Post #2006247 in The Way to the Future, a roleplay on RPG

She knew something wasn’t quite right at his initial reaction to her simple question. He hesitated in responding to her, and a sort of uncertainty seemed to envelop the jester—Fia was perceptive enough to gather that much by looking at him right then. In her time as a mercenary, she’d seen this reaction from people more than enough times to have a rough idea of what it meant. Her eyelids lowered a bit and she simply looked upon him with a rather apathetic sort of gaze.

If I were to guess . . . I would suppose he is not high on funds at the moment. If her guess was indeed right, then Fia felt a need to actually laugh at the situation. He’d hired her knowing well that he was short on money . . . when in irony, she would have actually been willing to aid him in his situation with Martanth had he merely asked rather than requesting to ‘employ her services.’ Although she did indeed need to be paid for doing what she did often enough to get by in the world, she wasn’t a greedy woman, despite her title as ‘Envoy of Death,’ Fia wanted to believe she was actually a pretty decent woman for giving help to people who needed it without asking for money.

”No, I do not have a room.” he responded to her at last, Fia simply continued on looking at him with a rather unreadable expression, noting that he’d lightly clutched onto the satchel kept at his side. Why did she have a feeling she knew what was coming from him next . . . ?

It was quiet for a minute or so before Joker turned his gaze back to her, albeit slowly. The expression upon his face had changed rather drastically, a purposeful change in how he carried himself, and how he choose to spoke. Although she still had little experience dealing with men her age, Fia really only found herself turning bashful when she knew well enough that one was not putting on a ruse of sorts before her . . . as what was happening before her now. Unlike before, her face was not turning the slightest hint of red, it wasn’t even changing to a tint of pink. ”Could I perhaps… Stay with you?” he asked her, confirming her earlier thoughts. She’d nailed it—Fia had thought that Joker was going to wind up doing this, asking to stay with her.

The Envoy dully blinked and stayed quiet for a moment, despite the smile and expression upon the jester’s face, longing and temperate. Her own features reflected something unreadable. So . . . to clarify what she believed now, the man who’d hired her before seemed to be short on money at the moment. If he didn’t want to be honest about that then so be it. She’d play along with that notion for now, whether he had money or not, she would still be willing to keep Martanth from unjustly trying for his life. ’Tis the proper thing to do, is it not Cosette?

“In all truth Joker, I could not care less if you roomed with me,” Fia finally spoke, sounding almost bored in her words. “You have hired me as protection, and it would serve commonsense if we did room together, if only for the sake of your own self.”

The woman’s eyes glanced around through the tavern, noting that several servers were already midway through cleaning up the mess that had been made by the Martanth knights and herself earlier—she couldn’t deny feeling a bit bad about that one. The men had flipped a table and knocked a bench over while causing her food to spill. Food. . . . she suddenly thought, something clicking in her head. If her suspicions about her client’s lack of proper funding was in fact correct, that might well have meant another thing beyond mere money. Looking back at Joker, Fia noted that his complexion didn’t seem the healthiest, he looked to pallor. He has not been eating properly, or he has not been at all. Realizing this, she elicited a sigh from her lungs and set her hands on her hips, shaking her head. So, was she going to have to feed him . . . ? Typical luck, but she’d taken on the task of protecting him now . . . so be it.

“However, before we take our leave . . . I would like to take an order of food with me; those men earlier interrupted my dinner.” Her voice was blunt sounding, her expression harsh. Using her own intermittent meal as a reason to actually get him food wasn’t the worst of ideas. “Please wait for me by the entrance, I will meet you there after my order has been filled.”

She did not wait for a response from the man before she turned on her heel and headed for the bar counter, catching the attention of the tender there. “. . . .is there something I can do for you Miss?” he asked her, his voice certainly not the happiest it could be.

He was probably upset about her little fight before, and there was the fact she’d been recognized as the Envoy of Death, but Fia did not let this deter her. “Um, yes sir, I would like to request two orders of food for a carry out?”

"Hmph, whaddya want?”

Setting her hands on the counter, Fia thought for a moment before she responded. “Could I please get two orders of yellow curry cooked with chicken? And then, a small loaf of bread as well?”

The man didn’t say anything in response to her, and merely nodded before disappearing into the kitchen, Fia was left to wait several minutes before he returned—her order of food wrapped within a cloth for carrying. She thanked the man, and paid him what she owed before taking hold of the cloth with both her arms and heading back to the entrance to meet with Joker.

Snippet #2006247

located in Edasler Bria, a part of The Way to the Future, one of the many universes on RPG.

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