Animal Within ~ Nova's Diary

Kodi Hart Part 1

Divakar had a boyfriend at one point.

Neither sibling likes to talk about it.

It didn't end well.

"Stay close in here, okay?" Divakar instructed his sister. The tavern was full of people, and fortunately they managed to get here earlier then planned which meant no one had come in for drinks yet.

Nova looked around, having to turn her head in order to see everything. Divakar always had her wear her hood up so that her ears were covered whenever they went to jobs.

The tavern was a run down place, but they had come to see about job. Divakar was going to try his hand at cracking a safe for the owner of the place, and in their usual fashion they didn't ask whether or not the safe actually belonged to the guy. It was always better just to get it over with and get the heck outta town.

Nova bounced on her heels to keep herself from being bored, as Divakar talked to the owner, who notably towered over both of them, and followed when he signaled her to.

"You didn't say anything about a kid." The guy grumbled, as Divakar knelt in front of the safe.

"She won't be any trouble. Promise." Divakar said, a little annoyed. The guy had made him lose his focus on the lock. He tried to start over again.

"Whatever you say," the guy said, thankfully not breaking his concentration this time. That is, until he slammed the door.

Divakar gave the door a fiery gaze before turning back to the safe. "Can you please open that again?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Nova chirped, opening the door. She watched as some people started to enter the tavern, her ears twitching with each small click of the safe. Finally, after about 5 minutes, she heard a louder click. Curiously she moved from the door to sit and watch her brother pick the lock.

"Two more to go..." Divakar muttered.

After about fifteen minutes, he managed to get all three done, just as the owner had come back to check on them.

"About time you finished." He muttered rudely. Begrudgingly he took an envelope from his jacket.

Divakar accepted it, counting the money inside. "Hey, this isn't even half of what you offered. That's not fair!"

"Life ain't fair, kid." The guy said, walking over to the safe with a shrug. "Now get out of my tavern."

"No... no! That's not how this works! I got supplies to buy! This isn't even enough to get me to the next town over."

"Tough luck."

Nova watched as Divakar's temper flared. "Then what do I have to do to get the rest?!"

The guy looked back over his shoulder at Divakar, then back at the door where you could see people piling into the tavern.

"Well... I suppose you and the kid can work a shift for me. Seems fair enough, don't you think?" He said causally, as if he hadn't just cheated them out of money.

"But by then it'll be too late to travel! And I am not having me sister serve in a bar full of drunks!" Divakar nearly yelled.

"Fine. Just you then. She can sit behind the bar or whatever. But if she breaks anything, it comes outta what I've already given you."

"Fine!"

The guy left, muttering over moody teens. Nova watched, concerned.

Meanwhile Divakar thought over their predicament. They were only supposed to be here a day! They didn't have a camp here! And he had dealt with this guy's type of low down tricks before. There was no way they were staying the night here. No doubt the guy would try and convince them to do more free labor just to pay for spending the night. But taking the shift would mean not being able to set up camp before nightfall...