credit brand but something she and Taroh had whipped up over a weekend in a garage; that the diamonds in her jewelry were the cheap lab grown ones that dockworkers sold on curbsides when they didn't need them to tip drill heads. Viola was sure a genuine fashion designer could see right through her; she was also sure the people around her in outfits worth five hundred grand didn't know a thing about what made them so special. Viola moved through them like a shark through water, forward every gracefully until she smelled blood in the water.

She grabbed some punch while overhearing a woman with platinum blonde hair tell a frankly boring story about attending an opera in Shahrazad, recounting the night with all the energy of someone who thought a story was interesting purely because it had them in it. After that conversation ended, she swooped in, bumping into the woman (nabbing the watch off her wrist in the process) and reacting with carefully crafted surprise.

"Miss Ytrium!" Viola said. The woman obviously reacted like Viola was a stranger. "Oh. I'm Amilia Fourent, Louvis's daughter? We met at that performance of Winds Howl Wisely in Shahrazad a few years ago." The woman hid her embarrassment at the faux pax of not remembering this encounter, because who would suspect such a thing had been made up?

"Amilia! Yes, of course. I'm sorry, I hardly recognized you! You've grown so much!" She replied in that way adults always did, an attempt to cover up the slight Viola had invented. "Is your father here, then?"

"Yeah, he's in the other room discussing something with one of those guys from Quilst. I think they're pretty boring," Viola said with a sly look. The woman returned the look, thinking she was in on the joke.

"Don't tell anyone, but I think you're right," The woman said, beaming mischievously at sharing this little bit of innocent gossip with a cute little girl. As the woman focused on the look in Viola's eyes, Viola took her wallet.

Picking pockets was about managing attention and position; it was often easier if you were talking to someone than if you were sneaking past, because then you could control where they were looking. Viola had been nine when she first really picked up the skill, and now was quite competent at it; on the streets of Maintenance Six, people were fairly vigilant (though she didn't tend to steal from people she didn't think deserved it, she had never lacked too hard for targets) but it turned out that this party was easy pickings in comparison. Everyone here was eager to talk, focused on something going on to the exclusion of nearly all else, and importantly, convinced they were the most important person in the room, who nothing bad could possibly happen to. The fact that most of them were imbibing some amount of alcohol didn't hurt. These Plutocrats had inadvertently made themselves into the perfect prey. In short notice Viola acquired three wallets, two watches, a pearl bracelet, and some sort of fancy expensive utility pocketknife she was sure Taroh would love. Viola wasn't an expert on the prices luxury watches went for but was sure she had gotten herself a good few thousand worth, even before she had found the Archetemy Chalice that was her real goal.

"Hey!" A voice said from behind her, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There was nothing accusatory in the word, but it still set her on edge for some reason. She turned to see a boy she recognized immediately as Marcus Paradigm, the Magistrate's psychic son. "Don't see many people our age around at these types of things."