Totsuka had known that it would be difficult to get onto a Familia, how he may get turned down a handful of times before he found the right Familia for him. But it was leagues harder than he had thought it would be, he had first traveled to the biggest Familias to apply. But most would not even take his application form and the few that did slipped his form to the bottom of the pile each time in the stack of other people that had applied.
But he held out hope that he would find a Familia that would give him a chance and take him in, but all he found was more disappointment and rejections. Certain Familias like the Hephaestus Familia required any new recruit to have at least a basic knowledge or skill in blacksmithing which was something that Totsuka possessed none, he had seen a man in his village forge a few blades and axes before but he was only able to craft rudimentary weaponry and tools and had no formal training. But even then Totsuka had not actively tried to learn anything from the man, he had just enjoyed watching the sparks fly up into the sky before fizzling out when he was a little kid.
After his eleventh or twelfth rejection it only got worse, it started to rain heavily and turned the suddenly lonely stone streets of Orario into small rivers as water flowed down the roads and down the drains into the sewers every few blocks. He pulled out a black overcoat that he kept in his small black backpack and pulled it over himself, in an attempt to stay dry but it soon became drenched and made little difference. His jacket was waterproof to a degree, so he could at least take comfort in the fact that the journal his old man had left him was safe.
That was the little comfort he received as he slowly walked around the city and visited smaller and smaller Familias, the rejections became only worse with each one. While the larger familias like Freya, Loki and Ganesha had turned him down kindly saying things in the likes of "Yeah, maybe we have a spot for you. If you do make it in we will seek you out, until then good luck elsewhere." which Totsuka figured was just a kind of way of saying 'Yeah we don't want you so go away.'
But as the Familias he visited got smaller the rejections got worse, they stopped saying that they would even come and find him if they let him actually join. Some insulted him for his looks or low skill, some just told him to go bother someone else and others just slammed the doors in his face or turned their backs to him.
"Well… that was the last one for today, I think…." Totsuka looked up as the sun was just setting out of eyesight over the walls of Orario and began getting dark out, he pulled the journal out from under his coat and kept it sheltered inside his cloak as he checked the map in search of the nearest Inn. He found one only a few blocks away and made his way towards the 'Inn of the Midnight Black Cats'. He arrived at the Inn several minutes later with a sign dangling from a crescent moon with a black cat and yellow eyes sitting in the crevice of the moon.
He entered the Inn and stopped at the check in counter, he asked about getting a room and almost had a small stroke as the Innkeeper said that it would cost him over three thousand Valis for a room and that was not including meals as all the cheaper rooms had been bought up and they were nearly full. He asked the Innkeep if there were any other Inns around that would have room, and the man just shook his head and wished him the best of luck at finding a room for the small pocket change he was willing to cough up.
He walked back into the rain as he flipped his hood back up and visited several more Inns that were close to the first, all giving him the same story and as he exited the seventh Inn that he had tried in the previous last hour. In a build up of rage he picked up a small stone that was laying in the street and whipped it into the nearest brick wall as he took a few deep breaths. He did not know what time it was as the thick rain clouds that showed no signs of stopping blocked out the stars and most of the moon's glow.
Giving up, Totsuka found himself a pleasant spot in the nearest alley that was somewhat dry thanks to a canvas overhang above. He sat down with a soft wet squish and shivered slightly as raindrops dripped down onto him from above in an agitating inconsistent rhythm. He pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he buried his face into his knees, several small tears started leaking from the corners of his eyes as he sat in the cold dark alley by himself.
I-it wasn't s-supposed to be this h-hard… it was supposed t-to be e-easy for me to find a F-familia to join… w-with g-g-grandfather g-gone… a-all… all I wanted was… a family… Totsuka thought to himself as he drifted off to an uncomfortable restless slumber.
𖦹𖦹𖦹
He did not sleep for very long, as he was awoken by a soft voice and someone kicking his foot gently, he jerked his head up suddenly as his eyes flashed open. He had remembered one thing from his grandfather that he had told him one time about Orario when he was a little boy and asked him what it was like, ' What is Orario like?' 'Well it is grand! But, you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy around than Orario.'
Totsuka expected to see some cloaked figure looming over him brandishing a knife to rob him, or even a small gaggle of men that would have weapons at the ready to end his adventuring career before he even made it down into the dungeon.
He was pleasantly surprised when his eyes adjusted to the dark and instead he saw a young girl with hair that was a shiny steel grey and matching eyes that looked down on him from her slightly crouched position. She had a green uniform on with a lighter green cloak over her to protect her from the still falling rain. In her hands she held a paper bag that held several ingredients and a small assortment of food, she used her body to shelter the groceries as she stared at him with a curious expression.
She had flinched and jumped back slightly as Totsuka had suddenly jerked his head up and as he let his shoulders relax she too seemed to relax slightly before she softly spoke to him in the most gentle manner that anyone had used with him since he entered Orario. "E-excuse me mister… b-but are y-you alright…?".
Totsuka was slightly taken aback by the sudden question, the only other person that had spoken to him even slightly as kindly as the young woman now in front of him, was the man that had sold him the kebab from earlier. And even then, he could have just been acting that way to get the three hundred Valis from him and try to earn another customer to his stall.
He had wanted to say that he was fine, that he was just a little tight on Valis, but the repressed combination of sadness and anger that had been building up throughout the day bubbled up and he shook his head slightly. He couldn't even look the young woman in the eyes as he shifted his gaze back down to their feet. A few stray tears leaked from the corners of his eyes again as he let out several small whimpers instead of verbal words, though if he needed to, he could just deny the fact that he was crying and just blame it on the rain. For the first time in hours he was actually thankful for the rain.
"W-well…. i-if you want… y-you could… come with me, I work at a Pub not too far from here… the owner is really nice… I-I am sure that she would take you in for a night… especially in weather like this…" She softly offered him as he saw her feet inch slightly closer to his.
Totsuka had wanted to politely turn her down so that he did not trouble her with himself, but at the same time he could not stand to sit outside in the cold and under the rain any longer. He cleared his throat and tilted his head back to look up at the young woman and as he nodded he spoke the simple two words, "Y-yes please…".
The young woman smiled brightly as she extended her hand out towards him and gestured for him to stand up with her. He placed his hands on the stone ground and pushed himself up off of the ground as he used the wall to support himself. The woman reached out and gently held onto his shoulder as his knees wobbled for a second, he gave her a small nod before she hesitantly retracted her hand once he pushed himself off of the wall and took a few crooked steps like he was under the influence of some kind of substance.
She quickly followed beside him and the two started to walk down the empty street in the rain, after a minute of silence Totsuka broke the silence with a proper introduction to the first person that had treated him like a real person in the last several hours. "M-my name is Totsuka Hideka… what is your name..? Sorry, I should have asked sooner…"
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't even give you my name yet, I am Syr Flova! It is very nice to meet you, mister Hideka." The young grey haired woman said with a bright smile on her face as she leaned forward slightly while walking and tilting her head to the left to look at his face.
Totsuka blushed slightly as he averted his gaze from her stoney eyes and directed them back down to his feet as he softly mumbled his words out under his breath "Y-yeah, it is nice to meet you too… and you can just call me Totsuka, no need to bother with all that mister crap… you are making me feel older than I really am…"
"Okay, but then you have to just call me Syr then, deal?" The girl asked him as she leaned over to the left more and peaked back into the corner of his vision as he blushed a deeper shade of red as she giggled softly.
"S-sure, I th-think I can do that… I suppose" Totsuka stammered out as he tried to focus on the pace of his feet against the wet stones that made up the road, instead of the young woman that was not leaning her left arm up against his right side and humming to herself as they walked along. He hoped that it would not be much farther to the pub, as his feet were starting to hurt, the water had soaked through his boots and made the emergency coin that he kept in them only more painful on the bottom of his feet.
Luckily, for the first time that day, his prayers to the Gods and Goddesses were answered as the girl next to him suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and excitedly said "This is it!" as she gestured towards the only building on the street that had a candle light still lit in the window. The building looked to be two stories with an additional attic on top, and Totsuka guessed that by the size of the building it likely had a basement too. Above the doorway hung two signs, on the right side of the double doors was a carving of a crossed fork and knife with an overflowing mug behind them, and on the opposite side hung a larger rectangular shaped sign that read 'Hostess of Fertility' with a smaller line below it reading 'Best Pub In Orario'.
By the time Totsuka had snapped out of his sense of amazement at the beautiful building and decorative engravings around the widows and doorway, Syr walked up the few steps her shoes making wet squishy sounds with each step as she stopped and opened the door and gestured for him to come inside.
Totsuka walked up the steps and stopped once he was inside the building and pulled the hood of his brown overcoat down and shook his wet hair out, Syr entered the building and did the same as he did and removed her hood before locking the door behind her.
Totsuka scanned the room, seeing that the large room was filled with tables with chairs stacked on top of them, and a large bar at the opposite side of the room, a large bulky woman standing behind it with her arms crossed and an unamused look on her face. "Syr!" Her voice echoed through the empty room, bouncing off the wooden walls and making a glass mug behind her fall off of its shelf and smash on the ground, but the woman did not seem to care as she stared at the now shaking grey haired woman.
"Y-yes Ma-mama Mia…?" She meekly whispered out as she shivered.
"I thought that I told you to pick up a few ingredients that we were low on for the special tomorrow… not pick up a new friend..." She said sternly as she continued to stare at the girl as she stuttered and tried to come out with some reasonable answer before Totsuka jumped in defence of the young woman.
"It wasn't her fault! I—"
"You what? Made her bring you here, threatened her?" The woman accused him as she shifted her gaze from Syr to him instead, making him flinch slightly.
"N-no! Mama Mia please, I got the ingredients just like you asked me too and as I was on my way back he was sleeping on the street in the rain… can't he sleep here for just the night?" Syr quickly asked before anything got out of hand and Mama Mia came to a conclusion about him before she even gave him a chance.
"Fine. A single night, no more. You caught me in a good mood." The woman said as her shoulders sagged slightly and she let out a small sigh. If this was what she was like when she was in a good mood, then Totsuka did not want to find out what the goliath of a woman was like when she was in a bad mood.
Totsuka opened his mouth to speak and thank the woman before she started to speak again and prevented him from doing so ."You can sleep in the attic upstairs, once morning comes I want you gone." The woman said bluntly as she jerked her head to the left towards a staircase in the very corner of the room directly diagonally across from the entrance.
Totsuka did not need to hear more as he quickly made his way across the room towards the staircase, saying a quick 'thank you' to the woman as he passed and gave her a quick wave, before he started to climb the stairs with Syr following close behind him as the two left a small water trail with their boots and shoes across the floor.
"Not you Syr." Mama Mia said just as the young woman had placed her right foot on the first step, preventing her from going any farther. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and planted her right foot back on the wooden floor boards. She hung her head and looked at her feet and the floor as she waited to be spoken to further.
"Syr…" Mama Mia said, in a calmer voice than how she had previously addressed the young woman, but Syr just assumed that it was the calm before the storm as she kept her lips firmly pressed against each other only preparing to speak when spoken to, to not further anger the woman. "... I am not mad at you… I want to make that clear, for one.. secondly I am actually proud of you, you did a good thing. The other servers here can all take care of themselves so I am not concerned about that boy sleeping here for one night, Gods know that if he even tries anything he will be dead before sunrise. But if you aren't careful, people can take advantage of that kindness and abuse it, just… be more selective and careful with what you do… okay?"
"Y-yes Mama Mia, it won't happen again… I promise!" Syr said happily as the small frown that stained her complexion faded and grew into a slight smile.
"Good, now you should hurry and get going..." Mama Mia looked through the open windows of the front of the pub and saw the heavy downpour that was taking place outside with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With a small sigh Mama Mia set down the mug she had been cleaning with a damp white rag and leaned against the counter. "You may as well stay for the night Syr, the orphanage will have to hunker down for a night without you. Just sleep in one of the spare beds upstairs for the night, as appreciation for going out to do that last minute shopping for me."
"T-thank you Mama Mia! I will see you tomorrow morning! Good night!" The young woman said as quickly as possible as she dropped the bag of groceries off at the bar counter and quickly scampered up the stairs before the pub's owner could come up with anything else to lecture her about for the night.