"It was meant to."

"Am I in fact being unreasonable?"

"Yep."

"Wow, not micing words, huh."

"It was just the one word."

Vallynn sighs.

"I'm sure you're very talented." Pause. "I mean, I actually am, I've seen you do your thing. But you're rank zero and you're not gonna be allowed to do anything beyond that until you've done rank zero things."

"I mean, sure, okay, yeah, I'd just hoped that rank zero things would be more... you know..."

"I don't. Enlighten me."

"...you're being a dick on purpose."

"And you're being self-centered and arrogant."

"Did you just come here to pick a fight because you're about to pick a fight."

"Get over yourself, man, I'm not here to pick a fight with you, I just saw you sulking from a distance and guessed why and I'm trying to help you pull your head out of your ass."

"Ugh, fuck off."

"...I'm just gonna go. We can talk later."

"Yeah, bye."

And since Alph does in fact not have a monopoly on being a sneaky rogue he slinks away out of sight.

...well, out of Vallynn's sight. The myriad incredibly powerful adventurers in this room can all see him just fine without even trying.

Sigh.

He sulks for a bit longer and he can't even pretend what he's doing isn't sulking because Taharqi went and pointed out to him how childish he was being. Snapping at Taharqi was stupid and he had been about to snap worse just as Taharqi left and left him with his feelings and dumb anger. There isn't even anything to be angry about, here, except himself.

It's kind of embarrassing, really.

So he sulks for a bit longer and then goes to find Taharqi again to apologise.

Taharqi has found himself in the little group with the two nude people with butterfly wings and the person in the pink kimono who doesn't need to move their lips to speak. He grins at Vallynn when the latter arrives. "Oh, hey, this is the mage novice I told you guys about. Vallynn, these are Pek," butterfly wing dude, "Taph," butterfly wing gal, "and Megumi," kimono person. "Pek, Taph, Megumi, this is Vallynn."

Butterfly people nod a greeting and Megumi says, "Enchanted." Their voice echoes strangely, or perhaps the best word is "vibrates", and the sound seems to quickly slip away from one's memory, leaving only the meaning behind.

"It's an honour to meet all of you," he says, and oh he's burning with curiosity to know what their deal is. Why the butterfly wings, are they fairies? He thought fairies were myths, or at the very least had left Midgard centuries ago. And the Amatsu person is just as intriguing, he has no idea what kind of magic allows them to talk like that and he really really wants to know.

Powerful adventurers are an entirely different species.

Perhaps sensing Vallynn's curiosity, Taharqi says, "The three of them aren't associated with any guilds. Pek and Taph are from Umbala and the closest reference to regular adventurers would be a cross between sages and priests, Megumi is from Amatsu and their schtick is similar to a rogue's."

"I find that comparison reductive and unenlightening," sniffs Pek. "We are weavers, stranger, but we do not organise in the rigidly hierarchical ways you do." His accent is peculiar, a clipped prosody with hard 'r's and short vowels.

"I hope it is not disrespectful to say that I would be fascinated to hear more about it."