A Familiar Face Perhaps? ~ Lyra's Intro

Kihia was walking through the main hall, trying to keep an eye on all that was transpiring, a group of members were drinking whole heartedly, and merrily at that, some were walking around working on errands, and a few of them were standing in front of the job request board looking across the jobs for one that might fit their fancy. Kihia then turned his gaze to the main doors of the Lamia Scale Guild Hall and noticed the faintest hint they were shaking.

He walked forward and grabbed the large doorhandle and pushed it open. As the door swung open he stood there for a moment and looked around, however he saw no one there, although there was a suitcase at the bottom of the steps, “Is anyone there…?”

Xavier on the long stroll back to the guild hall twirling his staff, as he was getting used to the item, whistling care free, until he heard first, and saw second the girl tumbling down the stairs. He cringed a few times before she came to a complete stop as it looked rather painful. Her glasses bounced a few feet away, and as she recollected herself he quietly when to retrieve them. He made his way quickly to her side, handing her back her glasses first, looking her up and down, and reaching out a hand to help her to her feet. The kid couldn't provide much leverage but he'd do his best. "Are you okay?"

“Hm?” Ean looked out the door to see what was going on, sucking on the straw to his milkshake, he was standing right next to Kihia, although he probably didn’t notice him since Ean didn’t really speak up. Xavier was at the bottom of the stairs helping a girl Ean didn’t recognize before. Based on the suitcase, Ean assumed she was going to try and join the guild which would certainly be nice. The more the Merrier, right?

Ean felt it best not to get involved though since Xavier and Kihia seemed to have it under control and he slinked back into the guildhall to take a seat and continue to drink his milkshake. Before him was a chess board. He was playing a game with Kihia, which made it even more absurd that Kihia wouldn’t notice Ean right next to him when he was at the door. It wasn’t kihia’s fault though. Ean was just that unnoticeable. The mythical ghost of Lamia Scale that nobody knew about because he wasn’t even noticeable enough to be a myth. Thus he had to stay in the shadows of unnoticeableness where his name was regularly forgotten as was the fact he was even there. It was rather depressing at time.

Ean moved his only remaining knight to take one of Kihia’s rooks. This gave him an opportunity to take Kihia’s king. “Check,” Ean finally said something that was loud enough for Kihia to hear.

Kihia looked down at the young Girl who had fallen down infront of the Lamia Scale Guild hall, he saw Xavier pick up a pair of glasses and hand them to her. He then heard the word check come from behind him, that’s when he remembered that he had been playing chess with Ean, he then spoke up, “Hey now… whose turn was it… I thought for certain it was my turn…” Kihia then turned back to face the young woman, he had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he met this person in another life in someway.

He shook the feeling surely that can’t be the case since he didn’t even know the womans name. “I apologize if I caught you off guard… may I help you miss…?” Kihia stood there unsure if he caused her to fall or not… but he would make amends if he was indeed at fault.

Also inside the large social area, Taraki was perched on a hard marble barstool. A half-full pint glass of lemonade was placed in front of the boy but he hardly noticed. Glancing up, he quickly thanked the person on the bar today.

Something was bugging him - his wolven senses were picking up on a lot of unfamiliar scents coming from behind the entrance's door. Standing and strolling over, with another scrunch of his nose, he was sure there was a new mage about to enter. He himself was freshly recruited only a couple of days ago - the lunar mage glanced gingerly down the massive steps through the ajar panels of marble. "Hey, you alright down there?"

“Hm?” Ean felt something was odd as he waited for Kihia to come back. Something was missing; or at least someone. No, it wasn’t a person. It was a sentient entity but definitely not a human being. It wasn’t even capable of speech. “Where’d Sola run off too?” Ean asked aloud, surprising everyone near him that he was even there. One of them even fell over in shock, due to drunkenness, and caused the table, and Ean’s and Kihia’s chess game to fall all over the floor. Ean just stared at the person who fell over, with that blank slate face and stare.

Nobody knew, but Sola had snuck from the table onto Kihia and was now hiding inside one of the guild’s ace mage’s pocket, curious about what was going on. She had slipped from Ean to Kihia when Ean walked to the door to check what was going on. Sola watched as Kihia helped a small girl up. She also watched as the girl tried to lift the heavy suitcase. She seemed similar. She seemed very similar. Sola like this girl and jumped out of Kihia’s pocket and onto the girl and slid his pipe fox body into her shirt and started slithering around inside, her small furs brushing against her skin that would tickle anybody. Sola was always the overly friendly type and had a bad habit of doing this to every person she met and liked. If she could pronounce words what would she be saying? Probably something like “NICE PERSON! NICE PERSON! WEEEEEEEE! NICE PERSON!” as she playfully attacked the small girl with the strangest cuddle anyone could possibly experience. Truly she was a force to be reckoned with and must never be underestimated. Even the guild’s great ace didn’t notice Sola’s presence when they first met and suffered a similar fate. THE FATE OF THE FUZZY SNAKIE CUDDLES! Except Sola wasn’t a snake. She was a pipe fox.

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word count: 324

Xavier choked on his words as she seemed to have left before he could even properly introduce himself. He reached out to her as she tore away from him to retry lifting her suitcase that gave the impression that it might be filled with an amount of rocks the way she carried it. He walked slowly up to her, intending to assist her further, just to be kind but before he could lay a hand on her case she was surprised attacked by some sort of animal that he had never seen before. She didn't appear to be hurt, and Xavier was to shocked to say or do anything.

Kihia watched as the young woman had gotten her things with the help of Xavier. She then tried to get her suitcase and start to walk up the steps again. Kihia stood the for a moment, then sighed and started to walk down the steps in an attempt to help the young woman. That’s when suddenly a furry head popped out of his trench coat pocket and lunged at her. Kihia immedietally recognized the small furry creature as Sola, Eans pet, she got inside the womans clothing and started to squirm around. Kihia froze completely unsure on what he should or can do… “Hey Ean… come get Sola… she is causing a little trouble with our visitor…” If Lyra were to drop her suitcase Kihia would quicly form a hook out of ice and catch the suitcase before it fell down the stairs again.

After some screaming and panicked running by the girl, Sola eventually poked its head and slithery body out of Lyra’s shirt and stared at her face for a little while, before finally pecking her with a kiss on the nose, something she did with every person she met and liked. She also let out a nice friendly squeak as another sign of affection.

“Come on now Sola-chan,” Ean said as he appeared in the fray as if out of nowhere next to the girl. As per the usual, he had that blank, emotionless expression that belied his actual emotions. He wasn’t angry by any means and had no reason to, Sola was just being friendly. Ean was simply worried that she would do that to the wrong person and was concerned.

Ean held out his wrist to Sola who responded by jumping out of the girls shirt and wrapping herself around Ean’s arm, slithering up until resting herself around Ean’s neck and pecking her master on the cheek. Ean responded by scratching her head with his index finger. “Sorry about that. She’s just excited about meeting someone new,” Ean explained before turning to Kihia. “Someone ruined our game so I’m going to head to the fish market,” Ean told Kihia before walking away. He needed to get dinner for tonight and fish sounded pretty good.

Ren stumbled into the guild, wiping the sweat from his brow. He had ran the whole way from his apartment to get here. His ears twitched under his hat with fatigue, and Ren quickly brought both his hands up to his hat to secure it, swallowing nervously. He had to make sure he got to the guild before Ophelia arrived, he wanted to seem punctual and responsible. Of course, it might not exactly work. Ophelia was a very strict aristocrat, and Ren wasn't exactly perfection. If he had even thought of being late, Ophelia would have busted down his door and pulled him by the (rabbit) ear all the way over the guildhall.

There was a crowding over a girl with blue hair, and Ren's worries were eased. Ophelia wasn't here yet. He took the chance to appear not like a cry-baby who was extremely weak and never did anything about it, and walked up to the group. "Is there a new comer? The guild gets bigger everyday doesn't it? It's actually kind of scary..." Ren couldn't stop the thoughts from coming out of his mouth. So much for that. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "W-Well, I'm Ren. It's nice to see a new face..." Ren trailed off, nervously checking the door for any sign of his aristocrat friend.

"Hahahaaa~" The sound of cackling came from the entrance of the guild hall. Who was this mysterious mistress? Ah, yes... It was Ophelia. The last time the guild had seen her was when she was practically choking Ren in the middle of her big return, ever since then she seemingly disappeared out of thin air. The young woman had returned... Again, and hopefully permanently since her Guild didn't take too kindly of her last disappearance. "Ha! Jovial foolery? Without me! The most beautiful and graceful woman to bless this mediocre land of Fiore?" Opelia chuckled and placed her hand underneath her chin, posing as if she were in the middle of a photoshoot.

"Oh Ren!" The red haired woman yelled out, her eyes glancing about and finally focusing in on her blonde ally. "Be a dear and fetch me a drink, stop bickering with the new ones and let me grace them with my upmost perfection!" Ophelia snapped her fingers and sauntered over, a cheerful expression now washing over her face as she drew nearer.

In a way... She actually sparkled. Maybe it was because of her dress? She did wear something off the top... Ophelia had worn a large empire gown with peacock plumage cascading down her rump, the feathers of said plumage dragged along the ground due to its incredible length, yet though dirt was collected beneath it, it had still managed to shimmer due to Ophelia's slaving away when she had sewn the darn thing. Her dark red hair was gathered up in a bun and adorned with a black fascinator that gave her whole appearance a more regal look to it.

"Well! Hello hello! I'm Ophelia Katulai, it is such a pleasure to meet you! Please, if you need anything at all just tell me... And if you want fashion advice I am also here!"

Xavier glanced at the pipe fox as it returned ecstatically to it's friend, whom Xavier looked over and couldn't seem to recognize. Which really concerned him considering he was certainly a member of the guild, Kihia regarded him as such. He second guessed himself, and helped Lyra to straighten out after the little animal had left her alone momentarily. He was about to speak once again, before a woman adorning quite gaudy clothing and an inflated ego to match. He listened passively, growing a little annoyed of... people.

Cyrus was present when this new girl entered the guild. Unfortunately... being present isn't the same as being conscious. Sleeping on the floor in the middle of the guild hall. The Venti fluttered hither and tither, observing things in the guild as Cyrus slept through all the events going on completely unaware that the guild had a new member and the hectic actions of her and his guildmates.

Kihia watched as a Ean came up and retrieved his pet rescuing the poor girl from Sola’s form of greeting, he then saw old faces arriving on the seen all greeting, He first saw Ophelia and Ren arrive at the scene, he nodded to them and then turned back to the shorter woman, “I haven’t introduced myself have I?... my name is Kihia Avoa, it is pleasure to meet you… If you need anything be sure to let me know...” He then noticed Xavier get slowly more annoyed with the situation, he motioned for his attention and then signaled for him to try and keep his calm by leveling out his left hand and lowering it a bit, “It is also good to see you two again Ophelia and Ren… how have you all been?”

Tar had slipped into the shadows a bit, blending in as was habit from years of hunting to survive. After watching the scene for a minute or so, the mage walked back to the corner of the room he had been resting in before, glowing with a dim white light as he strode across the smooth floor. The silhouette shifted, becoming longer and lower until, in a moment, a large, silver-grey wolf was padding where he would have stood. Taraki had made no effort to conceal his transformation - people wouldn't recognize his weave of magic so there was nothing to worry about. After a couple more steps, the beast curled up on the marble couch and rested his head on the seat in front of him, observing the crowd.