Peeping Tom
It is rarely a secret when Lady Evilyn's girls are on the move around Easton; their beauty is envied and admired wherever they go, turning heads and often drawing a small crowd of people hoping to catch their affection.
The girls themselves rise up above the commotion, remaining aloof as part of the allure: appear available, whilst being unobtainable. It's what draws the customers in. It's what drew Tom, in.
Tom grew up as a street bean - one of the orphans that live on the streets around Blackwall Lane - but he didn't like the rowdiness of the groups. preferring to keep to himself on the peripheries of whatever the other beans were up to. This allowed him to persue his hobby of people watching. He was fascinated by the way people moved, the shapes their bodies made, as they went about their daily lives. Perahps, if he had understood more about his own fascination and had had a more affluent start in life, he might have realised that he had a natural talent for dancing.
As it is, by the time Tom came of age, he had developed an obsession with Lady Evilyn's girls. For him it was not necessarily sexual - he was fascinated by the way they could move their bodies one way, but appear to be moving it another; everything about them was designed to confuse the senses until the only sensation was one of attraction.
Tom had inadvertantly begun following the girls everywhere they went, watching everything they did. They of course, noticed him after a while, but as he never approached them, decided he was harmless enough and made it a game to spot his hiding place whenever they were out. They named him 'Stalk' in recognition of their suspicion that he was a bean, and that he is effectively stalking them. It was a term of endearment in a sense; the girls soon came to find his presence comforting, as he saw everything but was rarely seen, so (they hoped) would be able to raise the alarm should anything untoward happen to them.
The girls themselves rise up above the commotion, remaining aloof as part of the allure: appear available, whilst being unobtainable. It's what draws the customers in. It's what drew Tom, in.
Tom grew up as a street bean - one of the orphans that live on the streets around Blackwall Lane - but he didn't like the rowdiness of the groups. preferring to keep to himself on the peripheries of whatever the other beans were up to. This allowed him to persue his hobby of people watching. He was fascinated by the way people moved, the shapes their bodies made, as they went about their daily lives. Perahps, if he had understood more about his own fascination and had had a more affluent start in life, he might have realised that he had a natural talent for dancing.
As it is, by the time Tom came of age, he had developed an obsession with Lady Evilyn's girls. For him it was not necessarily sexual - he was fascinated by the way they could move their bodies one way, but appear to be moving it another; everything about them was designed to confuse the senses until the only sensation was one of attraction.
Tom had inadvertantly begun following the girls everywhere they went, watching everything they did. They of course, noticed him after a while, but as he never approached them, decided he was harmless enough and made it a game to spot his hiding place whenever they were out. They named him 'Stalk' in recognition of their suspicion that he was a bean, and that he is effectively stalking them. It was a term of endearment in a sense; the girls soon came to find his presence comforting, as he saw everything but was rarely seen, so (they hoped) would be able to raise the alarm should anything untoward happen to them.
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