Tales of Alidaire: The Corruption Disc 2

A day of triumph. End.

The next morning, the party awoke and prepared for an early departure. The festivities from the previous night left them fully refreshed. It was as if all the battles they had ever fought had no bearing anymore. Fatigue was washed away by the momentous occasion. Even in the early morning, several of the townspeople stood by the exit and waved a sleepy goodbye to their heroes. A mime in the crowd held up a sign: "You are always welcome here, They Who Make Order From Chaos." The party waved back a farewell of their own before walking down the lengthy road that would take them back to the jungle of Coracao, and eventually, back to the capital city.

Back at the guild headquarters, the group stood in the lobby awaiting K. The guildmaster stepped out from his office and approached the group, his red hair a complete mess and dark rings under his eyes. "I apologize for looking like such a disaster, but getting things completely back to normal hasn't been that easy," he admitted sullenly before looking at something behind the group. "Who is that at the back there? Is he from Porta Perdidos?" K asked, pointing to the back of the group.

Sonia was surprised to see their guild leader to be in such a horrible condition. Sure it was obvious he would be tired, but he looked like he hadn't slept in days. Moving forward a bit, she meant to address the guild leader herself. Stopping short though, she figured she could introduce him from her current position.

"He needs to know..."

Lily blinked a few times, looking up at K. An entire storm of jokes ran through her head, and she even cracked a smile at one of them. She was about to open her mouth to say the joke, but she was stuck with an even better one. Lily put a finger to her lips, looking down at the ground in thought. The light danced in her eyes as she amused herself with the possibilities. In the end, she went with one joke.

"Hey, have you seen our Guildmaster, K?" Lily asked K, "He's this tall, handsome, and well-groomed man who runs this place. He kinda looks like you, but you're too disheveled." Lily's face broke out into a grin. She was only trying to lighten the mood. Everyone needed a good laugh every once in awhile.

Upon hearing the word pancakes, Annon snapped to attention. His eyes focused on K, appearing as if he could see right through the man. He waited a while before he spoke, even waiting until the archer was finished. "A very serious allegation, sir, those pancakes. Likely you'll not tell us about a secret ingredient." He waited patiently for an answer.

K just stood there, listening. His left eye twitched slightly, trying to get a grasp on what was going on. A few of his lackies were standing nearby with grins on their faces. That's when a large one crept onto the weary guildmaster's face and he let loose one of the largest laughs he could muster. A few papers on a nearby desk actually got blown into the air and drifted lazily to the floor....or maybe it was because one of the klutzy assistants knocked them off. One or the other...

"I'm afraid I am your guildmaster, K," he replied to Lily. "Worry not. I promise I won't look like this often." That's when he focused on the new guy. K looked him up and down. What was this talk about pancakes? Oh well. He knew how to cook them. "I make excellent pancakes, if you must know. I love serving them hot to others, sharing my pancakes with my friends so that we can all savor their sweet, fluffy goodness," the guildmaster replied confidently, hoping that answered the strange gentleman's question.

"WHAT!?" Lily exclaimed loudly, loud enough to startle just about anyone. She was glaring up at K for some reason. "You make pancakes?" She asked shakily, pointing an accusing finger at him, "And you haven't made any for us!?" Lily's hand swept through the air, gesturing towards her allies. "What kind of guildmaster are you, not making pancakes for your subordinates! I demand an immediate resolution to this problem!" Lily said. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly in an upward motion. She was trying like hell not to smile or laugh.

Annon tapped his chin and hmm'd. He strode right up to the guildmaster, standing above him as he was taller. "You'll have to excuse me, sir, if I hold some doubts about that." He said quietly, eyes probing K's. Something crossed his expression then, and he smiled, looking back down at the group. "They like pancakes however, and might have room for a banana. Even the little jester."

Zero sighed when she heard K's answer, pancakes, why did someone have to bring it up again? If K started talking about pancakes with the man Zero's serious image of him would completely shatter, of course part of it has already been broken upon seeing the state their guildmaster was in.
"If there is nothing important that I need to know, I ask if I may be excused. I don't want to hear this man, whatever his name may be, start spewing nonesense about pancakes again." Zero said, she didn't like pancakes anyway.

Valincar looked around uneasily. What in the world was this turning into? Things were strange enough as it was. Now he was beginning to think something serious had happened and now the world was all loopy or some such nonsense. But then he realized that everyone was actually in a good mood, even the ungroomed K who laughed away at the jokes and talk of pancakes.

"Serve us up some good ones with butter and syrup, kind sir," Lyra spoke up as she strode up to K and jabbed a finger into his gut causing K to laugh some more.

"Well, I guess I can count this as your reward for doing such a great job on the request," K replied quickly. "Just go to the Dining Hall and I'll bring you some of the best pancakes you've ever tasted." Now he seemed to be quite enthusiastic. It had been a while since he had the opportunity to cook for others. He probably hadn't done so since his mercenary days.

What the fuck. Those three words had been stuck engraved on Shadow's mind ever since the "Annon Jac" guy had made himself known, asking for K's secret recipe of pancake-making, his allies even nodding in serious acknowledgement. Pancakes, what the fuck. To the Ombre Skillblade's atonishment, Guildmaster K began to stir up a conversation of pancakes, Lily and Rosetta even asking for some while Annon Jac responded with an incoherent statement about enough space for... a bananna. A fucking bannana.

And, to his shock, K agreed to cook the party some as a reward. The words once again came to his mind, screaming "What the fuck" while he motioned the party towards the Dining Hall.

"The hell's going on with all of you..." Shadow muttered as he witnessed an ensuing spectacle of nonsense.

Lily paused for a second, staring up at K, her eyes narrowing slightly. "My mother, may she rest in peace, taught me never to accept pancakes from strangers." Lily said, looking and sounding quite serious. She copied Lyra in jabbing K in the gut lightly, "I'm afraid I've never seen you before. I'll only accept pancakes from K." Lily's tone and mouth remained straight and serious, but her eyes twinkled with amusement. She was obviously joking around again. "That means you need to get all prettied up for us before making us pancakes. Oh, and I want blueberry in mine."

It seemed they would be eating a special meal this morning. It was better than what Sonia was used to, toast and milk. Heading straight for the dining hall, she sat down slightly near the middle on one side. This was kind of strange, for her at least. She had never been cooked for by someone outside her family. But she would get used to it, this was a nice occurrence anyway.

"The nonsense is good sense, or it doesn't make sense." The trickster said, appearing behind the skillblade. "The hell isn't here I'm afraid. You'll have to go looking elsewhere."

He skipped ahead to walk beside Sonia and sit next to her, casting a glance at Lily and Lyra. "They'll have peaches too. The idea isn't so out there, you know. Not like painting fields." He pulled a napkin from the table and set it in his lap to wait for breakfast.

K held up his hands innocently. "All right, all right. I'll go get cleaned up and get cooking. You'd better enjoy this meal because someone came to me today with an urgent request. An odd man, I must say. Glowing eyes and spiky, blond hair. He had an enormous sword I wouldn't mind trying out for myself. You guys can talk to him after breakfast. Be right back." With that, K dashed away to make himself presentable and to get some cooking started.

Lyra chuckled and poked Lily in the gut. "My, so, so serious. I think you actually worried the guildmaster, Lily," she said mischievously. "But I must say I can't wait to get some of those pancakes." She began to meander off to the dining hall which branched off from the lobby. Sonia and Annon were already there. She sat on the opposite side of them, and a little further down knowing Lily probably wouldn't want to interact with the strange guy.

Valincar was about as confused as Shadow. He hovered over to the skillblade. "I'm kind of with you on this one," he whispered to Shadow uneasily. "I say we just go along with it until the next request. I'm sure things shall even out by that time."

Lily giggled slightly, "I know, I'm such a jerk." Lily followed Lyra to the table, briskly walking far away from the strange newcomer, intentionally ignoring him. She sat down next to the enchantress, humming a merry tune to herself, her eyes dancing with amusement and excitement. "I haven't had pancakes in years," Lily commented, "Ever since I lost my parents, some 8 years ago. I still remember them though. K better live up to his reputation, or I'm going to be disappointed." Lily giggled again.

"Glad to see I'm not the only one who's still thinking normally, well, at least as normal as things get with us." Zero said to Shadow and Valincar, "I swear that pancakes guy is mental."
But still, Zero decided to just join the rest of the group and headed toward the dining hall. After all it had been quite a while since she had pancakes, even though a few years ago she nearly threw up every time she saw them. She should be over her disgust of pancakes by now, hopefully.
"I don't care what goes in mine as long as it's not anything abnormal." Zero called to K as she sat down at the table.

...And that guy just talked to him. He held his breath to calm himself from puching, then brutally dismembering him. "The nonsense... Either makes sense or doesn't make sense. Interesting." Shadow analized what the insane guy had just told him. "And he now hints me that this 'hell', isn't here, even though he's the one who's causing this shit. Amazing. Truly amazing." The Ombre Skillblade wondered how much this guy would stick with the party. For a short time... He would most certainly endure it. For a long time... No fucking way. And then he exhaled, noticing Valincar had spoken to him.

"...I just hope. I don't think he would do good to my mental sanity anyway..."

He sat down moderately far from the group...

Annon leaned his chair back until it was standing on two legs and looked ponderously up at the ceiling. "Divide and conquer, and the world shall falter . . . what do you think Rose? The Pancake Divide?" Realizing he was wearing his hat indoors, Annon quickly put it down on the table, the wrinkled and faded note flapping a little in the speed of the motion.

Valincar was a bit reluctant to join in the madness, but he sucked it up and hovered into the dining hall sitting opposite the strange fellow so they could have...a conversation? Hm, from being reluctant to diving straight into the chaos. Valincar didn't think himself to be that fickle...or reckless.

"Oh, I'm sure the pancakes will at least be delicious," Lyra assured. "I wonderful feast last night and now an excellent, home-cooked breakfast this morning. Will the luxury ever stop?" Lyra sighed dreamily. She was actually starting to think this was an everyday occurence now, seeing as how she hadn't been travelling with the group for a long time.

A few assistants wearing plain white aprons came out and passed out glasses of full of milk for everyone and started setting out the syrup and butter in intervals on the table.

Lily's face immediately turned red at the mention of last night's feast. She was obviously remembering what she and Lyra had done. Lily shook her head clear of the though and replaced her red face with a grinning one. She looked down at the table, "Milk, syrup, butter..." Lily nodded, satisfied, "Good, everything's here. Now all we need is K to deliver the pancakes." Lily's eyes suddenly flashed with inspiration, "I wonder if he would make a good housewife." Lily's grin got bigger, looking over at Lyra.

"Little Pond Blossom," Annon called down the table. "Keep your mind out of the butter!"

He grinned then, amusement overtaking his features. The trickster pushed against the table with his boots, standing the chair just a little more precariously. It seemed like the man just couldn't sit still for long.