Work Wanted

[stelmarisa]

'HELP  WANTED - ONE DAY CERTAIN, MAYBE MORE. ENQUIRE WITHIN.'

The sign had been hard to miss, huge and black in the window of the shop. And yet, to the casual observer, it would seem that no one else on the street could see it. Even though it was still early in the day, and an autumn chill had begun to creep in off the sea, the streets of Cerenis were bustling with people. They all hurried past the shop, eyes averted and hands pulling hoods up around their faces. This was Serendipity after all - not many inhabitants would offer help to a shop run by a Fae.

Of course, non-natives couldn't be so picky. Erren was sat on a nearby wall, eyeing the sign thoughtfully. She could certainly do with finding a job for a couple of days - her previous employment, helping the landlady of a nearby inn, had just ended, and she was in danger of being turfed out if she couldn't pay her bill. This place looked good enough - an apothecary of sorts, with herbs and medicines filling the shelves in the window.

She sighed, and hopped off the wall, crossing the square. She reached a hand out and pushed open the door, the harsh jangling of the bell ringing in her ears. The inside of the shop was dark and musty, with no one to be seen.
 
"Hello?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

As if appearing from nowhere, a light-haired young man entered the main part of the shop from a back room. He was polishing some sort of coloured glass ornament in his hands with a rag. With a curious look and a smile he said, "Hello there. Did you come in because of the sign?" He continued to polish it as he spoke, the dust coming off of it into the air around him.

[stelmarisa]

"Oh!" Erren jumped slightly - in the moment between her call and the man appearing, she had gotten distracted and was looking around the shop. As he spoke she stepped forward eagerly. "Yes, I did - I'm looking for some work? I don't have much experience, but I'll do anything," she offered.

She paused and cocked her head to one side, looking properly at the man. "You're not the owner of this shop, are you?" She had only heard rumours about the shop, and only now realised that she'd been making an assumption about the proprieter.

[CastlesInTheSky]

The man seemed pleased to hear that she would want to work at the shop. From the time he had first gotten there to the few days later, it had been very boring by himself. The owner often lurked in the back or insisted she had important things to do.

"Nope. She's out buying something in the market at the moment and told me to wait here." He glanced at the door as if she would burst in without warning. "I bet she'll hire you. I'm the only worker here, really."

[stelmarisa]

"Oh, I see!" Maybe her assumptions would be right, after all. "I hope she will... I really could do with a few days work." Erren pushed her hood back, away from her  neck, and let her long braid hang loose as she followed the man's glance to the door.

"I wonder why she needs help? It always looks so quiet in here..." she mused. "Oh! I'm Erren," she held out her hand belatedly. "Erren Dai."

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver was about to reply to her previous question when introductions came into place. He smiled and shook her hand. "I'm Oliver." He tilted his head to the side and placed the ornament on the counter in front of him. "I don't know why she didn't have people here before...it doesn't seem new, does it."

[stelmarisa]

"No, I don't think it is." Erren shook her head, glancing through the window at the passers-by. "I'm new here myself, but  I've never seen anyone come in... or even look at the shop. It's almost as if it doesn't exist." She laughed.

"So, do you know she will want me to do, if she hires me? Seems like there can't be that much to do in the shop if there's no customers."

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver smiled with a light chuckle along with her laugh.

"Hm...if she hires you, which I bet she well, she'll probably have you cleaning off stuff at first like me." He tapped the glass ornament. "Everything collects dust like nothing else in here. And organizing things too. Honestly, the back room's a mess."

[stelmarisa]

"Cleaning..." she shrugged. "I can do that!" True, she was more used to a dirtier job, working on the family farm, but why not clean things for a change.

"Organising, too. I'm not that fussy what I do." She smiled and shrugged, turning round to lean on the counter. As she did, a door banged somewhere in the back of the shop, and she looked up at Oliver eagerly. "Think that's her?"


ooc: I don't know if you want to write the owner, or shall I? Or we both could I guess!

[CastlesInTheSky]

OOC: Would you like to play the owner? I'm just not sure what to make her say! ^^;

Oliver nodded. "I think so. Sounds like it at least." He turned, picking up the ornament again and continuing to polish it in an absentminded way, though it was already completely clean. He waited for her to enter as he heard footsteps heading nearer.

[stelmarisa]

ooc: No prob!

As they waited, the heavy wooden door was pushed open, and the shop's owner entered the room. She was a petite Fae with a stern expression, managing to cut an imposing figure even though she barely reached 4' in height. Large, luminous amethyst wings spread from her shoulder blades, matching the streaks in her otherwise dark hair. As she entered, she dropped a load of parcels onto the counter, before turning to look at the two. "Hello, Oliver," she smiled warmly, nodding to him. "And... hello?"

Erren stepped forward hesitantly, gesturing to the sign in the window. "Hello... I saw the help wanted sign... I was hoping you might hire me for a few days." A few moments passed in which the Fae scrutinised Erren, her eyes narrowed in contemplation, before she relaxed and smiled.

"Very well. I need the help and I can tell you are trustworthy. I can see you've already met Oliver - he has been very useful to me, but now I need two people."

She gestured towards the parcels she had brought in. "Oliver, you know that the stockroom is full of jars and bottles of all shapes and sizes. I need them put into some kind of organizational system - one that makes sense. And in these parcels are many smaller packages of products - mostly different herbs and crystals... they all need decanting into suitable containers so that I can put them in the shop."

She stepped back, looking at them. "I'm afraid it will take a long time, but there are two of you now - it should be less boring and difficult that way. I'm trusting you." And with that she was gone, whisking back through the door she had come in by.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver managed a 'yes ma'am' before the woman slipped through the door she had come into. Interesting lady she was, always straight to the point and businesslike in manner. It helped not complicate things that she told what was to be done, straight and simple, without rambling.

Oliver turned to Erren again. "Great! So, come here." He led her to the store room. "I guess you see why she needs two people now, huh?"

[stelmarisa]

Erren was standing still, slightly baffled by this quickfire appearance-instruction-disappearance. She smiled and shook her head, following Oliver as they headed into the storeroom.

"I guess I do! Sounds like it could be quite difficult, if it has to be done very precisely." She paused and laughed. "So that was the owner. She doesn't waste any time, does she?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver laughed along with her.

"No, she doesn't. Once she's done with her business, she's off and gone somewhere to do even more business." He began to take some of the parcels and unwrapping them to know what sort of thing was inside and gestured for Erren to follow suit, placing each one in a small container that suited it. There were many, many containers and many parcels to be organized as well. At least it wasn't too difficult of work. "So, where do you come from?"

[stelmarisa]

Erren considered for a moment, before settling herself down on the floor with a small pile of the parcels, beginning to unwrap them and set the contents aside. It looked like this task might take some planning to do most efficently, but she figured that getting the parcels open was a good place to start.

"I'm from Connlaoth orginally, more specifically a small village near the mountains," she answered. "What about you?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver realized that putting the items in containers wasn't going to be helpful yet, emptied the two he had done and began to stack like-sort of herbs and items together in groups.

"I'm from Serendipity and I've always lived here. Visited Adela once, but that's all the traveling I've ever done." He nudged a group of herbs, re-wrapped neatly in their paper, into a group for later storage.

[stelmarisa]

Erren paused in what she was doing, noticing that Oliver had changed his technique. "This is awkward, I can't quite work out how to approach it." She thought. "Shall we get all the ingredients out and sort them all first? Like you've started there. Then perhaps we can get a system together for sorting them into containers." She smiled over at him. "Just so we're both on the same page as to what we're doing."

"So have you always lived in Cerenis? Or are you from a different part of Serendipity?" She continued on, absent-mindedly changing the subject.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver nodded. "Yes, sure. That makes plenty of sense." He began to organize it according to the way she suggested. It was work that required little of the mind and was calming in a strange, repetitive way.

"I grew up around the province of Northwatch. I've actually never been to Cerenis before a week or so ago, really. How about you? Have you been here?"

[stelmarisa]

"The same, actually." She nodded, working as she spoke. "I've been here for about three weeks now I suppose. I've come pretty much straight from Connlaoth though, hitchhiking and walking most of the way. This seemed like the best place to come to - I thought there'd be a lot of work here."

"So why did you come here?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

Oliver nodded, listening while he worked. So she was from the same place as he, interesting. Honestly, he had no recollection of being younger than ten or so, so he didn't truly know where he had come from. But that, of course, was a story for another day.

"I wanted a job as well, and I wanted to see the ocean. I'd only seen the more northern seas, all rough and cold, and wanted to see what the big deal was with the seas of southeastern Serendipity. I've not gotten a chance to go to the beach yet, though, been doing this work since I got here." He chuckled.