Fire Emblem on Forums: Annaquest: Thirteen Merchants in Search of a Payday (IC)

[Blasbo]

Prologue: Annatomy of a Saleswoman

 

It's a select few that can make it in an environment as competitive and stratified as the city of Prospero, and among those it was an even more select few that were wholly unrelated to anyone already established within the city. Property values are through the roof here, and the price of rent can only be described as highway robbery for any tenants not willing to settle for the servant's house. Sure, it's a bustling town on most days, the cobblestone streets worn down every day by the ceaseless footsteps of merchants hailing from all across Leocor, and that means an assured customer base--but getting oneself established is the problem. Many have tried, and failed, to make their fortune in this city, and in so doing have ended up either a household name or forced into vagrancy--or worse, a servant's contract.

 

Anna, of course, doesn't much want to take that risk--so, after a trip of about a day or two from their last business venture in Impericum, she's merely opened a street vendor's booth here instead. It's a much safer bet to take, and if you know what to sell and how to signal you're selling you can make just as much if not more than someone operating a storefront. The marketplace she and her company are set up in lies near the entrance to the city proper, and so is a popular place to set up for those who made the same risk-reward calculus she has. The only downside, of course, being...well, it's not as though those rich enough to afford storefronts haven't thought to set up here, either. Leeching her business, in Anna's opinion...but, what can you do?

 

It's a sunny, clear day today, meaning that the foot traffic (and customer base) in this little market square is as busy as it's going to be. So, Anna seems to have finished setting up her booth just in time, exhaling as she wipes a bit of sweat off her brow before heading behind the counter and unpacking her wares. As she unpacks, she keeps her gaze upward at the company assembled before her, that trademark grin gracing her face.

 

"Okay! So, lemme outline how today's gonna go...Cody, Anne, you're gonna stick around nearby and help watch the store, okay? If you catch anybody with sticky fingers near the booth then I'm gonna let you figure out how you wanna deal with them, just so long as they don't take our goods without ponying up. Andy..."

"You do whatever you want, y'know? Go where the spirit takes you so long as you don't get caught." She sends a....fairly obvious wink his way.

"As for the rest of you..." She gives a small little grunt of effort before producing a stack of flyers from her bag and placing them on the desk. All of them are advertisements for Anna's booth, colorful and full of bombastic language extolling the quality of her goods. "Each of you are gonna take ten of these and get 'em around town. They've got a little charm on them so they can stick to walls--thank you, Kyou--so don't worry about that. Give 'em out, put 'em up around town, plaster them on someone else's shop--I don't much care how you get the word out so long as the word is out that we're selling the best goods this side of the border. That's how you're gonna be earning your payday today. After the fliers are out, you guys can go out and have fun. But, uh..." Once more, she reaches into her bag and pulls out an assortment of rocks, seeming no different than the sort you'd pick up off the street, spreading them out on the table before pulling out and putting on a ruby necklace. "I want you all to take one of these, just in case. When I use them to contact you--and you'll know when I do--I want you to come straight back here, K?"

 

She takes a few moments to finish up putting some items on display before clapping her hands. "Sooo, if nobody has any questions, then I'll let you all get to it! Speak now or forever hold your peace."

 

Everyone is in!

[RedMageCole]

Anne found a sheer benefit to being the one boy among a vast majority of sisters; he had a male appeal that not just any Anna could mimic. The name of the game was 'charisma', and without 'charisma', you wouldn't be able to find very much business. That's what made an Anna so successful; they were pretty, charming and had the ability to set things at the right price. Anne, however, put pride in himself for having the male charm that no Anna had; not everyone was going to fall for a feminine charm, so of course, there would be those who fall more for a masculine charm. And that's exactly what Anne had; he had the muscles, the pretty boy face, the muscles, the short hair... did he mention the muscles? Anne was tough as bricks and his ability to swing an axe around really proved that point.

 

Today was going to be a simple day on his first day on the job; he mostly worked as a solo Anna, but having a team would be nice for business; it'd take some load off of him and he'd potentially make more money! Plus, he'd have some opportunity to have some family bonding; three of his sisters were here and it was nice, though there seemed to be a lot more people than he expected... Oh well, not like he was an introvert, right?

 

Anne gave a yawn as he prepared to start the day, quietly showing off his hatchet before putting it back before his yawn was over.

 

"Of course! I always was a fan of the blunt end of the axe approach myself. Knocks 'em out enough to know not to get too attached to the goods, but leaves them just alive enough to still spend money. Don't worry, I'll make sure threats come first; guilt tripping tends to work well enough to either get them to pay up or put it back, but the hatchet blade works for sure."

 

As Anne took his place, he took a glance at Cody.

 

"You'll be my fellow bodyguard, then? I'm not the biggest fan of working with others, but I'm sure you'll do well enough.

 

"Of course, nobody can do a better job than me, but I obviously don't have four hands, so the extra set of hands helps, you know? Nice pauldron, by the way. We must shop at the same place. Looks way better on me though, to be perfectly honest. It's okay, though; it's really hard to beat me when it comes to looks. But enough chit-chat, we got work, hop to it!"

 

Anne took a position against a nearby wall, reclining near it and just keeping an eye out. It was clear he was enjoying not having to work too hard, but he was still willing to put on a little bit of the Anna family charm if absolutely necessary.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Earlier

 

For Anna, Camellia, not Carnation, the day had started differently from her sister’s. Instead of selecting an area to set up shop and simple things like that, Anna had to deal with a far more physical and harsh task. One that proved time and time again to be far more trouble than it was actually worth. Specifically, putting Mary, her pegasus, in a stable.

 

“Look, Mary, I don’t like it either, but I can’t have you following me around all day! You don’t even LIKE crowded cities, why would you even want to be out there?! You'd just get annoyed after five minutes and then cause a ruckus by probably kicking someone!” she shouted at Mary, desperately trying to ignore the odd looks she got from any passerby, only getting a frustrated neigh back as the pegasus reared back, trying to get her to let go of the reins. Thankfully, she had experience with Mary’s temper, especially when it came to her escaping, 

 

“No, you have to stay in here. I’ll come back later and give you like… A treat or something like that. Can you just behave for now so I can help my Sis. You like my sister, don’t you?” Anna asked, patting Mary’s neck. In response to her question, Mary let out an indignant snort, shaking her head.

 

“You’re the worst. Just get in there.”

 

Present

 

As frustrating as her pegasus was to deal, Anna made sure that she didn't let it get to her personally. Mary was just high strung, after all. Regardless, she was in a rather bright mood despite everything. She rather enjoyed big cities, and she also enjoyed exploring. So, having the job of putting flyers around the city was something that allowed her to enjoy her work. It was a win-win for everyone involved.

 

“Sounds good Sis. I think I can handle putting up a few flyers. I could probably pull double duty if we have extras” Anna replied, giving a rather energetic salute as she moved to pick up some of the flyers. While she wasn’t as good of a business woman as her older sister, she could still pull her own weight.

 

… Well, she sort of had to, since she was being paid, but that wasn’t really the point.
 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Towards the side there was at the very least, one hand raised in the air. There was seen a woman by herself clad in a uniform unlike any of the others present, one of a maid. lt was quite peculiar a sight for what was more or less a storefront, unless it was one of those businesses themed after them perhaps. Though this didn't seem to be a Maid Cafe of any sort... Perhaps even more strange however was the eye patch on her. Just what kind of maid was this girl? She'd been dusting something, a duster of unusual size by her side. For some reason there was a strange blue gem affixed to the handle that glittered ever so dully with a faint radiant light. Her hair was an utterly bright pink, and her face quite the example of quiet contentment. Ever about her was utterly bizarre and clashing! And yet they weren't at all either! Regardless it had seemed she had a question as her hand was raised.

"Ah Miss Carnation! Hey hey! l have one! You didn't give me any maidly duties to attend to! Does that mean l have the day off? l certainly don't have to walk around town doing some menial task in addition to the job l'm actually paid for l'm sure, cause that'd be weird and pretty super unfair to your most adorable employee who works, oh so very hard to keep your property nice and shiny! After all this place was a pig sty until this morning because l spent the entire night cleaning out all the dust and cobwebs and reorganizing the entire inventory~" She said smiling, her left eye closed as it seemed to force it shut. She graciously awaited the answer i silence continuing her smile that seemed less and less like a real one over the course of her speaking and every second she stood there somehow filling the room with a malice and bubbly sunshine at the same time. There was a moment it seemed she was about to collapse from pure exhaustion in there one could swear , but it seemingly passed to quickly for it to be confirmed. 

[Chevaleresse]

"You know, you just gotta ask. Negaran nabashid. Don't worry, I've been dirty before, it's not exactly gonna kill me." Kyou didn't know the maid that well, though she did have a point about menial tasks. Granted, the scholar hadn't expected to be left to her own devices outside of the occasional enchantment. . . but that didn't mean it wouldn't be nice if it had worked out that way. "Actually, if there's anything left to do, I could take care of it." Kyou didn't want to quite show it, but she still wasn't used to crowds. Show it she tended to do anyway, mostly because it was hard to hide that level of discomfort. 

[Sentient Bowtie]

...Another day, another town, another assignment. Working with Anna was perfect if you were interested in a nearly endless river of money schemes of varying moral and ethical questionability— from what she said, perhaps every one of her siblings was the same... Not a pretty thought. At least “stall bodyguard” was simple enough. 

 

Cody listened to Anna’s instructions with an impressively blank face which was really no different from his usual expression: A stony, unreadable look that masked whatever he might be feeling at the time. If the man ever actually experienced normal human emotions, he was incredibly skilled at hiding it.

 

“Sure, sounds easy enough. I probably won’t even need to use my sword on anyone.”

 

He was referring, of course, to the cheap wooden replacement standing in for his actual sword, which had been broken in an unfortunate accident involving a horse and cart the previous day. It was almost embarrassing to have to keep it around and there hadn’t been enough time for him to buy a better one yet. Oh well.

 

He gives a short glance to Anne as the latter apparently deems him worthy of speaking to. This was his first day there and he was already managing to annoy Cody. He was almost impressed, but not quite.

 

“Sorry to disappoint you, but the point of being part of a group is to work together with people. You’ll just have to get used to having a partner from time to time.” He frowned almost imperceptibly. “You know, you’re awfully confident in yourself. I wouldn’t claim to be the best at something unless I knew who I was competing with if I were you.”

 

Cody was... let’s say less than a fan of being talked down to by someone he had worked with for not even a day. Not that he looked it, of course. At the pauldron comment, he glances at his own, then Anne’s. Huh... hadn’t even noticed. He shrugs in response.

 

“I made this myself. Just a coincidence.” Cody ignores the fleeting urge to roll his eyes.

[RedMageCole]

Anne didn't look too happy at the sarcastic comment, and indeed, Anne had a bit of a streak when someone talked down to him. Though his face continued to carry a smile, it was clear he wasn't above making a mess despite his sisters being nearby.

 

"Oho, someone's rather confident of themselves as well to try to talk to an Anna as if they know more about their craft than they do, it seems! I have to warn you, fellow pretty boy; if you are insistent on your own ability, I'll just let you know that prices aren't the only thing I can crack in half! One little step too much on my solo territory while I'm still adjusting and I can't guarantee someone not getting branded with some sticky fingers!"

 

Once more, his smile doesn't waver, though it wasn't a very happy smile, obviously.

 

"Interesting coincidence." He says, as if to say 'this conversation is over'.

[Chevaleresse]

"Hey, not to be rude, but can you maybe not?" Kyou cast an irritable look at the pair already spraying testosterone at each other. "It's kinda early for this nonsense." This was already starting to look like a bad idea - especially considering Anna's comment earlier. Winks like that were never something that led to anything good. It wasn't as if she had much choice in the matter, though; her little group was basically out of money already. 

[RedMageCole]

Anne looked over at the sudden newcomer, giving a trademark Anna wink to them. While he would have loved nothing more than to have egged on a fistfight with that Cody guy without even really trying, he was here to make some money, not crack skulls. That's what his sister Anna Venus is here for, he's pretty sure. She was always fun to hang out with.

 

"Just a little friendly banter, nothing more! Don't worry, the job comes first before personal matters." 

 

While still smiling, it still wasn't exactly a friendly smile, this one was more of a 'of course I wasn't doing anything' smile. While it seemed like Anne was fine with everything, he seemed a little bit tense about the whole situation; he was very used to working solo and that was very clear with his attitude.

[Aurorix]

The robed swordsman kept quite for the most part, staying behind Ke. Nodding and giving a quiet  "Mhm." He never did well in bustling crowds but hood helps in giving a little bit of security. This was his first actual job. He had been training his whole life for this moment she he can't let anyone down! He must maintain his family name while he can. Though, starting off with a less than legal group was definitely not what he wanted but oh well. 

 

"Ah I see, so we have a few quirky chicks and an asshole. Not the worst band to start out with kid but you could do better. At least it'll keep me entertained, heh heh heh..."

 

"Can you please shut up."

 

"NOPE! You better get used to me because I'm staying for the long haul. Pretty soon I'll be the one in charge so enjoy this while it lasts."

 

The boy sighed before lightly tugging on Ke's fur on her shoulder trying to get her attention.

 

"W-would you mind if we stick together through this and you did most of the talking? Just standing here is getting me all kinds of uneasy."

[Sentient Bowtie]

At the blatant threat Cody’s mouth turns down into a clear look of discontent. He keeps a rather even tone during his response, though.

 

“I’m only saying the truth: You have no idea who I am or what skills I have, and I have no idea what you’re capable of, so strolling in and claiming you’re the best around only makes you look like a braggart. You need to actually demonstrate your capabilities before I or anyone else will take your word on them. Trying to intimidate me doesn’t do anything to help you on that front, for the record.”

 

His expression then returns to neutrality.

 

“I want to work well with you. Don’t let me be the only one trying.”

[Powder Miner]

A certain, heavily-scarred Anna had an attitude about the task that she had been assigned that was the direct opposite of that of the maid -- wandering around the city putting up flyers sounded fun! Not putting up the flyers themselves, Anna Venus didn't care about that, but the idea of wandering all over a big and busy city like this, well, Anna Venus couldn't help but smile. Maybe some ruffian would see a lone woman wandering around, decide that he could strike... at then she could blast him! That would be fun. Besides, there was no way that the muggers here in Prospero were anything like the ones in Cape Capital.

 

Anna Venus was distracted from her thoughts by what appeared to be a potential brewing altercation between her brother and one of the other people in Carnation's little caravan, and almost as if on cue she appeared right on the heels of Kyou's complaint -- and, as Cody finished his own lengthy reply, she promptly leaned in:

"You know, if you pick on my brother I'm gonna have to fight you."

 

Anna Venus was smiling too, but this smile was way more genuine than was Anne's; after all, though what she said was half in genuine defense of Anne, who she cared for quite a bit, it was also half because she saw a golden opportunity here to maybe throw fists or something and was pretty excited about it.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

It'd taken more than a few moments for the maid to even realize that someone had been talking to her that wasn't Miss Carnation. She'd only been listening for her familiar and lovely tone of voice that the one that had spoken to her had to be for someone else surely. Suuuuuurely... until she opened her eye and realized they'd been looking in her direction. She couldn't say she wanted anybody else doing her work... "What...?" she said reflexively, unable to contain herself as it was the current thought on her mind. However by the time she'd seemed to do so something else had caught the woman speaking to her's attention. The two bodyguards/bouncers seemed to be having a bit of a pissing contest of sorts... one of them was Cody. Chance had seen him plenty before, talked to him on occasion while Miss Carnation was busy when she had called for him. She didn't know much though, he never seemed to be the talkative sort so they never got much of anywhere.

The other... well. He... Chance could feel her heart jumping out of her chest just looking at him. Even under that clothes... she could tell just the quality of muscles that's be on display had it not been there. lt had seemed he was one of Anna's many siblings with the same name though... she never knew Miss Carnation had a brother! Where'd he been all this time? He neeeever visited his sister!? For shame for shame... the maid thought to herself as if she had no ulterior motive. 

lt keeps seeming to get worse with time, the maid nervously laughing to herself hoping that this doesn't come to blows and blood she has to track out of the carpet... again. "Hehehe! Look folks! l'm the one who has to clean up any messes here! So let's all just relax and take a deep breathe. Here try it with me!" she suddenly sucking in a large amount of air. SHe exhaled sharply and then "1. 2. 3." She inhaled deeply again, another sharp exhalation after. "1." a pause "2." and another "3. See! It's easy! Now everybody after me!" she kept repeating this until somebody stopped her.

[Sentient Bowtie]

“I am not picking on your brother,” Cody replies, utterly deadpan. He doesn’t seem to care about the rest of the immediate goings-on. 

 

...Didn’t these people have posters to be putting up?

[RedMageCole]

Though the person with the hat was enough to get Anne to stop, clearly that wasn't enough for Cody. Anne almost had half a mind to not do anything, but then, speak of the devil in his own mind, Anna Venus comes in. Anne almost doesn't even acknowledge the fact that she just outwardly threatened Cody into a fight.

 

"Hi, sis! Here's hoping this sale goes well, hm?" 

 

As he was about to go back to chilling out, he noticed another nearby girl coming in. This one seemed a lot more gung-ho, and Anne was a bit more receptive as a result, especially with her little calm down technique. Simple, but effective, so why not?

 

"Okay, why not?" Anne shrugged a little bit and followed along with her. "Ooone... Twooo... Three. Huh, that is pretty nice." Anne notices that she was repeating herself. "...Erm... I think we should be good now... Maybe. Hopefully. I sure am, I'd like to think!"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"1... 2...3!" Chance blasts out one more time, not having noticed the change of tone in the room or that once again someone had been speaking to her while she was carrying on in some manner or another. "1... 2... 3... all the desire to punch blood into my lovely carpet shall be erased with this simple little exercise. Haaah haaaaaah yes yes it shall, l need it to work l spent 7 hours on it and not to need to remove more of them! lt's been the 5th time this weeeeek.~" the maid seemed to be feverishly speaking to herself even singing the last bit of her lines. lt was at that moment she heard Anne speak and pull her from her strange trance of numbers and breathing. Perhaps it was the loopiness getting to her but upon seeing his face she just smiled a wonderful smile, a beam that could break the dark of night.

"Well if the handsome fella says so l'm sure it'll be alright. Bloodshed managed~ " she seemed proud of herself? or something. lt was pretty hard to tell especially given she was just absentmindedly staring at Anne the entire time, her single eye darting up and down his form though never resting in a single spot for long. "You know bloods not easy to get out of carpet... l feel like l just avoided death..." as she said this she suddenly began to collapse, purely from her prior day's exhaustion. lt seemed the maniac energy spent the last of her dwindling power and it sent her tumbling towards the floor. Perhaps the shock had just reminded her body it was about out of power, whatever it was though it now remembered it's state.

[RedMageCole]

Anne found the newcomer rather adorable, if not a little strange for her speech quirks, but he certainly wasn't one to judge her in the slightest. He was about to turn to talk to his sister some more, before he noticed her kind of... staring at him. A lot. He was pretty used to being eye candy for the lady customers, but this was on a whole other level; he hadn't even turned up the charm. Was she just a bit disoriented or something?

 

Before he could ask why she was staring so much, she started to talk some more, which he just simply nodded along to... until she collapsed. Prompting a little gasp from Anne, he ran over and kneeled by her.

 

"Uh... Miss? Are you alright?... Okay, scratch that, you don't look very alright considering you just collapsed, but are you... currently able to talk?... Or do you even want to? I get being exhausted, but this is a bit much."

[Powder Miner]

Anna Venus pouted for a moment after Chance initially intervened and the fight that had been spooling up before her eyes disappeared into nothing, but it wasn't long before she was all smiles again -- after all, she was probably going to have other opportunities today.

"Fiiiiiiine. I guess that w--"

 

Then Chance collapsed, and Anna Venus leaned over in her direction while Anne caught her -- that was enough to actually get her smile to disappear.

"Uuuuhhh... what happened?"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Are you an angel?" the maid suddenly said her voice groggy beyond words. lt definitely seemed whatever it had been that had caused this level of exhaustion in her had finally caught up to her. And it was only going to get worse before it got any better.  The only thing present in her vision was Anne's face due to her shallow cone of vision. lt was a nice face...a really nice face. lnhumanly beautiful. There was no way in the world he could just be some regular guy!Maybe he was a shining knight in armour coming to whisk her away... no... pretty sure what just happened was dying. lt was right? This was the Pearly Gates, yes? no? maybe so? lt had to be... "Heh, you certainly look like one. l guess dying wasn't so bad after all if l got ta meet you sweetie~" 

She began rubbing her hands around on the carpet, giggling to herself. lf one was keen they'd realize she was trying to confirm where she was, but it seemingly would backfire. "Such a nice fluffy cloud. Hmmm, heaven's nicer than l imagined." said the overworked maid lying on the mostly clean floor of a less than above board business. She was not as far as away as she could possibly be but she was certainly not where she had currently thought.

[RedMageCole]

Anne looks back to Anna Venus as she spoke, not sure of if she was responding or not.

 

"Uh... I'm not sure. It just kind of happened all of the sudde-"

 

Before he could finish, Chance's sudden question caused Anne's attention to snap back to her. He looked... oddly somewhat flustered by the question. And even more flustered by the comments afterwards. What the heck? He was used to being the charmer, not being charmed at.

 

"Uhh... Jeez, what the heck...? I'm... Not an angel, I'm pretty sure you're still alive... you're just kind of... laying on the carpet. And, uh... my name's Anne. Anne Helianthus... um... y'know, your boss's brother." Anne briefly looked back to Anna Venus, with a sort of 'what the heck is going on' face on him, alongside a blush.

[Powder Miner]

Anna Venus' eyebrows raised practically into her hairline for a moment as she shared a glance with her brother -- and then, once again, she grinned at him, then whispered at him:

"Duuude, she's like, way hitting on you."

[Blasbo]

Well. Anne could have told her that he didn't exactly play well with others before she hired him. This whole scene playing out before her was...undesirable, to say the least. Infighting was bad for business. And then Chance collapses...hm. Well, she was going to tell her to get back to work, but...she must have overdone it with her maid work today. Again.

 

"She's delirious is what she is. Working too damn hard again." Anna roots around in her bag for a few seconds before somehow producing and constructing a shaded hammock nearby the stall. "Venus, go get her some cold water and don't start any fights on the way there. Or on the way back. Anne, put her on the hammock, gently. And then, I'm gonna need to talk with you."

 

The annoyance in her voice suggests it's not to praise his go-getter attitude.

[RedMageCole]

Anne bit the insides of his cheeks. Did Anna Venus really have to point it out like that? He was about to retort back, when Anna Carnation came up. Anne's blush pretty quickly faded and he did not look very happy about looking like he was about to be scolded. If he was going to be scolded for defending himself against someone who was going to tell him off for being himself, he wasn't going to be in this group very long, it seemed. Without as much as a 'hmph', he lifted Chance up, no more blushing, and set her down gently in the hammock. Afterwards, he quietly relocated himself away from the others, in order to get this 'talk' over with.

[Powder Miner]

Anna Venus winced and patted Anne on the shoulder as Carnation signaled an impending chewing out.

"Good luck, bro."

 

Then she proceeded to trot off to do what Carnation asked of her -- they were probably going to get gouged for cold water, she had to imagine, but she guessed that probably just meant that Carnation cared for the maid that much! That was nice of her. Unless she found a free source, therefore (in which case she would naturally milk it for all it was worth), Anna Venus would be using the group's money, not what of her own she had.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

"... What just..." Anna whispered, lost as to what the chain of events just were. She was used to Chance's... Oddness, thanks to the fact that she had been working with Carnation for quite a while, but this was a bit more than natural. Was she coming down with an illness? Did she hit her head on the way down? Was she actually tired? Or was she just forcing the entire act to get out of work? Camellia honestly had no idea, but it was clear that she would have to pull double duty for Chance. It sucked that the group seemed rather hostile with each other, but that was just how new groups tended to go. Hopefully it would iron itself out later on.

 

Or it wouldn't, and then things would just get worse.

 

"I'll just... Get going then" she stated, picking up what should've been Chance's share of the posters, and one of the stones for good measure, before heading out. She had to figure out good places for these things, and the world wasn't just going to wait for her to watch how things played out. She had a job to do, even if it was simple and boring!