Early to the Late Party (Open)

”Oh man, late to the party. Don’t ‘spose they’d mind, ya think?”

A low hum was all the answer she needed from her feathery companion. Giving the metallic mask a few pats, she grinned up at the odd avian, ”You go on ahead n’ cruise up in the skies, ‘kay? I’m sure I can handle myself down here. I mean the worst they can do is throw me out on my ass and say ‘hell no!’ right?” The woman outright laughed at the way her friend shook her head before taking back off to the skies.

The looks from the villagers nearby went ignored as Rohma hoisted the bag over her shoulder, remembering only belatedly to push the goggles down around her neck. Confident though her stride may have been being back on the ground always felt strange after the thrill of zooming through the celestial beings above. Her last rush had yet to die down to the point the raven-haired woman shivered a bit, grinning at the delicious memory of mere moments ago: it’d been a good ride over.

For the past week the woman had been almost knee deep in sand and in various ditches that could’ve been her grave had it not been for the crew working alongside her and the blaring sun overhead. The invitation came last minute, something that couldn’t go ignored despite the possibility of joining in a “Grand Opening Ceremony.” It’d probably been a great shindig, but after some of the interesting objects she unearthed it’d been well worth it. ’Never mind that slab telling a treacherous love story. Still can’t believe that dipstick almost spoke the spell aloud – gods knows what might’ve happened if it worked and he accidentally brought that high priest fellow back to life.’ This time a different shiver traced down the woman’s spine at the thought of dealing with a mummified priest-turned-traitor. If he’d brought plagues and all sorts of nastiness alongside him….well the decomposed body would’ve been bad enough.

One good slap though and the fellow had been far too knocked silly to bother, mumbling incoherently instead. He’d still managed to resurrect a frog or something, but it died quickly beneath someone’s boot.

”Huh….interesting motif. Not quite sure it matches the natives, but guess they don’t mind it.” It matched an idea of a castle, one from another culture and left her wondering if perhaps one of the top dogs hailed from that place. She’d temporarily lived in stranger places however, this one undoubtedly comfier than a lot of them so she shrugged off the aesthetic, opting to enjoy it rather than question it as she continued to walk right up to those front doors and waltz on inside.

Ignoring the somewhat quiet tavern – perhaps people were still sleeping off the party a couple days ago, or it was too early for most people – she walked up to the bar and claimed a stool.

”What’ll it be miss?”

The fellow startled her a bit, having been beneath the bar doing heavens knows what. After recovering she dropped her head back into her hand and grinned, ”Just a water and maybe some pancakes.” Honestly she’d tried to sleep in a bit and not arrive so early, but Rohma hadn’t predicted the good tailwind they found along the way. ’Guess I can loiter about before seeing whether or not they’ll have me,’ she thought, hooking her feet through the rings of the stool and sipping the chilled water.

A lovely specimen popped up just as Rohma shoved a nice hunk of pancake into her gullet, cheek bulging out as she raised an eyebrow at the woman’s abrupt halt in speech. ’Guild…what?’ She took the time to finish chowing down and swallow the lump, watching as the more elegant-styled mage quickly reconnected whatever thought decided to knock loose. This person didn’t strike her as a guild master, but maybe she was sort of like their librarian or secretary: it really didn’t matter as company was company and a welcoming committee was the same.

Unless she was here to boot her out. Rohma would’ve taken the plate with her had it been the case.

Instead as this ‘Tyriel’ inquired her reasons for popping up Rohma drizzled more syrup onto the stack of wide flapjacks since it needed a hint more sweetness to it. After the face blurred too much to be recognizeable she shrugged, ”No one in particularly. Don’t even know who all’s here, but was lookin’ more to join really. If you happen to be someone to talk to about it or know who I’d appreciate the help. Though…there any req’s I should know about? Didn’t see any mentioned in a flyer I saw, but ya never know if there’s stuff that goes unmentioned, ya?”

As if to punctualize her query Rohma added another forkful to her mouth, sighing in pleasure at the blissful taste. The only issue with that last job: not a damned fool seemed to know how to cook. Because of lack of foresight they all brought the blandest and simplest of things, and no amount of rationing had been enough to save all her side goodies – especially with a bit of filching that went on in those places. She’d just about buried the fellow who stole her last chocolate bar until only his head popped out of the ground to teach him a lesson if scaring him out of his wits hadn’t worked just as well.

”Gotta say though: great kitchen staff here. Can’t tell you how delicious this is compared to the gruel those morons’ve been cooking for the last week.”