Job: The Rarest Flower (Malm and Sakura)

Sakura scooped up the plant in her arms with quite a lot of effort then trotted after Malm and the ferret once again. She noticed how much Malm trusted and already liked the small furry guide. He seemed to be treating it like a real person, her was speaking to it and asking it questions.
"This is so heavy," sighed Sakura to herself as she caught up with Malm and the ferret, her arms had started aching bady from the weight of the flower. She was rather embarrassed that the flower was too heavy for her so she didnt ask Malm if he could carry it for her. This wouldnt be fair anyway, seeing as though Malm has a wounded arm still.
Soon the trees around them began to ledden, they were coming to the edge of the spooky forest, Sakuras joy was probably visable at this point. No more dark places or things jumping out at us, she thought happily.
"Nearly there," the fight was beginning to take a toll on Sakura as she walked through the village towards the olf plant shop, her whole body began to ache.

As they walked, Malm took notice that Sakura seemed to be having some trouble carrying the plant. He couldn't blame her for that though. The Moon's Tear was a pretty large plant. Much larger then Malm had initially thought in fact.

"You know, my wound has just about stopped bleeding. So if you need any help carrying that." Malm offered to only have her refuse. He guessed she saw it embarrassing for needing someones help to carry a flower. While he disagreed with that sentiment, he would respect her decision.

As they reached town, Malm took notice that the ferret had seemed to residence inside his cloak. It was a little uncomfortable to Malm, but he believed he could easily get use to it. "I guess I should give you a name." Malm noted as the ferret popped it's head out of the collar of his cloak, "Uhh... I must admit I'm not very good with names. How about Flare? That seems to suit you just nicely." The Fire Ferret didn't seem to give much care as it returned to under Malm's cloak.

Not knowing what to make of that answer, Malm decided to keep with it for now until he could think of a better one for the ferret. Besides they were finally at the pharmacy, which luckily, was still opened. "After you." Malm said as he politely opened the door for Sakura before entering it himself.

This job would soon be over.

"Whos there?" a familiar voice sounded from the shadows of the shop.
"Its just us," Sakura reassured the old man, she tried to put as much kindness into her voice as she could muster up. She didn't really want to get on his bad side again. Not when she had her body ached like it did now.
"Great..." The man replied, ungratefully. He shuffled closer, Sakura could now see his face for he was not hidden by the shadows anymore. He began to scowl at Sakura but then he realized what she was carrying. "My, my... You actually found it..." His skeletal hands reached out and snatched the flower from her hands with apparent ease. Sakura felt extremely embarrassed- an old man like him can carry that stupid plant but she cant!
The old man eyed Sakura with his beady little eyes "Clearly you didnt help that friend of your much, I bet he did all the work on this job." The shop keeper grinned, knowing he had just snapped Sakuras patience.
"Well then!"She said "I believe the job is over now. Goodbye!" And with that she turned and left the shop- not without giving a quick bow to Malm first.

As the two entered enter the shop, they were greeted with a familiar voice. Despite their efforts though, the man did not seem grateful towards the Sakura for giving him the flower, believing that Malm did all the work. This angered Sakura to the point where she just stormed out of the shop saying her goodbye. She didn't even seem to care about her pay for the job. Seeing this, Malm took a deep breath as he stepped up to the counter.

---

"Sakura!" Malm called out as he left the shop about half a minute after Sakura did and running straight towards her. Once he reached her, he paused to catch his breath before pulling something out.

"I managed to convince that man to pay you. Here." He told her as he handed her the jewels, "I know that man can be uhh... frustrating, but that's no reason why you shouldn't be paid. Afterall, if it weren't for your help, I probably wouldn't have made it back myself."

Sakura took the jewels gratefully "Thanks I forgot about this." She shoved the jewels into her bag and sighed in relief. If it weren't for Malm, Sakura would have forgotten all about her reward. She probably would have remembered it later, and then it would have been too late. And that means this job would have been a waste of time if she got no reward. "Thank you," She said again.
"Jobs over now, nothing to worry about."
The sun had set and the streets were now empty and cold apart from the illuminated patches or ground outside houses windows and doors. A shiver ran down Sakuras spine, she thought of the wolves that had jumped out at her and Malm in the spooky forest. At least that wouldn't be happening here in the safety of the town.
"Thank you for all of your help, I couldn't have done this without you," She smiled at Malm and gave a low bow, "I hope we can do more jobs together in the future."
And with that final speech, she turned around and headed off down the shadowy street back to the comfort of her own home. Sakura disappeared into the distance leaving Malm and Flare the fire ferret behind her.

"No problem Sakura. I hope we can do more jobs together too." Malm said with a smile before he walked away. As he did so though, he caught Flare giving him an odd look.

"What?" Malm asked questioningly, even though he had a good idea what Flare's stare meant. Malm sighed as he thought back to his conversation with their client.

---

"Sir. If you must know, she really was a huge help. I probably wouldn't be here now if..."

"I don't want to hear it." The elderly man interrupted, "Look boy, I know your trying to help your girlfriend, but your act isn't fooling anyone. It's obvious from how she struggled to even carry that plant that you were the one who did most of the work. And don't let me get started on that bite wound you have on your arm, but not even a scratch on her. I'm guessing you got yourself hurt trying to protect her because she was in over her head, ehh?"

Malm couldn't believe the man's accusation to the that it momentarily broke Malm out of his gentleman persona. Once he managed to recover from the initial shock, Malm coughed into his closed hand before beginning to speak, "Sir, if I may please interject. Sakura is not my girlfriend. We're just two separate mages who happened to be here for the same job. Nothing more. Also this wound on my arm is from my own foolishness, not hers. So if there was anyone who deserves credit for this job, it's her not me."

"Look son, my patience is beginning to wear thin, so understand this. I'm not paying the girl for doing nothing and that's final." The elderly man said before pulling some jewels from the register and putting them on the table, "Now here's the reward money I owe you. Now if you don't mind, I have some business to take care of with this plant." Seeing that there was no way he could convince the man otherwise, Malm picked up the reward and left the store.

"Sakura!" Malm called out as he then began to ran after Sakura.

---

"Ugh... That man really knows how to get under ones skin. I don't think I've ever felt such frustration towards a person in my life." Malm admitted before sighing, "But what else was I suppose to do? There was no way I was going to convince that man to pay Sakura as well, and attempting to do so could of voided my reward as well. Besides, I'm pretty sure Sakura needed the pay more then me. I guess a benefit of being guildless is not having to worry about paying for housing."

Malm then stretched as he gave a big yawn before looking at the ferret on his shoulder again. "Why do I have the feeling you have no care for anything I'm saying right now? Ohh... Nevermind. Let's see if we can find ourselves a cheap inn to stay in. I'm beat."

With that said, Malm began his search for an inn.

[exit]