Laurel

Just outside, there’s a couple of men training, clearly deep in it. There’s some guy with a tan yelling at a blond guy about feeling the burn, or something... Medusa observes curiously, before continuing to walk. 
“We can’t stick around too long… um, we should get you clothes as soon as we can… but. We’re right in the middle of the city now, so… it should be fast…” She explains, though, Gaheris can’t tear her eyes from that training scene. It reminds her so much of the old training ground back home, that she just has to pause and stare. If she just closes her eyes and pretends, it feels almost like Dame Lancelot and Galahad, training with all their pent up familial aggression. She catches herself, and snaps back to reality, looking intently at Medusa. 

“Yeah! Let’s go!” She says, smiling at her friend. Medusa, however, notes her distraction, and gives her a look that seems to be trying to be reassuring. After a brief trek, soon they're back in the city. Medusa hums and thinks a bit, before leading Gaheris in an apparently random direction. But, not so, because this leads them back to that same marketplace that they found the first day, though a bit less busy. At least, now Gaheris can hear her own thoughts. Medusa beelines for a stand being kept by an older lady, which appears to be selling fabrics. She greets the lady somewhat awkwardly, and brings Gaheris forward.

"Um. Well... Something smaller, I guess..." Medusa mumbles, and the lady laughs heartily. After a little bit of fadangling, they end up with some pieces of fabric and clasps that seem to fit Gaheris effectively. Though, she doesn't really get how to put them on herself. They exchange six of Medusa's silver coins for the fabric. Medusa turns to Gaheris. 
"Sorry, you can't try them on here... But I think, um, you'll like how they feel. Once you try them on..." She rubs her arm, hoping that it's not too bad of a change for her friend. But, Gaheris looks terribly excited, even as Medusa expresses her misgivings. 

“I believe you! It’s so soft and homemade! That’s so cool!” She grasps the clasps and clicks them a couple times. “Coooool.” She grabs Medusa’s arm and leads them over to what seems like sandals.  
“What style would look good on me? I've never even worn sandals! Oh, man, they all look so... Cute!” Truly, Gaheris had never felt so cute and girly before. It was never really an option back home, where sandals don't fit the weather, and cute dresses don't fit the job description. But, since she's away from home for now...

Medusa hums, before giving her opinion. “Um… well. Maybe something with less heel. You like running a lot… Maybe something like this…?” She points at a pair of flat sandals, and the vendor shows them off. They look adorable! Gaheris, evidently, has stars in her eyes. She takes the one with the cute straps and the flat heel and measures it close to her foot.  

“That’ll look sooo cute. Dont'cha think so?” She does a little girly spin. It’s really freeing not having to perform ruggedness! Medusa claps with a bit of excitement.

"I... Think so! Haha. Um. Uou look happy." She comments, and turns to the vendor, exchanging three coins for the shoes, and after the transaction is complete, she hands them to Gaheris.
"Here... You can swap out your shoes right here... hehe."

Gaheris quickly changes out of her boots as fast as possible, and the change is immediate, and so much better. She feels the warm sun and pleasant breeze on her skin, now no longer having to trap them in her crazy thick boots. She makes note of the fact that she owes Medusa 9... Funnycoins. Does their currency have a name? She grabs Medusa’s hand and goes on to skip with her, maybe this ancient past thing isn’t too bad, after all. Medusa seems a little surprised and stumbles on after Gaheris, excited, though she says nothing. It's currently getting into the afternoon, and Medusa can't hep but feel impressed with how fast time has passed since this morning... It really is nice to have a friend. She smiles to herself. The two take a bit of time getting back to the guild, and by the time they do, they notice they're very, very hungry. Is it dinnertime soon? Gaheris suddenly realizes they have eaten absolutely nothing all day. Thank god dinner is probably soon...  The large and foreboding hall is already starting to feel somehow homely. More groups of people have congregated in this area, and there's quite a bit of chattering happening. 

Medusa sighs a little. "I'm... nervous to um, be showed off to all these people.. they all look really strong..." She mumbles, and Gaheris takes a deep breath and faces Medusa with a little trepidation as well.  

“It can’t be that bad! We just have to prove ourselves, right? Show them that we’re not to be messed with!" She says, puffing her chest out. Then, the two enter the dining hall, sliding past the larger members with ease, thanks to their relative shortness. She drags her to take a seat on one of the big benches by the table. The room is so warm, and reminds her of meal times back home. Maybe they’ll even fight over the good parts of meat, like they always do! 
“You ever been anywhere this packed Medusa? Get ready to fight a little for food!" Gaheris says, grinning. Medusa seems a bit flustered at the idea.

"Oh, no... I've never, I don't think... My sisters always had more than they needed, so we never really had to fight over food..." Still, she can't help but remember their vague passive-aggression when she would take too much food. As they wait, the hall begins to fill up more. And as the seats fill up, Medusa can't help but notice that nobody seems to want to take the empty seat next to them... Well, until a girl with wings and a lion's tail sits on the bench next to them. She doesn't make eye contact, but does observe them briefly. 

Gaheris leans over. "Gosh they're all really scary, huh? There is... a LOT more people than I expected."  She looks over to the girl next to them, she looks so scary and sorta butch, but her link looks sooo cool. The girl looks back at her. Now they are just kind of looking at each other, without saying anything. Medusa is looking at anything she can except this girl. 

"Um. maybe if we, um, train... We'll be scary like that too..." She mumbles to Gaheris, worried about their staring contest. But, Gaheris breaks their silence:

"Um. Hello?" She waves slightly at the other girl. She seems to be older than them, probably with a much longer stint wth the guild. The girl blinks. 

"Oh. Hi." She pauses awkwardly. "I haven't seen you here before." 

Medusa mumbles "we're new.", but the girl doesn't seem to hear it.

"We just got here today! Me and Medusa... I'm Gaheris! by the way. Uh... We're training." God, she is so bad at this! The girl nods acknowledgingly. 

"That's cool. My name is Atalante. I train here too." She looks off awkwardly, and looks back. "I joined a few years ago." She looks like she's trying to formulate something to say, but before she can, they can hear the voice of Robin rise above the rest:

"Quiet!! Quiet, everyone!! There's an announcement!!" A wave of silence takes a while to wash over the hall. Once all is still, he clears his throat and speaks.
"Today, by the will of the guildmaster, I would like to present you all with your new guildmates: Young Gaheris and Medusa! Please stand, if you would!!" Medusa looks at Gaheris, and slowly stands up. All eyes in the room gravitate to them. Atalante gives the two newbies a vague thumbs-up. Gaheris nervously bounces up, and does a quick low bow. 

"Hello! Uh, thank you for letting us itno the guild and... And I hope to get the opportunity to fight alongside all of you soon enough!!" Gaheris almost shouts. She is sweating bullets, and quickly looks in the corner of her eye at Medusa. Medusa bows as well. 

"I'll... Do my best to become as strong and useful as I can." is all she says. The hall seems harrowingly silent for a long, excruciating moment. And then, someone starts clapping. Then the rest follow, one after the other. Oh, thank god. Medusa quickly sits back down, pulling Gaheris with her.  Robin resumes his speech:

"Thank you, thank you! And thank you for the warm welcome! Today, the meal was prepared with the help of Tamamo, so make sure to thank her if you like it. That's all!" Tamamo? That's not a greek name. Guess they should go up and get some food, since everyone is getting up now. Gaheris saves a spot for Medusa and tries to look over the shoulder of a very tall man. The food looks great! Her stomach grumbles super hard, reminding her that she's not eaten in quite a while. She takes a bit of something she's never seen before but smells great, maybe this won't be that bad! Medusa follows her and stares at the food. There's tons of it, some of it is clearly Lastolan, but some of it looks sort of alien and frighteningly... Red. She takes a plate of everything that looks interesting, and a fairly large amount of it, too. She feels sort of faint with hunger, and once she sees that Gaheris has filled her plate, she begins walking back to the table they were sat at. Atalante seems to have vanished, and a vase of what looks like wine has been placed in the middle of it.

In the end, their plates are mostly made up of bread, cheese, some kind of olive salad, though Gaheris' has some stranger, less greek foods, perhaps made by the mentioned Tamamo, including some odd steamed buns and some soup. To Medusa, those are the strange foods, but to Gaheris, it is all equally weird. They take their seats again and Gaheris pokes at the bun. 

"Y'know, they brag about the cute spots on the mainland that serves this kinda food, but I never got around to trying it. The imported stuff is just not the same." She places it into her mouth and swallows it with trepidation. It's very savory, with a sweet undertone. It's not bad! She smiles and nudges for Medusa to try a bite. Medusa seems curious, and takes a bite of one of the buns. She seems surprised by the taste.

"Hum... I've never had anything like this before... but, it's good. I wonder who made it... All the food here is actually really good..." she comments, in a train-of-thought sort of way. She reaches to the jug and pours herself a glass of wine. 
"Would you, um, like some?" Gaheris stares at the wine. She smells it, and the stinging smell is definitely alcohol. She accepts the jug and pours out a glass, Agrivanne would hate to see this! She takes the cup and takes a mouthful. It's way too strong and it's very strongly of grapes and fermentation. Medusa drinks it nonchalantly, and when she notices Gaheris' trepidation, she becomes concerned.

"Is it too strong? I um. Can ask them to dilute it more..." It's Diluted? Gaheris makes big puppy eyes and shakes sadly for more water, and she goes back to eating her olive salad as Medusa walks off to fetch her some water. It reminds her a lot of the food Dame Lancelot prepares sometimes when she comes back from the fairy realm. It was all very strong in flavor and so many onions! While Medusa is gone, Atalante returns with a big plate of, uh, pork? It sure looks like meat. She's also got some boiled eggs and fish. Where's the veggies? It's all protein.

"This place serves a lot of pork, eh? Atalante?" She tries her best to make small talk. The pile is comedicaly tall, Gaheris couldn't imagine eating all that.
"Must have been a good hunt!" She comments.

Atalante munches away, and stops to respond: "Pork is Circe's favourite, so she cooks it all the time. She never runs out of pigs." She pauses. "But, I was in the team that caught the red meat. I like hunting." She continues eating. Medusa has since returned, and seems to be enjoying her wine, and is currently gnawing on a preserved fish. Gaheris isn't used to such. simple food. Yeah, maybe a quick microwave meal, but never this, never hunks of meat and simple salads. She takes her time to enjoy the food and sharing between plates her and Medusa. She even drinks more of the wine, once again being shocked when Medusa goes in for a second AND third cup. She hurries to catch up, feeling her stomach finally get a good meal. Soon, they've finished their meals. Somehow, Atalante clears off her plate in record time, and finished roughly at the same time as the pair. She gets up with her empty plate, and takes it back to where the food was served. Suppose it's clean-up time! 

Medusa and Gaheris take their plates up to where they're being left, and while they're there, are stopped by a man with a tan complexion and a bit of a scary face. 
"Hey. I saw you're new here. Welcome to the guild. I'm Caeneus. Try not to let the men here stomp on you." He says, and without waiting for a response, walks off. 

Medusa looks at Gaheris and mumbles, "I wonder what that was about..." 

"Maybe he's had trouble with the other guys..althought he's already so strong looking. I hope we can catch up!" Gaheris goes to clean up and thinks about how much has happened in just 2 days. Sent through time, made new friends, and now in a guild with the best fighters... Or at least, for this time period. As they exit the dining hall and walk to their dorm, Gaheris takes the time to really observe the setting sun. This world is so very different. Not even a trace of pollution, and with so many people who exist in ways that she's never imagined. Even though Dame Lancelot was from a long, long time ago, there's no way she's even been born yet. She probably won't be born for a thousand years! It's all a little overwhelming to think about. They arrive at the dorm and remove their shoes; Medusa quickly lays down in her new bed, but Gaheris is still a bit restless, wanting to explore. So, she leaves to go peek out of the dorms. Everything is so dark so quickly! I guess that’s what happens when everything is only lit by fire and magic instead of electricity. She turns her phone flashlight on and goes on a little walk. 

Outside, it seems like there’s two other entrances nearby. One seems to be the men’s dorm, but the other reads “BATHS”— are the baths shared between both dorms? She tip toes into the bath and looks around. It’s very different from the other bath house. It’s much smaller but looks to be more open in general. It’s mostly empty, though her suspicions are correct. There’s three men sitting in the pool in the middle of the room. If there’s men in here, no wonder Circe uses the public one. But it’s probably not that bad…? She walks in, careful not to step in any puddles. Wow! It is really humid and steamy in here. She carefully maneuvers herself into the bath and sees a lot of. Naked men, mostly. God, this is awkward, she’s never seen this many men, period.

There’s only a little bit of light, too, since the sun has set and the bathhouse is mostly being lit by magical light. Gaheris can’t help but feel a little weird spying on a bunch of muscled naked guys whilst fully clothed. Some of the guys have started wrestling playfully. Oh man. She’s unsure of how she’s supposed to respond to this kind of moment. She’s only ever seen Galahad undressed once in her life, only after she transitioned at that, and Peredur never. She supposes it’s never come up, but she blushes a bit and how unabashed everyone is with their roughhousing while nude. She can’t help but stare. It’s just so. Alien. Should she leave? But it’s hard to look away, somehow. It reminds her a bit of the roughhousing Gawain and Lancelot would get up to…

Gaheris decides it's time to go. She tries to sneak away, but on her way out, she slips a bit on some oil and takes a little tumble down. Uh-oh. This totally isn't mortifying at all! The sound of her falling on the ground alerts them, and one of them walks over to investigate. He’s a handsome young man with long blond hair which tapers into a light blue. Is this that man she saw working out earlier? Uh oh.  

“Who’s there?” He says. 

Gaheris squeaks out a reply  “Uhh... No one!” She tries to shuffle away but her feet are not used to sandals. She is helpless as the tall man walks closer and closer. He squints through the mist. It’s dense, and he’s on guard… but, not quite on guard enough, and he proceeds to trip over her and similarly tumble to the floor. When he opens his eyes, he’s staring directly at her. 

“Oh!” He comments. “Oops.” Gaheris freezes and squeals out. 

“Ahhh!!! You’re naked! Ahhh!! Get offfff!!!” She screams, wiggling to get away from the strange guy, no matter how handsome he is. He seems a bit surprised, and after a bit of struggling, successfully gets off Gaheris. He doesn’t seem bashful at all! 

“Hey, you’re that new girl, aren’t you?” He looks at her on the floor. “Need a. Hand?” She blushes hard as she grabs his hand. She will never live this down! She strictly keeps her eyes up to not have to look at his naked form. This bastard has the nerve to just smile and waggle his stupidfish tail! She’s mortified, and looks away quickly.  

“Uh. Yeah. I am the new girl.” She squeaks out.

“Cool!” He grins. “Sorry for, uh, tripping on you. I’m Achilles. Nice to meet you, what was it? Gareth?”  He’s totally nonchalant. Gaheris can hear the guys in the baths laughing about the situation. This is so mortifying!!!

“It’s. It’s Gaheris. Nice to meet you. Achilles.” She quickly looks away and scrambles out of the bath as fast as her wobbly legs will take her. 
“Thanksbythewayillseeyouaroundbye!” He seems confused, but waves all the same as she leaves. Oh my god! That was so, so, SO embarrassing. What if she has to work with him?! He’s always going to mention it!!! This is the worst!! She wanders back into the girls dorm, and past where Medusa is napping. She keeps going, and finds at the end a small area for relaxing. She takes a deep breath and relaxes into the quiet of the area. Her thoughts are all jumbled but at least she’s alone now. How strange this world is. Nothing like that ever would have happened back home!  But, that’s how things are now. This world is really amazing and strange and new. It’s hard to just relax. And now that she’s in the guild, what now? She’s still just a new recruit. Nobody would take her seriously if she told her story. What will she do?

She thinks about the list of people within the guild. Medusa already believes her, there’s Atalante that seems super strong and might believe her. Circe has a strong grasp of magic so maybe she’ll believe her.  She tries to calm her racing mind and break it down realistically. She needs to tell a strong higher up like Circe soon enough, but Jason will truly be the one that can help her gather the troops. But, baby steps. She breathes and reminds herself that rome wasn’t built in a day. Lol. But, she needs to tell someone closer to her. Atalante it is!

Atalante is the best start. Yeah! But… where is she? She’s got to be in here, right? There’s lots of girls around getting ready to go to sleep. Where is Atalante? She goes to look at the sleeping dorms. Medusa is by the window next to her, Atalante seems to be nowhere to be found… But, her eye is drawn to a flickering tail. She looks up to a suspended bed, one above a netted area. She breathes deeply, and musters her courage. There she is! The tail flicks. Flicks. Gaheris wonders how she’s going to alert her. Maybe if she just calls out…? The tail flicks again, almost tauntingly. She can do it... she can do it… She tugs at the tail a bit.  Hopefully she wasn’t too rude. 

"Um. Hey Atalante..are you awake?” She asks, peering up at her. Atalante rolls over and peeks down at Gaheris. 

“Hi. I’m up.” Her shoulder length hair drapes down as she looks at Gaheris. She opens her mouth to speak. But she’s really blanking on how really to go about this. 

“Um. I uh. Wanted to tell you something really. Really crazy so. Prepare yourself! Uh…um.” Atalante stares vaguely as she speaks, processing her words with a blank face. 

“Come up here.” She says, and a rope ladder suddenly flops down. “Climb.” That’s. Really cool… wowah. Gaheris hoists herself up the rope. It’s really quite strange where she has the room to put all this.  

“I uh. Right. The thing I was gonna tell you.” Atalante has such a feline stare, and in the dark it’s even more unnerving. Gaheris breathes big, deep breaths, and tries to think, but it doesn’t come out quite right. How is she supposed to tell a stranger she met today, that she’s from the future? 
“I uh. I slipped in the bath and Achilles fell on me while naked and I’m traumatized for real.” Wow. Smooth. Atalante stares. And stares. And stares. And suddenly, bursts out into hysterical laughter. After it dies down, she takes some deep breaths. 

“Achilles. He is clumsy like that. I’m not surprised. Did he say something stupid like, ‘oops!’ After it happened?” She takes a deep breath. “Did you not grow up with a lot of men?” Gaheris returns her laugh with an awkward laugh of her own. It slowly transforms to a real laugh and they giggle in the dark room.  

“Yeah, he sure did say oops. It was. Preeetty dorky, other than being totally mortifying.”  She takes a real hard think about what Atalante is asking her. “Uhh. I knew maybe. Two men. My whole life, other than my dad?”

Atalante nods. “More than me. I never knew any until I came here.” She laughs. “Imagine my shock.” This could be going a whole lot worse, but the original topic probably isn’t going to be breached now. Damn it... Gaheris allows herself to let the topic shift naturally. It’ll probably be better long term. 

“I grew up with all women, actually! Two older sisters, and all my battle mates were women. I never really knew any warrior men. Except for one, I guess…” She feels kind of bad for forgetting Sir Peredur there. Whoops. 

Atalante nods. “That must have been nice. For me, it was just my mother. And my mentor. It’s not a lot of people, but it’s enough. You don’t need lots of people to be happy. Oh. And don’t worry about Achilles.” She adds, “He’s probably already forgotten it. He’s an airhead. Good at fighting, though. Devastating, actually. You have to respect it.” She really can talk, can’t she? She seemed really quiet, but she actually has a lot to say. Gaheris laughs a little, and enjoys the choppy yet well meaning conversation from Atalante.  

“How long have you been here Atalante? You seem so knowledgeable.” Gaheris asks, smiling.

Atalante stops to think. “Six years. It’s good being here. The work is nice, I get to eat as much as I want, and I get to hunt as much as I want. Hunting deer, hunting monsters, hunting criminals. It’s fun.” She looks over Gaheris. 
“You’re new. What are you looking forward to doing here. You seem like a training kind of person.”

Gaheris shrugs a little and pulls her knees to her chest. "I guess I really do scream noobie, huh? Well I'm not 100% new to the game, but a bit new to guild life." She thinks back to her round table mentors and how they've all contributed to herself today.
"It's different. A lot different!"

“What did you used to do?” Atalante asks, getting straight to the point. Her tail flicks curiously back and forth. Gaheris rubs the back of her neck and laughs a bit.

"You wouldn't believe this, but, uh. I used to be a knight in training... Like, a proper knight and everything!" She grins sheepishly.

Atalante tilts her head curiously. "A... Knight? What's that? Is it like a warrior? You do look strong." She comments, looking over Gaheris, who feels a bit silly and like she should have expected that. 

"It's like a warrior, but we have to follow this code, and the king, and you have to train under someone! Like this job, but I had to clean a LOT more motorcycles." She giggles a little but realizes her mistake."Uhhh, motorcycles are... They're like horses, but like, big..." she trails off. Atalante flicks her tail excitedly at the descripton.

"That reminds me a lot of the Amazons. They say that they exist somewhere on an island far away. it's a place with warrior women." she pauses to think at the description of a motorcycle. "Like an elephant?" She asks, probably imagining something very different than the reality of what a motorcycle actually is.

Gaheris shakes her head a bit. "Ehhhh... Not really? But, close!"  She thinks about what Medusa told her. An island full of warrior women is pretty much Halsgrof, but this world is so... Full of men. Maybe living with Amazons wouldn't be so bad.
"These Amazons..if they're real, I'd like to train with them, if only for a bit."

"Me too." Atalante nods, "They sound like my kind of people. I hope they exist." The conversation trails on a little longer, but it's becoming clear that both of them are very tired. Additionally, it seems the rest of the girls are preparing to get to bed, if they aren't already— the magical lights keeping the dorm lit are fading gradually. 
"You should probably go to your bed." Atalante says. "We shouldn't be talking too late. People might get mad."

Gaheris wipes the sleepiness from her eyes and nods.
"Maybe we'll see each other tomorrow?" She begins to climb down, reaching in the dimness of the room for her own new bed. She sees Atalante wave to her in the dark as she climbs, and when she reaches her new bed, she slumps down in it and breathes deeply, allowing the silence to swallow her whole. She’s itching to play on her phone again, but she can’t really play subway surfers for her whole life... What else do people do? She tries to think about the last book she read, or would it be a scroll? She sighs and looks out into the dark. So many women here, fighting for something or another. Maybe she’ll get a new sisterhood, that wouldn’t fill in Gawain and Agravainne, but it would numb the loneliness. Gaheris feels sleep overtake her slowly. She feels some tears fall as she dozes off to sleep.