Order Up for a New Main Character

 Khorrina looked around her workplace, her second home. Dozens and dozens of Adventurers piling into the biggest roadside diner/tavern in the country. You could never go on a quest given by a Guild Leader without going here. She sighed, so much for her though. While she’s not an Adventurer, she’s a pretty darn good worker here! Some workers heard rumors that some Adventurers only go to see her.

 The dracovin-hybrid blushed at the thought of that. Like anyone would come to see her!

“Order up! 2 sets of scrambled griffin eggs for table 10!”

 She rushed at the call of another waitress. Sometimes the place was understaffed, so she always did what she could to help.

 “Hey, Ms. Nybien! What’s the ratio of sand salt to eggs?” one chef called out.

 “Two teaspoons per egg!” she called back. 

 “Ms. Nybein! The number of griffin eggs in a set?” another one asked.

“Three!”

 The chefs worked as fast as they could go. Trusting that they could handle the rest, Khorrina left to go serve some more orders.

 Daphinne, one of her coworkers, came up to her and asked, “Hey, can you go serve Table 12? Everybody is already busy trying to serve the others.”

The hybrid nodded, anything for a coworker!

 She came over to Table 12 and was surprised to see that it was...absolutely horrendous. Three men occupied the table, and they were all yelling and saying such crude things.

 The hybrid put on a forced smile. Just deal with it and get paid, that’s all you have to do. Plus, she’s not one to not do her job, right? She approached the table.

 “Hello...sirs. May I take your order?” she asked as politely as she could. One of the men looked her up and down and whistled.

 “Damn! You were right Ogbin! She is as pretty as ya’ said!” one of them said. She shivered, wasn’t the first time this happened, yet it still managed to bother her…

 “Told ya!” another one, probably that Ogbin guy, said. He turned toward her. “Say, pretty, wanna ditch this joint to go have fun?”

 “Um, I don’t think so...I still have to finish my shift if I want to get paid…” Khorrina replied, desperately hoping that excuse would turn him away.

 It didn’t.

 “Aww, come on~. I know I can pay ya better than this pothole would. C’mon, whatcha say about spendin’ some time with a loyal customer?”

 He was not a loyal customer, and the hybrid knew it. She heard stories of this guy trying to barge into employee-only spaces, leering at some of the female workers, and throwing hot beverages onto the male ones.

 Khorrina was surprised that he was allowed in, considering this ogre-guy was banned from ever coming in here. Still, she’s loyal to her workplace, and so she will not budge.

 “Hey, Ogbin, think ya scarin’ her.” The last one said, while looking a lot better than the others, there was this dark aura surrounding him. He turned and batted his eyes at Khorrina, hearts pulsing in his eyes. The hybrid knew this trick, Emyra almost got kicked out of town because she nearly stole an artifact because of it!

 Nonetheless, the manager ordered that they learn how to conquer any love spell that might be thrown at them. But this...this was a lot stronger than the ones she learned how to counteract. It...it wouldn’t hurt, right? To just...go for a little spin…with him...

 “HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!” 

 Khorrina’s head shot up, breaking the trance. She turned towards the direction of the voice. It was thin, but a strong-looking guy. Messy black hair and a Beginner’s Outfit Set, he looked so main-character like…

 “Hey, buzz off kid. I was just tryin’ to show her a good time!” the guy-did he just grew horns?-growled. His eyes flashed pink. Was he a love-eater? 

 “I ain’t fallin’ for that! You tried to eat her heart!”

 “There was something on her apron!”

 The hybrid looked down at her chest, gasping when she saw a hole in her apron and shirt. Acting on impulse, and disgust, she hit the guy with the Arium tray she was holding and stormed off to get changed.

 …

Moments later, she came out with a simple t-shirt and skirt. The manager was very upset to hear she nearly died. His best worker died? That just couldn’t happen!

 (If she listened closely enough, she could still hear screaming and the shattering of multiple glass and plates.)

 She sighed, the hybrid had yet to thank the mysterious person that saved her. She’s sure she’ll see him soon enough, anyway. She marched straight to the bar in the tavern section, her tail knocking over several chairs.

 Eh, whatever. She’s not on shift right now, so she doesn’t care.

 “One Iysmia Burst with two shots of sake, please,” Khorrina said, sitting down on a stool.

 The bartender felt pity and made her drink extra large.

 As she slurped down the beverage, the guy who saved her came up to her. 

 Great, he’s going to talk to her while she’s getting drunk. Wonderful.

 He ordered the Saxberry Pump and sat down next to her. On closer inspection, Khorrina noticed that small tufts of fur were around his neck. A werewolf, perhaps?

 “Hey...um,” he started to speak, looking oddly sheepish, “Are you alright?” 

 If “alright” counted as not dragged down to Hellborne, then yes, she was alright. If “alright” meant mentally stable, that was up in the air for question.

 “I’m good...I guess,” she replied, losing the vigor she carried in her job. “Just’ tryin’ to forget what happened today.” the hybrid sighed. Don’t get her wrong, she loves working here. It’s just, sometimes it’s a little too much to handle sometimes.

 The werewolf guy seemed to ponder a bit before a spark lit up in his eyes, Khorrina got confused, what was there to celebrate right here and now? He turned to face her.

 “Why don’t you join my team? The last person we need is a Healer, I bet you’d be perfect for it!”

 The hybrid reeled back, as wasn’t something she just told people. Most Adventurers assumed she was a failed Rouge!”

 “How did you know that?” she questioned, her tone becoming defensive.

 “Uhh...your manager told me?”

 Of course he did, she thought bitterly, handing her expired application out to random people like that, Curse you, Xenix, I’d kill you if I couldn’t get paid with you dead.

“C’mon, you’ll be great for our team! We’ve got a Tank, a Thief, a Wizard, and an aspiring Hero, that’s me!” he proudly claimed, not realizing the obvious hole in his team.

 “Wait, ‘aspiring’?” Khorrina questioned, “How can you be aspiring to be a hero. You either pass the exam or not!”

 The boy looked away again, not exactly willing to admit he was a weak Archer that couldn’t even hold a bow the way he was supposed to. He looked back to Khorrina with puppy dog eyes.

 “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease join us! We could really use a hand with our quest! Really, really, really!” he begged, practically whimpering.

 The hybrid sighed, he would start to draw attention if he kept begging. Plus, it would be nice to get out beyond her house and work for a while…

 “It’s going to take me at least a month to renew my Adventurer license.” she finally said, which was a big fat lie. It would probably only take 2 weeks, but she’s probably going to need those extra 2 weeks to prep herself up.

 The werewolf guy sprang up and started dancing, celebrating the fact he finally got a Healer to join them or something, were they too fresh of a team that no one wanted to join them or something? 

 “Woooo, now with a Healer, we can go face that Crimson Lava Dragon guy!”

...THE WHAT?!?!?!?!?

To be continued…(or begun).