Living in the Sunlight ((Open))

[moonchild]

Eri was seated in the dead centre of the Sunset Beach, her eyes to the sky and her mind a million miles away. Her shoes and signature thigh highs were in a neat pile next to a small bag and a few books. She ran her fingers in between the sand, enjoying the warmth of it underneath the orange, pink and yellow sky. Sunset Beach wasn't comparable to any of the beaches of Destiny Island, but it was still quite nice. Eri had come here to study away from the confines of the library; the weather was much better suited to outside study that day in her opinion.

At the moment she had finished everything she had needed to do for the day and was just enjoying the sounds of the sea for a few moments before she’d get up and make her way to the Terrace. The girl put her hands behind her head before lying down with her face to the sky. Her eyelids slowly slid over her dark blue eyes as the sounds of the sea slowly began to make her feel drowsy. Hm, well I only live a couple of minutes away from here…so surely it wouldn’t be too bad if I just take a quick power nap?

That power nap went from being expected to be five minutes to ten, then fifteen. It was about twenty minutes before Eri awoke. When she did, she felt quite embarrassed with herself over how long she had been asleep there for. Shaking off as much of the sand as possible from her hair and clothes, she grabbed her things and walked quickly off of the beach. As she put her shoes on when she reached solid ground, she hoped that nobody had seen that rather embarrassing display…

[whybeok88]

Owen had noticed the beautiful youth at the library, in fact it was hard not too. He hated walking by the beach or generally being out in the hot weather at all. His layers of fine clothing under his trench coat made it quite hot to go anywhere. As he passed by the beach, scanning the crowd with his ever watching eyes he caught a glimpse of her. Owen stopped dead in place, causing a gentlemen to bump into him. "My sincerest apologize," Owen remarked with a slight bow as the man brushed off the apology and continued walking. 'O if only I was not on this crowded beach with all these people, I would love to teach that man some manners,' Owen thought to himself as a large and likely unsettling smirk crossed his face. Owen then turned his attention back to the girl.

She seemed to be sleeping and soaking up some sun. 'This girl could be of use to me, a sort of research assistant....' he pondered as he kept an eye on her while walking over to the shade of a nearby tree. Owen decided he would wait for her to wake so that he could engage her in conversation. He pulled out his old notebook and opened it. As he looked through his scribbled note, Owen wonder if any book in this library would have the secret he so yearned to unlock. Just as he closed his notebook, he noticed that he had begun to stir.

Owen quickly stood, touching his hair to check that it was in place. He stowed his notebook and watched her stand and brush herself off. As she placed her last shoe on her foot, Owen stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, miss? I am terribly sorry to bother you but I believe we have seen one another at the library? I was wondering if perhaps you were looking for some extra coin?"

[moonchild]

Just as she had picked herself up from putting her shoes back on, Eri found herself standing face to face with a well presented masked man whom appeared to be middle aged; going by the spots of grey in his immaculately styled hair. She was dumbfounded and highly embarrassed that someone had seen her. These feelings of hers quickly morphed into those of revulsion; she had no idea how long that man had been staying there or if he was watching her while she was unconscious. She did her best to keep such fears out of her eyes in an attempt to appear more threatening that she may have been considered if the situation were to turn sour. The man spoke in a kindly enough manner: though what he had to say didn’t exactly leave Eri with a good grasp on what he wanted from her or if he were some kind of pervert.

"Excuse me, miss? I am terribly sorry to bother you but I believe we have seen one another at the library? I was wondering if perhaps you were looking for some extra coin?"

The girl had to admit that her interest was piqued a little bit at the thought of earning some extra munny, of course depending on what it was exactly the man wanted. She pondered this for a moment and picked her next words very carefully, remaining as detached as she could while speaking; still trying to glean some information about this man. She realised that it was a bit of a fruitless exercise until she had spoken to him for a little longer.

“If we did, I am sorry but I do not recollect seeing your…erm…mask while I was there,” she started, pausing for a moment, reorganising her thoughts. She was unnerved to admit to herself that she had not seen this man before, seeing as she liked to think that next to nothing had ever escaped her attention…has he been following me? She started again, furrowing her brow as she spoke, “However, as for your offer, I might be interested. What is it I would have to do in order to earn it?” She sounded more forceful than she intended to be. The whole situation had sent her for a bit of a loop, so she forgave herself for that and assumed the man would too. Of course, that was taking for granted that this man was of a stable mind and did have honest intentions.

[whybeok88]

Owen was very pleased with the girls apparent interest in the munny. He still had plenty left over and if he needed more he was sure he could "obtain" it. He chuckled out loud to her first response, "It is quite understandable that you probably haven't seen me in there. I am often deep in a book or back in the back searching old archives." Owen knew that the reason she probably hadn't seen him was because the shadows so seemed to cling to him. Recently, subconsciously, he had been keeping them close, not wanting people to look at the strange books he was searching for. If they saw all the history books and dark papers he had been thumbing through.

Owen then moved on to her next inquire. "I am simply searching for a research assistant," Owen stated matter of factually. "I am getting old and it is tiring traveling around looking for all the literature that I need. I would need someone that would be willing to travel and obtain papers and books for me." Owen carefully watched her face looking for some indication as to whether or not she was interested but in his quick glance he caught nothing. "If munny was required, I would provide it as well as travel expenses but this would be a much better option then me trying to be in two places at once," he chuckled. "And of course you would be payed for time as well," Owen finished with a smile, "so what do you think?"

As he waited for a response, he studied the girl again. 'She seems to be armed so maybe I can send her after some of the more difficult to obtain documents after a while.' Owen only had managed to find one of the books he needed in the library, everything else would probably be hidden in private collections or very dark places.

[moonchild]

She stood there awaiting what it was the man wanted with gritted teeth, and a blank expression. She didn't want him to figure out anything about her before she figured out something about him. He broke the tension with a joke, to which she felt obligated to smile a little at. She took a better look at the man; he was very well dressed, oddly enough, he was wearing a very heavy coat for the kind of weather and climate that was typical of Twilight Town. The mask on his face was an unusual touch, but Eri assumed that the man had his reasons for wearing it. Hopefully it wasn't because he was running away from trouble that Eri could get caught up in or because he was avoiding being recognised.

The man started his proposal, and as soon as he did Eri felt a huge sigh of relief; something she wasn't able to fully conceal. He merely wanted her to help him with a bit of research. That was something she was more than willing to help him out with. She stood there as still as a statue with a look of loftiness as she heard this man out about what he expected from her and how she would be rewarded. She already knew how she was going to answer, but she didn't want to come off as being too enthusiastic.

"So what do you think?" the man said, offering her a smile.

Eri crossed her arms before putting a hand underneath her chin in a pondering manner, her dark blue eyes appraising the man for a few seconds as she made a soft 'hmm' noise."Alright, I am in. When would you like me to start? Then, of course we can discuss the particulars of my payment." she blankly stated, still not wishing to give away any information as to what she was like to the man. She didn't know why exactly, it wasn't exactly like she had any reason to distrust the elderly man now that she knew what he wanted of her. Then again, she was never the kind of girl to just be herself around people right away; it was something she generally needed to ease herself into.

Realising how rude she must be appearing to her new employer, she gave a quick and dainty curtsey before introducing herself. "My name is Eri, by the way. It will be my pleasure to help you with your research...Mr...?"

[whybeok88]

Owen simply smiled at her answer, trying to impersonate excitement, though he did so poorly. " O most excellent! I would want your services immediately," Owen stated frankly. "In fact, if you are ready, I have a few things I could have you look for." For the first time in a long time, he felt almost something almost like excitement but knew it wasn't true. He didn't even remember what is felt like but he knew if he and his new assistant were able to find all the books he would be content.

"So what sort of payment are you looking for, I would be very interested in hearing what you would like?" Owen questioned as he thought about what he had at the time in the way of funds. 'As long as this Eri is reasonable I should easily be able to pay her,' he contemplated as he looked at her up and down once more. 'She will do perfectly,' Owen thought as he smiled to himself

As she curtsied and introduced herself Owen realized that he would be spending a lot of time and money with this girl. 'Will I be able to keep my composure this whole time?' He realized that the smile had disappeared from his face to be replaced with the true emotionless expression underneath. Quickly, reassuming his guise, Owen smiled big back at he and responded, " Well Ms. Eri, I am Mr. Kincade but I would much prefer if you just call me O.J." Owen said as he returned a slight bow and flourished his hand. "SO would you be able to start right now, because if you can't I would be perfectly happy to start tomorrow?"

[moonchild]

Eri saw the man smile at her answer, except it was a smile that didn’t seem to fully reach his eyes, which made it seem almost…insincere? His ‘O most excellent!’ didn’t inspire her with much confidence either. Eri didn’t really care either way, just as long as she got paid and he didn’t try to do anything bizarre to her, she was content with keeping their relationship strictly professional. The fact that he wanted her to start immediately was far quicker than she was expecting, but it was reassuring that she was a shoe in for this position.

Her new employer asked her what kind of payment she was looking for. She decided she should probably charge a small amount to begin with, lest he try to look for other eager and cheaper labour. Doing a couple of quick calculations in her head she came to what she felt was a reasonable sum. “For a base wage, I would like one hundred; plus twenty for every extra stop that I have to make in a single delivery, and if you would be so kind to cover any associated travel expenses? Of course, if you would like to negotiate another base wage, I am completely willing to discuss particulars about payments once I have actually done something for you." She stated in as polite a tone as one can while making demands for monetary gains. She added a small, cutesy smile on the end, deciding that if she could get away with the cutesy school girl who is eager to help in the name of scholarly pursuits, all the more power to her.

His face quickly turned emotionless, something that looked dreadfully eerie behind his mask. However, the smile quickly bounced back into place as he introduced himself. ‘O.J’ as he preferred to be called, bowed and flourished his hand in a very gentlemanly manner. Eri found this behaviour quite erratic, and quickly took to analysing him once more. Behaviour such as that would seem to be indicative of a man whom is either quite frugal, or…possibly mentally unsound? Once more, Eri decided just as long as she only did what he wanted and kept everything very superficial it wouldn’t matter much. Hopefully the man would understand and not take it personally. Though, thinking about it like that, Eri felt bad for thinking so callously about the man and his feelings. She would be polite and kind to him of course, but she felt that the age gap between the two was too significant for a friendship to be established.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity Mr. Kincade. It would be my pleasure to start working for you immediately. I only hope that I manage to be of service.” She said cordially, hiding behind a well-rehearsed mask of respectful mannerisms that most people had trouble objecting to.