[Job Thread] A Familiar Place

by **Millie** on November 4th, 2015, 6:23 pm

17th Bell, 1st Autumn, 515 AV, at the Rearing Stallion Inn

It was about time, Millie thought, that she found some way to fund her existence on the earth of Mizahar. Ever since renting her room, moving out of the family home, the woman had felt the need for a job, as her funds were not nearly sufficient enough to pay for her lifestyle. So, as Summer turned to Autumn, late afternoon, the woman set out from her home and headed to a very familiar place.

The Rearing Stallion. She knew the place like the back of her hand, and although she had vowed, recently but not so recently really, that she would never step foot in the place again, she realised with a horrible sense of dismay that she didn't know what else to do, she didn't know where else to go to find a job.

She reached the tavern, and pushed against the well-worn wooden door, hearing the familiar creak. The establishment was open all day, but afternoon was usually the quiet before the storm, Millie had found by practice. Technically, it would have been even quieter in the morning, but Millie had woken late, and then lacked the motivation to do anything until later, so here she was.

A few voices were in quiet conversation inside, and the place was already warm, with a log fire gently crackling underneath the low hubbub of voices. It was nice to be back. She wouldn't fall into the trap of alcohol, she wouldn't turn to that as her friend again, but it was still nice to be here. With a broad smile, the woman stepped up to the counter. The bartender Kevith stood there, as stoic as usual, gruff eyebrows lowered over eyes that scanned the crowd, but stopped when they alighted on Millie's form.

"Haven't seen you in a long time girl. Want your usual?" Quickly Millie shook her head, a small frown forming for half a moment, before a smile struck out on her face again. "Hello Kevith! Well, actually... I was wondering if I could get a job here?" She shifted on her feet, and stood taller. "I'm in need of a job, and my first thought was here, as I'm so familiar with the layout", she said, her cheeks shining rosy from her speedy walk in the slightly cooled air. She gestured with her hands, mutely trying to portray her love of the place. A love which was genuine, she really did enjoy the atmosphere.

"Well, it's Millie, right?" She nodded with a cheerful smile, and the man opposite continued, resting his elbows down on the desk. "I wouldn't normally let patrons work here. It's bad practice, I don't know if you'd be partial to drinking on the job..." Here Kevith raised his gaze at Millie, knowing. She blushed a little, but smiled in good grace. "I'm past-.. I'd work hard. And I wouldn't drink on the job, I'm serious about working here."

There was a short silence as Kevith seemed to weigh up her words, and Millie waited with bated breath, hoping against hope that she'd walk away with a job. After a chime, the man broke into a gruff smile, "Barmaid alright for you? We'll get you workin' this evening."
"Ah, thank you Kevith! That's fine-.."
"Get Carmen or Brucila to give you a hand. And any questions, come to me. Oh, and get behind the counter, and in the back room there should be a spare apron. Put that on and you're away. You'll work from now until the 22nd bell, okay?"

Oh! I'm working now. The woman dodged behind the bar, a slight swell of excitement at the fact that she, a mere drinker, was now behind the bar! But that quickly faded, as she went to fetch the apron. She came round the front again, the apron slung over her neck. She could see the two barmaids Kevith had mentioned, and although she didn't know which one was which, she headed over to the darker haired one, waving a hand enthusiastically.

by **Millie** on December 10th, 2015, 11:43 am

The woman with the dark hair saw her coming, and looked up, confusion writ clear on her face. It wasn't difficult to understand why. Millie was wearing the uniform of a barmaid, but had never been employed here. So as she approached, the woman smiled openly and called out, "Hi, I'm Millie! New barmaid." She arrived where the other woman was standing, and stood next to her. "Could you help me? Kevith said you would."

The woman looked confused, and stood with a tankard tilted in her hand. "Oh! Well... I'm Carmen, pleased t'meet you. What do you need? You're a new barmaid, when did you start?" Her voice was light and cheerful, and Millie found it was easy to answer. "I started just now, I asked Kevith at the bar and he's let me, for now. But I need some help.. picking up the ropes. What do you need me to do?"

Carmen gestured at the rest of the empty tankards scattered on the tables, and asked if Millie could pick up the ones remaining, which she did. As the woman ferried them over to the kitchen to be washed, the two of them got talking. Millie liked the other barmaid. She seemed friendly, and she found herself getting on well with her. For about half a bell, they simply ferried empty tankards back and forth to the kitchen.

It was starting to get a little more busy however, as the day progressed into evening. The tavern was clustered with people, and the woman had to push herself through the throng to reach the tables. It wasn't so bad though, she was diminutive, and could easily squirrel through small gaps. However, when she got back to the bar, her mentor was nowhere to be seen, and as she deposited the empties into the sink, the only other person she could see was a tall, blonde woman, who was presumably Brucila.

"Carmen went out for a tad. We should take orders now, come on."

by **Millie** on December 10th, 2015, 5:47 pm

Okay, so that's what we should do. But..- "Hang on!" The other woman, who had spoken so suddenly was striding off, to a group of rowdy squires who Kevith hadn't got round to serving yet. Millie followed behind, and watched Brucila get a notebook out of her pocket and scribble orders down as the squires asked. The exchange was hard to follow, and Millie certainly didn't make out exactly what they had asked for. But as she took a glance at Brucila's notebook, she saw with astonishment that she had the order written down perfectly.

She moved off again, checking once to see if Millie was following, and pulled the pints efficiently. "Would you take them to those squires please?" The other woman was moving so fast that Millie simply nodded and gathered a tray, so she could cram all the tankards onto one place. It was heavy, so she made sure to carry it in both hands, and weaved in and out of the crowds and the elbows until she reached the group who were laughing and joking loudly when she arrived.

Placing the tray down, the woman was about to ask which drink belongs to who, but before she could a chorus of thanks and exclamations met her ears, and as soon as blinking the entire tray was emptied, and the squires were drinking and laughing as before. She blended into the background then.

She took the tray back thoughtfully, and grabbed a cloth to wipe it clean. She'd definitely seen more customer-server interaction with the other two barmaids, and she wanted to be like that too, but she wasn't sure if it was simply because the other two had worked here longer, or if it was some other skill she lacked. Either way, there was only one way to get better, and that was to practice.

"Hey, Brucila. Should I take some orders now? I think there's some people over there that need food..." She pointed over to where a couple were sitting, looking slightly ill at ease amongst the revellers. Brucila nodded, and slid the notebook along the bar. Millie picked it up determinedly and found something to write with, and set out to the couple.

by **Millie** on December 10th, 2015, 5:57 pm

She reached the small table where the couple were sitting, a tall, thin-looking man with red hair and a girl with cropped hair, wearing plain leather bracers on her forearms. The woman seemed to have relaxed a bit, as Millie watched, but the man still seemed anxious, until he looked up and saw Millie approaching with the notebook and apron obviously marking her out as a waitress.

It was exactly as Millie approached that one of the squires noticed the woman, and yelled excitedly, "Hey look, it's Marissa!" The squire and a few of his fellows immediately walked over to the table and started chatting with the female squire, much to the discomfort of the red-haired man. So, a first date by the looks of it. I wonder who's idea it was to have it here?

"Hello there, what can I get you?" Millie smiled welcomingly, and the thin man looked up gratefully, with pleading eyes. "M- Marissa, what would you like to eat?" The girl answered, with a smile up at Millie, and she found that she was glad she'd approached some people that weren't drunk. Still, she felt sorry for them. As the thin man answered, and asked for a bottle of wine, Millie wrote down their order, keeping it simple by writing in short hand.

"Marissa? Is there any particular wine you'd like?" Unfortunately for the man, the other squires overhead, and started guffawing unpleasantly. "Marissa 'ere love, you like beer don't cha?" The girl laughed in good grace at the offering of the tankard, and took a great gulp, to which her fellows patted her on the back. But her date turned ashen, and made as if to protest. "Surely you like beer too, don't you prissy boy?"

These squires are mean. Millie wasn't entirely sure what to do, so she simply frowned at them and gave them a look as if to say, 'leave the poor man alone'. One of them shrugged and wandered back to the others, and his friends followed, to Millie's and the red-haired man's satisfaction. She would be keeping an eye out though.

by **Millie** on December 10th, 2015, 6:11 pm

Millie got back to the bar, and called out the food orders to the kitchen, and then poured the wine for the couple. One glass had more in than the other, so she bent down level with the rim and filled the uneven glass until they were both level. Then she grasped the glasses and headed back over to the table, placing them down on the wooden surface next to each person. She was getting the hang of it!

"I'll bring the food as soon as it's ready. Enjoy your drinks, and... Uh, don't hesitate to stop me or one of the others if you need anything else." She'd almost forgotten that part. She skipped away, and thought about the evening so far. It was completely different to be the barmaid rather than the patron. For one, she hadn't once ad the urge to have a drink. Fortunately she wasn't in that mental state any more.

For another, it was much more stressful to be the barmaid. Everything seemed to happen seamlessly when you were just visiting, but when you worked for the place, everythign seemed so much more on edge. Any time an order was messed up, everything seemed to go downhill. It was, Millie thought, about keeping up appearances. After all, a place couldn't run perfectly all the time, but as long as mistakes were smoothed over and not made a fuss of, then they seemed to disappear into the background. It was almost like magic, except she knew it was simply cleverness on the part of Kevith and the crew.

The food order for the couple was ready after Millie had taken a few more empties back to be washed, so she put the two bowls of steaming food on a tray, and carried them carefully and slowly to the couple, who didn't seem to be having a great night. There was an icy silence, and a few glowers issuing from the girl called Marissa, and as Millie placed the food for them, the woman thrust a few gold mizas into her hand.

Millie went to get change, and when she got back the couple were in mid-argument, although it mostly seemed to be one-sided. "--and that's why I'm a squire! So it's none of your business, right?"
"But Marissa, I--"
"It doesn't matter what you thought or what you'd do, okay?" Millie stood awkwardly, until the woman snapped and stuck out her hand, "Hey, are you going to give me the change?" Under her breath she muttered, "I'm fed up of lurkers."

Begrudgingly, because she didn't like the girl's attitude, she placed the money in her outstretched hand, and then left as the couple continued one-sidedly arguing. That's a couple of customers lost today. The argument made her a little sad, actually. Whenever love failed it was a horrible sight to see, and Millie sent a little prayer to Cheva, beseeching the goddess to take care of the young couple.

by **Millie** on December 10th, 2015, 6:19 pm

It was drawing close to the twenty-second bell, and Millie was worn off her feet. She had yet to learn how to properly pull a pint, and that task had been reserved for the more experienced barmaids, but she had spent a great deal of time running backwards and forward taking orders, although the knack of making conversation with the punters hadn't clicked yet.

A small glance from Kevith, and a nod, and she took the apron off, hanging it up on the peg where she'd found it. A few minutes later and she was outside, breathing in fresh piercing air. It had been a tough night, and Millie found herself thinking back to the small drama with the couple on a date. She wished that Cheva would hear her prayer. The couple had left shortly after they'd finished their food, and their drinks had still been half-full when Millie had come to collect them.

With a short sigh, she pushed back her frizzy hair from her face, and tried not to think about her own love-life. It was... lacking. But no, there was no need to dwell. Instead, she fingered the mizas in her pocket, and smiled. It was nice to have been able to gain money, all from her own endeavours.

As she reached home, she grabbed her key from her pocket and slipped it into the lock, pushing open the door with her foot as she slipped her coat onto the floor. With a great sigh, her boots slipped off too, and a chime later she was in bed. Another chime after that, and she was asleep.

by **Ssezzkero** on February 11th, 2016, 2:56 am

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Completed [Job Thread] A Familiar Place