Wandering Firebender

Thirty Four: Making A Living

"Hey, Elio! You up?" Sri asked as she came into the kitchen, all dressed up and ready to go out for the day. Elio, who had been sleeping in, lifted his head a little bit and brushed stray hairs out of his face.

"Mm... I'm half awake now. What's up?" He asked, rubbing some of the excess sleep out of his eyes.

"I have my interview at the store this morning. I'll be leaving in a few minutes. Juuust getting a quick breakfast." She said as she started fixing herself something to eat.

"Oh...oh! Let me get a little something too! I'll go with you." Elio requested as he started to get to his feet.

"Yeah? You don't have to. I can walk; it's no big deal." She said with a shrug.

"Yeah I know, but I wanna come anyways. I'm gonna do some asking around, see if I can snag a job over there too." He explained.

"I'm pretty sure Tani only has one position available though."

"No, I mean I'm gonna look around the Middle Ring for a job too." He clarified. He reached into his bag and pulled out his hairbrush, taking a few quick moments to fix his hair.

"Oh okay yeah right, my bad. It's still morning." She excused her misunderstanding with a chuckle. Elio chuckled a little too.

"You're fine. So I'll take you to Tani's furniture shop, go around and do some job searching. I'll come back to check with you later. Sound good?"

"Sounds good. Good luck on your searching!"

Sri and Elio, after having their breakfast, left their home and took a train to the Middle Ring. They walked to Tani's shop and parted ways there, wishing the best for each other. Once Sri entered the shop, Elio started going around to the different shops asking about job openings.

Considering how easily Sri was able to talk her way into a job, Elio had hoped that he'd be able to do something similar. Unfortunately, despite his best attempts at being pleasant in presenting himself, he was met with rejection after rejection.

He was hit with a variety of excuses, but they all amounted to the same thing: no one was hiring him. By the time afternoon came, he returned back to Tani's shop feeling tired and frustrated. He entered into the shop looking for Sri.

"Welcome to- Oh, Elio!" Sri realized it was him and came over to greet him, "How's the searching going so far?" She asked.

"Nothing yet, unfortunately. People are playing more hardball with me. I'm sure something will come up...hopefully." He answered with a sigh.

"Aww, I'm sure it'll work out. We'll make it work." She said confidently.

"Thanks. Let me guess, you got the job?"

"Yep! How could you tell?" Sri asked with a laugh.

"You were using a customer service voice before you realized it was me." Elio pointed out humorously. Sri scoffed and shook her head.

"Haha, yeah, I gotta get used to that again. I haven't needed to use it the past few months."

"Oh, you're fine. It was very pleasant, especially in comparison to your actual voice." Elio teased her. Sri was very quick to punch him in the arm as a response.

"Jerk!" She exclaimed. Elio clutched his arm, smiling and laughing. His reaction made her laugh too, "That was so uncool."

"Yeah it was," Elio chuckled. "So I guess I'll see you at the house tonight?"

"Yeah, most likely." Sri nodded.

"Alright. Take care, Sri. Say hi to Mrs. Tani for me." He said, waving to her as he left the shop.