"Stop wasting the product!" barks Jubilee back at her.
Fresh sticks out her blue tongue in protest. "Bleeeh~!"
Business is slow today again, though a tad faster than it was yesterday. But most of the time, Fresh just ends up twiddling her thumbs.
“If you want, you can go take a walk,” says a voice down from next to her. Fresh looks at Jubilee. “It’s a slow day, you need to go order a mattress anyways. So go knock yourself out, I’ll take care of things here.”
“Are you sure?” asks Fresh, but Jubilee just waves her off. Smiling, the girl thanks her friend and grabs her heavy bag, filled with coins, lifting it over her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll be back in a bit!”
Jubilee tells her where to go to find a mattress, though Fresh isn’t happy about the prospect as she hears it. But at least they apparently would deliver it and Fresh walks out of the door, stepping outside of the store and into the bright day.
The sun somehow seems to manage to find its way back into the forefront of the world once again, as if all the rain-clouds had been banished entirely from this plane of existence, leaving only a pristine blue sky behind. It’s a hot, spring day, but the damp air from the previous days seems to linger just a little, as there is a distinct lack of a breeze. Smiling, she takes a deep breath, rising to the tips of her toes to stretch. Something pops in her lower back and she winces, letting out a defeated sigh as she turns right towards the plaza. It really is time to get a new mattress. Her bag, heavy from all the coins filling it, jingles just a little as she makes her way towards the market-plaza, by the front gate.
Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she enters into the somber building, diving right into the sad atmosphere and does her best to not let the melancholic wail of the mourning song distract her as she marches straight towards the counter.
The barkeeper, polishing a glass as always, looks up to her with an expression that seems just a little more familiar now. Fresh nods to her with a smile, opening her bag and laying down two large gold coins onto the wooden surface and sliding them over to the scarred elf. She picks them up, inspecting them and then looks at Fresh, nodding.
Eight-thousand left to go thinks Fresh with a smile.
Repaid - [{2000} Obols] !
-{ 7998 Obols Remain Due}-
Exiting the guild, having deposited about half of her money, Fresh looks around the busy plaza and opts to go to the baker’s stall and makes small-talk with the baker, before buying a small loaf of a seed-cake to take back with her for her and Jubilee to share. Though she can’t help but notice that the broad-shouldered giant of a baker seems oddly… meek, in her presence today. His loud, jolly nature seems somewhat suppressed. The girl scratches her cheek, a curious expression on her eyes and leaves, wishing him a nice day.
“Maybe he isn’t feeling well?” she wonders, before turning towards the tailor that she had gotten her new robe from.
Gulping once, she steels her resolve and steps inside. A tiny bell jingles out as the door pushes it aside.
The sweet, smoky air of the heavily drab inside of the tailor’s shop surrounds her and the girl stops as she feels twenty-four faces turned her way, all of them looking straight to the door. Straight at her.
“H-hello…” says Fresh meekly to the mannequins. They say nothing in response and nervously, she walks towards the counter.
The strange, lanky man steps out from behind the curtain, taking a long draw of his pipe. “Hello. Back so soon?” he asks her curiously.
Fresh explains why she’s there, though she finds it rather odd that a tailor would make mattresses, but in a weird way it also makes sense to her. The tall man nods, writing everything down in his ledger. They discuss the material and firmness and Fresh explains how she's been having some back aches lately from all of her work. The man nods and continues to write, saying that he has just the thing.
“Uh… I don’t know what size it is exactly though…” says the girl, scratching her cheek.
The tall man slaps the book shut, taking the coins she slid over the counter.
Bought: 1 x [Single Mattress]
{Flower-Fiber and Harpy Feather Blend(Medium Softness)}(Normal)
“Don’t worry. We know what size your bed-frame is,” he says, nodding to her before waving goodbye, as he returns to the back-room. “It’ll be there before you get home.”
Nervously, Fresh looks around herself at the full room, opting it best to not think about either of these implications and she quietly backs out and away towards the door, certain that every time a mannequin leaves her field of vision, that it shifts ever so slightly, as if to watch her with wary eyes.
Fresh retreats back out and quickly closes the door behind herself in one sweeping motion. She sighs a breath of relief once the rays of the sun come to touch her skin again. Now that it is so warm again, she actually kind of misses her old robe. It was embarrassing for her to have so much skin showing, but at least it felt nice when the sun warmed her body.
Still, Fresh perks back up, having had three successful stops so far. She supposes that this had been everything that she wanted to do today and so, she begins walking back towards the store. It’s getting close to the afternoon-hours and that’s when business usually seems to pick back up a little again, so she shouldn’t leave Jubilee alone for too long. Besides, she's spent most of her money now, going down from over three-thousand Obols to 'only' roughly three-hundred-fifty’ish. Which in her eyes is still a fortune, but she needs to make more. A lot more.
Happy, with her bag considerably lighter, Fresh begins to walk back, having decided that it’s time to go home. She stops in her tracks, thinking about the word she just thought. ‘Home’. A finger taps her chin and she smiles. ‘Home’, huh?
Apparently.
Walking just a little faster now, with a little more spring in her step she hurries back, eager to see her home again.
But despite that, her eyes can’t help but wander as she passes the side-street. She stands at the start of the little passage that leads down past a few houses, the little road at which sits a single alchemist's shop on the far side. No light burns behind the dark windows.
The girl fidgets uncomfortably as she looks at Donata’s store. Her head turns left, to look back down the main road. But then it turns back right again to look towards the dead windows. She gulps and walks down the side-street, her curiosity getting the best of her once again as she heads towards the dark building.
Razmatazz
Just a fun-little-quiet-moody chapter today to set up some future dominos. Next time, we're taking a peek inside of Donata's (spooky) house... =)
Thank you kindly for reading!
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