Sarah was getting back into her previous rhythm.  It was hard to remember what she had spent her days doing before her father's passing.  She could remember a few things, meeting other artists mostly.  Those memories had urged her to get back into the people-watching habit.  Instead of going to a park or one of the tourist areas, the brunette decided to head to the local mall.  She wanted to get out of the dark place her art had turned.  She needed happy things.  Like a group of teenagers spending the weekend hanging out and shopping.

She had set up at a table just outside of the food court hubbub.  She could see those enjoying lunch and those enjoying the stores.  Her new sketchbook, for a new beginning, was already half full of sketches of the city's busybodies.  Parents with their children.  Teens joking around at this or that.  Kids running around with easy smiles.  She put as many happy things down as she could.  The amount of happiness she could see was lifting her heart.  The world wasn't all darkness and sorrow.  There was still good things to look for.

With a soft smile, Sarah left her things at her table and moved to get her own lunch.  She had been at it for a few hours with only a few drinks here and there.  Now her stomach was letting her know it didn't appreciate being set aside.  She went for the Italian eatery as pasta sounded very appealing.  Or maybe lasagna.  She'd decide when she saw the prices.  Even with her higher cash flow, the brunette still had cash saving habits.  Those she didn't want to loose. 

After ordering, Parmesan Chicken Alfredo, and receiving she food, Sarah made her way back through the mess of tables to her "base of operations".

Kirsi wasn't usually one to go to the mall for sheer entertainment purposes, and this time was no different. No, she was here because she had a very specific goal in mind, and to achieve that goal, she needed one of those mall booth artists that could generally be found in places like this.

"Hello," she said to the woman returning to her table with some sort of Italian dish. "Do you draw people?"

She had abandoned her usual satchel this time around and was instead carrying a backpack in some sort of attempt to look like a middle schooler or something. It was warm enough out for shorts, thankfully, so her usual array of small nails and coins was tucked into one of her pants' pockets instead. Before the woman even had a chance to respond to Kirsi's request, she swung the backpack around and reached into it, holding out a crumpled wad of cash. "I have money," she offered, holding out the bills. If the woman took it, she'd count exactly $643, which was honestly what Kirsi had accumulated by searching the apartment she and her surrogate father shared for about half an hour.

They really needed to clean the place.

>>"Hello. Do you draw people?"

Sarah wasn't too surprised by the question. Plenty of children came up and asked. It was the next part that stumped her.

>>"I have money."

Sarah looked at the wad of bills. It looked like a large sum, though she didn't grab it. "I do. Why don't you join me? You can tell me what kind of picture you want. After we can discuss payment. Sound alright with you?" she offered. This would be an interesting conversation to say the least.

Kirsi nodded, pulling over a chair and sitting down in it. She knew her diminutive size made her less intimidating, which was the only reason why she tolerated it when she failed to properly get onto the chair the first time around. Stuffing the bills into one of the pockets of her shorts, she pulled a spiral notebook out of her backpack.

"Can you draw a picture of someone?" she asked. This was really her way of getting a police sketch, to be honest, without ever having to come even remotely close to the police. "I know what he looks like, but I don't have a picture. I could just tell you, if that's okay."

Kirsi was here because she'd been hired for two hits within the same timeframe, and she didn't really have the ability to search for two separate targets at once. One of the dossiers she'd been sent had contained quite a bit of detail on the hit, but the other one - target name Bernard West - had contained only the sentence "frequents the Sixteenth Doll club." She'd scoped out the West hit the night before, but unfortunately for her, the Sixteenth Doll was a strip club. She'd only been able to get a brief look at West before being kicked out, and she'd been lucky there. West had seemed to recognize her, though (not many other conclusions to jump to when a vaguely familiar prepubescent Scandinavian girl showed up in a strip club) so she doubted she'd get another such opportunity. Thus, she was here to get a sketch done so she could circulate it around the general underworld, so she wouldn't have to waste time that she needed for the other target looking for this one.

"How much?" she asked politely, making her accent seem just a bit more obvious.

>>"Can you draw a picture of someone? I know what he looks like, but I don't have a picture. I could just tell you, if that's okay."

Sarah nodded. "I can get as close to what you tell me. I can fill in a few gaps but not all of them."

Why did this little girl want a picture of someone? She shouldn't care. It wasn't her business why. It just seemed rather strange. Was it someone she knew? Someone who passed? So many questions fluttered through her mind.

>>"How much?"

That was an easy thing to answer. Sarah had done portraits for a long time. "That depends on what you want. A full body; torso and head; or just a head. A full body is two hundred; torso one-fifty; and a head one hundred," the words came out almost automatically. The brunette wondered if she should change those since it seemed high for this little girl.

"I can get as close to what you tell me. I can fill in a few gaps but not all of them." Okay, good. She was really hoping that this woman wouldn't have even the slightest connection to West, but New York was a big city. It would be absurdly improbable for that to happen, especially since West had the most generic scum face ever.

"That depends on what you want. A full body; torso and head; or just a head. A full body is two hundred; torso one-fifty; and a head one hundred."

Oh, wow, she had brought more than enough money for this. Good. She didn't know anything about requesting art, so she'd overestimated by a lot on the price.

"If I have six hundred," she said carefully, "could we do it now and be done by today?" She was about to say something else before she suddenly realized the one other caveat she should mention. She tried to mimic her fellow raven Panu's mannerisms as she spoke, going for the "foreigner" thing to play up her sense of helplessness. "Also, this is drawing of criminal, and I need picture to catch him. I do not think would be traced back to you, but could be. Is enough money, or need to get more?"

>>"If I have six hundred, could we do it now and be done by today? Also, this is drawing of criminal, and I need picture to catch him. I do not think would be traced back to you, but could be. Is enough money, or need to get more?"

Sarah looked down at the girl. Was she somehow getting involved with the mob? Fu-fudge brownies this was going to bite her in the back wasn't it? Humming a little as she thought, so the little girl wouldn't think she was brushing her off completely. Six hundred was a lot for something so simple.

"I do this, I won't get called in by the police will I?" she had to ask. She had had enough of the NYPD for a lifetime. Though sometimes it felt like she'd run into something anytime she turned a corner.

"I do this, I won't get called in by the police will I?" she asked, and Kirsi stared.

"Of course not," Kirsi said, sounding bemused that the woman would even ask. While it may have sounded like she was saying that obviously the woman wouldn't get called in, she was really confused as to why the woman would even bother asking. Kirsi hadn't the slightest idea whether or not the police would get involved, but either way, of course she would say "of course not." Getting What You Want 101: Lie.

"So will you do it?" Kirsi asked with only partially faked excitement. Finally, she'd come up with a solution that might actually work. This was a brilliant idea. That may have been the overconfidence that comes with just barely reaching the double-digits speaking, but she didn't care.

>>"Of course not."

Sarah looked at the blonde for a moment. There was always a possibility that she was being played. Innocent appearances could be deceiving. She knew that.

>>"So will you do it?"

The excitement of the little girl was catching. "Alright. I will. Now, what do you know about this person's face?" she asked.

People didn't seem to know how much went into process of recreating a face you'd never seen. There was face shape, eye shape, nose width, forehead height, lip thickness for both upper and lower, cheekbones, hair line, facial hair including eyebrows, ear shape, piercings. So many things. Hopefully this little girl knew enough about this criminal that Sarah could get a good sketch.