Disgraced Survivor

It was amazing what a bit of air and sunlight could do to a man. Teiho could finally smile again as he tasted his freedom, body wrapped up in the meager clothing given to him by the church upon his release. His hair had been shaved during his sleep if only to make it easier to manage. Thankfully it had began to grow back enough that he could begin to change his hairstyle if he so chose to, but for now he left it in it’s rather interesting afro-like shape. With patches of his natural dark hair peeking past the gray it made him look a bit older as well which was interesting. He’d have to stop at a store soon however, the clothes he had been given gave him quite the itch.

But now with his new found freedom he honestly didn’t know what to do with himself. He could eat and drink what he pleased, and he had no shortage of activities he could accomplish. His list of names could wait until he acquainted himself with the world again. One step at a time as his mother would say. Figuring that knowing how much money he had would definitely be a step in the right direction, he headed to the bank to get any sort of information on his savings and to see if he had been robbed in his sleep. Hopefully he hadn’t, that would only add to his future actions in all honesty. Arriving quickly, he approached the teller and inquired about his funds only to receive back a rather short slip of paper after revealing his guild tattoo to prove his identity. He’d stare at it with rather furrowed eyes. Had he always been this broke? Shaking his head, he’d thank the teller for the information before leaving quickly.

He’d need to fill his coffers before he could really do anything it seemed. The world had changed since he had gone into a deep slumber. Everything was no so... expensive. A small frown crossed his face at the thought. Missions would be the quickest way to gain money. And since he didn’t care about his reputation, he didn’t have to be picky about which ones he took either. It was almost as if he were taking candy from a rather well established baby.

Approaching the mission board, he’d quickly scan for any missions he could do and noticed that the board was rather... full today. Scratching his head at this, he’d wonder if there were any other mages in the area or if he had simply gotten to the board first. In any case, since it seemed he’d be the only one doing these he could do them all in order and would have more to spare. Guess it was time to knuckle down and make some money starting with this bright pink flyer. The request seemed simple enough honestly, he had to meet up with some dude named Fernando and perform a simple task for him. Didn’t say what the task was, but from the amount of glitz and glamour on the flier, he doubted it was anything remotely serious. He’d shrug to himself at that thought and pocket the flier before walking off towards the man’s boutique, hopefully the job would be quick so he could get in a few before the sun went down today.

Word Count: 0563/1000

Disgraced Survivor

It wasn’t hard to locate Fernando’s boutique. The rather flamboyant man could be seen handing out his wares from outside the entrance to his store for blocks around. Approaching the man calmly, Teiho would hold up the mission request and inquire about what was needed from him while trying to avoid being rude. He could tell Fernando was used to this sort of treatment however, the elder man merely waving of his concerns and got straight to the point. He was handed a sum of money and instructed to buy several high quality threads that would be used in the man’s unique wares. He was then to bring back said wares with no issues to the wares themselves, something that shouldn’t be remotely difficult if he was honest with himself. Thinking to himself for a moment, he’d open his mouth and ask a simple question, “Why not do this yourself if you don’t mind me asking? Just seems a bit... mundane...”

The elder man seemed to expect this question and giggled at Teiho for asking causing him to feel only a tiny bit annoyed. This was slowly feeling like a waste of time and he definitely did not enjoy wasting his time. Swallowing his annoyance, he listened as the man explained that he had to man his store and didn’t have the time to go out and secure the materials needed to make further wares, thus he was hired. Sighing at this explanation Teiho would nod before walking off towards the market district. He expected that the merchants there would likely try to haggle him for everything he had on him, but looking over the list of necessary materials, he knew he’d have to be smart about what he spent and where otherwise he wouldn’t be able to get everything in appropriate quantities.

Stepping into the shops, he quickly got to work procuring the materials. Using his keen eyesight, and whatever knowledge he gleaned from Fernando, he was able to select only the highest quality of materials to be used. However upon looking at the price tags he could only frown and think about how he was going to go about this. Likely he could just... steal the materials, but that wouldn’t look good on him, especially if he wanted to come back to the market ever again. Grumbling, he’d walk up to the store merchant and set the wares down before crossing his arms, preparing himself mentally for the long and arduous task of talking the man down to a more comfortable price point.

The bargaining had gone on for little over an hour before it reached a price point that Teiho considered decent. It was little wonder that Fernando refused to do this job himself, hell even Teiho considered this a waste of his time, and he was getting paid for it. Now carrying the fabrics back to the man wrapped up in packages, he was left back to his own thoughts as he contemplated his situation. What would he do now? Would he continue doing missions until he had enough money to leave Fiore? What goals did he have now? Of course he had to get Izanagi back, and reconnect with his library, but he needed the funds to do all of that, but what would he do afterwards? These thoughts stayed with him even after he dropped off the packages and collected his reward.

[Exit]

Word Count: 1131/1000