Into the Wolve's Den OPEN

Eilidh stood on the stone path leading up to the entrance to the Silver Wolf guildhall, holding her fur lined coat tight around her with one hand as she waved enthusiastically at the retreating forms of the spirit wolves that had lead her through the snow storm guarding the guild.

I never thought I'd see any spirits like that away from the forests at home! Glad to see the rest of this strange world hasn't completely cut themselves off from the bigger picture." Eilidh kept waving until she couldn't see the wolves at all anymore, and then for a few seconds more just in case, before dropping both her arm and the beaming smile that had been on her cold-reddened face and turning back towards the building in front of her.

Some part of her wanted to gulp in fear, this was it, she had nowhere else to go and nothing else to her name, if she was turned back here she had no idea what she'd do. The rest of her however, the parts of her trained since childhood to take charge and face any challenge head on as one of the leaders of her people, made her square her shoulders and hold her head up high as she purposefully strode towards the doors, decidedly not thinking of the possibility she might be turned away.

Once she reached the doors she reached out without hesitation and knocked before opening the door and stepping inside and out of the cold, closing the door behind her.

"Hello! I'd like to join the guild please!"

It seemed Eilidh wouldn't have to wait long for a response. Almost as soon as she finished shouting another woman began to make her way towards her with a smile on her face. The woman introduced herself and Eilidh felt some of her nerves melt away, surely this Leila wouldn't be so accepting if she doubted Eilidh would be able to make it into the guild.

With a grin Eilidh took the offered hand in her own, well not so much offered as left hanging to direct her towards a sitting area, and shook it firmly, "It's great to meet you Leila, my names Eilidh, though you can call me Elly if you want, and something hot to drink sounds amazing! As long as it's not bitter I don't really care what it is either." Eilidh dropped Leila's hand and began to walk towards the tables before pausing and turning back to face Leila, tilting her head and chewing on her lip a bit as if deciding whether or not she should ask something. For a brief moment her eyes hovered over Leila, taking in her appearance, from the long, flowing silver hair that became more ethereal and transparent towards the tips to her bark-like skin, and even though her face looked perfectly fine, the skin she could see otherwise led Eilidh to one conclusion.

"I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but what kind of dryad are you?"

Eilidh's eyes grew wide and as Leila underwent her transformation, the joyful sparkle in her eyes betraying the fact she was only barely avoiding the urge to clap her hands by using them to stifle a squeal at how absolutely adorable Leila's transformation and new form was to her.

"Oh my gosh that's so cute! That transformation was perfect! And your tail looks so silky, I love it!" Eilidh leaned in a bit to get a better look at Leila's fangs, only barely remembering to keep from invading Leila's personal space, "And those teeth, I bet those give you an amazing grip! I bet you could tear up a person no sweat with those!" Eilidh leaned back again, tapping her chin in thought, completely ignoring the difference between her attitude and her words.

"You know, I can do something like that too." With that Eilidh closed her eyes and concentrated, normally she wouldn't try to cast both these spells together, but without needing to worry about immediate dangers she was able to focus completely on what she was about to do.

For just a moment Eilidh's appearance wavered before glittering scales began to appear on her, fading into existence in a rushing wave across her form, leaving only the skin just around her eyes and the palms of her hands uncovered. Each of the thousands of scales were individually beautiful, but fit together they provided a living, if textured, window directly into the depths of a swirling nebula. At the same time that the scales washed over her form a mass of darkness bulged out of Eilidh's back, twisting and stretching until it separated into the form of two sweeping dragons wings, wings that also acted as windows into the depths of space, showing groups of galaxies in the distance surrounded by shimmering stars.

Eilidh opened her eyes to look at Leila and grinned, the stark white of her teeth standing out against her scales, "What do you think?"

-Leona's Room-

Leona woke up after lying around for an hour thinking about her home village of Nebdoui. As much as her brother Leonidas hated to admit it and as hard as Chief Elijah and Joshua were working to prevent it, the village was getting to be on its last legs. People were moving out to take their chances in the Tri-Council Cities rather than sit in place and be easy targets for Desierto's diverse collection of outlaws. Leona could not blame them. Life in the desert was harsh even in the best of times and the outlaws were not exempt from that fact of life, but they chose to improve their lot by preying on those who lived outside the sultan's protection.

She could not help but to feel a little bit responsible for the village's steep decline. Maybe if she had stayed in Nebdoui after returning from exile things would be different. Perhaps she could have protected it from the worst of the threats posed by the criminals who called Desierto home. Only the most desperate or most confident of outlaws would attack a village that was home to a Wizard Saint. Maybe she should have forsaken everything to go back and- THUMP!

Leona had rolled out of bed and right onto the unforgiving wooden floor... how embarrassing. Despite being named for the lion, Leona sometimes lacked the grace of her namesake. She certainly lacked grace first thing in the morning, but it was not morning any more. Rather, it was afternoon... or somewhere in that area.

Leona got up, then then put on her green-and-gold outfit and pulled on her Argent Gloves. She felt two magic signatures in the guild hall... one belonged to Leila and the other was much weaker and new to the guild hall. Leaving behind her weapons and armor, Leona hurried down to the entrance of the guild hall to see what was going on.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Foyer-

Leona hurried down the hall and almost ran into a hapless staff member carrying a stack of papers destined for her office. She only dodged him at the last moment and bounded down the stairs that led into the foyer, pausing only to catch her breath. After nearly a minute Leona stood up straight and saw Leila as a silver wolf and someone else with... dragon wings that looked like a nebula? The blonde was confused... not that it was hard for her to become confused.

"Hey Leila! I see we have a potential new member... I think?" Leona addressed Leila with confusion on her voice. She had no idea what was going on here other than a potential new member showing off their abilities. That was what Leona got for sleeping late instead of going to the office.

Eilidh Tilted her head, she wasn't exactly sure what Leila had meant by having more in common than she thought, but she did want to find out, but before she could ask for more information Leila turned to face another woman who had just entered, a woman who according to Leila was important.

Eilidh looked the blond woman up and down, they were about the same height, so that was good, but she couldn't tell why this woman was important in particular. Yeah she felt strong, but so was Leila as far as she could tell, so she didn't know why this one woman was more important than Leila might be.

Unless she was someone more highly ranked in the guild? Eilidh's expression became a bit more closed off as she deliberately dispelled her scales and wings, though her curiosity was still burning intently on her face.

"Hi, my name's Eilidh, and yeah, I was looking to join." Eilidh's greeting had notably less energy than the one she had given Leila, as a rule Eilidh didn't trust anyone who was in charge of a large group until she'd seen that they led by more than charisma alone, a lesson she'd made sure to learn after what had happened to her village.

With a nod Eilidh turned and followed Leila to the table, "We were just about to get something to drink, or at least I think so." Suddenly Eilidh's eyes lit up and she turned to Leila, "Oh! Do you think there's any stew, I could really go for a biiig mug of thick broth with a few chunks of meat in it!"

Leona waved a hand in greeting to Leila and noted the lukewarm reception by the new girl, who introduced herself as Eilidh. Eilidh quickly turned from Leona to Leila and followed the latter from the foyer to an empty table, leaving the blonde standing by herself. Leona slowly deduced that the new girl was a big fan of Leila's silver wolf form... most of the guild was a big fan of that form. The blonde stopped daydreaming and soon joined the pair at the table Leila had occupied for them... she pulled up the last remaining chair and sat down in it along with Leila and Eilidh.

Eilidh was more interested in food and drink than she was in Leona, which was a bit off-putting but nothing the blonde was terribly upset over. Leona did not have the most commanding presence and she really did not want to throw around her titles if it could be avoided. There were better ways to gain loyalty than by throwing around fancy titles.

"So, you're here to join the guild, huh?" Leona asked the pink-haired newcomer. It was an obvious question to ask, but the Wizard Saint would start off with small talk before moving onto the entire point of the meeting, which was helping Eilidh to join Silver Wolf.

Eilidh grinned at the promise of a good thick stew. Sweet drinks like hot cocoa were all well and good, but nothing ever quite hit the spot like wolfing down a big serving of slow cooked meat in a thick broth rich with potatoes and vegetables for staving off the cold and making one feel at home. The only thing that would make it better as far as she was concerned was if the restaurant was set up more like a feasting hall with a big pot of the stuff simmering away on the fire for anyone to help themselves to, the dull roar of conversation welcoming you in after a long day at work, everyone laughing and treating each other with the warm ease that only came from having known your neighbor for all your life...

Eilidh blinked as she brought her attention back to the here and now, realizing that she'd managed to get lost in a memory of her old home. She had brought herself out of her reverie just in time to catch Leila telling her about the rather lax nature that the guild approached it's members activities with. Nothing that Eilidh hadn't expected, but then again she also didn't really know the laws of the world at large, having only really been concerned with the laws of her own village for most of her life, and so had been acting according to what she felt were common sense laws, don't steal, don't attack others except in self defense, normal things like that so she didn't feel that she'd really be at risk for breaking the one rule she had been given.

It also sounded like the guild took care of it's members, but Eilidh was curious about one thing. "You won't have to worry about me turning everyone against the guild, " assuming he isn't a big enough figure to cause an uproar, "and all those amenities sound wonderful, " Eilidh giggled a bit, "though I don't think I'll be using that warp too often. I'm no stranger to harsh winter weather and that big 'ol wolf out there probably needs some company, but I do have one question."

Eilidh wanted to cast her gaze down to the tables and wring her hands together as she took a breath to proceed, but she managed to keep her gaze stead and meet the eyes of both Leila and the new woman, "How close knit is your guild? I'm... I'm looking for something like a family. I come from a village that is-was very close knit. Everyone was there for everyone else, and when one person succeeded the whole community celebrated, and when one person suffered everyone mourned with them. I realize that I may be asking a lot, but, " Eilidh sighed, very much aware that she had brought down the mood, "I just want some of that back."

Leona blinked when she heard the question about how close knit the guild was. That was a question that had seldom been asked of her during her months as the Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf. The blonde needed to come up with a good explanation of the guild dynamic because Eilidh seemed to place a high importance on family and feeling like she belonged somewhere. She had stressed it during her explanation of what she wanted most from the guild, which was to regain some of the feeling of being in a close, tight-knit family.

"Well, the group dynamic's... interesting. It's a collective of people from all walks of life who live under one roof, just like any other guild. What sets us apart is the member base." Leona started her explanation of what set Silver Wolf apart from the other guilds.

"You have Leila, who you've already met. She's kinda the heart of the guild, the glue that holds it all together. Then you have Haley, who tends to hang out in her laboratory and brew potions but occasionally goes out into the world to do a job for research. There's Yuvon Mu-Myu, the masked mage who really, really likes books. He's kinda strange, but he's a good guy to know if you need some arcane lore in a hurry." Leona began describing a few of the more famous mages of the guild to Eilidh as an example of the diverse people who called the guild home.

"Then we have Inkormine and Song Talea, the half-spider brother and sister mages who hail from the desert. Next is Kitalpha Aurence the huntress. Somewhere around the guild hall is Mizumi Aiyama, the guild's cook who also goes into the field from time to time. And then you have me, just a girl from Desierto who moved to the mountains in search of a place to belong after a Guildless job nearly went bad and nearly cost me my life." Leona finished a very brief summary of the more notable members starting with the former Guild Mistress and culminating with the current Guild Mistress. Leona left out a cavalcade of past members including Eero Saarinen and Poko Monstar because she did not want to bore Eilidh by droning on and on when the point had been made. It was time to cut to the chase.

"The point of all that is that so many different personalities and lifestyles live under one roof. We might not all go out on jobs together or have marshmallow roasts around a campfire, but when push comes to shove we stick together. Everyone brings something to the table and makes Silver Wolf... well, Silver Wolf." Leona tried to boil down a complex topic for Eilidh. The blonde probably failed because her speaking skills were as good as a guild mistress's speaking skills should be, but she gave it as good an effort as she could. It was up to the pink-haired mage to make the final decision as to whether she joined Silver Wolf.