A Courier without Speed

By following the river up into the island, Solomon reached the area known as the Rioton district. There'd been talk of work being one of the island's couriers available there. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around this place just yet, so he figured that getting sent about the island would do wonders for him.

Solomon reached the district's entrance with the cycle by his side. It still refused to start no matter how many times he'd tried along the way, which really had him convinced that there really was something wrong with it. "Alright then," he said catching his breath, "You stay here next to... hmm, Oh! Next to this bush!" He propped the cycle up next to a bush to relieve himself of it. "Now don't go running off while I'm gone. I'll be back in a bit after I figure out how to get some work here. Then we might be able to see who here'll be able to fix you up!" Leaving the bike, he strode into Rioton.

"So then, if I were a new guy looking for work, where would I go for employment?" There didn't seem to be too many houses around to choose from, so one of them must employ couriers. The biggest house seemed to belong to the local mayor. Who would be better at directing him around town than its leader?! "Well then, guess bigger is better! Let's try this one first."

He gave the door a few swift knocks since he never was the one for delicacy. "Helloooo! Anyone home?! Need some help with this whole... living here thing!"

Emphadon had been in his office, sorting through some papers. In turned the room did have some purpose in being a complete mess of loose pages that he'd probably never even have to look at really, but the mess bothered him either way.

Though the office was the longest to the front door, all Empha really had to do was turn around and look out the window to see the man knocking on his door. The helmet he was wearing made it impossible to realistically recognize the man, regardless of whether he'd seen him before or not. If the man happened to look over to the window, Empha would raise his index finger to him in the widely-recognized "one moment" gesture.

He'd have to do something about this long, pointless walk. To get from the office to the front door, he had to walk all they way around the house. Maybe her could put a door to the hall in the dining room, or at least in the living room. That was an issue for another day, though.

Emphadon opened the door to the man. He gave the man an up and down look before looking into the district behind him as though he didn't expect the man to be alone for some unknown reason. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Solomon rocked back on his feet after knocking. His eyes drifting about the house. It certainly was different than the city hotels he'd stayed in countless times before. It was smaller, had a much better build quality, and... He jumped briefly once he noticed that its resident was able to see him from the window the whole time, but the man merely gestured that he'd be a moment. "Well, mystery solved there. At least some one's home."

The mayor, presumedly, answered the door. Here comes the odd story telling. "Oh! Good! You're not the leader here are you? See, I'm kinda in a bind here at the moment. I'm in the market for some work here so I can get settled in, but I'm not exactly... Bah!, what's the word? 'Proficient' at anything practical aside from getting myself from point 'A' to point 'B'. Now I heard some talk about there being some courier positions in this particular area, so maybe you could clear that up for me?" He'd tell the man about his little "engine trouble" once he knew if there was actually an opening or not. Either way, he'd have to ask if there was a mechanic on the island in the first place.

As he spoke, Solomon also eyed the houses about the area. Plenty seemed vacant, and since there didn't seem to be too many people out-and-about, it seemed like a pretty safe assumption. "Also," he added, "Are any of these houses up for grabs?" The prospect of just a house itself would put him on the edge of his seat. He'd never have to worry about wasting everyone's hot water at the hotels again!

Surprised by the man's talkativeness, Emphadon raised both of his palms to face him, gesturing that he should slow down. This was not a conversation to be had across the threshold of his home.

"Well, first things first. Why don't don't you come on in? I'll help you get settled." Empha would wait for the man to enter before shutting the door once more, then he'd direct him towards the living room where there was a sitting area. It was too much effort to escort the man all the way around to his office. He definitely needed to put another door somewhere. Anyway, it was mess. Oh well.

Emphadon spoke as he walked. "Rioton's responsible for getting messages from the Town Hall out to the other as efficiently as possible. Seeing as we only have one courier right now, that's a bit difficult. You'd definitely be able to get a job as a courier here." Empha gestured that the man should have a seat on the sofa. He himself took the armchair, turning it a bit so he could face his guest better.

"All of the houses outside are available except for the one right across the way. You're given a house as long as you hold a job. Are you very good with a horse Mr...?" He trailed off at the end, leaving the sentence open for the man to introduce. Truthfully, the man's get-up worried him. He'd never seen a person dressed in that way. But then, he'd never been very far in-land on any continent. For all he knew, this type of clothing may have been common somewhere.

His mouth got the best of him again. "Haha, sorry about that. My friends say my mouth runs faster than I do sometimes!" Solomon apologized as he was invited in. He took a seat on the sofa, but not leaning all the way back. His backpack was still on, and he didn't quite feel like taking the time to remove the tubing from his helmet to get it off.

The man explained Rioton's position on the island, and the availability of a job and housing to boot! The only problem that stood was the transport issue. "Oh yes! Call me Solomon! And your name is?" he asked, reaching his hand out to shake.

"Anyway, I'd love to take on a courier position here in that case, if you can do that for me! Although, about the horses. I'm not really good with animals or riding anything with a mind of its own. It's just that if I happened to get myself hurt riding, I'd rather blame myself entirely heheh." He'd always say that if anyone asked about riding animals, but also he'd never leaned how to ride one in the first place! Anything he rode had at least one cylinder or a battery powering it along, so anything less worried him. "But thankfully I do have a machine outside that can fill in that particular gap." he said with a broad grin only masked by his helmet.

Emphadon nodded. "I'm inclined to agree with them." He gave a light chuckle and reached to accept the man's handshake. "I'm Emphadon, this district's leader and adviser to the mayor."

Empha raised a brow at the mention of Solomon's mode of transportation. "A machine?" He shook his head. "I'm not really good with that sort, but as long as it gets you from one place to another I guess it doesn't matter. It should also be able to.." Emphadon didn't know the technical term, and so he chose something simpler, "go? Well, on short notice, in case we need something to get somewhere else quickly."

Emphadon stood, almost in a manner that suggested the conversation was over, but it really wasn't. "I trust you'll handle that though. I'm going to go get something for you. I'll be back in a minute."

He walked back out into the foyer and through the door leading into the hall. No it was much too long of a walk. He'd definitely need to arrange for another door to be put in somewhere to make the office more accessible. Empha would return about 5 minutes later with a blank citizen form, but not before spending a large amount of that time sifting through the mass of papers lying about the room.

Empha put the citizen on the coffee table across from Solomon, setting a pen right beside it. He then reclaimed his seat on the armchair. "Fill that out and I'll make sure it gets to town hall. I'll also need a photo of you.. Speaking of which is there any particular reason why you're wearing that helmet?" Empha had found it to be rather rude that Solomon had chosen to keep the headgear on after entering his house. Maybe he did have a legitimate reason though. It seemed it was connected to the pack on his back.

"Emphadon huh? Interesting, don't think I've heard one quite like that before! Well don't worry about the machine because I'll be the one riding it, but there is one issue I'll need to ask later about the whole 'going' thing." Emphadon went to go fetch something from his office, while Solomon twiddled about with his zipper. He figured he'd ask about the mechanical expertise once the district leader returned, but instead Solomon was presented with a bit of paperwork.

"Eh? What's this?" He picked up the paper with a quick *snap* to straighten it out and gave it a good look-over. It was a citizen application sheet! "Ah! Thanks! I'll just get this filled." Wasting no time, he plucked the pen from the table and started filling out various bits of information while listening to Emphadon assure him that it'd get to where it needed to go, but Solomon, and his pen, froze at the final statement. "My helmet? Well..."

He'd had the question several times. Most of the time he gave farfetched stories about the air pressure being too low and removing the helmet would cause his head to burst, or about the time he had his face fused to the helmet by a stray lightning bolt. Although, whenever anyone asked, they were usually friends and just laughed his answer off, dropping the subject. With the man in charge of your house and job however... "I could just give you one of my usual laughable stories, but I'm guessing that this is a bit more serious and fabrications might not go over so nicely." He bounced the pen about on his knee for a moment, determining whether or not to go-on. With a sigh, he decided to continue. "Well, if you really want to know, it's for the same reason I'm completely covered head-to-toe in the first place. There are some things I'd rather not share publicly. Now if the picture is just for records and will be handled as private material, then I guess I'll let you have a mug-shot if that's all that's needed. It's nothing earth-shattering, but I prefer to keep it private." In reality, just some discolorations really weren't as bad as he brought himself to believe, but his helmet and suit were a suit of mental armor that he was always reluctant to remove for just any reason.

Emphadon simply nodded at Solomon's explanation. "That's fine. The records are private. Only the mayor, his secretary and myself can see them. I, personally, don't even like to look them unless I absolutely have to." Emphadon wouldn't intrude on private matters. As of yet, Solomon hadn't given him a good reason to be especially interested. As long it wasn't bad for the island or his district, it didn't concern him.

"As for you.. uh machine, it does need to be able to go. If you need any help with it, we do have a mechanic, Xevi Yuell, up in Earthstone. I haven't gotten the chance her personally yet, but she's probably your best bet. The mayor's secretary is also good with that sort of thing, but she's usually pretty busy."

"You may also want to meet Anyale. She's the other courier as well as the only other person living here in Rioton. I guess it doesn't really apply to you, but she's also the caretaker of the stables."

(I'm really sorry man, I have no idea what happened to me there. Sucks that I end up replying one month later, but here goes nothing.)

Emphadon's pledge of privacy put Solomon's mind at ease for the most part. As long as they weren't going to get out, he was fine. "Alright, uh let's see, so we'll take the picture here? It'll take a minute to get all the gear off my helmet, so let me know before hand. Oh, that too. About the machine; since you mentioned a mechanic, it is a bit... well broken to be blunt. It doesn't start period which means it's not going anywhere anytime soon and in no hurry at that. You think 'Anyale' might be able to help me get that thing wherever there's a mechanic with her horses?" He wasn't too certain how the horses might be able to move his bike, but anything was better than lugging it about the island any further than he had done already.

(Sorry it's a little short, but I'm not exactly sure what else I can do here.)