Involuntary Volunteers! [EVENT]

Kyr tried to dodge the hand trying to grab her by the arm for the umptied time, only to find her untimely escape blocked by a group of teens waltzing their way through the crowd. She actually cursed underneath her breath when the man caught up, practically dragging her back to the staff area of volunteers. ”I keep telling you, I’m not one of the volunteers!” The white-haired woman struggled, only to get a stern look from the man in question, who was in fact running the entire charity to boast the workers’ morale. “You should’ve told us that yesterday when you applied, missy. Now you’re in it for the next three days.” The man said in a commandeering voice, leaving the former demoness to helplessly trot along after him. ”But I did! They mistook me for someone else and-”. “And now you’re going to finish your volunteering duties like any other upstanding citizen!” He cut her off, pushing an apron in her hands.

Kyrenai frowned deeply, her eyes wide as she exclaimed ”I don’t even live here!”, only to immediately stop talking the moment the man glared at her. She groaned, rolling her eyes and snatching the serving tray from his hands. ”Fiiiiiine, geez.” she huffed, putting the apron over her head and tightening the straps. The man couldn’t help but smirk ever so smugly, knowing exactly how to deal with the stubborn ones out there; that, and the woman had proven a surprisingly valuable asset to the charity, being very fast on the uptake and not being bothered at all by any of the workers or her surroundings. As if she had never heard of Newdale’s reputation before. Little did they know she never had either. She’d tried telling them, but had never gotten any farther than “I don’t live here”.

So here she was, day two of her involuntary volunteering at the welfare put together by a kind yet headstrong Newdaler, again, stuck. She hadn’t even wanted to stick around Newdale that long, but sadly for her she took her duties very seriously… even if it involved duties she got forced onto her. And, let’s be real here for a second. She didn’t have anywhere pressing to go, let alone anywhere to go at all. At least they were kind enough to provide her with lodging while she helped out? Guess that was the only good thing about this all. With a rather unamused face and a tray nestled underneath her arm Kyrenai pulled her lucious hair into a ponytail and made her way to the bar, regretfully going to ask where they needed her.


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@Ezra

The sun shone brightly upon the plaza as workers bustled busily back and forth down the wide cobblestone streets of Newdale. Ezra stood under the shadows of one of the shops on the main rampart, leaning against a wall as he watched carts of materials and workers travel back and forth to the worksite further down the road. That area was under heavy guard and Ezra had no interest in getting in the way of the workers there, the spot he had chosen was more than busy enough for his tastes.  There was a palpable tension in the air with such tight throngs of people working on what was a widely controversial project, but it gave Ezra hope to see it making progress despite that.  While Newdale had long been a city where the eldritch and the humans could mingle, the church might become a shining symbol of that unity… if the naysayers that wished for the project to fail didn’t end up having their way.

Ezra sighed,  removing himself from his position on the wall and moving further into the bustling throngs of people in a smaller street adjacent to that main road. Here, vendors on either side hawked their wares to the workers taking their breaks in shifts, some of them even providing such things for nothing as the powers that be funded this whole operation in an attempt to curry public favour. While it wasn’t exactly a celebration-type atmosphere, the mood was nonetheless fairly positive.

Ezra walked with a slight limp, using his cane to support himself as he took his time perusing the grounds. It was a practiced thing, as Ezra’s legs worked just fine, but it gave him an excuse to carry the cane instead of an obvious weapon. While a weapon might seem to deter thugs Ezra found the threat of violence only begets more violence. He prefered to try to talk his way out of things when possible.

A crash to his left brough Ezra out of his own thoughts and back to reality. He turned to gaze out upon a multitude of populated tables mostly packed with customers and too few waitresses attempting to serve them all. It didn’t take him long to see the cause. As a family of two with a young child left a table completely covered with their trash, his eyes settled fairly quickly on a bowl just settling after likely bouncing a couple of times. What slobs… with the waitresses already completely understaffed they were still so inconsiderate. Well, even if they never noticed, at least it could lessen the burden on one of these workers he supposed. Ezra made his way over to the table the slobs had left behind and began to hum quietly to himself as he picked up the bowl off the ground and began stacking the dishes to make them easier to carry to the back. Ezra had planned to leave it at that, but fate had other plans for him.

“Excuse me?” A voice cut through the background noise just as Ezra finished what he had planned to do at the table. Ezra turned to find himself staring at a pretty young redheaded woman in a suit peering at him over the bring of her brass plated glasses. Her hair was tied tighty in a bun behind her head and she carried herself with a no-nonsense demeanor fitting for a head maid of some sort, except in her hans she also held a clipboard and a pen.

“Hello!” Ezra replied cheerily, though under his smile he wondered if she suspected him of trying to steal scraps or something of the sort. While much of the fair was more or less free to the customers the stalls only got paid based on the amount they gave out so even beggars who couldn’t pay were expected to go through the lines. Still, he could surely explain what was going on if she got on him about it. Instead of rambling, Ezra simply inquired, “What can I do for you?”

The young woman looked up and down, glancing over to the stacked set of dishes, then to his chest, and finally down to his cane. She jotted something down on her keyboard, then said, “I don’t know who assigned you here, but we can get to the bottom of that later. You obviously shouldn’t be trying to walk around like that, but we can still use you behind that bar.” The woman indicated a nearby bar, continuing without even returning her gaze to him. “I know you;re a volunteer but we do expect at least a minimum of presentation to represent us. We’ve brought an abundance of aprons, there are extras in every stall representing us. Put one on before you start serving orders” Without sparing Ezra a second glance the woman quickly walked away, presumably to find her next hotspot to examine of infraction to fix.

Ezra blinked twice before letting out a small helpless chuckle. She hadn’t even given him a chance to explain that he had only meant to help the overburdened hostesses and be on his way. While this certainly was not his wheelhouse, he supposed it was certainly for a cause he could get behind, even if he had a feeling if she had known he was anthro she wouldn’t have been so quick to take him into service.

Ezra made his way over to the bar, greeting the current barman and donning an apron before turning his gaze outward. He supposed if he worked with this man for a little bit he would catch on quickly enough. He figured the normal menu was somewhat reduced for the sake of serving such a large number of workers so it wouldn’t be too difficult.

Ezra was just beginning to settle into his position for the day when a rather striking young waitress made her way towards him. Ezra knew right away he had not seen her earlier, as she stood out like a sore thumb. She was strikingly beautiful, with long white hair and piercing emerald eyes, though she currently carried herself as one resigned to her fate rather than like one of the waitresses that has been serving his section for the last half hour who simply looked too busy to think.  

“What can I get for you?” Ezra said with a cheery smile, assuming from the look on her face she might be coming up here with some sort of order she DID NOT want to fill.




Word Count: 1090
Personal Word Count: 1090
Total Word Count 1428