Tales of a Worker's Son

This is a day in the life of a normal child of a completely unremarkable worker - Kimmer

Waking up in the early morning

Kimmer woke up early, long before sunrise, the chill of the night still creeping under the thin blanket he covered himself with. His mother had lit a lamp on the table across the room, preparing a sparse breakfast from the meal the previous evening. It was a good thing Kimmer liked seared Graffen both cold and reheated. The root vegetables had a sweet taste that was even more intense the next day.
He got up, put on his vest and jacket and reached for his shoes. As he did most days, he wrapped some old rags around them, to isolate from the cold.
Kimmer crossed the small room which made up most of the small living quarters of his family. An even smaller room next to the kitchen was used by their mother as storage room. Just a short glance to the jars of pickeled vegetables and a rare sweet was all Kimmer could get, before his mother closed the door with a knowing look.
Breakfast was a quick affair, but Kimmer enjoyed the minutes next to the warm radiator pipes that went through the whole building. A single boiler is used to warm all the families in this building of multiple apartments. His friend Zoeren once explained to him how hot water was pumped through the pipes. It was as fascinating new construction and one of the few perks Whitesteel Inc provided their workers in the Junker Villages.

Finding a job for the day

The best way to get from the village to the Factory Plaza is of course by Worktransit Carriage. However, since Kimmer did not have a proper fulltime job yet, he also had no Transit Token to actually ride in the carriage. His solution, just like so many other youths did, was to hold on to the outside of a carriage and endure the ride in the cold wind. The carriage conductors had long since given up to disband the groups of kids traveling this way. If it were summer, those rides were actually quite pleasent. However, when it was autumn like on this day, it was certainly less enjoyable.
When looking for a job for that day, the best place to go usually would be the Factory Plaza. While the market was setting up, several recruiters roam the plaza to gather additional helpers for various jobs. A quick glance showed Kimmer that only few recruiters he didn't like to work with were in the area. So he took the time to look across the market for other opportunities.

by Vertixico using StableDiffusion AI

The market was a daily affair and each day different people would set up a stand. For some areas in the center or close to the main road, you would need a market license and several guards were present to provide protection. Of course, here the market tender had plenty of time to set up before most customers would arrive.
A very different picture were the market areas on the side. Here almost every stand was already occupied and set up. Any local is allowed to set up a stand on the of course, however and there often was a race to the best available places each morning. Not always this race happens peacefully, but today Kimmer did not see traces of any injuries or worse.
Among the chaos of setting up the market, Kimmer saw several kids sneaking among the stands. He did not bother to alert anyone to their stealing but he knew fully well to stay clear of them. Zoeren always said that he should do so, and Zoeren was right. Kimmer had no doubt that he would see several of these kids soon on the Shouter's Plaza next to this one, strapped to a post and being lashed for stealing.

Work in the early day

Kimmer eventually found work hauling boxes for one of the smaller factories. Nobody ever bothered to tell him, what was in those boxes, but it did not matter to him anyway. Only with much effort he could properly lift the boxes to carry them from the carriage into the loading hall of the factory. It was hard work, especially when you were as thin and scrawny as Kimmers. Zoeren usually mocked him for this, but they both knew it opened up other possibilities for Kimmer.
The Foreseher did not joke about Kimmer's stature, however, but looked less pleased by his work. Even though Kimmer hauled as many boxes as everybody else, the Foreseher still gave him less money, claiming he endangered some of the goods. It was unfair, but Kimmers saw no person being able to intervene on his behalf. He disgruntedly took the reduced pay and memorized this place to not return to, if it could be avoided. At least he earned himself a token for the carriage ride for another day. His payments were only three Copper Pieces, which he knew would be helpful for his family nonetheless.

Midday Break

The work was done around midday, so Kimmers knew he had a short break before he had to search for a new work again. Together with others, he gathererd at the shrine of Vitukua at the edge of Factory Plaza. Sometimes the acyoltes here give out food, a small charity given by the richer people in the town. Usually this consits of scraps or almost poerished foods that the chefs of a richer family saw no longer a valuable use for. There was some kind of dance the days before so today the offerings were special. There were many baked goods, lots of fruits and even some pieces of cooked meat given out to the workers gathering.
Kimmer did arrive a bit too late for the meat, but he managed to get a few Cidercakes. While he had no interest in this dessert, he could well use it for bartering. Quickly, he had traded several pieces of the sweet-sour cake against a bundle of Graffen and some Taburas. Both were a satisfying trade, since Kimmer was certain, Mother could grow these in their garden. Maybe she could even sell the produces on the market some day.
With his newly acquired treasures, Kimmer makes his way to the cemetary. Behind a certain grave stone, he had his hiding spot where he could store his money and the vegetable safely. He did not worry about thieves, because noone would ever steal from under the eyes of a Vitukua's statue. In case of some very desperate people, however, he had befriended some of the local Dirt Dragons to keep an eye on the area. The acolytes of Vitukua are a rough group but they had taken a liking to Kimmer. It always pays to befriend an acolyte, Zoeren always said and Kimmer agreed.

Working the Afternoon as Moss Scraper

The break was long enough and in the early afternoon Kimmer went straight to a factory where he often works as Moss Scraper. He already heard from people that the big machines were halted for production earlier in the day, as several gears were severely blocked.
He accepted the Telescoped Scrape Rod with the magical jewal affixed to it from the foreseher and turned to the machine he had to work on today. He had no idea what they produced but it had something with pressing and forming tin cans with heavy presses. With such a large machine, Kimmer expected a lot of Myridias Moss having collected in the gears, and he got a bit excited by the prospect of gathering it.

by Vertixico with StableDiffusion AI

But first he had to crawl into the tight spaces of the machine, which always was a straining task. Additionally inside those machines his skin always started to tingles, and the air always tasted odd. He took care not to breathe too deeply, because everybody knew that you can catch Mossrot when you breath in too much moss spores.
As if this were not enough, Kimmer also needed to be careful where to crawl. Bumping into the wrong gear or getting stuck in between the mechanism could make it difficult to get out again. Sometimes you could even push something into gear and risk geting crushed by the mechanism. He heard stories of kids getting stuck in a machine which then unfortunately started to run again. Luciky, Zoeren had warned him of places to avoid and how to check the machine was actually turned off. Kimmer certainly was not keen on losing a hand because the gears would suddenly start turning.
The effort and danger is worth it for Kimmer, however. He was able to collect almost a full bag of Moss, which he was allowed to keep. The Foreseher just consider the Moss to be trash, but he could certainly sell this bag to an Apothecary in town. Some of them don't mind when there is a bit of grease on the moss.
Stealing a telescoped rod with the jewel is pointless, however, because, of course, they count them all. If you tried to steal one, you would only have gotten beaten, which would have made it impossible to workd for days. Still next time you turn up, they would still let you back to work. They needed the people to crawl into the machines and you would have had learned your lesson.

After a hard day's work

Satisfied with the work, Kimmer counted his payment. These types of jobs always payed better, but you had to have the build for crawling into the machines. While he rubbed his knee which he bruised inside the machine, Kimmer worried how much longer he would be able to fit. Over the last year he had grown and build up some muscles and his frame definitely was getting wider.
The next day was Manedday, so most factories would be closed. While he would not be able to earn any money tomorrow, it was still a good day to go to the lokal Schankroom and relax with people. If only the Borth would taste him better, but whatever the Schankwirt did to the grain to produce this drink, it was way too bitter for Kimmer's taste. But as so often, he did enjoy to smoke some dried and rolled up Taffas leaves, while listening to some conversations around him. After a short while, his brother and father joined Kimmer, both exhausted from their day at one of the larger forges. Their father decided to leave early after one glass of Borth to bring home the earned money to their mother and get some sleep while the boys are not yet home.
Just in time, Kimmer remebered he didn't yet get the vegetables, so he had to fetch them before the last carriage. He reached the cemetery just shortly after the nearby shrine Bell rang two hours before midnight. Kneeling down at his hiding spot, he shot a quick glance at the grave marker with no name guarding his treasures.
Not for the first time, Kimmer though about how much it would cost him to get the dirt dragon to engrave Zoeren's name on here. But he was also fully aware how much his mother would scold him for wasting money. As always she would say that this is what a the Zehnel sewn onto everybody's jacket on anyway. WHat his mother didn't know of course, was when Zoeren spend their zehnel to get a small potion for Kimmer's cough a few months before his accident. Maybe some day soon he would spend the money for an engraving, but not now.

Good night

Now it was time to get home quickly. Not only was the last carriage leaving soon, but the next day his mother would expect him to help with the garden. Although tired, he decides to hang onto the carriage to save the Transit Token for anotehr day.
When he came home, his parents were pretending to be fast asleep. Kimmer dropped of the vegetables and the money, Then, he went to the community bath and hastily washed himself with some cold water. He was happy to see, some kind soul placed some fresh soap with scent in the community bath. Cleaned and tired, he went to bed.
It was a day like most others, and not one of the worst. His exhausted sleep was deep and dreamless.