Innkeeper
Things don't get accomplished by sitting around doing nothing. You have to seize the day! You stand up from your seat and call out to her.
"Eliza!"
"Yes?"
"I like you! Do you like me?"
Not exactly the most mature way of "seizing the day" but fortunately for you Eliza is easily amused and she isn't without her own feelings towards you.
After a few moments of talking the pair of you both realize you can't really do anything major with this relationship now, but after all this spying business is over with you'll be able to.
Except that doesn't really happen and the pair of you are meeting a lot more frequently.
A month passes and Wendy begins to grumble about being short staffed and wonder when the hell Eliza is coming back.
"Eliza's doing important work and I'm sick of hearing criticism about her, so just suck it up and work harder." You tell Wendy
"Are you fucking kidding me? I work like a fucking Dwarven Shieldmaiden around here!" Wendy exclaims. "It's not like Rita does any damn work except sit around and look pretty, and as for those two halfbreed sluts I have to practically light a fire under their asses in order to get them to do anything. Eliza was the only one who I could reliably count on and now I don't even have her because she's fucking you!"
"HEY! Watch who the hell you're talking to!"
"Or what? It's true isn't it? Don't think I haven't noticed the increase in your little meetings with her. Far be it from me to get in the way of young love and all that, but it's starting to interfere with MY life. Tell me has she even found anything to incriminate Frank yet?"
"Well no, but she says there's still a lot of suspicious stuff going on. She says she thinks she might be on to something soon."
Wendy just shakes her head. "I told you we should've just gone with my plan. I'm telling you right now though, I'm not going to put up with being overworked too much longer, so if you expect me to stick around, you better stop playing so much grab ass with her so she can concentrate on her real job."
While Wendy's words give you something to consider, they're a little too late. A few days later while you're going to one of your classes you run into Frank of all people on campus.
"So, this is what college is like eh? I believe I probably would've liked going to this institution. Having more knowledge is always a good thing."
"Frank what are you doing here?"
"Ah, what I'm doing here, let's walk and talk, wouldn't want you to be late for class and all."
You slowly walk with Frank while having a sickening feeling about this whole surprise visit.
"Okay m'boy let's get right to it since you're obviously about to vomit. I know all about Eliza, quite honestly I don't know why I didn't pick up on her reasons for being there in the first place. Stupidness on my part, I suppose I was blinded by the idea that my inn was finally starting to gain more customers again but this isn't about my stupidity, it's about yours."
You stop for a moment as you begin to feel sick to the point that you're dry heaving.
"Oh for alright I better tell you the good news first before you make a damn scene. Eliza is fine for now. Anyway let me get to the point. Your inn is mine now."
"What?"
"Well your mother's inn then, or whoever owns it. I'm not unreasonable so I will buy it for a fair price."
"Wait, you just want me to hand over the inn to you?"
"No, I said I was offering to buy it that is unless you don't really care about your precious Eliza after all."
At this point you get angry and grab Frank by the collar with both hands, causing several passersby to avoid the pair of you. Frank isn't at all intimidated though.
"Attempting to beat the hell out of me isn't going to improve your situation m'boy. Look you need to just accept the fact that you've lost. It's obvious you have feelings for Eliza, so the logical thing to do is to sell your inn."
"I have friends in the Klyton militia, I could just have them storm your place!"
"You could I suppose, but not in time to save Eliza, not to mention that plan might not work out like you think. I have friends of my own too, much more powerful than the Klyton militia." Frank's expression is quite serious at this point.
Lacking any other ideas, you feebly attempt to bluff.
" well maybe Eliza will have to be sacrificed for the good of the inn or "
"Wow, I'm surprised you actually managed to say it, even if you don't mean it. Even if you were serious, I doubt that even you would want to sacrifice your own child within her."
The shock of this revelation leaves you speechless.
"Hmm, didn't tell you then? She's not far along and obviously not showing yet but trust me I know. It's one of the reasons why you're getting this special generous deal. I'm not exactly heartless even though you probably think I'm being a complete bastard right now. Well I suppose I'll leave you to it, I imagine you'll need lots of time to get your stuff in order."
You heart sinks, there's no way out of this. You'll have to tell your mother everything and this is definitely going to put an end to your college pursuits for a long time.
The transfer isn't complicated. Your mother isn't exactly happy about how you bungled all this, but she isn't willing to sacrifice her future grandchild. Not to mention she was only continuing to help with the inn due to your college fees. She's been tired of living in Klyton ever since your father died.
When you and your mother meet Frank at his inn, he has a couple of his waitresses to get Eliza. She looks none the worse for wear. Frank assures you that apart from keeping her locked up in one of his rooms nothing was done to her.
In the following months you eventually marry Eliza and get a job as a lowly clerk filing away insignificant papers and other dull material. You move into a modest apartment and manage to get settled in fairly well due to the money your mother got from selling the inn. She gave most of it to you since she moved to Teckleville to live with her sister Enora.
In the months that follow, Eliza finally gives birth to your daughter. You find yourself working a lot and while you aren't completely unhappy, you begin to feel a sense of dissatisfaction.
In the years that follow you're beginning to feel burned out, you wonder if moving to Teckleville wouldn't be a good idea, but Eliza says that you wouldn't be find work there, or at least not the kind that pays well enough to support all of you. You and her begin to argue a lot, mostly over money and how you never seem to have enough of it.
Another decade and you're practically miserable. You're working at a job that you hate, you live with a wife that you've fallen out of love with and you now have two children that are barely obedient.
It's probably just as well that you suddenly suffer from a heart attack due to all the stress. Any longer and you probably would've snapped and went on a killing spree.
In your last moments you wonder back to your days at the inn and if you could've avoided all this had you done things differently there.
You'll never know.
"Eliza!"
"Yes?"
"I like you! Do you like me?"
Not exactly the most mature way of "seizing the day" but fortunately for you Eliza is easily amused and she isn't without her own feelings towards you.
After a few moments of talking the pair of you both realize you can't really do anything major with this relationship now, but after all this spying business is over with you'll be able to.
Except that doesn't really happen and the pair of you are meeting a lot more frequently.
A month passes and Wendy begins to grumble about being short staffed and wonder when the hell Eliza is coming back.
"Eliza's doing important work and I'm sick of hearing criticism about her, so just suck it up and work harder." You tell Wendy
"Are you fucking kidding me? I work like a fucking Dwarven Shieldmaiden around here!" Wendy exclaims. "It's not like Rita does any damn work except sit around and look pretty, and as for those two halfbreed sluts I have to practically light a fire under their asses in order to get them to do anything. Eliza was the only one who I could reliably count on and now I don't even have her because she's fucking you!"
"HEY! Watch who the hell you're talking to!"
"Or what? It's true isn't it? Don't think I haven't noticed the increase in your little meetings with her. Far be it from me to get in the way of young love and all that, but it's starting to interfere with MY life. Tell me has she even found anything to incriminate Frank yet?"
"Well no, but she says there's still a lot of suspicious stuff going on. She says she thinks she might be on to something soon."
Wendy just shakes her head. "I told you we should've just gone with my plan. I'm telling you right now though, I'm not going to put up with being overworked too much longer, so if you expect me to stick around, you better stop playing so much grab ass with her so she can concentrate on her real job."
While Wendy's words give you something to consider, they're a little too late. A few days later while you're going to one of your classes you run into Frank of all people on campus.
"So, this is what college is like eh? I believe I probably would've liked going to this institution. Having more knowledge is always a good thing."
"Frank what are you doing here?"
"Ah, what I'm doing here, let's walk and talk, wouldn't want you to be late for class and all."
You slowly walk with Frank while having a sickening feeling about this whole surprise visit.
"Okay m'boy let's get right to it since you're obviously about to vomit. I know all about Eliza, quite honestly I don't know why I didn't pick up on her reasons for being there in the first place. Stupidness on my part, I suppose I was blinded by the idea that my inn was finally starting to gain more customers again but this isn't about my stupidity, it's about yours."
You stop for a moment as you begin to feel sick to the point that you're dry heaving.
"Oh for alright I better tell you the good news first before you make a damn scene. Eliza is fine for now. Anyway let me get to the point. Your inn is mine now."
"What?"
"Well your mother's inn then, or whoever owns it. I'm not unreasonable so I will buy it for a fair price."
"Wait, you just want me to hand over the inn to you?"
"No, I said I was offering to buy it that is unless you don't really care about your precious Eliza after all."
At this point you get angry and grab Frank by the collar with both hands, causing several passersby to avoid the pair of you. Frank isn't at all intimidated though.
"Attempting to beat the hell out of me isn't going to improve your situation m'boy. Look you need to just accept the fact that you've lost. It's obvious you have feelings for Eliza, so the logical thing to do is to sell your inn."
"I have friends in the Klyton militia, I could just have them storm your place!"
"You could I suppose, but not in time to save Eliza, not to mention that plan might not work out like you think. I have friends of my own too, much more powerful than the Klyton militia." Frank's expression is quite serious at this point.
Lacking any other ideas, you feebly attempt to bluff.
" well maybe Eliza will have to be sacrificed for the good of the inn or "
"Wow, I'm surprised you actually managed to say it, even if you don't mean it. Even if you were serious, I doubt that even you would want to sacrifice your own child within her."
The shock of this revelation leaves you speechless.
"Hmm, didn't tell you then? She's not far along and obviously not showing yet but trust me I know. It's one of the reasons why you're getting this special generous deal. I'm not exactly heartless even though you probably think I'm being a complete bastard right now. Well I suppose I'll leave you to it, I imagine you'll need lots of time to get your stuff in order."
You heart sinks, there's no way out of this. You'll have to tell your mother everything and this is definitely going to put an end to your college pursuits for a long time.
The transfer isn't complicated. Your mother isn't exactly happy about how you bungled all this, but she isn't willing to sacrifice her future grandchild. Not to mention she was only continuing to help with the inn due to your college fees. She's been tired of living in Klyton ever since your father died.
When you and your mother meet Frank at his inn, he has a couple of his waitresses to get Eliza. She looks none the worse for wear. Frank assures you that apart from keeping her locked up in one of his rooms nothing was done to her.
In the following months you eventually marry Eliza and get a job as a lowly clerk filing away insignificant papers and other dull material. You move into a modest apartment and manage to get settled in fairly well due to the money your mother got from selling the inn. She gave most of it to you since she moved to Teckleville to live with her sister Enora.
In the months that follow, Eliza finally gives birth to your daughter. You find yourself working a lot and while you aren't completely unhappy, you begin to feel a sense of dissatisfaction.
In the years that follow you're beginning to feel burned out, you wonder if moving to Teckleville wouldn't be a good idea, but Eliza says that you wouldn't be find work there, or at least not the kind that pays well enough to support all of you. You and her begin to argue a lot, mostly over money and how you never seem to have enough of it.
Another decade and you're practically miserable. You're working at a job that you hate, you live with a wife that you've fallen out of love with and you now have two children that are barely obedient.
It's probably just as well that you suddenly suffer from a heart attack due to all the stress. Any longer and you probably would've snapped and went on a killing spree.
In your last moments you wonder back to your days at the inn and if you could've avoided all this had you done things differently there.
You'll never know.
