Gravedigger Quest

[X] Working at a bar or something? Well, money could be useful, probably.

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Lirra woke up early on the first day of the week-end. She quickly got into her clothes, adjusted her cape and hood, then quietly stepped out of her room, while Tanwen still slept, sprawled on her bed like a cat, except spikier. Between their two pair of horns, the floor was almost always covered in feathers, as it was very rare that their pillows survived more than one or two nights. Thankfully, the Academy was kind enough to give them replacements regularly. Given their smell, it seemed like whoever took care of it had an arrangement with the kitchens. Every last part of their poultries were used.

The hallways were mostly empty at this hour. Most other students had partied last night or were simply getting back the sleep they missed during the week. They had only entered the Academy recently, but their workload was consequent and left them little free time. Actually, for Swords like Lirra, rather than a lack of free time brought by extra work to be done, it was mostly that their instructors were very adept at finding their students' limits and then pushing them further beyond. One did not become a Hero by following a reasonable training regimen, and as such, the Changeling could count the evenings where she didn't suffer some horrible muscle pain or where a hit she took during training had simply seen her crawl to her bed in pain, and she had never been taught numbers.

And yet, Lirra's goal today was to add even more to her hectic schedule, by finding a job for the week-ends.

She walked to the edge of the Academy's grounds and started along the dirt road that led away from the forest and to the harbor. Far in the distance, she could see the silhouette of the massive wall that surrounded the island. From what she'd understood, while she had arrived by boat, most of the traffic coming to and from the island took place at a different port. At least, she hoped so; she'd be quite cross if she learnt that she'd only have had to walk a well maintained road from where she'd arrived rather than go through a murderous forest.

As she continued walking, she soon smelt the salty air of the sea as her cape flared behind her when a gust of wind passed her by. She crossed the massive open gate and entered the town proper. It was a mess of winding streets and colorful wooden houses arranged with little rhyme and reason from what Lirra could tell. Apparently, the port she had arrived in the first day had been built when the Academy had first been put in place, but had been mostly left alone except for the aspirants' arrival, while this town had sprouted spontaneously when some students who didn't make the cut had decided to stay on the island anyway. Eventually, given there actually were people living there and that students sometimes wanted things that weren't provided by the Academy, a thriving business had taken root here and soon supplanted the original port.

It was still early, though, and aside from some sailors loading and unloading supplies, few people were outside at the moment. Rarely having been able to see the sights in a town, Lirra decided to take the opportunity to do just that; after all, she couldn't ask anyone about possible jobs if there wasn't anybody there, right? Nodding to herself, she chose a direction at random and started walking.

The town's road were a mishmashed mix of cobbled stone at some place, dirt at other and wood at yet some other places, their state wildly varying from well maintained to utter wreck with no rhyme or reason in Lirra's eyes. At some point, she could even see the marks in the road where planks had been taken, and where exactly in the surrounding houses they had been used.

Still, if she kept to the main streets from the Academy's road to the harbor, the town looked nice enough. She continued like that a bit more before sitting down on a bench in the plaza. She spent some time simply looking at people busying around. The few times she'd gone in towns, things had been much less lively. While it didn't really affect her, it was nice to see that people were recovering from the plague, if it had even reached the island.

Before her thoughts could follow their usual pattern and go down a dark road, she got back up and decided it was time to look around for a job.

As it turned out, it wasn't that easy.

She'd asked around for a bit, and the fact that she could only work during the week-ends - although it was the busiest time for the commerces of this town - was kind of a deal breaker. Add to that the fact that she had little useful skills for that and it made it worse. Finally, while it wasn't said out loud, taking in someone who could die at any time was a risky prospect.

Eventually, though, while the person she asked was very reluctant, she heard of some establishments who could be interested in someone like her. Immediately after the words left their mouth, the person who told her about them insisted she shouldn't go. Despite that, Lirra decided to go and see for herself.

This took her to the less traveled streets, although this time they were in a good state. People were just ignoring them and whoever came to and from them.

"Hey, lass," a voice came from behind her.

Surprised, Lirra jumped a little before turning to see who had talked to her.

"Uh, are you talking to me, sir?"

The person in front of her was a man of indefinite age. He could have been between twenty and forty years old, perhaps and wore simple clothes. Lirra could see the handle of a dagger at his back, but for now he wasn't threatening.

"No, I'm talking to the wall," he said. "Of c-"

"Ah? I, uh… see?" Lirra answered before nodding and getting back on her way. "Sorry for the misunderstanding, good day to you, sir."

She only took a few steps before a hand grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

"Ah fuck, you're one of these Emoulans, right?" he commented. While he was right, Lirra didn't see why he noted that. "Well, nobody's perfect. Anyway, I've heard you going 'round town, asking for a job. If you're short on coin, I have a job for you."

No doubt the legality of said job would be debatable at best. Even without the Echoes inside her, she'd probably have guessed that.

"I was actually on my way to someplace that could hire me, actually, so..." Lirra deflected. If she had an alternative, criminal activity probably wasn't the best option.

The man looked down the road.

"Mph… Didn't take you for the kind. Desperate times, huh?" He sighed. "Oh, well, if you change your mind, I'll be around."

"I'll think about it." Lirra bowed curtly. "Thank you for the offer."

"Yeah, well, I hope you won't take too long to decide, lass."

And with that, she was gone.

It was only a minute more of walking until she reached her destination. It was a large building, rather well maintained and decorated with a few lanterns that were currently unlit. Ribbons and other straps of clothes fluttered to the wind, from window sills and a few small poles protruding here and there. Heavy red curtains were drawn over the windows, although some silhouettes could be seen through some of them, giving the house a sense of mystery. 'Silky Sweets', read a sign over the door.

This was the place.

Lirra hesitated an instant, then opened the door and walked in. The room was dimly lit, the curtains and lamps bathing the room in a red glow. A few girls were sitting on a sofa to the side and a plump older woman walked up to her.

"Oh hello there, darling," she said, purring. "A new customer, are we? Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find your heart's desire."

"Ah, uh… no, actually, I heard you were hiring?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at that.

"Well… we always are, as long as there is a demand." She bent down, getting close to Lirra's face. "Mh… pale skin, freckles…. square pupils? Exotic. Same with the horns."

"Uh…?"

"Sharp teeth. Well, as long as you're careful... Some like to live dangerously."

"What are you doing?" Lirra finally asked.

"Why, I'm seeing if there'd be a demand, of course," the woman answered, righting herself. "Hood down."

The Changeling raised her hands to the hems of her hood, holding it firmly on her head instead.

"Ah, that's, uh, I..." she floundered, searching what to say to avoid having to explain why she didn't want to do that.

"Mh… well, we can work with that, I guess. Find a story and that'll add some mystery. Mystery sells about as much as… other assets. We'll have to change it for a better looking one, though. We do have standards."

Lirra let out a breath of relief.

"Anyway, you're lucky, you look exactly the type of one of our clients, so-"

"Lirra!?" interrupted a shout coming from the stairs at the back of the room.

She looked there and saw Lucilia, her face as red as her usual coat. The bard had been walking down the stairs next to a shorter, freckled girl. She was currently wearing Lucilia's hat, who was now rushing down to Lirra while trying to close the last few buttons of her shirt.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, panicking.

"Ah, well, I needed a job and someone told me-"

She couldn't finish as Lucilia grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her a few steps away from the woman.

"No. No you don't. I know a lot of place who'll hire you, but not this one," she said, all the while dragging Lirra to the door. She took an instant to grab her coat then opened the door. She was stuck an instant as the other girl put the hat back on her head, but then she was free and closed the door. They could hear a "See you later, milady" followed by a few giggles coming from the other side before it was finally closed.

Panting, Lucilia then turned to Lirra.

"Again, why are you here!? Do you know what kind of place this is?"

At that, Lirra put a finger to her chin, thoughtful.

"Mh...Now that you mention it..." she started. "Not exactly. I was looking for some sort of tavern or something?"

Lucilia passed a hand on her face, looking exhausted.

"A tavern or..." she let out a long sigh. "Listen, Lirra, as long as you don't know what this place exactly is, you don't step a foot near here, ok? And even then, I'd rather you didn't. Now, why were you looking for a job?"

Lirra looked at her flatly.

"Because I need money?"

The bard let out another sigh.

"Obviously." She massaged her brow, then readjusted her hat. "Urgh. Come on, let's go eat something, my treat, you'll tell me more there."

Some time later, they were sitting at a table, in front of emptied plates, and Lirra had explained the situation with the weapons she retrieved and their state, along with her obvious need for money so she'd have something to defend herself with when the time came.

"Well, I might have a few places in mind where you could work," Lucilia finally said. "One's… kind of a tavern. An actual one. The pay's good, although you'd need to wear a particular uniform. I think it'd look good on you, but that would mean you'd have to take your hood off."

At that, Lirra instinctively grabbed its hem and brought it down lower on her face.

"Figured as much."

Lucilia sprawled back on her chair and looked outside, a pensive look on her face.

"The other… mh… might need some persuading and I doubt she'd pay as well, but the hood should be ok. Your choice."

She waited for a bit before adding.

"But the place from before is off limits. Definitively."

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[] Reveal the truth to Lucilia and see if the first job would still work.
[] Try to get hired for the second job.
[] Well, there was always the offer from the shady man.
[] On second thought, maybe you shouldn't get a job right now.
[] Write-in

Well, my beta was otherwise occupied, so there might be a few errors. Don't hesitate to point them out if you find any and I'll edit.

Sorry for the delay, I was working on something and then I needed money and then I kinda forgot and was still working on somehting, so...