Dyne was a man of simple things. Being a druid by trade, he would often simply be taking in the sights and the world at hand.
It was for those reasons that he generally detested cities such as E-Rantel, though he was bound to it by necessity. The Adventurer's Guild was his team's lifeblood.
He patted his stomach gently. While he wasn't exactly overweight, he knew he would be much, much slimmer without his crew.
Peter sat across from Dyne, staring intently at the closed doorway. He was a kindhearted, honest man, and the leader of the team. The mottled browns of his jacket matched the colors of his shield nicely, as well as the hilt of his blade. While Dyne preferred his mace, he could appreciate a good old sword and shield combo when he saw it.
Lukrut was lounging around, looking around at nothing. He was a restless fellow, though Dyne always suspected there was something underneath the shallow persona he seemed to always approach women with. The flashy reds and browns complemented an equally flashy personality. His hands would tick in strange ways, as if drawing back an illusionary arrow.
Ninya was reading some sort of book she had on hand. The young magic caster always held lofty goals, and her Talent to accelerate her learning only made that process faster. The muted blacks and browns juxtaposed her brilliant blue eyes.
Though she tried her best to appear male, it was only a matter of time before the resident party healer knew the truth. Dyne supposed the other party members knew as well, but decided to refrain from commenting. Being a woman adventurer could oftentimes be a dangerous thing, especially for newbies. She could reveal herself whenever she felt comfortable doing so. Dyne was a patient man, and had plenty of time.
Speaking of time, it was right about time for that man to arrive.
The Swords of Darkness were in the business of recruiting another member. After a harrowingly close mission, they figured splitting rewards five ways in exchange for a solidified party would help. A backliner, preferably.
This was why when they heard the news of a newbie adventurer quickly climbing the ranks, they pursued. A silver rank within his first month, the adventurer supposedly rarely spoke and only interacted with one particular clerk. He would enter a little past dinnertime to claim his prior quest, then start a new one.
The source of intrigue that followed the man was another reason for their desire to meet with him. None of the Swords had ever stayed in the Guild this late, but they wanted to see this 'thing', as some called him. Dyne was quite sure the man looked just fine, and was being harped on by those who disliked seeing someone climb the ranks so quickly. Appearances be damned, his silver tag put him on par with his seasoned crew. While his climb was certainly somewhat suspicious, as far as Dyne was concerned a capable member was a capable member.
The door opened and Peter's eyes narrowed slightly at the man walking through. "He's here."
Dyne turned to see something leap with a seeming weightlessness in his movements. Several times it would seem to touch the ground only to bounce back up with the same ferocity of its first leap. It had complete control of itself in the air, circling objects and people with an ease that only a master of wind magic could even fathom attempting.
The blue and black blur then stopped completely in a fraction of a second at the front desk.
Dyne could not tell if he felt a respect for the grace exhibited by the being or a sense of wrongness in the way that it moved. Maybe a mix of both. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, something in its own class. He wanted, no, he needed to know more.
Peter signaled, and the team shifted off of their chairs and beelined towards the man across the room. Peter led with Lukrut at his right, and Ninya and Dyne trailed behind.
One of the reasons no one talked to it was because of that speed it possessed. It did not loiter or lobby, it would simply come and go. The timing required to speak to it was incredibly precise.
This was the timing they would use to their advantage. The man would not escape so easily.
They surrounded its backside, pressing in close enough where it would feel forced to engage but not enough to make them seem hostile. At least, that was the plan.
With the way the man dressed, Dyne couldn't help but wonder at what customs could have possibly forced this man into such odd articles of clothing. As he neared it he realized the clothing was nothing even remotely natural. It was more akin to pieces of tarp than cloth, reflecting the lights of the building in a harsh manner akin to metal. It also seemed to wear a mask, though he couldn't get a good look at it from this angle.
No matter, Dyne decided. While he was vaguely uncomfortable with the clothing of the man, that was no reason to discount him.
The man walked backwards before completely turning around, bumping into Dyne as he did. While Dyne stumbled a step backwards, he felt odd. The impact he expected wasn't there. In fact, he felt nothing at all. It was as if the man was completely weightless, simply an illusion.
The man whipped around.
Dyne flinched and plastered his face with a smile as he felt the gaze of those two orbs on him.
The mask covered his face entirely. There was no semblance of emotion detectable in him, only what little body motion left in it giving away any hints.
Dyne took another half step back, feeling entirely too close to the edge of the worn knife in its hand.
Peter took this as his sign to speak up. "Hey there rookie. I was wondering if we could talk with you." He slowly swiveled to their leader. "Assuming you're not busy, of course." Peter hastily added.
The man seemed to genuinely pause and consider the offer.
…
Seconds felt like minutes to Dyne. Something about the man threw him off despite his normally easygoing and casual behavior.
Regardless, the man shook his entire upper body up and down, dragging most notably its head and knife along with it.
Peter smiled in response. "Great! Let's head over to a table and discuss."
As the Swords started to walk towards their destination someone called out to them.
"Delta."
Dyne turned back towards the source, one of the clerks. "What was that?"
"Delta." She replied. "His name is Delta."
He smiled in response. "Thank you for that."
"Let me introduce us." Peter started. "I am the leader of Swords of Darkness, Peter Mauk." His silver plate caught the light.
He gestured to the resident archer. "And that is the team's eyes and ears, the ranger Lukrut Volve." He gave a brief wave.
A part of Dyne was glad that Delta didn't seem to be a woman given Lukrut's disposition. Now that he gave it more thought, he had no clue what Delta's gender really was, though it was said he had quite the rough voice.
The next introduction drew Dyne out of his thoughts. "This guy deals with healing magic and the manipulation of nature, the druid Dyne Woodwonder."
Dyne nodded sagely, giving a brief smile. "Nice to meet you."
"And lastly, this is our magic caster and the brains of our team, Ninya the Spell Caster."
She lowered her head with a slight blush on her face. "Nice to meet you."
…
Peter continued with what should have been the obvious continuity in conversation. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
He shook his body.
"Ah, okay. That's fine then, since we already know your name, Delta."
He nodded a hint less viciously.
Peter took it as a sign to continue. "We know you are a man of few words, Delta, so we would like to get straight to the point: We would like to recruit you to join our team." Delta seemed to physically flinch at that. "We have a subjugation quest to complete, and if you were to perform well in it we would see to it that you would become a member of our party, the Swords of Darkness. Of course, you don't need to decide right now, but…"
At this point Dyne was sure Delta was nodding his head as fast as humanly(?) possible, opting not to even look in Peter's direction but instead alternating between staring at the floor and the ceiling. "Yes." His rough, tired voice responded in complete contrast to his body language.
The party chuckled a little at Delta's antics. "Would you be good to meet tomorrow morning? Maybe a little before midday?"
Delta had stopped moving in favor of staring at Peter, and the ensuing silence felt uncomfortable to Dyne.
Peter opened his mouth to retract his statement, but Delta beat him to the punch.
"The best of the best!" Delta responded happily.
Dyne let go of the breath he had been holding, as did the rest of his party. He didn't really know what Delta meant, but the tone sounded cheerful enough to be an affirmation.
Peter chuckled. "Maybe not the best of the best, but we're glad to have you on board, Delta." He went to stick out his hand for a handshake before retracting it on remembering Delta's odd hand gestures and positions. Maybe he wouldn't want a handshake?
"We'll see you tomorrow then." Peter reaffirmed, sliding out of the booth.
Delta beat him to the punch, having less so sat down during the conversation and more so crouched on top of the chair seat. He hopped away in that weird but entrancing movement he seemed to be so fond of and was out the door before everyone could properly end the conversation.
"What an odd man." Ninya muttered to herself.
"The control he has over his body is incredible." Dyne spoke in awe.
"Yeah, I've never seen anything like that." Anxiety tinged Lukrut's voice, causing Dyne to turn to him. "It unnerves me to see someone move like that and be barely able to talk, less so a grown man."
"We don't know what Delta has gone through, Lukrut." Peter came to his aid. "For all we know, Delta's hiding a traumatic past under his gear." Dyne resisted the urge to glance at Ninya.
"Indeed." Dyne supported. "Besides, I had detected no malicious aura from the man." He briefly frowned. Dyne hadn't casted anything deeper than a simple detection on the man, but given his full body coverings it may be worthwhile to try something a little more detailed. People like him do not show up without their fair share of history, but to be a party member meant absolute trust. Absolute trust meant absolute truth. Lies and half-truths led to mortal wounds on the battlefield.
Ninya yawned. "It's been a night. How about we call it quits for the day?"
"I agree." Peter glanced at the rest of the party. "Let's head back."
