[Quill's Rest] Service With a Smile (Closed)

[Talya]

Summer 80, 515 AV

Talya had left her temporary home rather early in the morning, when the sun was still rising over the edge of the horizon. The sky had been filled with bright colors- streaks that coursed from one end to the other and folded over one another. There were shades of orange, and red, as well as some of the darker remnants from the night, before the sun burst through, filling the world with the earliest colors of the day, and then its typical, pale blue. There were a few clouds in the sky, serving as cover as they rolled across its length; but they were thin and wispy, and only seemed to make the sun's rays even hazier. The air was warm, but not as warm as it would be later in the day, Talya thought, as the sun was not yet at its peak, and a soft breeze rolled in from the bay, which cooled the air quite a lot each time it blew, before it died away again into nothingness. But this, Talya could not feel as she was trapped between four walls, within the Zeltivan establishment known as the Quill's Rest. A place, in which she worked. There weren't many people there yet, besides herself, as it was still early, but patrons were tricking in, as were latecomers for work.

Talya herself was weaving in and out of the building's tables. Her long black dress swished around her ankles, while the apron she had borrowed from work for her work, was tied over it. The stretch of fabric covering her top half, as well as most of the skirt of her dress. In her hands, she held a steaming hot container of kelp tea- which smelled distinctly of salt and the sea. Or maybe the bay. It could have been the bay. Anyway, she held it in both hands, and had laced a cloth through the handle and around the side; she pressed her left hand into this so she wouldn't burn herself as she made rounds of the establishment. Smiling as she glided over to each table, checked the contents of their cups, (if they had one), and refilled them whenever she was asked to do so. Since nothing at all within the world ever seemed to be free, (and nine times out of ten, surely was not), Talya would refill the mug with more tea, and then gather more money from the patrons, storing it in the pocket of her apron before moving on and finally making her way all around.

When she was done, and nearly out of hot tea, Talya returned to the bar, and handed the money she had been given to the man behind the counter, who stuck it in the drawer behind the bar for safe keeping. She smiled at him as she slid the nearly empty container across the bar to him. "We're going to need more soon, I would think," she said. He nodded, and grunted, as more than a small number of men were wont to do. "Do you want to make it? Or should I?" she asked. "Or should we ask one of the other girls?" she continued to question. The man grunted, as he wiped a section of the counter down, and his shoulders appeared to twitch a little. Well, that's rather helpful, Talya thought to herself with a sigh as she slipped behind the counter with the man, and moved over to the preparation area where the tea was made. She looked at it long and hard, and began to wonder if it was worth her doing, or trying to do, and if she would be better off getting someone else to do it for her. After all, she seemed to be doing a fairly good job with the rounds, and getting the majority of their customers to buy more kelp tea, which may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that she cheated and used her magic now and again.

Not that anyone would, or likely could ever find as much out...

Or so, the Ethaefal hoped.

Talya

[Talya]

Summer 80, 515 AV

Talya breathed deeply in through her nose and out through her mouth, as she continued to eye the preparation area, wondering what in the world she should do. She didn't have long to wait however, as another employee went to make the kelp tea. She was perhaps, in her early thirties, with long brown hair that had been braided. She had pale skin, and soft blue eyes. She wore the same sort of outfit as the Ethaefal, but hers was far, far dirtier. In any case, now that she was busy completing the task that Talya thought that she might have done mere moments before, she was left with no tasks of her own to complete, and stood around idly, wondering how to mend that issue, or if it were even worth it. For, she could always simply stand around, and look like she was working, maybe greeting customers as they walked in or something. That was, of course, until someone realized that she wasn't actually doing anything, and gave her an actual task to do. With a smile, Talya glided a little closer to the door. She watched it intently for several minutes, as though she were locked in a heated staring contest with the object in question.

Finally, a customer entered the door. He was a tall fellow, with bright green eyes, tanned skin, and an unkempt nest of brown hair atop his head. He had a scraggly beard to match, and wore the simple attire that she often associated with sailors. Talya smiled at him and waved. "Welcome to the Quill's Rest," she said, the man didn't acknowledge her however, as he moved past to the bar. Rude, she thought, as another individual filed in moments later. He looked to be about the same age as the first man, perhaps a bit younger than he, but his hair was far darker. It was a black similar to her own, but it had a few reddish undertones to it, she thought. It was kept fairly long, and fell down to the tops of his shoulders. It was wavy, and his face was clean shaven, which she thought, made the appearance of his beaky nose appear all the larger, as there was nothing to either hide or cast shadows upon it. His eyes were a deep hazel, his lips a thin line. "Welcome to the Quill's Rest," she said. He smiled at her, when he noticed her presence, but said nothing as he filed past, which wasn't much better than the response she had received from the first man, she felt. But still, improvement was better than nothing, and with a small sigh, she returned to waiting for people to file in, so she could greet them and welcome them into the establishment.

Talya wasn't waiting long before someone tapped her shoulder. She turned and found the man that had been behind the bar staring at her. "Go clean," he instructed.

Talya blinked a few times. "Clean what?"

"Whatever is dirty, stupid," he replied, before moving away.

Why thank you for being so specific, and enlightening me ever so much with your great knowledge and wit, Talya thought to herself as she glared at the man's retreating back and rolled her eyes, before following him behind the bar. She retrieved a wet rag from one of the buckets kept behind the bar, beneath the counter, and then wrung it out a little, before balancing it on the flat of her right hand, and raising it to the counter. Slowly, she turned her hand over, and let the rag plop onto the counter. A few beads of moisture sprung out, but as she began to move the rag around the counter with her hand, wiping it down, she gathered them up. When she had finished with the nearest area, she moved onto the next section of the counter, and then to the next, until she was done cleaning it. Then she dipped the rag into the bucket of soapy water again to rinse it out, and then wrung it out, before moving away to clean some of the tables. She got through about three of them, before she was called back to the bar. She put the rag away as she was instructed to help handing out tea again, as several pots had been made while she was doing other things, and there weren't yet enough people to help handing it out.

Talya smiled, and said, "alright," before picking up her own steaming hot container, and moving out to the tables. She walked around in circles, refilling empty cups of tea as she smiled, and collected money which she stored in her pockets, and would return to the bar area later, along with her apron at the end of her shift. All was simply within a good day's work.

Talya