
Brienne dropped to the floor, her talons clacking softly against the laminated tiles. She hadn't meant to irritate Sen with her flapping, but it was her fastest mode of movement. Her grounded gait looked strange, something between a lope and a hop, a bastardization of a human's walk and the tiny bouncing of songbirds. Her long, peppy strides kept up with the demon rather easily, but she still felt uncomfortable about it. Plus the cool tile against her feet sent an occasional chill up her slim legs.
Measuring the time by the quiet click of her claws, the harpy wondered why her request for directions went unanswered earlier. Sen seemed just as lost as she'd been earlier. Brienne heard the voices a split second before her companion started following them. Stalking behind two other people to find the headmaster's office seemed creepy, but whatever worked. Better to seem creepy and get going than wander the halls until they both died of old age. Wait... could he even die of old age? The harpy didn't know much about the internal biology of other magical beings. She decided to stop thinking about it too hard, nothing much she could do either way.
"...Stick with me and you'll never get lost..." Brienne internally raised an eyebrow at that statement. From the way he acted, she got the feeling he wasn't one to make or have friends. He simply gave off the air of someone who didn't have the empathy to care about anyone but himself. She didn't say anything about it to him, but it made her curious. Could her feeling be wrong? She'd wait and see.
Squeezing into the headmaster's office behind the young man who led her here, Brienne cast her sharp chocolate eyes over everyone assembled. A red-headed man with strange red eyes lounged in the room before they'd arrived. Something about him struck the harpy as... odd. She couldn't place it. Beyond that, he stank of cigarette smoke. Brienne scrunched up her nose to try and force the pervading scent away from her nostrils. The next person she noticed as one of the two they followed in. He looked human to her, only his lavender eyes standing out. Perhaps he was a mage? She made a note to ask him later. The other of the two gave her a sort of monochrome feeling. White hair and eyes that hovered between ice blue and a pale green, accompanied by white and black clothes made her wonder where he came from. Certainly not anywhere she'd been. He too appeared human. Strange.
The area felt suddenly... incredibly claustrophobic. Resisting the urge to throw out her wings and make space for herself, she settled with ruffling and fluffing out the feathers on her wings, rubbing them together in front of her for a moment. Enclosed spaces didn't usually bother her, but so many people in such a relatively small space bothered one of the older, more animal spots of her brain. If something went wrong, there wouldn't be much room to maneuver. Not that she expected anything to go wrong, but the feeling lingered with her still. Sen spoke first, claiming his intent to lead the council. Behind her, she noticed the Cerberid-creature shove its way into the room, making her even more uncomfortable with the squeeze.
Swifter than a falcon, she used his simple statement to springboard into her own pitch. "I don't care about being in charge of the council, but I feel I'd make a great addition. I'm Brienne Showalter." She turned towards the taller red-head, who she assumed was a staff member. "I don't have as much academic experience as some people, but I have other kinds of practical knowledge, including but not limited to: counting and assigning supplies, navigation, financial math, assigning tasks, checking inventories, teamwork, and foresting." She studiously avoided mentioning anything about physical or magical prowess, neither of which she'd ever been particularly good at. In fact, she'd only ever been in one fight in her life, and she still had the scars from the draw. "Anything else I can probably learn with some training." Her amicable smile faded on the walk to the headmaster's office, but it returned in all its brilliant glory as she finished her statements.
Despite her relative confidence in her statement, a twinge of nervousness thrummed through the harpy's body. Maybe she'd come on too strong? Her feathers fluffed up again and she nervously pushed her hair behind her left ear with her wing. Maybe they were supposed to wait for the red-head man to ask for their pitch. Too late to take it back now. Brienne's mountaineer spirit flared. So be it. Whatever happened, happened, and she wouldn't be sorry for it.