Labor of the Potter

[Evalynn Frostfawn]

Spring 17th, 522 AV

Eva found herself thankful that Nesra was able to forgive her enough to allow Eva to perform physical labor for her. It wasn't exactly what she was expecting when she arrived at Nesra's tent, but it was a lot better than what she ended up in. She sat herself on her bed and started pacing up her boots; having already bathed, dressed, and tucked away all notable traits of Vantha that could be seen. She strapped her sheathed dagger onto her hip and gave herself one more look over in the mirror before heading out the bungalow. As she made her way up the cobbled path, she wondered just how long it had been since she did any actual physical labor for money. Most everything she did was either exploited or volunteer work, all for the sake of her keeping her head down and making ends meet. But this time, she had to earn a living and it sort of brought her ease.

After a bit of time, Eva made her way over to Nesra's tent and called out to her. She stayed on the edge, not wanting to step foot into her space and cause the same issues as before. Once she seen the Potter, she gave a smile and a greeting before asking what her daily tasks were today. Eva had the opportunity to carry around heavy buckets of water and clay, assist in pushing the wheelbarrow around when Nesra needed to harvest clay, fetch water when needed, and haul any finished goods around that she could. Back breaking work, but it was a way for Eva to make money while she lived here.

Rolling up her mental sleeves, she politely entered the campsite and grabbed any empty buckets that Nesra had left over. She now had to figure out where to get the water, from the storage or the river? She figured she the storages was an area for their drinking water, haphazardly dunking dirty buckets in it was a common sense no. So down to the river she went, a stack of buckets in her arms and a simple random tune she would start humming. Once she got down to the river bank she unpacked the buckets and counted out three, giving a pause before sighing and shrugging. She was already all the way down to the river, no point in running all the way back up because of her ill planning.

Taking a bucket in hand, she made her way down the small slope of the river. Leaning over, she dunked the bucked in as far as she could, watching it fill up slowly. Once she was satisfied with the amount of water in the bucket she went to lift it, expecting it to lift easily. Instead, a series of events happened that was not in her favor. First the bucket was much heavier than what Eva expected, causing her feet to slide forward. She then freaked out and flailed about, letting go of the bucket and falling flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Groaning a bit, she slowly rolled to her side and sat up, holding her head as it had hit the ground pretty hard as well.

When she had finally sat back up, she had noticed that the bucket at least didn't go floating down he river. Instead, it haphazardly and lazily rolled a long the bank as the current teased on taking it. Eva huffed out a pained sigh and got up, slinging off as much mud as she could before she made her way over to pick up the bucket. It seemed even heavier than what it was before and she hauled it back over to the others before grabbing another empty one and taking it to the bank. She tried her best to watch her footing, avoiding the area she slipped at, and leaned down to fill the bucket. She slowly lifted it out of the water and smiled as she had no problems, getting excited when she turned around. But the feeling was short lived as she ended up once again slipping and losing her footing, dumping the bucket of water on the bank and falling into the waters shallows.

She gasped and gave a small shout of surprise once the cold water hit her, scurrying out and into the bank to catch her breath. Eyes flashing many colors stared over at the second bucket in contempt. How could gathering water be this difficult? Taking in a deep breath and trying to steady her emotions by listening to her heart, Eva stood and grabbed the bucket once again. Trudging her way down to the bank, she filled the bucket with water and lifted it up, staying calm as she slowly turned and took careful steps to the other buckets. She grabbed the last empty bucket and filled it just as carefully, carrying it up with the other three. Now, she had to figure out how she was going to be able to get all of these up the path and back to the tent.

The wheelbarrow would be really nice to have, or even a sturdy stock to carry on her shoulders. But she didn't think that far, she was too eager to complete a task that she didn't think that far ahead and was suffering. After a bit of time thinking, she eventually made up her mind that she would have to haul the buckets up by hand. With two in one hand and one in the other, switching the odd ball bucket back and forth from her hands, she steadied her breath and marched her way up the path and back to Nesra's camp. It would take Eva almost a half hour to make it back, but she did with hardly any breath left, dripping in sweat, and covered in mud from falling in the river.

WC: 985

[Evalynn Frostfawn]

After dropping off the water and receiving a look of question from Nesra, Eva was now told to go fetch some fresh grasses to replace the ones that were sun drying. She was given the option to take either the wheelbarrow or a large basket someone would carry on their back and Eva chose the basket. The wheelbarrow was nice and all, but if anytime Eva had to go on the beach, it would be a pain. And she had a high guess that the grasses she would need would be mostly on the beach. So, after shouldering on the pack, Eva set out towards the beach to gather grass heading through the Commons and coming out next to the swings.

She figured she would meander her way along the beach towards what she thought was the end of the cobbled pathway and follow the path back up to Nesra with whatever grasses she had. This long stretch of beach couldn't possibly cause her to not produce a fruitless bounty, that is unless the beach is a common area to harvest from. She wondered it a bit as she made her way along the beach, looking for patches of beach grass around the area. Anytime she would find a patch, she would walk over and kneel down, examining the area to see if it had been recently harvested from. If not, the basket would slide off of her back onto the ground next to her and she would take out her dagger. Then she'd gather a handful and cut the grass a few inches from the base, being mindful that if she cut too far down she guessed it wouldn't grow anymore.

After doing this process a few more times, making a small pile next to her, she would take a piece of grass and tie it around the pile to bundle it. This made it easier to shove in the basket and slide back onto her back. Traveling back down the beach to look for more grasses, Eva took thought into what she was doing with Moritz. They had only known each other for a day and for once he was someone she actually had feelings for. Not just fake, run of the mill feelings, but genuine 'I have to be careful' feelings that caused her to be extra cautious. Let alone, there was his strange way of talking, but she didn't seem to find it too concerning. It was more like, an added bit of flavor that left her wondering why. She barely knew this man, but already seemed content with his ways.

Eva shook her head as she came across her third grassy section, finding this one to be very full and promising. She went about her way grabbing and cutting handfuls, making small piles and bundling them with blades of grass. As she was going about her business, she spotted what looked to be a nest of some sort hidden deep into the grasses. She paused and set down her knife, leaning down to peering into the small opening hoping to find a sleeping bird or something. Instead, she found about three to four eggs bundled up under feathers and grass, unattended by the mother bird. She thought a moment, debating if she should leave them, but ultimately she needed a meal after this and she wanted to try cooking a rice dish. So in went her hand and she grabbed up the little eggs before she stuffed the basket with her grass bundles and stood up.

Her basket was not about half full, she figured she could continue to make her way Down the beach and to the end of the cobbled path before it was completely full. That, and she now knew there could be nests in the grasses so she was going to definitely keep her eyes out for such things. Now her mind drifted to what she was going to cook and how she would do it. She didn't have anything she could use to cook in, but she also knew there was a community kitchen in the area. Did they have all the ingredients she would need? Would she have to buy them herself? Eva had never been to the kitchens, and considering it was called a community kitchen and not a food storage, she assumed she would need to provide her own food.

Her train of thought had her walking past her home and coming along another large area of beach grass. Here she stopped and gathered more grass until her basket was full before moving on to the next patch and the next until her basket was piled high and she was at the end of the pathway. She took a moment to view the scenery, taking in the jagged rock patterns and how they looked like the teeth of a shark. Oddly convenient since Syka was a coastal settlement, but she just shrugged and made her way back up to the Commons to turn in her haul, stopping at her bungalow to drop off the eggs she found.

WC: 852

[Evalynn Frostfawn]

Eva had finally returned to Nesra's campsite and started unloading the fresh grass to lay out in the sun. She didn't know if Nesra had a specific place for the grasses to dry at, for she hadn't seen it, so she found a pretty sunny area near the site with little foot traffic and started laying out the grass. She would probably get scolded later about the placement, but for now this is where she was putting them, and maybe in the future she could create a rack for better drying. Eva walked back to the tent and put her basket up where she figured Nesra had it before and approached her to let her know she was back.

"Good job, but now I have a bigger job for you. Go around the settlement and see if anyone needs anything ordered. It has been awhile since an order has come in." Eva smiled, feeling like she had improved her job status enough to be able to take customer orders. This was probably not the case, but it gave Eva a bit more motivation to do better and she wasn't letting it slip away.

"I will do my best! I'll come back with as many orders as I can!" She filled her voice with confidence and enthusiasm before turning and trotting off to God knows where. She didn't know who her first customer would be or where she would even start. All she knew is she needed to start talking to people and make orders. And her first stop was to check out the bar she had seen on the beach. She never caught the name when she came into Syka, but caught a glimpse of it while she was out gathering herbs and remembered it was there.

She made her way across the commons and down to the beach, looking around until she caught sight of the unmistakable bar. In her opinion, it was a massive sight with three large buildings and a presence that just oozes party life. She didn't judge too harshly, but she definitely steeled her nerves and put on a cold face as this was not an area she needed to get caught up in. Having walked across the beach and onto the dock leading up to the bar, she took in a breath and went in with determination. After a few long moments, Eva emerged from the bar with a groan and a heavy sigh.

Her first order attempt didn't go well, as the owner of the bar seemed to listen but was more focused on having fun. She was also playfully teased about her stoney expression and told to stay awhile and relax. Eva politely declined after that, saying she was working, and left the bar not actually finishing up her order attempt. The bar had an extremely welcoming feel the moment she walked in and she felt herself slowly want to stay the longer she was there. She had to make sure she stayed away from here, it would honestly mess up her cover. Eva shook her head to clear away the thoughts and walked back onto the beach, thinking of her next move.

She could go to the clinic of the settlement, but considering she had no idea where it was, she wasn't about to wander around the settlement to find it. Visiting resident settlements would be an easy way to get orders, but people may also find her a bother just showing up to their door to sell them pottery. She meandered her way back through the Commons as she thought of places to go for orders until an idea came to her. She could go to the inn, the one she always subconsciously passed as she was walking to and from her bungalow. With a nod to herself, she made her way down the cobbled pathway and in front of the inn's entrance. Protea Inn, that's what the sign said as he looked upon it and immediately smiled. This place could definitely use some pottery, it was an inn and restaurant so there was always a need for storage. Eva walked up to the and took in some breaths to gather herself and walked in.

"Hello?" Eva called out calmly as she walked in, noticing two rooms to her left, a table in front of her, and a kitchen to her right. She was impressed by the layout and gave an inquisitive nod as she wondered inside.

WC: 747