Tide Soul

The Great Job Hunt

Three days certainly weren't a long time. Trevor somehow doubted that when he was old and gray, he'd take his younger incarnation seriously when told otherwise but in this case, it genuinely felt as though it were an eternity. If nothing else, it was the monotony. He'd never dealt well with routines, and the way he'd begun living since leaving Port William was nothing if not routine. Every morning he'd roll out of bed as the sun rose, bathe, head down to the Tavern for breakfast (an improvement over Port William in that regard), then head out to look for work like the near-penniless vagrant he'd come to be. 

He would've even been alright with that, if he'd been able to find some sort of regular work that paid decently. He knew he was good for more then just painting houses, whitewashing fences, and working his way through gardens, though none of the locals seems to echo his sentiments. He had to constantly remind himself it had been only three days. Nobody around knew him, yet. Nobody expect Naomi, anyhow and as she constantly pointed out when she accompanied him on his job hunts, she didn't live in town.

He frowned as he stared into his bacon. He wasn't even sure what she was, let alone where she resided. She claimed to be a forest sprite, tasked with guiding wayward souls to wherever it was they were meant to be. He wasn't sure how accurate that was, but she was certainly an intriguing figure.

"Hurry up, the jobs don't wait for stragglers!"

Trevor raised his world-weary hazel eyes toward the speaker, unsurprised to discover the sprite herself standing across the table from him. "Empty stomachs make for discontented workers which makes for substandard work," Trevor pointed out, shoving a strip of bacon into his mouth "It would be irresponsible of me to go to work on an unfilled stomach, really."

"Lazy vagrants who wait until noon to look for work make no money which makes for getting turfed out on their butts so they can continue their wayward journey out of the mortal coil" Naomi replied, double-fisting bacon off of his plate, and shoving it into her own mouth.

"Tiny, overdramatic forest sprites get fat off of stolen food" Trevor sighed, with a small grin in spite of his annoyance at his breakfast becoming yet another victim in his war with Naomi's patience. She reached over and swatted him upside the head.

"Have you never been taught not to insult a woman's weight?" Naomi asked, apparently horrified by his lack of upbringing "Forest sprite or not, I'm still a lady!"

He shook his head in resignation, and stood up. It seemed nigh impossible to predict what she'd find funny and what she'd find offensive.

"Finally" Naomi muttered, though he couldn't be sure since he mouth was stuffed with ill-gotten bacon "You'd think the hours in a day were infinite, or something."

"I genuinely hope you get indigestion" he replied, with a laugh and headed for the door, knowing she'd follow.

She always did.

"I took a walk this morning, surveying job sites" the blue-haired girl began "No houses to be painted, today. A couple gardens need work, though I haven't seen any signs the owners are looking for outsider assistance... I did get one decent lead, though."

Trevor groaned softly, and shoved his hands into his pockets "I'm absolutely not walking any more pets. The last one you found weighed as much as I did and damn near broke my leg."

"No pets" Naomi promised, with a roll of her eyes "This supply ship, out in Port Randall, needs crew members to help load it up. Supposedly they're making a delivery to Port Serenity and they're worried they're understaffed."

"That could be interesting," Trevor admitted "How far is Port Randall?"

"Not far" the sprite answered "Maybe a twenty-minute walk. Less if you don't move at that dawdling pace you're so fond of."

"Is the idea of energy conservation completely lost on you, or do you understand it somewhat?" Trevor asked, flatly.

"That attitude is probably why you can't hold a job, you bum" Naomi pointed out "If you'd like this job, we're doing it my way!"

Trevor nodded, submissively. He did want this job. It was a break from the routine, and he didn't have to compromise his goal of settling down in the area for the next little while. "Fair enough," he agreed, having learned the hard way that Naomi either didn't notice or tended to entirely ignore non-verbal cues "Lead the way, then."

She turned her eyes toward him, and seemed to scan him thoughtfully for a moment before turning back around to take the lead.

The walk was fairly uneventful. Naomi chattered away in her usual overly critical, stream-of-consciousness manner and Trevor mostly tuned her out, save for when he was meant to provide a simple one-word answer while she caught her probably near-limitless supply of breath back.

Port Randall was small, even for the towns he'd encountered so far. There were no especially large houses, it was surrounded by dense forestry, and it was as blue collar a place as he'd ever seen. It wasn't anything like port towns he'd encountered in the past, that realized their own default position as tourist destinations just by virtue of being somewhere people tended to land between where they came from and where they were headed. Even Port William, small as it was, had a sort of guest-friendly, cozy atmosphere. Port Randall, however, while just as small, struck him as coldly efficient. In an odd way, that comforted him. It seemed like a town looking for people who wanted work. 

"So, where's our employer?" Trevor asked Naomi, interrupting an old myth she'd been telling on-and-off as she remembered it for ten minutes.

"Nearer to the cliff, I was told" Naomi replied "and if we came at a bad time, we'll just visit him at home."

"Won't that make a bad impression?" Trevor asked, unsurely.

"You're hopeless!" Naomi groaned, her palm connecting with her forehead "How did you ever find work before me?"

"Yes, you're right" Trevor replied sarcastically "How did I ever present myself as being competent, able-bodied and confident in my ability to do good work without you constantly criticizing me?"

"You probably didn't" Naomi grumbled, yanking his arm roughly when he veered off-course.

"The building we're looking for isn't on main street" she explained hastily, casting her eyes from building to building before settling on one that was little more than a hut. 

"Aren't you going to knock?" Naomi asked, impatiently.

Trevor nodded and headed toward the wooden door, knocking firmly three times before glancing over his shoulder at her. "You coming in too?" he asked.

"It's a home. Forest creatures belong to the forest, so we can't enter private property" Naomi grumbled "Besides, it's not me looking for the job."

"Fair enough" Trevor replied, not especially keen on her way of motivating to begin with and fairly sure he'd be better off without her anyway.

He knocked again, beginning to feel excited with the concept of taking to the skies once again. Finally, the door opened up, to reveal a slightly-shorter-then-average man with platinum-blonde hair and watery blue eyes. "Randall Alfred Jones the second" he introduced himself, stiffly "Who might you be?"

"Trevor Gilmore" Trevor replied, extending a hand which Randall ignored "I'm here to ask about the transporting job?"

"Move the fuck out of the way, Jones" a familiar voice snapped "I'll take care of this."