Slight of hand, a trick most well known and used by magicians as it made items appear almost like magic. This technique can easily confuse and baffle people who witness it, but it was more of a niche trick for beginners to magic and not much more unless one puts in an extreme amount of effort to sell the idea of an item magically appearing. Despite this the technique was useful to learn as a way to hide objects that needed quick use or to quickly confuse someone.
Jim looked at Jake and asked
"So you got all of that?"
Jake then flicked his wrist only for a bag of white powder fall out from his sleeve. Jim then sighed before saying
"It's fine, we aren't trying to do anything fancy but you should try learning as it could really confuse your customer making them more open to accepting your offer."
Jake nodded before picking up the bag of dirt and trying one more time, he asked
"Where did you learn this trick from?"
Jim took out another bag of dirt, they seemed to have halved it between them. Jim then said
"Well I was reading some books that my pop forgot about and I found a book called magic for beginners , so I started practicing."
Jake then flicked his wrist again only for the bag of dirt to fall sadly to the ground as it slowly fell out of his sleeve. Jake then said
"When we got back I want to practice that book!"
Jim chuckled as he said
"Sadly it doesn't have many pictures so you can't read it."
Jake grumbled as he said
"You should teach me to read sometimes"
Jim then preformed the slight of hand trick seamlessly, it wasn't all to convincing due to it just being a basic technique but it was obvious he had perfected it. Jim said
"You are perfect just the way you are, all you need to know is how to read the basics"
Jake seemingly accepted that reasoning as he bent down to grab the bag of dirt and try again, Jim then looked around, they were in a large alley way between to houses with bustling streets on each exit, Jim was sitting on a sack of what seemed to be grain Jake was struggling to perform the trick directly in the middle of the alley, they both had long sleeves on to perform the trick but their clothes were still in tatters as they seemed to be just barely more than a large brown sack with no design. Jim then said
"I'm going to see if I can get a customer , you can stay here and practice. When you can preform the trick consistently come find me in one of these streets, I won't go far okay."
Jake waved bye as he sat down to practice the trick. Jim walked out of the alley to see small houses on each side of his view, each house was made of wood that wasn't breaking down like the wood to his so called house. Jim was mesmerized as he saw not only completed houses but also some with paint on them making them vibrant colors of blue, yellow or white.
The sight not only awed Jim but also inspired him even more to achieve his dream. Jim then pushed his amazement out of his mind as he walked near the walls to stay out of sight, he knew that some JPs might search him due to his poor clothes and shaggy appearance.
Jim sat beside a barrel against a wall. It wasn't good hiding , if you could even call it hiding but wasn't Jim's goal, he just wanted to out of mind until his first customer went by. He sat in silence just waiting till he see's a gullible face, after almost twenty minutes of waiting and looking at the busy street of people walking by. He guessed that he has seen almost a thousand people walk by.
Suddenly the barrel he was leaning on shook, he stood up to see a man crying as he had his face planted onto the top of the barrel. Jim smiled as he looked at the crying man. Jim didn't know why the man was crying but Jim knew he made for a perfect target. Jim stood up and put his hand on the man's shoulder as he said
"Is something troubling you young man?"
Jake breathed out as he flicked his wrist while his arm was lowered to his knee as he sat on a barrel, he felt the bag of drugs quickly fly down his arm before quickly launching out behind his out of his long sleeve right before he grabbed the bottom corner of the bag while it was still hidden behind his hand. He then flicked his wrist one more time in a smooth motion before having the bag firmly placed into his palm.
Jake smiled as he finally could do the trick consistently, but as he stood up to stretch Jake heard stumbling in the alley. Jake hid behind two crates as he peeked over to see Jim talking to a taller man with brown hair and a short beard, the man had clothes that were a soft blue pastel color with no design at all.
Jake assumed the man was on the poorer end of people in the middle class. The man had ankle length pants on with a hip length gray jacket. On top of all this the man had no shoes on while carrying a red hat of some sort Jake didn't recognize.
Jake knew that this man was almost certainly a sailor or some other lower rank position out at sea. His theory was based on the shirt he was wearing not looking fancy at all with the man not wearing a wig almost telling someone that he wasn't rich. Jake then heard Jim say something to the man. Jake made sure to not interrupt the sale as he listened closely and heard Jim say
"You must have it tough my good friend"
The man gave a nod as he was still to busy crying to answer with words. Jim said
"Every man needs a release, don't you agree? Whether that be food or women every one needs to get rid of some steam, but when I look at you I can tell you a ruined from a tough day on the ship right?"
The man sobbed out
"How do you know I work on a ship"
Jim smiled as he said
"Listen I'm something of a wizard and due to my generosity I will give you an opportunity"
The man asked
"Wha- What is this opportunity?"
Jim then went in for the kill as he quickly flicked his wrist causing a bag of white powder to almost magically appear. Jake instantly realized it was the bag of dirt. Jim said
"If you give me everything on you I will give you the best feeling of your life."
Jim then gave a smile before quickly saying
"And if you won't accept this offer... Well someone else will."
The man instantly dug in his pockets only for some loose shillings and pence to fall out, finally the man dug out two pounds and said
"Here this is all I have on me just please I need a break!"
Jim smiled slightly as he said
"With this you can buy just half of this bag!"
The man stuttered out
"S- So little?"
Jim then angrily yelled at the man
"What do you mean little, you ungrateful man! I am giving this to you at a discount because you are down on your luck! You are lucky because if I wasn't in a good mood I wouldn't even be selling this to a run down like you!"
Jake was shocked because even though Jim was only seventeen he sounded intimidating. The man almost immediately apologized as he said
"I'm sorry sir but please can I still have some!"
Jim sighed as he said
"Listen, you can try this powder for free in exchange for my outburst earlier. I apologize , I lost my cool"
The man nodded and opened his palm as Jim poured a quarter of the bag which was just a few table spoons into the man's hand. The man then almost ate it before Jim said
"Stop, try this"
Jim then flicked his other wrist causing a small thin sheet of what seemed to be tobacco to appear in his hand. Jim smiled kindly as he said
"Roll it then smoke it as they say."
The man listened as he smoked the powder wrapped in tobacco. The man's face looked blissful as a child as he was obviously delusional already. Jim then casually walked over to Jake before bending down and saying
"Go pick up those shillings and pence, he is way to drugged out to notice you."
Jake asked
"Oh yeah question , where did you get that cigar wrap?"
Jim chuckled as he said
"You gave me one man."
Jake looked confused as he checked his socks, the place where he hid all his tobacco. Only to realize one of them was missing! Jake gave a scowl as he said
"Those are almost five shillings each!"
Jim then laughed as he said
"Like you buy them yourself, you of all people should know about pick-pocketing."
Jake and Jim gave a chuckle before Jim stood up and stretched as he said
"I'm about to seal the deal okay, I'll be right back".
Jake stood up as he started to collect the shilling and pence on the ground as Jim said to the man
"My good friend , do you enjoy my product. Wow that is great, good to know you enjoyed it!"
Jake noticed that Jim wasn't even giving the man a second to respond as he assumed answers to questions, it was a tactic Jim has used before to great effect to trick unstable people. Jim continued
"Because it is dangerous I'll walk you home big man and I may even give you a bit more of this"
Jim then wiggled the bag of white powder in his hand as he followed the man out of the alley.
Hours later Jake and Jim walk out of the man's house, both of them holding the empty brown bags of dirt that were now filled with money and jewels. Jim chuckled as he said
"Unlucky guy, his wife divorced him yesterday and is about to pick up her stuff tomorrow and he was just fired from his job due to his lake of work ethic. Then he ran into me."
Jake laughed as he shook around a pouch on his back as he said
"He even gave us his clothes for my bag, poor man was already not thinking after your trial of the drug. You evil bastard"
Jim shrugged as he said
"Well that is just what I do."
Jake then said
" much do you think we made?"
Jim then responded
"Well we can't sell his clothes and stuff in the middle class district due to suspicion but we can sell them at the slums to some poor fallen nobles, aside from that we can sell the gems for a good few pounds in the middle class region by just saying we seen a large carriage drop them. We might not get a full deal but we will get a good few pounds. Finally he gave us all the money he and his wife was saving to buy a carriage."
Jim and Jake laughed only for a man to suddenly yell
"Thieves! Thieves! Get back here!"
Jim looked behind him to see a group of three men running at them from the other side of the street with long sticks. Jim yelled
"It's the JPs! run"
They took off running to the slums, they knew they could lose them there but the problem was they were being weighed down by pounds of items, Jim took off his sack behind his back and put the bag of money he was carrying inside of it, he tossed it to Jake as he said
"Take a turn down this alley and run into the slums, I'll distract these guys, see you soon."
Jake nodded as he took off, both he and Jim knew that sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to guarantee the most profit. Jake took a corner only for him to hear the large snap of a branch before a loud scream of pain. Jake shook the thoughts out of his head and ran.
The last thing Jake saw as he gave a quick look back was his friend kicked by three full men as they yelled
"Where is the money you little thief!"
