Fia was kind of impressed by her most recent screw-up. Surprising, considering that messing up was for from a foreign concept to the girl who got into fights, drank a bit too heavily, gambled a bit too much, and wasn’t the sharpest tool in the… well, the whole warehouse, really. But her most recent blunder wasn’t impressive for its magnitude, but rather, the lack thereof.

It was simple cause and effect. Fia wanted to go hit the town. She donned her favourite (and only) jacket. It got caught on the door on her way out. She got mad. She tugged a little too hard, and with that, her jacket now had a lovely big tear in it, thanks to Fia’s quick temper. Of course, the stupidity of the incident only made Fia more furious.

Her initial thought after the cock-up was to have Esperia help her fix it. Fia figured her princess might now how to sow, or knew someone that did, seeing as she was some big noble and all. Unfortunately, the girl wasn’t home, oddly enough. Fia didn’t think too much of it at the time, figuring the raven-haired trickster was off bugging someone else. She was blissfully unaware at the time, about the ordeal she was facing…

With Plan A failing, Fia moved to Plan B. Though – aside from the ‘Princess’ – Fia hadn’t made any proper friends in Baska yet, she did have acquaintances thanks to her unofficial occupation of ‘handyman’. One of which, she hoped would be able to help with her current predicament. And so it was, that she ended up lugging her torn jacket through town, before walking into a certain boutique.

”Oh, my wild darling! How lovely to see you again~” The flamboyant fashionista immediately called out as he pranced around the fabrics Fia had bought for him only a couple of days ago. ”What brings you here today, Ms. Sukeban-Style?”

”See for yourself…” Fia groaned as she tossed forward her jacket, landing it in front of Fernando. ”Hopin’ you could fix it… For, uh, cheap, that is…”
The fashionista waltzed over, picking up the jacket and inspecting it with a look of exasperation.

”Oh dear, your style is all ruined without this! I would love nothing more than to patch it up for you!” He announced, leaving Fia just waiting for the ‘but’. ”Argh, but I have so much work to do… Hmmm… Maybe if you could do another favour for me…”

Fia rolled her eyes, but was secretly kind of interested. Especially after Fernando’s last assigned task had been such a cakewalk. ”Alright Fern, whaddya need?”

”This time, a tool.” He answered cryptically. ”A magical one! The legendary, the renowned… Golden Scissors!”

”Never heard of ‘em.” The steam punk deadpanned.

”I would not expect you to have. They are rare, my wild darling, even among designers… But I heard from a little birdy that a pair of these scissors will be in Baska’s markets later today!” Fernando elaborated with escalating excitement.

”And you, Miss. Sukeban, will investigate this rumor, and help me buy this wonderful tool! It would allow me to complete my work far more quickly, and you could walk out of here a newborn thug as soon as possible!”
Fia nodded lightly, it was admittedly not that bad a job. She’d been trying to avoid tasks that catered to that deeply festering anger of hers, and this seemed to be the perfect bit of menial labour to earn just a bit more cash.

”Alright, sounds like some easy shit. Where do I start?”

WC: 596
Total WC: 596/1000

Fernando detailed to Esperia his bare-bones plan to acquire the magical item, describing to her what it looked like and where plus when it might be sold. It all continued to be pretty standard stuff, nothing that Fiammetta couldn’t easily handle. Without many more details to give on the task, Fia was exiting the boutique not long after she’d entered, leaving her jacket behind. It wasn’t much to use to her in its state of disrepair, after all.

Instead, Fernando offered one of his own custom designs as a temporary replacement. A long, lavish black coat with black, red and gold, the base design reminiscent of something within Fia’s ‘sukeban’ style. Content with the fill-in jacket, Fia set off.

Following up on the rumours Fernando relayed to her, Fia went straight for the market with Fernando’s money purse in hand. She figured if she got to the flea markets early, tried to beat the crowd, she might be able to spot the seller of this rare and mysterious item and begin her persuasion early.

Unfortunately for Fia, Fernando had neglected to tell her just how much the rumours about the Golden Scissors had spread. As soon as the thuggish girl rounded the corner to the markets, she noticed a particular point where the early birds were congregating. Upon closer inspection, they were all crowded around an old and sagely merchant, who sat at the centre of large array of items, each laid on a cloth mat.

Barging her way through the crowd, many of which seemed to be shouting to the old man in attempts to barter, Fia get to the front of the pack, immediately spotting the item she sought. With a name like the ‘Golden Scissors’, it was pretty hard to deduce that what she was looking at was the same thing Fernando had spoke of.

Fia had to continue to push and shove to keep her spot at the front of the crowd, as many others yelled at the silent old merchant, who only offered a few words every now and then to accept or decline offers for his wares. Otherwise, he ignored the barters and shouting, seemingly unfazed by the ravenous nature of the crowd.

”Oi, geezer!” Fia shouted just as she pushed past more people, her face coloured with fury as she had to fight to maintain her spot. Had her rage not been relatively manageable the past few days, there would’ve been some serious trouble. It was a good thing she had the foresight then to realize she needed to get those scissors asap. ”Gimme the scissors! Got yer payment right here!”

”And?” The old merchant uttered flatly, only glancing at the purse. ”You aren’t the first to offer… And I am still undecided who to give the honour of this tool to…”

Fia grit her teeth, considering how easy it might be to just grab the scissors and run. Then again, she didn’t want to damage the jacket Fernando had given her on loan… Wait a second…. That was it!

”Honour!? How ‘bout you give it to a man who’s actually got the talent to use it!?” Fia snapped flaring her jacket out to show it off. ”This is just a peek of what the guy I’m buyin’ it for can do! Don’t ya think he oughta have that fancy shit, see what else he can do!?”

A curious eyebrow was raised by the merchant, a satisfied smile falling on his face as many of the other would be buyers quieted at Fia’s display.

”Well… I think that certainly changes things. Unless there are any objections, we have a deal.”

Fia looked very smug as she walked away from the market with scissors in hand, glancing back to see the satisfyingly dissatisfied looks of the other would-be buyers. She didn’t do it very  often, so it felt pretty good to use her brain to fix a problem instead of her fists.

She’d return to Fernando, give the utterly ecstatic fashionista the tool he so craved. He immediately offered to fix up Fia’s jacket, like he’d promised, but Fia had a counter-proposal. Fernando smiled with satisfaction, and they made their deal on Fia’s payment for her work.

And so it was, on the same day she ruined one jacket… She ended up getting another for free. Maybe she wasn’t such a screw-up after all.

WC: 730
Total WC: 1326/1000