The first person of note to follow me in, had nearly made me shoot bolt upright from my position against the wall and move to her side. Only one person I knew of had hair that red, scars like that littering her skin. A woman who was very highly placed in my affections, even if they were a bit torn up recently by my visit home. I would never have thought she'd come out here, that I would see her in a place like this.
I watched as her eyes scanned the room, flashing over the assembled people with an emotion I recognized, but was muted. Contempt. I couldn't fault her for it, most of the people who had gathered here looked like they'd be little better than fodder on a battlefield. There were a few, but none that would be particularly noteworthy. And with my position in the shadows, and my naturally dark complexion, her black eyes slid right across me without noticing me. There was no spark of recognition in them - and while she was emotionally dampened, she would still acknowledge me. Hmm, it seemed my habit of sticking to the shadows could be a double edged sword at times.
I was starting to make my way along the edge of the room towards her when two loudly chattering women came in, immediately setting my teeth on edge. Rude, whiny, racist - and apparently a non-human - the more vocal of the two new arrivals had me ready to walk over to her and slap her. It was like listening to a spoilt child who not properly been taken to task to learn her manners. I resolved then and there to stay as far away from the vocal brat as I could. While Scarlet could be rude, she also tended to keep her words to herself, a lesson this new girl would do well to learn.
And then it seemed like something was out to get me. Because the next significant arrival was a pale, slender, pink eyed woman whom I also recognized - and who, as far as I knew, should have been in the Tular Plains. Vixen did seem to notice me through the gloom that I had wrapped myself in, nodding to me as she adjusted her clothes. That was - odd. She looked almost hesitant about something. Well, I couldn't blame her, I'd been unsure of a few things myself recently.
As I was still slowly working my way around the edge, drawing closer to where Scarlet had placed herself near the door, another white haired, pointy eared individual entered. And while I generally had never considered myself a racist individual, for a moment I felt a brief surge of anger and irritation - an Elf. Not a drow,like myself, but one of the proper, true magic slinging elves that my people had separated from. He came in nonchalantly, energetically even, and seemed not to have a care in the world. But - but he was not a proper Elf, only a half Elf. His features were a bit too soft, his ears a bit too round, to be a full blooded Elf. My distaste for him based on his race eased, faded. Right. A motley crew indeed.
Then the man spoke, the human who had apparently summoned us here. Damn it, I had not gotten a chance to speak to Scarlet, or even let her know I was here. It would probably surprise the woman. Still, I focused my attention on the ramblings of the old man as he explained that people were meddling with things they didn't fully understand, and some student summoned a monstrosity to prank his teacher and died for it. He looked out across us, asking for volunteers to hunt a monster that was apparently unreal, and I narrowed my eyes. Was that not why we were here in the first place, to fight this thing? I snorted and stepped forward, the shadows leaving my form.
“How then, Cleric, shall we take up arms against this beast? I am no stranger to hunting, and I will go with you - but how shall we fight that which is non-physical? Must we be magic wielders, or is there another aspect to this endeavor?†He was being cagey about the details. How would we fight something that posed no threat to us physically, but did attack our very psyche? I had no qualms with hunting, but how would we face this beast? Or were we merely to be attendants to this cleric while he did the fighting? I moved against the wall again - this time, near Scarlet.
