Delaryn fumbled with a few items as she approached the counter. A yawning sin'dorei barista blew an errant bang up and away from her face as she regarded the kaldorei with a bored, unenthusiastic expression. Delaryn was keeping her sword under one arm as she searched her purse for her phone, then hastily thumbed the device open to get to the payApp.The elf across the counter rolled her eyes shallowly.
"Uh, do you need more time, Miss?"
"No! No... I got it." She placed her phone under the scanner.
"I'll take an iced coffee, please." She asked quietly. She was conscious of the stares of a human man behind her. She was not sure if he would be frustrated, or staring at the way her butt looked in the skirt she was given. The outfit was something given to those who were allowed to try-out for the Sentinel's Guild. A short purple skirt with silver threading around the hem. Over her torso she had a white blouse with a purple and silver vest. She forgot the belt to hold her sword, only having the strap to keep her quiver and bow at her back. It was why she fumbled with it all at the counter. It was a faux-pas to put the sword down where any normal citizen could grab it.
"Name?" The sin'dorei asked, holding a black marker to a little white cup with the Elunebucks logo on it.
"Delaryn."
"Too long. I'll write Rin down. You'll remember that." The girl stated.
"Uh." Delaryn hastily collected her things. Before she knew it, another girl had locked arms and began pulling her away from the counter.
"They're not very enthusiastic, I know. But the drinks are good." The other kaldorei shrugged. She was wearing the same try-out uniform as Delaryn.
"If you say so..."
Once they were out of the way the girl presented a strong and calloused, yet still slender and womanly hand with manicured silver nails with little purple moons painted on the thumb and pointer finger. They were surprising for a girl that basically announced to everyone that she was a warrior with her appearance and aura.
"Shandris!" The barista shouted.
The other elf smiled awkwardly. "Oop. I was about to introduce myself, but... well." She shrugged.
"That's my name." She bounced towards the pickup counter and took her large tea.
Delaryn stood in stunned silence for a few moments. "Shan... dris..." She muttered.
"Shandris!?" She pointed.
"That's me." The girl blew into the opening of her store mug.
"But..." Delaryn stared at her apparel. The same tryout clothes that she was wearing.
"Your sister is the-"
"My 'half-sister' is the Guild Leader. Yeah. But I still gotta try out. It's important. I'm confident in my skills, anyway. I know I'll get in." She said confidently.
"Rin!" The barista shouted hoarsely. Delaryn walked to the counter swiftly, grabbed her drink and walked back. She did not want to miss her chance.
As Delaryn walked back she noticed Shandris eying her weapons. "A Moonsword and a Longbow? Which do you favour?"
"Both." Delaryn explained, revealing the dagger that was stuffed into her purse. Shandris blinked, then covered her mouth and laughed.
"Forgot the belt, huh? That's fine. So you're an ambusher." The girl nodded slowly, thinking.
Dalaryn blushed. "You're pretty good at everything, right?"
"Not magic. That's the only thing." Shandris was being humble. Delaryn knew that she was first in her class for both bows and swords. An excellent warrior and an excellent archer. Though, Delaryn could pick up a sense of shame, of all things, as Shandris mentioned not having magic.
"My older sister's the strongest priestess in the world and the leader of one of the biggest guilds, so even if I can be the best at this it's still not enough to shine."
"You shine, plenty!" Delaryn gushed.
"I know about you! Most girls probably do, too."
Shandris blushed, pulling Delaryn under her arm. "Stick with me during the tests. I'll see you through."
"Huh?" Delaryn, surprisingly found the prodigy to be fairly simple-minded. She was complimented, so immediately wanted to repay the compliment even though she did not know Delaryn at all. Not only that, Delaryn felt like she had made a very useful connection just from a few kind words. It was both scary and endearing.
"Because I need an ambusher in my squad. Someone that'll be able to do both, like me. I don't want a blanched group, I wanna have girls at my back that can do all the things I can do, more or less. Then we can solve problems easily as a team."
Delaryn blinked. "A team of... Ambushers?" It was a strange concept, because typically the META was to have a tank, a healer and some others around who could pick off enemies. Since the tank and healer role was typically the most important it felt strange to want to make a group without either. But, then she saw the value in a whole team who was able to sneak into the enemy's lines, attack, then escape without being found.
"It's a good idea. Very new strat. Innovative." She was being genuine, not just saying so to endear herself more to Shandris.
Shandris beamed at Delaryn happily. "Glad you think so, Vice-Leader."
"J-just like that!?" She gawked at Shandris's bashful, blushing expression. She was grinning ear to ear, and both long ears were wiggling up and down and also turning red near the ends.
"Scary... You shouldn't give away important positions to people that compliment you!"
"See? You're already having the important thoughts you need to have to be my vice-leader." Shandris patted Delaryn on the shoulder, sealing her fate.
Delaryn sighed. "Okay. I surrender." The two walked out towards the testing grounds. Suddenly she had a thought. A question that Shandris may have actually been able to answer.
"Hey... For the test do they have an actual gate?"
"I get the confusion. For a smaller guild there'd be no shot. But, since it's Sentinels it's doable. From what I've been able to gather it's a low-rank gate that stabilised a long time ago. It used to be an extremely active Orc-Gate that spewed out those nasty bastards but then my Sister and her own party cleared it. Now it's just a hunting ground for the guild." Shandris explained.
"Woah..." Suddenly she felt a little disappointed.
"Hah! I can see you're thinking it's gonna be a cakewalk."
"Sort of?"
"Well, it's still a gate. There's orcs. They're an opponent that normal people can't handle. But, if it's just stragglers we can handle them, even with just the two of us. The point of the test is to survive in the Gate but I got a bit of insider info." She grinned.
Dalaryn's ears twitched. "Insider... info?"
Within the Plains Gate there was quite a bit of preparation going on. It was due to a recent change. The errant tribes were sending missives back and forth, but the groups were too small to pose a threat, even if they combined.