Closed A Clean Slate

[Devi]

Fall 10th, 515AV - Devi's Apartment Devi eyed the sparse surroundings of her apartment with unusual distaste. She had never cared before about how her apartment appeared. It was functional and clean. It served her needs and no one else’s. She didn’t like other people coming into her space so the unwelcome emptiness of it only served to discourage visitors. She herself had never really needed much in the way of comforting furnishings. Devi hardly spent any time there. Despite her strict policy on visitors the place had never really held much importance in her mind, other than a place she could eat, sleep, study and get away from other people. It was especially unusual then that she now looked around and found her surroundings lacking. In what she didn’t know. She had never really been in this position before. As hard as she worked and as sought after as her skills as a doctor were, Devi had never really struggled for money. She would offer money to Ronan and his family in a heartbeat, though they would resist taking it. She bought necessities for herself and, unusually, a few indulgences. For the most part though she saved what money she made. One day she wanted to operate out of her own infirmary and every miza she spent on herself was another away from that goal. Her lips quirked a little as she thought of the friends she had made in recent seasons and wondered if they were the cause of her sudden relaxation on that policy. The amused expression soured slightly as she thought of Sayana and Aren. She missed the pair, the Eypharian especially, and wondered where they were – what they were doing with themselves now. She sighed abruptly and put her hands on her hips. Whatever the cause, whatever the psychological meaning behind it, Devi wanted a fresh start, a clean slate. She wanted to spend less time working and more time on herself. She wanted to see her friends more, she wanted to spend more time doing things just for the fun of it. First and foremost however, she wanted to shop. She wanted to clear the functionality right out of this place and fill it with comfort and life. She probably still wouldn’t invite too many visitors in, she reflected, but she would enjoy the place a damn sight more than she did at the moment. Less than an hour later Devi found herself determinedly navigating the bustling hallways of the Bazaar in the fourth tier basement of the citadel. People packed closely all around her and stall vendors of every shape and size hawked their wares and brandished all manner of items in the faces of the people passing by. The bazaar had always irritated her. She didn’t like pushy people pushing things she clearly didn’t need at her with the expectation that she would just hand over her purse for the pleasure. Most of the vendors around here seemed to have finely honed senses for wealth and desire. Any time she came to the place actually looking for something they sniffed her out with the skill of a bloodhound. Today was no exception. Jewellers, clothiers, florists, bakers, cobblers, fletchers, armourers and a plethora of others latched onto her with vigour. She pointedly ignored them, shaking off any physical attempt to delay her with a practiced glare. Eventually she found what she was looking for. The place was not so much a stall as a large alcove set into the edge of the market near one of the main entrances, a mini warehouse of sorts, opened to the passing Syliran public enticingly. Devi spotted an array of fine furniture peeking out from the place and her eyes immediately caught on the centrepiece of the display. She knew that staring at the thing would only alert the owner of the furniture shop of her intentions all the quicker but she couldn’t help it. The bed before her was the very opposite of the plain, simple bunk that currently resided in her apartment. It was made of a rich, intricately carved oak, much larger than her current sleeping arrangements. A frame of four posts towered above it, holding a canopy of pale, layered material in curtains around the side. On the bed itself was a veritable mountain of covers and pillows, all encased in some kind of fine material the colour of teal and pale cream. The teal had gold thread sewn in delicate patterns across it. In short, it was magnificent. This bed epitomised the entire purpose of her trip today. She doubted everything she bought would be as luxurious and extravagant as this but the fact that all she wanted to do was crawl into the mountain of pillows and fine sheets in the middle of a busy marketplace was decision enough. A man in well-tailored clothes had edged closer to her and admired the bed before them in a mirror of her own expression. “I see the lady has fine taste-” She cut him short before he could extol the many virtues of her choice. Devi had never been a fussy shopper. “Save the hard sell. I want it and I’m not a haggler. I’m also going to be buying a lot of furniture today so if you offer me a fair price you might find this stall of yours a lot emptier by the end of the day.” The man eyed her, reassessing (and no doubt weighing how many mizas he could safely squeeze from her without turning her away towards one of his competitors). After a moment’s consideration he jumped straight to the point and her estimations of him improved considerably. “55 Gold Mizas.” She raised an eyebrow at him, honestly not sure if that was a fair price or not. However her work had taught her that people disliked silences and often felt the need to fill them. She was sure this practiced gentleman wasn’t the sort to crumble and lower the price just because she wasn’t saying anything but he should at least fill the silence with something useful. Sure enough, his next words gave her a hint. “It includes the cost of a team of labourers to transport the furniture to your home…” She narrowed her eyes a little as she thought about this. Surely she could get her own team of labourers. If she was being honest with herself she wasn’t sure if it would end up being cheaper doing it that way or not but it did have its benefits. They would answer to her and not the shop owner and she would be able to use the same team to remove the old furniture from her apartment and to transport the new furniture in, from whichever shops she chose to buy from. Eventually they settled on 40 Gold Mizas for the bed, assuming that she would arrange the transport for it herself. It was still early in the day so, assured that the furniture vendor would hold the bed for her until she returned, she headed towards the main entrance to the bazaar. Deliveries often came in from the docks so she was hopeful that she might be able to pick up a few strong pairs of arms there.

[Kai']

The Great Harbour

　

　　　A roar of laughter disturbed the quiet of the harbour. The distant, irritated echoes of coastal creatures reverberated through the Fall's chilly air, as they flew away from the rowdy group cramped onto the small deck of the Puer Lavinium. The rattle of bone dice in leather cup could be heard as it was shaken in a rhythmic dance of hands, passed between the three burly men.
　　　One a young Svefra, not yet reaching his mid-twenties took hold of the leather cup, one hand over the opening concealing the dice from view. From within rugged, sternly set features, peered a gaze of deep sapphire scanning the eager faces of his companions. To his right, the man was scruffy, wiry and lanky with a mane of brown curls in desperate need of a comb through. To his left, the fellow perhaps taking up most of the room due to his porkier size, seemed to command the wandering eye with the essence of self-confidence.
　　　Eyes squinted, a broad grin stretching salt-cracked lips, the young Svefra slammed the leather cup of dice - opening down - onto the wooden deck of his personal Casinor with a practiced dramatic flare. "Odd or even" The spoken words in Fratava rolled from the Svefra's tongue with an edge of theater, meant to build up the excitement of his fellows. The slightly heftier man to his left snorted, "You know we ain't got a ballsy what you say'n in that tongue of yours." His scrunched up face suddenly broke into a knowing smile, "1sm down for odd!" With a thick thumb he slid one silver coin towards the down turned leather cup sitting in the middle of their feet.
　　　Looking unsure of himself, the lanky Sylirian to the Svefra's right nibbled on the edge of his own piece of silver. Eyes shifting from Yargul, his long and trusted friend, to Kai the Svefra acquaintance turning into friend. "I'm uh, I'm uh going with odd too." With that Ceryl snapped down his silver miza next to Yargul's. The young Svefra shook his head. Everything Yargul did, Ceryl had to follow. His bright sapphire gaze glanced down to the cup at his feet, silencing his mind and refusing to acknowledge the staring gazes of his comrades, the young Svefra looked to his gut. "Even." Before placing down his two silver on even to match the other two's on odd.
　　　With all the bets placed before the mighty leather cup, the young Svefra rested his calloused hand atop its smooth surface. Glancing to each man in turn, checking that they were ready to witness the results - he hauled the cup away. Revealing beneath the shadow of leather two bone dice, each with numbers marked upon their sides. The total of the numbers upon each die ending with an odd number.
　　　As all three leaned in closer, their heads touching, to peer upon the numbers revealed, Yargul barked out in laughter, "Ahaha! I win again! That God of yours Svefra is let'n ye down. You ain't got a mind for gamblin' at all, best leav'n it up to us older gents." Despite pointing out that he was infact older than the young Svefra, Yargul pointed to his temple with one finger, while with his other hand scooping up his share of the win. "We're wiser. Ahaha!"
　　　"Pttsh, I let you win this round." The young Svefra chuckled as he winked at the jarred face of his comrade.
　　　"Another round then!" Yargul announced as if his words would be followed without question. Ceryl nodding along with him earnestly. Shaking his head the young Svefra leaned back against the wooden side of his personal casinor, bringing his legs up and resting his wrists over his knees, "We should be working."
　　　Yargul waved away the young Svefra's worry with a flick of his hand, "Bah, ain't no work to be done. We asked the Dock's master to send anyone over here if they had any work for us. Do you see anyone here?" Despite already knowing the answer Kai couldn't restrain a quick look around the harbour. Sailors and dock hands went about their daily chores as usual all around, but not a person in sight headed their way that the Svefra could see. The man had a point he guessed.
　　　Though the young Svefra couldn't stand sitting around playing games all day. There was a time and a place for them, yes, but not when hard labour and chores could be getting done. He itched for something constructive do to with his day.

　

[Devi]

The office at the main entrance to the bazaar was heaving. Customers, traders, knights and labourers weaved in and out of each other’s way with purpose. She watched them go with a slight frown lining her brow, shoulders jostling her like she were a stone being tossed around in a river current. Finally she saw what she was looking for – a member of the knighthood that looked young and eager enough to be a squire still. Devi made a beeline for him and tried to school her expression appropriately. The squire was already being hounded by questions on the one hand whilst trying to help to maintain some semblance of order on the other. She made sure to stop immediately in front of him and fixed his eyes to hers with a practiced glare. “I need to hire a team of labourers. Who do I need to ask around here?” Limited though her knowledge may be on the subject, the young woman had increasingly grown to feel that a commanding presence sometimes came down to an animal game of dominance. Devi wasn’t an imposing figure, physically. For her it came down to pure and simple psychology. She raised her chin, maintained eye contact with the young man and girded herself against the assault of bodies passing her. She was immovable and she projected that she would continue to be so until her question was answered. In the end she was successful and the squire explained that she would need to talk to the bazaar quartermaster though, gesturing at the crowds around them, told her that she would have much better luck down at the docks. Apparently ship crews there often hired out as labour whenever their services weren’t required on the ships themselves. Devi nodded her thanks and pushed her way through the crowds to the exit. She didn’t often have cause to travel down to the docks so it cost her a couple of wrong turns but she soon found herself heading in the right direction. She set a fast pace, keen to get all of her plans realised in a single day, and was breathing harder than usual by the time she arrived at the dockmaster’s office. With barely more than a grunt and a wave of his finger the burly man sent her towards a pier filled with smaller vessels. She wandered through a veritable forest of sails, eyes flickering from one hull to another in search of the particular name she had been given. Puer Lavinium The unusual words caught her eyes and Devi raised her vision to examine the rest of the vessel above the hull. It was simple but surprisingly well cared for, or at least it seemed to her untrained eyes. Her vision fell upon a small group of men clustered together on the small deck, laughing with each other. They looked able enough – if they agreed to her terms they would do quite nicely. She called out to them, loudly. “So I hear there are a few pairs of strong arms looking for work around here!” Once she was certain she had their attention she laid out the details of what she would need and what she would pay them for. “My name is Devi. I live in one of the standard apartments in the Maiden District. It’s filled with furniture that I need to get rid of. The bazaar is filled with furniture I want to re-fill it with. I’ll pay half now, half later and I’ll tip if we manage to get it all done today. Any of you interested?”

[Devi]

Devi saw a few faces perk up at the words in the offer she had shouted up to them. She saw those same faces peer down and look her over, the minds behind them debating the validity of her offer. After a moment one of them called back down to her. “Moving a whole apartment’s furniture out, disposing of it and then hauling a whole new set in is a lot of work for a single day…” Though it hadn’t been the focus of his words, he did bring to light an interesting question. What was she going to do with all of the old furniture? One part of her mind sectioned off from the rest to think about who might benefit from the simple pieces. She certainly didn’t think the furniture vendor in the Bazaar would take them. She began flicking through possibilities whilst the rest of her mind concentrated on the problem at hand. The man on the ship continued, “That’s at least 20 Gold Mizas worth and that’s if you can persuade enough of these boys,” he gestured with his head at the listening ears, “to help you out.” “Twenty! I can get a team in the Bazaar for 10 if I wait a couple of hours…” She lied. The man chuckled at her, “No you couldn’t, or you wouldn’t be here. Even if you could, they wouldn’t get it all done in time. Twenty’s a fair price.” She frowned at him, the cogs in her head working furiously. Suddenly a thought struck her. “Ok. What about 15 and you all get first pick of the furniture I’m getting rid of.” Devi tried to school her face into one of confidence. To be honest she had no idea if the men and women before her actually lived on the ships they were scattered upon or if so, whether they would actually need any of the items she was getting rid of. Nonetheless the offer seemed to do the trick as the man looked at his companions and then turned back and nodded his agreement. In short order she had five strong-armed men and one leanly muscled woman before her. She gave them seven gold mizas and five silvers – half up-front as agreed – and then proceeded to get them moving. “Right. Old furniture out first, we need to have the place cleared out before the lunch bell. Follow me.” She marched off purposefully towards the Maiden district, much more comfortable in her role of authority now they had agreed upon terms for the day. Negotiator was not a role she thought she would ever quite be comfortable in

[Devi]

A deep breath made its way into and out of her lungs. Devi walked around the city all day as a part of her job but the mental exercise of directing this many people was exhausting in a different kind of way. Once the small team had reached her apartment they had appraised all the pieces she wanted to get rid of which was, in short, everything except for her large chest. It was simple furniture but sturdy. These didn’t seem the kind of people to be concerning themselves about the aesthetics of such things and so she suspected that the latter was working in her favour. For one reason or another they had agreed to take each of the items she wanted rid of, alleviating at least one of her unexpected concerns. As they started hauling everything away she bustled around, picking out her smaller possessions from their scattered homes and safeguarding them all in her chest or on the hearth shelves for the time being. She realised as she did so just how little she actually owned. By far the most prized and populous of her possessions was her doctor’s kit and that wasn’t even a part of her home that she could call decorative or functional. It, like she herself, spent most of its time outside of the apartment, being returned only for storage. Stopping she frowned around at the bare space to consider for a moment. With everything that had happened to her so far that year, all the people she had met and all the good and bad she had experienced it filled her with both anxiety and excitement to reflect on that change. Her eyes caught movement at the doorway as one of the insatiable gossips that lived in the neighbouring apartments wandered past with a deliberate slow pace. She fixed him with a murderous glare, causing him to startle and quicken his page when his eyes met the daggers in hers. With her reflective moment well and truly past she set herself instead to a furious regimen of cleaning. She scrubbed the floors on her hands and knees, relishing the opportunity to reach all of those spots which had been neglected as a result of her being unable to reach them before. She had finished the floor and was enacting the same scrubbing treatment on the walls, a light burn heating the muscles in her arms, when she heard a whistle at the door. She turned to see one of her labour team poking his head around the corner. She couldn’t help but grin, anticipating the fun part of her day approaching and downed her scrubbing brush. Devi marched past him, gesturing in the direction of the Bazaar as she did so. “Follow me. Next we go to the Bazaar and pick out the new items. I’ve already picked out a pretty hefty bed so it’s probably going to take all of you to get it back here and assembled. Can you remember the way back here without me?” She looked at him and he nodded confidently. Devi grinned back at him. “We’re making good time so far!”

[Devi]

Devi had never really been a materialistic person. She had a fine appreciation of a well-made object or a fine piece of art but she got more excited about a pristinely-crafted medical tool than she did about adornments for her home or her person. She had ended up saving most of the money she made from working as hard as she did in the bank, working towards setting up her own clinic someday. Still, as she wandered around the Bazaar picking out things for her apartment just because she liked them, not because they served a particular function, she was starting to see what all the fuss was about. It did help that whenever she picked something out she had a pair of strong arms nearby to cart it straight back to her apartment. The team she had hired down at the docks had actually really impressed her. They seemed never to tire and navigated with sometimes delicate items through the crowds as if they did it every day (which, she belatedly supposed, they probably did with cargo from their ships). One of the youngest, Miru, had also been useful in helping her work out what would actually fit in her apartment. She told him where she pictured everything going and he narrowed down her choices with surprising accuracy. So far she had acquired end tables fine enough to match the extravagant bed she had started with, a large bookcase large enough to fit snugly beside the bed, sectioning off that section of the room quite nicely from the rest, a large wardrobe to allow her to actually hang her clothes up, a new washbasin, a desk and chair, a pair of couches, a large and unusual rug to match them and a dining set large enough to seat six people. Devi had never had five guests in her apartment in her life but apparently the corner beside the door was now big enough to accommodate them all. There were just a few more pieces she had in mind, this time much smaller. She bought a variety of little polished stone sculptures of various unusual shapes, two glass vases (one blue and one red) and a few tapestries depicting lush green and blue landscapes. There was just one more thing she wanted and Miru had been able to tell her where to find it. A large, coloured and annotated map of Sylira lay on the counter before her, the cartographer who created it gesturing with ink-stained fingers on the other side. “Many hours went into the creation of this. I can assure you that it is most accurate and the illustration such as you will not find anywhere else!” The cartographer was very proud of his creations, and quite justifiably so. Devi really admired this particular map and he could tell. She also wasn’t very good at negotiation. Her companions had been encouraging her to try it throughout the day, though she wasn’t sure if that was simply because her poor attempts at it amused them. “It is beautiful I agree. Alas I am down to my last 10 gold mizas and I simply can’t go any higher.” The man behind the counter sighed deeply and appeared to consider this but then extended his hand with a flourish. “If you extend me a beautiful smile my lady I will agree upon 10.” She beamed at him and clasped his hand with hers. Getting him to work down the price a single Gold Miza certainly wasn’t much but it was something. She startled a little when the man behind the counter pulled her hand towards him and landed a quick kiss. Her expression must have shown her surprise as Miru chuckled beside her, exchanging a wink with the other man briefly before reaching for the map. Devi handed over the required coins and turned her stare onto Miru. She gestured with her head, trying to put a little authority back into her voice. “That’s the last item. Back to the apartment and then I can give you all the other half of your payment.” With the grin not quite faded from his face he nodded at her and fell into step next to her. In short time they were back at her apartment and she arrived just in time to see the finishing touches being added. As they hung the map on the wall behind her desk she smiled at the sight of it all. Now this looked like her apartment. It had touches of her in the shades of blue and green, in the outdoor landscape tapestries on the walls, Gods it actually looked lived in now. She paid her team the other half of their wage for the day and in short order she was alone and testing out each new item she owned. She finally came to a stop in the magnificent bed which had started it all, drowning in soft pillows and fine coverlets, giggling to herself in a most un-Devi-like fashion.

Receipt :

Couch, Good – 6GM (x 2)
Bed, Fine – 40GM
Bookcase, Good – 20GM
Table, Good 3GM
Chair, Good 1GM (x7)
Desk, Good 5GM
Wardrobe, Good 5GM
Wash Basin, Good 5GM
End Table, Fine 2GM (x 2)
Rugs & Tapestries, unusual 40GM (60lbs worth)
Blue Glass Vase 10GM
Red Glass Vase 50GM
Large Map of Sylira 10GM
A few unusual sculptures/decorative knick-knacks 10GM
Hire of six labourers for the day - 15GM (2.5GM each)

Total – 221GM

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Notes: Nice thread, you write very well. I enjoyed reading it! I realised afterwards that you haven't paid your expenses however. Once you do this message me and I can give your grades.