Marianne cast a glance up at Abra, giving one last playful squeeze of her arm before moving aside. Naturally, she sat next to Jacob as close as possible with a trained eye on the other mage. If Jacob said it was fine then it must have been. Even so, if anything so much as seemed suspicious, she was ready to leap across the board and make a bow tie with Abra’s innards.

She hummed slightly, reaching out to place her hold now on the Champion’s arm. Gingerly placing her cheek on his side, she watched Jacob play the game with a curious expression. Her  hold was much more gentle as opposed to the one she held on Abra.

“Hmm, fearless leader must be really good at this game to be so confident. I knew Jacob loved gore just as much as the next warrior!”

Back outside, Solanne listened to her friend’s confessions with a surprisingly serious expression. She was used to such things now from her time at the orphanage; she knew when a youngling was pranking and when they were being genuine. It was obvious to her that Niya was being genuine with her concerns.

The Crimson Hound breathed out a sigh before leaning back on the tree behind her. Crossing her arms, she gave the healer a knowing smile.

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying loud and clear. I can at least vouch for Marianne personally in saying that although she’s screwed in the head, she’s as loyal as anyone else here. For the others….I’ll be honest with you Niya, I can’t say for sure if they have a chance.”

A pause as the Crimson Hound breathed out a puff of hot air to contrast with the snow of Regna Ferox.

“But that’s just it Bone Mender. Wasn’t the old Shepherd group just like ours? I’ve only heard stories but from my understanding the old schoolers were just as ragtag as we are now. I heard that they had this crazy dark mage not too different from our Marianne…or maybe there were two of them. And then there was this archer fellow who tried to smooth it with the ladies all the time. And also…I think they had their fair share of kids too…ever heard of Donnel the Terrible?”

Solanne’s smile got warmer as she glanced now down at the other girl.

“They may not live up to your expectations. They may not even live up to the world’s requirements. But that won’t stop them from trying and surprising the both of you, y’know?”