"Are you following me?"

As it turned out, Jesper Fahey could talk for the whole of Ketterdam it seemed, flirtatious remarks slipping through his pretty lips with ease alongside adrenaline-inducing tales about all sorts of misadventures that would of had most at the end of their seat in excitement. Gwen, however, was obviously not most people, and as more and more time passed without the Zemeni boy telling her about anything of relative importance did she start to realise that perhaps she may of miscalculated just how potentially stupid he could be.

In fact, even with the drinks she kept pouring down his throat in an effort to loosen his lips, it seemed that Jesper just couldn't resist talking about himself, and not even anything of use! The only thing she'd managed to actually pry out of him about the Brekker boy was apparently his ability to hold some form of grudge...which she could of told you without his help, after all, it was pretty obvious that the bastard of the Barell was well...a spiteful bastard.

She'd had to sit there and listen to his absolute nonsense for hours, a straw in her mouth and her eyes constantly flickering around the quickly dwindling inhabitants of the gambling club which did wonders for her headache that had come with the numerous voices and banging and arguments that seemed to constantly move through the space that had her ears aching unpleasantly. However, just when he'd finally mentioned Dirtyhands by name and had started ranting and raving about how his friend refused to let things go, the bartender decided that that would be the opportune moment to announce that they were closing.

Gwen had to bite her lip to stop the muffled screaming from leaving her mouth as she smiled painfully up at the man, unable to control the way her left eye had started twitching in frustration and thanking the saints that Jesper was a bit too drunk to notice her less than normal reaction as they strolled out of the bar, getting a glimpse of the sun beginning to steadily rise over the slanted view of the barrel and making its home there, continuing to rise and rise and rise over the foggy streets that filled everyone with foreboding.

Yet watching as the obviously slightly tipsy Jesper walked away with a most enthusiastic goodbye that left a thin trail of slobber on her cheek from his rather sentimental peck and knowing that he probably would forget her face the second his head hit the pillow, she felt the grin that had twisted her lips slip away, face shifting into her usual numb and nonchalant expression with anger raging in her eyes at the fact that she was obviously going to have to up her game just slightly if she wanted to get her kruge.

So, with a new plan of action already forming in her scheming mind, Gwen turned her back and slipped away into the alleyway, beginning her journey back home through the backstreets away from prying eyes as she muttered to herself, unable to stop herself as she yawned into her open palm and deciding that it was probably best if she slept for just a couple of hours before having an accidental run in with the Zemeni boy later on...she just only hoped that this time, she might actually get somewhere as her home came into view.

And sure enough, the moment Gwen's head hit her rather lumpy pillow she was out like a light, snoring softly in the quiet of her room with her foot hanging off the edge of her bed, the pads of her toes touching the wooden floor with her every breath. Dreams that slipped through her fingers like the ever-flowing sands of time lost upon her, drinking in with memories of old and never forgotten faces until eventually, as the the streets became somewhat livelier in her isolated state, she awoke just before Scruffy could land on her chest, catching him with sturdy hands as she sat up and scowled.

"I really don't like it when you do that." She grumbled, holding him up to her face as he battered his paw against her cheek, meowing in indignation at being manhandled but she just ignored him, tucking the struggling cat under her arm and making her way down the stairs to feed him, complaining and cursing all the while at how she was literally a cat's bitch before plopping a bowl of fish on the counter and letting him go wild, making her way back up the stairs in an effort to keep herself busy and awake.

But upon glancing out of her window to see the gloomy skies lighter than they were ever going to be, she felt a sigh slip through her lips before she moved over to her closet and began to rummage through, stubbornly avoid glancing down towards the bottom of it where her mask glared back at her, delicately tucked on top of her black clothing as if taunting her, already prepared for whatever job she was next on, ready to take the mantle of the myth and the legend that haunted the streets.

Her shaking fingers suddenly brushed against a soft fabric, forcing her back to the present as she looked at it and quirked a brow, obviously impressed as she pulled the rather pretty looking dress from out of her wardrobe, holding it over her arm in an effort to look over all of it and deciding she most definitely liked what she seen, though she couldn't for the life of her remember when she'd bought it or why. But considering she wanted to look like something worth looking at, Gwen decided she didn't care and slipped it on and simply shrugging when she walked past the mirror.

"It'll do." The young girl sighed to herself before making her move, walking out of the door with a simple pat to Scruffy's head who didn't even look up from where he was still eating, far too busy making a mess of her kitchen counter that she knew she had to clean after she was finished, a shiver creeping up her spine at the thought of the mess touching her skin but refusing to give it more than a second thought as she made her way through the foggy streets quietly.

She knew exactly where she was going once again, having read through her unfortunately small collection of information about Jesper Fahey and where he frequented...and luckily one of those places was the market stalls just on the south of Ketterdam, always full of stunning pieces of fabric, delicious fruits and other assortments of foods, jewelry, clothes and even strange instruments such as knives or other weapons...so that is exactly where Gwen went, strolling through the Barell with her arms crossed behind her back before wandering into the crowded stalls with keen and searching eyes.

And thankfully enough, she didn't have to look for long before she spotted the familar face moving through the stands without a care in the world just a few mere meters away from her, hat hanging low on his forehead and brushing his generous strands of curly hair away from his face, his long tan coat flapping in the light breeze as he looked over a selection of fancy looking rings at a small stall, pretty hands hovering over his belt where his beloved pistols lay as he grinned up at the handsome seller flirtatiously, who was beginning to look very flushed indeed as his face blossomed a dark pink while he fumbled over whatever he was trying to say.

The poor bastard obviously not seeing Jesper's idle fingers as they crept up his table and began helping himself to the jewellery he found there. Gwen almost scoffed as she watched him for a few quiet moments, painted lips lifting into an unintentional smirk that radiated her rare amusement before she turned to the side and began looking over the selection of dry fruits once more but shifting her body around until she was fairly noticable to see through the dark masses with her pale blue dress, even going as far as to start humming a tune under her breath, fingers twitching by her side as the harmonized notes floated through the air like a gentle song.

She didn't have to even turn around, didn't really have to move at all as her eyes flickered around the table, picking up a rather depressing looking orange and tossing it between pale hands, knowing that she wasn't going to be alone for very long as she threw a few kruge on the stall table before she made her move, turning her back and beginning to stroll away...just to feel the heavy gaze of someone as they watched her and only after counting down from three inside the safety of her own mind did she hear very familar footsteps practically racing after her, allowing herself half a second to smirk before she spun around, wide-eyed and curious and then dissolving into a wide smile.

"Are you following me or something, Mr. Fahey?"

Jesper looked offended at the mere implication to his honor, gaping like a fish and sputtering for words as he looked down at the familar girl from last night, a blur and heavy stain on his memory when he'd been awoken this morning, dreaming about stunning shades of blue and the twisting tides of the ocean...drowning in the storming sea and finding himself not upset about his fate in the slightest. And it was only now when he finally looked back into those gorgeous eyes of hers did he realise just exactly what his dream had been about. Her.

However, the Zemeni boy seemed to collect himself fairly quickly, leaning against one of the stalls coolly with a small grin twisting his lips into a rather pretty picture indeed as he looked down upon her with glorious ignorance. "I was about to ask you the same thing love, can't get enough of this pretty face?"

"But Mr. Fahey..." Gwen hummed as if finding out some great conspiracy, raising her brows in suprise as she took a slow step closer to Jesper until she had no other choice but to crane her head upwards to meet his gaze, a mischievous shine in the blues of her eyes that had him swallowing audibly, obviously entranced and hardly paying attention to the world around them as she lifted a delicate hand to straighten the lapel of his jacket, warm fingers brushing against the visible skin on his chest.

And for a moment, he wondered if she could feel his pounding heart as she leaned up and smiled coyly, the red of her lips distracting him completely. "You were the one chasing after me, so I think that it might be the other way around."

He started to laugh in disbelieving awe, biting down on his bottom lip as he looked at her with hooded eyes, resisting the urge to reach out and pull her closer as she moved away from him with a sly grin, her arms tucked behind her back and swaying on the tips of her toes as if completely innocent...if only he knew just how devious she was as he risked a step closer to shake his head with a cute pout. "Oh, I don't think so at all. On the contrary, I think that it might be fate."

"Fate? Or coincidence?"

There was a pause as Jesper frowned in thought, digging his tongue into the side of his cheek in mock consideration as he tilted his head side to side, weighing his options before smiling down at her playfully, and there was something about that smile that made the ever missing sun of Ketterdam dull in its place, so bright and vibrant and stunning that for a moment, Gwen almost forgot that she was on a job to kill his boss...and anyone else that got in her way...almost of course. "Fate, definitely fate. Sounds far more romantic that way, don't you think?"

"Romantic? Of course. Realistic? Not so much." She said shrugging, smiling up at him as the gloomy skies seemed to rumble, warning the inhabitants that lived in the dreary Barrel that it was about to rain, not realising that everyone was used to the lacklustre weather and didn't have a single care in the world about it. And so, with a wink she turned her back to the sharpshooter, beginning to walk through the stalls once more and chuckling under her breath when she heard him quickly follow after her, catching up with ease as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and grinned.

"What? You don't believe in fate love? How else would you describe meeting me?"

"Hm, now isn't that a question?" Gwen giggled, dancing her fingers against her chin in mocking fashion as he gasped at her, playfully wounded with his ring-clad hand splayed over his chest dramatically as if going through some great heartbreak before he dropped the act, squeezing her softy with the hold he still had around her as he practically swaggered through the street, almost sinfully at ease in the city that made its name through blood and guts and carnage...and because of that she had to admire his confidence.

"Now that was just rude. You seemed far nicer last night." He tapped one of his long fingers against her upturned nose and she wrinkled it cutely, desperately pushing down the slightly feral urge that ordered her to simply bite it off as she smiled flirtatiously, the corners of her eyes crinking up and hoping to every saint and their ugly mothers that he couldn't see the swell of rage that suddenly entrapped her gaze as the wind seemed to howl around them.

She was the Stranger for fuck's sake, murdering, stalking, being a terrifying myth that hunted in the shadows of the merchants ruins was her comfort zone...but this? Being a flirtatious cunt to an admittedly pretty boy with an even prettier personality definitely wasn't her comfort zone. In fact it was the opposite, and what was worse was that she was starting to run out of things to say in an effort to appear somewhat interesting so she could keep trying to draw information from his beautiful lips without having to tell the boy that she could suck the air out of someone's lungs within a minute flat...because she felt like that was definitely third date talk material.

"You were also a bit more drunk last night, perhaps you were just seeing me through rose tinted glasses or whatever that expression may be." Gwen said instead, hiding her cringe at her own tongue with a sultry smile, curling her index finger over the open buttons of his shirt and giving it a tug before dancing out from under his grip, looking over at the assortment of pretty flowers in one of the stalls in an effort to collect herself...it had been so long since she interacted with any other human...not since- no. No, she wasn't going to start thinking about them, either of them, not now. Not ever.

"I'll have you know my eyesight is impeccable love...and I'd be more than happy to prove it." Jesper's voice was a welcome distraction as she slided up beside her, gaze tracing over her immaculate side profile with a certain look in his grey eyes, before he glanced over at the seller to see him already dealing with another customer and with a cocky tug of his lips he was reaching forwards to pluck a blue rose, and then he leaned in closer to tuck it behind her ear softly as she looked up at him.

"Hey! You need to pay for that!"

Jesper suddenly leapt away with a curse at the booming voice while Gwen turned to look at the man and just stared with eyes glistening dangerously, face nothing more than an impassive glare as her fingers twitched by her side, just as startled as the sharpshooter had been...but before she could do anything or slip her mask of her former self back on, she felt Jesper wrap his hand around her wrist and she barely even had time to even attempt to ask what he was doing before he was running away with a laugh and dragging her behind him, quickly pulling her around corners as the seller's angry voice faded into the distance as they took turns and shortcuts that even Gwen was struggling to remember where she was.

However, eventually, thankfully he yanked them to a stop, hidden around a corner with the market just in view quite a far bit away from where they were now apparently hiding, and it seemed that the chase was the little bit of chaos Jesper needed for the day as he dissolved into breath-hitching giggles and she was quick to join him as he leant his back against the wall and wiped his eyes, the strong winds making them teary as Gwen sauntered closer to lean right next to him with another sweet giggle. "Well then darling, after that impressive display of absolute bravery in the face of danger...name a time and place."

"Now usually when such an offer comes by I'm more than happy to take it up then and there...but I have something to do tonight, something that will get me hit with a cane if I don't do it."

"Sounds kinky." She deadpanned with a quirked brow, still watching the way he struggled for breath with his forehead shining slightly with perspiration, something dark inside her that made her able to survive on nothing but spite wondering just how easy it would be to steal his breath for her own, just one gesture from her hands and she could have him on his knees...but she quickly shook that thought away as quickly as it had came...every day, every day she couldn't help but feel like she was losing more and more of herself with every morning that she'd awken.

And sometimes, just sometimes she wondered if there was anything of Gwen Rietveld even left, she wondered if there was anything of her past, of who she simply was left or if the Stranger had just swallowed her whole and created something new and as monstrous as the tales painted her to be.

"You'd think but no." Once again, somehow it was Jesper's voice that pulled her away from the overwhelming echoes of her own mind as she glanced up at him, finding a small mercy in the fact that he obviously hadn't seen the sudden faraway look in her steely eyes because he'd been far too busy sorting his hair out as he looked at his reflection in a shops window, even going as far as to wink at her from over his shoulder when he caught her looking as she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip out to the side.

"So, what do you impose?"

"Oh trust me love, I won't be imposing anything. And there just so happens to be an absolutely gorgeous bakery that sells the most delicious cakes just a few streets down from here...and I'd be more than happy to show you." Jesper finally turned to face her once more, his eyes hooded and warm and nothing short of flirtatious as he stepped towards her, reaching out to fix the flower still in her hair and making sure that it hadn't fallen. But the blue of the rose still couldn't match the storm that was her eyes, and there was something inside him, primal and raw and new that was desperate to find something that did.

"Hm, I think I could fit you in with my busy schedule." Gwen pretended to think about it smiling brightly, cheeks lightly flushed from the breeze that continued to caress the thin skin it found there as the air grew colder, damper as the rain started to fall, steadily dripping down onto the cracked and crooked cobblestones that made up the ground, already sinking into potholes and filling it with the dirty rain water...and she had to fight everything within herself that ordered her to rush home and wash her body until she was clean again as Jesper pulled her under a small archway in an effort to stop them from getting soaked.

"Guess it's my lucky day again, love."

"Or maybe I'm just your lucky charm."

And then...there was a sudden whisper of her name on the wind, no, not not her name but the Strangers, and she turned her head to the left just slightly to see a rich looking gentleman, out of place in the dirt and the gloom around him as he frantically talked to a depressed looking figure in the alleyway, desperation clear as day on his perfectly groomed face only to be roughly pushed away by a street rat who obviously wasn't interested in whatever he had to say...not knowing that the attention he was so worried about had already been caught by just the myth he wanted to find.

So, thinking quickly, Gwen quickly turned back to her sharpshooter, making plans to meet exactly where they stood the next day for what she could only describe as a date, wrapping her endeavors up with a gentle pat on his cheek before she waved him away, hiding still under the protection of the archway from the rain and watching as his tan coat turned brown as the water instantly rushed to meet him, almost smiling at his moaning and groaning at getting soaked but knowing that soon she'd be sharing the same fate.

And the moment Jesper's back had finally disappeared from her sharp view, blending into the crowds of people looking to be sheltered from the elements too with a certain skip in his step...Gwen's dark eyes lost whatever semblance of warmth they had as the Stranger took over and she walked further into the alleyway with a face full of disastrous intent...it appeared that she had work to do.