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Fresh snow crunched underfoot as Blossom navigated through the busy Eyris streets, watching the people around her gather in excitement for the festival. Shops were staying open later for business, everyone was decorating, and with reconstruction complete, it was almost as if the events of the attempted siege had never happened. The petite swordswoman certainly seemed in unusually-high spirits as she practically jogged down the snow-packed cobblestone streets, eyes bright. Even with heavy white bandages wound around her thigh, she stepped lightly through and around the crowds. She was too excited to walk! For once, she was excited about something!

She scratched the first two fingers of her left hand against a bandage plastered on her cheek as she paused on a corner to check out a display across a nearby shopfront, her other hand on her scarf. Blossom had only recently finished regularly seeing one of the clerics in town for the wound in her leg. As it turns out, not really keeping your own personal health in mind when you fight generally doesn’t work out well. But she was on her own two feet, without aid or splints or anything of the sort, and for once, the future seemed bright!

She was happy.

But there was one more thing to handle before she could head to the manor; she was fairly certain most of the other Guild members were congregating there, anyway. One last errand. She came to a stop in front of the Guard building, giving the soldiers out front a cheerful wave as she headed inside. They smiled back at her as she disappeared through the doors. “Hey! Dietrich! You ready to go?” Blossom bounced a little on the balls of her feet, peering around, as if he would instantly appear from the end of one of the hallways connected to the lobby space on command. “You promised we’d go together!”

Dietrich was dripping with cold sweat, fingers scraping at the stone floor as he lay face-down, grunting in pain.

Five months ago, this would have been alarming (if not surprising), but the son of Isaac hadn’t touched a drink in three months, and pushed himself up slowly, growling as his arms shook, then straightened them out and looked up at the little lady coming inside! “H-hey!” he called. “Hold on, I got like… five more reps,” he grunted, dropping back to the floor and stopping himself an inch off it. “Come sit on my back,” he added.

Blossom, for her part, was used to it by now, and she giggled quietly as she put her bag down on the floor, near the doorway. “Yeah, sure,” she answered, smiling wide as she carefully added her worn red scarf and jacket to the pile, then trotted over to Dietrich. She scooped up his towel, dropped it on his back, and then sat down, hands on her knees. “Did you add reps to your workout or something? You’re usually done by now.” She studied him for a moment from where she sat, straightening her posture a bit to eliminate the low ache in her side. “Is this all you have left? You don’t hafta answer until you’re done if talking’s too much.”

”Rrrgh… nah, ‘s cool,” he growled, pushing himself up again, then dropped once more, struggling a little more with Blossom on his back. ”Urgh, you’re heavier’n I thought you were… ********, uh, one ninety,” he added under his breath. ”I added another fifty squats… nnngh, an’ pushups. Need to work off this winter gut ‘fore I can do more sit-ups,” he admitted.

Blossom giggled, brushing her hair off of her face. “What gut? You work like this all the time, I’d be surprised if you had any fat left on you.” She settled back a little, rubbing a hand slowly against her side, over her vest. “But still, if you think you need the work, I’m not gonna stop you. Just try not to let Ayra give you so many cakes.” She grinned, draping her hair over her shoulder to comb her fingers through it. “Almost done?”

He actually shuddered under her. ”Augh. You say that like I would ever eat something that woman put in front of me. Hhhggggk-- I mean-- no disrespect to grandma, mind. Just… urgh! N-ninety-three, the woman is a disaster in the kitchen. I heard she burned ice once. I don’t even know how oh holy dragons ninety fourrrrr, haaagh…” He sagged under her a bit, but kept his arms straight, then slowly lowered himself down. ”It’s fine. It’s fine, I got this, six more,” he growled, then started pushing himself up again. His arms were making weird clicking noises, but he pushed through. ”I just… gnnnh, put on weight like a bear. Dad did too… haah… just how the men in my f-family… do, ninety-six…”

“Ah, my apologies,” she answered, voice grandiose as possible, but she couldn’t help but laugh as she spoke up again, adjusting her skirt to lay smoothly over her thighs. “You would think she’d learn something from Tibarn, but I guess not.” She tilted her head inquisitively as she heard his joints click against each other, but said nothing, giving the bandages on her thigh a quick glance while he was busy. “Well, I guess you won’t hafta worry about getting cold in the winter that way,” she teased. “And hey, some girls dig that, you’ll be fine.”

At 200, he finally collapsed, arms shaking a bit, and ushered her off his back. ”Y-yeah… whoof. You hurt yourself training again?” He poked at her bandaged side, brow raised, and slowly rolled over, then sat up with a groan, groping for his towel to wipe himself down and dry his sweaty hair some. ”You gotta cut that out. I’mma… I need to go take a quick shower, prolly. Before the party. You mind waitin’?”

“Y-- Kinda?” Blossom picked up his towel from where she’d dropped it, and handed it over to him. “It’s no big deal, really. Go take your shower, we can’t have you goin’ to a party all smelly and sweaty and gross.” She stuck her tongue out at him, then thumped a finger against his chest. “I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby, ‘kay? You don’t gotta cut corners to go faster or anything, but, y’know. I’ll be waiting. As loooong as it takes for you to get ready.” She grinned, then moved back to where she’d dropped off her things, scooping her scarf up and winding it around her neck. “I heard King James really went all-out with the decorating, and the Crew did the same with the Manor, so it’s probably gonna be really awesome!”

It was about fifteen minutes before Dietrich finally came down, wrapped up in some thick wool, with a tatty red scarf wrapped around his neck. ”Alright, alright, I’m here. You can quit makin’ everybody nervous. Swear to god, soon as a little war hero shows up everybody tries to look like they’re doin’ something really important,” he muttered, waving off a couple of guards who were trying to subtly flex while they did paperwork. ”Let’s went.”

Blossom looked amused by it all, giving the guards a little wave as she moved to follow Dietrich out of the building, but when they finally started down the road for the party, she let out a long, relieved breath, rubbing a hand against her jaw. “I still don’t get why they do that.”

The trek was chilly-- snow was falling again, and Dietrich occasionally had to shake it out of his wet hair, muttering about how he really ought to have put on a hat. Blossom took this opportunity to use one end of her scarf to rub at his hair a bit, as best she could from her height, and then nudged his side, telling him about how Ayra would be chewing him out the moment she heard he’d traveled to the Manor in this weather with wet hair. The forests were beautiful, though-- trees heavy with snow and ice all around them, silent but for the crunch of their boots on the snow-covered road. Fefga’s Manor fortunately wasn’t too far off, because after his workout, Dietrich found himself starving by the time they arrived, kicking snow off their boots and shaking out their coats in the foyer. The place was hung in brilliant wintry decorations, light blues and whites, and the whole place smelled fantastic-- a whole roast boar sat on one table, and Dietrich immediately abandoned poor Blossom to go investigate.

Blossom stared in amazement at the Manor when they arrived, both hands clutching to one end of her scarf, with nothing else to do with them. “Oh, wow,” she breathed, eyes wide. She turned to look at Dietrich. “Isn’t it ama-- oh.” She hesitated a little as he peeled away to investigate that boar, and stood uncertainly in the main hallway for a few seconds, biting her lower lip. No, this was totally fine, she had other friends! She wasn’t hungry yet, anyhow. And Dietrich wasn’t gonna want her hanging on his side the whole time! Yeah, totally.

“I’ll just… go see the rest of the decorations, and go find him back here when I’m done,” she told herself, relaxing again. The Manor definitely was pretty, with cascading snowflakes hung across the banisters and from the ceiling-- without a doubt, Tibarn’s handiwork-- and Blossom stopped long enough to collect a mug of hot chocolate, then went to look through all the decorations, eyes full of wonder. Dietrich would probably still be stuffing his face when she was done.

Blossom looked at the snowflakes hanging along the windows, in front of the layers of semi-opaque white curtains. It all made the area feel very wintry, and yet still warm and comforting. She sipped her hot chocolate and smiled. It was really nice to be at a party for once, even if Dietrich was still busy trying to eat everything he could get his hands on. Maybe things would go well at a holiday party for once.

"Pardon me, miss?"

Blossom turned, momentarily surprised before angling her gaze up to look at the unfamiliar man's face. "Oh, hello! Um, yeah, there is. I know the Guild does contract work for people, mercenary-type stuff. I bet you could talk to someone in the Crew while you're here, I think they could do something more official for you after the party, so probably tomorrow morning or something. They work with the city, too, so you won't have to worry about going against the local authorities or anything." she smiled wide, glanced at his plate briefly, then back at the man. Who knew there'd still be food for anyone else? She had to suppose that if Tibarn was involved-- and he was involved, if the presentation of the food was any indication-- there was no chance they'd run out of much of anything anytime soon. "What's your name, by the way? I'm Blossom." She smiled broadly and held a hand out to him.

Winter wasn't a very important thing for Sunil. He would have loved to do nothing more than curl up in front of a fireplace in his transformed state with a warm saucer of milk nearby and just stay that way for the duration of the season, but unfortunately three months is a long time and neither the milk nor the fire would have been able to last that long. What, did you expect a Laguz, one that was weak to fire, to tend the fire himself? Last time that happened someone's house burned down. He wasn't going to take any chances.

And so the cat found himself outside.

He went to visit Lethe to try to get her to go do something with him, since Rajin went off somewhere or another (probably to go treasure hunt or harass some dude like he usually did), but the female cat and coworker refused to tag along. Guilt-tripping didn't seem to work this time around, so he ended up saying goodbye to her (dropping a hint that he might be at the Manor bothering Tibarn or somebody if she changed her mind) and wandering into town.

It seemed like there were some festivities going on for a while. Lots of jollying and merrymaking and an absurd number of Brians everywhere making logical and snarky remarks only to get called out by their conversation partners. From the rumors he could pick up with his sharp ears, it seemed like there was stuff going on at the castle and at the Manor. If Sunil remembered properly(which he sometimes didn't), Tibarn was supposed to be doing something or another at the Manor. If Tibarn was around, food was sure to follow.

Sunil's tummy rumbled. Manor it is, he decided.

A short stroll later, the cat found himself at the Manor and strolled in like he owned the place. Oh, there were some people here already! His nose led him to where the food was and... there wasn't too much left. It looked like someone had already started wolfing down most of it. But if Tibarn was here, then it wouldn't take too long for more food to pop up. He helped himself to a plate and went to scrounge up some yummies for his tummy.

Oh this thing over here looked tasty! Add it to the plate! No, not that one! The other obscure-looking meat thingy! The cat hummed a tune to himself as he served himself some deliciousness when his ears perked towards an unfamiliar voice.

"So, what sort of sub-human are you, exactly? Taguel, I assume, but I've not yet had the opportunity to speak with the non... eh, lapine varieties this guild seems to have acquired."

If it was any other Laguz, the mere mention of sub-human would have already caused them to riot and the poor sap torn to shreds. Good thing Lethe's not here then... Sunil mused as that would have probably been the outcome. Judging from strange sounding name, he probably wasn't from around here, let alone from Tellius. However, it wasn't like the term 'Taguel' was unfamiliar to the cat. Those were the rabbits who decided they didn't fit along with the rest of the beast tribes and sought out their own name, wasn't it? The wolves had few recordings of them, but the whereabouts of the rabbits were unknown after the Great Flood and were presumed lost along with the rest of the world outside of the desert. The tasty rabbit looking thing near the two seemed to be one of them.

"Laguz," Sunil corrected, his tail swishing as he popped a thin slice of meat into his mouth. "A cat Laguz from the Beast Tribe."

His gaze shifted towards the speaker, and for a moment the cat thought he was a jester. The lanky body certainly seemed fitting for such a position, but the crown suggested otherwise. The fur trim on his collar hinted towards desert-wear, as some of the more 'infamous' Sentrians sported fur collars. Sunil's own barbarian costume he used for certain missions (read: Boardgame) had such.

So most likely a bandit or barbarian jester. Cool. He didn't think those existed. The outfit wasn't too bad, but the crown was a little tacky.

"I'd suggest losing the crown. Whatever purrsition you had where you came from means nothing here. I almost had you figured as a court jester of some faraway desert land just from your scrawny appearance."

Of all the people to be here, why did it have to be THAT guy?! Yarne let out a rather loud squeal when he felt that hand on his shoulder, on top of the familiar voice to the person. His attention turned and he moved back a bit, staring at the man. No no no this had to be a nightmare! He could see the end of his race fading rather quickly as his thoughts began to mesh together, moving by one another quickly. Even though he was trying to stop himself from panicking, the attack just kept coming.

At the very least feeling the familiar, warm embrace of Juniper was enough to slow his thoughts down, and ease him into a calmer state. He began to take more things in, and at a calmer rate. There was the blue ... Laguz he said? That was nearby, and seemed to be another shifter like him and Juniper! This was gonna be great, since they were a warrior race just like the Taguel. He hoped that they could get along, looking back to Juniper.

"Y-Yeah, Owain convinced me to come on out. And since this is a new land...well, what better way to figure out what's going on than to attend?" He asked, bringing his attention back to Sunil. Well, what better way to learn about them than to be around them. "I'm Yarne, one of the Taguel. N-Nice to meet you Sunil." He added, looking back to Juniper. "Y-You sure Gangrel won't bite?" He whispered.

He couldn't help the fact that he feared the former Plegian King! The stories alone were enough to strike fear into anyone, especially the most timid and cowardly of people.

"Good, good. I'm glad you two get along so well, he seems like a nice enough kid. Real overeager sometimes, but I think he's got our best interests in mind, yeah?" Juniper patted Yarne's cheek and smiled, even if she had to stretch up a little to do it. Gods, the kid was like a weed, he was taller than Vince.

"And no, no he won't bite you. He only does that to people who actually deserve it. And that's not people like you." She smiled warmly at Gangrel nonetheless, finally releasing Yarne in order to approach him. She stared at him for a moment, looking him up and down, before also pulling him into a tight hug, albeit a brief one. "I really am glad you came, too," she reiterated after she released him. She smoothed out his cape a little and reached up to adjust his crown for him, and beamed. "You really ought to consi-- ooh, soup!" Aaand attention span diverted once more. She hopped over to the table and immediately investigated, managing to locate an empty bowl in record time. Who knew how Vince could make soup that smelled inoffensive but soured in only the hardiest of beastclan stomachs, but needless to say, there weren't going to be many people very thrilled to be eating the stuff.

Taking a peek at the decorations, Willard was frankly surprised at how pretty they looked. There was nothing of the sort back home, mostly just farmland and bad memories. Turning his attention back to the woman-Blossom, she called herself-before him, he nodded in appreciation. "Much obliged. I'm... not quite from around here, a sentiment that seems to be far more common than what I would've expected."

Smiling, Willard took her hand in a firm handshake. "If at all possible, I'd be indebted to you if you could introduce me to this Crew you speak of, or just someone relatively high up. I tend to..not make so good first impressions. Last time I ended up with a bruise to my head, for some context." A thought crossing his mind, he shook his head in embarrassment. "Forgive me, I completely glossed over introducing myself. I'm Willard Varath, pleasure to meet you."