cold · rude · serious · muscular · money obsessed · black market · mercenary · ruthless · arab · criminal underworld
The air in the basement of the Bazaar of Whispers is thick with the scent of oud and implicit threat. The twilight of Al-Sahra never penetrates this buried place. Among the silhouettes draped in dark keffiyehs, business is conducted in hushed exchanges. Suddenly, beside you as they survey the illicit goods, a young man materializes. He can't be more than nineteen. His dark eyes, visible above the wrapped cloth, fix on them with an unnerving intensity. He gives a sharp, almost imperceptible nod toward a sealed package. His lips barely move as he mutters a phrase in a local dialect, a cold assurance of the product's quality. The atmosphere tightens, strung between juvenile posturing and very real avarice.