A Hairy Situation

Wearing a white t-shirt with black skirt and white tennis shoes, Victoria walked into the inn armed with a broom and dust pan. Today's job was simple. She was to clean up the hair left behind by the... fluffier members of Black Rose. She was told in advance that few guild members willingly took the job. Victoria took it, mostly because the pay was good for such a simple job.

Her resolve momentarily faltered when she saw the sheer quantity of hair lying on the wooden floor. There was pink hair, white hair, and hair of other colors littering the floor. Either a dog show was hosted here or a long-haired rainbow had passed through. No matter what caused it, the mess was not going to clean itself up. Fortunately Victoria had a partner to aid in this endeavor.

Victoria donned a white protective dust mask. Then she picked an area near the bar and began sweeping. The area was only lightly littered, but it had strands of pink hair. Victoria bent down and carefully brushed them into the dust pan. This job was going to take awhile.

Still, she had chosen the job of her own accord. She had signed up for it without being forced to. She would see it through no matter how long it took. She could not wait until her partner got here. Having a partner would make things a lot quicker.

While waiting for her partner, Victoria had finished sweeping in front of the the bar and was just starting to sweep behind it. A quick glance showed a lot of good alcohol sitting behind it, but this was no time for a drink. There was work to do. Besides, she never drank on the job. In a matter of minutes she swept the floor and cleaned up the small amount of hair on the bar itself.

Now to start near the tables.

[Word Count: 319] [Total Word Count: 319/500]

Do it for the money, do it for the money, do it for the money...

Esialeth's mantra echoed in her head as she approached the main guild hall. She had recently taken a job that involved cleaning. Cleaning fur.

Given her jilted affair with poverty, Esialeth was well aware of how to do usual chores: scrubbing grime off sinks, cleaning tables, sorting supplies...but she had yet to learn how to clean fur.

Ugh. Best not to think about it.

Esialeth saw her partner, a younger mage named Victoria, come into view. Well, at least she wasn't looking alone.

Upon closer inspection, Victoria was wearing...a skirt? Esialeth was wearing one too, but it was slightly longer because fur could get in interesting places and she was not interested in flashing anyone. For a mage, particularly one in Black Rose, Esialeth's style of dress was quite conservative. But aside from the skirt, Victoria seemed to be dressed simply as well.

Oh man, this was the worst part. Esialeth hated introductions with a burning passion. But she was experienced. Seasoned. She could do this.

"Hi, are you Victoria? I'm Esialeth. Nice to meet you!" she said with a cheery smile, picking up a broom and a dustpan.

She ws very eager to get this over with.


wc: 213

Victoria was sweeping around the tables when a dark-haired girl walked in. She had longer hair than Victoria's own, longer and darker. She was also dressed more conservatively. To each their own. It was then that the girl introduced herself.

"Hey Esialeth. I'm Victoria. Looks like we'll be cleaning the place up. I've already swept in front of and behind the bar, but I probably missed some hair. You can check the bar behind me if you want." Victoria said to the newcomer. The former kept sweeping around and under the tables while glancing at the tables themselves. She saw small traces of hair that she grabbed with her hand, then followed up with a paper towel and spray cleaner applied to the table. She then examined the seats. The seats had a higher concentration of hair, so they too were cleaned up and sprayed down. Victoria was not going to half-ass the job, especially not when it was a job put up by the guild itself.

Victoria finished sweeping around the tables and under them. No more hair was spotted. It was time to move on to another part of the inn. But where? Should she focus on the guest rooms or go elsewhere?

"I'm not familiar with the guild hall yet. I don't know where to go next." Victoria admitted as she began to think about where to start cleaning next.

[Word Count: 233] [Total Word Count: 552/500]

The fur was starting to stick to her clothes. Esialeth silently cursed at herself for wearing dark colors, but...this was a really nice blouse, and it paired well with the slightly-below-the-knee length skirt. And olive really was a good color on her...and the sleeves looked really good rolled up...

Esialeth shook herself out of her reverie, focusing on the task at hand. There was thankfully less fur behind the bar. There was suspiciously more on the bottles, though. Oh well. To Each Their Own.

Once she was done with the bar, Esialeth headed over to the tables. With the two of them working together, they powered through the chairs. Esialeth resolutely did not think about fur, or the guild, or people. She only thought about money.

After they were done with the tables, Victoria seemed oddly intent on cleaning up the guest rooms? Even though that definitely wasn't in the job description. Esialeth wasn't about to look like she wasn't doing her share of the work, though, so she caught up to Victoria.

"Why don't we try the stairs up to the garden? I think everything else is taken care of by the other staff. Also the garden is really pretty, I've been there."

The stairwell wasn't as...furry as the rest of the place, thank god. And when they finally made their way to the gardens, it really did look quite nice.

She smiled at Victoria. "So, what made you join this guild? There are a lot of more popular ones, like Crystal Swan."

Victoria just realized something. The task was only to clean the inn, not the guest rooms. As far as she knew, anyway. She blushed in embarrassment. She then started fur patrol on the staircase

"What led me to join Black Rose?" Victoria asked Esialeth.

"I heard Crystal Swan has a lot of people already. Besides, I'm not the kind of person they'd want. They want the artists, the beautiful people. At least that's what word on the street said." Victoria replied, sweeping near the bottom step. There was a large clump of white fur near the bottom step. She frowned as it was swept into the dust pan. At least the pay was good. Due to the unpleasant nature of the job, it was small wonder that few guild members willingly took on the job.

After the bottom step was cleared of all fur, Victoria thought a moment about Esialeth's words. So their responsibility was to clean the area leading up to the garden steps? That was a lot more manageable.

"Yeah, I decided to join Black Rose since I heard they needed some people. I was told Crystal Swan's got enough members to form a small army. Besides, I like it here. Black Rose doesn't judge me because I'm not from some fancy noble family or a big-name warrior lineage." Victoria added on to her answer from earlier. She then worked her way up the stairs, being careful not to look up her partner's skirt. There was pink fur in the middle of the stairs. Victoria swiftly swept it up and looked around for more.

"Besides, Black Rose's bar has some really good drinks for sale. The food's good too." Victoria added further. Now she would wait for Eliaseth's response. Or, she would have had a question of her own not popped up.

"Hey Eliaseth, what brought you here?" Victoria inquired.

[Word Count: 312] [Total Word Count:864/500]

"Yeah, I'd be down for a drink later. Now that the job's done, it's safe to drink." Victoria replied to Esialeth in the affirmative. The other girl was an interesting person. She was more reserved that Victoria... not that being more reserved than the latter was very hard to do. Still, Esialeth was a great help during this job. Victoria could not have cleaned the place nearly as quickly by herself.

"You go do what you have to, Esialeth. I've gotta go get a lint roller and get this... this hair off of my clothing. That is, if a lint roller's even up to the job." Victoria remarked. She put the cleaning supplies away. She eyed the pink, blue, and other hair colors clinging to her skirt. Now it looked like a fuzzy rainbow threw up on her.

"I'll catch you later." Victoria bade Esialeth farewell before going to her room. She really hated how hair clung to her clothes. At least the work paid well.

[Word Count: 166] [Total Word Count: 1,030/500]