Somewhere in an insignificant, impoverished part of Allégoria, Audrey Sutton drags herself out of the pile of old, moth-eaten rags and sheets on the mouldy wood paneled floor of the tattered one room shack she calls home. She gets dressed and ready for another dreadful day at work, the only thing keeping her going is the reminder that today is the day of the week she would see her family, which consists of three children that her brother adopted off of the streets and, of course, her brother himself. She could feel nothing but pride for the uncanny bunch of misfits that she calls family, but had not always felt this way.
Her frustration had increased every time Charles came home with another little urchin, and although Audrey saw them initially as more unnecessary and easily avoidable mouths to feed they warmed up to her, and soon enough she could not bring herself to regret that they had been brought into their home. This ridiculous charade continued until Audrey had to move out, and find a higher paid job to support their family. Charles' 34 grias a week as an omnibus driver would no longer suffice to meet the needs of the very hungry and rapidly growing orphans in their care - not to mention her own growling stomach and Charles' insatiable appetite. Once a week she would visit Charles bringing food, supplies, money and love and they would make easy, enjoyable conversation over a decent meal. It was truly the highlight of her week.
Not that she didn't enjoy herself in other ways, if not she would go insane working in such a tedious environment without some form of constant entertainment. This, she got mostly from the bar downstairs. She had no money to spare towards any drinks for herself of course, but it didn't stop her from persuading those who did to purchase them for her. The woman who owned the building including the tavern beneath, The Madame, as she was very commonly addressed, let Audrey use the room, not for the pitiful change she dared call rent but rather for the customers she drew. The unspoken agreement was that she show up as many nights as she could, make merry with the barmaids and use all at her disposal - ergo herself - to coax the men (and even some of the ladies who were open to it) at the bar to buy more drinks for themselves and, hopefully, spend money on her if she was lucky. Audrey was usually lucky. This meant many nights returning to her room a little more than tipsy, but she could aways trust those under The Madame's employ to keep her out of any serious trouble. As a principle she never brought anybody upstairs as a principle - but that didn't stop her from engaging in a little light petting once in a while, if she saw someone she fancied. She did quite enjoy herself, however, picking up the most fantastic things to say from the drunken sailors and joining in with their songs and games. Also making fast friends with the waitresses and barmaids and others like herself, essentially hired to entice the customers into spending more money, and learning - with and from them - to hone her ability to convince others to do as she pleased.
Audrey watched the sky go through shades of navy to a soft byzantine purple and finally baby blue as she finally comes to the end of her long trek to work. With a deep breath she steps inside to meet a chorus of loud chatter quickly morphing into hushed voices, accusing looks and barely hidden complacent smirks as people notice her arrival. She doesn't bother to wonder what outlandish accusation they have in store for her today, continuing to her station knowing that if she did, it would ruin her good mood.
First, her so-called colleagues had accused her of bearing a ridiculous amount of children as a result of a ridiculous amount of of promiscuity. This particular scrap of hearsay didn't bother Audrey too much, not as much as some other pieces of gossip. Such as a rumour that never ceased to make her blood boil, even by mere thought of it. An atrocious falsehood in which she had been disowned from her family and had dishonoured their name in a great number of spectacularly impossible and barbaric ways - the stories became more outrageous each time she heard them, she'd soon stopped bothering to keep track. Although some did amuse her a little bit, these mostly consisted of her in some type of supernatural context and helped to remind her of exactly how untrue all these bruits were.
