Vhalar 18 722
A skinny man in overalls leaned over the bar counter and looked at Eternity in the eyes. “What can I get for you?” he asked. He used a hand to move his long hair which had shifted as he’d leaned. He looked tired and bored. One could tell that he couldn’t wait for his shift to end but his replacement hadn’t arrived yet.
“I don’t care, just make it sweet,” Eternity said. She rubbed her temples and yearned for something to lift her spirits. She was feeling a mix of disappointment and a general distaste for her day to day life.
“Something sweet coming up,” said the bartender. He lazily walked over and prepared the drink. He mixed a fruit juice with some vodka and passed it over to Eternity who slipped him some coins which he didn’t even bother counting. He just swiped them into a drawer and yawned.
Eternity had just made her rounds around over the course of an afternoon and her legs were killing her. Her spirits were down too because she hadn’t stolen a single coin. She chalked it up to bad luck because she’d gone through dozens of pockets which had been empty. It seemed that more and more people in her go-to stealing spots had resorted to being smarter with hiding their money. Turning up empty was becoming a common occurrence so she was torn between taking more risk and going after their hiding spots or moving onto new parts of Scalvoris Town.
Eternity sipped the drink and stuck her tongue out at how strong it was. She gave the bartender an angry look but he didn’t notice. “Bartender, can you make it sweeter? I can’t drink this,” she asked politely.
“Huh? Sure.” He said. He just grabbed a glass and diluted it with more juice and gave it back.
Eternity still didn’t like the drink but she drank it anyways. She was too tired to argue for very long. She looked around the bar and saw that hardly anyone was there. There was a lone musician, a bad one, playing the fiddle in a corner. The only other people were a group of men at a table at the center and they were playing a game of cards. She thought to go join them but she saw something that caught her eye. It looked like a large target and it was painted on one of the walls.
“What’s that for?” she asked the bartender as she motioned to the target.
The bartender let out a deep sigh and wished she would leave him alone. “It’s for knife throwing. The owner thought darts were fun so why not make it bigger and throw knives? Except now we have to buy a big wooden board every seven trials and it’s a bitch to move and drunks don’t have the best aim so we had to board up all the windows on that side.”
“I see,” Eternity said. Throwing knives sounded way too dangerous to try when she could barely handle a dagger in her hands. She decided not to make a fool of herself and went over to bother the musician instead.
“Do you take requests?” she asked him when he finished his song.
“If it’s one of the five songs I know, sure.” He twisted some knobs at the end of his instrument. He looked annoyed because the knob just turned back to its original position. He twisted it once more and shoved it in as hard as it could but it defiantly refused to stay put.
“Ah, I see. Maybe you could teach me one of your songs then,” Eternity said. She pulled up a chair and waited for the musician to finish getting ready.
“Alright, I can’t say not to that now can I? This one goes, kiss the mug kiss the mug we’re all happy when we kiss the mug.” He played his fiddle and sang to show how it went.
Eternity sang along to the simple song. It was a melody that only consisted of a handful of notes played over and over again. The quiet bar made it easy to hear just how bad she was at singing. That didn’t stop her from trying though. She hardly cared what any of these people thought about her. She could tell that she was not singing the right notes and she knew that the right thing to do would be trying to match the sound of the fiddle but she was always flat or sharp. Sometimes she didn’t even hit the right note which was just the worst.
The song ended after a few minutes. It was the kind of song that could go on as long as the musician willed it to. The fiddle player smiled and asked, “how’d you like that one? You were getting into it at the end there.”
“I liked it,” Eternity said. “I hate how bad of a singer I am. The last time I sang I was in a very loud bar and I couldn’t even hear my own voice. Now that I’ve heard myself, I realize that I’m awful.”
“Lass, I’ve played this very fiddle for ten arcs and I’ve not once cared if someone doesn’t like my music. There’s always someone out there willing to hire me. Sure, I might not make a lot but I get to do what I love every day. If you ask me, I say sing your heart out. So long as you give it all you’ve got what’ve to be ashamed of?” After his kind words he tapped a bag with his foot. It had a few coins in it and Eternity got the hint that she was supposed to tip him.
“Fair enough. For what it’s worth I don’t think you’re bad. I don’t think I’m allowed to call anyone bad when I’m even worse,” she said with a laugh. She dropped a coin in the bag and said, “alright let’s do another one.”
And so, they started up the next song. It was about a flower that wilted before it could produce any petals. The lyrics didn’t make a lick of sense but with the alcohol kicking in, Eternity didn’t pay them any mind. She enjoyed singing and she enjoyed the musician’s company. The following the rhythm of the music came easy to her but the lyrics tripped her up. They changed throughout the song and it was hard for her to remember them all because this song was a lot more complicated than the last. In those cases she was confidently incorrect.
They took a break after that song. Eternity went over to get another sweet drink for herself and a beer for the musician. She told him, “I’d tip more but I spent the last of my coin on these drinks.”
The musician said, “sometimes a drink is better than a tip, especially if it comes from a beautiful lady.”
Eternity laughed and downed her drink in one go. She said, “I’d forgotten that I’d done my makeup today.” All she’d done was made her eyebrows appear a little thicker. She had actually messed it up quite spectacularly when she first applied the black makeup but she realized it a few breaks later and rubbed half of it off. It looked a lot better after that but all the rubbing made her skin redden. Now that all of the redness had faded the makeup actually looked half decent.
The musician went back to tuning his instrument and swore multiple times when the knobs refused to stay put. All that did was cause a string to snap and he had to take some time to replace it with a spare. This gave Eternity enough time to drink a little more and get in the mood to sing a little more. The two of them played and sang for the next half break or so before the musician called it quits. He said his fingers tired and that he wanted to get home and rest so that he could be lively during his next gig that wouldn’t start until about midnight. Eternity was sad to see him go because she was absolutely drunk and was left without anyone to talk to. She sat around for half a break and entertained herself by humming the songs she’d just learned until the bartender came to talk to her.
“Hey, I’m closing this place down for the evening. You’ve got to leave.”
“But why? What kind of bar closes this early?” Eternity questioned.
“My replacement hasn’t come in and I’ve been here since before the sun came up. You’re also the only customer left. The last of them left when you started singing, can’t say I blame them.” The bartender rubbed his face and yawned.
“Oh, didn’t realize that,” Eternity said as her spirits sank. She’d been so happy up until the point she’d gotten insulted. “Alright, I’ll get out of your hair.” She then left the bar and wandered around until she found her way home.
[Template credit to Pyrre]
