Miko turned to look at Alex as they followed Conan and his trio.
"Oh, my name is Miko. The demon/angel cat! Though I may not look
it?" She smiled at him, showing her sharp fangs. She had already
forgotten his name too, and asked "What was yours again?" Conan,
meanwhile, had sat down and was waiting for Miko and lex to join
him.
Starlight was resting in the fortress, eyes shut, her weapon
propped against the wall behind her, and her fluffy striped tail
over her nose. She was unaware of the new arrivals, and was fast
asleep.
"Oh, yeah, I'm Alexander, just call me Alex or Lex or whatever,
really." He trotted over beside Conan and the group. Judging from
this sleeping cat's appearance, she was the leader. Alex
straightened his back and sat down, looking more eager and
professional.
Just then Purrcilla arrived with Lyra. "Starlight we got a new
recruit!" Yelled the innocent she-cat. The leader was laying down
taking a cat nap. So Purrcilla said it again because the leader
wasn't waking up. "We got a new recruit!" Lyra finally spoke up
"Hello? I think she's dead" Replied Lyra. Purrcilla just starred at
her.
Alex sat down, trying to analise the rest of the cats. Judging from
how the white archer has said they needed all the help they could
get, she was very determined and stern, but very passionate too.
The orange cat looked like a mage, probably proficient in magic.
Alex found himself staring in awe ans sitting straighter in the
presence of the great fighters. Be polite, Alex. Don't to
anything reckless or impulsive, he tried to warn himself,
possibly to no avail.
Starlight blinked her eyes open. "Purrcilla?" She muttered drowsily
with a sleepy look. "What is it?" She begrudgingly sat up, wanting
to rest at the moment. "New recruit? Take them to Conan!" She
yawned, opening her mouth wide and looking irritated at being
disturbed.
Conan looked at Miko and Alex as they sat down. "The dragons were
stealing from us. It looks as if they want something, but what?' He
began to pace, his sword making metal noises as his muscles
twitched in his back and forth motions. He didn't stop as he added.
"What about you guys? What do you suggest?"
Miko piped up. "We've been slacking off lately, looks like I might
need to go on quests and level up." Miko thought with an inward
groan of her low level, and all the training she'd have to do to
even be close to being able to deal with dragons.
"I can help with that!" Alex said eaglerly. He was ardent to fight
and unleash some of his impulses, and Miko seemed like a nice cat.
"Did't the questing cats say that they stole their weapons? We
should stock up on those. And we should fight the dragons in a
large force as soon as possible, so that we have more healthy cats
and more weapons too. It would also be a surprise attack." Plus,
Alex reallly wanted to claw one of those mangy dragons.
The truth was, Miko wasn't actually the nicest cat at all. Once she
stopped having fun with Alex, like all new recruits, she'd get
bored of him, and her personality towards would change from happy
and humorous to cold and short-tempered. She liked being alone for
the most part, and looked forward to a good solo mission. Romeo and
Oakenpaw were two of her best friends due to the fact that they
knew when to shut heir mouths. Miko wondered how Alex would turn
out to be. "The questing cats still have their weapons, they were
just defending the Zenpaws. They have plenty of magical weapons but
refuse to fight." She snorted. "Cowards." She did like the idea of
a surprise attack, though. Even though they still didn't know if
the whole dragon race was a threat or if these ones were just
dumb.
Conan shook his head. "Surprise attack, sure. But I don't want a
large force. I only want a few out at a time....and the cats have
their own weapons, they'd never loose their personal ones. Alex, I
like your style, but we need to assess the threat more before we
attack. I say you and Miko go on a three cat quest with one other
Guld cat. I'll let you choose which one."
Alex didn't agree that a smaller force was better. A larger group
of cats could do so much more! Sending just a handful of cats
sounded like a suicide mission or something. He would have
objected, but Conan had already changed topic. "I don't know many
other cats," Alex said, "But it should be a cat that can attack
long range. Miko seems close range too, and I mostly use my claws."
He decided not to share about his small bit of elemental control;
it probably didn't matter and rather have cats underestimate him so
that he could get the upper hand. "A long ranged fighter would give
us a well balanced team, while another short ranged fighter could
be our downfall," Alex tried to convince Conan.
Conan smiled at him. "I trust you'll find other cats that suit your
needs on your own." He had detected Lyra's scent, and pointed with
his tail toward the fortress to hint they go there, then turned to
Francis and Catniss
Purrcilla nodded and went to look for Conan she saw him next to the
cauldron, and nudged Lyra to follow. When they got there, Purrcilla
told Conan about Lyra. "Hello" Replied Lyra. "I was wondering if I
could join the guild, I herd about the dragon problem and I want to
help. I'm great at archery" Just then Catniss' ears perked up, she
had never heard of a cat as good at archery as her. "How good are
you on a scale of 1-10?" Asked Catniss. "I'd say about a 6" Replied
the exited archer. "Then I could teach you a few tricks" Replied
the mature archer. "Sounds fun, when?"Wondered Lyra out-loud.
"Conan could I take her out now, maybe to a battle?" Asked Catniss.
Alex nods excitedly. "Lets go!" He said to Miko. Without waiting,
he began bounding towards the fortress. He was determined to
succeed, and the faster the better. His life goal was to make a
great name for himself. He wanted to rise up. Remembering his goal
made him run faster.
Miko saw Lyra come from the fortress. "Wait! Alex!" She glanced at
the archer talking with Catniss. "She looks long ranged. I think
Conan was hinting we talk to her." Another new recruit. Makes
sense, as she would be less experienced. She began approaching the
other cat.
Conan looked past Catniss at Alex and Miko. "I think there are two
more cats I'd like her to meet before you dash off." He flicked his
tail at Alex and Miko. "Lyra? Wanna be part of the Guild? Think of
this as initiation before Starlight is rested up."
Alex turned around. "Huh?" He noticed the fluffy brown and swirly
cat for the first time. She did look like an archer. "Oh! You're
right!" He quickly changed directions and bounded towards the cat.
A little out of breath, but still excited, he asked: "Hey, you're
long ranged, right? Want to join our quest?"
"Sure! But whats an i-n-i-s-h-i-a-t-i-o-n?" Lyra was confused. "Do
you mean like a test?" She was a very young and optimistic cat,
about 14 years old in cat years. "Can I go now, can I, can I?" Lyra
was very excited she was gonna go on her first quest. She looked at
Catniss to see if she approved, she now thought of Catniss as her
senpai/mentor. Catniss just glanced at her approvingly. So Lyra
waited for Conan.
Alex began to analyze the cat. She looked young, maybe younger than
him. Super optimistic, he didn't know how much she knew about
battle strategy, but if she was good with a Bow and Arrow and could
follow directions, she would be a good fit to the team. He liked
that her enthusiasm matched his (he had a feeing that Miko would be
100% of the impulse control on this team), and he hoped she shared
his opinions on dragons (it was hard to be friends with Alex if you
didn't share his opinions).
Miko went towards the new cat. "Conan? Is this the cat you were so
strongly hinting at?" Miko glanced at the Brown fluffy cat with her
crystal blue eyes, sparkling with curiosity at the other stranger.
If this was the cat, Conan would likely send them on a quest
now.
Conan nodded. "I'd like you to go to the endless dungeon and see
what you find. By the time you get back, Starlight should be rested
enough to accept you." He pointed to the questboard. "Find the map
there."
Alex gave him a grin. He respected this cat already. "Thanks!" He
turned to the group. "No time, like the present! Lets check it
out!" He trotted over to the nearby map, studying it. Once he had a
good idea of the map in his head, he turned back to the group.
"Okay, I know where the dungeon is." Realising he completely forgot
to ask, he questioned the brown cat: "What's your name? And what do
you think of dragons?" Getting their opinion was even more
important than getting her name.
"My name is Lyra, and I think we should respect creatures no matter
what they do, just because they do something bad doesn't mean their
bad."Lyra was redy to go now she had been waiting for a while."Can
we go now?" Asked the eager little archer. "I'm so excited, but why
do dragons do these things?" Lyra was waiting for Conan to approve
of their quest, she was just sitting down next to Catniss, her
mentor. "Catniss why can't you came?" Asked Lyra. "Because there is
to much for me to do here you must go on your with the others"
Replied the skilled archer. "OK..." Lyra looked disappointed.
Alex wasn't so sure about what Lyra thought. "Surely dragons are
like cats? People do bad things all the time, and they don't
respect others. Why should we respect them if they don't respect
us?" Alex had seen a lot of bad cats on the street, and didn't
believe that they all had the potential to be nice. He winced as he
thought of the cat that had bullied him and torn a cut in his ear
and tail when he was younger. "They don't deserve my respect."
"Where does hatred get us?" Lyra was wiser, than most cats thought
she was. Most cats might think she was from the Mystics Guild but
she wasn't someone who coward at the thought of fighting. Even if
most cats thought she was crazy, she knew she was right herself.