Was there ever a place like Ul'dah? Maybe--but at the moment Tarot couldn't think of any. Many cities had their greed and corruption, it was true, and during his many travels here and there, he had often come across many towns and the like that harbored their nasty little secrets and back-alley doings. But Ul'dah? No, it with it's teeming masses provided infinite possibilities because it wore its greed on its sleeve--like a pair of gaudy, jewel-studded cufflinks.
At least, that was how he saw it. Any city that so openly knew of its own corruption but did little to stop it beyond a slap on the wrist--a few fines that got passed around into the ever continuing cycle of gil and secrets that was the Jewel of the Desert--was indeed nothing more than another place to find grand opportunities.
A long, thin pipe, a kiseru as they called in in the parts he had bought it from, perched in his lips, he leaned on the counter, breathing out a thin wreath of smoke. His two-toned eyes blinked through the fine cloud, the blue shining like a sky-topaz, the left burning like copper, he smirked. A slow day...well, for now. The eyes traced along the walls of the shop. Various objects of all sorts lay strewn about in carefully chaotic order. Customers liked that sort of thing when it came to a shop like his; a treasure hunt atmosphere let them feel like there was always something new any time they came in. In truth, it was usually the same things, he just moved smaller things around on the shelves from time to time to make it feel like something had changed.
Another deep inhale and another pause before the exhale.
Ul'dah for all it's corruption, did provide him with many opportunities. The rich came to spend money they didn't need (or in some cases have), while the poor and the refugees sought reprieve from the sun and their troubles. In either case, Tarot was happy to oblige; his shop, as the sign above the door stated, had whatever anyone would need--Tarot's means of getting them were very prompt.
For the right price, of course.
The shop itself lay just beyond the Quicksand, nestled into the many warehouses right along the edge of the Pearl Lane. The perfect crossroads of rich and poor. Noble and Commoner. Yeah, he saw all types.
The interior was cramped, almost uncomfortably so. Of course it was always a good excuse when someone knocked into something and broke it; break it you buy it and all. He chuckled as he exhaled the smoke in his lungs through his nose, recalling the last clumsy fool that came into the shop. A thousand gil for a ten gil urn... The chuckled in his chest became a full, quiet laugh at the look on the Lalafel's face.
But he was getting distracted again--this shop could do that. It lived and breathed stories; antiques and items traded and pawned and cast away did that. He looked to the back wall a moment, a door that opened into his office beyond (one could presume) and the newly painted panels and shelves stuffed full of weapons, books and other things a person could, would or may not ever need.
The refuse and refugees of a thousand years... he grinned, taking another pull on his pipe and exhaling into the air towards the ceiling as he leaned his head backwards.
"Crooked Tarot's Emporium," he murmured, "Is again open for business..."
At least, that was how he saw it. Any city that so openly knew of its own corruption but did little to stop it beyond a slap on the wrist--a few fines that got passed around into the ever continuing cycle of gil and secrets that was the Jewel of the Desert--was indeed nothing more than another place to find grand opportunities.
A long, thin pipe, a kiseru as they called in in the parts he had bought it from, perched in his lips, he leaned on the counter, breathing out a thin wreath of smoke. His two-toned eyes blinked through the fine cloud, the blue shining like a sky-topaz, the left burning like copper, he smirked. A slow day...well, for now. The eyes traced along the walls of the shop. Various objects of all sorts lay strewn about in carefully chaotic order. Customers liked that sort of thing when it came to a shop like his; a treasure hunt atmosphere let them feel like there was always something new any time they came in. In truth, it was usually the same things, he just moved smaller things around on the shelves from time to time to make it feel like something had changed.
Another deep inhale and another pause before the exhale.
Ul'dah for all it's corruption, did provide him with many opportunities. The rich came to spend money they didn't need (or in some cases have), while the poor and the refugees sought reprieve from the sun and their troubles. In either case, Tarot was happy to oblige; his shop, as the sign above the door stated, had whatever anyone would need--Tarot's means of getting them were very prompt.
For the right price, of course.
The shop itself lay just beyond the Quicksand, nestled into the many warehouses right along the edge of the Pearl Lane. The perfect crossroads of rich and poor. Noble and Commoner. Yeah, he saw all types.
The interior was cramped, almost uncomfortably so. Of course it was always a good excuse when someone knocked into something and broke it; break it you buy it and all. He chuckled as he exhaled the smoke in his lungs through his nose, recalling the last clumsy fool that came into the shop. A thousand gil for a ten gil urn... The chuckled in his chest became a full, quiet laugh at the look on the Lalafel's face.
But he was getting distracted again--this shop could do that. It lived and breathed stories; antiques and items traded and pawned and cast away did that. He looked to the back wall a moment, a door that opened into his office beyond (one could presume) and the newly painted panels and shelves stuffed full of weapons, books and other things a person could, would or may not ever need.
The refuse and refugees of a thousand years... he grinned, taking another pull on his pipe and exhaling into the air towards the ceiling as he leaned his head backwards.
"Crooked Tarot's Emporium," he murmured, "Is again open for business..."
![[Image: tumblr_na3nykiJYw1tj8x6po1_400.jpg]](https://31.media.tumblr.com/9aff6ba119629667e6fc2104ce65b848/tumblr_na3nykiJYw1tj8x6po1_400.jpg)
