Open [Alements] Caelum Hires a Bouncer

[Stye]

TBD Spring 515 Stye studied the bulletin board for a long time. Several of the job postings were written in Tukant, an excessively wordy language that he could neither speak nor read. A few were in Pavi, with which he had at least a passing acquaintance. The rest were in Common, which he could manage reasonably well. As we worked his way through the postings, and the number of unread ones shrank, his initial enthusiasm gave way to a sinking feeling. It was looking like no one was interested in his particular set of skills. If he could not find a job, he would not be able to stay in the city, and he needed very much to stay for a while. It was the very last posting that saved him. WANTED: A man (or woman) with the ability to persuade unruly and possibly inebriated patrons to cease their disruptive behavior and, in the event that they are not agreeable to this, to escort them, firmly if necessary, off the premises. Inquire at Alements Brews and Healing, third tier, dock level. He did not know all the words, but the general meaning was clear enough. They wanted a bouncer, a position for which Stye just happened to be admirably suited. At least he thought so. The trick would be to convince the proprietor of the establishment. The sun was touching the mountains to the west when he finally found the place. Riverfall was confusing, even with a map. He had not expected Alements to be as high-class as it appeared to be, with its generous patio and fancy lights. He made his way between the patio tables to the fancy double doors, and almost turned back. It was hardly within reason that an establishment of this sort would hire a rough and tumble dwarf like him. One of the doors swung open, and a middle-aged couple swept past him. He grabbed the door before it could swing shut, and slipped in. He stopped in his tracks and stared. It was easily the fanciest tavern he’d ever seen. In fact, to call it a tavern would be an insult. It was more of a gentlemen’s club, although there were women in attendance as well. It was the kind of establishment that catered to the high and mighty, not little people like him. He swallowed his discomfort and made his way to an empty table in a corner, where he put his backpack on one chair and his butt on the other. He looked up into the eyes of a vision of feminine beauty that had inexplicably appeared at his table. He stared at her dumbfounded. She was a dark and mysterious vixen, the sort that seduced men like him into her lair where she turned him into a frog or some such. Then she smiled. “What can I get for you, sir?” She asked. He closed his gaping mouth and cast around in his addled brain for something half-way intelligent to say. “Ale. I have ale.” She looked puzzled, probably trying to decide what he meant to say. Her face brightened. “Certainly,” she said so sweetly that he felt himself melting into his chair and dripping on to the floor. “Would you like something to eat? I recommend the Fruit, Cheese and Nuts plate.” “Uh … sure. Fruit … and whatever.” He waved his hand, more out of despair than anything else. She beamed another smile at him and floated away. His eyes followed her sashaying derriere all the way across the room until she disappeared into another room. “Snap out of it,” he said to himself. “You’re acting like a teenager in heat.”

[Caelum]

“Elise, what is this?” The proprietor of Alements demanded from where he had appeared in the door way to the kitchen. Balanced on one hand was an open ledger book and a ratty old ink quill was actually dangling from the corner of his mouth. Elise looked up from where she arranging an assortment of fruit and cheeses on a small plate for their new patron to squint at this. “I don’t know, but what is in your mouth?” Golden eyes blinked up, surfacing from a thick fog of thought, and Caelum pulled the quill out of his mouth with a shrug. Strong shoulders rolled easily and he paced toward her while turning the ledger about to face her. “It’s a quill. Here, look –“ He proceeded to use the quill – a little chewed upon – to point at several lines of deductions. “What is this?” “Why are you chewing on it? That’s disgusting, and you’re probably poisoning yourself with ink.” Elise huffed a sigh. After wiping her hands on a clean towel, she reached for the ledger to look at it with dark blue eyes. “Caelum, this is your handwriting. You can’t read your own handwriting?” “I can read it,” Caelum grouched. “I just can’t figure out what the petch I intended by it. Will you fix it for me? Please?” He widened his eyes a little and delivered his first employee (and close friend) a pathetic look. “Hire an accountant,” Elise advised for the hundredth time, but she took the ledger from him with a fond smile and flicked her fingers at the quill when he offered it. “I’ll find my own, thank you very much,” she drawled dubiously and turned to drop into one of the high backed chairs at the kitchen table with the ledger. “Go on and take that plate and a pint of ale to your customer.” After a beat, she lifted her eyes. “Go on. Get.” Caelum, smirking, collected up the plate and curved around on his heel to exit the kitchen. The pint of ale was swiped from the end of the bar and he navigated his way through the tables to the one Stye had chosen. “Afternoon,” he greeted.

[Stye]

The horned man placed a mug of ale and a plate of cheese and fruit in front of the astonished Kelvic. Stye had experienced no small measure of anxiety as the odd-looking creature approached his table. He was tall — not like an Akalak, but certainly taller than Stye — and solidly built, with the air of a gentleman about him, navigating the spaces between tables with brazen confidence, like he owned the place. But what really drew Stye’s attention was the horns. Long, pale green horns. Horns starting from each side of his forehead, pointing up and back, wavy, like the blade of a Kris. Green horns strikingly set against a pile of golden, not-altogether-kempt hair. Stye had heard of Ethaefal, of course, and had even seen a few from a distance. But never up close and personal. The horned man wasn’t intimidating, exactly. In fact, there was something about his manner that put Stye at ease, as though they had been friends for many years. But he certainly did look strange. If he was a regular part of the staff here, he was going to take some getting used to. “I am thanking you,” Stye said. He fingered a piece of paper lying on the table; the job posting he had taken down from the job board. “Can you, good sir, bring me toward the proprietor of this establishment? I will wish to apply for the job.” He was pleased with himself for stringing together that many words in Common without stumbling over one he couldn’t think of. But from the odd look he received from the Ethaefal, he suspected he didn’t get it quite right. Perhaps the grammar. The grammar was a bear.

[Caelum]

Humor flashed across Caelum’s face like sunlight off glass. One hand rose to pull back through already mussed hair and he cast a long glance behind him at the bar and the closed kitchen door. After a beat he pulled out a chair across from Stye and dropped into it. It creaked beneath his weight when he slumped back, the line of his shoulders indolent. He looked at Stye curiously. “I’m Caelum,” he introduced himself, the words long familiar now to his tongue even if they were inevitable half-truths. “And this is my place. What sort of job are you looking for? There are a variety of skills and interests that I can put to use.” A study was made of the man, silently noting his strong, stocky build and the incredible eyes. They were highly unusual and left Caelum wondering. He caught on to the fact that his prospective employee was not especially fluent in the Common language, but that was not altogether abnormal. Caelum was well accustomed to managing communication with a variety of peoples and imagined himself to have a knack for it. He jerked his chin in a nod at the scrap of paper in Stye’s hand. “To be honest, I haven’t received a great deal of response. It’s the nature of this city. The Akalak tend to migrate toward employment with the city or independent businessmen of their own race. They have no problem patronizing my establishment, thank all the gods –“ His smile sharpened into an amiable smirk. “But I’ve learned that the idea of actually working for me is another thing altogether. Friendships, partnership – fine. Have you been in Riverfall long? If not, where are you coming from?”

[Stye]

Stye was taken aback when the Ethaefal nonchalantly plopped himself into the chair opposite him. And again when Caelum introduced himself as the owner of the establishment. Damn, he thought, what a great way to start of a job interview. “Um .. my apologies Mr. Caelum. ’Twas rude that I should act with disrespect for you.” He rolled his shoulders, shook his head, and fixed a steady and unblinking stair on the Ethaefal. “I am called Stye. I come to Riverfall for today. Um … today. Things there are that I n-need to do here, so I must have a job to stay. I c-can handle hard … uh … difficult people. By persuasion or, um, fierceness as you like. Or force if need. I am a … handy fellow. Will to do most any tasks that are in need of doing. I am the hard worker.” He knew he was making a poor impression. He had gotten off on a wrong footing, and was now so nervous that he was stuttering, something he hadn’t done for years. “Oh,” he said. “I am a Kelvic. An owl. There are many advantages to that. For example, I could be a … um …” He couldn’t think of the Common word for courier. “A carrier of messages. If you had such a need.” He stopped abruptly, unable to think of anything else to say. He felt like he had botched it badly. His best hope was that Caelum didn’t have any other applicants, and he might get the job for that reason alone. “So what do you speak to it, Mr. Caelum. Can you give me a chance to prove myself?”

[Caesarion]

Grades, my darling, grades

Person One:
Experience Points!
Observation: 2
Investigation: 1
Socialization: 2
Persuasion: 2

Lores!
Alements: Bouncer Wanted
A Seductive Server
Caelum: A Horned Oddity
Riverfall Employment: Akalak Preferential Treatment

Loot!

Caelum:
Experience Points!
Investigation: 1
Writing: 1
Socialization: 2

Lores!
Unintended Lettering
Stye, A Sturdy Kelvic
Stye: Hard Worker

Loot!

Additional Comments: Stye is adorbs.

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