Applying to be a stripper

Adam smiled at her appreciation of his chosen name and also at the show of her disappearing illusion. He honestly thought that was pretty cool-- both the name he just came up with and her magic. Though he can't say he understood completely what she meant by him getting a lot of bachelorette parties in the future.

He looked at the quill and studied it closer when she motioned to it. He saw that the end was pretty sharp. Adam curiously poked it onto his left forefinger and felt a pinprick of pain. He winced. He let the blood collect and drop a few times into the ink pot. After that, he dipped the tip of the quill into the ink again and he signed the paper. The whole tradition thing explained why the inkwell had a bit of red swirling within the black ink.

In a few seconds, the tiny wound had healed. Adam felt himself smile again at the magic behind it all. He was still a little new to the island after all so seeing the unusual things here were always a curious thing for him.

"Yep. I stay at the college dorms in the Academy," he supplied, handing back the quill and sliding towards his new employer the paper and ink pot. "Um, about the illusions though... You said earlier that the scars add visual interest. I wouldn't mind keeping those that are on my body on for customers to be interested in but is it okay if my hands could become... less calloused?"

He motioned to the wrappings around his hands and fingers and shrugged. "I'm not comfortable with how rough they are," he admitted. As a dancer, Adam knew he wouldn't be necessarily touching people but when the time comes that contact is a must, he would want to be able to touch them without making them uneasy with how rough his hands are.

Adam watched her hold her hand out, inwardly glad that she was asking quite politely instead of moving to check them out herself. Not that a lot of people did that, but he appreciated the amount of consideration she showed.

He stepped forward once while he pulled off the elastic clip around his hands. He loosened the wrappings until he could roll them off his right hand. Adam pocketed the balled up bandages before he placed his right hand on top of Yoka's, palm up.

From sight alone, one could already guess how hard and thick the skin on his palms must be, especially at the part by the base of his fingers where palm and his digits joined. The skin itself, though it has grown thick over the years of wear, still became light and dead. Usually, they were ready to be pulled or peeled off. However, as Adam hasn't been doing any of the usual work lately, the dead skin still stuck. Seeing as it has grown quite thick, it will most likely take a while before it would peel off on its own. Adam's fingers were considerably hardened as well.

He stared at his hand for a bit before his eyes lifted to look at Yoka's expression. She spoke, told him that it can be fixed. Adam felt himself smile and imagined a smoother palm, softer fingers.

And then there was a crash that distracted him from picturing it. He walked towards the window to see what the problem was. He missed the scene itself but he could make a deduction from what he was looking at. And by the looks of it, it might be a big problem to the guy drunkenly trying to push himself up.

"Um, sure. I can come with you," Adam said.

Adam looked up at her with delighted and hopeful eyes. She then hopped off her desk. He followed her, noticing more and more how she looked less like the dancer he first saw from downstairs.

He walked behind her, wondering what she'd do to get the mess under control. So far, it seemed like she wasn't touched by the sudden misdemeanor at all. It's as if the incident was a normal occurrence, if her humming was anything to judge this by. But then again, as she said earlier, these things don't happen often.

They arrived at the scene and what a scene it was indeed. Adam's eyebrows rose when he saw the faun and the flame man glaring at each other. It looked like they were both ready to kill each other. He was surprised when his new boss spoke to him about what he thought was best to do here.

Adam looked at her incredulously, realizing later that it might be a test. And he had to admit, it was quite a good way to test people. If they didn't hold the boss-employee relationship and were mere friends, he'd pat her on the back on thinking of a witty way to check the new guy.

"Theoretically speaking, I mean... if I were the boss: Assuming that they can both be talked out of fighting, I'll do that. Offer the dude a few free drinks to quell his anger. As for her, well, I can let her get a few hours off to make up for the trouble. Of course, as long as it had only been a misunderstanding," Adam said confidently. "If it was Flame Dude's mistake, I'll have him pay for his drinks and leave. If it was Faun Girl's bad move, clean-up duty is hers for the night..."

He chewed his lip, showing hesitation only then. He didn't like being put in situations like where Yoka was in right now. Picking between people was something he liked to avoid if he could. "Of course, I'm not, you know, the boss. It's your call," he quickly added with a one-sided shrug and a scratch to the back of the head. "That would be just how I'd probably go about it..."

Adam looked at Yoka with wide eyes when she replied. At first, he didn't understand a single word of it. Mostly because he hasn't taken advantage of a situation to make money. Not always anyway. He has, but under entirely different circumstances--for instance, making bets when his drunk friends started doing stupid things and the like.

This was something Adam didn't even think was possible to take advantage of. Adam's eyebrows rose when Yoka started to announce the fight and the betting rules. He looked at the two, who suddenly seemed uneasy. He wondered if this was a tactic she used to discourage fights, if this was what she did to 'punish' the rule-breakers, employee and patron alike.

"I-I-- no," Adam replied sheepishly. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and a notebook from his bag. "But I can take down names and bets."

And now that he thought of her words again, he realized that maybe she had a point. Of course, he can't claim to understand every word of it, but he understood enough to be able to tell just what kind of person she is and why she might have done her actions. He's not someone who would value 'saving face' over someone else's well-being, but he knew that to some people, it was of utmost importance to them. Especially business owners. His father once upon a time told him something like that when he was being taught about running the company.

Offhandedly, he wondered if his answer had passed him this 'test'.