Dryer than a summer day in the desert. If he had missed some of it prior, Jan would have fell asleep in his chair there and then. Not a soul piquing his interest, barely anyone even around in the first place to greet. Not a waste of time per se, certainly not. But a definite wait arguably worth his time.

Now, Jan Ren has seen his fair share of beautiful sights in the past year. Having traveled all the way from Sin guaranteed that. Yet, if asked afterwards, the young man would easily testify, that what he was graced with must have been in his personal top five views. The sweaty figure of a tall, toned woman simply summoned itself to his vicinity, and he would be an absolute fool to pass it up. This gorgeous woman, undeniably (he guessed) chased by thousands, was in all her awe, the real deal.

...What is one such as he supposed to feel when confronted like that? Tales of heroes of old tell of their adamant pursuit despite the difference. Yet he was only human, not a child of God. Then again...

"The pleasure's, all mine..."

So was she.

"Master." Trying his absolute fucking best to keep a refined expression, possibly aware of every muscle in his face; the Sinese took to stand, gracing the Goddess (because let's face it, she appeared as nothing short of just that;) with the respect she deserved. The Sinese wasn't exposed to many a tall women in his lifetime, factually. As such, it took him by surprise to realize the height difference, was in her favor, if by barely an inch. Yet what the freshman felt was not intimidation, but undeniable gratitude. He could sing praises over this woman all day if asked for.

He flashed a professional smile, one practiced over years; aware of his posture. Chest only slightly brought forward, left hand at his hip. It was all far from being second nature to him, and yet he'd intently decided to adopt it as such. The Art of Comfort. "No need to be so formal with me, Master." He started, adjusting himself beforehand to match his displayed image. "Erhm. ...I'd rather we feel more loose around each other." He admitted, praising himself mentally for the effort if anything.[/i]

"On that note..." His smile widened some playfully as the Sinese cocked his head so slightly to the side; "Would I get in trouble for asking for first name basis?" Jan took a more jesting approach, making sure his eyes would lock straight with the other's. Eye contact was awfully important. Especially so, as Jan had to hold himself by the short leash, not to gawk and stare at everything she'd presented him with.

And man. Was that a present.

Today certainly was warm. Or maybe Ray was just a hot from walking all day. The quick errands he had to run in Crocus took no time at all and he found himself back to the guildhall in Hargeon in no time at all. Even if the errands themselves were done in a heartbeat at the very least the werewolf managed to get his walkies in for the day. But now his legs were spent!

Once he did get back to his guild hall, the young man made a direct beeline towards the lounge. "Please let there be someone there." he said to himself knowning how badly understaffed the guild was. There was almost no one working at the bar area anymore which meant that he'd probably need to wait to get served.

Going through the front door, a brief moment of excited relief washed over him seeing that there was in fact two people in view! This quickly subsided seeing that neither were actually staff and instead guild mates.

Giving a disappointed sigh he moved forward with his hands in his pockets short pockets looking at the two. "Hey, either of you see if the bar is-" Ray spoke loudly to the two as he moved closer to the pair, cutting himself off as he came to a certain distance. Twitching his nose slightly he exhaled through his nostrils. "I know you're just after training but you really need a shower Ali." he said now breathing through his mouth and pinchingthe birdge of his nose. Now Ray wasn't trying to be rude, especially not to his master but from his over sensitive sense of smell ot really smeeed like her body odor had gotten palpable to the point where he needed to act like he did. As for the other other guild member, well Ray hadn't been introduced to them yet and he wasn't the most conversational so he probably wouldn't say much to him unless he was told.

It was a fairly normal for Faris, Gone doing his normal things of exploring and seeing if anyone seemed like they needed to just believe in themselves a bit more with just a bit more push forward in whatever they were doing.

Fair was as always in a delighted mood, Just was bright was he tried to make everyone feel. Faris was still kind of new this the ranks of this guild but he seemed to enjoy every moment of it. then again what he learned of this area, It was a lot more safer then where he was from to start with, No life ending krakens anywhere as he could see so he could be himself.

Faris would walk through the doors into the guild hall just pondering to himself normally, It was one thing he knew he had fit pretty good her, A guild about improving yourself, A man like him fit right in. At least so far the guild either had people who were in good spirits or pleasing to the eyes, Not what you could say often about a guild."Ahh home sweet home." Faris said to himself while he walking into the mall hall of the guild.

Faris' life in Seven was still different from this place, Walking into the main hall to two men and one woman. Faris was unsure of he had met any of these three yet but he did not mind. Realizing that he walked into a conversation of other people."Oh...Don't mind me, Just walking through myself."Faris was more interested in other things while they were talking. He wants more interested in getting something to munch on for the moment but since he was around the guild member he did not mind sticking around to talk.

Man, today had been rough to the Fire Mage. He had started it by going outside in the dawn to search for one of Coda’s favorite dishes for breakfast; as hazardous as it was, bee larvae sure tasted good if you managed to pluck them during metamorphosis where they had hardened their outer layer and were looking like half-bee and half-larvae. However, this required Daiko to go out and search for a beehive, and since the quarters of Blue Pegasus were blessed with no such circumstances, he would have to venture towards the bushes and older buildings around Port Hargeon.

It had been a while since he joined the guild. It had been equally quite a while since he tried to learn the place to know, since Port Hargeon functioned as his hometown now. This helped him today as he could be seen at dawn jumping into the bushy areas between the roads, searching for fresh beehives. It had taken him three hours to actually find one, though…

The hive was round and the size of a dodgeball. The Fire Mage rose an eyebrow, but in the end, he shrugged it off and proceeded according to his plan. Breathing heavier, he collected a small blaze between his hands, dropped a knot of grass and smushed it together to create smoke. The smoke was held under the entrance to the beehive, and his plan was set in motion! This was definitely a big brain move that he was proud of having mastered…

When bees smelled smoke, then they would always assume that a forest fire had been started. To ensure survival of their hive, they would get ready to fill their bellies with all the resources that they had - the walls of the hive as well as the floors, and even all the honey. When a bee is full, then it’s far much calmer and less likely to sting than earlier - we’re talking about a drop in chances of hostility by two-thirds or something.

And as the bees realized that no forest fire was occurring, then they would definitely feel tricked as Daiko gladly stuck his thumb and index finger into the entrance to the hive. The bees were full enough that they couldn’t bother attacking him, those poor creatures. Even if they got aggressive, Daiko was using his gauntlet, so they wouldn’t be able to sting him unless if they went for the joints between the finger joints of his. He was brave enough to risk that for his bird pal.

The larvae in their cocoon states were completely white. Daiko had collected 10 in total and found it sufficient. Today’s breakfast was acquired for Coda!

… Later that day…

“L-Let go, Coda…!” Daiko moaned with irritation painted on his face. From another hallway leading into the lounge, Coda was flapping her wings with ease, each bask pushing her forward with a strong gust. On her talons was one of the larvae during metamorphosis, clearly dead due to the claw dug into it, but pulling along was Daiko Flayme himself, seemingly sliding across the floor as Coda had shockingly become strong enough to pull him around like this. The bird didn’t drop a sweat pulling him all the way to the group of guildmates having been formed around one of the new recruits to the guild.

Plop!

Daiko finally let go of the larvae and let Coda fly away with it happily. They were supposed to share equally between them both; five and five… but now, it was seven and three. Heck. He was a little snack-hungry himself, which was the catalyst of this scenario as Coda was even more snack-hungry than he was. The bird even dared stealing from her owner! The nerves of hers!

Looking up, he first recognized his Guildmaster and basically best friend now that he thought about it, Alisa Vollan. She looked like she had been out training, for he also recognized the choice of attire that she wore and the theme that it brought along with it; the theme of exercise akin to the wear she had on the day when they met for the first time.

However, he didn’t recognize the long-haired, girly-looking guy and the short-haired man who, for a brief moment given from Daiko’s perspective, looked like he was gasping a little. There came a red-haired, gentle soul walking by as well, but he excused himself as walking though himself or something like that. That was such an alien phrase to the Fire Mage, and it left his mind on standby for a good couple of seconds.

“… So C-Coda’s being mean again…” Daiko quickly tried to explain with a small, comical tear under his right eye, hoping that Alisa would understand why he was on the floor right now. It was, in total, quite embarrassing to enter the scene like that, anyways. Quickly helping himself up, he wiped some dust off of his green, sleeveless jacket and proceeded to apologize:

“S-Sorry about that, but Coda’s getting way too strong for a falcon… at one point, she’ll be able to lift an elephant, but I have no idea where it comes from. Speaking of, I have snacks.” His right fist was clenched under the pocket of his jacket, readying to show the snacks if any of them showed interest.

"And this, too," he finished up with holding a bottle of fresh water towards his hard-working Guildmaster. It might've come off as brown-nosing, but he owed Alisa a lot for all the troubles that the past year had brought to him since the disbanding of Lamia Scale, so this was the least that he could do to show his gratitude. He hoped that she would understand as well...

A nice clean cut outfit would suit him for the day. The kitsune had been on a trip for the family, as since he was the head of the Nakamura family. His black cat, Salem, rested on his shoulder wrapped around like a scarf. As the only kitsune in probably in all of Fiore, he kept his tails wrapped tightly so they would be out of the way. He walked through the door, trying to not utter a word. Gently and delicately, he walked with grace into a missed of choas. People wanting beer, a member screaming about insects, and just confusion.

"Did we just walk into a show or something?" claimed Salem, just now waking up. The kitsune studied the area around. The girl looked to be a new member set by hiss scent and stature. To his left, he could see Daiko holding what looked like larvae or a early stage of life. Slowly, he walked over to the young woman. "Here, let me help you up. Insects can be disgusting, but necessary for the balance of nature much like beauty and peace. I'm Lee Nakamura, at your serve. If you need anything please, don't hesitate to ask" he smiled with a gentle gaze. Salem yawned and leaped off his shoulder.

"Good to see you, Alisa. I hope life has been treatin you well. As for you Daiko...the reason why she is being mean is probably due to she doesn't really respect you as you do with her or perhaps she's needing a break from you. No to be blunt or anything" he mentioned. The mage only sighed as he didn't know exactly what was going on, but was trying to adapt well enough. "Sir, may I get your name? So I can address you properly" he asked. He really hoped he wasn't being rude or causing more confusion.

Where the hell did all these people come out of?! Just five minutes ago the werewolf was walking all on his own into the guild but now apparently 3 other people just landed in as if out of nowhere!

The first was a red headed man that Raymus hadn't met yet but who Alisa greeted as Farris. To Ray the name souned Sevinse but he couldn't be too sure. The man walked away before he could get a good look at him too, leaving his only recognizable feature was his red hair, well that and the faint scent he managed to sniff out through the mist of sweat coming from Alisa.

Although it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing when the next person just landed into the hall with an almighty crash. If Alisa wasn't there Ray would have been sure to jump 10 foot into the air and latch onto the overhanging chandelier out of fright. Another stranger but supposed guildmate stood up and explained what happened. Or he thought he was explaining himself. It only served to confuse the werewolf even more as he spoke names he hadn't heard of. It probably didn't help that he didn't know this person's know either. He also had a peculiar smell to him, although Ray did get a better look at his features so he wouldn't need to solely rely on smell alone to recognize this pegasus. Another interesting tidbit about this member was that he played favorites, handing ALisa a bottle of water. Ray was just about to remark on the boot licking when he offered the rest of the ground who had gathered in the hall some snacks. Ray literally jumped at the chance, a large blue tail popping out from his lower back and wagging as me moved over to Daiko to stick his face into the stash of snacks that he had. It had been walking all day and hadn't had anything to eat since earlier that morning so they young man's monstrous cravings would hopefully be justified. Well that and he was of course a literal monster. He would take his head out quickly though seeing another challenger approaching.

The last person to enter seemed to be the most interesting of all. Unlike the other 4 that stood around with him in the hall, this person didn't give off any remote scent of being human. From the angle he was looking at the person they seemed fairly normal, but the scent they gave off told him otherwise. They also seemed to catch what the dark skinned mage was explaining and ave a much need response, shedding a bit more light on the subject for Ray who was still pretty bewildered by the amount of people who suddenly joined. And best of all she actually introduced herself! So he wouldn't need to rely on just image or smell alone! She also asked for the others to introduce themselves, without asking anyone in particular. He assumed she just meant everyone she didn't know so Ray went first.

"Dunno if ya meant me, but anyway, I'm Ray Kouris" he greeted casually, with a somewhat cool stare, no semblance of a smile visible on his face. This would be all Ray would say, deciding it best not to answer back Alisa. She did say he was being rude and the last thing the wolf wanted to do was evoke her wrath. For now he just waited for Daiko to hand out the snacks, his tail happily waving from side to side awaiting the food.

Daiko didn’t believe that he angered Coda in any way lately. I mean, really, they spent all time together; if Coda felt bad or upset over something that the Fire Mage had caused to her, then he would have likely noticed immediately! No, no, she was probably just being rebellious right now, wanting all the snacks for herself…

Of course, Alisa would ask that question. She always liked to mess with his psyche in one way or another…

Daiko could quickly see the change in her facial expression when he had brought out the ‘snacks’ that he had brought. He should’ve assumed from the beginning that a lady such as her with more ‘refined’ taste than him would deny his offer, but she still thanked for the water, so Daiko’s heart wasn’t completely broken into a thousand pieces!

He cackled a bit at her next remark, then began offering snacks to everyone else. His generous attitude and expression of peace did turn into a face of confusion and fright when the Alisa-looking Alisa-male - really, he did look like Alisa’s twin brother - replied to Daiko’s offer with a scream from a man who was overwhelmed by fear. Did he… wait… was he afraid of the half-bees?

That, Daiko didn’t understand. Fully-evolved bees were reasonable to be afraid of, since they could be territorial and fend off even ordinary visitors with their painful stings. However, these were half-bees; half-bees were Daiko’s own, little term describing maggots in the middle of metamorphosis. This was the stage when they weaved a capsule around themselves and began transforming into adult bees. This required almost all of their energy, so they could barely move in these states - and these hadn’t even developed stings or anything harmful to Alisa’s male clone.

“… ‘C-Cause I was a little hungry and, uh, wanted to share,” Daiko explained with a drop of sweat falling off his forehead. He massaged the back of his own neck, showing his confusion to Jan Ren with a lifted eyebrow. While Raymus seemed to be hungry enough to stick his face into Daiko’s palm for the maggots - Daiko was a little out of focus from that at the moment thanks to Jan’s reaction - the Fire Mage’s face became flustered and almost angry at Lee’s theory.

“W-Why wouldn’t she respect me anymore?!” he asked with thick drops of tears about to escape his eyelids, “After everything I’ve done for her! Coda, is that true…?!” He quickly turned his head to face Coda who was, well, perching on Alisa’s shoulder and attempting to rub her face and beak on Alisa’s face in deep affection. Even the sweat from Alisa’s workout didn’t phase the keen raptor and her sudden admiration for the Guildmaster.

“C-Coodaaa…” Daiko let out in a voice of defeat, almost feeling like Coda brought all her attention to the Guildmaster instead of, y’know, her owner.

“… Hmpf. Welp, at least one of you has a similar taste to mi-“ Daiko commented to try and recover from his little drama, looking back at Raymus as the Fire Mage had, indeed, opened his palm to reveal the half-bees inside. “A-Actually, save the big one for me. You can have the other two… and Ray Kouris, huh? I'm Daiko Flayme! I guess we'll be guildmates from now on.”

It seemed Faris was arriving at an interesting moment, The various people around showed that his choice was not a bad one. Even if Alisa was a shining example beauty, She was also proof of what good guild master could bring people together from so far across the world and how different they where and show one person could get them to manage to be around one another.

Faris would answer Alisa's question."A bit more peaceful then Seven or a sea bound boat."He said with a bit of laughter to it. Which was true he did not face death in a guild of pretty people, Even if he did miss his parents. It would maybe be a goal of his to return one day after maybe having a bit of fun and collecting his life together here.

After Faris seemed to walk back the slowly changing situation of awkwardness and silliness. It was almost inspiring to see so many different personalities interact, Faris did not forget, She was just getting a few apples and bottle of water."I can admit these people are lively Alisa."Faris laughed with good intentions, Life here was still kind of new for him.

He would then smile and say."Hello everyone, I am Faris Iraious, I am bit new here settling in from Seven."Faris laid it out, then would take a bit from his apple and watch what could happen next. Poor Daiko seemed to be the target point of teasing and causing fear for some. Bug were not that horrible."I do not think I would eat bugs however, I prefer things a bit less...crawly."Faris would mention about it, Then again Faris has never eaten a bug before. intending to keep it that way until he might have too.

It seemed that not everyone held the same regards for bugs as a delicacy as Daiko and Ray. The red-haired lad going by the name Faris Iraious did state his displeasure rather politely, so Daiko just nodded understandingly. Jan’s reaction still planted itself on him, however… what was so scary about bugs and bees? They were small and stingy, yes, but they weren’t that bad. They even produced honey, and that was a huge plus in the animal kingdom. And as a human being and - according to some - at the top of the food chain, Daiko gave these insects the respect that they deserved by eating their young…

That sounded so wrong.

Hearing Alisa’s reassuring words did calm his nerves. No matter what, Coda would likely still see him as her friend and companion, and she would never abandon him after everything they had been through. “T-That’s right… w-wha, what’s the matter, sir?” he suddenly changed his words to aim at the newcomer who suddenly excused himself out of the guild hall in hot pursuit of fresh air. That was just rude; Daiko hadn’t even gotten his name yet.

“Hey, come back!” Daiko called for him and went out pursuing him himself, “Who are you, even? Are you a new member?!” And with that, Daiko dashed off after him, disappearing in the corners of the guild area…

-EXIT-

"Food is food!" Raymus said defensively after swallowing his meal of insects. Sometimes the werewolf forgot how picky and sensitive most normal human's appetite's were. Since he was more animal than human this kind of food was right up his alley. If anything it was a delicacy for him to have something of this nature. After joining Blue Pegasus Raymus was subjugated to many fancy human foods like steak and veal but it was nice to got back to his roots and have some foraged foods to cleanse his pallet.

His way of eatting and the food he was chowing down on also seemed to turned a few stomachs as everyone who suddenly joined in the main hub of the guild hall were up and leaving. Damn, was it really that repulsive? Oh well, it couldn't be helped. Oh well, Raymus could say the same about how other people ate. Knives and forks? Ugh they were a bother and a half. Still, dwelling on eating habits didn't matter much since the bird and Jan were leaving and by the looks of things everyone else wanted to leave to. So without much of a social cue, Ray just left the hall to his room. That was fun for the brief moment it was.

Faris kind of just watched everything slowly evolve to people leaving and she could not help but start eating his apple in some kind of momentary bliss.

so these were the people of his guild. It was quite interesting."I've never had that before, I am interested in trying it."Faris was also the adventurous type even with food, Or whatever else he could get his hand on, Faris was still new and fairly naive to a lot of things that could happen here. But Faris at least did not seem uncomfortable.

"I think the lands of Seven are wonderful, Maybe one day i will return, But I would like to bring things for my mother and father to enjoy from these lands as a gift."Faris also mentioned, Mostly he felt his heart was in the right place about it."But that said gifts are, I do not know yet."Faris could chuckle about it he might never have the answer for that either and he knew it.

Faris was picky about that would not mention it either."Everything in these lands are interesting so far, I have not explored much yet, I intend to soon."Faris also mentioned in conversation. Even if two people had left already there was still a some people left and they were all socializing, So he would not leave until he needed too. After all it seemed like the right thing, Faris at least understood that."I do wonder if anywhere here has Sevense food here as well."He mentioned being more curious about it."It seems like the people here would learn such styles of food as well."Faris so far was filled with excitement for such an idea to think about and explore, all more of his naive but happy nature.

Eventually Faris would, Dismiss himself to go about and carry on with his day.

[Exit]