Something Better (Guildhall Ward, D1 Mid-Evening, Open)

[Ikkit the Bastard]

Ikkit hadn't been born when the guilds had really been a thing, but the more he learned, the more he had one more thing to curse the useless clusters of Faction-bound idiots for.

Because a trade guild was a sane, sensible loyalty, in a way sitting around writing bad poetry about how meaningless everything was could never be.

He looked about at the forlorn remnants- the Escorts with those weird forehead tattoos, the Teamsters (who'd have no use for someone as small as he was), the Clerks and Scribes (Ikkit could read and write, but he rather doubted anyone for pay for him to do it), the Innkeepers (as if he'd ever own an Inn), and the Builders.

None of them fit, but that was all right.

He'd just start one of his own.

He wasn't any great speaker, had no charm to speak of, and he knew that his field of endeavor tended to the cutthroat, but...

But we can divvy territory, state hours, offer tag-alongs in more dangerous areas.

The goblin put his hands on his hips and surveyed the chaos of the Guildhall Ward.

Now he just needed to get the word out, raise the jink to secure a building, and get to work.

No big deal.

Now he just had to figure out who to talk to about it.

...

Probably the Guvners.

Shit.

[Gizby Brightshadow]

Gizby was taking an evening stroll through the guildhall when to his dismay, he had become eye to eye with a goblin. It was rare Gizby didn't have to crane his neck in order to look at persons of interest or engage in conversation. Perhaps this fellow would make for good company.

"Hey, you there!" Gizby hurried over to the goblin. A piece of undistinguished flesh clinging to his matted beard. He was wearing some rather expensive looking clothes, but they were filthy. Stains upon stains. "I must say, its nice to talk with someone on my level. Name's Gizby, Gizby Brightshadow." He extends his hand for a shake, then pulls it back, spits on it and wipes whatever filth he thought might be leftover on his filthier cloak. and extends it again. He chortles whimsically, before reeling it in with an abrupt cough-burp.

[Ikkit the Bastard]

Ikkit, no picture of cleanliness himself, extended his own hand.

"Ikkit. Most 'round here call me Ikkit the Bastard, so don't say I didn't warn you."

Gnomes were always interesting. Their ears weren't pitiful little jokes, they weren't freakish giants, and their heads even escaped the unsightly narrowness so common among other species. And their names even sounded right.

Apparently on a lot of Prime worlds, goblins and gnomes were hostile, which had never made sense to Ikkit, unless they were competing for territory...

"What brings you 'round this way?"

[Gizby Brightshadow]

"Is marriage even customary amongst goblins? Surely all goblins are bastards," Gizby smiled wide and slapped the man on his back as he snorted a shrill laugh. "I am through with my duties with the Dustmen for the day, and was just enjoying the night air. And yourself?"

Gizby looked Ikkit up and down and thought his green skin would make a fine coin purse, if he should ever discover his corpse in an alleyway.

[Ikkit the Bastard]

"Oh, none are so bastardly as me."

His grin displayed his triangular teeth to best advantage.

"Anyhow, thinkin' I might try'n start a Guild. For salvagers. Know I can't be the only one, given the bits that go missing when I'm not picking through the bins..."

[Gizby Brightshadow]

"Ah! A fellow opportunist! Our folk are rare, those of us who see value in the discarded." Gizby smiled his own toothy grin. While his teeth weren't quite sharp and pointy, they were clogged with food residuals throughout. "That's not a bad idea, but unfortunately I have no advice on how one would go about starting their own guild. This place is much different than Midgard. I can't say I miss it much!"

[Ikkit the Bastard]

"Oh, first I figure I need t'figure out who I can get t'sign on, then we gotta ask the Guvners how t'go about it... gonna be a long-term project. If I can even get it off the ground. But!"

He held up an index finger.

"If you ever wanna look into odds and ends, I'm at the Bazaar most days. Assortment varies by day..."

[Gizby Brightshadow]

"I'll keep that in mind, friend!" Gizby hopped, and mirrored his own index finger, "You'll have to stop by Gizby's Leather Emporium in the market district sometime, I specialize in exotic leathers!"

[Ikkit the Bastard]

"Oh? Y'know, I might be in the market for a proper pair of gloves, maybe a nice coat for when I go to the Guvners..."

[Gizby Brightshadow]

"That could be arranged, meet me at my cart in the market district one of these days, and you'll love the way you look, I guarantee it!"