Snippet #1905599

Charlotte Leiss; The Bar

What made Draco Edge special? What was the shortest, simplest way to express all the reasons why a girl like Charlotte loved this magic guild? If one were to ask, her answer was most certainly…

“It’s never boring,” she grinned, stretching as she sauntered into the guild. Already the festive mood was evident. Most of the others were already there, scattered about the wooden tables that made up the bar-space of the guild house. Conversations flooded the air with murmurs and laughter – everyone was ready to celebrate. Well they better have been. The guild master had been going on and on about the feast for days now… It was hard to believe that the guild had only been around for three months, and Charlotte a member for even less. She could hardly remember what life was like before joining… Well, that was an exaggeration. Her memory wasn’t that bad. It was just that rather than reminiscing in her former self, she would much rather remember that rush in her veins when the guild mark was stamped onto her skin – one of her most vivid memories.

That mark showed proudly, a dark red upon her paler skin, above the slope of her collar bone.

“Now, where are those two?” she murmured aloud, scanning the large hall for any sign of two specific people. She was looking for her teammates, Cassadin and Chowa, the other members of Team Bittersweet… a team about as random as the name. It couldn’t possibly be too difficult to find them, even in this cluttered crowd – after all, the former was almost always the one with dirt streaking his skin while the latter was the isolated one with long green hair. Really, how hard could they be to spot?

As Charlotte looked amongst her guildmates, a slightly smaller figure mimicked her motions from behind her. Two beady crimson eyes, brighter than the girl’s own, flashed as they caught the sunlight. This feminine form, clad in a cream jacket with hood pulled over a black disk for a face, was not human although it seemed to move as such. It had feline features from its clothes – enormous capped sleeves resembling clawless paws, cloth ears perched atop the hood – but the tail, it gently lashed about as if it were real. It wasn’t a human, but a doll, and there was a perfectly good explanation for its movement: Charlotte.

Everyone was used to the sight, the taller girl in her usual brown coat followed by the peculiar doll. Being the only doll play mage in the guild, Charlotte saw little point in hiding it. Some called it a careless use of magic, but she didn’t care what others thought of it. If she wanted to animate something, she was going to animate it. It’s not like anyone could stop her. ‘And Eira’s my best friend…’ It seemed that an anniversary was just a day for reminiscing. She couldn’t stop the memories from surfacing. Memories of home… or what used to be her home. She laughed here, she ate here, she slept here, and she lived here – wasn’t that the definition of home?...

… She was unnerved by her own unfamiliar sentimentality.

Charlotte grimaced and stopped that line of thought right there. She’d come out to have some fun, not linger on the past. Seeing as she wasn’t quite in the mood for a quarrel quite yet, finding her teammates was her best bet. Not quite the social butterfly, she wasn’t all that comfortable with just everyone yet. “Cass, Chowa, you there?” she called over the ruckus of the other people. Really, where were they? The guild wasn’t that large – were they ignoring her? Or were they just not there yet? And speaking of ‘not there yet’, Charlotte realized exactly why things seemed a little too peaceful. It seemed that Anachayla was still on that oh-so-very-important mission of hers. No doubt the ice mage had taken it just to rub her the wrong way – Charlotte didn’t even know how this little animosity between them had started, but she did know that it was never, ever a pleasure to see that ice mage satisfied.

Fortunately, what Charlotte saw was a much more welcome face. “And he shows himself at last,” she mumbled before following the now-arriving Cassadin. As usual, he’d changed his clothes, but the flecks of dirt on his skin told her what he’d been doing until now. Well all the more power to him then – someone had to take care of the guild flowers. Better still, she also caught sight of a familiar shade of green. “There you are,” she said with a grin, taking the seat across from Chowa – yes, she didn’t ask and yes, it was probably rude… but she only realized that after she had done it and it was too late now. Hopefully her teammates were used to it by now… “Sullen as usual, I see,” she added. A teasing comment it may be, but she wore a smile rather than her usual smirk. She didn’t mean any real harm.

In the meantime, Eira had staggered to a nearby window seat, and with a flamboyant turn, slumped into the wooden chair, lifeless. However, its eyes still flashed in the sun’s warming rays.