Persephone stands in shock. Like the bunny staring at the snake. A snake with pink eyes that speaks a irresistable tongue.
As she is handed the dress the shock is replaced with embarassment. She feels the blood race into her face. She wonders if it is as pink as the elf's eyes now. Donning the dress and tightening it around the waist with the cord she follows the elf. While the elf strides with grace with her long legs, Persephone hobbles after her with her limp. In addition she needs to hold the dress in place. How does this woman move in this dress and still look decent?
A short explanation of the task at hand later she stands alone what is for all intents and purposes a prison. When she comes to her senses again her thoughs race in her head What pay do I get? Did I agree to the job? How shall I clean with only a dry cloth?
With not much options she grabs the cloth and moves to the first door to open it.
The door opens with a slight push. From the other side the door is hardly recogniseable when closed. Dark red satin covers the walls and a large comfortable settee in ebony and the same satin invite to lay down. A small table is set next to the sete and a sideboard at the opposite wall. Above the sideboard is a large mirror that allows to watch the center of the room from the setee. The center of the room is a nest of blankets and pillows, all covered in white sheets.
There is one other room of this design but in blue and sycamore. The rest of the rooms are smaller and less extravagant.
The cleaning cloth is sparkling with magic - the same kind, the elf used on Persephone.
Persephone blushes again but decides to distract herself by doing the work she was told to do. The magic cloth easily removes all the dust from the ebony furniture. But after changing the sheets on all the blankets and pillows she finds that the order in which the work is done is important. And so she changes the sheets in all rooms first and wipes the furniture afterwards. Once she is done after several hours of work - how long she can't tell in those windowless rooms - she lets herself plummet into the laundry on the floor.
The elf comes back just in that moment. "I see you're done." she tells with a raised brow. She takes a quick look into two randomly chosen rooms.
"Hand over the key, and pick up the laundry." she orders. Then she leads the way out of the corridor but in the other direction, not the way they came in. Through a maze of passages and doors it goes to a simple room with lockers. "Take off the dress and put it into this cache. You'll find your apples, your pouch and new clothes there. Your old rags were burnt. Your payment is in your pouch."
"You leave this way, and remember the passage. Tomorrow you enter this way." The elf turns around and leaves, closing the door behind her.
Persephone changes clothes. She is glad once she wears real clothes again. They are simple, but clean and without holes. This is crazy! She treats me like she owns me, shows no respect for me and then throws riches at me I'd otherwise had to work a week for.
She pockets her stuff and leaves in the direction she was told to. Another door, hidden from the outside, next to a visible door. All at the end of a corridor along the outer wall of the temple which leads outside to an arch 15 feet away.
From outside it is just one arch of a dozen and Persephone takes some minutes to memorize the arch she has to use the next day.
Seeing the sun closing in on the sea she realizes that she is late for her other job and hurries to get there.
On the cemetery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the day a few people come to visit the cemetery. Some just to wander the place. Others to visit the family grave, bring fresh flowers, or lighting a candle. Farther Grimburrow works some time on removing the obscenities on one crypt and chats with the visitors who take the time. As the sun goes down the last visitors leave the premises and Father Grimburrow retreats into the chapel.
Only Vorkatos is left as the shadows get longer and finally darkness falls over the graves as the sun disappears. Silence falls over the neighborhood. The streets are without illumination and the few windows that are lit are only small orange spots in the dark of the night. It's two days after a new moon, and the stars look out between the wandering clouds here and there.
Only the few memorial candles on the graves give some light and throw spooky shadows on the path.
While night falls, Vorkatos suddenly gets enlightend, he forgot the cemetery has 4 entrances. Vorkatos facepalms himself and closes the other gates and returns back into his bush.
'Hopefully he won't just climb over the gates'
After five long hours finally something happens. A creak is heard as one of the other door opens.
The cemetery is about hundred by hundred feet in size. By the sound it was the eastern door that was opened while Vorkatos waits at the southern door. The chapel resides in the south east corner but it is only the statues on some of the graves that obstruct the line of sight to the door. And the darkness of course.
Vorkatos wakes as the gate opens but he's too dizzy to know where he went, so instead of following him, he just walks to the opened gate and waits. Behind another bush.
"There is someone. I heard it. Over there!" a voice whispers.
"Don't be silly. There is only that old priest. You think he dares come out at night?" another voice answers.
Then there is the noise of coal scratching over stone.
Vorkatos leaves his hiding and hurries towards the voices. "Stop right there, why do you insult the dead as if they haven't paid the price for their actions?!"
"F!#*!" one of the trespassers calls out and both start to run to the northern gate. Running accross the graves they topple over a vase and trample some plants. At the door their run comes to a short halt as it is closed.
By the voice and when coming close by the silhouette, Vorkatos recognozes that they are two young men.
'The old one isn't going to be happy about this.' Vorkatos mumbles while charging, aiming to knock the first into the gate and grappling the other man.
Vorkatos closes his eyes thinking 'Yep, that was a little too hard' as the first one crashes into the gate. Nevertheless, he turns his attention onto his second friend.
Vorkatos finds out that the gates are very sturdy and don't budge when met with full force. That is not true for the young man who finds himself between a rock and a hard place. His lights go out and that cracking noise might have been a rib or two.
The other one kneels down, hands in the air and cries in panic "I surrender! I surrender!"
"Alright, you take your friend and you're going to walk to Father Grimburrow while I follow you, maybe you'll have a little gratidute after he saves your friend." Vorkatos commands with a deep and harsh voice.
Vorkatos watches him pick up his friend and follows him to the chapelle. He steps forward and knocks on the door.
The young man picks up his friend taking his arm his shoulder and drags him over the graveyard towards the chapel. It's slow and the guy could really use some help with that.
After the knocking it takes a very long minute until finally Father Grimburrow opens the door. "Oh my goodness, what happened to this one?"
"Quick, bring him in." he tells and grabs his holy symbol. Mumbling a prayer he channels holy energy for healing.
As the man wakes from his blissful unconsciousness Grimburrow order the two to sit down. He then casts two spells. "Now you tell me who you are, where you live and who your parents are." Father Grimburrow demands.
The one who wasn't hurt spills the words so fast that he is hard to understand. He is the 16 year old son of a baker in the newest district of town.
The other one squirms as he tries to make something up but can't for some reason. After some back and forth he gives up on that. "I'm Andrea Marinelli and live in the docks." he admits. "And the smearings are for that conceited snob von Dunstein that doesn't respect our family."
"If you show up tomorrow and clean the mess you created, and then take your feud somewhere else, I'll let you get away easy. If you don't I know where to find you." Grimburrow states. "You may leave now."
The young men get up and leave. The anxious one in a hurry, the Marinelli boy demonstratively slow. He looks Vorkatos in the eye while passing him. But he moves past and closes the door behind him.
"That was that." Grimburrow sighs as the door is closed.
He turns to Vorkatos. "Were you trying to kill that boy? I wanted to get them off my cemetery not make permanent residents of them."
"While I had the intention to knocking him out, so none of them get away, I didn't want to kill him. If wanted to, he would be dead." Vorkatos defends himself, however he realises that his violence isn't welcome here.
"Fair enough. Here are your two silver." Grimburrwow tells and holds out his hand with the coins. "Where can I find you, if I need you again?"
Vorkatos takes the two silver and answers quite surprised: "Honestly, I have no clue, I don't have a place to stay, but your best bet would be to hang another note on the board at The Pigs Whistle."
He didn't think that Father Grimburrow wanted to see him again.
"I will. Have a good night." Father Grimburrow tells while walking Varkatos out.
"good night"
With: 'Maybe I'll ask him on the next job.' Vorkatos finishes his thought while walking to The Pigs Whistle to check if he might still get a room for tonight. Should he not, this is going to be a long night on the streets for him.
At The Pig's Whistle earlier in the evening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tavern is full of patrons who are in a chipper mood. A blonde woman in a fancy garb performs a funny song about a troubadour and his trouble with the husbands of his playmates. Isabella is busy handing out ale and wine.
"Late on the first day at the job?" Isabella teases Penelope as she arrives. "The dishes are already piling up in the kitchen. Start cleaning them, before we run out of clean ones and I have a backorder of ten meals already."
With another job at hand that pays five times as much for less effort Persephone feels bold. "Started late this morning, could as well make a habit of it." she gives back with a crooked smile, but moves on to the kitchen straight away.
And she had no idea how long the evenings are. She starts with the meals and switches over to dishes when they get scarce but a tavern full of patrons is at an advantage to a single person working the kitchen. But the requests for food die down after a while and she is able to catch up with the work.
Once Isabella calls for last orders for meals, Persephone starts cleaning the kitchen itself. It's a mess. It's a wonder there are no rats here. she thinks while taking out the garbage and rotting leftovers found in a corner. She resists the urge to scrub the kitchen floor too. Persephone calls it a day and approaches Isabella for her pay.
The tavern is still sprawling and no one makes a motion to pack up. They are having fun with songs and jokes and tales told. Currently a bard with a lute playing, dancing and singing on a table is the center of attention.
Isabella hands over the silver and a mug of ale to Persephone. "Here have another one on the house. I hope you come again tomorrow."
Just then, Vorkator comes in asking for a room. "Sure. If Persephone puts a fresh sheet on one of the beds you can sleep in our luxurious group dormitory for only two silver."
Isabella graons. "You can have a single bed room for half the price if you come with me." Persephone offers.
"Less money to pay for you, more money and less work for me. It's a win, win, if we don't count Isabella - sorry, but I'm done for today." And Persophone really looks done.
"Yes, I prefer the single bedroom, privacy is always appreciated." Vorkatos accepts gladly.
"You look tired, want to hop on?" Vorkatos offers jokingly and stoops.
"It's not that bad." Persephone rejects Varkatos' offer.
"See you tomorrow." she tells Isabella and leaves together with Vorkatos.
"Your first day, you come late and now start stealing my customers. Wow." Isabella states half joking. "See you tomorrow."
Once on the way Persephone asks "How did your day go? You said, you'd do that nightwatch job on the cemetery."
Vorkatos tells her the tale of "Vorkatos and his night": "Father Grimburrow asked me to catch the someone who has been smearing their obscenities on a grave of a family. I prepared and waited until i heard them coming. One I knocked out and the other surrendered, the kid that I knocked out still looked me in the eyes like he had to prove something after Father Grimburrow got him back up. His name was Marinelli I think."
"Sounds interesting. You got to call it a day early." Persephone comments. "I wasn't that lucky. I had scrubbing, scrubbing, changing sheets and scrubbing all day."
"How much do your services cost? I might be in need of some hired muscle later."
"It's always about the risk, knocking people out is 1 silver per head but if it proves to be hard it will go up to 5. I don't do killing unless you have a really good reason and since we're in a city, it would cost plenty." Vorkatos answers, uncertain if he should have mentioned the second part
"Good to know. But I was thinking more of a bodyguard." Persephone replies. She continues to walk on to the house in silnce.
She unlocks the door and invites Vorkatos in. "Here this bedroom is free." She points to the door where her stepmother had her room. A mischievous grim sneaks on her face on the thought that she rots in a dirty hole with rats tonight.
"Good night." Persephone tells and retreats to her room.
"A place to sleep at night would be good enough for me." Vorkatos answers very late but with a grin on his face when he catches a sight of this bedroom.
"Good night"
Vorkatos takes off his armor and sword and looks forward to a long sleep without disturbance.
The night passes uneventful. The sun rises about seven o'clock.
The night is uneventful but not very long. After six short hours of sleep Persephone knocks on Varkatos' door. "Time to go. I can't be late to my job again. That job list was rather short and I can't afford to get a bad reputation." she calls.
Once he opens she offers him an apple. "Here for you - breakfast."
Vorkatos wakes up and immediately regrets opening his eyes. This wasn't his idea of a long and uneventful night of sleep. He gets up, picks up his sword with the left hand and with the right the pieces of his armor. With both hands he opens the door resulting in everything falling out of his hands. He looks down, then up and takes the apple.
"So uhm... the Bodyguard job ... do you want me to come along or why did you wake me?" Vorkatos asks a little annoyed but he tries not to show it.
"Not really. But I won't leave you alone on my house. Maybe once we get to know each other better." Persephone replies. "Don't you need a job for the day too? Or are you going back for the night watch?"
"Fair enough, just give me a second to get ready."
Vorkatos eats the apple while putting on his armor and steps outside following Persephone to The pigs Whistle.
There is not much going on in The Pig's Whistle. The door and all the windows are open and Isabella is already there.
The job board's actuality is lacking. The help wanted for The Pig's Whistle is wiped out, but the other jobs are still listed. A new one has come up too.
'Muscle for hire wanted - apply at the docks'
"Ah, wonderful. And almost punctual - not that we agreed on a time. You find your way around. I'll be on the market. Turn our pig into a shining whistle again. See you later." Isabella tells and is out of the door.
Persephone is flabbergasted. "On one side it's nice that someone looks at me and thinks butter won't melt in my mouth. But seriosly?"
"Anyway" she sighs and grabs the tools of her trade. "If you wanted a drink we're up to a challenge. I haven't used the equipment for that and I don't know if I'm supposed to serve drinks - or for what price."
"I'm good, I'll just take this new job by the docks and be off. I'm sure you can handle it, she'll be back when hell gets lose in the evening." Vorkatos encourages her and takes the note on the board.
"I'll see you later"
And Vorkatos is off to the docks asking around who needs help and where.
The seagulls are screaming and the waves of the sea crash into the wharf. The docks are this long wharf where the ships moore on the one side, a 50 feet wide paved place and on the other side several large warehouses. Many men are unloading or loading ships. Crates are moved back and forth between the storage facilities and the ships. It is a loud place. The workers are shouting commands, or cursing the heavy freight. Sailors are enjoying their time off the ship in one of the dockland pubs. The smell of grilled fish wafts through the place from a snack stall.
"The job 'muscle for hire' you say? That's fancy talk for dragging crates." a muscular dock worker jokes. "Ask the foreman. He's in that shack over there."
In the shack another one of those crate movers sits behind a desk. "You want a job on the docks? If you work hard you can make two silver a day here."
When told that Vorkatos isn't here for dockwork, but the 'muscle for hire' job announced in The Pig's Whistle he replies "Ah, a special job. Thats not here. That's in the backoffice of the warehouse down there. The green door. You walk in, and in the corner you find the office."
Following this directions, Vorkatos enters the other warehouse. There are crates piled up in rows or squares with paths between and workers going back and forth. In the back of the hall a 20x20ft area is seperated by a wooden wall with a window to look after the work here and a door. Through the window you see two guys leaning at the wall joking.
Vorkatos knocks before he opens the door and steps into the room.
He introduces himself: "I'm Vorkatos and I came here for the "muscle for hire" job, your people led me here." assuming those 2 have some say in what's going on here.