New Arrivals

Darcy walked through the guild's hallways, following the directions she had been given by an exploration team in the foyer. Down the stairs, take a left, second door on the right... and there it was: the Guildmaster's office. The skitty paused in front of the closed door and looked behind her, making sure that her new friend was still following.

"Excited, Tenebris?" she asked, flashing the sneasel a cheerful smile as he caught up. "Go ahead and knock on the door when you're ready. I would do it myself, but paws aren't good for that kind of thing. I'd probably have to headbutt it to get anyone's attention."

She hummed to herself softly, just as excited to simply meet the Guildmaster as she was to form an exploration team. Anyone with enough experience to lead the Grassveil Guild was certain to have all kinds of fascinating stories to tell. She hoped that the Guildmaster would be friendly enough to share some of them, whoever they were.

Tenebris looked tense as he approached the door. "I'm not just excited, I'm also a bit nervous. The guildmaster is very famous, so I'm filled with the suspense of meeting someone so well known." He said to Darcy. "And yes, I'll knock for you. I'd rather you didn't have to headbutt." This was going to be a very important day for him. And likely for his new friend Darcy as well.

In one intense moment, he knocked on the door four times...

These days, the Guild was busy – but if one had managed to see it before the strange occurrences with the darkening clouds, it would become apparent that this was a different kind of a busy. The mood was different, a bit forlorn, yet determined. Everyone was working towards finding a way to settle everything, taking their own paths to reach the answers.

Faye too, was looking for answers. She was unable to leave the Guild for much more than her morning walks – good way to get some rumors when she stopped by the town – but luckily, as the head of the Guild, new information always made its way to her. But she couldn't just wait for new information, as there were many missing pieces in the puzzle. There was information to be had in many of her old books, one dusty tome open on her desk right at that moment as she flipped through its pages, a small cup of herbal tea by her side – still hot and untouched.

A knock snapped her out of her intense concentration, the sound followed by a couple of new ones. Now, the Meganium's movements often were rather slow-paced and relaxed, thanks to her size and nature, but resent events had made her spring to action faster. She quickly pushed the book aside and stepped towards the door, her footsteps growing louder to those behind it as she got closer.

Faye opened the door, her gaze directed towards her feet where two newcomers stood. These weren't Pokémon she could recognize, so they weren't a part of the Guild – so, this probably wasn't going to be her getting new information. A warm smile still appeared on the Meganium's face as she tilted her head slightly.
"Why, hello there," she chuckled gently as she took a few steps away from the door, still keeping it open with one of her vines,
"Please, come in. What was it that you needed me for, dearies?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Darcy said to Tenebris as he knocked on the door.  "All new recruits have to sign up with the Guildmaster, right?  This kind of thing is probably routine for her."

The door swung open promptly after Tenebris finished knocking, revealing a large green Pokémon that Darcy had never seen before.  She was probably a grass type, given that she was using vines to hold the door open.  Well, that made sense.  This was the Grassveil Guild, after all.  Not the Fireveil Guild, or the Electricveil Guild, or the Steelveil Guild, or whatever else.  ...Which was too bad, since those other guilds sounded really cool now that she thought about it.

Darcy snapped back to attention when she realized that she was being spoken to.  "Ah, hello!" she said, cheerfully trotting through the door at the Guildmaster's invitation.  "My name's Darcy, and this is Tenebris.  We're here because we want to join the Grassveil Guild together.  Did we come to the right place?"

Tenebris was relieved that the Guildmaster didn't seem that scary, at least for now. He said in response to Darcy, "If so, Darcy here and I want to form an exploration team to work at your guild, so we came to register. But if you're busy, we can wait a few more minutes." Tenebris wanted to be careful with what he said, so he acknowledged the Guildmaster's possibility of working on something else. This was because he had heard there was quite the punishment for disrespecting a Guildmaster, so he wanted to sound as respectful as possible.

Tenebris normally listened to any information about the Guild that reached his neighborhood, because he was looking for a job there for quite some time. He heard that the training was hard, that the jobs could be dangerous, but also some positive things, such as the meals provided to exploration teams for free and the members' willingness to help their comrades and clients. Now was the first time he had experienced any of it for himself: He had just met the Guildmaster of Grassveil town. He began getting tense just realizing that the Guildmaster was in front of him. He added to his original sentence, "It is certainly an honor to meet you, by the way."

"Yes, yes you did, sweetie," Faye replied Darcy with a smile as she questioned if they had come to the right place to actually form up a team together,
"I am Faye, the Guildmaster. I handle the sign-ups here," she continued, deciding that this would be as good of a place to actually introduce herself, as the other two Pokémon had done so. The Guildmaster waited patiently so the two would come inside before closing the door behind them, gently.

"And there is no need to worry about that," she chuckled with a smile and calm eyes as Tenebris brought up the possibility that she might be busy and they could wait a bit before actually signing up, giving her a bit more time to handle her tasks,
"It will just take a moment, so it's not such a big bother," Faye smiled. Well, yes, after the names had been signed up, there was a bit more for her to do, but it wasn't something the members had to worry about. She couldn't help but laugh softly as the Sneasel was honored to meet her.
"I'm pleased to meet you two, too."

"Now, please sit down, if you would like," a vine motioned towards the two small chairs in front of her desk before she started to walk slowly towards the back shelf, careful not to accidentally step on the smaller Pokémon,
"Would you like to have any tea now that you're here?"

Tenebris sat down and was delighted to hear that there will be warm drinks. "I'd love some, thank you." He was walking in the cold just a half hour ago, so he figured it would be nice to have some tea while he signed up. He began observing the room he was in. It was probably the most luxurious place he had seen (but that wasn't saying much due to his poor living conditions earlier, so he didn't know if this was considered luxurious or not). He complimented Guildmaster Faye by saying, "This place looks nice, Guildmaster. I plan on working hard, but it will still be quite a while until I can afford a good place like this. But, this is a Guildmaster's room then again. I'm sure you work the hardest."

Tenebris has always seen the Guildmasters as very powerful people, in a good way. He knew that judging by their will to help make the world a better place, they deserved their great living standards.

Darcy curled up in a chair next to Tenebris, getting as comfortable as possible.  The room was cozy, and she felt at ease right away.  The scattered books and houseplants reminded her of home.

She perked up when Faye offered to make some tea for them.  She was thirsty from her long walk to the guild, as well as cold--the persistent cloudy weather had made things much cooler than they should have been at this time of year.

"Yeah, tea sounds great right now!" she said, agreeing with Tenebris.  She was tempted to make a lame pun about tea and dinosaurs but bit her tongue.  It was good that Tenebris was being so formal and polite, since she probably wouldn't have left the best first impression if she had to do all of the talking on her own.

Faye laughed softly at the two Pokémon, both seeming to be so eager and full of excitement – and honest reactions. As both of them wanted to have some tea, she didn't waste any time walking over to the counter at the back, fetching a few extra cups with her vines from the shelves. She had luckily just brewed a pot full of tea, so it was still hot – just like the cup she had poured to herself, still waiting on her table without her having taken even a single sip from it.

"Why thank you, dear. I do my best," the Meganium hummed at the compliments, pouring tea into the cups with her back turned to the two, but that didn't last long. When she had finished, she turned around and placed the cups on her desk where Tenebris and Darcy could reach them.
"Hard work will always be rewarded. I am sure you will get where you want to as long as you keep working towards it."

Faye let the two get comfortable and take a better look – and perhaps a taste – at her herbal tea as she once more turned around, taking a large book from the shelf. She placed it on the table carefully, trying to not disturb the cups of steaming hot liquid.
"Now, all we need to do is write your names in this book here. Had you decided on the name of your team yet?"

Tenebris began sipping the tea, then he replied to the team name question. "Darcy had some great ideas, and we agreed on a team called 'Friendship Alliance,' or at least something of the sort." He began sipping more tea, he liked the flavor of it. And the temperature was definitely hitting the spot. He decided to give another compliment on this. "And this is really good tea by the way."

He started drinking it once again, until it was gone. He set the cup down gently. He then started observing the room again. He sighed contently, thinking: "If she accepts our team, I'll be glad. Darcy and I can have great adventures, and I'll be able to help my family easier." He then concentrated his attention back to the guildmaster.

"Thanks," Darcy said as Faye set the glasses of tea down in front of them.  She took a big gulp right away, doing her best not to knock the glass over--a difficult task, given that she only had paws.  The tea was scalding hot, but she was thirsty enough to ignore that.  It was good, too.  Much better than the bitter stuff that her mom used to make at home.  Before she knew it, Darcy had emptied her cup.

"Yeah, 'Friendship Alliance' is what we had in mind," Darcy said as she stepped away from the desk and curled up in her chair again.  "Cute, huh?  We came up with it together.  It's a name sure to strike fear and respect into the hearts of all who hear it."  She smiled.  Despite her joking, she really did think it was a good name, and she was excited to see what kind of experiences their new team would have.

Faye opened the large book and started to browse through the pages, using her vines to flip through. She could skip a large portion of the beginning, the pages already filled with so much information of other teams that had come to the Guild before Darcy and Tenebris, but eventually she found what she wanted. Blank pages, ready to accept more information. The Meganium glanced up from the pages at the two drinking their tea, smiling.

A soft laugh escaped her lips as the two talked about their team name, nodding.
"I am sure it's a name that fits you, dearies. It's a good name," she commented, fetching a quill from her desk. She dipped the end in the ink bottle on her table before she started to write in the book..
"Team Friendship Alliance… And Tenebris and Darcy," Faye spoke out loud as she wrote, seeing if one of the Pokémon would speak up and want something changed, just in case.

"With that, you are officially members of the Grassveil Guild."

Tenebris tried not to burst out in joy, he figured that would be disruptive. But he felt very overjoyed. This was the first step towards making his family's life better. He said as calmly as possible, "We'll make you proud, Guildmaster Faye!" He excitedly turned to Darcy and said, "I'm sure we will. Right, Darcy?"

This moment was the beginning of Tenebris' journey to becoming an efficient provider of his family's needs. Who knows, maybe even a bigger journey than that! What Tenebris did know is that with the right efforts, he could make a healthier, happier life for him and his family. That was his ultimate goal...

"Yeah, we'll do our best!" Darcy replied, laughing a little. Tenebris was clearly elated by all of this, and she found his excitement to be infectious. She hadn't expected joining the guild to be quite so easy--the fact that it was really happening was only now starting to sink in. Her life was going to be much different from here on out, she knew, and she couldn't wait to see how.

She eagerly hopped down from her chair. "Then if we're all done signing up, what comes next?" she asked Faye. "Do you want us to start work today? Or is there anything else we need to do first? I think we're going to explode with anticipation if we can't get our paws dirty soon."

Faye chuckled softly at the excitement of the two Pokémon, nodding to their words.
"I know you will, dearies," she smiled as the new team promised to do their best and make her proud. Tenebris and Darcy were so excited that she couldn't help but smile, finding it both adorable and commendable how they already wanted to get to work. But there was a bit more to be done.

"What you do now is up to you," the Meganium replied, putting the closed book back to the shelf with a vine before she stirred from her place and turned her back on the two. As she walked toward a closet near the back, she spoke.
"You two will still be assigned a room where you can rest – I'll come to show it to you momentarily," Faye explained, stopping when she reached the closet. She opened it, but her large frame prevented anyone from seeing much of what was inside.

"There is also a little something else every new team gets," she laughed softly as she started to pick some items from the shelves. Both of the new explorers needed a bag, a badge, a map… And of course, something little extra from her little basket of colored bows. Both of the bags were packed and closed before the Guildmaster turned around, carrying in her vines two bags for the new recruits.
"Here you go, sweeties. These bags should help you get started and you will also find your badge in them. There's also a little extra gift from me there," Faye just seemed to be beaming with happiness as she handed the bags over to Tenebris and Darcy.