Chapter 8
{Valley town, town square}
{Day 3, dusk}
Alyannie walked into the square as everyone was else began to pack up for the night. The square had a large fountain in the square, with two columns of cobblestone standing straight on either side of the center, water pouring over from the top. She looked further around the square.
Using the fountain as a center point, several market stalls had been erected about the square, with each side having at least two stalls, and at most four. On the north side of the square was the church, where some villagers and even some players were coming and going. To the east was what was labeled as a bank, with the hours provided on a sign near the door. Alyannie had approached from the south, where the library was located next to the square.
The western most building seemed to be a restaurant of sorts. Several players were sitting in view of the front windows, and seemed to be enjoying some food and drink. It was at that moment Alyannie's stomach decided to remind her that it was time to eat.
She walked over to the front of the building, and saw that there was a sign listing the menu and the prices of each item. Alyannie browsed over the menu, then settled on a chicken sandwich. She opened her inventory, and saw that she had three emeralds. She walked to the door, where another sign said, 'Self seating, see an open chair? Grab it.'
She walked inside, and her eyes opened at how many people were inside. There had to be nearly two dozen people inside the restaurant, including the people behind the counter. She carefully moved her way across the floor of the restaurant until she reached the counter.
Behind the counter was a brown haired girl wearing a black short sleeved shirt, and blue jeans with hole in the right knee. The girl looked at Alyannie and smiled pleasantly. "Oh, I can't say I've seen you in here before! My names Bethany, how about yours?" Bethany continued smiling at her.
"I'm Alyannie Smith, it's a pleasure to meet you." Alyannie felt slightly off put about the smile she was receiving. It seemed almost too welcoming.
"Nice to meet you Alyannie! What would like for dinner tonight? Tell you what, since this your first time in, I'll give you your dinner on the house."
Alyannie shook her head "Oh no you don't have to do that! Really I have the Emeralds to pay for it!" As much as a free meal sounded nice, she couldn't let Bethany just give her the food for free, this was a business after all.
"Well, if your sure. What would you like?" Bethany said, her smile faltering only for a moment at Alyannie's refusal.
"I'll have the number seven please." Bethany wrote down the order and took it to a window in the back where she gave the note to someone. After a minuet, she returned with Alyannie's food in hand.
"Here you go, the number seven, chicken sandwich and warm Apple cider. That will be two emeralds!" Alyannie traded the emeralds for the food. "Thank you very much, feel free to sit anywhere you see an empty chair! Most of these people are friendly and won't mind a cute girl joining them!"
Alyannie couldn't help but notice the way Bethany had said 'cute', and blushed slightly. She thanked Bethany for the food, and began to look for a seat as far from the counter as she could.
Her eyes alighted upon a table next to the window that only had one occupant. He had white hair that stuck out to the sides, and the bangs covered one eye. He was wearing a white jacket, with jeans on his legs, and blue and white converse shoes. She approached the table and saw that he was reading a book while he was eating a sandwich of some kind.
"Um, excuse me?" He looked up, his uncovered eye was blue. "May I sit here?" He seemed to ponder the thought of company for a while, before waving a hand, inviting her to sit down. "Thanks."
Alyannie sat down, and placed her food on the table. Her table mate looked at her for a few more moments, before he closed his book. He reached under the table and opened a book bag, where he stored it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't interrupt you did I?" Alyannie asked, worried that she may have done just that.
"Not really." His voice was rather flat and monotone. "It's a pretty boring part of the book. It's just one those moments where the author needs to lay the groundwork for the climax, a pretty slow, but often essential part of story telling." Alyannie's widened at his response.
"I take it you read a lot then?" The boy nodded, his long hair bouncing slightly.
"I typically like mysteries and puzzles. Something a lot of people don't realize is that there are several elements to good mystery, something that authors often seem to struggle with." He took a drink of his cider.
Alyannie did the same, and was surprised at how good it tasted. It took all of her mental strength to not down it all right then. Instead, she slowly took a small bite of her sandwich. After the first bite, she quickly began to eat it more quickly, as she was reminded of how hungry she was. She stopped after a few moments, as she remembered that she had company. She looked at him, but he simply waved, his face not betraying any emotion. She took that as a sign that he didn't really care. She finished her food quickly, but tried to preserve some of her dignity.
"My names Alyannie, Alyannie Smith" She said introducing herself. The boy looked at her.
"You can call me Nel, my last name's not important." Alyannie looked at him curiously for a moment , before she saw that the sun had gone down. "Your new in town right?Do you have any lodgings?"Alyannie thought for a minuet, but realized that she didn't. She shook her head. "I see. Follow me, There is a public bunkhouse in town that a lot of players use until they build a house of there own."
Nel picked up his bag and stood up. He began to walk down the street, with Alyannie quickly chasing after him. The two walked for about a minuet when they reached a large building. The sign outside said 'Bunkhouse'. "Here we are!" Nel said, opening the door, and holding it open for her. She nodded her thanks as she walked in. She saw that the bunkhouse was made of several long hallways, with doors lining the walls, each leading into a different bed room.
Nel showed her to a clerk that was a villager, and helped her check in for the night. Once that was done, he lead her to her door. "Thanks for helping me so much Nel, I really appreciate it!" Alyannie smiled at her new friend, whom she could have sworn smiled slightly as well.
"It's no trouble. I'll probably see you later. Good night!" He turned around and walked down the hall until he stopped four doors down. He waved a goodbye and entered his room.
Alyannie turned and did the same. She stepped inside, and saw that it wasn't much. There was a polished stone tub filled with water for bathing on one side of the room, sectioned off by some curtains. The only other things worth noting were the torches on the walls that kept the room lit, and the bed that sat against the wall.
She lay down on the bed, feeling more comfortable than she had in three days. She thought briefly of her friends, Diane, Alice, Chris, Chem, and Second. She wondered how they were all doing, before she felt the exhaustion of the previous days journeys rapidly take her, and she fell into sleep.
A.N.
Hello everyone! If this chapter seems rushed, it kind of is. I really wanted to get something out to you guys by today (February 7th ). The reason being is that that day is my birthday! And I decided that I wanted to give a present to all of you who are reading this something because I really appreciate all of you. If you are wondering why Alyannie starts most chapters, it's mainly because she is one of the easier characters for me to write. Let me know how I handled things this chapter, how I need to improve, and let me know what you might like to see in the future.
Sincerely
The 25th Doctor
