Biting the Sour Apple [Solo]

[Skugga]

33 of Fall 511 AV Rising with the sun was something that never made any sense to Skugga, what was the point in rising so early that not even some animals were up only to start working and not stopping till nightfall. Never in her life had Skugga needed to leave her bed before the sun had rosen well above the horizon and she did not intend to change that even as she now led a far less luxurious life than before. So way was she up sitting at her worn table watching the sun slowly spread across her floor? Because the blasted city had changed again, placing her small cottage nearby some sort of entertainment, a tavern maybe, Skugga didn't care what it was, she wasn't a morning person and as of now she would do best not to see any of the loud persons lest she do something stupid that would ruin her stay in the city. Sighing deeply she stretched her long legs and sank lower in the old chair trying to find a comfortable position, her blue dress flowed out around her like a flow of water with the silver threading resembling foam on the waters surface. She wasn't used to wearing a dress again, she had travelled so much recently that'd she had gotten used to wearing pants, but truthfully Skugga found it nice to be wearing a dress again. Drawing her gaze from the dark blue fabric she glanced around her cottage, it was only one room with the door at one end and one window opposite the door and another facing the bed. A worn but comfortable bed in a corner, the hearth was placed in the corner opposite the bed, a table with two chairs was placed in the middle of the room and a chest containing all her belongings stood placed at the foot of the bed. It wasn't much, and compared to how Skugga grew up it was a rat hole, but she liked it, the cottage contained what she needed and provided shelter and it allowed her peace and quiet mostly. But it really could need some more furniture and a carpet would really add a lot to the barren interior, though for that she needed money and to get money she needed a job. A job. The mere thought of steady work in some boring shop made Skugga recoil but she'd grown tired of living on the small income she used to get from performing various shady jobs around Mizahar and work in a shop of some kind promised steady money. Being new in Alvadas she knew little of the available shops in town and either way Skugga, in her normal negative way, was sure she wouldn't find any job she liked, but she'd avoided this decision for long enough so it was only silly to drag it out anymore. Deciding most shops would be open Skugga rose from the chair and flipped back her dark hair in a practised motion before heading to the door, no point in dragging out the inevitable right?

[Skugga]

The city was completely different from yesterday and so far Skugga had walked into four dead ends, almost fallen into a pit with angry, and maybe hungry, Myrians and she was now aimlessly wandering through the streets and this was despite Skugga having a relative ease normally when she wanted to find something in Alvadas. Glaring at the buildings with cold grey eyes she wondered if it was impossible to find a job that she could like, no store she had seen was something she would like, no matter her situation Skugga refused to be a waitress, serving others went against her nature too much, a simple shop helper was bad enough in Skugga's world. Having almost given up Skugga decided to try and find a tavern instead so she could eat lunch she almost walked past a dirty old building with the name Arrhizal Apothecary above the door. Intrigued Skugga opened the door and was greeted by a smell of herbs and dust but the air was stale, but what caught the woman's eye most was the shelves all around the small store with row upon row of bottles, cans and vials filled with liquids. he other thing she noticed was a the counter in the middle, littered with bottles and with a gangly man sitting behind it with a deep scowl on his face. "Do you have any money?" The man glared at Skugga with dark eyes, an eerie contrast to his deathly pale skin. "If so then what do you want, if not then get out." Not the most warm person in Alvadas either but Skugga had early learned to swallow her temper and use her good upbringing when she wanted something. "I am not looking to buy, sir." Skugga said as polite as she could, she had not used her skills so often lately. "My name's Skugga and I'm actually looking for a job and happen to be quite skilled with poisons, both with making them and using them." "I need no help," he muttered and waved to the door. "If you will not buy then leave." "I can see that," she answered and cast an obvious glance around the dusty and cluttered store. "But I am good with organizing too and I learn quickly," trying to not openly imply that the man's store was dirty, though it was just that. "Didn't you hear me wench I need no help, now leave!" Skugga barely had time to react as a bottle with some yellow liquid in was hurled in her direction, with reflexes she had gained from living on the roads she caught the bottle in her hands, only afterwards realising that it could have shattered by the impact alone. "Sorry to upset you sir but I will not leave," Skugga said biting back a furious cursing at the man and kept the bottle firm in her hands to avoid bringing up her dagger. "But I really need a job and I believe that I could really pull my weight here." The man had no problem with cursing and even had some that even Skugga had not heard," fine wench." He finally muttered, "but if you make a single mistake then you're out of here." A smile tugged at her lips but she avoided to let it forth entirely, "thank you sir. When do you want me to start? And I must say I do not know you name." "Kirwen. You can start working five hours of your choosing per day, you can start with tidying up." Satisfied Skugga nodded curtly to Kirwen before heading to the back room where Kirwen said the cleaning stuff was when she asked. This would be a very interesting job and hopefully she would someday be allowed to make poisons and if she needed, potions and salves too.

[Skugga]

Picking out what she thought she might need to clean the store, as it was there the customers were she decided to start there, spending her first two bells of work with dusting the shelves, bottles, and vials before sweeping the floor to get rid of the dust and dirt. When she was done with that she spent almost two more bells using a smoother piece of cloth and started polishing up the oldest bottles while she started organising the bottles, placing them in alphabetical order as well as dividing up poisons and antidotes on separate shelves. Once a customer came in but that was quickly finished and took at the most a few chimes before the store was empty again. Feeling done with the outer room Skugga went to the back room where all more lethal poisons were kept, it was darker in there and the dust wasn't so easily seen but as shown by Skugga's sneeze the dust was there. Dusting the shelves and containers before cleaning the floor Skugga then started sorting through the shelves to place the vials and bottles in order. She had nothing much left to do, the mixing of poisons she had no real hope of doing these first days so instead she spent the remaining half bell to look through a book about poisons she had found in the back room when cleaning, it had been dusty and looked like it had not been opened for many years. Opening the heavy cover Skugga saw it was a book about poisons, not so surprising as this was a place to buy poisons and antidotes though. Flipping the pages she looked over rows of low level poisons she had seen before but also many she had never heard off, pulling her black hair behind her ear she leaned against the wall straining her eyes to read the faded writing. One that caught her eye, Dark Tongue, was a liquid made from the concentrated venom of black adders and strangely had a scent of coffee and had the same consistency as water. The black liquid had to be smeared, or in any other way applied, on a weapon and used to injure a person to give a four bell effect of medium physical weakness. Skimming over a few more yellowed pages Skugga realised that she needed much more skills to be even a potent poison crafter. Another poison that she found interesting to read through was the Greenblood Oil, a dark green oil made from pressing vines found in many forest areas and used on weapons. It had a pine like smell that caused physical weakness for about two bells, apparently it was a weaker form of Dark Tongue. Luminous Vos was a poison with a blood like consistency made from seaslugs and give a mild irritation to the area of skin it touches, the effect can last up to five bells and the stain glows with a violet luminescence. Skugga spent several more chimes skimming over the pages before giving a sigh and putting the heavy book back where she found it, looking over the back room one more time to make sure it was clean and in order she went out to the front room and smiled to Kirwen, "I'm all done with the cleaning now, see you again tomorrow." The man only glared an answer and Skugga bit back a rude comment, she didn't want to risk loosing a job that actually could lead somewhere interesting. OOCI put in some studies about poisons to fill out a boring day of cleaning and I hope thats okay for a job thread.

[Skugga]

Skugga could swear that she had walked around for several bells in her search for the apothecary, it irritated her beyond no end that the place she had gotten a job at was the hardest place to find in Alvadas. The sun had already reached its zenith and shone down on the black haired woman, scanning the streets with cold grey eyes she fingered on her family crest dangling from her neck when she finally found the small shop squeezed in between two larger buildings. The small shop was empty except Kirwen, who seemed to be just as grouchy as the day before, which seemed to be his normal mood so far. He didn't respond in any way to Skugga's polite greeting so she just went ahead to continue her job from yesterday. She had finished the cleaning yesterday, thankfully, Skugga hated to clean and so she worked as quickly as she could to avoid dragging out the torture. But she had planned to sort through all the vials and bottles to see that everything was placed neatly and in order depending on their group, name and level. Thankful for knowing several of the poisons and antidotes Skugga worked for over a bell with that, taking the chance as she read the labels to memorise as much as she could while still trying to keep up the pace. Streaking back her black hair Skugga stretched her back and sighed, having finished this small room gave no satisfaction as she had the large room left. Voices told her that a customer had come but Skugga couldn't hear what was said except that it seemed to gain some volume. A loud crash drew a sigh from the woman, judging from what had happened to her when asking for a job it was almost certain that this customer had been on the receiving end of a bottle too. Gathering up things to clean with Skugga went out into the front room of the apothecary to locate the broken bottle. The stench was terrible and waves of nausea almost caused Skugga to throw up as she stood bent over the broken bottle on the floor with sickly greenish yellow liquid pooling around it. Carefully she picked up the broken glass first and put them aside, luckily they didn't seem to have shattered into tiny pieces. Then she proceeded to mop up the vile poison, no wonder this was dangerous judging by its smell, she thought to herself. Making sure the floor was clean again she threw away the glass before taking the bucket with her to empty and clean up. A very dull day of work started nearing it's end as Skugga's five hours soon was to it's end and the only light in the long dark tunnel of this job was that Kirwen had grudgingly given a half promise that she'd get the chance of making a poison or two one of these days, maybe. It was at least something to hope for. Finally her hours was up and Skugga could leave the apothecary, she was not the kind of person that desperately needed something interesting or fun to happen but after working only five bells in the Arrhizal Apothecary Skugga had almost gotten depressed herself. Instead of heading home she started finding her way to a tavern or something where she could meet people, have a drink and get up her spirits before trying to find her small home before the moon had risen in the sky. OOCThis is not the most exciting thread but I lack the skill of making cleaning interesting.