Who: Morgayne Falk & Fumiya Sasaki What: a job Where: the Roast When: September 22nd, noon Rating: PG Status:complete
Sundays were always quiet, as far as the usual assigned tasks went. Morgayne had been sent out to deliver a package to the other end of the city around noon, and headed to The Roast immediately once she’d taken the crystal back. She was early by half an hour, but that suited her fine.
After ordering a mocha & a croissant for herself, she grabbed a table by the window. Tearing off bits of buttery pastry and dipping them into her drink, Morgayne watched the door. Truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure whom she was watching for. Someone older, she assumed. Luckily, with the patrons of this particular location being mostly college students, the pickings were fairly slim.
Several professors had trickled in as the clock approached noon, but they either came in pairs or left when their order was handed to them. As one exited with his cup of black coffee, another man entered the cafe, too well dressed to be a lecturer at the university. His eyes immediately met Morgayne’s, and with a smile he strode over to her table.
“You must be Morgayne. Hello, I’m Fumiya. We talked briefly on the network.” Pulling out a chair for himself, he glanced at her mug and plate and asked, “Did I keep you waiting?”
Morgayne shook her head. “No! I just wanted a snack.” She gave the man before her a brief once-over as he sat down. He was put together—polished, presentable. She’d been expecting a local shopkeep by their conversation, but Fumiya seemed to be in another class entirely. Oddly, Morgayne found she couldn’t quite place his occupation just from his demeanor.
“Would you like something?” she asked, gesturing towards the cafe counter.
“Perhaps when I leave. I’ve just had lunch, but from the looks of it, the croissants seem well worth it,” he replied, kindly turning down the suggestion. “Tell me more about yourself. Can you tell me why you’re looking for a job?”
“Well, I’m a squire. And I’m in the process of saving up for a sizable purchase, so some extra gil would be nice.” Morgayne’s savings up till now had consisted partially of what her father had left her, and partially of what she’d been able to accrue from doing the odd job here and there. Enough for indulging in the occasional pastry, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be nearly enough to buy her the sort of information she wanted.
“I see.” He briefly noted that she mentioned saving up for something but purposefully avoided saying what it was. Either the girl didn’t want to appeal for his sympathy or was buying something to be kept discreet. Whichever it was, it wasn’t particularly his concern. “How much gil would you like per hour then?”
She hadn’t thought of that. None of the work she’d done before had ever come with an hourly pay rate. “That depends on what you’d like me to do, doesn’t it?” Morgayne asked, unsure. “Fifteen, I suppose?” He had deep pockets, she assumed, since he was asking, instead of telling her what the rate would be. Or perhaps it was a test, to see where her expectations were.
Both were true. He could easily spare the extra gil, especially given that Morgayne only wanted to work part time, but he was hardly keen on giving such generosity to strangers. “For the job I have in mind, I can offer ten gil to start. If you’d like to move onto more difficult tasks or do an exceptional job at them we can discuss your pay again, but for now ten gil an hour for miscellaneous household chores sounds appropriate, if you want to take it.”
Morgayne nodded her assent. “That sounds fine,” she said, agreeably. And it did—especially for household chores, which she had begun to master from an early age. Left to her father and brother, the house would have been left undusted for months.
He smiled, then turned away to ask a student sitting next to them for paper and something to write with. Scrawling down his address on the sheet, he handed it to Morgayne and said, “This is my address. You’ll be answering to others, but I’ll be there for your first day to acquaint you with the place.”
A pause followed as Fumiya returned the pen. “You can also choose your hours, but at most I would say fifteen hours a week. Come whenever is most convenient for you.” Once he had covered the basics, he finally asked, “When would you like to start?”
She followed along quietly as Fumiya spoke, nodding when appropriate. She had no objection to any of the ground rules he’d laid down; the hours were reasonable, and the tasks. The address, in the nobles district, was expected, given how he dressed and held himself, but Morgayne couldn’t help a flicker of awe. She didn’t have much excuse to be in the district often, but when she was, she always gazed at the palatial estates in wonder. For more reasons than one.
“As soon as possible,” she answered.
"Wonderful," he approved. "Now I know that was a bit much to listen to, do you have any questions for me?"
A pause. “What do you do?” she asked, after a moment. Veering off the topic of the job at hand, but Morgayne prickled with curiosity. He refused to fit neatly in any of her boxes.
Fumiya wondered if she knew of the Black Dragons, although it hadn't changed his answer. "I own several businesses and properties that I rent out," he explained, "One of them is a sushi restaurant, although my involvement really only entails eating there every so often.” At this, his smile grew. “I can take you there after your first week."
He folded his hands in his lap. "Anything else?"
The answer mollified her. “Well, I do like sushi,” she replied with a laugh. “That’s it for my questions.”
"Good taste. Then I'll see you sometime this week?"