Deeper Than Wrath

Beginnings

It had been a long week for two residents of Shall Harbor. Ronan Gardner, local heartthrob and heir to the Gardner inc. fortune, had been cut off by his father and kicked out onto the streets. Luckily for him, he knew how to make a great Old Fashioned and some killer cocktails so he was a shoe in at the local pub. He started immediately thanks to the kind owner, so he wouldn't be sleeping on the streets.

    As for our other resident, Julia Simmons had been evicted from her apartment building, things had been difficult since her parents passed away in the accident. They were barely making ends meet when they were alive, and when they suddenly weren't, Julia was on her own. She had been living with them and going to the community college nearby, but she had to make the choice between college or a roof over her head. Eventually she ran out of money, and her landlord offered to cut her a deal, if she paid in a different way...

    "Come on Julia, a full months rent for just one night? I think I'm being pretty generous here!" The old man smelled of cigarettes and cheap wine as he reached out to caress her face.

    "I said no! I'll be out in the morning!" Julia moved to shut the door but the landlord stuck his foot between the door and the frame.

    "Don't make that mistake dollface, you're a smart girl! And if you keep it up, maybe you could go back to college..." He was about to reach for the door handle when Julia pulled the door back and slammed it against his foot, leading to the sound of cracking bone and the old man's disgruntled yelling. She reached for the deadbolt as fast as she could to ensure he didn't get in. As he pounded on the door, Julia grabbed the few things that were worth something and got out through the window, luckily she lived on the first floor.

    She could still hear the landlord banging on the door as she ran, and she didn't stop running until she rounded the street corner where she could finally catch a breath. There in front of her was a beaming neon sign saying that the pub was open.

    When she walked in she could hear the sounds of multiple discussions happening at once come to a halt, she had almost forgotten she was still in her pajamas and a sweater, they must know she had a rough night, because she certainly looked the part.

"Hey, a drink for the girl Ronan! Put it on my tab!" An older woman in the back of the pub had been the one to order Julia a drink, a chainsmoker by the sound of it. Julia walked over to thank her.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do that ma'am..." It did save Julia the possible awkwardness of not being able to tip the bartender though as she had very little cash on her.

"Ah no worries, besides you look like you really had a rough night!" The lady began laughing and coughing altogether creating a sound like an asthma attack. The rest of the pub's patrons chuckled along with her then resumed their earlier conversations.

"So what happened, your husband chase you around or something?" Julia was still too rattled to talk about it so she answered as honestly, but also as painlessly, as she could.

"I guess you could say or something." Julia lowered her voice to a whisper "I didn't know where else to go and I'm low on cash so I appreciate you saving me the embarrassment..." The old lady gave a small and sweet smile as her eyes glazed over with a distant memory.

"Someone did something like that for me once when I was young, it felt right to pay it forward. Go on and sit at the bar, I won't bore you with my woes, but if you need a job you just come talk to me when you're done!" The old lady winked and went back to her dark glass with a strong smelling alcohol that Julia thought could only be some kind of whiskey.

Julia made her way to the bar as the bartender, Ronan, was shaking someones drink.

"So, the old lady paid for your drink huh? That was nice of her, you do look pretty busted up." Julia thought it was weird that the bartender of all people in here had a pompous air about him, but maybe he was just strange.