“Attention, the train to Aldcrest is now arriving at platform B.” A voice called over the train station intercom.
Lily hopped off the bench and hustled towards the platform as the car pulled in. As she had for the past two weeks, Lily Thorne boarded the first train of the morning. The rabbit moved quickly towards the back to make sure her favorite seat wasn’t taken by the other half-awake riders who joined her. .
Like every other morning, the car was packed with people on their way to one of the larger cities. Lily was there for the same reason most people from Dustburrow rode the rails: to find a job. Her hometown was never really a place known for gainful employment unless you wanted to be a farmer or soldier. Neither were options Ms. Thorne was interested in.
“Good morning, riders! We do hope you are having a wonderful morning.” A cheerful voice spoke over the intercom after a time. “We will soon be approaching Glazemeadow Station.” Just as the announcement was finished, the train rose into the air on an elevated track. Here, the entire train was greeted by the sight of a brilliant sunrise. The rays warmed Lily and gave the rabbit a little bit of hope in what this day could hold.
As the train doors opened to let off some passengers into Glazemeadow, Lily pulled out a folded piece of paper from her satchel. Once laid out, she ran her eyes down the list of mostly scratched-out entries, and the number of remaining options made her stomach drop. The hastily scribbled collection of names and addresses were places listed as 'Hiring' on the few online job boards for Aldcrest she hadn't already picked clean. The many scratched-out entries had either turned her away or never called her back. From a promising list of thirty, only three remained.
"Damn it." Lily whispered. Her eyes ran over the list again and felt less and less confident while reading the names of the twenty-seven dead ends. With her gaze finally returning to the remainder, Lily shook her head and huffed. “One of these will be it. I know it. Yeah!” her words growing in both confidence and volume, “Hell, Kisa might actually get one too. Then the band will take off! Goddess wills it!” The last bit of her personal pep talk ended in a low roar which drew the attention of the few passengers within ear shot. Their sudden interest caused the rabbit to sink down in her seat. She held the list close to her face, pretending to read while hoping they would all go back to their business.
The job hunt had not been kind to her. Every day of the past two weeks had ended with Lily's account being a few credits lighter with no new ones coming in. However, neither the mounting bills nor the coming rent were the most significant money sink Lily was focused on.
The rabbit sat back up in her seat after peeking at the other passengers to see if they returned to not paying her attention. The train car had started back up on the rail and Lily scanned the riders from Glazemeadow. They all were average fare and pretty similar to those who got on with her from Dustburrow.
One rider did catch her attention. By the door stood a horse whose face was buried in a book. On his back rested a guitar case decorated in a litany of stickers and decals. Thankfully, his lack of attention allowed her uninterrupted staring at the mural on the container. While taking it in, Lily thought about her own instrument.
Songbird, like her player, had seen better days. The guitar sat broken by her bedroom door. Lily got lost playing a solo during a show and snapped the strings. The neck was broken shortly after when the promoter thought it was an excellent idea to stiff the band. That was a few months back, but even then, the gigs for her band weren't really coming in.
“Attention riders, we will be arriving at South Aldcrest Station shortly.” The voice snapped Lily out of her gawking.
As her stop was quickly approaching, Lily hastily refolded the short list of hopefuls before hopping out of her seat. Seeing how she was going to get off soon anyway, the curious rabbit moved closer to the horse’s instrument for a better look. While marveling at the array of tour stickers and decals for bands she had never heard of, the case’s owner had caught her from the corner of his eye.
"You like?" The horse asked while earmarking the page in his book.
"Yeah. I play too. Seems like you've been around judging by the case."
The horse nodded as the train slowed to a stop. "Sure have. Heading to a recording session in Harvestvale."
"Recording session? Got a band?"
"Yeah, but this is just session work. Gotta pay the bills."
"Ugh, I know. Well, good luck friend.”
"Same to you."
Lily and the stranger parted ways as she joined the others filing out into South Aldcrest station. She glanced over her shoulder back at the horse one last time with envy in her eyes. Envious of what the stranger had planned for his day. He is plying his craft for money and not trying to find something just to pay the bills. Instead Ms. Thorne started her trip into Aldcrest the same way she had for the past two weeks. With a lot of forced optimism and dwindling patience.
The last bit of said dwindling patience slipped away by late afternoon. It happened when the person who ran the last place on her list unknowingly ended their conversation early with a 'We just hired someone yesterday.' She left the business with a polite smile, but the lack of hope had her fighting back tears.
"Dear Goddess, what am I going to do?!" Lily growled while violently crumpling up the paper. It was spiked into the sidewalk by the rabbit before she stomped off in no particular direction. "No job, no shows, and I am almost out of credits."
As the rabbit slipped deeper into her sadness, a vibration from her pocket grabbed her attention. Hoping for good news, Lily hastily pulled the phone from her pouch. Regrettably, it didn't make her feel any better as it was just a reminder that rent was due next week. Since the phone was out, Lily decided to check her text messages and let out a sigh to see her mate, Kisa, still hadn't messaged her back.
The wolf she shared a relationship and apartment with wasn't there when she woke up in the morning. He was also missing the night before too. This, unfortunately, wasn't unusual as of late with Kisa. He would regularly go missing for one to two days at a time before popping back up, usually smelling of alcohol and perfume. Whenever Lily would ask her partner where he was, his responses ranged from half-hearted excuses to forcing her to drop the subject by outright ignoring her. This would eventually lead to a massive fight followed by a quick makeup before disappearing again.
With Lily's mind lost in thought about her increasingly worsening situation, she paid very little mind to her surroundings. So much so that she was left unaware of the outward swinging door for whose path the rabbit had just strolled into. A bell chime sounded and grabbed Lily's attention just in time to catch its wooden edge across her face. The rabbit let out a howl of pain and a few muffled obscenities while she clasped her hands across her nose.
"Hmm? Oh goodness! Are you alright?!" A female voice called out.
Lily looked at the source of the question as her eyes started to water. Said eyes laid upon a female bear with a concerned look on her face. Her sandy brown fur was starting to grow dull and faded, as was the norm for older bears. What was unusual for this elderly bear was the eyepatch covering her left eye.
"I'm fine! Hurts like hell, though." Lily answered back, wincing as her nose throbbed.
“Oh rosepetals, i am so sorry! May I see it?.” She asked, leaning down to get a better look. As Lily moved her hands away from her face, the bear let out a horrified gasp. The sound caused Lily, as well as a passerby, to jump in shock.
"What?! What?! What's wrong?!"
"Oh no, you're bleeding! I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad!"
"I'm not mad. Just watch where you're going next time."
"Come with me! I have something that should get you fixed right up!" Before Lily could protest, the bear's paw was wrapped around her wrist. With no say in the matter, she found herself pulled into the store the bear had just exited.
