"Who wants to explain it?" Etta asked. She looked at everyone at the table who was there at this event, which was nearly everyone except me. "I will if no one volunteers." She offered. The usually stoic Juna looked too mortified to volunteer. Phuong nervously chuckled at the suggestion of volunteering for this. Polyxena looked like she was thinking it over, but also was looking at someone who was approaching the table.
"Hello, server!" She waved to the person who was approaching. "I'd like your finest charisma-boosting elixirs for this table!" She then turned towards the other tables that the rest of the group were seated. "Do you want me to order for you too?"
"Just for this table." She added when she looked back at the server.
"Going fancy today?" The server asked.
Polyxena chuckled. "Of course, for a debut party I'm willing to pay extra for this!"
"Very well. I’ll bring over today's highest-level special."
"Charisma-boosting elixir. Is that a euphemism for something?" I wanted to ask, but I kept the question to myself to not distract from the story that someone was going to bring up. Perhaps this elixir would make it easier, whether it actually is one or not.
The group held off from explaining until the elixirs arrived, which arrived quickly. They were served in mugs and the liquid looked like it was magenta or purple. I still wonder what this is, but I saw Polyxena eagerly handing them out to the others. She and Etta immediately took theirs, then Piritta, then Phuong, then Juna, then me.
"I'll get started!" Polyxena volunteered. "It was 1970 in Human World years when Piroska made her debut. She already had a background in academics like you, Damien, but she really wanted to prove that her training in combat paid off so she chose one of the most high-profile, that is, notorious venues for her debut. This was the first major argument between her and Etta." She began before taking another sip of elixir.
"Between Piroska and Etta, it was the start of a beautiful... frenemy-ship?"
Everyone chuckled over that. I assume the usually stoic Juna was at the headquarters and witnessed this, which reminded me of how unusual Juna's and Piroska's friendship is, and Piritta's friendship with Piroska.
"She was outnumbered by the rest of us, though Piper supported the idea." She continued. I looked surprised because I would've thought Piper would be the voice of reason. Without her being at the table, Polyxena took the role of lead snarker.
"You look surprised!" She chuckled.
"When she wanted each of us to choose a venue to debut, she didn't have very many restrictions. She saw a rowdy tavern, one of the most notorious ones, as an interesting choice. Reluctantly, the rest of us agreed we'd host Piroska's debut party there if she was cautious. We all were. Phuong and I were prepared to give medical treatment, I was also prepared to cast barriers to break up brawls and give medical treatment if I couldn't stop a brawl in time. Etta and Piritta were also prepared to fight, defensively to break up a brawl, and you get the picture."
"I think I do." I nodded, and took a drink of the mug of elixir in front of me. I don't know how to describe the flavor beyond it being strong and fruity. It looked like it should taste like raspberry but it tasted more like another fruit, but I focused my attention back to the story.
"When we stepped inside The Rowdy Shark Tank, the atmosphere of it hit like a ton of bricks! Etta, the tavern you hosted your debut at was cheaper to host at but it was rustic without being a mess!" Polyxena laughed.
"There were no busted bar stools or chairs or spilled mugs lying around where I hosted my debut!" Etta cheerfully said. "However, let's say someone thought the busted chair in the corner that might've been from a brawl the night before added character to the room."
"And the framed picture that was at an angle since something might've been thrown at it." Polyxena added. Juna's, Phuong's and Piritta's reactions also solidified these claims.
"When we arrived, that guild Valencia was in was there, playing cards and arm-wrestling with each other. When they noticed us, they wanted to duel us, but we told them we were here for a debut party, not a duel. They also wanted one of us to retu— but— oh, there's no need to worry about that..." Polyxena said. She filled in more details as she tried to move away from something that she mentioned that sounded like it was the start of a slip-up that she quickly caught. She still sounded confident and was laughing, and the others were too, so I didn't want to bring it up.
"They needed to be on their best behavior so the guests who weren't combatants didn't get scared away. They cooperated but you know how I mentioned we'd host Piroska's debut party if she was cautious?" She asked me.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Do you want to guess how her speech went?" She asked me. Everyone else's expressions went neutral, like poker faces.
"Just now, each of you look like a tough deck of players to play poker with." I snarked.
"That's another skill Piper taught us!" Etta cheerfully said.
"You broke it." Juna flatly said.
"Awwww! I needed a lot of practice for this!" Etta said. She sounded defeated but tried again and took a deep breath to get a neutral expression on her face. "It's easy for you."
"It is." Juna flatly said again.
No one wanted their expressions to give away the answer to Polyxena's question. After a few more moments, I made my guess.
"She was reckless. She said something she shouldn't have." I said, and sounded confident in my guess.
"Yep!" Polyxena laughed. "Did you guess, or did you know this from Juna?" She asked.
"I guessed from the context, and you implied it didn't go well." I said to Etta.
"I'm still not very good at this." Etta said, lowering her head in embarrassment.
"That’s okay." I assured her. "Ever since I met Piroska, she seems responsible. Boisterous, but responsible. She takes her role as a mentor seriously, and since she's from the Human World, I believe it that she got carried away with the skills that she learned here." I explained to the group. I felt a burst of excitement. "I'm really excited to think about what I could learn." I said.
"That’s the spirit!" Etta cheerfully said, and she looked upbeat towards me again.
Polyxena continued the story; she explained that during the speech, Piroska got over her head and boasted that through the training she did that put her far above the limits she had as a human, that she could take on anyone. I laughed at the delivery of Polyxena paraphrasing what was said, but I also thought what she said sounded inspiring. "What could I do here that I couldn’t do as a human?" I thought to myself.
She continued to narrate the brawl. "...So then, when the head of that guild charged at us, Piritta blocked the attack and sent him flying across the room but he collided with some of his guild mates!" She said, setting down the mug and pushing both of her hands in front of her in a shoving gesture as she laughed.
"Like a next-level game of bowling!" Etta laughed. From this I learned that bowling also exists in Techlandia.
Everyone laughed, even the quiet and usually stoic Juna. Piritta looked nervous after she stopped laughing. "I think I used too much force then, but Piroska was impressed." She said.
"But so was that rookie who was impressed by her, and even the head of the guild who wanted you to—" Etta cheerfully added, but then she covered her mouth as if she said something she shouldn't have.
"It's okay. I'll explain it." Piritta said. "The leader wanted me to join, to return to the guild." She said, emphasizing the "return".
"Return to that guild?" I asked, sounding shocked.
"I intended to mention it at some point, but not so soon after we met." She sighed.
"I'm sorry. I let it slip!" Etta apologized. "They weren't that bad though. At least they didn't pick fights with civilians." She said, trying to be assuring.
"True." Juna agreed and nodded.
"And they're not malware?" I asked.
"Dangerous beings made of corrupted code are one of the hazards in our world, and combatants who use their abilities to harm communities are another. They may also be called malware." Piritta explained.
"It's confusing when we have a mission to fight malware, but the outcome is the same; banish them away from the area to protect the civilians." Polyxena said, before she took another drink of elixir.
"So they're not all made from corrupted code, but their morals are corrupted!" She boldly stated. I thought over what she said. It’s such a fitting description, but now I thought back on the mission that I witnessed of the team fighting against "malware". Were they actually beings of corrupted code that supposedly only OSes could fight, could only OSes seal the "malware" off which was the safest thing to do in an area with a lot of civilians, or did the combatants who were in the crowd just not want to fight?
"That guild has an intimidating reputation and likes to duel other Warrior guilds, but they never attacked civilians, and— well, look at that!" Etta pointed to a flat screen TV that was hanging above the wall. We had been mostly ignoring it to focus on our conversations. The TV was muted, but I saw glimpses of news reports and could read them through the captions.
For a moment I wondered how I could read them and other texts, if they could automatically display in anyone’s native language since not many humans from anywhere stay here.
The report was about a shipment of rare materials brought by a Warrior guild as they were arriving into this city! The footage showed some members of that guild bringing crates of materials, and dropping some of them off in an area. Their uniforms were red and gray; they wore deep red long coats with gray pieces of armor on them.
Footage with a closer view showed that they were wearing red trousers with gray armored boots and were also wearing gray gauntlets, and the pieces of armor had encrusted blue jewels on them, and there was a stylized shark insignia on the front and back of their coats.
I looked towards Piritta. "I don't think any less of you for having been in that guild. I just didn't expect it at all. If you were the type to flaunt your combat skills at any chance, that's not you anymore and I hope those Warriors would accept it." I said.
"That's kind of you to say, but I doubt they would." Piritta said and sighed. "They’d think I'm too much of a softie for not wanting to focus so much on fighting. I'd rather only fight if it’s necessary and focus on caring for my students and team."
"But you're our softie!" Etta cheerfully said. "One that can more than hold her own if those jerks want to cause us trouble!"
"Thank you." Piritta said and smiled.
The conversation continued in a happier direction, but after about a minute, we heard footsteps.
Juna immediately looked in the direction of the footsteps. I noticed that she looked worried or surprised but then tried to look stoic again. Another person in a gown was approaching.
"Is this someone you know?" I quietly asked.
"Yes." Juna whispered.
