Gen 01 || Chapter 01.002
Ailsa sighed as she stepped off the subway, looking around at the passing strangers. She hadn’t gotten nearly far enough in her opinion, but this particular subway only went as far as this. And the next subway wouldn’t arrive for two more hours.
At least it wasn’t raining. And the subway station was near a park. Ailsa’s plan had been to get as far away from her old home as she could possibly get, but maybe she could stop a moment to fish or look for frogs or something. After all, the next subway went all the way to a city where a flea market was taking place that day, and it would be nice to have something to sell.
Ailsa was quite surprised by how easy it was to catch a couple of frogs. And it was breeding season too, so two frogs quickly became three. The fishing didn’t go as well, with Ailsa only catching a single guppy before she had to catch the subway.
The flea market was well on its way by the time Ailsa arrived, but there was an empty table that she was able to book, and she got her guppy and frogs set up on it. It wasn’t long before an interested customer came along to check out her wares.
“Oh, this guppy will make a great pet!” the customer said. “I’ll take it!
Unfortunately, Ailsa’s frogs weren’t as popular as her guppy. She couldn’t sell a single one, despite booking the table again and again. Eventually she gave up and offered them to a random passing stranger. The stranger was kind enough to take pity on her, and offered her §30 for each frog, so at least it wasn’t a total loss. Now she had enough money to book a train ticket all the way to Nordhaven, and still have some left over for food.
Ailsa decided to buy herself a plate of curry from a flea market food stand. Curry was something she’d always wanted to try but never had the chance. It was a lot spicier than Ailsa was expecting, and she would later swear that she breathed fire.
Her train didn’t leave until later that evening, so Ailsa spent some time shooting hoops at the basketball court and singing karaoke in the bar. She had a feeling people didn’t like her karaoke much, but she totally nailed that song! It wasn’t Ailsa’s fault they couldn’t handle her singing. But she was getting a lot of dirty looks and boos, so she decided to high-tail it out of the bar and check out the sights.
It was a lovely evening for a stroll, and the temperature was cooling off enough that Ailsa didn’t need to change back into her hot weather clothes. As she was walking, she noticed a living statue performing in the street. She was surprised to find a street performer in full gold paint walking around. After all, it was still pretty warm. Surely all that paint would drip!
Ailsa watched the living statue, amazed at how they stood perfectly still. She considered trying to scare them, but immediately chased the thought away. It would be so mean to do that! Too mean! Feeling guilty, she decided to tip the street performer.
“Hey, thanks!” the living statue said. “Not many people tip us these days! That’s very kind of you!”
“Yeah, well, I don’t have much money at the moment, so I can’t tip much,” Ailsa sighed. The living statue replied, “Well, why don’t you give street performing a try? I have a selection of spare costumes! You can have them! Consider it thanks for the tip!”
Ailsa protested, but the living statue insisted, so she reluctantly accepted their spare costumes. Maybe she would be able to find some use for them. At the very least, she could use them to perform for tips if she needed to. Though she didn’t really wanna be walking around in full paint in a heatwave.
As she walked away from the living statue, Ailsa noticed a peculiar object nearby. It looked like a bubble blower. Or at least she thought it did. She’d never actually seen one in real life before. Intrigued, Ailsa sat down and took the hose.
It was so… relaxing. And she didn’t even cough once! But the flea market was coming to a close, and before she knew it, the bubble blowers were gone.
“Hey!” she protested. “I was using that!” But the bubble blowers did not return. Grumbling, Ailsa stalked off, pausing to rip a poster off a power box nearby. At least she could take a souvenir with her, despite having not bought anything.
But then, she heard the sound of a train whistle. Oh no! she thought. I’m going to be late! Ailsa ran as fast as she could and just barely made it onto the train in time. Oh, thank the Watcher! That ticket was non-refundable!
As the train sped off, Ailsa started to feel tired. By the time she arrived in Nordhaven, she was exhausted. She couldn’t even wait to find a hostel, she just curled up on a bench and fell asleep.
Tales From IridianSinclair 
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