[Seaside Market] Clammed Up (Nellie)

by **Caela Dorin** on November 18th, 2014, 11:58 am

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So Caela had guessed right. Whatever was left in the clam bucket once she was done with it, the shellfish was going to be heading off to some tavern. It had been a very smart move on her part then to offer her place of work as a bargaining chip before her true offer was placed on the table. The fishmonger didn't seem particularly enthused by the dancer's claim that she could help however so perhaps she thought that the blonde was all talk but no action.

The explanation of her place of work earned a look that seemed to say "What do you do?" Despite her gaze voicing the question, the girl didn't follow it up verbally. The query went unasked as the fish seller introduced herself as Nellie, extending her hand for Caela to shake it. Switching her coin purse and the good miza itself to the other hand, she grasped the offered hand and shook it. A smile was flashed the young woman's way. This one was a smart one, Sunberthian lass through and through to know that there was obviously some alternative motive for the dancer's offer. If she wanted the girl to give her information in the future then she was going to have to be somewhat honest with her.

Releasing the woman's hand she shifted her coin purse back to where it had been, the gold miza placed on the stall between them. "S'okay, Nellie. I don't take it wrong. I'll admit that I might not have come to the market today to buy anything," the woman explained cryptically. She glanced from side to side as if looking to see if anyone was listening to them before she leaned a little closer to Nellie. "I came here to try to find out a bit 'bout them sea snake people and I got talking to you, you know. Found I like you and I know how hard things must be so why not help? Maybe you'd do the same in my position... and I'd feel like I'd owe you one but that's just me."

The dancer smiled now that the truth of the matter had been laid bare although it had been dressed up a little bit. She hadn't implicitly said that the girl would owe her if Caela helped her out but it had certainly been implied that that was how the blonde wanted this arrangement to end. Hopefully the young woman would feel like she had a choice and so wouldn't immediately reject her offer on the possibility of what the dancer might want her to do. If the girl was as smart as she seemed then surely she'd look into the price a little bit further. If she showed that interest then the young woman could be hopeful that she could be coaxed into it.
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by **Nellie Hawkins** on November 24th, 2014, 1:56 am

And there it was, thought Nellie, unsurprised. No one ever offered to help on a purely selfless motive and Caela, tavern-employee, was no exception. The string attached seemed still to be a mystery. Caela mentioned the snake people, but Nellie had already spun as many stories as she could about them. So what else could the woman want?

And how would her offer of 'help' change if she knew that Nellie already had a fairly secure merchant relationship with most of the taverns in Sunberth?

Not that Nellie was about to tell her. At best, it would negate the conversation entirely. At worst, Caela's offer to assist might turn to one of blackmail. The other woman might well be in a position to influence her unknown employer to not purchase Nellie's merchandise. Dark eyes hardened a bit at the thought. The last thing she needed was to whittle away at her customer pool so close to winter. She needed to make all the sales she could before the weather grew too cold to comfortably ply her trade.

So she didn't dismiss Caela's offer out of hand. In fact, she pretended to be grateful to the other woman for the help, adopting a tone colored with surprise and relief. "That's very kind of ya, Caela. Of course, its a hard time fer lots of folks," she added judiciously, nodding once more at her competitor across the way.

It was a game of words and meanings now, not the kind that Nellie necessarily enjoyed. There was a fine balance between being obvious and losing any edge in negotiations and being so subtle as to not get your point across. Nellie was usually far too heavy-handed and impatient for verbal sparring, but she made the effort now. "Its good ta have friends ta help ya out now n'then," she nodded agreeably. A pause that lasted barely a tick followed, and then she continued, "when they can, of course."

The tit-for-tat manner of Caela's offer had been plain enough, if the other details were still a bit murky. Nellie wanted the other woman to know that she wasn't against the idea, but on her own terms. Never one to feel obligated, Nellie approached the subject with more idle curiosity than anything else. The hard fact of the matter was that she'd be more than willing to take whatever assistance Caela could offer and feel like she owed the woman nothing. Which didn't mean, however, that she wouldn't help her in return - within reason, of course. But it came back to her earlier question: what sort of help could the other woman be after?

Curiosity, more than need had her continuing the conversation, entertaining the idea of dealing for more than a few clams in the market. Tired of trying to come up with a subtle way to drag the details out, she reverted back to her comfort zone. "Where'd ya say you worked, again?"

Nellie eyed the other woman curiously, innocently. Caela hadn't mentioned which tavern she worked for, but the information was key to Nellie. Some taverns were friendlier to her than others, some she could get a fair price at without the strenuous haggling. Others, the ones she frequented less and less these days, made her work for even the slimmest profit. If Caela could sweeten the deal at one of those businesses, Nellie would be much more inclined to feel 'like she owed her one'.

by **Caela Dorin** on November 26th, 2014, 9:39 pm

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Nellie certainly seemed to be biting at the bait that Caela was offering. She sounded grateful for the offer but that didn't mean that she'd give in just yet, especially as she hadn't told her exactly what she wanted from her. The dancer waited to see if the girl would ask directly or would dance around the topic as she herself had done. The girl sold things for a living, she needed the gift of the gab to do it, would know how to talk her way through a negotiation. Negotiating over services would be little different than negotiations over goods. Maybe Nellie didn't actually need her assistance in which case she'd have to be careful not to seem too desperate. She needed an ear in the Bay like the fish seller.

The girl's next words concerning friendship made the blonde feel a little more optimistic until the addition a moment later. Nellie was definitely no idiot. She was fishing for the details, trying to find out if the thing was something that she could and would do perhaps. The young woman didn't give her any instead latching onto the mention of friendship in the other's speech with a wide smile on her face. "I'd like us to be friends, Nellie. Friends are nice to have you know although I don't have many friends anymore. I had more when I was a girl but now... I could always do with a new one." Maybe she would think that that was all she was after but she wasn't sure if the other would buy into what she said.

Perhaps it would work out better if she could persuade Merv to buy the clams and fish first then seal the deal with the fishmonger. Show that she was capable of action rather than just words. It'd be no loss for the vendor to give in to what Caela wanted before anything was sold either; it wasn't like she wanted information right away.

Nellie's question was met with a bright smile, the dancer well aware that she'd never mentioned her place of employment. The girl could appear as innocent as she liked, Caela wasn't fooled. "Oh I didn't tell you! How silly of me!" she laughed softly at herself. "I work in the Pig's Foot Tavern. Merv will do anything for me if I ask. We can go right now if you like. I'm sure you'd like to finish up for the day. I can't imagine that it'd be pleasant standing out here all day. Unless you don't want to go with me. Do you?"

There was no reason why the fisherwoman would refuse her offer. Even if she planned to go to another tavern, none of them were as big as the Pig's Foot, except maybe the Drunken Fish. It was a major tavern and one that should sway Nellie more towards what Caela was suggesting. There had still been no mention of what the dancer wanted out of this and she intended to keep it that way as long as possible, preferably until after the girl owed her.

"If you don't want to go to the tavern then I'll pay you now. We're friends after all, aren't we Nellie?" she asked anxiously, her face showing a little bit of hurt at the idea that Nellie might say no.
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