Saur turned his attention to the goblin as he approached...and hesitated. Angry...mob? Why would he ever need a-? But then he shook his head. No, he shouldn't say that out loud. His first impression of this one was that he was...strange, to say the least. But he couldn't judge his abilities by that alone.
"I see..." he murmured in response.
"It's a, er...pleasure to meet you as well, um. Jenk." He unintentionally stressed that last part, clearly feeling awkward about saying the name aloud.
"I will keep that in mind, however...I doubt I will require assistance with ranged combat." As he added that last part, he gripped the wooden arch hanging around his shoulders and across his back and fiddled with it slightly, demonstrably shaking the shortbow to emphasize its presence.
He opened his maw to continue speaking and explain his skill with a bow, he stopped as he suddenly realized that they had a fifth member joining up with them. This one seemed to resemble a frog, and he had to take a moment to process their presence; he was surprised to actually see one of their group actually smaller in stature than himself. However, before he could inquire about their presence, the door of the building they had been standing in front of began to open.
Saur was caught off-guard by this gnome woman's stark appearance, but he was almost equally as shocked to hear that she was expecting them. Thankfully, it didn't take him long to start piecing things together, especially once the name "Teacher Ot" was mentioned. He absolutely knew the name of the instructor he had been supposed to meet up with. But there was one thing in her words that caused his blood to run a little colder.
"It doesn't reflect well."
Saur's eyes widened at that. He wasn't surprised that they were late, however, considering he had to stop and actively
hide from town guards not even a couple minutes ago. He didn't like the idea of making such a bad first impression during their first task, even
if he didn't even know what they were doing in the first place. He swallows hard as he nervously watches Alandri break the red bead that he realized was meant to summon Ot to their location.
During the few minute-long wait, Saur remained silent. He considered attempting to apologize, but decided against it. One look at Alandri's face told him that she may not take well to excuses in the moment. He considered apologizing later, once their task was complete.
Luckily, it seemed like their meeting with a no-doubt-disappointed Teacher Ot was going to be put off, as even after several minutes, there seemed to be no sign of him. Perhaps this would give him more time to figure out what he was going to say....
For now, however, he focused his attention on the task at hand. He nodded along with her words while his eyes instinctively darted around the room, taking in every little sight that he could. Still, he made sure to keep his attention mostly on Alandri, even stiffening his body to make sure it was clear that he was standing at attention; not paying attention during this lecture was no doubt going to come back to bite him in the tail, after all. Not that he needed the lesson. The importance of a warrior or hunter being in the right place at the right time had long-since been drilled into him...not that he planned to share that information right now. Though thanks to that, he felt more comfortable turning a little bit more of his attention to their surroundings...including the pictures of an individual sporting similar attire and an interesting-looking staff that he was quick to spot hanging nearby. The lack of a similar-looking gnome in the area was curious, however.... He wondered if he should assume the worst.
Soon enough, the food seemed to be finished preparing and was now set out for them again. However, at this, a look of genuine confusion seemed to cross his face. The strong scent of the coffee caught his nostrils and caused him to actively recoil for a moment. But he quickly recovered and focused on the meal itself...as well as the strange, black scale presented to him.
"Erm...excuse me, Miss Alandri?" Saur spoke up, raising his arm.
"I...apologize, I do not intend to sound ungrateful or anything, however, I feel the need to ask: Is this appropriate...?" he asked. After waiting a moment to allow her to process the question, he began to explain his question.
"What I mean is that we were, evidently, late for our meeting with you; late enough that you clearly felt it a worthy enough slight to summon Teacher Ot. Wouldn't an infraction of such importance usually be reprimanded with the loss of rations like this, considering we are not in an active battle zone where maintaining our strength would be of the utmost importance?"The expression on the small Kobold's face was of genuine confusion, clearly legitimately questioning their situation, as though he thought this act was being overly generous....
Member
A Moody Writer
wanderingwolf
op2024
ctrlsaltdel
Guardian Angel Haruki
wintersoldier
Tally Dor
Half Pint
Noctis