Backstory Week 0: Introductions
Part of the OC backstor challenge from @yourocsbackstory
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Rial idly scanned the crowded street, leaning against the wall of her guild as she waited for Daniel and his companions to arrive. The sooner they could start moving the sooner this job would be done and over with and she could take a few days to relax at home with Mika and Jinx.
She jumped as something tugged on her cloak. Someone. It was a human child, maybe eight years old, with dark brown curls framing a fair-skinned face and high cheekbones that hinted at a Coastal lineage.
The girl looked up at Rial, her eyes bright and her smile wide. “Who are you?”
Rial blinked down at the child, her lips tilting up into a slight smile under her mask. “Where are your parents?”
“Momma told me to wait here for her until she comes back,” the girl replied.
Concern for this child pushed any thoughts of leaving early from Rial’s mind. “Well, what do you say to me waiting with you? I’d hate to see such a young girl waiting on the streets by herself. My name is Rial Juniper. What is your’s?”
The girl gave Rial a wide smile. “Jenna Nett. My Momma says I always have to give my second name when introducing myself. It’s manners.”
“Your mother is raising you well, then.”
Jenna nodded. “What about your momma? Did she teach you yer manners?”
Rial was glad for the mask that covered her mouth as her smile grew strained. “Of course. That’s what mothers do.”
The girl knit her brows. “I wish they wouldn’t. Bein’ a lady is a lotta work. I’d rather be a boy. They get ta play in the mud without worrying about dirtyin’ dresses.”
Chuckling, Rial bit her tongue. No doubt anything she said would only fuel the child’s rebellious tendencies. Jenna’s mother wouldn’t want her work teaching manners to be undone.
“Do you like marsh blooms? There’s a bunch a really pretty ones back home where me and Momma live,” Jenna said, beginning to ramble on and on about the beautiful flowers in her home town.
