Snippet #2809238

A hush had fallen over the group, one that Astrid was treating with mild disdain; her children had sat in a similar uneasy silence upon experiencing their first thunderstorm and she hadn't signed up for this expedition to play at being Mother, she got more than enough of that at home. She idly picked at the burnt rice, taking bites from it more out of boredom than any real hunger, the burned parts had a smoky crunch to them, but it was nothing worse than some of the burnt offerings she was usually expected to eat. She shot a quick glare at the deathknight, who was politely playing with his food, pretending to eat more of it than he actually was.

A bored sneer almost left her lips, but the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up and Astrid's focus was completely on Ashen Sky as he seemingly noticed the same thing. His words barely registered as she abruptly stood up to her full height, sending the chair she had been seated in skittering across the floor. Her body language became eerily still for a couple of seconds, before she casually returned to motion, following closely behind Ashen.

The Artisan frowned to himself for a few moments, watching the two Lunars quickly make their egress from the room. He was one of the last to leave the room, but the noise and sight of Lady Lux fumbling about in the dark was more than enough to elicit a chuckle as he slowly stood up and made his way to the deck. Just before taking the stairs above-deck, Artisan could hear Lux finishing up a polite greeting. After letting out a small sigh of relief that Astrid hadn't been the one to speak first, he made his way upstairs to stand with the rest of the Exalts before quickly realizing he had sighed too soon.

The Lunar chieftain began prowling the moment the shark spirit had landed; her gait was slow and meticulous, circling around the shark spirit in a way very similar to a shark circling its prey. Thankfully she was still in human form, and Artisan quickly tried to interject before she could make an incident out of this, "We are here on behalf of Lord Fak-" His words were quickly lost under the bark of laughter coming from Astrid, who had stopped directly in front of the shark spirit, interposing herself between the spirit and other Exalted.

"Well..? Some of us are in a hurry. So. Let's. Go." She poked her index finger into the shark's chest at the end of each sentence, as if to punctuate her point. "Or would you prefer us to tell Fakharu how we were delayed by an overgrown. Upstart. Fish?"

Had it been physically possible, Artisan's face would have turned even paler as the Lunar made it clear she wasn't impressed with their escorts. "Apologies for Lady Astrid's lack of decorum, but she is correct that we are on an urgent matter for the Western Censor; a matter he would be undoubtedly grateful to have resolved sooner rather than later; if you would be so kind as to escort us to see Lady Sikunare?" With a gracious smile, he hoped that a sense of duty and a healthy fear of the not entirely sane barbarian would be enough to keep the shark spirit from starting a pointless fight.