"A job." Sala says, maintaining a straight face. One hand is gripping the table with some force. The other hand is attempting to sever the tines of a fork from the handle.
"Yes."
"Why would I give a job to someone who just made me deal with.. That."
"Do you know anyone else who you would like that to happen to?"
"That's.." She bites her mouth shut instead of actually giving an answer.
"I can do more than just tricks. I can carry messages or small objects. And I've got the endurance to fly long distances."
"You're an avian."
"Yes."
.."Give me your ID."
The bird hands over the coin to Sala. While she's looking at it, the third member of this dinner party speaks up.
"Did you really put her through all that nonsense?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it was quite rude. There had to have been a better way to do it."
"..Probably. But I'd rather get hired to carry messages and mess with people than for anything else. Your garbage is quite tasty.. so I want a job where I can do what I'm good at, rather than one that just fills my stomach."
Sala then hands the bird's coin over to her companion. "Look at this."
"Wow. Really?"
"Yes."
"You couldn't have pulled that off alone. You had to have help."
The bird raises a wing in a shrug. "I do what I do. Feel free to test me if you want, I'm always up for another go. So long as it's interesting."
"Yeah? Well, you're not always going to get interesting work, or it wouldn't be called that. I'm assuming you would like to get paid, yes?"
"Sure. Although.. can you sort me out with something that doesn't require me to carry around a lot of money?"
"Yeah, we can set you up with credit."
"Good. So what would you like me to do?"
"You're going to need to fly to a town called Lunatia. It's not far, just about 50, 60 kilometers to the southeast. There's a person there called 'Atalon Serenai.' He's on the small side for adventurers and fights with a bow. He caused a lot of trouble for one of our couriers on a recent job.. no permanent damage, but he really messed things up. Lost some packages, ran away, blamed us for his own problems. If you want to be a troubleshooter, go find him and mess up his life in the same way. Ruin his credibility. I'm sure you can come up with a proper way to handle it. Just remember, don't kill him, and if it comes back to us, I don't know you and have never heard of you. Got it?"
"Got it. Atalon Sereni, in Lunatia, about 50+km southwest. Have fun with him. Then come back and get paid, right?"
"Yeah. Although you'll need a proper name. 'bird' is a word, not a name, and you're going to need a real name. Pick something when you come back, so I can set you up."
Something occurs to her at this point.
"You need credit because you physically can't carry money, right? Like, at all?"
"Yeah. I can carry about a hundred grams at a time, max. That weird ID coin thing doesn't seem to actually count."
"How'd you get the straw and feed upstairs, then?"
"Your horses know how saddlebags work, and at the end of the day, the three of us working together could manage to get them on and fill them. Dropping them to the floor wasn't too hard, I could manage the clasps myself."
"The water buckets?"
"A bit isn't that much different than the bucket handle, so they could carry their own water upstairs Some spilled, but fortunately not too much."
"Right, right. And everything else is relatively straightforward, if utterly insane. The horses can push over the desks, and you could manage the paper and brushes, and the horses could certainly move around the statues and bookshelves upstairs.."
.."Wait.. 'that weird ID coin?' Don't you know what those are? Where are you from?"
"I'm not from here. Some human-ish creature sent me here. Said I'm here to save the world."
"Right, right. Well, if this isn't some kind of trick, I'm going to need some alcohol. Get the job done and we'll talk further. Today, my brain is throwing up big signs that say 'proceed no further' and demanding booze. And I suspect that, however long I'm working with you, this situation will continue."
"Just remember, if you're going to pull something else on me tomorrow, I can, and will, kill you. And my brain will be perfectly happy calling it self-defense."
"A job." Sala says, maintaining a straight face. One hand is gripping the table with some force. The other hand is attempting to sever the tines of a fork from the handle.
"Yes."
"Why would I give a job to someone who just made me deal with.. That."
"Do you know anyone else who you would like that to happen to?"
"That's.." She bites her mouth shut instead of actually giving an answer.
"I can do more than just tricks. I can carry messages or small objects. And I've got the endurance to fly long distances."
"You're an avian."
"Yes."
.."Give me your ID."
The bird hands over the coin to Sala. While she's looking at it, the third member of this dinner party speaks up.
"Did you really put her through all that nonsense?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it was quite rude. There had to have been a better way to do it."
"..Probably. But I'd rather get hired to carry messages and mess with people than for anything else. Your garbage is quite tasty.. so I want a job where I can do what I'm good at, rather than one that just fills my stomach."
Sala then hands the bird's coin over to her companion. "Look at this."
"Wow. Really?"
"Yes."
"You couldn't have pulled that off alone. You had to have help."
The bird raises a wing in a shrug. "I do what I do. Feel free to test me if you want, I'm always up for another go. So long as it's interesting."
"Yeah? Well, you're not always going to get interesting work, or it wouldn't be called that. I'm assuming you would like to get paid, yes?"
"Sure. Although.. can you sort me out with something that doesn't require me to carry around a lot of money?"
"Yeah, we can set you up with credit."
"Good. So what would you like me to do?"
"You're going to need to fly to a town called Lunatia. It's not far, just about 50, 60 kilometers to the southeast. There's a person there called 'Atalon Serenai.' He's on the small side for adventurers and fights with a bow. He caused a lot of trouble for one of our couriers on a recent job.. no permanent damage, but he really messed things up. Lost some packages, ran away, blamed us for his own problems. If you want to be a troubleshooter, go find him and mess up his life in the same way. Ruin his credibility. I'm sure you can come up with a proper way to handle it. Just remember, don't kill him, and if it comes back to us, I don't know you and have never heard of you. Got it?"
"Got it. Atalon Sereni, in Lunatia, about 50+km southwest. Have fun with him. Then come back and get paid, right?"
"Yeah. Although you'll need a proper name. 'bird' is a word, not a name, and you're going to need a real name. Pick something when you come back, so I can set you up."
Something occurs to her at this point.
"You need credit because you physically can't carry money, right? Like, at all?"
"Yeah. I can carry about a hundred grams at a time, max. That weird ID coin thing doesn't seem to actually count."
"How'd you get the straw and feed upstairs, then?"
"Your horses know how saddlebags work, and at the end of the day, the three of us working together could manage to get them on and fill them. Dropping them to the floor wasn't too hard, I could manage the clasps myself."
"The water buckets?"
"A bit isn't that much different than the bucket handle, so they could carry their own water upstairs Some spilled, but fortunately not too much."
"Right, right. And everything else is relatively straightforward, if utterly insane. The horses can push over the desks, and you could manage the paper and brushes, and the horses could certainly move around the statues and bookshelves upstairs.."
.."Wait.. 'that weird ID coin?' Don't you know what those are? Where are you from?"
"I'm not from here. Some human-ish creature sent me here. Said I'm here to save the world."
"Right, right. Well, if this isn't some kind of trick, I'm going to need some alcohol. Get the job done and we'll talk further. Today, my brain is throwing up big signs that say 'proceed no further' and demanding booze. And I suspect that, however long I'm working with you, this situation will continue."
"Just remember, if you're going to pull something else on me tomorrow, I can, and will, kill you. And my brain will be perfectly happy calling it self-defense."
