They stood in a sorta circle a bit higher up the lakebed. "Alright, so I'm Kai." Kai gave a small wave, making sure the parrotkin he assumed was "Pedro" knew which one he was if he didn't know Michaels name... also it just felt polite?
"Michael." Michael nodded.
"L-Layla." Layla looked down shyly, shooting glances upwards through the fringes of her bangs.
"Pedro." Pedro's tone was direct. "I'm an Aerial Ranger, my class is an archer, trap-maker, and tracker who specializes in moving up in the air and quickly moving about the battlefield. Eventually I may gain the ability to fly at a higher level, and I can channel a few small spells using certain materials." He shrugged, and his bird legs pawed a bit at the ground, but his knees still bent forward like everyone else's, not backward like an actual parrot.
"Oh! Uh... I'm an Echo Scout! I'm meant to... sneak around and track the enemy... I have Leather Shroud, Echo Sight, and Sonic Detection as skills!" Layla nodded determinedly, yet still was looking at everyone else around the chest as though too nervous to look anyone in the eye.
"I have yet to choose, but my options are either a very high defense with decent offense, or heavy offense with a decent defense." Michael supplied his class information as of right now seeing as Pedro and Layla had taken the initiative.
"I'm a summoner who summons spirits and contracts them to fight alongside myself, and can also channel spells through my spirits, so I'm a summoner/mage type."
The others nodded, and then Pedro looked around Kai to the other people scattered behind him.
Pedro jutted his chin out, cocking a hip out slightly in the way he stood that was a bit strange to see, perhaps slightly effeminate? "Looks like they're also grouping up."
The other three turned to look, and indeed, Nick was recruiting the troublesome tiefling?
"Come on! You need teammates to fight alongside, otherwise who would watch your back?"
The tiefling scowled. "Fuck off, blue runt."
Nick did have blue hair and eyes, and pale white skin...
"Oh, I see." Nick stopped, looking down thoughtfully as he held his chin with a slight frown instead of the usual smile everyone was already used to seeing on him. "You're worried you would hold us back right? You're not strong enough to be in a group I lead."
Dead silence filled with tension slammed down on everyone as they all turned at gape at the crazy air genasi.
'Does he like sticking his hand inside a tiger's mouth?!' Everyone thought simultaneously.
The tiefling suddenly broke the silence, throwing his head back in wild and loud, deep laughter! "BWAHAHAHAHAHA, oh, oh wow." He rubbed his stomach as he started to breath, trying to stop laughing. "That's pretty good. Fine runt, I respect the balls you got to say that to me." He looked up, suddenly serious and cold as anger flashed in his eyes.
"But don't you ever try me again, punk."
Nick held his hands up in surrender with a helpless expression on his face, and the winter fae and owlkin begins him facepalmed simultaneously, clearly also a part of this party.
Nick turned to and smiled brightly, walking over to the fire genasi. "Any of you wanna join with us too?"
The three shook their heads, the tiger and rabbitkin standing with them alongside the aasimar with golden hair with purple sparkles all over it. "We're good, got our own group going."
Nick nodded amiably, and turned to Xandra the orc-
"No. I don't wanna work with her." The tiefling broke in.
Nick froze awkwardly. "But... I was hoping..." he looked at the tiefling, gauging how much he could get away with without the man leaving his party already, and sighed. "Fine..."
He clasped his hands towards Xandra in apology as he stepped back away from her direction to continue looking for others to join his group.
Kai frowned. 'Is he seriously not even checking their class before he asks?'
That would just be stupid... no wait.
Kai focused on Nick, and the text box appeared again, changed this time as Kai thought it would be.
'He's a... Soul Swordsman? Interesting name for a class... how does being an air genasi optimize you to be a Soul Swordsman?'
Kai turned his eyes to Xandra... and widened them.
Stalwart Knight? A knight is someone with armor and a shield alongside their weapon... and stalwart generally means someone relatable, loyal, or determined. A defense-type has been located!
Kai began to walk, along the outer edge of the groups of people, and the other 3 followed as he made his way to the orc lady standing there silently.
"You want his leftovers?" She snorted in annoyance, and Kai laughed. "No, I would have come regardless. But it does help that I like you better than that rude big red dick."
Her expression still seemed stoic, but Kai could have sworn he saw a bit of movement at the corner of her eyes, like a sort of miniature smile.
'She found that amusing? Good!'
"So wanna join our party?"
"Why should I? What makes you guys so great?" She looked at them critically.
'A thin, lean foxkin who's a "Spirit Summoner", a tiny nervous wreck of a batkin whos got a body made for perverts to desire that is a "Echo Scout", an automaton who... has no class I can see?'
She stared at Michael in confusion, which they noticed.
"I'm waiting to choose my class based on if we have a defense-type or not in our party. I can go either heavy offense or defense." Michael explained, and Xandra raised one of her thick orcish brows.
"So if I joined you could be a strong damage dealer... I see." She was annoyed. 'They just chose me to let him be able to be a more fun class? Assholes.'
"Actually no." Kai broke in, leading to a few confused looks.
"Even without you, I think Michael should still go for the offensive class."
"Just because it's not the-" Michael began, only to be cut off.
"No! I mean for our own teamwork."
Michael tilted his head with a crackle of gears, and Pedro frowned while one of Layla's ears twitched. Xandra stayed silent, trying to understand what they expected of her and why they would choose to have no defense class without her.
"Well you said that class deals high damage at mid to close range right?"
"Right." Michael nodded.
"Well with Layla being an Echo Scout and batkin, I'd bet she'd be able to detect any enemy and point out their direction by sound, without them needing to be in line of sight! So you could attack them once they enter midrange! And your defense is still decent so... agh, how to explain..." his tail swished around as his ears twitched constantly as thoughts ran through his head.
"Okay! Let's say your class can be either 10 attack and 5 defense, or 5 attack and 10 defense. If a monster has enough defense to block your 10 attack, it's probably strong enough to destroy your 10 defense. But if it's not strong enough to block your 10 attack, then your attack hurts and weakens it, so you'd be able to use your 5 defense to block the weakened enemy! But if you chose 10 defense and 5 attack, you'd be able to block anything unable to break through the 10 defense, and damage it bit by bit with the 5 attack, but that way less damage is done and more time is spent, increasing chances we might be overwhelmed by other monsters."
Kai held his left hand open and made a fist with his right, before hitting that fist into his left hand. "So the best choice to be made with someone like Layla in the party is to go for the 10 attack class, to finish enemies quicker before more show up! Right? Well... the reality isn't exactly how I explained it, but it is just an analogy."
"I... I see." Michael went into thought, but Layla began to panic. "Wait! Wouldn't that mean I'm like... r-really important?!"
She jerked her head from person to person in nervous panic, until her gaze fell on Kai, who gave her a calm and reassuring look, same as before, and she remembered how he'd tried to help her escape when they'd been falling.
"I believe you can do it. Even if you can't at first, we can practice and learn! Teamwork doesn't take shape instantly after all, but that's why it's so effective when it does." He grinned as his eyes curved into crescents, his ears perking up while his tail wagged. "So, will you at least try Layla?"
She looked down for at least 10 seconds, and none in the small group spoke.
"...try." She mumbled something mostly intelligible, before taking a deep breath and looking up to stare Kai in the eyes. "I-I'll try my best!"
Xandra smiled slightly, yet quickly returned to a stoic expression, with only Pedro catching the genuine smile with his sharp eyes. 'What a kind girl... maybe this party isn't a bad idea.'
They looked to Michael, and he nodded. "If you trust me to try and do my part, I will trust you to try and do yours." He inclined his head to Layla, and his core pulsed an azure blue for a moment before returning to its usual white, catching the rest by surprise.
"Huh... I guess it changes color to show my emotions when they're strong enough." Michael muttered, which was even harder to understand when the echo happened on such quiet words.
Pedro spoke to Xandra directly, looking her right in the eyes. "So. We have a scout, a heavy hitter at mid and close range, a long range archer and trap-maker," he pointed first to Layla, then Michael, then himself, and finally turned his hand to point at Kai, "and we have a summoner who can use magic once he gets a spirit..." he turned to look at Kai. "That's how that works right? You said you channel through the spirits."
Kai nodded, "Yeah that's how my class works."
"So." Pedro turned back to Xandra. "Join us? Or not?"
Xandra took a step forward, bringing her massive chest filled with muscle right up to Pedro's face as she towered over him, and he continued to stare her in the eyes as she read his text box. 'Aerial Ranger is his class? It is a pretty well rounded party...'
"Sure, I like direct people more than those that always hide behind a smile anyways."
She gave a small smirk before stepping back, stoic-faced once again. "But we should probably find someone who can heal."
Kai spoke up, "and maybe a close-range attacker, like a berserker or fighter? Or a full on magic caster. We already have five, could have a party of six, seven? Maybe eight... I don't think we could manage ten yet at least. Eight is also probably too much. Six with a healer, seven with another defender, attacker, or caster depending. We also don't want to many people relying on one person to heal them all... though Michael can heal himself thanks to his race, it does reduce the amount of energy he has for combat."
"So." Michael said, turning to the gaggle of people trying to figure out parties.
"Who do we try first?"