[Grey_Hoodie]

marking

[ThatPinkThing]

Leaving comp to focus on developing the kals I have <3 Excited to see the winner tho! Good luck y'all!

[Lorne_Purnima]

Dropping out, good luck everyone

[Chickpea]

Username: CompleteChicken
Name: Twisty foot tbd
Gender: Female
Impress me!: (remember, word limit is 1500, art limit is 5!)

mark

[Fernathy]

possible res

[cyrevan]

Username:
Name:
Gender:
Impress me!: (remember, word limit is 1500, art limit is 5!)

res omg!

[Divantae]

\⚙\ \⚙\ \⚙\ \⚙\ 𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓜𝔂 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓻 /⚙/ /⚙/ /⚙/ /⚙/

Username /⚙/ Divantae
Name /⚙/ Ephrath Everrust
Gender /⚙/ Female
Age /⚙/ 17 years old
Occupation /⚙/ Merchant-in-training
Magical Abilities /⚙/ Green fire may be emitted or used if she has her trusty set of flasks each containing mysterious substances ranging from slime to sand textured. If one is damaged in any way, it may cause the power to be uncontrollable or unusable depending on how bad the cracks are. This is kept on her belt.

"C'mon, c'mon, we don't have all day. Carry along."

A green eye shifted upwards to the elderly Kalon she was to learn under, as these things were, any Kalon wishing to learn any profession such as this needed to spend day and night under the eye of a master craftsman, painter, or in this case, a merchant. Today was a particularly hectic day considering it was pouring outside, the thunderclaps sounding like bombs being dropped onto the towering ledges they set up shop. As always, Ephrath was rather defeated as the hours winded down to closing-time and she resigned to a couch where she snuggled into her scarf, although her eyes could never seem to keep shut, as if they were persistent blinds that wished to see the waves of heads out-the-window. All of her peace vanished as Kalons propped open the door to exit, as it was now sundown, though one could not even tell by the unpainted skies.

She got the routine down by now. Well, she should have, since she has been an apprentice for four years now, since she has become a teenager. That's the way it was and she still saw her family often, although not so much now that she was preparing to enter her next stage of training, the intermediate level. For now, she was to brandish a broom and pluck the dust bunnies from the corners of the store and wipe the counters of the filth that the rough crowd always left. Her confidence did not lie in these menial tasks, what she was really talented at was attracting Kalons to the store. What made Kalons tick was easy to see, if one was observant enough. Her mentor knew this well and usually put her to the task then left her to sleep the day off while she worked the counter.

What she could not do, however, was bartering. When she was not resting, her master would have her practice running the store on her own, which was on Mondays, the least crazy day of the week. They'd essentially switch tasks for the whole day and her mentor usually would not interrupt her until closing-time, where she would evaluate her. To put it simply, she was preparing her for the reality of running a store on her own, and she absolutely could not. When the ornery old Kalons would fumble in, she would crumble into her seat as they would tried to get discounts on her products. It was apparent they were the better smooth-talkers. Ephrath was like talking to a brick wall with Kalons she did not know, nor did she want to know them.

In fact, one of these evaluation days was tomorrow. She bit her bottom lip and sighed, her brows furrowing as she reorganized the shelves filled to the brim with concoctions and bloodier ingredients. When she turned, her mentor Master Judith stood in her face. Her eyes widened and she jumped.

"Oh, sorry, ma'am," she swiftly mustered out, her heart skipping a beat from the scare.

Judith nodded then addressed her, "Tomorrow's your last evaluation, then I will decide if you're ready to become an intermediate. Any questions before then?"

Her heart lurched, not from her appearance beside her, but from her words. "Already? I thought I had another whole year to prepare."

"No. If you're not ready we practice for another year... Oh, I didn't tell you, but we'll get another apprentice joining us regardless."

"Really? Do we have room?"

"We should. It'd be best if you are intermediate when he arrives, but that's on you. Either way you can help him while you're still here," she simply said, now used to this process like the back of her paw since she has overlooked it for decades. Ephrath tried to recall who the intermediate was when she became an apprentice, but she left shortly after.

"I'll try my best," she replied, though it came off as half-hearted.

"Well, see you tomorrow. G'night." With that, the lights went out and the door was locked. Her mentor retreated upstairs to her room and Ephrath decided to study the names of the products one last time before heading upstairs to a separate room where she collapsed into her bed.

...

"Er, excuse me, sir, that isn't how you use the flask," she politely muttered.

"Huh? How?" he snorted at her.

Capping the lid, she inverted the flask until its contents mixed and presented it to him. He retreated with an embarrassed "oh" and carried on.

Yawning, she returned behind the counter after dealing with the customers' questions. A few times she spotted her mentor's gaze from the side, but she felt it awkward to stare back. It was almost over, just one more hour left. Today, the sun cast orange lines into the storefront windows, which agitated her eyesight occasionally. But today, there was no bartering.

That was until Madame Besson entered the store, a known Kalon to argue with many employees. Her mind was filled with curses, not towards her, but towards the chances of her entering the store that day. She clutched a tacky umbrella, which she had whether it was raining or not and absolutely refused to lower indoors. This dingy article was always a subject of sarcastic questioning by Judith.

This time, Madame Besson cut straight to Ephrath. "Excuse me, I'd like to return this bottle. You must have sold it with a crack in it already, because while I was walking home I noticed it."

She almost sighed out of relief until she caught sight of her mentor, who was listening and shaking her head "no" from the sidelines. Did she really have to argue with the customer?

Gulping, Ephrath stated, "Any glass purchases are routinely checked at the counter for any blemishes. Our policy says that it is not valid if you leave the store with it and come back."

She never understood it: how the buyers would get so furious over almost anything that does not go their way. Perhaps it is a good thing Ephrath cannot remember the words Madame Besson used to express her anger. For a few seconds, she endured it, not getting a good opening to speak, but she decided to hold strong, knowing that this was her last chance for evaluation.

"If you don't like it, then shop someplace else," she snapped. "but that glass was clean as a whistle when it was checked here!"

Silence followed, thick as snow bundling upon the gutters of the roofs in winter. For a moment, she felt fearless, but then she was launched back into reality.

Madame Besson huffed and turned, almost hitting Ephrath with her tiny umbrella. The door clanked and echoed when she slammed it shut behind her. A few murmurs were heard, but soon the shop returned to its normal state.

Except for one thing, that is. Her mentor stood in front of her, leaning on the counter. She felt so numb, she was sure this would have consequence. However, Judith smiled warmly and heaped some praise onto her, then went to close the shop up for the day.

Despite her expecting to be held back into apprenticeship forever, Ephrath passed with flying colors. Soon another apprentice joined them, whom she had conflicted opinions about due to his haughty attitude, but she tried to be sympathetic to his struggles considering he was just separated from his family.

Not until later did Ephrath realize that Madame Besson's freak-out was staged for her to react to, since she had never dealt with an unruly customer before. She nearly told her mentor she was crazy when she found out, but she understands why it happened and would not have her education any other way.

\⚙\ \⚙\ \⚙\ \⚙\ 𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓘𝓯 𝓘𝓽 𝓣𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝓐𝓵𝓵 /⚙/ /⚙/ /⚙/ /⚙/

[1367/1500 words]
[2/5 art]

[Catskitten]

delte

[doge fruit]

- dropping, got worry about other things sadly! -

[mal du pays]

This competition has been extended one week! You now have until November 3rd.