A collab featuring many friends. 

[i]21st First Seed,
Evening, Guildhall[/i]

It was hardly the spread that many would expect for a welcome feast at the establishing evening of a new guild. It looked as though it would hardly feed a family of four. A roasted chicken, a plate of potatoes, a bowl of salad vegetables, and a simple cheese platter. 

But there was at least a pièce de résistance. Right in the centre of the table. A dark looking cake with a sticky glaze and slices of caramelised pear adorning the top in a pretty circle. It was so fresh from the oven that steam still rose from it, carrying the aromatic wafts of ginger and spices into the air too. 

As much as she loathed paperwork, two new pages of parchment were held in her hands. Two new applications. An Orsimer woman, and a lofty Imperial gentleman… Together they were sure to add to the beautiful array of characters that were already forming in their ranks. Ivy chuckled fto herself at the sounds of the footsteps upstairs as individuals got acquainted, settled themselves into their new home. Ivy also glanced at the closed, and most likely locked, door of Dro’Sintaba’s office. She hoped he might at least make an appearance…

As for herself, she’d donned a fetching gown for the occasion. Teal velvet that was long in the sleeve and high necked — sophisticated and classy. Several golden bangles adorned her wrists and ankles, and a thick golden choker was wrapped around her neck, coiled in the shape of a serpent with two tiny emeralds for eyes. Atop her head was a rolled bun of ruby red hair, knotted and voluminous. Her baby hairs were slicked into curls and placed flat against her temples with some kind of wax. She felt as fetching as she always did — ready to once again greet whoever decided they were hungry. 

Ivy hoped there was enough to go around…

The lazing young man didn’t do much more than stealing glances at the redheaded Dunmer lady at center stage – huddled up in one of the more comfortable chairs, and wrapped up in his cape to keep himself warm, Ioannis hoped that he’d ‘contributed’ enough to the total feast effort by having dragged a boar all the way to here. With such a great gift, who would be expecting him to do things like helping with placing the dishes? Not to mention that he had come from a long way.

Hoping that the gigantic Argonian he’d caught a glance at would not end up feasting on the boar all by himself, he decided to break the ice with the red woman. 

“So, uh, is the paperwork all good?” He asked, his gaze aimed at Ivy’s eyes.

Ivy, at the sound of a gentleman’s voice, turned her head in his direction — finding the form of the Imperial in his chair. He was well dressed, smart in fact and it pleased her to see it in the same manner that it would have pleased her had he been in rags and ruffled. She was simply happy for the company. 

Bringing her fingers together, she formed a triangle and nodded in his direction, her smile inviting. “Oh yes,” she began, her accent blossomed from her mouth. “Very good indeed, you’re a smart one — we need creators here,” she finished. The Dunmer continued to look him over in as non-intrusive a way as she could. 

“The boar you brought is fantastic,” she remarked. “Too late to prepare it for this evening but we can cure it! It will be especially delicious that way…. Although perhaps I could ask you to carve out the belly beforehand. Roasted boar belly would be… Quite the dish,” she said with a wink. 

“Sweet Mara, please not me,” Ioannis thought to himself as he imagined having to carve the boar open, while shooting back a cozy smile at the woman. Had she just winked? “Oh, Dunmer women,” he thought. “Never change.” Of course, Ioannis had learned (the hard way) not to go about philandering in an environment completely new to him, but since when could a youth of his age cease such thoughts? 

“I’m afraid I don’t have my trousse handy, and plus, I don’t have much experience with it either… Surely there’s a better butcher here than I,” Ioannis replied, stretching his arms. “I’m better at putting them down than handling the carcass, anyway,” he added, extending the index finger of his right hand, pointing it at the cake and making a ‘poof’ sound, throwing his hand up with the imaginary recoil. “You know. Like that.”

“La’Shuni can clean the boar.” The young Khajiit offered, placing a delicate forkful of chicken in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully as she regarded Ioannis with unsuppressed curiosity; he seemed far too clean shaven and sure of himself to have been much of an adventurer, she reflected. The insinuation that the Imperial hunted without knowing how to harvest game sat poorly with La’Shuni, but she put that aside for now. She wasn’t one to indulge herself to judgemental thoughts without reason… most of the time.

“This one is a huntress. She’s certainly found her way into more carcasses than her mother would approve of, La’Shuni thinks.” she smiled politely, cutting off another sliver of the meal. She tried to pace herself when she ate, not only to avoid looking too improper around company, but pacing herself made herself feel contented on less food than if she simply devoured what was before her. Out in the wilds, you didn’t have a secure source of food, and it could be a while before you came across an ample amount again on long journeys. 

Ioannis turned his head towards the Khajiit upon her remark about cleaning, quite relieved. “I normally hunt small game,” he replied, not wishing to seem inexperienced. “Fowls, quails, mostly pheasants. The boar’s, uh… it’s a happy accident,” he added, not wishing to disclose all of the details.

Aud gave a rare little smile as she tore into a thigh of the chicken. She'd never been a paragon of courtesy at the meal table; there was little enough time for that among the Skaal. And so, her heavily-accented voice came out muffled by meat, still carrying that smile across on it: "a few hunters among you, then?" She looked back and forth between Ioannis and La'Shuni. "We should go together sometime."

The creaking floorboards issued enough warning of the next approaching member that the lumbering argonian could hardly surprise anyone with his arrival. Lifts-Many-Boulders turned the corner, following the sound of conversation and smell of food to find a guest in the guild house accompanied by a recently slaughtered beast. He paced up to them, though the agonized creaks of the wooden floor beneath him made it sound more like stomping, and made a curious appraisal of the beast as he scratched at its tusk with the end of his claw. What strange beasts.

“Miss Ivy?” He said. “I can carry to the kitchen.”

“Ah,” Ivy chirped out, letting the sound roll from her tongue happily -- she was really rather unsure of where to divert her attention as one by one the guildmates rolled in -- either straight from their first quests or fresh from their bedrooms, having unpacked and settled. She took a long look around the room and the happiness could not have been more evident in her. The way that she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, and in the way that she hummed quietly. “Thank you Boulders,” she said, placing a friendly touch on his gargantuan arm as he sidled off with the game. 

Upon feeling the thumps on the floor, Ioannis turned his head with cautious anticipation – he’d heard that this Guild had its share of misfits, but he did not expect something like… assuming from the vibrations, an ogre. He suppressed the thoughts of going for his air bow, considering that a shot would likely do no more than piss the creature off, and that the other folks here would not be at such ease if the looming giant were hostile. 

To his surprise, it turned out to be an Argonian, an overbuilt one at that. He thought of asking it whether it fell into the cauldron as a child or not, but its curious demeanor implied to Ioannis that perhaps it was mentally… special. He shot a smile at it, raising his hand as a greeting gesture. “Hello.”

Boulders cocked his head to the side as he looked Ioannis up and down. Skinny man? He was so little and the boar was nearly as big as he was! It might have been easy for someone like Boulders to hunt, but it must have been like fighting a wamasu for him. Looking at the boar, he found only a single wound on its body. Boulders nodded his head in appreciation.

“You must be strong warrior to kill big beast in one blow! Welcome to tribe.” Boulders said in awe to the little man before walking away with the boar in one hand. Before he turned the corner into the kitchen, he said again, “Welcome to tribe!”

The priest had not spoken up yet, content to nurse his drink in silence while he observed his new allies, smiling at their banter -- and at Boulders in particular. The priest and the behemoth had gotten along well since their meeting at the notice board and Rhillian had become even more fond of the Argonian when he saved him from a fiendish water-goblin. “Welcome indeed, kinsman,” Rhillian said and raised his glass to the other Imperial in the room. “You have a curious weapon there, I must say. What is it?”

As Boulders approached Rhillian to engage in the conversation, everything quietened down for Ivy. She swayed to the centre table — cutting a slice of the spiced cake to place beside a plate of potatoes and chicken. She still had their secretive leader to tend to, after all. With a roll of her eyes she glanced over her shoulder at the corridor that led to his suite, and then back to Rhillian. With a slight murmur under her breath she began to make her way down the hall to drop it off, content in the fact that a good night was going to be had.