[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/BquB1Ti.png[/img] [img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjgwLmU1ZTRlMi5XbUZ5YVc1aElFRnNMVTVoWkdWeS4w/italianno.regular.webp[/img][/center] [hr][hr] [color=9B9F94][h3][b]Velles 19th[/b][/h3] [sub][b]Location:[/b] Ersand'Enise - Animal Farm [b]Day of the week:[/b] Victendes [b]Time:[/b] Morning / Daytime [b]Characters:[/b] Zarina, Nu, Biby, Penny [@Force and Fury], Rikard, Yvain [@jasbraq], Taleja [@Ti], Guy [@dragonpiece][/sub] [hr] [hider=Tan Zeno Interview] The board room was ornately furnished with a table in the middle, a bottle of Ellermane Bleu and a couple of glasses ready for serving. The friendly Perrench man greets the students at the door and introduces them to the comfortable chair as he pours out the bottle into the glass. Marigold cheerfully greets application with a heartful meow before disappearing under the table to reside underneath the Zeno's chair. He gave a chuckle, “She is a little shy around strangers.” He is seated comfortable, and relaxed. It is a nice and pleasant atmosphere, as if two friends are ready to chat over a glass of wine. “Your application was a refreshing read, and I am interested in you. Tell me something that I cannot read from this page.” He patted his hand on your completed application form, before it found itself scratching along the back of the cats neck as it appeared on the table. Zarina opted for a safe middle-ground when it came to her presentation: Darker colours for her formal dress, one that would be conventionally accepted as tasteful to bring to classes, without being too dim as to suggest she was mourning something. She was fresh with an odour of lavender permeating the air around her. With a steady and calculated gait, she approached the seat dedicated to her. [color=#E5E4E2]“High Zeno Masson.”[/color] she spoke before bowing. The disarming demeanor of her interviewer brought the tall student to an ease she wouldn't easily achieve in such occasions. She took a seat, tugged slightly on her dress to give space to her knees and took a seat in a proper, ladylike fashion. [color=#E5E4E2]“She's beautiful. Hey you!”[/color] cooed Zarina as her golden hues followed the little animal. The sight made her smile, something Olivier knew from reading her record. With a light touch of her signature chemical spell, she attempted to ease the stress on the feline and communicate the Al-Nader as a 'friend'. [color=#E5E4E2]“Well,”[/color] Zarina peered at her wine glass. Her personal inclinations told her to indulge, but her mother's teachings told her to wait for the host to poison themselves first. She conspicuously looked at Olivier's glass before continuing. [color=#E5E4E2]“I'm a stickler for good Ellermane Bleu.”[/color] she said as she seized the glass and merely inhaled the aromas to distinguish the different unique quirks that made it the way it was. [color=#E5E4E2]“I've had quite a bit catered a while ago. But not many people know just how much I love the stuff.”[/color] she giggled sweetly. [color=#E5E4E2]“But for what's relevant to the position? I'd say I'm one hell of a good staple that keeps many great folks attending this school together. No matter where they're from or what they believe in.”[/color] Masson tutted a little as the cat moved away from the use of chemical magic, shaking his head lightly. He moved to fill a little saucer with some cream, as he smiled gently, "She will return on her own." As he moved his hand on the glass, raising it up as if to do a silent toast toward Zarina as encouraging her to drink. Matching if she went to drink. "You are a little bit different than I expected," He motioned towards her presentation in a gentle manner, "and your coffee is certainly a staple, amongst the students and the faculty." He circled with a finger on her point on togetherness, "So, why do you do it?" Zarina raised her glass in mimicry. [color=#E5E4E2]“There's a reason they make the host drink first. Please don't make me neutralize such good stuff.”[/color] she commented with a twinge of sass. She really was tempted to just sip. With actual questions shot her way, she took a moment to think. She pondered whilst staring into the dark-red fluid, making her look far more profound than she really was. In truth, she was just trying to remember simple vocabulary. [color=#E5E4E2]“Because it's when I had all these good people united in a common goal that we've achieved greatness.”[/color] she answered with a tone teetering toward dramatics that matched her words. The gesturing with her idle hand added even more to it. [color=#E5E4E2]“Changed the lives of many of our tethered colleagues forever, and for the better I feel. And saved a whole city-state from an incarnation of evil. All of it because we we tied together without any bickering over petty differences. We made a true difference to the world, the same way I'd want to do for this school and city.”[/color] She then sighed. [color=#E5E4E2]“Of course, all this was possible because of [b]trust[/b].”[/color] and with those words, she took a first sip. Masson winked as he drunk after Zarina, "I did not share the same concern. With your chemical magic expertise, you should have been able to neutralize the toxin without further affecting the quality of the vintage." Marigold returned to the table as she mewled, and moved over to the saucer to lap its contents. "You make such feats sound effortless in your reply, and without you, all this could have not all been possible. Truly marvellous, I am geniunely intrigued." He gave a couple of claps with his hands, "Tell me more of the specifics, how did you do it? I wish to learn more about how you completed these achievements." [color=#E5E4E2]“Tsk tsk. The slightest alteration can ruin it. If only I was [i]that[/i] good.”[/color] Zarina lamented before taking a more hearty sip. [color=#E5E4E2]“But I think you can make due without a scandal involving dead students or assassination attempts, right? Trust and character judging were key to my success.”[/color] she said, causing a recently stitched wound in her mind to open up. She hid it, of course, but it embittered her nonetheless. Zarina then shrugged, making it a habit to sip every time she engaged a new idea. [color=#E5E4E2]“I organized a soirée and invited friends, and those friends invited their friends. No pretenses, no ulterior motives. Just a chance to be friends again before the big war pops and an investment for the future. The same way I go about my business.”[/color] and her love life, it seemed. Although she abstained to mention that one. [color=#E5E4E2]“'Cause this is what you're getting with me: Someone who cares about the long term, partially because I'm likely to see it, but also because I see Ersand'Enise as my home.”[/color] she pursed her lips and gestured to indicate she wasn't done. [color=#E5E4E2]“I know that sounded a little melodramatic but I actually do literally own a home here. So, y'know, gotta be a citizen, corporate and otherwise, if I wanna live at ease here.”[/color] Masson circled the glass in his grasp, as he listened half-attentively. "I had hoped for more about this about this tethered story, or rescuing a whole city state from evil." He moved over to a bowl of grapes as he plucked several to put in his mouth, as he suckled on the succelent rich taste of them, one for each of his five gods, and Zarina's god, then one for the goddess of the yasoi. He gestured with his hand, "So your soiree was an opportunity to invest in social credit before the event of a potential war? That sounds quite calculating and ambitious ." He offered the bowl of grapes towards Zarina. [color=#E5E4E2]“Oh.”[/color] Zarina blinked. [color=#E5E4E2]“I thought you wanted to know how I got people to unite. Right, okay.”[/color] she shook her head and raised her hand. [color=#E5E4E2]“We fought to overthrow a Tethered Refuge's corrupt governance and saved it from a maddened Royal Sand Wyrm. We all worked together and ...”[/color] she looked to the side, showing some potential shame. [color=#E5E4E2]“I got over some ideas I had about them - the tethered. I'm hoping I can convince others to give them more of a chance, y'know?”[/color] she shrugged. [color=#E5E4E2]“An Zenui ... You know, it came down to finding the right people to fix a broken government - again - and Prime Minister Cozesteo, an enemy I spared out of mercy, became our solution.”[/color] she pursed her lips and took a sip of her glass - it was nearly empty. [color=#E5E4E2]“Then came the big, bad Hetraxa monster that killed hundreds, and was gonna kill more and more.”[/color] she nodded, gaze a bit hollow as she recalled. [color=#E5E4E2]“It's a bit more of a blur to me, as I was, well you've seen in my sheet there, transformed. Parts of it come and go.”[/color] she took a deep breath and followed up with more confidence. [color=#E5E4E2]“That being said, monstrous or not, I saved hundreds, if not thousands, thanks to what I was - A wildblood. And I intend to do the same for this city.”[/color] Zarina accepted the grapes but did not seem to be in any mood to eat. [color=#E5E4E2]“You make it sound so cynical, High Zeno.”[/color] she uttered with a glum look. [color=#E5E4E2]“But yeah, it was kind of calculated. Calculated and genuine. I've grown to care about these people - this community. And the only way we'll make this world, not just this school and city, better is by investing in its future rather than constantly destroying it to start anew. It was almost pointlessly risky for me to invite some of the Revidians after what had happened. Almost.”[/color] a light glimmer could be found in her eye. One of a shrewd businesswoman. He waved his hand as to dismissively fend off the accusation, "Don't look so glum, I am not here to make an omelette, Miss Al-Nader" He gave a chuckle as he reached for bottle, offering to refill the glass. "But I want that shell of yours to crack, and to see what will hatch from it." He placed his hands together as if stern for a moment, then relaxed again, as the kitty leaned up against his arm. "It is approaching Marigold's lunch time," he scratched under the cats chin, as her purr rumbled gently from the action. [color=#E5E4E2]“Crack my shell?”[/color] Zarina narrowed her eyes to her interviewer and placed the glass back onto the surface before her. [color=#E5E4E2]“I see.”[/color] her lips puckered up for a moment with her gaze intensifying a little more. [color=#E5E4E2]“If you want something specific from me, High Zeno Masson, you could also just ask for it.”[/color] she looked to the hungry cat serving as hourglass prop. Then she peered down, nodded and seemed to resign herself to something. [color=#E5E4E2]“I'm afraid. I feel I don't have a place in most of this world - a world I feel I already did a lot for. Even before I became this [i]thing[/i], I was never content with what I was supposed to be. Not so much here, however.”[/color] she exhaled loudly from her nostrils and looked Masson right in the eyes. [color=#E5E4E2]“I'm gonna live a long time as something most will fear and possibly hate. I wanted to ... Find my place. Ersand'Enise is this place. And all these fucking trials - not the games - reminded me that I'm [i]good[/i] and [i]decent[/i]. Not just some animal to be monitored, made to enforce and put down.”[/color] [color=#E5E4E2]“Honestly? I want to be an inspiration. I want to be a [i]hero[/i]. Being one of the youngest Tan-Zenos and later Zenos in history? A WILDBLOOD to boot? One loved by,”[/color] she bit her lip, trying hard to stifle her emotions. [color=#E5E4E2]“so many, and accepted by even more. It would be a great step up to what I did for the Tethered. That's what I want the most. And I KNOW I'd do a fucking good job.”[/color] she let her back sag into her seat a little more, sighing after letting that out. [color=#E5E4E2]“So, yeah, a bit melodramatic there, again. But that's how I feel. And what I want.”[/color] "All of Oraff's creations are beautiful, Miss Al-Nader." Marigold grew more insistent, as she gently nibbled on his finger. "but now is time. This turned into quite the pleasant conversation after all. Thank you for coming by." He moved to stand up as he approached the door, opening it for the applicant. Marigold decidedly head towards the food bowl was. [color=#E5E4E2]“Some far more than others.”[/color] Zarina added with a twinge of bitterness. Said bitterness lingered as the exchange met its end. Zarina clenched her dress as her interviewer walked past her to give her the door. She felt she hadn't done enough - not enough to 'wow' anyone. [color=#E5E4E2]“The Blood of Saam's beloved courses through me.”[/color] she blurted out something she had always believed should have remained secret right before the door opened. And yet here she was, desperate to prove she had value. Zarina stood up, turned and faced Masson. [color=#E5E4E2]“In a time where you've lost the assets that made Ersand'Enise stand atop the world - Paradigm Hugo and Zenith Claresse - I still chose this school to be the one I pour my hopes and efforts into.”[/color] The Virangish stepped forward toward the door. [color=#E5E4E2]“And I know my potential can reach their levels with proper guidance-”[/color] grooming was a better word, she thought. [color=#E5E4E2]“I only need the opportunity to truly shine.”[/color] she bowed her head and headed for the door. [color=#E5E4E2]“Thank you for your time, High Zeno Masson.”[/color] And then she looked toward Marigold. [color=#E5E4E2]“Bon appétit, petit kitty.”[/color] she cooed. Masson smiled as the door as he closed the behind her, "Thank you for your time as well, Miss Al-Nader."[/hider] [hr] [center][h3][url=https://youtu.be/ZqAPEMGUj74]♫ She Hummed[/url][/h3][/center] Zarina hovered over the calm, misty waters of the cordoned off deep sea section of the animal farm in search for both solitude but also a reassuring presence. It had been rough the past two weeks and she had just about reached the limits with people in general. The cool sea air reminded her of a time far less complicated.There were very few beasts to disturb her quietude in this section as they all preferred the abyssal depths and artificial trenches made for them. There was one exception: A pair of black, beady and predatory eyes that emerged from the waters like that of a crocodile, albeit longer. Under them was a large shadow, one big enough to cover the area of a shed. It had been attracted by the familiar presence - prey, it always thought - only for it to float completely immobile once it reached the surface. The tune became familiar after a week. It meant food. And its mistress always provided. [color=#E5E4E2]“You’re a big, dumb and menacing piece of work.”[/color] she spoke after a breather without ending her tune. [color=#E5E4E2]“But not vicious. I would even say-”[/color] the beast-mistress angled herself to ‘lie’ on her stomach while floating a good twenty feet above the water surface. [color=#E5E4E2]“Innocent.”[/color] she tossed a large slice of tuna into the water, and it slowly sank into the behemoth’s antenna. The woman that had approached Zarina had laid out the details before her group had been made known. If there was one student in Ersand’Enise to deal with such Behemoths, it was her. The whole conundrum had her wondering what could cause the sudden aggression. The reputation of these threshers lent one to conclude it was the norm but serial strikes on ships was deviant behaviour. Her mind wandered into the possibilities, but each time she pictured the potential destruction and slaughter an abnormal animal could do, she could only imagine herself and what she would have done to that boy, Fiske, had she not been quelled beforehand. She was going to kill him without paying any credence to his side of the story, much like a beast would. Her eyes hollowed, mind divorced from her surroundings. It took Nu’s stirring, her Bluewater Behemoth, to snap her out of it. [color=#E5E4E2]“You’ve had enough.”[/color] she decided before dousing the critter with an unpleasant chemical spell to convince it the session was over. [color=#E5E4E2]“Like clockwork.”[/color] Too many parts of the equation were missing, she figured. These things did not want or revel in glory like humans, nor were they close to intelligent. With a sigh and without a solid hypothesis, Zarina dove into the trenches blind. For now. [hr] The meeting Penny conducted had done its job: They were gathered and Zarina could get a feel for the group. A particular sight had her posture stiffen just a little more. [color=#E5E4E2][i]Yvain.[/i][/color] It took a lot of willpower to not just utter that name with disdain. The guy had supposedly humbled himself, but nearly being blasted to death and causing the mess that had burned a few bridges for the teen that only sought to help would understandably leave one sour for some time. [color=#E5E4E2][i]Affiliated.[/i][/color] Guy was neither hot nor cold to her. From what she understood between Penny’s recently revealed (to her) status and this guy’s position, he was bound to her. Still, the shady nature of this operation’s premise had any sort of politics make her anxious. [color=#E5E4E2][i]Unknown quantity.[/i][/color] She saw the odd interactions between Taleja and Jocasta. Perhaps the most brilliant student of their cohort. Perhaps a mind over emotion was what they would need to crack this. [color=#E5E4E2][i]Good kid.[/i][/color] Finally there was Rikard. A powerhouse and known quantity. Smart but a child. The Venomhand’s brains were going to be crucial to keep a plan going. [color=#E5E4E2][i]Princess.[/i][/color] A leader, perhaps? Or was she truly the hothead some might have suggested she was? It was either her or Zarina that would realistically take the reigns if personalities were to matter. Given who attended, however, perhaps the old legged royal was the better pick. [color=#E5E4E2][i]And there’s me. Someone’s gotta know what they’re doing, after all.[/i][/color] [color=#E5E4E2]“Agreed.”[/color] Zarina crossed her arms as she regarded Yvain. [color=#E5E4E2]“Let’s keep the trigger-happiness to a minimum, even when that big thresher is upon us. The smart thing would be to keep it alive to see what’s causing it to go mad. Hopefully without hurting our misguided peers.”[/color] her eyes narrowed on Yvain. [color=#E5E4E2]“Or even our own allies by mistake.”[/color] Out of her messenger bag loaded with supplies emerges the golden head of Biby, the house hippo, fully prepared for a trip. Why did she decide to bring it? One would have to find out, or just ask. The young and smol beast yawned wide and curiously ogled at every moving thing. [color=#E5E4E2]“That said, if the port’s in immediate jeopardy, we kill it. Straight up.”[/color] Zarina declared, solemnly.[/color] [hr] [sub][u][b]Loadout:[/b][/u] [b]Gear:[/b] Hetzelburg Homburg, Conquistador’s Gauntlets, Many Moons Armband, a singular silver coin. [b]Currency:[/b] Ỽ5 [b]Consumables:[/b] Puffchicken Egg Salad with spratz cream coffee. [b]Familiars:[/b] Biby[/sub]