It was midday on your, what? twenty-ninth, thirtieth day in Armoroad? It had been weeks since you first strolled into the city, and watched all the other would be and current explorers who walked the streets. You wanted to be like them, and so you hurried right over to the Explorer's Guild to sign onto any guild that would take a newbie like you.
But… turns out, no guild would. After the sudden influx of would be explorers, most of the established guilds stopped taking new recruits. (They all had rather annoyed looks on their faces when they saw yet another new person walk into the Butterfly Bistro or Aman's inn.) And even fellow newcomers like yourself weren't willing to take up another person. (They didn't want to rotate people in and out for expeditions, even though it wouldn't be that troublesome in execution.)
And so, you sat in the Butterfly Bistro at midday, alone. (You were always alone in Armoroad, honestly. This wasn't something new.) This was your usual attempt at soothing the pain of crushed dreams. The bar's food was to die for, literally; sometimes explorers died trying to fulfill Missy's food orders. The bright, warm lights covered the hall with light that made it feel like you sat right outside underneath the hot sun. A small group of musicians played their instruments in a corner of the bar, though the other explorers didn't pay attention to them. The sounds of clinking glasses and laughing, talking explorers overpowered the sounds of admittedly great music.
The bar's proprietress walked through the floor of tables, chatting with a few customers as she usually did. (You had discovered what was "usual" in your not so short time of patroning the bar.) You smiled and gave the pink haired woman a small wave. She smiled back at you and made a beeline towards your table. "Back again so soon?" Missy asked, almost laughing, a lilt in her honey-sweet voice.
You smiled self-deprecatingly and spoke sarcastically. "Oh, don't say that like you didn't miss my company!"
The two of you laughed out loud because her, missing your company? What a joke! You're there all the time; what's there to miss?
"Oh – hahaha – your jokes just get funnier and funnier! You'll be sure to find a spot in a guild with that humor. Hm, maybe I should leave a night open for people to say their own jokes…" Missy paused and looked off into the distance, a new business idea on her mind. She didn't really need a gimmick to get customers; the bistro was plenty successful. You cleared your throat and looked at her with a smirk on your face. She smiled back at you. "Sorry, what was I saying?"
"I'll find a guild to take me in with my humor?"
"Ah, right! But yes, you'll find someone to take you in like the lost little puppy you are," she said. You laughed halfheartedly. "And, lunch again?" You nod and Missy left to give the order to a waitress. You've been there long enough for her to know your order right off the top of her head. A waitress came by a little while later with a large mug of ale and your lunch. You smiled gratefully and gulped down your ale as though you hadn't drank in days. You thanked her before she left, and just as you started to cut into your lunch of roasted chicken, a band of explorers sauntered into the bar. Your eyes quickly looked them over before you dug into your meal.
You didn't bother paying attention to anything else besides your lunch for a few minutes… until suddenly you weren't alone at your table anymore. You hurriedly swallowed the chicken in your mouth – it hurt on its way down because you hadn't chewed properly – and looked up from the plate. There were your new companions, a Hoplite and a Shogun. The protector was calm, unnervingly so. You had never seen someone so nonchalant and calm in all your life. The samurai – blond unlike every other Shogun you had seen in the city – looked you up and down, sizing you up.
The protector waved over a waitress. "I'd like a pint of ale and – what is that?"
You were still staring at the pair when the hoplite turned his speech to you. "Oh, um, it's – this is, um—" For some reason, words couldn't come to your mind.
"Never mind…" he said with a small sigh, "Some hare will be good, thank you. The same for him," he said with a quick jab at the samurai to his left. The waitress walked away and then the pair turned their eyes toward you.
"Smooth as butter, Wannabe," the samurai said with a sneer. Embarrassment etched itself onto your face. "With that reaction to human interaction, I hope you fare far better with monsters."
"I was just caught off-guard…" you weakly argued.
"And you wouldn't be in the labyrinth?"
You cleared your throat again, ignoring the good point he had, and went for your food. Chicken would end the conversation there, surely… or so you hoped.
"Not that you're much smoother, Seiji," the hoplite commented, using the Shogun's name. "Last time you tried anything that wasn't your usual type of rudeness, you spilled your whole pint on a waitress." You smiled at the thought. Color rushed to his guild mate's face.
"You will not let that one go, Reinhardt! Yggdrasil be damned!" His curse was loud enough to make everyone on your side of the bar look over at the three of you. Seiji the Shogun's face was positively red now. "Don't you all have something better to do, huh?" he nearly yelled. The other bar patrons cleared their throats and averted their eyes awkwardly.
"This is why you should keep your attitude in check…" the Hoplite Reinhardt chided with a shake of his head.
"If you would just shut up…!"
"Not that I'm not enjoying this free entertainment," you said, "but… did you two have a reason for coming over here?"
Seiji turned his angry stare over to you. "This was the only open table in the place… mostly open," he corrected before you or Reinhardt could say something snarky. "And I don't need a reason to sit somewhere when I'm Seiji, the Shogun of the best guild in this city."
You blinked blankly for a few seconds and then stared the samurai before you. His color had returned normal. "The 'best guild' in the city?"
He was the one blinking blankly this time. "Are you… Reinhardt, is this wannabe saying he came all the way to Armoroad not hearing about us?"
"Hey, wait! Why do you assume I came to Armoroad and that I'm not from here?"
And then both Seiji and Reinhardt looked at you – chicken skin stuck to your lips, your upper lip stained from drinking ale, offended and embarrassed look on your face – and then they both smirked. "We don't have to assume; we know," Reinhardt said calmly.
"Well… it looks like you two can stop bickering long enough to agree on something…"
"Look at this cheeky little newbie…" Seiji scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "You think you're something, don't you?"
"No one's as unfoundedly confident as you," Reinhardt nonchalantly commented.
"You just don't stop, do you?"
"You just realized that?"
"I swear to Yggdrasil…"
You smiled at the bickering pair, taking in the humor of it all and their company. Lunch stretched on longer than it should have; in fact, it was near dusk when Reinhardt and Seiji's fellow guild members came looking for them. The three of you talked and laughed – or well, Reinhardt and Seiji bickered and you laughed at them, but you did butt in with a well timed joke or jab at Seiji every now and then. And when the two of them got up from their seats and headed toward the door of the Butterfly Bistro, you were in for another surprise.
"Hey, Wannabe, you better be up to facing some monsters tomorrow. We're heading out at 7 a.m. sharp."
It seemed like Missy was right: your humor did help you find a spot in a guild. Looks like you're not alone in Armoroad anymore.