InsaneJournal

There was a certain vibe to the city, a lively, bustling sort of place that just lifted the spirits. Was hard to say if it would've been the same anywhere else, perhaps it was just the chance to be off the train, out wandering on still ground, the air ..well, sort of fresh. Shanghai wasn't exactly the place with the bluest skies she'd ever seen, but it was much less stuffy than the train. Kaylee'd spent her time on and off the train, more of the daylight hours wandering than not. She'd been browsing and shopping, plenty of it for the train too.

So the train slipped up, at least that's how Simon put it. It was worth taking advantage of, as most were and Kaylee had in the end found a produce market – a whole array of fresh fruits and vegetables for the taking, at least the buying – something that couldn't last so indefinitely on the train like the canned or dried things, but it was worth stocking up on, witches and wizards could charm it couldn't they? She still had one of her own cards and she didn't feel so guilty finding a use for it, was a bit of Robin Hood-ing, so to speak – they weren't pinching anyone's credit from their pockets who couldn't stand to lose it, surely the banks wouldn't be hindered by losing a bit of their coin. She hadn't read about anything too suspicious in the papers. And folks for the most part hadn't been greedy. Perhaps Simon's spoiling of her wasn't a necessity, but it wasn't an evening she'd soon forget.

Of all the colourful, tempting fruits and vegetables on offer, Kaylee had focused a little more on the strawberries, mangoes and pineapple. Along with the stock standards, these extras that she saw so rarely back home were simple, but divine pleasures – she couldn't be alone in thinking that. She also saw it as another opportunity to drag Simon off the train for an hour or so to wander the market and help haul the lot back to the train. He'd be thankful later for the strawberries, she promised quite sweetly, before she decided to head back out until it got dark.

She'd headed nowhere in particular, wandering more with the want just to stay out in the city and take it all in than with true direction or goals now. It was just on dusk when she decided to head back toward the train, taking a route most passengers had frequented and let one another know about; backstreets more or less – not the quickest, but the least crowded in the city, all the better for avoiding too much attention for supply hauls.

There was a bag slung over her shoulder, and while it held little else besides a few supplies, a card and some Yuan; her little token from the train was deemed most important, a knob unscrewed from the chest of drawers in their cabin. Perhaps she'd gotten a little lax being away from the chiding of Mal, and the usual caution of border world living. She didn't even realise there was someone nearby until she was shoved hard in the shoulder by a figure making a bolt for it past her, a bag with cut straps in hand. She blurted out in Chinese as he darted on ahead, the shock of it rendering her stock still for a moment, caring more about her stolen 'ticket' back to the train than any of the money.