Lhavit Job Faire 2nd of Winter - 6th of Winter, 511Timestamp: 2nd of Winter, 511 Location: Surya Plaza
The faire keeper watched with dark eyes as vendors sifted in off the street, into the spacious showroom. The tall skyglass building was perfect for the event, with its large circular room and brightly tinted windows. The wooden floors had been scrubbed and waxed by hand until they shined, and as she tested the surface with her toe, she found parts of it to still be sticky. Hopefully by the time the faire opened its doors, it would be dry. In the meantime, she did her best to avoid tramping across the spots.
It was only the second day of winter and still mild; the new season had come in on a whisper, barely noticed by the city. The weather would be the one thing that would not deter her job seekers. If she did everything just right, the four days the faire lasted would be intense, but when they were over, everyone who came would have a job, and she could tuck another well-done event into her belt.
She pushed up the long sleeves of her yellow blouse, grabbed a pen, and a tablet from her counter at the front and began making her notes as she approached the first stall.
The young woman setting up behind the wooden counter was tucking things away into an orderly mound, tidying them into perfect piles, when Eliza sidled up to the counter and asked for a brief description of what she was looking for. Tahala took a piece of gleaming white paper from the very top of the pile and in painstakingly neat handwriting, drew up her own list. Eliza sucked a deep breath into her compact frame, but still managed to pull her lips into a tight smile. “I see that you have jobs that need done in the Towers' Respite?” Her thin fingers flicked down the list on the pristine paper, “Odd jobs, mostly…gardening, cleaning, laundering clothes…”
The brightness in Tahala’s young blue eyes deepened as she smiled and fidgeted slightly with her piles. “We won’t be paying them, instead we’ll be offering students cheaper lodging and food.”
The woman’s face burned red, her job and reputation were tied tightly to the faire’s opening day, and the first stall wasn’t offering any kina? This season’s job faire wasn’t off to a very promising start. “That can’t be right. No pay? You expect them to work just for food?”
Tahala cleared her throat. “…and cheaper lodging, Miss Bell. Have you ever seen a hungry student? It’s not pretty. When they get hungry they start to mess around in the Respite. They get into bad moods and move things from the places they belong to agitate me.” A cringe rippled through the woman’s body. “We know that if we gave them any kina, they’d spend it all on the girls at The Red Lantern, then they’d still be hungry and have no place to stay.”
“But their moods would be better!” The words flew from Eliza’s tongue before she could bite them back, but she wasn’t sorry they had landed; Tahala's stare was priceless.
Eliza cleared her throat, scratched a new note in her pad and moved on to the next stall. |
The team of staff Yarena Pachia brought with her, hung around her shoulders like an well-worn apron, hugging her body while intuiting her moves. Her thin smile was quick and to the point, just like her answers. “Oh, I’m next? I would have assumed I would be first. I don’t like being second, or in the second stall after the entrance when I paid top kina to rent the best stall. This is not the best stall.” Even her shallow bow was curt.
Eliza’s ink couldn’t keep up with Yarena’s tongue, and she quickly put down her pen to make sense of the woman’s rapid-fire-tongue. “It’s not the best because it’s not the first?”
“I will always be the first, and it is not just about not being first. Come here. Look at this counter. Is this wood chipped? Come see it for yourself!” The woman waved her over to the counter.
Eliza moved closer, bent down, and even after adjusting the glasses that sat crooked on her nose because of her uneven ears, she still couldn’t see much more than a scratch, but this wasn’t her first day at a faire either. “I see it. Yes. Definitely something there. Let me have someone come take a look at it for you.”
Yarena looked up at her, slightly relaxed. “Good. Have it fixed right away and give me the first stall or lower the price of the one I have, as it obviously lacks the quality my restaurant staff is used to.”
“Ma’am, as the prospective employees come in, they’re hardly going to linger on the first stall. Their eyes are too big and glazed over with possibility for them to settle as they walk in. The first stall is the cheapest because no one ever goes to it.”
“Really?”
“Of course! You don't think this is the only faire I've ever done, do you? The first stall gets the worst business.” The carefully laid lie seemed to work its magic on the older woman's tightly drawn features.
Slowly, Yarena’s brow arched with uncertainty. Only when it dropped, did her staff fall back behind her. “You know, I don’t need very many staff, I probably didn’t even need to come here, but everyone else’s business was being seen, so why not mine? The Fleeting Comet is very successful, people beg to work for us so we will train them. Today, we have a single apprenticeship available as our standards are extremely high. We will only take someone with the best skills and some kind of background in food. But foor those less fortunate, who don’t live up to our high standards of apprenticeship, we’re also here to hire a waiter or two.”
“I’m aware of The Fleeting Comet’s high standards, thank you. I’ll make sure everyone else is as well.” |
The girl from Piramba's Pet Shop, greeted her quietly with a bow in front of her stall. She had no staff, it was just her, with her wheat-colored hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, wrangling with the goat by her side. When Eliza saw the feisty goat, her heart nearly stopped in her chest. “What is that? You can’t have that animal here in the faire, what if someone is allergic to it?”
Fai didn’t look very amused. “Not that many people are allergic to goats and this one happens to be pretty friendly.”
“Uh...friendly or not, you can keep it away from me.” Eliza stepped back, brushing away imaginary goat hair from her silk skirts.
“Miss, she doesn’t shed, you look ridiculous doing that.”
Eliza’s ears flushed at being called ridiculous. “I need to move on to check the other stalls, please tell me what you’re looking for."
“I need one person to help out with daily running, feeding, cleaning, sales and anything else the pet shop might need.”
“And someone who isn’t allergic to goats,” Eliza quipped.
“Or dogs, or cats, or mice.”
“Mice? No way in Lhex! I'm done here.” |
Eliza moved around to the other side of the room far away from anything that might crawl out of Miss Piramba’s booth. Aska was waiting for her too.
“Do you know what bell it is? It’s taking you forever to make your rounds. Please hurry with all this nonsense, I don’t want my future apprentice to believe lateness is something to be tolerated.”
Eliza bowed deeply from her waist. “I’m nearly finished. Just one more after you, for now. It depends on how many other business owners show up at the last chime.”
“Anyone who shows up at the last chime should be creatively told to go home for wasting our time.”
The small woman laughed at the Isurian’s comment, feeling much the same way. It was hard not to have respect for the woman standing in front of her, knowing how hard she worked and how prized her creations were. Eliza was in awe that the woman would even want a stall in her tiny faire, but she was here, and that was one more small notch for her belt, as long as she didn’t do anything to upset her.
“The Touch of Fire is looking for smiths or aspiring smiths. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. I need someone who’s going to be dedicated, creative, and willing to put in the time it takes to make something spectacular. They also need to be here on time.”
“Okay, I’ve got it all. You’ll be happy to know that I’m off to one of my last stalls now.”
“Then you should hurry.”
With a quick bow, Eliza left the stall and moved forward, even more impressed with the woman. |
Tain’s Studio was something of another local legend in a city like Lhavit, where people loved their art. Tain and his partner Nat, had been running the art studio for years and everything they produced was topnotch. Eliza knew they were always on the lookout for artists of any kind; painters, calligraphers, sculptors…anyone with passion.
Behind the counter, several of their artworks were on display, highlighting the talent of some of the brightest students that they’d trained, who’d gone on to be masters. The bright swirls on the canvas were a delight to the eye. Eliza lost herself in them for a chime before she realized Nat had greeted her with a bow. She blinked and returned the blonde woman’s greeting.
“I’m going to all the stalls to make sure everything is set up correctly and to get a final list of what everyone is looking for. Yours was pretty basic, is there anything else you wanted me to add?”
Nat scanned over the pages while Tain adjusted the canvases. She shook her head after a minute. “No, everything is there. You know exactly what we’re looking for.”
“Whoever gets to work for you will end up creating things as beautiful as that? That's pretty amazing.”
“And more, I hope.” Her smile ran deep and her love of art was apparent in it. The woman could imagine her mind was already off painting a portrait somewhere. She wondered if she was ever really present.
“I have what I need then. I’ll go make some final notes and give the last minute business owners a chance to slip inside before I open the doors to the public.”
OOCAnyone with long-term plans in Lhavit, who shows themselves to be committed, will also have the opportunity to open their own businesses. If you're interested in the details, contact a mod during the faire. |
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