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Cinder had been quietly standing in the corner, having shaken off the initial [s]dread[/s] shock of seeing the horrid moon elf, and was listening to the others' questions. So far everything she'd wanted to ask had been answered. In spite of herself, Cinder felt a small pang of sympathy for the old man. He seemed very lonely, and obviously worried for his wife. He must love her very much to spend so much money searching for her. He seemed like a genuinely good, caring, generous person, and that was something that was incredibly rare these days. The gods knew [i]Cinder[/i] wasn't one of those people. However, she could still appreciate them when she saw them. 

There was still smoke rising from her hair as she quietly fumed in her little corner, arms crossed, face fixed in a perpetual scowl as she tried to calm her temper down so she could actually pay attention to what was being said. Then the other genasi made some comment about "star-crossed lovers," and her hair immediately became engulfed in flame.

"I would rather be forever trapped in the eighth hell as Mephistopheles' personal punching bag," she growled, her teeth clenched as she turned her perpetual scowl to the other genasi. "And it only gets in the way of things if you're not a professional. Long as I get paid, I don't care who I have to work with." 

And it was true. Valanthe had been #1 on Cinder's hitlist for a long time now, but no matter how hard she tried, the genasi could never actually pin anything on her. It was infuriating, and it got in the way of her getting paid. There was nothing Cinder hated more than people getting in the way of her payday. Not to mention that moon elves in general were just snobby, arrogant, self-righteous pricks, and their arrogance was enough to make Cinder want to puke. Still, as previously said, there was nothing she hated more than people getting in the way of her payday, so she could endure it for this one job. Just one more job, and she would never have to work again. Besides, maybe she could manage to pin a crime on Valanthe in the process, and then it would be a win/win! 

"Speaking of pay, I have with me a little gift for each of you as an upfront payment, as promised," The old man cut in, evidently wanting to end the current line of conversation. He produced from his inner pocket a very large wad of cash, which he then started counting and distributing to each one of the adventurers in turn. As promised, Cinder received $500. 

"Use it however you see fit, be it for food, board, supplies for the quest, or whatever else you might need it for. Should you succeed on your task, y'all will get a reward that makes this look like pocket change." 

"Are we done here, then?" She asked, looking at Abraham again. 

He shrugged, then stood up, grunting a bit as he leaned heavily on his cane. "Unless anyone has any more questions, then yes. Should you need to contact me for any reason, you can send a telegram to the Garrick estate. I'll get it." 

"In that case," the genasi started, already walking out of the door. [i]"I'm[/i] going to get a drink." 

The tavern down below might not have the best liquor ever, but Cinder was more than willing to bet there would be something decent enough for her. It was probably going to be her last opportunity to get an actual meal and drink for a while, so she was definitely going to take advantage of it while she could. The gods only knew what crazy backwoods cabin they'd get sent to on this rescue mission, and whatever "food" Abraham had been talking about being provided, Cinder had her doubts as to the quality of it. After all, even if they somehow got a chuckwagon, it was still going to be a limited menu. Eager to actually eat something relatively decent (and for a drink to take her edge off), she stomped her way down the stairs.