"And what did you say your name was?"
"My name is Russo Portolà!" said a very agitated swarthy man who stood approximately six feet tall in height. His expression bequeathed one that he was in no mood for further annoyance yet he had been standing there for thirty minutes straight discussing the same monotonous questions with this insufferable woman!
"And how do you spell that? Is there an accent mark in there?" she asked, looking down at the tablet she was scribbling on, obviously unaware of the waves of frustration exuding off of the imposing man like the waves of the Hivan Ocean.
Unwilling to put up with her much longer, "Yes and yes." Russo clenched his jaw and looked down at her piercingly.
She replied only with an unperturbed glare. Afterward she resumed her writing and took a thirty-second pause as if trying to grind at his nerves on purpose. "Well, I'm sorry Mister...uhhh...sir, but there's just nothing I can do right now. You're just going to have to wait like all the others. You know it's rather amazing just how booked this place gets! I really don't have time for you right now, so if you would please fill out—hey, where'd you go!?"
That was it! After the first sentence of her yapping, Russo had taken the remnants of his dignity and departed the building while he still could. He was tired of filling out forms and he was exhausted from just talking to her. Sure, he needed a job but he was damn positive that there were a thousand different ways he could get one than that. Even a few shots a thievery would have been suitable for a pirate like him. After all, life on the high seas was hardly all that different than life on the mean streets.
Russo continued to walk off his steam, until eventually his meandering led him to the closest thing Arca had to the docks. Despite the city being inland, the two nearby tributaries of the river gave the city quite a hook on seafaring trade. Yet the question remained of just what a pirate was doing in Arca. He didn't belong here, he belonged in Cerenis where he could find real "work".
Still, there was lots of time on his hands and he wanted to see the new ships coming into port. Strolling down the wooden beams holding up the pier, he watched as one rather odd looking schooner came in. A crew immediately set to bring down what looked to be cargo in crates and barrels. A faint sense of nostalgia set in and made him think back of his time on the Hivanious; but there was no time to mourn for his past, there was money to be made and when that was done... well, there was time to think on that later. As a smaller female member of the crew came down to the harbor, stepping off as if she'd always wanted a life at sea yet secretly still held onto her land legs. Amusement twinkled in his eyes as he watched her blow a kiss to the ship and smile.
Laughter rumbled in his throat as he said to her, "That's not healthy, you know. Makes you become too attached and when it goes down into the water, all you can do is cry." His voice was a little condescending but not in manner that was meant to award offense but rather as a playful gesture from one seafarer to another.
[Sorry, fellow RP'ers. Life prevented me from posting sooner]
